William Francis George Kite was born. He was later to change to William Alfred George Kyte. Mum told me he liked being a ‘WAG’
Emma loved William and accepted each child as it was conceived with love and warmth. But William was not good with money. Drink was too available, and he loved gambling on the fights and cards, a trait he passed on to his son. He and Emma were married in 1901, and he had been working steadily in the industry created by the craft culture that blitzed England when the Japan-British connection was established. He was an expert in fine furniture and was called a japanner. It heralded the minimalism of twentieth-century Modernism, but lost popularity from 1900 onwards, which aligns with the timeline of the Kite family. Perhaps William found farm work or driving taxi cabs. They managed to feed a growing family. But both liked to drink, and there was a small theatre pub not far from their home. Was she a singer?
Dad sang. His voice singing Moonlight Serenade, a song sung by Mario Lanza, is a clip in my brain played over and over. He was drunk mostly, but he told us of singing in the choir at his foster home in Shouldham near King’s Lynn. Did he get the ability from the Walton side of the family?
He still had so many Pommy attributes, and yet he had spent his life in his adopted country and was a proud Australian. He fought for it (2/14th Battalion) and became Wally, the metamorphosis complete.
Mario Lanza Moonlight Seranade