In the News

Martin Scott Price, a 67-year-old puppet collector, has amassed over 1,000 puppets since he was five. His collection includes century-old Punch and Judy glove puppets, an original Sooty bear, and a Pinocchio replica. He travels the country giving outdoor shows with his puppets. Martin's favourite is a crocodile used in his performances that creates laughter and fear among children. He hopes to find a suitable place for his collection upon retirement to preserve its historical significance.

Martin was featured as a Punch & Judy performer and Blackpool B&B owner. The episode follows him running his traditional seaside show and opening his personal puppet museum.

The Blackpool Puppet Museum is featured in a special episode of Unconventional Brits on Shots! TV. The episode showcases Martin's unique puppet collection, including a brass band playing Christmas carols. Viewers can watch demonstrations of Martin's Punch and Judy act, as he discusses his passion for traditional seaside entertainment and the origin of some unusual characters in his possession.

The Blackpool Puppet Museum, founded by Martin Scott Price in 2018, will open to the public this Easter. Housed at Pelham Lodge on General Street, the museum contains hundreds of traditional and antique puppets, including French marionettes, automatons, and Punch and Judy glove puppets over a century old. Martin began collecting puppets when he was five years old and now has around 1,000 different ones, such as an original Sooty bear and a replica of Pinocchio from the 1940 Disney film. Martin hopes that the Punch and Judy museum can find a permanent place in Blackpool to preserve this aspect of seaside history.

The Punch and Judy show, originating from Italian commedia dell'arte but becoming a British institution in the 18th century, features glove puppets representing stock characters like a policeman and a snapping crocodile. Martin Scott Price, a magician and Punch and Judy performer, has been fascinated by the form since childhood when he received Punch and Judy puppets from his cousin.

Price's career demonstrates the versatility of Punch and Judy as a popular folk art, including employment at corporate events and hotels. He has been a collector of Punch and Judy memorabilia since childhood, aiming to open a dedicated Punch and Judy Museum in Blackpool, known for its holiday resorts presenting the shows.

Price's interest in the form extends beyond performance, drawing inspiration from crude circus scenes he saw as a child, which sparked the idea for the museum. He emphasises the entertaining aspects of his Punch and Judy shows, particularly the crocodile that steals the show with its frightening but humorous antics, often remembered by audiences years after seeing the performance.

Martin Scott Price appears as himself, with the episode focusing on his efforts to keep Punch & Judy alive in Blackpool.

A 94-year-old former Blackpool puppeteer, Joe Green, has been found by Martin Scott Price, who is opening a Punch and Judy museum in the resort. Martin wanted to meet Joe because he was inspired by his shows as a child. The General Street museum will include Pelham puppets, Sooty and Sweep, and live Punch and Judy shows. Joe expressed his happiness to meet Martin and wished him well for the museum. He retired after spending 37 years as a puppeteer, and his family had been puppeteers for 104 years.

It's no fun to swallow your swozzle. Ask Martin Scott Price, the Fylde's own Punch and Judy Professor, and one of the best known in the business.

Indeed, after some three and a half centuries, Mr Punch is still fighting his nagging missus, a sausage-fixated crocodile, a ghost, a policeman, and political correctness. He is, after all, the world's best known wife beater, but as Martin points out, "Judy always has the last laugh."

Which brings us to Martin's great quest … for a stand-alone museum devoted to Punch and Judy in the Fylde.

Fi Glover is joined by Lucy Worsley, the Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces and poet Murray Lachlan Young. There's a surgeon who's separated over a dozen sets of conjoined twins, a father and daughter who swam to safety from a sinking ship, and of course a man (me) who extols the virtues of Punch and Judy!

I was off to BBC Lancashire Radio for a chat with their host Sally, an ex Tiller Girl who did a splendid job linking the news and chat from the panel of three.

The panel consisted of myself — Punch & Judy man and magician — a young lady from the Showzam team from the Council, and another young lady, Melanie, talking about bright ideas for young people starting out in business.

It was an amusing two-hour programme with Mr Punch up to his usual antics and the panel discussing whether children have changed watching entertainment and whether the show has changed.

It's the busiest time of the year for entertainer Martin Scott Price.

There was once a time when no seaside holiday was complete without a happy interval spent watching a hook-nosed hunchback, his nagging wife and a chuckling crocodile with a hankering for sausages. Today Punch and Judy shows may be less common, but with the help of a number of dedicated puppetry 'professors' they are just as loved.

Among them is Martin Scott Price, a puppeteer who has been in the business for more than 35 years.

Morecambe was packed with people. Entertainment marquees outside The Platform helped create the perfect seaside holiday atmosphere with acts including Punch and Judy.

Visitors to the festival were asked to complete a survey. Two thirds of those who took part were from outside the district and almost all rated it as 'very enjoyable'.