| | The Codman's Punch & Judy Booth. |
"In my early days, I pestered my father to such an extent that he gave in and I used to sit inside on a box watching him. "It was incredible the things I watched, arms and legs flying up in the air and goodness knows what. "Punch always has his stick. "Slapstick is a pantomime thing. Two pieces of wood with a little bit in the middle that made a slapping sound. Or that’s the way to do it, I should say. "It’s not an actual voice, but a prevetta was used in the original shows and it’s still used in our shows.  | | Punch & Judy with guest star Bessie Braddock MP. |
"Punch is the favourite character, but it’s the hit and miss with the clown that I like. "They’re all stock characters, but you can make it topical. We had a rubber headed Ken Dodd in it once. But they’re only incidental. "When my Grandfather was performing they said:
‘Now we’ve got talking pictures Mr Codman, that’s going to knock your trade.’
‘Not a bit of it', he said, 'They’ll come back.’  | | The crowd gathered around the Punch & Judy show, before it was moved in the 1950s. |
"And they did. "And then of course when my Father was doing it, television was launched.
‘Don’t you think this is going to…..?’
‘No I don’t think so.’ He said "Well, it did do for a while, but then it picked up again, so I think it will last. I hope so.
My son will be the next generation. "
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