Maidenhead Heritage Centre

f847f5af-72e9-4f3f-925e-e9cd870a0f0f
  • News
  • Donating
  • Jobs & Volunteers
  • Membership
  • Mailing list
  • Contact the centre
  • Home
  • Overview
  • What’s On
    • Events, Exhibitions & Talks
    • Permanent Exhibitions
      • Story of Maidenhead
      • “Grandma Flew Spitfires”
      • Spitfire Simulator Experience
    • Family Activities
    • Hire a Speaker
    • Previous exhibitions
  • Online Exhibitions
    • Littlewick Green
    • Let’s celebrate!
    • Jewel of the Thames
    • Women in Green
    • WW2 Posters
    • Town Centre 1964
    • All the World’s a Stage
    • Memories of D-Day
    • Skindles
  • Schools
    • Homework Help!
    • KS1 & KS2
    • Secondary Schools
    • Group Visits
  • Research
    • Browse and Search
    • Local History
      • Chronology
      • A-Z Hall of Fame
    • Maps
    • Copyright
    • Panoramic Photographs
  • Getting Here
    • Find Us & Parking
    • Opening Times
    • Accessibility
    • Admission Charges
    • Families
    • School & Group Visits
  • Online Shop
  • Air Transport Auxiliary
    • About the ATA [atamuseum.org]
    • “Grandma Flew Spitfires”
    • ATA News [atamuseum.org]
    • Gallery
    • Stories & Diaries [atamuseum.org]
    • Research Services

Ivor Novello

IVOR NOVELLO
1893 – 1951

One of the great entertainers of the early 20th Century, his house in Maidenhead became a theatre school after his death.

Ivor Novello, whose real name was David Ivor Davies, was born in Cardiff in 1893. His mother was a successful conductor and singing teacher, and as a child Novello sang in the Eisteddfod.

Novello first found success as a songwriter, with his ‘Keep the home fires burning’ a huge success during the first world war. Throughout his career he was a prolific writer of songs for film and stage musicals.

He also turned to acting, and was one of the most popular stars of the 1920s. He starred in two Hitchcock films, ‘Downhill’ and ‘The Lodger’, in which he played the lead. Other films included ‘The Vortex’ and ‘A South Sea Bubble’.

When Gainsborough Pictures gave him a contract, he was able to buy a country house in Littlewick Green, which he named Redroofs. It became notorious for the parties Novello held there, with a social circle that included the likes of Laurence Olivier and Noel Coward.

Novello joined the RAF during the Second World War, and survived two crashes. However, he also served time in prison for the misuse of petrol coupons. After the war, Novello continued performing right up to his death in 1951.

After Novello’s death, Redroofs was sold and became the Redroofs Theatre School, where there is a blue plaque in his name. The Ivor Novello Awards, awarded for songwriting, were established in his memory.

 

FIND OUT MORE –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Novello

http://www.ivornovello.com/

 

Donate

Recent Posts

  • Open for fun this week
  • Spitfire Simulator flights available this week
  • Christmas and New Year opening times
  • Middle-earth comes to Bray
  • Boundary Walk 2020

Archives

  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • October 2019
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2014
  • February 2014

Supported by

RBWM logo Adverstiser Charitable Trust logo Heritage Lottery Fund logo Accredited Museum logo


Colemans logo


Tsohost.CharityHosting.MPU

TSE 2018 logo 

Facebook icon Twitter icon TripAdvisor logo Great West Way logo
Site map | Contact us | Privacy Policy | Tel: 01628 780555 Email:info@maidenheadheritage.org.uk
Copyright © 2022 Maidenhead Heritage Centre, 18 Park Street, Maidenhead, SL6 1SL
Charity number: 1045746