John Youngman (1914-1977)
John Youngman was a whelk fisherman from Wells-next-the-Sea on the northwest Norfolk coast.
He was born in 1914, (christened John Robert P. Youngman) the eldest son of Bob and Florence Youngman, who lived near the Quay in Wells. His father was a jovial sort and often hosted parties and had dulcimer player Billy Cooper and his wife Emma to stay. The Coopers and Youngmans were close until Billy died in 1964. John and his wife Kath (nee Dunthorne) lived all their lives down on the quayside and he was a regular in the Shipwright’s Arms, just a stone’s throw from their house, where he enjoyed the banter and also sometimes played dulcimer, accordion and piano. According to Kath, John loved life down by the Quay and hardly ever went ‘up the town’.
John Youngman’s dulcimer
John had owned a dulcimer earlier on in life, which he sold to an American serviceman just after the Second World War. Billy Cooper later found him the one in this photograph, from Kelling, which was beautifully decorated – reputedly Billy Cooper himself did this – or possibly only the stars, which are actually the least notable part of the decoration.
John died in 1977 and his dulcimer was sold on a few years later.
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