Charters and Caldicott started out as two supporting characters in the 1938

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

film ''

The Lady Vanishes ''The Lady Vanishes'' is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the 1936 novel ''The Wheel Spins'' by Ethel Lina ...

''. The pair of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

-obsessed characters were played by

Naunton Wayne Naunton Wayne (born Henry Wayne Davies, 22 June 1901 – 17 November 1970), was a Welsh character actor, born in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales. He was educated at Clifton College. His name was changed by deed poll in 1933. Stage actor His fir ...

and Basil Radford. The characters were created by

Frank Launder Frank Launder (28 January 1906 – 23 February 1997) was a British writer, film director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat. Early life and career He was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, ...

and

Sidney Gilliat Sidney Gilliat (15 February 1908 – 31 May 1994) was an English film director, producer and writer. He was the son of George Gilliat, editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1928 to 1933. Sidney was born in the district of Edgeley in Stoc ...

. The duo became very popular and were used as recurring characters in subsequent films and in BBC Radio productions. Charters and Caldicott have also been played by other actors including eventually their own

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

series.

Radford and Wayne's appearances

In their first appearance, in the 1938

film ''The Lady Vanishes'', Charters and Caldicott are singleminded

enthusiasts, whose only initial concern is to get back to England to see the last days of a Test match. They proved so popular with audiences that they returned in the Gilliat-and-Launder film '' Night Train to Munich'' (1940, starring

Margaret Lockwood Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938), ''Night Train to Munich' ...

). They also appeared in two BBC radio serials, '' Crook's Tour'' (1941, also made into a film later that year) and ''Secret Mission 609'' (1942). In the film of '' Crook's Tour'' (1941), their names are shown entered in a hotel register as Hawtrey Charters and Sinclair Caldicott. Their last screen billing as Charters and Caldicott was in ''

Millions Like Us ''Millions Like Us'' is a 1943 British propaganda film, showing life in a wartime aircraft factory in documentary detail. It starred Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford, Eric Portman and Megs Jenkins. It was co-written and co-directed ...

'' (1943). They were intended to reappear in '' I See a Dark Stranger'' (1946, Launder), but Launder and Gilliat refused to give them the larger roles in the film that Radford and Wayne demanded, as befitting the high-profile actors they had then become. As a result, the actors opted out of the film and two similar but differently named characters were substituted. This falling out, however, left Radford and Wayne contractually disallowed from portraying the characters under the names "Charters" and "Caldicott". Despite this, Wayne and Radford continued in the same vein, playing similar double acts in several more movies, such as '' Dead of Night'' (1945, sequence directed by Charles Crichton), ''

A Girl in a Million ''A Girl in a Million'' is a 1946 British comedy film. It is notable for featuring Joan Greenwood in an early starring role; and Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne in their comedy double act as two cricket-obsessed Englishmen, this time called Fot ...

'' (1946, Francis Searle) and ''

Quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

'' (1948, sequence directed by Ralph Smart). Another recurring cricket-mad pairing played by them were Bright and Early in '' It's Not Cricket'' (1949, Alfred Roome), '' Helter Skelter'' (1949, Ralph Thomas) and '' Stop Press Girl'' (1949, Michael Barry). Originally in the first draft of

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

’s screenplay, they almost appeared in Carol Reed’s film noir ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten), ...

'' before the characters were amalgamated into one, played by

Wilfred Hyde-White Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical ''My Fair Lady'' (1964). Ear ...

Film appearances

Appearances billed as Charters and Caldicott are in bold. Those not in bold are either unbilled or billed under other names, such as ''Bright and Early'', but are essentially the same character duo. These characters' names are listed with Radford's character's first. *''

'' (1938) *'' Night Train to Munich'' (1940) *'' Crook's Tour'' (1941) *''

The Next of Kin ''The Next of Kin'', also known as ''Next of Kin'', is a 1942 Second World War propaganda film produced by Ealing Studios. The film was originally commissioned by the British War Office as a training film to promote the government message that ...

'' (1942) as Careless talkers on train *''

'' (1943) *'' Dead of Night'' (1945) as Parratt and Potter *''

'' (1946) as Prendergast and Fotheringham *''

'' (1948) as Garnet and Leslie *'' It's Not Cricket'' (1949) as Bright and Early *'' Passport to Pimlico'' (1949) as Gregg and Straker *'' Stop Press Girl'' (1949) as The Mechanical Types *'' Helter Skelter'' (1949) unnamed

Stage appearances

Due to the success of ''The Lady Vanishes'', Radford and Wayne soon appeared on the London stage in the play ''Giving the Bride Away'' by Margot Neville (pseudonym for Margot Goyder and Anne Neville Joske in collaboration with Gerald Kirby). The play opened on 1 December 1939 and ran for 57 performances.J.P. Wearing, ''The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers and Personnel'', 2nd edition (Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, 2014 ), p. 772.

Radio appearances

As with their film appearances, Radford and Wayne appeared in various guises on radio. They were still essentially Charters and Caldicott, but with their characters renamed for rights reasons. Self-contained eight-part radio series, made roughly annually, were very popular on BBC radio at the time and they starred in the following: *As "Woolcott and Spencer" in ''Double Bedlam'' (1946) and ''Traveller's Joy'' (1947) *As "Berkeley and Bulstrode" in ''Crime Gentleman, Please'' (1948) *As "Hargreaves and Hunter" in ''Having a Wonderful Crime'' (1949) *As "Fanshaw and Fothergill" in ''That's My Baby'' (1950) *As "Straker and Gregg", a continuation of their roles in the film ''Passport to Pimlico'', in ''May I Have The Treasure'' (1951) and ''Rogue's Gallery'' (1952) In mid-production on ''Rogue's Gallery'', Radford died suddenly of a heart attack at age 55, leaving Wayne to complete the adventure on his own.

Other portrayals

The characters Charters and Caldicott made a re-appearance in the

Hammer films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

' 1979 remake of ''

'', with

Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 – 15 April 1982) was an English actor. His acting career spanned 36 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom ''Dad' ...

as Charters and

Ian Carmichael Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career spanning 70 years. He found prominence in the films of the Boulting brothers, including ' ...

as Caldicott. In 1985 they were the main characters in a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

television series, '' Charters and Caldicott'' set in the modern day, with

Michael Aldridge Michael William ffolliott Aldridge (9 September 1920 – 10 January 1994) was an English actor. He was known for playing Seymour Utterthwaite in the television series ''Last of the Summer Wine'' from 1986 to 1990 and he had a long career as a ...

playing Caldicott and Robin Bailey as Charters. In the BBC's 2013 telemovie of ''

'', Charters and Caldicott do not appear. They were somewhat replaced by the elderly female duo, Evelyn and Rose Floodporter ( Stephanie Cole and Gemma Jones).

References

{{Reflist

External links

Charters and Caldicott fan site
British comedy duos Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Fictional English people