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Percy Tucker

Impresario who negotiated de-segregation of South African theatres before abolition of apartheid

May 7, 2021 24:00
Percy Tucker Computicket
2 min read

In devoting his life to nurturing and furthering the live arts and entertainment in his native South Africa, Percy Tucker forged mutually productive relationships with creative artists and managements across Europe, Britain and the USA.

The breadth of Tucker’s interests, ranging from his first love — theatre — to classical and popular music, ballet, modern dance, variety and spectacle, saw him become an integral figure in the South African showbusiness industry as adviser, counsellor, mentor, organiser, impresario and innovator.

Internationally he is known for his foresight in creating the world’s first fully operative, computerised, centralised ticket-booking system, which he introduced in South Africa in 1969. Originally known as “Show Service”, in 1971 this gave way to “Computicket”, of which he was the founder and managing director until his retirement in 1994. This unique concept was pioneered by Tucker and changed forever the way tickets for entertainment were marketed worldwide.

Born to Rae and Harry Tucker in the small mining town of Benoni, just outside Johannesburg in 1928, he was educated at Benoni High, the University of the Witwatersrand (B. Com) and the University of South Africa UNISA, where he read accountancy.