Actor and theatre manager. Born Bernard James Miles at 1 Poplar Terrace, New Road, Hillingdon. He started acting in the 1930s appearing in many of the patriotic films of WW2, and specialising in performing monologues in regional accents. In May 1959 he opened the Mermaid Theatre in Blackfriars, the first new theatre in the City of London for three hundred years. Here, he regularly played the part of Long John Silver in Treasure Island. Knighted in 1969 and created Baron Miles of Blackfriars in 1969. Died at the Thistle Hill Nursing Home, Knaresborough, Yorkshire.
The Mermaid Theatre at Blackfriars Puddle Dock was built in 1959 and rebuilt in 1981. But after difficult years it ceased as a theatre in 2008. The Richard Kindersley Seven Ages of Man sculpture at Baynard House on Queen Victoria Street was unveiled by Miles in 1980, and is a reminder of the optimism at that time.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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