Fox Family To Descend On Harrogate

Members of the Fox acting dynasty are set to join audiences to watch the premiere of the play, The Man Who Captured Sunlight, at Harrogate’s Royal Hall on Friday September 23.

It feels almost impossible to turn on your telly without a Fox appearing on screen. The acting dynasty have been perfecting their profession for a century, beginning with the theatrical agent, Robert Fox (1913-1971), and his sons James, Robert and Edward.

Edward Fox’s children include Emilia and Freddie Fox, notwithstanding their cousins and spouses, who are descendants and relations to the indomitable Samson Fox.

The astounding Victorian inventor with a passion for philanthropy has largely been lost to history, due in part with a damaging legal battle with author Jerome K. Jerome. The court case takes centre stage in the new play.

Freddie Fox (the great, great grandson of Samson), his mother the actress Joanna David, and other members of the Fox family will be attending the matinee performance and taking part in a Q&A after the play, with the actors and director.

Joanna David made her name with the BBC in 1979 as the heroine of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Since, she’s been a staple on our screens, from Agatha Christie to Inspector Morse to Downton Abbey, Midsomer Murders and Death in Paradise.

Her son Freddie, 33, the youngest of the Fox acting dynasty, recently played Hamlet on stage to critical acclaim.

Freddie’s breakthrough role was playing Jeremy Bamber in the chilling White House Farm. He’s since played Mark Thatcher in The Crown, a Bullingdon boy in The Riot Club, and a spook in the sardonic spy series on Apple TV, Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman.

Despite currently filming for Apple and Hulu, he’s determined to make it up to Harrogate for the play.

Freddie said:
“Regardless of my connection with the Royal Hall, which I just think is the most amazing building anyway, I just think the notion of celebrating great new work, particularly as the story of Samson is so intrinsically tied to Harrogate, is utterly vital.”

Lucy Preston, Viscountess Gormanstan, will be attending the evening performance. Lucy is the elder daughter of the actor Edward Fox and is the half-sister of Emilia and Freddie Fox. Among her ancestors, her great-grandfather was the dramatist, Frederick Lonsdale.

Samson grew up in poverty and worked in the mills as a child, but became one of the most famous and wealthiest men of his day. When he died, the King sent a telegram.

However, his son Willie Fox destroyed Samson’s letters, medals and awards.

Historian Malcolm Neesam wrote:
“Samson told his son Willie to live like a lord, and turn his back on trade and manufacturing. Social mobility didn’t exist at the time, and he wanted his family to be accepted in society.”

In the 1970’s, heritage of Samson in Harrogate was also ripped out, including the King’s telegram to the town of Harrogate on Samson’s death, which Malcolm Neesam found disintegrating in a skip.

The ethical agency, Cause UK, collaborated with local historians and the Fox family on the original stage play, to restore the former mayor of Harrogate’s reputation as a “modern day Elon Musk”. Fox revolutionised train travel, engine construction and street lighting.

Fox, who co-founded the Royal College of Music and was instrumental in building Harrogate’s Royal Hall, is the great grandfather of the actor Edward Fox and his children, the actors Freddie Fox and Emilia Fox.

Clair Challenor-Chadwick, director of Cause UK which is producing the play, said:
“Harrogate owes a great deal to Samson – as does the world, not just for his inventions and engineering legacy but his vital role in the arts.”

The play is penned by playwright and Doctor Who writer, Gavin Collinson and packed with drama, humour and pathos.

She added:
“It’s fitting that the play has been written by Doctor Who writer Gavin Collinson, as it’s a bit of a time-bending scenario that without Samson, we wouldn’t have this incredible acting dynasty. As well as Freddie, Edward, James, Emilia, there’s also Robert Fox – the acclaimed theatre producer behind David Bowie’s last production, Lazarus.”

Freddie added:
“No-one would really know who Samson was, and yet if you trace the history of his inventions and the legacy of what they created now, he is probably one of the most important names in industry for this country. So yes, a bit of celebration of Samson’s genius is long overdue.”