Charles Frederick William Chilton MBE (15 June 1917 – 2 January 2013) was a British presenter, writer and producer who worked on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

. He created the 1950s radio serials ''Riders of the Range'' and ''

Journey into Space ''Journey Into Space'' is a BBC Radio science fiction programme written by British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC producer Charles Chilton. It was the last UK radio programme to attract a bigger evening audience than television. Originally, fou ...

'', and also inspired the stage show and film ''

Oh, What a Lovely War! ''Oh, What a Lovely War!'' is an epic musical developed by Joan Littlewood and her ensemble at the Theatre Workshop in 1963. It is a satire on World War I, and by extension on war in general. The title is derived from the "somewhat satirical" ...

''.

Early life

Born in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

in London, England, he never knew his father – who was killed during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

– and when he was six his mother died as a result of having a botched abortion,Interview with Charles Chilton, ''What Did You Do in the Great War, Daddy?'',

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

, 2007 with the result that Chilton was brought up by his grandmother. He was educated at St. Pancras

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

School. Chilton left school at the age of 14, and after a brief apprenticeship making electric signs, he joined the BBC as a messenger boy. A year later he became an assistant in their

gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

library. He had a passion for

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music, and in 1937 formed the BBC Boys' Jazz band.

Career

His first role as a producer was for ''I Hear America Singing'', after which he moved to the BBC variety department. He then presented his own show between 11pm and midnight called ''Swing Time'', and a weekly jazz programme called ''Radio Rhythm Club''. Next came five years' war service with the RAF, after which he was sent to

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

to run the forces radio station with broadcaster David Jacobs, later to participate in Chilton's radio series ''

''. Back in the BBC he wrote and produced programmes for, among others,

Roy Plomley Francis Roy Plomley ( ; 20 January 1914 – 28 May 1985) was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist. He is best remembered for creating the BBC Radio series ''Desert Island Discs'', which he hosted from its inception in ...

Michael Bentine Michael Bentine (born Michael James Bentin; 26 January 1922General Register Office for England and Wales – Birth Register for the March Quarter of 1922, Watford Registration District, Reference 3a 1478, listed as "Michael J. Bentin", mother's ...

and

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. ...

. In 1947 he married Penelope (née Colbeck (born 1921)), who was a secretary at the corporation. He was then sent to the United States to research, write and produce a number of series based on American western history. One of these, ''Riders of the Range'', lasted for five years until 1953. During its run, ''Riders of the Range'' attracted audiences of around 10 million. Chilton wrote a comic-strip version of the series drawn by for the ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

'' which outlasted the radio version, and wrote another western series, "Flying Cloud", for the ''Eagle'''s sister comic ''

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...

''. Chilton was also briefly a producer on the comedy series ''

The Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September ...

''. Major international recognition came with his science-fiction trilogy ''Journey into Space'', which he wrote and produced between 1953 and 1958. His interest in space and space travel also led him to join the

British Astronomical Association The British Astronomical Association (BAA) was formed in 1890 as a national body to support the UK's amateur astronomers. Throughout its history, the BAA has encouraged observers to make scientifically valuable observations, often in collaborat ...

and the

British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. St ...

.Interview with Charles Chilton, ''Round Midnight'',

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

, 1989 He was presented with an MBE in 1972. He spent his last years acting as a tour guide for the Original London Walks company.

Legacy

In January 2014,

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

broadcast a selection of programmes to celebrate the life and work of Charles Chilton. This included ''The Long, Long Trail'', telling the story of the

through the songs sung by soldiers, broadcast for the first time since its original transmission on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

in 1961. On 4 January 2014, in conjunction with

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

broadcast ''Archive on 4: The Long, Long Trail''.

Roy Hudd Roy Hudd (16 May 1936 – 15 March 2020) was an English comedian, actor, presenter, radio host, author and authority on the history of music hall entertainment. Early life Hudd was born in Croydon on 16 May 1936 to Evalina "Evie" (née Barham ...

told the story of Chilton's ground-breaking 1961 musical documentary. Interviewees included satirist

Ian Hislop Ian David Hislop (born 13 July 1960) is a British journalist, satirist, and television personality. He is the editor of the satirical magazine '' Private Eye'', a position he has held since 1986. He has appeared on many radio and television pr ...

, Chilton's widow Penelope and their children Mary (born 1951) and David Chilton (born 1952) and the producer was Amber Barnfather. In a five-star review, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' said "Chilton ... merits this tribute – as does the British soldier's stoic humour that so movingly illumines the four-year hell." ''Archive on 4: The Long, Long Trail'' won a Silver Radio Award in the New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards 2014.

Production/writing credits

* ''Follow the Fun'' (writer) play. * ''Fledgling'' (writer) play based on ''Follow the Fun'' (1940). * ''The Long Long Trail'' (writer) – a musical about the First World War featuring popular songs of the time interspersed with scripted material. * ''

'' (originator and producer) * ''Round the Bend in Thirty Minutes'' (producer, series 2 and 3, 1958 to 1960) – starring

* ''Riders of the Range'' – a cowboy series that found its way into the 1950s ''

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

. * ''Shakespeare's London'' * ''Dickens' London'' * ''London's Pleasure Gardens'' * ''Cries of London'' * ''Ballad History of Samuel Pepys'' * ''

'' (producer) – series 3 episodes 18 and 19, series 8 episodes 1–5 and 17–26, 'Vintage Goons' series episodes 1–2 and 9–14. * ''How Jazz Came to Britain'' (presenter, 8 July 2000) * ''

'' (writer/producer) * ''

Space Force A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first space force was the Russian Space Forces, established in 1992 as an independent military service. ...

'' (writer/producer, 1984 and 1985) * ''Whistle and I'll Come To You - The Life and Loves of Robbie Burns'' Additional production/writing credits: These 30-minute radio programmes were broadcast on NZBC in the 1970s, presumably from transcription disks from the Overseas Service of the BBC /

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

(these discs should still be available somewhere): * ''Botany Bay'' by Charles Chilton. The founding of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. * ''The Victory'' by Charles Chilton. A musical presentation about ''

HMS Victory HMS ''Victory'' is a 104-gun first-rate wooden sailing ship of the line. With years of service as of , she is the world's List of oldest surviving ships, oldest naval vessel still in Ship commissioning, commission. She was ordered for the Roy ...

'', Nelson's flagship.

References

External links

*
Radio Plays by Charles Chilton
*
Charles Chilton Interview on URY
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chilton, Charles 1917 births 2013 deaths BBC radio presenters BBC radio producers British comics writers English radio personalities English science fiction writers Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Bloomsbury Royal Air Force personnel of World War II British male dramatists and playwrights English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights Presidents of the Royal Society of New Zealand 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers 20th-century British businesspeople