Sidney Samuel Grapes (6 June 1887 – 28 April 1958)
[''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995''] was a British comedian, the owner of a
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
shop and later a garage in
Potter Heigham, a village in northeast
Norfolk.
In the years before the
Second World War, he acquired a reputation as an amateur
Norfolk dialect comedian, performing at social functions in many parts of the county and on the radio. However, he is most famous fo
''The Boy John Letters'' The letters appeared in the ''
Eastern Daily Press'', the regional newspaper, at irregular intervals. Grapes would simply write them when he felt like it - and they were always signed "The Boy John". They reported the events in the Boy John's village, and, in addition to the Boy John - a farm worker - they featured as their main characters his Aunt Agatha, Granfar, and old Mrs. W, their neighbour.
Most of the letters ended with a
PS containing one of Aunt Agatha's
aphorisms, which became famous throughout the county, such as "Aunt Agatha she say: all husbands are alike, only they have different faces so you can tell 'em apart".
See also
Others artists working in the Norfolk humorous tradition include
Sid Kipper, the
Nimmo Twins, Keith Skipper and the
Singing Postman.
References
External links
Friends of Norfolk Dialect
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grapes, Sidney
People from North Norfolk (district)
English male comedians
1958 deaths
1887 births
20th-century English comedians