Biography
His mother was Romani, born in a caravan (or vardo in Romani).
He is most famous for his Out With Romany programmes on the BBC's Children's Hour, describing travels in his own vardo, with Comma the horse, his spaniel Raq and his young friends Muriel and Doris. Although the programmes were all pre-scripted and performed entirely in the studio, the impression given was of Romany and his friends going for a walk in the countryside and spontaneously discussing the plants and animals they came across.
The vardo is now preserved in Wilmslow, Cheshire by Cheshire East Borough Council.
As a Methodist minister, his ministries included Goole; the Methodist Central Hall, Carlisle (1914–26); Huddersfield (1926–29); and the King Cross Methodist Chapel, Halifax (1929–39), after which ill health forced him to give up the ministry. He moved to Wilmslow, where he died, leaving his wife, Eunice, son Glyn and daughter, Romany June.
The Romany Society, originally formed in 1943 and re-founded in 1996, celebrates his life and work. Its patron is Terry Waite.
The BBC radio programmes were all broadcast live, and only one recording survives - dated October 1943, just a month before his death. In November 2006 this was released on CD by Valley Stream Productions.
Read more about this topic: George Bramwell Evens
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