Punch and Judy

Patrick Newman

Patrick Newman has spent twenty-five years travelling through Europe with his Punch and Judy show. As he goes from London to Finland Samarkand the Russian Arctic Mongolia and Uzbekistan his puppets drive him to make deals and money.

Punch and Judy soon teach Patrick that their uses go well beyond mere entertainment - he uses the puppet show technique to penetrate the Kremlin and then to buy the State film studios from the government of Uzbekistan. The Daily Telegraph reported: 'A small British company financed by Count Gottfried von Bismarck is buying control of Uzbekistan's state film studios and film library in a deal that began with a Punch and Judy show.'

As the Soviet Union collapses Newman ships millions of cans of kiwi juice to the Russian Far East and flies a Russian bi-plane with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in his socks. He teaches audiences in Tashkent about capitalism by turning the puppet booth sausage machine into a money machine and wows Ruslan Khasbulatov a Chechen 'big cheese' by presenting him with the perfect business gift - a big Wensleydale cheese weighing 40lbs.

Newman's hilarious exploits give a unique insight into the often unbelievable opportunities afforded by Eastern Europe as communism collapsed.