Waldini

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88

Who is Waldini?

Waldini was the stage name of Wallace Bishop, a musician, band leader and impresario born in Cardiff, South Wales, in 1894. His career spanned 6 decades, each providing its own challenges that were met head on by the man known to some as The Great Waldini and to others as Cardiff's Mr Music.

During World War I he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Egypt, founding the unit's Welsh Rarebits concert party. After the war he continued his career as a cinema musician, until the "talkies" made his job redundant. He survived the Great Depression by forming an orchestra comprising out of work musicians that played daily in Cardiff's Roath Park. They dressed in Romany outfits and called themselves Waldini and his Gypsy Band

During WWII he was invited by Jack Hylton on behalf of ENSA to take his Gypsy Band to entertain the British and Commonwealth Forces at home and abroad; he later wrote of this experience in his self-published book Front Line Theatre.

After the war Waldini and his Gypsy Band appeared during the summer months at holiday resorts throughout the UK, most notably Llandudno in North Wales and Ilfracombe in Devon. For the last 2 years of his life he toured with his all girl band The Fabs, entertaining troops again, but this time at army bases on the Rhine.

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Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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