Drama of Kenneth’s big freeze

SO COLD: It’s not been a good couple of weeks for local actor and director Kenneth Alan Taylor

OLDHAM’s “Mr Theatre”, veteran actor and director Kenneth Alan Taylor, is battling a catalogue of disasters after he was struck down suffering a heart attack last week.

The 72-year-old local legend and former Coliseum boss, endured a heart attack last Tuesday, during a trip to Wales.

After an operation. Kenneth was fighting back to fitness. But little did he know his problems were only just beginning...

When he made it back to Oldham on Saturday he found his Oldham Road, Springhead home had been plunged into freezing temperatures. Contractors had switched off his gas supply during major works in the road outside.

He said: “It’s quite a big house and it was absolutely freezing. It was a total nightmare. We called Balfour Beatty, but they said they couldn’t send anybody out because it was weekend. Eventually they sent some electric heaters round, after we’d phoned them about three times.”

Surrounded by heaters, Kenneth and his equally well-known actress wife, Judith Barker, tried to make the best of it — until their electricity supply failed.

“That was the final straw really,” said kenneth. “We were told we had been using too much electricity and that caused it to fail. But I think it was the heaters: they looked a bit flimsy.

“My biggest struggle was trying to avoid getting stressed out by it all, because of the heart attack. So Judith handled all the calls.”

Kenneth is now staying with his daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Mark Whiteley, nearby. while Balfour Beatty work to restore his gas supply.

Though he’s getting stronger, Kenneth won’t be treading the boards anytime soon.

He said: “I’ve had to cancel my appearance in ‘Quartet’ at the Coliseum in April. It’s been one disaster after another, really.”