A Cup of Tea with Edward (Teddy) Payne
article by Ruth Barrett, photos by Elizabeth Davidson
“Come on up, love.”
Greeted by a peck on the cheek, I follow Edward ‘Teddy’ Payne up a steep set of blue-painted wooden steps into his Stratford studio, where he lives and works as a painter and writer.
Teddy’s bachelor pad is unlike any other one-room flat. Occupying the entire top floor of a Victorian era shop building, it is a Tardis-like open space divided into vignettes floating on a series of oriental carpets. Enormous, cozy couches and armchairs define a living room for lounging and long, animated conversations. Side tables and coffee tables are laden with oversized art books and glowing lamps. A dining space with a large welcoming table sees many a dinner party. The public and private areas meld together seamlessly: no coy attempt is made at concealing Teddy’s bedroom or his work stations from full view. Teddy’s home is like his personality: open, warm and fascinating. It gives the impression of a sprawling English country house packed to the brim with family pictures and photographs.
A guest’s eye is invited to wander and muse over the innumerable fascinating personal artifacts: sets of military medals, British memorabilia, artisanal pottery and antiques all vie for attention and prompt endless discussion. With Teddy, every object comes with a story attached. On one bookcase hangs a brown leather WWI holster bearing his father’s service pistol, and displayed alongside is a military sabre of the same period. Another family piece, I query?
“No,” says Teddy with a grin. “Paddy Crean [the famed fight director] gave it to me at my wedding and it was used to cut the cake. The blade’s drawn blood, if you can believe it. It’s a British Army heavy cavalry sword used in the last charge of the Megiddo Battle of Armageddon in Palestine in 1918.” Teddy’s eyes twinkle. “Paddy apologized that it wasn’t an officer’s sword: ‘It only belonged to a trooper, old man’. But can you imagine that slicing though the air in the heat of battle?”
Yes, I can. Chatting with Teddy fires the imagination. He is a true raconteur. Every anecdote leads easily into another story, and there is no end to his repertoire of fascinating people, places, and history.
There’s little wonder why Teddy is full of stories. Born in Hampstead, London, Teddy served in the Royal Navy as an Able Seaman (Radar) from 1943-47 before a brief but fascinating stint as an irrigation engineer in the Sudan. After three years — ‘when the country went ga-ga and stopped importing scotch’ — Teddy followed his heart (and a beautiful woman!) to America. This life shift saw him change careers to the furniture design trade. He eventually moved to Ontario in 1968, and his retirement in 1990 brought him ‘home’ to Stratford. Finally, there was time to pursue his lifelong loves of painting and writing.
I settle into an armchair with my cuppa and gaze at the expanse of exposed red brick wall that runs the length of the flat. The entire room is lined with bookshelves packed with a collection of books that many a decent bookshop would do well to display.
“Isn’t the brick wall wonderful? I saw a studio flat in New York City back in the ‘50s and I’d coveted something like it for myself ever since.”
A typical winter’s day in the life of Teddy begins early. He rises ‘around six-ish’ with the scent of baking bread wafting in from the shop downstairs. A few hours are spent painting or writing, depending on whichever ongoing project requires most attention. Teddy has a prolific output in both paint and words. His watercolours, prints, and posters can be found in shops all over Stratford. These are colourful delights of a myriad of subject matters dear to Teddy’s heart: local Stratford landmarks and personalities are whimsically depicted, along with finely rendered Perth county landscapes. Women are a central theme— in his artwork, his writing, and his life. I never seem to spot Teddy without a bevy of younger beauties at his side. In fact, as we began our interview, his phone rang: a lady friend was in the shop downstairs and wanted to drop in. “Come on up, love. I’ve got two women here already!”
Teddy is more creatively productive and socially engaged than most people half his age, and it’s easy to forget that he’s a man in his 80s. He attributes his lively outlook to ensuring he’s continually surrounded by younger, interesting folk.
“I don’t want to sit about with a bunch of old people moaning about their aches and pains and complaining about piles,” he says with an impish grin.
Teddy’s books are widely available around Stratford, notably at Fanfare Books on Ontario Street. He has something for everyone: from his many slim volumes of charming Stratford watercolours, to his First Steps guide for wooing women, to his literary memoirs The Apricot Blooms in the Desert and The Streets of Odeon, Teddy’s writing is sure to entertain. This spring, Teddy will release East of the Sun — the follow-up to his first novel, When the Devil Drives — through the Bookway Publishing Company of Detroit. “It’s a story of sad partings, of love and adventure, and acts of derring-do,” he tells me. “I’m already thinking ahead to the next novel.” Another whimsical art book is also due in spring: Teddy’s Stratford and Some of his Friends.
All this winter work whets the appetite for Teddy’s return to Art In the Park on June 1st, where he delights in flogging his artistic wares and holding open court every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday throughout the summer. It’s the perfect gig for such a sociable artist. After two good marriages, Teddy is seeing out his life in a renewed state of bachelorhood, but he never feels lonely in such a creatively vibrant town surrounded by so many adored— and adoring— friends. He is happy living alone.
“In fact, darling,” he says. “I’ve never been as happy as I am now.”