Mark Hone Posted 8 March , 2003 Share Posted 8 March , 2003 A year or so I started a thread on the WFA forum about famous people who served in World War One. One mystery that was never solved was about the war service of Charles Laughton the film star. I read in the book to accompany Barry Norman's 'Hollywood Greats' TV series that Laughton had been wounded in the war (in the buttocks!) but does anyone know in which unit he was serving? Also does anyone know the identity of the louche celebrity who when asked for his impressions of the war replied 'Oh, my dear! The noise. And the people!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 8 March , 2003 Share Posted 8 March , 2003 Charles Laughton originally enlisted into the Hunts Cyclists. His war service is thought to have been the Northamptonshire Regiment. And he may have been gassed. Its all on the www.huntscyclist.com Web site. The undertaker in Dad's Army, Pte Fraser (Hugh Laurie), served in Honourable Artillery Coy. Arnold Ridley, another Dad's Army actor was an officer... with....its on the tip of my tongue....Oh well someone else will let you know. Regards Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham-McAdam Posted 8 March , 2003 Share Posted 8 March , 2003 "It was a wet and wild night..." and John Laurie will haunt you for forgetting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 8 March , 2003 Share Posted 8 March , 2003 Hugh Laurie was invalided out of the army with a chest complaint As far as I am aware Arnold Ridley was a private soldier in an infantry Bn. He was badly injured after being struck on the head with a rifle butt and suffered the after effects for the rest of his life. Although better known for his Dad's Army character, he was a prolific playwright, one of his most famous being the "Ghost Train" Billy Cotton (band leader) joined the Royal Fusiliers before the war as a boy soldier and served as a drummer or bugler. He later joined the RFC, became a pilot and was badly injured when his aircraft crashed. In the 1920's and 30's he was also a noted racing driver. Another TV personality was Jack Warner who starred in many British made films such as the "Blue Lamp" but became a household name as "Dixon of Dock Green" of course. The brother of comediens, Elsie and Doris Waters, Warner served in the RAF in 1918 and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal of which he said was "his proudest possesion." I believe Bud Flanagan of the "Crazy Gang" also had WW1 service. No doubt somebody will be able to confirm this. Terry Reeves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 8 March , 2003 Author Share Posted 8 March , 2003 The speed of this forum is amazing. I have sent an e-mail to the 'Hunts Cyclist' webmaster. Laughton seems to have served on the Western Front with the Northants-interesting for me as my Dad is a proud 'Steelback' veteran of the Second World War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 8 March , 2003 Author Share Posted 8 March , 2003 I have acted in a production of 'The Ghost Train' -spooky or not? I saw an interview with John Laurie on 'Pebble Mill at One' in the Seventies in which he claimed he could remember nothing about his Great War service-it was so horrible he had blanked it all out. Flanagan and Allan are supposed to have met in the war and performed their first engagement together at TOC H in Poperinge- can anyone confirm this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 8 March , 2003 Author Share Posted 8 March , 2003 Terry-I think you do mean John Laurie-Hugh Laurie is the comic actor in 'Blackadder'-no relation I assume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 8 March , 2003 Share Posted 8 March , 2003 You are of course correct Mark. Perhaps it was some sort of Freudian slip. I won't alter the post though, it will give the rest of the forum a bit of light entertainment. Best wishes Terry Reeves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownag Posted 8 March , 2003 Share Posted 8 March , 2003 Arnold Ridley was in the Somerset Light Infantry between 1914-1917. He was commissioned in 1939 but invalided out again in 1940 and joined ENSA. I think Ronald Coleman was in the London Scottish, but not being a big Ronald Coleman fan I don't know for sure. In one of his autobiographies David Niven mentions Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) talking in the 1930s about his War Service but I don't think any unit was mentioned. Cheers Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 8 March , 2003 Share Posted 8 March , 2003 Hi Mark I own up.. it was my mistake...I refered to Hugh Laurie instead of John Laurie. Anyway.. Felix Aylmer, remember him? He served in the Royal Navy. Showing my age here.. Arthur Askey, I think he was in a Bantam Regiment. If I remember right, Billy Butlin (Butlin's Holiday camps) was also a Bantam. The famous comedian Max Miller, the 'cheeky chappie' 'mairy from the dairy' etc... also saw service in the army. Getting back to Dad's Army again. Arnold Ridley (Pte Godfrey) was not an officer in WW1, as I said earlier, he enlisted into the Somerset Light Infantry in 1914 and was invalided out in 1917, his left hand and fingers badly injured and his body pitted with shrapnel, and also suffering from a blow upon the head from a rifle butt of a German soldier that was to affect him, later in life, with serious blackouts. Cheers Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 In one of his autobiographies David Niven mentions Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) talking in the 1930s about his War Service but I don't think any unit was mentioned. Basil Rathbone joined the London Scottish early in 1916, and was then commissioned into the Liverpool Scottish, gaining an MC in Sept 1918. Having achieved fame and fortune across the Atlantic, he found himself being driven around New York one day by (I think) his platoon segeant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 I think Ronald Coleman was in the London Scottish, but not being a big Ronald Coleman fan I don't know for sure. Ronald "Prisoner of Zenda" Coleman was indeed in the 14/Londons ,"the London Scottish". He badly fractured his ankle (possibly a shell shard) on the night of 31 Oct/1 Nov 1914 whilst attacking the advancing Germans head on between Wytschaete and Messines (not far from the London Scottish memorial).This was the first time that a territorial unit had met the enemy. His injury forced him to return to "Blighty" and eventually got him invalided out of the army in May 1915. