Bowled over

A black bowler hat signed by Stan Laurel has been acquired by Blackpool council. The hat was given to Cyril Critchlow, an avid collector of entertainment memorabilia, by Lancashire-born Stan Laurel in June 1947, when Laurel and Hardy played at the Palace Theatre. The council hopes a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for the town’s first museum, set to be devoted to the history of popular entertainment, will help give the hat – and the whole Critchlow archive of more than 10,000 items – a worthy home.