Just who
was Mr Papagopolous, the owner of the Gamma Garments chain of haberdashery shops in the
Coronation Street serial in the 1960s?
When Miss Emily Nugent merged her baby linen business with Mr Leonard Swindley's haberdashery emporium in Rosamund Street, Weatherfield, way back in 1961, both were hoping that the venture would be successful.
There was no reason why not: Miss N and Mr S were of like mind, already knowing each other well from their work at the Mission Of Glad Tidings in Coronation Street and, in Mr Swindley's case, haberdashery was well and truly in the blood. However, the two were soon facing the harsh reality that their business was heading for bankruptcy.
There was only one thing to do - Swindley's became part of a chain of shops called Gamma Garments. Mr Swindley was manager and Miss Nugent his assistant in the new regime, so things hadn't really changed very much. Or had they? The very
mention of Gamma's owner, Mr Papagopolous, was enough to send Miss Nugent and Mr Swindley into a panic. This Greek businessman was not to be trifled with - and he was certainly not in the business for the love of it.
The Greek tycoon suddenly had a couple of English wallies in his employ. "Oh, Mr Swindley! Somehow I always saw you as more of a Batchelor of Arts..."
Mr S and Miss N were no longer their own bosses, simply struggling to stay afloat financially, and answerable to nobody else. They now had a boss. And, to all intents and purposes, a pretty terrifying one at that!
So, what did this fearsome Street character look like? And who played him? The answer to Question One is we don't really know, and the answer to Question Two is nobody. Despite Mr P's talent at sending Miss Nugent and Mr Swindley into a spin, the closest we ever came to encountering him was in "No, Mr Papagopolous.... yes, Mr Papagopolous.... but of course, Mr Papagoplous..." style telephone conversations with Mr Swindley and Miss Nugent. And, of course, we never actually heard what Mr P was saying first hand and never heard his voice - his missives were always relayed by Mr S or Miss N!
Forever off-screen but often referred to, Mr Papagopolous was rather like Arthur Daley's "'Er indoors" in the 1980s - a mysterious, unseen presence.
So, what do we actually know about Mr P? Well, we know he was Greek, we know he owned a chain of stores called Gamma Garments, we know he was a tough, even ruthless boss - and we know that his staff (well, at least Mr Swindley and Miss Nugent at the Rosamund Street branch!) were greatly in awe of him.
So, is there any further information to be gleaned?
For a strong mental image of the man I recommend HV Kershaw's 1977 novel Elsie Tanner Fights Back. Mr Kershaw was involved with The Street since its inception and fulfilled several roles over the years - script editor, producer, executive producer, script writer and novelist. He wrote the three Coronation Street novels, Early Days, Trouble At The Rovers and Elsie Tanner Fights Back from 1976-1977. Each novel covered stories from an early 1960s year of The Street's existence.
In Elsie Tanner Fights Back, which was set in 1963, Mr Kershaw decided to have some fun and write Mr Papagopolous into a scene with Mr Swindley. As Mr Kershaw was heavily involved in The Street during the Papagopolous era, his vision of the character is obviously important.
Miss Nugent was facing the sack from the shop - because profits were down. Mr Swindley embarked on a bus ride to Manchester, to Gamma's head office at Sunlight House, to plead Miss Nugent's case with Mr Papagopolous.
Mr Kershaw spelt the surname "Papagopolos" - minus the 'u'.
The first thing we discover in Mr Kershaw's Gamma chapter is that Mr P's first name is Spiros and his initials S.N.
Mr Papagopolous weighed seventeen stones, four pounds; he was olive skinned and his head was fringed with jet black, greasy hair; his eyes were dark and lifeless; his mouth full-lipped and crowned by twin pencil lines of moustache.
His manner was cold, and business-like ("How are you?" asked Mr Swindley. "I'm waiting, Swindley, that's how I am! Waiting for you to tell me what you want!" said Mr Papagopolous).
When Mr Swindley advanced his case for keeping Miss Nugent on at the Rosamund Street branch of Gamma Garments, he went so far as to describe her as his "right hand".
"In Piraeus we have a saying," said Mr Papagopolous. "If your right hand interferes with business, cut it off!"
Mr P was very canny. He decided that Mr Swindley's obvious devotion to Miss Nugent could be used to his advantage - driving Swindley to put more effort into improving business at Gamma Garments. Mr Swindley offered a twenty per cent increase. Mr P agreed that Miss Nugent could stay on, but warned him:
"You'll have to tell her that if business doesn't improve, somebody would have to go! And this time it could be you!"
"But of course!" said Swindley, wondering what kind of a trap he'd walked into.
"Twenty per cent, you say! I'll give you three weeks! Okay?"
"What can I say?" asked Swindley.
"Say 'good-bye!' said Papagopolos.
The character of Spiros Papagopolous was also mentioned in the 1985 publication
Coronation Street - 25 Years, but in 1992, the epic saga of
Corrie history,
Weatherfield Life, by Daran Little and Bill Hill, referred to him as
Niklos!
So, what became of Mr Papagopolous and Gamma Garments? Well, Mr P went bankrupt in the summer of 1968, the year after the transformation of Gamma into a trendy boutique.
Arthur Lowe (Mr Swindley) left the show in 1965, taking Mr Swindley into a comedy spin-off series called
Pardon The Expression and then into the short-lived
Turn Off The Lights, another sitcom, this time featuring Mr Swindley as a ghost hunter. After his encounters with Mr Papagopolous, Mr S must have developed nerves of steel!
In 1968, Arthur Lowe became better known as Captain Mainwaring in
Dad's Army.
Eileen Derbyshire (Emily Nugent) remains with
Corrie to this day, although for Emily, with all she has endured over the years, Gamma Garments and Mr Papagoplous are now probably very dim and distant memories indeed!
The first series of the mid-1960s Coronation Street comedy spin-off, Pardon The Expression, starring Arthur Lowe as Leonard Swindley, is now on DVD - and the release of the second series follows in early August.
I'd also love to see more of the Gamma Garments Corrie years available on DVD - Mr Swindley and Miss Nugent (Eileen Derbyshire) in a spin over Mr Papagopolous, and cheeky young Doreen Lostock (Angela Crow), anxious to escape (she joined the Army in the end!). Just look at the photograph above - Mr Swindley pontificating and preening away, egged on by the very enthusiastic Miss Nugent, and that great twin-mounded beastie behind him.
The Gamma Garments die-cast model van sometimes turns up on eBay. It's great to see that fondly-remembered scenario recognised in this way, but it would be even better if there were more Gamma-era episodes available on DVD to accompany it!
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