Allow me to introduce you to Andelusia the Monkey, who was ‘born’ on Christmas Day 1958. According to her original owners, she is the only girl in her family and has three brothers. She is also a ‘leader of fasions occasionally [sic]’, as well as ‘one of Teddy Robinson’s girlfriends before he married’ – but more on that later.  

Andelusia – sometimes spelt ‘Anderlusia’ – was owned by two brothers, called Richard Alan Reddaway (b. 5 May 1952) and Michael Jay Reddaway (b. 30 June 1956, d. 1998). She was one of a set of toy monkeys which was handmade for them by a teacher who lived with their family in London in the late fifties and early sixties, while they were growing up.

The set is in storage at the V&A Museum of Childhood and comprises 12 monkeys, plus three exercise books written by the brothers, where they recorded their extensive and complex imaginary world of play centred around these monkeys (and eventually all of their other animal and anthropomorphic toys). They included all sorts of information, such as their political views, social and school activities, religious views, and justice system. This very specific world of theirs seems to have been kept alive for around one decade. Take a look here to see all of their toys lined up in cabinets (you can zoom in a little).  

As the museum remarks, ‘the books have captured the inner workings of imaginative play, something that is usually intangible and difficult to record.’ They make for a delightful and pleasantly chaotic exploration, especially accompanied by the wonderful visuals provided by the physical toys and the photographs.

The name of the teacher who made these monkeys out of ladies’ stockings was Andolie Luck, who, I noted in the V&A file, had lived in Africa and had family there. Her unusual name and the African connection led me to follow a little trail. Andolie was born in Nakuru, Kenya in 1920, the daughter of a Swedish artist called Charles Cardale Luck (b.1875 Stockholm), and a mother with the eye-catching name of Cicely Maud Tennyson-Jesse (b.1884), also an artist [see a portrait of her here].

[CAUTION! Rabbit hole: After some poking around I understood that Andolie Luck was indeed connected to Alfred, Lord Tennyson – her mother Cicely was the cousin of Fryn Tennyson-Jesse, a playwright/novelist/criminologist and one of the world’s first female war correspondents,  and actress/author Stella Tennyson-Jesse. Therefore, like them, Cicely was Lord Tennyson’s great-niece, making Andolie his great-great-niece.

This far down the hole, and knowing that Fryn and Cicely had gone together to art school, I came across a licence to stage the play ‘Billeted’  which Fryn and her husband obtained in the last quarter of 1920 in Nairobi. Could Fryn have been visiting Cicely in Kenya, when she was either very heavily pregnant, or had already given birth to Andolie on 2 October 1920?]

Andelusia is wearing a green crocheted dress, with a floral cotton top and cotton shorts (which we can’t see). The notes in the exercise books state that she also had green bows on ears and tail, though it would seem the green is now faded. She is rather impressively referred to as a Conservative Leader. You can take a look here at the views held by the Conservative, Liberal, Labour and Communist parties in their world.

The information provided about each doll, often following a strict order of attributes (height, weight, date of birth, medals, tests, description, owner of toy) at times included a comment under the ‘special’ category, where they would state something specific about the toy. For instance, the ‘special’ category referring to a Teddy Robinson toy [based on the character created by Joan G. Robinson by the same name, who first appeared in 1953] states that he is ‘absoloutly in love’ [sic]. Teddy Robinson seems to have been cast as a sort of Don Juan, hence the detail about Andelusia being a former girlfriend.   

Another page in this same exercise book tells us that their Mr Woodentop toy [from the series The Woodentops, which appeared on the BBC from 1953 to 55] is apparently ‘given to passions”, whereas the Duchess ‘often has fits’, and the ‘White Cat’ is ‘good at accounts.’

This nice fellow Ando was the King of monkeys, and features heavily in the National Anthem (I am not sure the country had a specific name):

Monkeys write and sing
Ando is our king
We’ll fight for him
We fight victorious
Ando is glorious
Monkeys united and sing
Ando is our king

Apex was the Queen. The V&A Museum records for these soft toys include “Africa (made)” as well as “England (made)” in the description, to account for the inclusion of some African-made materials. Apex’s skirt and Ando’s trousers, for instance, seem probable candidates for this. Given that we know exactly where Andolie Luck lived within the vast continent of Africa, it is not unlikely that the fabric originated from Kenya’s Rift Valley.  

