Phillip Sheppard

To confuse the hell out us, every Sheppard son was called Philip. But - each alternate son was known by their middle name. So my grandfather was Philip Neville Freme Sheppard, known as Philip. My father was Philip Anthony Dwight Sheppard, therefore known as Anthony. And my brother is back to being Philip. I am going to start this blog with my father. That's him at the top.

Anthony was the son of Elsa May Sinclair and Phillip Neville Freme Sheppard. He was the first born son, and he was joined by a sister, Angela (must find out her middle name!). I think Angela was two years younger than him. He was born in 1920 and his father was much older than his mother. His mother was an actress (she's a beauty, isn't she?) and a singer. She was in the very first performance of Peter Pan by JM Barrie (I have letters from JM to Elsa still) and it was a bit of a scandal that a gentleman such as Philip should marry an actress!

Elsa died very soon after giving birth to Angela, and Philip did not take on two small children on his own. It wasn't done! Not in those days, anyway. So the two children were given to the care of two older aunts - Minnie and Bobo.

But back to their son, Anthony. He died on 3rd January 1974, aged just 53. He was an actor and a writer which meant he spent a lot of time at home. He married Sally April Long (I'd better find out the year!) and they had two children: Philip (my big brother) and me.

What I remember about him as a man is big, strong, sort of damp tweed smell, beard, tall, typewriter, smiling, glasses, fishing (deep sea), chunky jumper, camping, Humbers, well spoken, articulate, humourous, kind.

We lived in Netherhall Gardens in Hampstead (when I was very, very young), and then moved to Barnet. I believe my aprents bought the house for £5,000 - agreed on a handshake. Houses in that road now, even with the recession, are in the region of half a million. How times change, eh? Mind you, in those days we were in the countryside, now it's all part of London.

But I'm rambling (you'll get used to that, it's my style). Maybe this isn't the best format for a family history but - I don't need to research it, I don't need to chase down distant relatives or documents, I have them! - so I intend to make this as readable as possible.

Philip Anthony went to Christchurch School - he was a 'Bluecoat Boy'. That's him in his school uniform at the beginning of this blog. I think he was not a particularly happy child, the two aunts doted on the little girl but were not really sure what to do with the boy. Perhaps that's why they sent him away to school.

That's enough for a first post! I'll put dad's obituary up soon, along with photos of him in various guises. He was an actor, so the photos we have of him (apart from holiday ones) are all quite staged.