THE MAN WHO WAS PRIVATE WIDDLE

Charles Hawtrey the skinny one with the granny glasses was everybody s favourite in the Carry Ons but who exactly was he Up to now the man has remained a mystery Examining Hawtrey s origins as a child star and as a performer in revue and the Will Hay films this wonderful little book also looks at his career in radio and television and then to the sad and slow decline of a belligerent recluse in Deal on the Kent coast The high camp exuberance of his acting gave way to bitterness and alcoholism if you asked Hawtrey for an autograph he d be more likely to call the police instead In The Man Who Was Private Widdle Roger Lewis conjures this sense of doom and acute melancholy which is at the same time hysterically funny The book opens out like a Chinese box to address such issues as the nature of fame neglect loss sexual confusion Drambuie betrayal Royal Marines bandsmen and fine cambric knickers trimmed with lace and blue ribbon Its moral would seem to be that you don t necessarily turn out as the person you thought you d become Hawtrey born to play Shakespearean clowns or Restoration fops ended up sacked from the Carry On films wandering about the stage drunk on a provincial tour of Stop It Nurse Incorporating extensive new research and exclusive