THE production of Dan Leno – The King’s Jester by Richmond Georgian Theatre Royal was of special interest to Paul Harman, director of Cleveland Theatre Company until his retirement last year.

Mr Harman, an actor himself, is the great-grandson of the music hall performer whose life inspired Tony Lidington’s one-man show.

After seeing the production in Richmond, he met Mr Lidington and explained the family connection.

“My mother’s father was Sidney Paul Galvin, who took the stage name Dan Leno Junior,” he said. “After running concert parties in the 1920s quite successfully, his career dwindled with the halls. He latterly made a modest living writing pantos. I last saw him play Dame in about 1956.”

Another of Dan Leno’s sons carried on with the name, performing in variety and panto and in summer seasons at the seaside as Ernie Leno. Two other sons led non-theatrical lives, while Mr Harman’s mother, now 94, was active in amateur theatre in Essex.

Leno was regularly billed as “The Funniest Man on Earth” and is credited with having created the pantomime role of Dame and what is now called stand-up comedy.

Mr Harman is chairman of the national association of children’s theatres and is working on a three-year Arts Council bursary to develop international links for UK professional theatres for young audiences. Cleveland Theatre Company, based in Darlington, recently changed its name to Theatre Hullabaloo.

Dan Leno arrives tonight at Danby Village Hall and is staged at Helmsley Arts Centre on Thursday. The final performance is at the Gala Theatre, Durham on Sunday, May 10.