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I met David years ago, he was friendly with a super artist called Nigel Carder, who did great pictures of Norwich scenes, and sold them under the subway at the top of St Stephen's. In fact I have a card from the artist he gave me one Christmas cos if I was passing I would guard his stuff while he went to the loo nearby lol
(The underground loos which have been closed now for a while)
David was also a friend of Nigel's and we often used to have a natter together, he was not doing much puppetry then.
Strange how things work out. I saw the cards in a shop window a few weeks ago and couldn't help laughing. Who would have thought he would become a cult figure!
Lizx
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Oh how sad! He brightens the day when you see him performing outside Primark. He always brings a smile to my face.
Good luck to him whatever he does next.
Frances
PS. How are you Teresa, haven't spoken to you for ages. We must arrange another meet soon. Fx
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Muffy, his act is terrible really, all he does is jiggle them up and down and sing karaoke..LOL
The days he isn't at the market are the days you notice him, he's that familiar a sight.
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Its a shame when traditions die out
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£140 A DAY !!!!!!!!! Blimey.I should've learnt puppetry. My GGG Grandfather was a Punch and Judy man......It's obviously in my blood.....I've clearly been on the wrong path all these years !! lol xx
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Colin he is quite a character round these parts, slightly errrrmmmmm.....eccentric lol, but he's been around for years it seems.
All we'll have left soon is the Big Issue sellers.....
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It has wiped billions of pounds off the value of the stock market, sent house prices crashing and the cost of living soaring.
Now the credit crunch looks set to claim another victim: Norwich's Puppet Man.
Street entertainer David Perry, whose unique act has made him a cult figure in Norwich and on the internet, will make what he claims will be his last appearance on the city's Haymarket tomorrow.
Mr Perry, who started busking more than 20 years ago, said the amount of cash donated by spectators had dwindled so much that it was no longer worth the effort.
“People don't give me so much money in the street any more. If you're lucky you might get £15 a day. The most I would earn now is £25,” he said.
In his first hour yesterday, Mr Perry, 65, earned just 12p.
It's a far cry from the days when he started performing in Norwich. “I used to shake the puppets just for a laugh, but on that first day I made £65, and I became addicted to it. Years ago I used to make £140,” he said.
“I have enjoyed putting a smile on people's faces and making some money, but the market has just dropped out of it.”
Mr Perry's act consists of dancing with a range of puppets - including a snake made from a sock, named Roy Waller after the Radio Norfolk presenter - while singing along to pop songs played on a portable karaoke machine.
Mr Perry, last year named as one of the 25 “Faces of Norwich”, usually appears three days a week if the weather is dry and can often be heard giving his own interpretation of songs by musical greats including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Tom Jones.
And for last year's 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, he swapped his puppets for a black wig and paid his own tribute to the King.
He first started performing outside the Littlewoods store, now Primark, in the mid-1980s, but in 1997 was forced to quit after officials stopped his incapacity benefit because he was earning money through busking.
Since returning to his city centre pitch about three years ago, his cult status has spread beyond Norfolk, thanks to the internet.
A group set up in his honour on social networking site Facebook gained more than 4,000 members, and tens of thousands of viewers have watched clips of him in action, posted on video website YouTube.
“I can't work the internet to save my life but I'm not getting any royalties out of that,” he said.
Mr Perry has branched out to perform for students at the city's Mercy nightclub on Prince of Wales Road, but his sessions there have now come to an end.
His photograph now adorns a range of greetings cards, captioned “Norwich: City of Entertainment” produced by city-based firm Grot Britain - but these have not been the cash cow many apparently presume them to be.
“People think I don't need the money from busking because I'm making a lot of money from the cards, but I'm not,” he said.
Mr Perry, who lives in the city, has also attracted some hostility. In 1997 his arm was broken in an attack by a teenage boy wielding a wooden pole.
While there has thankfully been no repeat of that incident, he said the amount of verbal abuse directed at him had increased.
Mr Perry's departure has also been hastened by a mysterious new job that he has landed. “I will be working in the entertainment industry with young ladies in London, but I can't say any more than that,” he said.
He plans to move to Yarmouth later this year, and said there was a possibility he would perform there at some time in the future.
But he insisted that tomorrow would be his last day performing in Norwich - so does he have anything special planned?
“I might try and bring a few tapes and CDs I haven't played for a while, and I might wear a cowboy hat with 'Sexy Dave' on it - that's my stage name at Mercy,” he said.
Asked what he has enjoyed most about his years performing in Norwich, he said: “What I do enjoy is when the ladies come and give me kisses. You think Christmas has come again.”
So will he miss it? “I won't miss it that much. Some people will miss me, and some will probably clap and cheer when I've gone.”
Mr Perry plans to be at his usual pitch, near Fat Face and Primark on the Haymarket, from 10am until at least 6pm tomorrow.
(Courtesy EDP24.co.uk)
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