Charles Hawtrey 1914-1988

Charles Hawtrey, the skinny one with the granny glasses, was everybody's favourite in the Carry On films. But who exactly was he? Up to now he has remained a mystery. In this wonderful little book Roger Lewis examines Hawtrey's origins as a child star and as a performer in revue and the Will Hay films. Looking at his career on radio and television, and then at the sad, slow decline of a belligerent, alcoholic recluse on the Kent coast, Hawtrey's story is underpinned by an acute melancholy which is at the same time hysterically funny. This is a book that opens up like a Chinese box to address the nature of fame, loss, sexual confusion, Drambuie, betrayal, marine bandsmen and fine cambric knickers. Its moral would seem to be that you don't necessarily turn out as the person you thought you'd become.