Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Tom Major-Ball
(1879 - 27 March 1962) was a music hall performer and circus artiste. He
was the father of John Major, former Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom.He was born Abraham Thomas Ball in in Walsall, in 1879. When he
was about five years old, his parents emigrated to Pittsburgh, USA,
where he spent his formative years. He worked in the United States as a
vaudeville performer and a trapeze artist in travelling circuses. He is
also reported to have worked as a professional baseball player.By 1896,
at the age of 17, he was back in the UK where he developed a successful
music hall career in the United Kingdom. He claimed to have performed at
"every theatre in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland". His music hall
act was as a comedian and song-and-dance man, chiefly with his first
wife, Kitty Grant. Kitty called herself Drum for the stage effect of
"Drum and Ball". Tom later added "Major" to the name when the double act
was renamed "Drum and Major". He sometimes performed under the name Tom
Major. He would later regale his family with tales of Harry Houdini and
Marie Lloyd.
