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About David Perry, the Norwich Puppet Man


So who is the Norwich Puppet Man? Well, his name is David Perry and he lives in Norwich. He's 64 years old (at the time of writing this) and he has been performing in Norwich streets (usually Gentleman's Walk) for many years. In 1997, he disappeared from his usual patch because his incapacity benefit was stopped because he was making money on the streets.

In 2006, after 9 years missing in action, he has returned to Gentleman's Walk. However, he can only make around £20 a week or less or otherwise he'll lose his pension credit, but because he is over 60 he doesn't need a busker's licence.

The puppets he has used are:

  • Dougal the purple dog (on string)
  • Roy Waller (a snake made out of a sock)
  • Billy McDog (a canine hand puppet)
  • Big Tom (a duck)
  • Mick the dog (named after Mick Jagger)
  • Brenda (named after his wife)

And recently, he has acquired two new puppets donated by the bosses at Langley's toy shop, which are:

  • Basil the fox
  • Suzy the squirrel

He was recently named as one of the 25 Faces of Norwich in a competition organised by Castle Mall. In the past, he was abused by some people, either because the people did not like him, his singing or because they thought he was odd. But come on, why abuse him? He is entertaining the streets of Norwich.

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PDF copy of news article - with kind permission from Evening News

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