Recently the local paper was asking readers about famous people they had known, and my father decided that he would write about his famous relatives. This is what he said:-

"My grandfather, John Herbert (Jack) Turner (1867-1953) was a well-known local preacher, Sunday School Superintendent and fish merchant. He was also the eldest of nine children of which two brothers had famous sons-in-law and one sister had a famous grand-daughter.

William Wright Turner (1868-1929) was his next brother, and his daughter Edna(1900-1992) married Fred Grey. Their daughter Barbara (1928-2001) married Arthur Matera (d.2003).

Extracts from the obituary of BARBARA MATERA in the New York Times

“Long considered an exemplar of her craft, Ms. Matera took the sketches of designers and breathed life into them, creating costumes the legendary showman David Merrick once called the best he had ever seen on Broadway. Barbara Matera Ltd., the shop she founded in 1968 with her husband, produced the costumes seen in the current Broadway productions of "Beauty and the Beast," "Aida," "The Lion King," "Kiss Me, Kate," "42nd Street" and the forthcoming "Mamma Mia."

Born Barbara Gray in Kent, England, Ms. Matera began her career in the costume shops of the Adelphi Players, Covent Garden, the Ballet Romberg, Stratford-on-Avon and the Old Vic. She moved to the United States in 1960.

Armed with bolts of fabric, she would enter her workroom and begin her magic, draping and fitting her clients in a way that accentuated their assets and diminished their flaws. Always, her work had something secret and special: beneath a crinoline or a tutu, for instance, she would tuck a tiny silk rosebud.

As the costumer for the American Ballet Theater, Ms. Matera outfitted the soloists and corps of "Swan Lake," "Othello," "Snow Maiden," "Theme and Variations" and "Gaieté Parisienne."
But it was her work on more than 100 Broadway plays and musicals for which Ms. Matera was perhaps most acclaimed, particularly the original 1972 production of "Follies," whose lavish costumes won their designer, Florence Klotz, a Tony Award and increased the adulation of Merrick. Later, she would make the costumes for his "42nd Street."

Ms. Matera's Broadway credits include "A Chorus Line," "A Little Night Music," "La Cage aux Folles," "Dreamgirls," "Sunday in the Park With George," "Sugar Babies," "Nine," "City of Angels," "Angels in America," "Into the Woods," "Grand Hotel," "Crazy for You," "Sunset Boulevard" and the recent revival of "Annie Get Your Gun."

Among her film credits are "The Great Gatsby," "Death on the Nile," "The Age of Innocence," "The Addams Family," "Moonstruck" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

But her work was not limited to show business. She outfitted performers as disparate as Dame Joan Sutherland and Mick Jagger. She also made the purple crystal-encrusted gown that Hillary Rodham Clinton wore at her husband's first presidential inauguration.

Ms. Matera's work was the subject of a 1996 exhibition at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts titled Inside and Out: The Costumes of Barbara Matera.”

She suffered a brain haemorrhage at her New York apartment on the day which has become known in infamy as 9/11 and died shortly after. Whether she would have survived had the emergency and medical services been less busy is a matter for speculation.

As a little side note, when my second cousin made costumes for “The Addams Family” she was dressing among others my late wife’s distant cousin, Anjelica Huston.

The sixth child and fifth brother was Frederick (Click) Turner (born 1877) who was himself something of a local character with a talent both for making money and for losing it. He certainly ran through two fortunes going from one of the richest men in Cleethorpes living in a large house on High Cliff and owning, so I have been told, the first car in Cleethorpes to (by way of fast women and slow horses) to living in a tiny (and verminous) cottage in Wardle Street reliant upon the charity of relatives.

His daughter Alita married Chesney Allen who was well known as half of the comic duo “Flanagan and Allen” and one sixth of “The Crazy Gang”.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Chesney Allen (April 5, 1893 - November 13, 1982) was a popular British entertainer of the Second World War period. He is best known as part of a double act with Bud Flanagan, Flanagan and Allen.

He was born in Brighton, East Sussex, England and died in Midhurst, England. As music hall comedians, they would often feature a mixture of comedy and music in their act and this led to a successful recording career as a duo and roles in film and television. Flanagan and Allen were both also members of The Crazy Gang and worked with that team for many years concurrently with their double-act career.

Flanagan and Allen's songs featured the same, usually gentle humour for which the duo were known in their live performances, and during the war reflected the experiences of ordinary people during wartime. Songs like We're Going To Hang Out The Washing On The Siegfried Line mocked the German defences (Siegfried Line), while others like Miss You sang of missing one's sweetheart during enforced absences. Other songs such as their most famous Underneath The Arches (which Flanagan co-wrote with Reg Connelly) had universal themes such as friendship, which again, helped people relate to the subject matter. The music was usually melodic, following a binary verse, verse chorus structure, with a small dance band or orchestra providing the backing. The vocals were distinctive because while Flanagan was at least a competent singer and sang the melody lines, Allen used an almost spoken delivery to provide the harmonies.

Flanagan and Allen stopped working together with Chesney Allen's retirement on health grounds in the 1960s but Allen returned to make occasional guest appearances.”

The next brother – the eighth child - Edward Ernest Turner (born 1886) was father to Julia (Bunty) Turner who married Freddie Frith, the only man to win the Isle of Mann TT race both before and after the war.

From the official Isle of Mann TT Database

“Rider Profile Freddie L Frith
TT Career Summary
Position . . . 1 2 3 DNF
No of times 4 1 4 3
Biography

A stylish rider and five times winner on the Island, Frith has the distinction of being one of the few to win TT races before and after the Second World War. He won the 1935 Junior Manx Grand Prix and then joined the Norton team for the 1936 TT Races. It was a winning combination as Frith took the Junior and finished second in the Senior. In 1937 he went one better in the Senior and took a brilliant win. He also set the first 90mph plus lap of the course. After finishing third in the 1939 Senior he missed the 1947 TT due to a practice spill on a 500cc Moto Guzzi. Turning to Velocettes in 1948 he won the Junior Race, repeating this success a year later. Frith also has the distinction of being the first ever 350cc World Champion. “