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Angelo Roncalli served as a Sergeant in the Medical Corps of the Italian Army, he became Pope John XXIII in 1958. Paul Raines (took the lead role in The Invisible Man) served in the (?) London Scottish. J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit etc) was a Signals Officer. I think he was taken ill in 1916 and sent to a hospital in the UK somewhere. Humphrey Bogart served as a sailor on the USS Leviathan taking troops back to the US after the war. Maurice Chevalier joined the French Army in 1914 and was captured in 1916. Buster Keaton (silent movie actor & a hero of mine when I was a bairn) was a Corporal in the 40th Division. Although he got to France he didn't see any action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Another actor who served in the War was the American Pat O'Brien who, when flying Sopwith Pup B1732 of No 66 Sqn RFC, was shot down and captured by Ltn d R Xaver Dannhuber of Jasta 26 on 17 August 1917. He escaped three months later. I recall from somwhere that Bela Lugosi served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the War. Cheers Dolphin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 One of my favourite John Wayne films of all time was 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'. Remember the drunken Irishman Sgt Quincannon? As we all know it was the famous movie actor Victor Maclaglen. I seem to remember that he was in the Irish Guards and was for a period the 'Town Major' for...... sorry... Carling Black Label overdose! Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Is this Victor Maglaglen is the same man who starred in "The Green Man" (remember the fight through the fields and the village?) I was told by a family member he was the "Town Major" in Baghad and my grandfather, Joe Williamson of Salford, Manchester was his batman. A poor claim to fame, I know. Andy Fitton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raster Scanning Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Bela Lugosi served in a ski patrol of the Hungarian Army. He was discharged in 1916 after convincing officials he was mentally unstable. Seems he thought he was a bat!!!!! John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 I recall from somwhere that Bela Lugosi served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the War. Bela Lugosi was the stage name of Be'la Ferena Dezso Blasko. He played a mean Vampire by all accounts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raster Scanning Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Ronald Colman's records are available at PRO WO/364. A copy of one of the pages from them, appears in Stand To! Number 46, pg 33 (April 1996). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Spencer Tracy, Actor, joined the US Navy in 1917 but didn't see any action. Otto Frank, Father of Anne Frank (of WWII 'fame') served in the German Army. Enzio Ferrari, Car Designer, served in the Italian Mountain Artillery. Walt Disney, Enlisted as an Ambulanceman. Went to France after the Armistice. Roger Williams Birdseye, although not really famous he was the brother of Clarence the inventor of a method to quick freezing foodstuff and the founder of Birdseye Foods. Served in the CEF (although he was American) and was awarded the DCM. Full story on pages 6-9 of Stand To! Number 60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 To add to the above - JRR Tolkein was in the Lancashire Fusiliers (he's used as an example for Officers' Papers on the PRO website) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Just to add alittle more about Maurice Chevalier. He joined the army in 1913 and, as already been metioned, was wounded in 1914 and captured, spending two years in Alten Grabow POW camp. Through the influence of the many relations of the French singer Mistenguett, he was released in 1916. Terry Reeves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raster Scanning Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Oswald Mosley was gazetted in the 26th Lancers and then joined the RFC, flying as an observer for Lance Hawker VC. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_East Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Billy Cotton RFC . Wakey Wakey Billy Cotton RFC passed out from flying training at RFC Yatesbury(later RAF Yatesbury) late in the war.It is said that to celebrate his passing out he flew low between two of the hangers but collided with an aerial that was strung between the two hangers.He survived the crash but spent some time in hospital. From this accident I do not think he flew operationally in the Great War on the Western Front. Yatesbury provided flying training in both World Wars,it was an elementary flying school during World War 2 but its claim to fame was as No2 Radio Shool and the vast numbers of RAF personnel who were trained in Air Radar and Ground Radar there up to when it closed in the late 1960s and the aircrew WO/OG Wireless Operators who were trained there during World War 2. (nearly 20,000) The flying site is an excellent example of a Great War airfield with two typical hangers of the period and one brick hanger built after The Great War. Alas it was in a poor state when I passed by in 1998. I believe the old flying site has been bought by an owner who intends to refurbish it to represent it as it once was, a Great War airfield. I have no update on any progress. The huge Technical Site which was composed of a mass of wooden huts has been levelled and a field now exists where in my time there was tremendous activity in technical instruction.(If you did not work hard and pass the monthly assessment you were thown off the course.)The only area I could recognise was the only concrete building on the site,the Station Cinema which looked like to have found a new use as a straw barn and sticks out like a sore thumb in this large field. At the old entrance there is a quality memorial plaque to those who served at Yatesbury during its RFC and RAF ownership.A wonderful part of Wiltshire but it could be a bleak place in winter. Regards Frank East Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 9 March , 2003 Share Posted 9 March , 2003 Andy The film was not the 'Green Man' it was 'The Quiet Man' - made 1952 and Possibly the most famous Irish movie of all time. I think I read somewhere that Victor Maclaglen was born somewhere like Tenbury Wells. I know we are talking Film Stars etc. But..... Will Kings an original volunteer to the 1st Birmingham Battalion (14th Royal Warwicks) was in the 1950's an original cast member of the famous 'Archers' radio series. Wow .....The things forum members will be able to drop into the conversation whilst having a pint with their mates. For some reason I seem to drink on my own! Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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