Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Former professional soldier in the Royal Artillery who became an actor, winning the RADA Bancroft Medal and performing in plays including a revival of Shaw's Mr
On the island
Eight records
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:48How did the theatre come into your life?
I think the theatre began to come into my life about the middle of the [1914–18] war. I had not done any acting at all up to that time, but I suddenly discovered the theatre in London. Absolutely the first thing that thrilled me was a review called Bric-A-Brac. And the second, very shortly afterwards, was the Bing Boys, with George Roby, who was my absolute hero as a comedian, and Violet Lorraine. That was the start, and I think I discovered how much I was terrifically stage-struck from then on.
Presenter asks
1:34What did you do about this new ambition [to be an actor]?
Well, nothing immediately. Just after the war I did quite a lot of concert party work, but my sights were by that time set very firmly on being an actor and I'd met Edmund Gwen, during the war who'd been extremely kind to me and I pested him quite a lot. ... eventually confessed that I wanted to go on the stage. He did his very utmost to dissuade me, telling me of the great pitfalls, the unemployment, but really saw I was determined he said, well, if you must go on the stage, you've got to learn your business, you'd better go to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Presenter asks
2:24What was your first professional appearance?
London Life at Drury Lane. A melodrama, wasn't it? Yes, by Arnold Bennett and Edward Knobloch. Oh, dear me, no, I was one of eighty or more who were walking on.
Presenter asks
3:03From those early years, which engagements do you like to remember particularly?
Well, I remember one very particularly, and that was when I was sent by Charles MacDonough to see Bernard Shaw. ... He began to talk to me, and presently his wife came in, also began to talk. And then she left the room, and I still hadn't an idea what the play was, or what the part was, or anything, so I plucked up my courage to ask him what the play was that I was going to be in. And he said, Oh, dear me, didn't mister Macdonough tell you they're going to revive that dreadful old play of mine, Misses Warren's Profession? I said, Oh, I've seen it. He said, Oh, you have? Well, now tell me, what did you think of it? I said, candidly, mister Shaw, he said, yes, I want to know. I said, well honestly, didn't think very much of it. He said, Well, there you are, you see. As Napoleon said when he heard of Trafalgar, I can't be everywhere.
Presenter asks
5:10What did you find when you got to the secret destination [at the start of the war]?
Well, having passed through what was literally known as the Golden Gates and pitch darkness in the drive, we arrived at a very comic hut. And the night after our arrival, we were put to work to act as pickets and the place was festooned with tripwires which rang little bells all over the place. They were very odd days those days and very odd notices appeared on the board like the Immortal One which said in the event of an air raid staff will disperse to the woods in pairs and lie down.
Presenter asks
6:04Which are your own favorites, looking back on this long career in sound radio?
Well I think one part that I have always remembered is Jaronimo and the Spanish Tragedy. Another one was perhaps that villainous character Stephen Shoen in one of Henry Reid's series, beginning with a very great man indeed, and more recently, Socrates.
“I said, candidly, mister Shaw, he said, yes, I want to know. I said, well honestly, didn't think very much of it.”
“I went to war in a taxi with my cat.”
“Very odd notices appeared on the board like the Immortal One which said in the event of an air raid staff will disperse to the woods in pairs and lie down.”