Leicester Tunks

Born in Walthamstow in Essex in 1880[1] the son of Emma Charleson née Arney and Charles George Tunks,[2] his father was a member of the London Stock Exchange.

From January 1905 to June 1907 in addition to Corcoran he played baritone roles in the company's Gilbert and Sullivan repertory, including Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance, Colonel Calverley in Patience, Mountararat in Iolanthe, Florian in Princess Ida, Pish-Tush in The Mikado,[4] the Lieutenant of the Tower in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Luiz in The Gondoliers.

[5][6] For D'Oyly Carte's Second London Repertory season at the Savoy Theatre from April to October 1908 Tunks played Pish-Tush in The Mikado and Bill Bobstay in H.M.S.

Coincidentally, it was Tunks' birthday, and he having little faith in the eatables provided by theatrical landladies had obtained a large steak and kidney pie with various other confections plus a few bottles of spirits and beer to share with his friends in the digs.

His Grosvenor in Patience did not speak with the traditional Cockney accent in his final scenes but instead used a more animated tone than that he used earlier for the idyllic poet and his Captain Corcoran in Pinafore actually serenaded the moon instead of the audience.