We are told that Ando was ‘born’ on Christmas Day 1956, and he was Richard’s (who would have been 4 when he received it). Apex was ‘born’ in 1957, also a Christmas present for Richard, and Andelusia followed for Christmas 1958.

Anki and Angle, however, seem to have been birthday presents for Richard in 1957 and 1958, respectively, as they were both ‘born’ on 5 May. The notes describe Anki as the leader of a jazz group as well as the leader of the Monkey Underground Movement (who can also ‘be very brainy’), whereas Angle is ‘very thin, often very miserable. The B[r]ainiest boy in monkey school. Enjoys acting in plays.’ The other monkeys, some of which are also recorded as gifts for Christmas or birthdays, are Appalling, Angus, Angustura, Alderbamm, Cloaky, Africa, and Asia.

The description for Andelusia reads ‘Tall Dooly made monkey. Red Smile. Green bows on ears and tail.’ I wondered about ‘Dooly’ until I saw the word somewhere else in the exercise books, where it clearly referred to a person. I concluded that Dooly must have been their affectionate name for Andolie Luck.  

The fantasy world of play created by Michael Jay and Richard Reddaway eventually included figures such as Peter Rabbit, Daleks, Mickey Mouse (who spent the summer of ’68 together with two other friends at a place called Stinkey Poo, while Ando and Apex went to Windsor and the Woodentops went to Monte Carlo) and Donald Duck (who is the main character of one of the ‘Monkey Sagas’, called ‘Racial Discrimination’, in which he is very much the racist villain).

Rather brilliantly, the Monkey Vicar is Anki:

‘The vicar is the Monkey Communist leader and as one monkey said one minute he’s up there preaching communism, the next minute it’s Christianity. It’s hard to know what to do.’

Gonk toys were postmen, and ran the Post Office together with a Wise Old Owl. I also learned about the Plain Bureau (a.k.a. the Telephone Exchange), which

“[…] on the whole is an extremely good service. For a penny you can be put through to any monkey, anywhere, whether in Garden Hill, Brancastre or Swedan.[sic]

[…] To stop crime Miss Plain checks your voice pattern against the one in the book. Also if there seems to be something shady going on she records it and sends the recording to the police. When she is ill or away Musical Rabbit or Peter Rabbit do it, but they are not so efficient.

There are sections about the Monkey School; the ‘large difficulty’ posed by rumours, because ‘facts or accounts are passed round the draw[er]s like lightning […]’; and the Monkey Doctor (Blue Bear), whose ‘profession started in Barnet General Hospital when Michael was ill there. He only gives pills or medicine, however, operations are done by Miss Luck.’

There are glimpses everywhere of how real events from the boys’ own lives (e.g., stays at hospital, or the inclusion of Sweden in the list of possible places to call) were written into this fictional world, as well as comments suggesting that Dooly/Miss Luck/Andolie was perhaps an active participant in this world beyond merely making the monkeys.

Sock monkeys had already been around for a good while by the time Andolie Luck started making these, but these are far more detailed and complex, and a good deal more expressive. They required skill and a certain kind of light humour in their execution; it is possible she used a pattern for them, though they are all a little different.

The collection was gifted to the V&A Museum in memory of Michael Jay Reddaway, who died in 1998 at the age of 42. Michael wrote in one of the exercise books ‘to save these stories from being entirely lost in the passage of time the hazy recolections are being writen now’ [sic].

It is rare to come across such a detailed and real account of a fictional world of play that one comes back to – in many ways, the idea behind something like Winnie the Pooh is exactly this. It doesn’t occur to most of us to gift the ‘documentation’ of what we think of as our silly little games to a museum, but these books were a significant part of Michael J Reddaway’s life.

Looking through this all was fascinating, and also incredibly intimate – a little like coming across an unfinished letter to someone. It’s the fact that the exercise books are coupled with funny, lovely handmade monkeys that makes this collection very special indeed.

Andelusia the Monkey has happily entered my collection of portraits that inevitably make me smile, and I am very glad to have made her acquaintance.