Marriott Edgar

Polly, having invented an obligation in London to hide her pregnancy, gave birth in secret on 1 April 1875, almost a month after Richard and Jenny married.

This son became the famous journalist, novelist, playwright and screenplay writer, Edgar Wallace.

During the First World War he served with the Royal Sussex Regiment and the Mechanical Transport, and afterwards he toured Australia, New Zealand and South Africa with his dame act.

[citation needed] Holloway was already enjoying some success with the monologue format, with such classics as Sam, Pick Oop Tha' Musket.

Edgar asked him if he had heard a story about a couple who had taken their son to the zoo, only to see the lad eaten by a lion.

The monologues were designed to be spoken rhythmically with piano accompaniment, which in many cases was also composed by Edgar.

The Lion and Albert has been performed as a two-part song of eighteen verses to an Irish folk tune by Kathy Hampson's Free Elastic Band.