By Elliott West
“He leaves behind a soft afterglow”.
Harry Secombe
Introduction
If you are of a certain age and I am, then who can not forget those warm and retrospective memories of our childhood? Weekday afternoons were always a joy with a feast of brilliantly made children’s programmes on the few television channels we had then. All with a catchy theme tune and plenty of memorable catchphrases. One that stood out and set a few world records itself was Record Breakers. A show that was a memorable host for many years, Roy Castle. Roy was a one-off, highly adaptable entertainer and presenter who could play countless musical instruments, could sing and was a brilliant tap dancer. A man who had a cheeky grin, a thick Yorkshire accent and could surprise you with his act at the flip of a coin. An actor and entertainer who encapsulated good old-fashioned variety and gave it a modern-day paint lick.
King of the Castle
Roy Castle was a jack of all trades and a master of them all and certainly performed with so many greats of the time. While researching this piece, I came across so many clips of Roy beautifully executing his craft with precision timing. Roy, filmed in black and white, trying to conduct an orchestra while Bernard Cribbins is hammering in the background, building a rostrum. A routine that turns into a two-piece song about the very same piece of wood. Also, the skit where Castle joins the veteran entertainers, James Casey and Eli Woods, two fools and a straight man as Roy describes the contents of a cardboard box under his arm that he claims contains a multitude of jungle animals. A sketch that was performed on an early Parkinson show and at a Royal Variety performance. So where did this excellent performer emerge from?
Roy Castle was born in 1931 and raised in Scholes near Huddersfield, Yorkshire. His family lived in a small terraced house and they lived next door to his grandparents. A modest but very happy upbringing. Roy was a natural talent at an early age, taking up tap dancing lessons at the Nora Bray School when he was seven years old and quickly became an accomplished singer and dancer. Recognising his talent, his mother replied to a newspaper advert in the Huddersfield Examiner looking for young talent in the area. Roy auditioned and got the part in a song and dance revue, entitled ‘Youth on Parade’ which later became known as ‘Happiness Ahead’. A show where fine-tuned and matured his talents.
However, this aspiring career was interrupted when Castle was called up like so many for National Service. A time that grinned and beared as it prepared him for life. One that he passed he passed the medical A1 fit despite being short-sighted and having a hernia at the time. Joining the RAF and it was here that he learnt to play the trumpet and he continuously practised, thanks to bribing his colleagues to a free haircut. A skill he learnt from his grandfather who was a barber. If you refused his trumpet playing, you got a duff cut. Roy continued to tread the boards at this time, appearing in summer seasons at regional theatres and also in pantomimes. He also formed a musical trio with comics Norman Teale, Frank Randle and Marjorie Kendall, performing a stage show entitled “Randle’s Scandals of ‘53”, for two years. An act where the ‘in the box routine’ was formulated that I mentioned earlier.
Big Break
Thanks to an appearance on the same bill as Dickie Valentine, the British crooner, Roy was offered a seven-minute solo slot and four minutes with Dickie on the television show ‘Saturday Spectacular’ that Dickie was about to appear on by the producer Brian Tesler. Unknown to Roy, Bernard Delfont was in the audience. Delfont was so impressed by his performance that he offered him a two-week run on a variety bill at the Prince of Wales Theatre, a theatre that my Great Uncle’s variety act, Jo, Jac and Joni appeared at during the same period of the 1950s.
So successful was this run that Roy was then offered to appear at the 1958 Royal Command Performance. Castle went down a storm and was hailed as the hit of the show. It was here that met the former Goon, Harry Secombe and the two would strike up an instant friendship, one that would become lifelong and lead to many appearances together over the following years. A string of television shows would ensue. Shows such as “New Look”, his first own television programme, “Castle’s on the Air” and guest appearances in popular programmes such as Val Parnell’s Saturday Spectacular”, “Sunday Night at the London Palladium” and “The Good Old Days” as well as “Putting on the Donnegan”, “Calling Dickie Valentine”, “The Jo Stafford Show”, “Summer Spectacular”, “The Morecambe & Wise Show”, “Who is Secombe?”, “Mainly Millicent” and “The Billy Cotton Band Show”. Roy was also in one of the most successful pantomimes held at the London Palladium. Humpty Dumpty starred Harry Secombe and Roy played Simple Simon.
