with characteristic boyish humour, to his regular breakfast cereal, Quaker Oates. Their tour ended in March 1873 with several weeks at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. Morton had now achieved a regular and satisfactory income. That autumn, he took on the lease of the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, renovated it and established his duo firmly in the national consciousness. Morton managed the front of house until 1886, the act continuing until 1905, and then at other major London venues for the next two generations. The highlight of the partnership was a Royal Command to bring the then twenty-strong company to Sandringham on 3 June 1879 to entertain the young Prince George (the future George V) on his fourteenth birthday. Greenwich Around 1874 Morton, his wife and six children moved south to gain easy access to the metropolis, setting up their home and his office at 'Royston Villa', 276 New Cross Road in Deptford. Early on Morton had developed a love of horses, learning to ride at an uncle's farm; each morning he drove his carriage and pair to his Egyptian Hall. He maintained a carriage, his favoured choice of transport, until the beginning of the Great War when the government commandeered his horses and he reluctantly purchased a motor car. New Cross Public Hall In 1880, Morton took over the lease and management of nearby New Cross Public Hall. The Hall was used on weekdays for local activities and amateur groups, including ghost shows and dioramas. He developed a local dramatic company with Henry Bedford which performed on Saturdays. On 20 August 1883, after renovations, he re-opened the Hall as a thousand-seater regular theatre with a relatively new play by Arthur C Jones entitled Elmine, or Mother & Son. Future Saturday bookings included Richard D'Oyly Carte's opera company with HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, and Wood and Pleon's Ethiopian minstrels. Morton continued as manager of the Hall until 1897 when competition from the nearby newly opened 3000-seat Broadway Theatre, together with ever demanding London County Council requirements (challenged by Morton) made the Hall unprofitable. Morton advertised it for sale in The Era and to his surprise got the asking price. Greenwich Theatre In May 1884 Morton was offered the stagnating Greenwich Theatre by its builder and owner, Sefton Parry. A once prosperous theatre "had been reduced to utter ruin by the incompetence and mismanagement of the speculators", said The