As poltergeists generally go, it seems the award-winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber may have got off lightly.
The musical theatre impresario, whose West End hits include Phantom of the Opera, has claimed he once shared his home with a poltergeist in Eaton Square.
Traditionally depicted, poltergeists – the word derives from the German poltern (to crash about) – are usually noisy or troublesome spirits associated with loud noises, moving objects, and are capable of pinching, biting and hitting. But it seems Lord Lloyd-Webber’s paranormal housemate was of gentler persuasion.
Asked by the Telegraph whether any of the theatres he owns are haunted, he replied he had never seen a ghost, but added: “I did have a house in Eaton Square which had a poltergeist. It would do things like take theatre scripts and put them in a neat pile in some obscure room. In the end we had to get a priest to come and bless it, and it left.”
Though Lloyd Webber may not have seen a ghost in his West End career, London’s theatres seem to be a popular haunting ground, according to reports.
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is reputedly home to the Man in Grey, dressed in a wig, riding cloak and tricorne hat, who allegedly stalks the upper circle – but only if the show is a success. Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who has worked with Lloyd Webber on some of his biggest hits, told the Telegraph that on the opening night of Miss Saigon in 1989 he felt a presence on the stage before the show, which the theatre manager attributed to the ghost.
The Adelphi theatre in London is said to be haunted by the spirit of the actor-manager William Terris, who was stabbed at the Maiden Lane door by a minor actor and died in the arms of the leading lady with the words: “I will be back.” The Garrick theatre is said to be haunted by its former manager Arthur Bourchier, who died in 1927.
London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket is reportedly haunted by the ghost of the actor, comedian and manager John Baldwin Buckstone, a friend of Charles Dickens. Dame Judi Dench recently told the Sunday Times she saw an apparition at a memorial service at the theatre for the actor Michael Denison. “It was in the afternoon! I saw somebody wearing top hat and tails running down the stairs and I thought: ‘What a funny get-up!’ It may not have been a ghost. But I like the thought of them. Why on earth shouldn’t it happen?”
Sir Patrick Stewart has reportedly said he too saw an apparition at the Theatre Royal Haymarket while appearing in Waiting for Godot in 2009, which was “wearing a belted Norfolk jacket. I think he had a shirt – a rather old-fashioned check shirt with a tie underneath”.
It is not known if Lloyd Webber’s poltergeist confined himself to the impresario’s Eaton Square abode or also took up residence in other homes. Some famous Eaton Square residents over the years have included the former prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and Stanley Baldwin, the former foreign secretary Lord Halifax, the actors Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison, and the socialite Diana Mitford who married Sir Oswald Mosley.
