David Hobbs. Page 22

The following photographs all courtesy D Hobbs.

The above photograph left, shows David sitting on the left wearing his Naval hat.  He is standing extreme left, third row in the photograph on the right.

David took part in several shows at BAB21, many men performing speciality acts they had perfected prior to military service or had learned in camp.   Professional and amateur musicians  held music lessons in camp with many men keen to learn.  Lots of prisoners stated that it was the camp activities that helped them through the years of captivity.  Prior to call up David worked at a bank,  during captivity and through a correspondence course David passed his banking qualifications.  He kept a diary whilst in captivity, detailing parcels from home he recieved and lots of other information including the camps he had been in and details of the beginning of the long march prior to setting off on the 21st January 1945.

 Above. David with two cast members after his speciality act.

David performing his speciality act.   David would show a length of cotton twine,  roll it up and place it in his mouth.  He would then slowly place individual razor blades into his mouth and to great applause and cheers, slowly pull the twine from his mouth with the razor blades now attached.