Dick Pepper
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Dick Leaver Pepper (24 June 1889 – 15 October 1962) was a musician, actor, and writer for the BBC.
Life
Born in Putney, Pepper was the son of Will C. Pepper, founder of a long-running concert party called the White Coons, and the older brother of Harry S. Pepper."Dick Leaver Pepper", in Uli Heier, Rainer E. Lotz, The Banjo on Record: A Bio-discography, p. 346 His middle name of Leaver came from his mother, whose name was Annie Leaver before her marriage.Register of Marriages for Fulham registration district, Jan-March 1886, vol. 1a, p. 399: PEPPER, William C and LEAVER, Annie
Brought up by his father as an entertainer, Pepper picked up the banjo from those around him in the White Coons, and he also trained as a cinematograph operator. In the 1930s, he formed the "Kentucky Banjo Team" with Joe Morley and Tarrant Bailey, for a BBC Home Service radio programme called The Kentucky Minstrels.Chris Sands, Tarrant Bailey Jr. Banjo Solos (2011), p. 13: "The Kentucky Banjo Team: Tarrant Bailey Jnr, Joe Morley and Dick Pepper." In April 1934, he contributed an article to Radio Times on "Minstrels and Banjo-playing".Radio Times, Issue 550 dated
13 April 1934, p. 93 He went on to become a writer for the BBC.Andy Foster, Steve Furst, Radio comedy, 1938-68: a guide to 30 years of wonderful wireless (Virgin, 1996), pp. 10, 57, 61
In 1925, Pepper married Eva C. Fazan. He died at Ashford Hospital, Stanwell, on 15 October 1962, aged 73,Register of Deaths for Middlesex South, volume 5f, October–December 1962, p. 46: "PEPPER, Dick L, 73" leaving an estate worth £9,212. At the time of his death he was living at Little Prouton, 93 Chertsey Lane, Staines, Middlesex."Pepper, Dick Leaver otherwise Dick Lever" in Probate Index for 1962 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 28 July 2016 His widow was still living there when she died in 1968.The London Gazette dated 7 January 1969, [https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44762/page/278/data.pdf p. 278]
Notes
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