Ilford Hippodrome Theatre

This story is not accurate. According to Rene Houston’s own autobiography it was her husband – Donald Stewart – who was thrown into the orchestra pit, she was thrown back into the wings. When she stood up all she could see was a pile of bricks where he had been standing only a few seconds before. According to Ms Houston, she took it like a trouper, but according to my late aunt, Miss Pauline Peer, who was in the audience that night, Rene Houston had a screaming fit until she saw Donald Stewart was alive in the orchestra pit.