|
|
 |
| |
Peter Powell |
Final exit for actor, historian, raconteur and rebel
FRIENDS and family paid tribute to actor, local historian and campaigner Peter Powell at a funeral service on Friday.
The former Labour councillor died in his sleep, aged 74, two weeks ago. The funeral service at East Finchley Crematorium, attended by Islington Mayor Barbara Smith, ended with Ralph McTell’s Streets of London – a nod to Mr Powell’s guided walks round Angel.
Poet Sir John Betjeman and actors Kevin Spacey and Robin Williams are among those said to have enjoyed Mr Powell’s “literary and history strolls”, which began in 1985.
One of the walks was a tribute to Mr Powell’s favourite author, Charles Dickens. Actor and director Tony Phillips, who cast Mr Powell as the ever-hopeful Mr Micawber in a production of Dickens’s David Copperfield, read a passage from the book to mourners.
Another friend, Toni Davis, 59, recalled how she met Mr Powell when she was 17 and touring with a theatre company. Mr Powell was then in his thirties, having emerged from the services.
“I used to sit next to Peter on the coach because he was so entertaining,” she said. “Peter was very kind to me and gave me lots of good advice and told me some amazing stories.”
Mr Powell lived in Canonbury with his wife Judith and two daughters for more than 30 years.
Neighbour Gerald Stiles, who has lived in the flat next door to the family since 1980, said: “He was very dutiful towards his family. He was immensely happy and immensely proud.”
Mr Powell’s daughter Imogen described her father as a raconteur and a rebel. “It meant he could often be relied upon to back us up when we decided to stray from the most sensible path,” she said.
Her sister, Cordelia, joked about her father’s long speeches and his “putting the world to rights”.
She added: “He was always ready to help me and find a way to bring me forward.”
His wife Judith recalled first meeting her future husband at a party more than three decades ago. “Peter said he had been waiting for something to turn up and that something was me,” she said.
“Peter loved a good party, a moment to embellish. He did prefer an audience, preferably friends.”
After the service, mourners met at Mr Powell’s regular haunt, The Florence Tavern in Florence Street, Islington.
Lib Dem councillor Ursula Woolley, who is campaigning for a plaque scheme to celebrate Islington’s heritage, said: “There’s been a lot of famous residents and it would be a very nice thing to do, even more so now, in his memory.” |
 |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
