LAST week I asked you to remember dear old Martin Guthrie, who was the dutiful and discreet manager at the door of Fortnum and Mason’s for decades.

As I said then, the characters who make up the rich social history of our city are at risk of being forgotten unless we share their stories to a new audience.

So each week, in a new section for Harrington, I’ll be recalling the life and times of some of those folk who were perhaps not famous enough for the big London history tomes that exist, but in their own way added to the spice of life in the capital.
This week, I start off by wondering whatever happened to ‘Snakey Joe’.

It sounds like I’ve made up such a fellow – or snatched a character from a low budget mobster film on Channel 5.

But if you were around in the 70s and 80s, you may remember how he danced in certain nightspots of Soho with a python wrapped around his neck. Britney-style, I guess.

He must be in his 80s now and I haven’t heard of or seen him since he was stopped during a performance outside the Kentucky Fried Chicken near Marble Arch. Snakey – his real name was Emmanuel – was taken to court by the RSPCA in 1982 amid fears his serpent was getting too cold.

Jot me a line if anybody knows what happened to him.