Sunday 20th January 2019  

Godfrey Phillip, Scout ‘Skip’, early 1950s

After reading Bron Worsnip’s ‘Memories of a Quorn childhood, 1947-1957’ (Artefact 1698), Ian Aitken got in touch with the Museum Team with some additional information regarding a Quorn scout leader from the early 1950s, remembered by them both.

Godfrey Phillip (‘Skip’) is described by Ian as charismatic Scout Leader, who helped the troop to produce a Quorn Scout ‘gang show’ in the Village Hall. Godfrey was involved with Quorn Scouts whilst he was stationed at Woodhouse for his National Service. After leaving Quorn, he went to Australia where he became a brilliant director/producer of Australian ABC Children’s programmes, most notably Adventure Island which ran for many years. He was in fact a pioneer and hero of the early decades of Australian TV. Sadly, with the advent of Sesame Street and similar programmes, Godfrey’s programmes fell out of the network as being no longer viable. He too fell on hard times and became homeless. His last years were spent in the residential care of The Brotherhood of St Lawrence.

Submitted on: 2013-05-23 Submitted by: Ian Aitken Artefact ID: 1776 Print: View artefact in printer-friendly page or just on its own.