How this Bognor Regis singer finally heard her grandfather's voice

From left to right: Rachel Timlick, Chloe Rachel-Gover and Nicholas James Wren

A performer with starring roles in productions all over the south coast and an unmistakeably theatrical voice, she’s always been told her dramatic flair comes straight from her grandfather.

"I used to watch musicals with my nan and she would talk to me about him,” Mrs Gover-Wren said. "She’d say she watched him perform in all sorts of shows, that he had a wonderful voice. She’d always say how lovely he was.”

A consummate master of ceremonies with a career spanning several decades, Micky Wren performed on many of the same stages and in many of the same shows as his daughter, meaning she’s always felt strangely connected to him.

Tragically, Micky died when Mrs Gover-Wren was just three years old, with no recordings of his work, she never heard his voice.

That is until she appealed to readers of the Bognor Regis Observer for old recordings. One reader, Rachel Timlick, obliged.

Her mother, Ann Crouch, was also a star of the Bognor Regis stage and, rummaging through her belongings, unearthed a recording of The Desert Song, performed with none other than Micky Wren.

"I brought home a load of tapes from my mum’s house when we were clearing it out and they sat there for a long time,” Mrs Timlick said, adding that her mother still fondly remembers her old co-star.

"I had a look through them to see what was there and, a couple of weeks later, I saw the story in the Observer. I’m almost surprised, I thought there would be loads of people.”

But Mrs Timlick was the only one. That meant, when Chloe finally heard her grandfather’s voice, it was even more poignant.

Sitting in Bognor’s Alexandra Theatre, a venue in which both she and her grandfather have performed, the actor said: "I had no idea what I’d hear, really. And then all of a sudden there was this voice. It was just beautiful. I couldn’t talk for a while afterwards. It was just this wave of emotion.

“I always imagined he’d sound like Gordon MacRae, because that’s what I was told, and that’s the kind of voice I grew up loving.So the fact he actually sounds like that is just ‘wow’. He lives up to the stories 100 per cent.”