The Theatre Trail
Castle continued his successful run by doing several overseas tours with stage shows in both South Africa and Kenya. He would return to the UK to do Summer Season and in 1960 did one with Frankie Vaughan and Tommy Cooper in Brighton. He also revived his part in Humpty Dumpty and did another show with Harry Secombe and trumpeter Eddie Calvert entitled “Let Yourself Go”. A show that opened the doors for him to go to the USA where he appeared on the “Gary Moore Show” alongside Julie Andrews. This was the first of 42 appearances on the show.
Roy who famously introduced Eric Morecambe to his future wife Fiona Dickson, went down a storm in the USA and even appeared at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas where he was invited to Frank Sinatra’s table and received a standing ovation from Ol’ Blue Eyes himself. Castle decided to live in America for a while with his wife Fiona and returned to the UK in 1965 when their first son Daniel was born in the July of that year. They would go on to have Julia, Antonia and Ben who has become a successful musician. Later that year, Roy appeared with Harry Secombe again in “The Pickwick Papers” as Sam Pickwick. A tour that travelled the UK and the USA on Broadway. Castle was nominated for a Tony Award for “Best Supporting Actor in a Musical” and the musical went on to be made as a programme for the BBC.
Films
Roy Castle would also appear in a number of films during this period. Terrors’ House of Horrors” as ‘Biff Bailey’ and “Dr Who and the Daleks” playing ‘Ian Chesterton’ alongside Peter Cushing on both occasions. He also made his notable appearance with the ‘Carry On’ team as ‘Captain Keene’ in “Carry On Up the Khyber” (1968).
Later Career
In 1969 took over from Eric Sykes in the comedy farce, “Big Bad Mouse” at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London and would also land his own BBC show, “The Roy Castle Show” that was hugely successful and ran between 1964-1970. He also appeared in the infamous “One of Seven” in 1973, a series which showcased the talent of Ronnie Barker. Castle appeared in “Another Fine Mess”, a part that received a rapturous review by Barker who described it as a brilliant performance. A comedy where the two play Harry and Sydney, planning to impersonate Laurel and Hardy but get a bit too close to the real thing.
Record Breakers
Thanks to a recommendation by the Blue Peter producer Alan Russell, Castle was offered the presenting job on Record Breakers in 1972. A show that only set thousands of new world records in a book that children used to receive as a birthday or Christmas present, “The Guinness Book of Records”. It was a show that not set new records but showcased Castle’s brilliant talent as well. Who can forget when Roy tap-danced his way into the record books, completing one million taps in 23 hours and 44 minutes in 1973 and 1990 and playing 43 different instruments in 4 minutes whilst maintaining the same tune. A programme that received a BAFTA for Best Children’s Light Entertainment or Drama programme in 1977. A show where Roy sings the theme tune, “Dedication” and who can forget the knowledge of the McWhirter brothers? Not forgetting Cheryl Baker as well.
Later Years
Roy Castle would go on to appear in “Mr Polly” in 1977 and 896 performances between 1983-1985 of Cozmo Brown in “Singing in the Rain”. However, in 1992 Roy was diagnosed with lung cancer. A disease that his wife attributed to him playing smoke-filled clubs for many years as a trumpeter, a direct result of passive smoking. Despite this devastating diagnosis, Roy continued to remain positive and work through gruelling sessions of chemotherapy, recording his twenty-second of “Record Breakers”, the BBC series “Primetime” and a run as Tony Pickwick in the “Pickwick Papers” at the Chichester Festival Theatre and the 1993 Royal Variety Performance.
Roy also spent his time raising money for the Centre of Excellence, a research facility for lung cancer in Liverpool and undertook a ‘Tour of Hope’ where he took a 1,200 nationwide train journey, raising £1 million in three days. In 1993 he received an OBE from the Queen for his services to charity and show business and even managed to write his autobiography “Now and Then” in 1994. Roy sadly passed away later that year, aged 64.
The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation
“It’s too late for me. But it’s not too late for our children and our children’s children”.
Roy Castle
This charity is a fitting tribute to not only Roy’s life but vital support to millions of lung cancer patients. Their helpline is a vital tool for anyone going through this illness and has raised millions of pounds through events such as charity cycling challenges and walks. Podcasts and nurses are available to help you and there are a number of free support sessions also available including a free will-writing service. This year would have marked Roy’s 90th birthday and this excellent charity set up in his memory means that his legacy and his dedication to make things better for the future generations lives on.
