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and A. E. Durandeau. The song was "filled with references that reflected the
Victorian working-class mistrust of the officers of the law", and made fun of the frequent claim that, if arrested for drunkenness, one's
96:, London, as James Simmonds, the son of a tailor, Henry Simmonds. He first worked as a stage actor, and then as a comedian, in the mid-1870s, and regularly worked in
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Fawn died in 1923, and a report at the time described him as having "a juicy kind of humour... left the broader kind of salacity" to others such as Arthur
Roberts.
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His most successful routine, "Ask a P'liceman", sometimes given as "If You Want to Know the Time Ask A Policeman", was first performed in 1888 and was written by
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comic entertainer, popular towards the end of the 19th century when he was often billed as 'The Prince of the Red Nosed
Comedians'. His best known song was "
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as he sang. One of his most popular lines was to claim that "... it must have been the lobster I've eaten as I've hardly drunk enough to drown a fly!".
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He performed over 150 songs during his career. His other songs included "The House that Jerry Built", and "Not Wanted". Fawn performed at Gatti's
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150:, in which the narrator (based on Kipling himself) presents a song he has written to a leading performer looking for new material.
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was likely to go missing at the police station, with the line "Every member of the force / Has a watch and chain, of course." The
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He was married to Emily
Margaret Norrington in 1866; they had a daughter. After his wife's death, he married Emily Ash (
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Fawn developed a reputation as one of the best impersonators of a drunken person. Dressed in
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of the song reportedly sold some half a million copies within three years of its publication.
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in 1890, and it has been suggested that that is the occasion on which
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Richard Jones, "If You Want to Know the Time Ask A Policeman",
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104:. The two sang duets, alternating verses.
262:British Music Hall: an illustrated history
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300:, Vol. 44 No. 2251, 5 April 1923, p.38
76:; 1847–19 January 1923) was a British
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7:
181:David Page, "'My Great and Only'",
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1:
314:List of songs and monologues
287:. Retrieved 2 September 2020
251:. Retrieved 2 September 2020
235:. Retrieved 2 September 2020
220:. Retrieved 2 September 2020
202:. Retrieved 2 September 2020
187:. Retrieved 2 September 2020
48:19 January 1923 (aged 75-76)
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215:"James Fawn (1850-1923)",
264:, Pen & Sword, 2014,
232:Grand Order of Water Rats
140:Charing Cross Music Hall
260:Richard Anthony Baker,
356:English male comedians
197:"Goodness Gracious!",
63:Music hall entertainer
361:Comedians from London
346:Music hall performers
351:British male singers
247:Jack the Ripper Tour
366:Singers from London
283:Music Hall Studies
185:, 17 February 2007
316:performed by Fawn
270:978-1-78383-118-0
162:Tomlin) in 1891.
148:My Great and Only
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39:, London, England
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183:Kipling Society
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144:Rudyard Kipling
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82:Ask a P'liceman
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230:"James Fawn",
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129:pocket watch
124:E. W. Rogers
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341:1923 deaths
336:1847 births
133:sheet music
330:Categories
322:at Dropbox
166:References
94:Paddington
78:music hall
70:James Fawn
60:Occupation
37:Paddington
20:James Fawn
117:hiccuping
98:pantomime
88:Biography
272:, p.141
109:top hat
52:Lambeth
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72:(born
320:Image
285:No.11
113:tails
100:with
266:ISBN
111:and
45:Died
33:1847
26:Born
159:née
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173:^
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