Three Ha’pence a Foot

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.