An 1893 programme for a music hall bill that includes the stars Marie Lloyd and Dan Leno

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This gent phoned me the other day. “Listen!” he ses, “D’you fancy doing a write-up for us? A review?”

“How d’you mean?” I ses.

“John Major has written a book about his dad and the old music hall. Now you know a bit about this!  So how about it? We’ll give you a few bob,” he ses.

“Right,” I ses. “I’ll get up and get dressed. When do I start?”

The words “music hall” bring to mind the picture of a raucous mob, howling and bellowing their old familiar phrases, the same heckling lines you hear at prime minister’s question time: “Rubbish! Codswallop! Resign!”  Back when he was in office, facing the hecklers at PMQs, John Major would endeavour to bring order, to calm things down with his patient and reasonable manner. He