LITTLE BILLY TALLON: "THE QUEEN MOTHER'S FAVOURITE SERVANT AND CONFIDANT"

By Ty Munroe

Little Billy Tallon is a memoir about working below stairs for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at Clarence House. William 'Billy' Tallon was the Steward and Page of the Backstairs and Ty Munroe was Under Butler responsible to Tallon. Tallon worked for the Queen Mother for almost 50 years. On her death he was made redundant and retired. He had a reputation for being domineering but he could also be funny and charming and was a fascinating raconteur. He drank too much but gave it up for Lent - to give his inner organs a rest, he said. Tallon took his secrets to the grave. He and the Queen Mother were close, a fact recognised by the bureaucrats at Buckingham Palace who entered Tallon's home a day after his death and possibly took away some things. Reg Wilcock, Tallon's life-long partner and work associate, was Deputy Steward and Page of the Presence at Clarence House. Wilcock had been the Duke of Windsor's valet in France for a couple of years. He died in 2000, a few days after the Queen Mother's 100th birthday and seven years before Tallon. Little Billy Tallon is packed with dialogue. An imagined plot line about a new member of staff is included so that the detailed workings below stairs can be divulged as he's being inducted. For lovers of Royal Family minutiae this indulgent, whimsical collection of recollections is a godsend. It's entertaining, full of gossip and a must-read for anyone thinking of working for the Royal Family. The book covers the100th birthday celebrations in 2000 while preparing for a summer trip to Scotland. Moving from room to room at first, you will get a 'fly on the wall' account of what's going on. Then we go with William and the footmen to serve dinner in the royal box at the ballet in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It contains conversations and events taken from real life at an historic time at Clarence House. It gives an insight into our traditional Edwardian working practises. Please note: there are no photographs in this book. (A LARGE-PRINT VERSION IN PAPERBACK IS ALSO AVAILABLE, search for: Little Billy Tallon paperback Large-Print). Also available in e-Book version. Hardback no longer available due to production costs, (Large-print paperback has red title letters. Kindle has purple title letters and ordinary paperback has green title letters.)

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1980714177
• ISBN13: 9781980714170
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 269 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.7" x 5.3"