Three Ha'pence a Foot
A tale of Lancashire business determination - a favourite comic monologue by Marriott Edgar
Video not yet publicly available
This tale has been recorded and will be uploaded to the video gallery on 6th May 2025, where it will be available to watch for free - together with many, many other tales.
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Three Ha'pence a Foot, one of the many monologues written by Marriott Edgar which I enjoyed in my youth.
For those unfamiliar with some of the local references
- Bury is still known for its black puddings: amongst other proud manufactures see Bury Black Pudding Company, Chadwicks, Gills.
- Blackpool Tower. Blackpool is also the setting of Edgar's most famous monologue, Albert and the Lion.
Currency - "Three Ha'pence"
For those who did not grow up in Britain in the mid twentieth century, here is the Royal Mint’s visual guide to Britain’s pre-decimal (i.e. pre-1971) coinage.
A monetary system based on twelve pence to the shilling and twenty shillings to the pound naturally provided challenging maths lessons for many British schoolchildren – a challenge compounded by the extended imperial units of measurement we also had to learn.
More about the comic monologues on my website, and how I began to perform them.
Abaht them 'ere monologues lists all of Marriott Edgar's poems with links to their texts, plus a few by other authors.
Go here for tales to watch
Go here for a list of all tales included on this site
Go here to receive an e-mail notification when new tales are added
Permission to tell outlines my views on copyright
For those who are teachers: Telling stories in the classroom: basing language teaching on storytelling