The Man Who Was Private Widdle : Charles Hawtrey 1914–1988

This is a small masterpiece of biographical investigation, and fitting testament to a comic genius whose place in British cultural history is now assured.

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 interviews with the major players, The Man Who Was Private Widdle is a masterpiece of biographical investigation and a fitting testament to a quirky comic genius whose place in British cultural history is now assured.