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The Adelphi Theatre was first built in 1806 and has been rebuilt three times since. It was the first theatre to use a sinking stage and was also a pioneer of gas lighting. It seats 1,560 people and has a long tradition of staging popular musicals.

The theatre is said to be haunted by the ghost of the actor William Terris, who was stabbed outside the stage door by a minor actor named Richard Arbor Prince on 16 December 1897. Prince is said to have been jealous of Terris’s success and to have bought the dagger some time earlier in order to kill him as soon as he had the chance.

As Terris lay dying in the street his mistress rushed out and held him in her arms. He whispered to her, ‘I’ll be back.’ Since then he has been seen several times in the theatre, in the nearby Covent Garden tube station, which was built on the site of his favourite baker’s shop, in Maiden Lane and possibly in the Lyceum Theatre as well (see page 71). He wears a grey suit and white gloves and has been seen walking through a whole row of seats and disappearing through a wall. One evening several men were working in the theatre when they saw a glowing green light which turned into the misty figure of the former actor. He floated across the stage and into the stalls. Rapping noises have also been heard in the dressing room Terris used. Apparently he used to tap on the door of an adjoining room to let his leading lady know that he was going out for a few minutes.

Richard Arbor Prince was certified insane and confined to a mental institution.

The Adelphi Theatre, The Strand, London WC2E 7NA; Tel:020 7344 0055