by David Howe

Nicola Lisle's two excellent pieces (Weekend, September 1), one about the Carl Rosa Opera Company's tour of Pirates of Penzance, and the other about the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, came hot on the heels of the long-awaited autobiography of John Reed, principal comedian with the (original) D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

Oxford was a lucky place for Reed, for after eight years in the chorus and as understudy to Peter Pratt, he was summoned to the Randolph Hotel in May 1959 to succeed Pratt, who had announced his intention to leave. This is a fascinating account of 28 years of touring. For 20 of those years, John sang seemingly impossible patter songs, demonstrating amazing dancing skills and brilliant clarity of diction. After D'Oyly Carte, he was hugely in demand as a performer and director with other Gilbert and Sullivan companies in the UK and in the US, and appeared at the Buxton Festival.

He recalls a time of great social change - the last of the train calls and the liberation of caravanning, the last days of the 'Mas' (theatrical landladies), of obsessed fans and foreign tours - life with a quaint little theatre company, the last of its kind, every bit as eccentric in its management and personnel skills as some of the characters its employees portrayed on stage.