Neil Baldwin was taken into the hearts of the nation thanks to the Bafta-winning BBC film Marvelous, in which he was played by Toby Jones. He has now helped create a theatrical version.
People who turn their life stories into films and plays are usually celebrities or politicians or those who have accomplished something particularly heroic or remarkable. At first glance, Neil Baldwin is an unlikely subject.
He is a former clown and stuffman from Stoke City who was not well known – at least beyond his hometown of Staffordshire – and was not at the center of risqué or dramatic historical events.
But viewers who watched 2014’s heartwarming Marvelous realized that it’s remarkable and heroic in its own way.
They saw his uncanny ability to spread positivity and endear himself to everyone he meets, from students to archbishops to footballers.
You’ve also seen how he always manages to get what he wants and keeps going against the odds, his learning disabilities are anything but an obstacle.
“When I saw it, I thought it’s a good film,” he says today. “The best movie ever. And I still think he is.”
Marvelous won three Baftas in 2015, including Best Single Drama, and has also been showered with awards from the Royal Television Society, the Broadcasting Press Guild and the Monte Carlo TV Festival.
Since then Baldwin has received other honors including the Liberty of Stoke-on-Trent and the British Empire Medal for services to the community of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
He now wears this medal everywhere and has it pinned to the lapel of his jacket when he comes to the New Vic Theater in Newcastle-under-Lyme to discuss the stage adaptation.
He created the show with the venue’s artistic director, Theresa Heskins, and it’s finally hitting the stage after long delays caused by pandemics.
“It’s been postponed three times because of the pandemic,” says Heskins, who has joined Baldwin in the theater’s lounge during a break in rehearsals.
She tells him, “Every time I called you I was like, how am I going to tell Neil?
“He made me feel better every time. I called him and felt horrible about it and then I hung up the phone and felt so much better – that’s Neil’s special power.”
The play officially opens on Tuesday, on Baldwin’s 76th birthday, and he will occupy what Heskins calls a “royal box” for the entire run. He is expected to be joined by a number of his famous friends, from Toby Jones to former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
Lord Williams recently held a special service in Baldwin’s honor to celebrate his 62 years on the Keele University campus, where his mother worked as a cleaner and where young Baldwin made himself a popular presence and unofficial mascot.
As early as 1968 he was awarded honorary membership of the Studentenwerk for life, and in 2013 he received an honorary doctorate.
His love of making people laugh led him to the circus in 1980 as Clown Nello. His other passions include Stoke City FC and when he introduced himself to new manager Lou Macari in 1991, Macari decided Baldwin would be a force for good in the dressing room.
He made Baldwin the kit man, describing him as “my best signing of all time”.
“His real value was in helping players relax before games,” Macari wrote in his autobiography. “No chemist has ever created a drug that can reduce stress like Nello. I was convinced that this would give us an advantage in matches. Nello welded the group together.”
Baldwin has even managed his own football club called Neil Baldwin FC at Keele University since 1967, asking the likes of Kevin Keegan and Gary Lineker to serve as president. They of course agreed.
Baldwin published his autobiography in 2015 and as they began work on the play, he and Heskins went over his life story with a cast of actors.
“We said to Neil, ‘There’s that part in the autobiography, can you tell us a little bit more about that?'” Heskins explains.
“He told us, then we tried to recreate it. As the actors improvised, Neil said, ‘I think I did that and said that.’ And then we would do these things.”
Addressing Baldwin, she adds, “Every time we wanted to get a little serious, you were the person who always said to us, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if she had itching powder in her skirt now?'”
The world could use more of Neil Baldwin’s mood-lifting powers. So what’s his secret to staying optimistic?
“I’m just staying positive,” he replies simply, before recalling a conversation he had with a young friend whose mother recently died.
“He called me on Christmas day and said, ‘Why are you still happy?’ I said, ‘Life is very short sometimes and you have to stay happy.’”
Heskins tried to dig deeper. “Remember the time I locked you in the auditorium for two hours?” she says to him. “I wouldn’t let you out until you’ve answered that very question. What’s your recipe for happiness?
“You kept saying to me, ‘Just be happy.’ And I kept saying, “What if some people can’t do that? Offer me some concrete ideas.”
“You said, ‘Get a pet. Sing. Have friends.’ You said to me, ‘I know I live alone, but I have so many friends.’ And you said that one of the keys to happiness is having people.
“You have all these friends and you’re nice to them. You make people feel good by being so nice to them and that makes people happy. This feels like your amazing recipe for happiness. And laughter too.”
“Oh yeah,” says Baldwin. “I always try to keep laughing. Sometimes people get upset. But you always have a life to live.”
Baldwin’s positive take on the trademark was justified when it came to making Marvelous. “Before the film came out, I said, ‘We’re going to London for the Baftas.’ [Writer] Peter Bowker says, ‘Don’t be a fool.’ I said, ‘You’ll be the fool if we win.’ And we won.”
This film opened doors for Baldwin to make even more friends in high places. A committed royalist, he tells of a visit to Buckingham Palace, one of his proudest days.
“William and Kate were there and William said to me, ‘You won a Bafta, didn’t you? What a movie that was.’
“And I said to Kate, ‘What beautiful children you have.’ She said, ‘Thank you, sir.’ I turned around and said, ‘I’m not a sir until you make me one!’”
Marvelous almost made Baldwin a national treasure, and there’s still room on his lapel for more gongs.
Delightful runs at the New Vic Theater in Newcastle-under-Lyme from March 11th to April 9th.
Add Comment