Noel Coward took over Gracie Fields's orphanage

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Lord Bonkers isn't the only politician to have had an orphanage: both Mr Gladstone and my local hero Paddy Logan had one too.

Now I am discovering that showbiz celebrities had them too. I blogged the other day about Noel Coward and The Actors' Children's Orphanage and I've now found that someone has written a book about this:

Here is a 2020 article from the Ham & High:

A little known aspect of the great playwright is illuminated in a new book by Kentish Town actor and author Elliot James.

While researching an article on the Brief Encounter and Hayfever writer he uncovered letters and records for The Actors’ Orphanage, a home for the abandoned children of struggling thespians.

Coward took over as President in 1934 and over 22 years turned it from a harsh institution into a place of love and laughter, drafting famous actors onto the committee and visiting with stars like Marlene Dietrich and Mary Pickford.

"I’ve always been a Noel Coward aficionado but this part of his extraordinary life has been forgotten," says James, who has appeared in several Coward plays.

"Doing some research I came across a picture of Coward walking along with these children and realised no-one knew this story. I got huge boxes of paperwork, letters and discovered many of the orphans are still alive in their 80s and 90s. When I interviewed them they said 'no-one's ever asked us about this'."

And I've also found that in 1962 the trust that ran this orphanage took over a building at Peacehaven in Sussex that had housed the Gracie Fields Orphanage since 1933.

I wonder how many more such establishments there were?