Charlie Chester
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charlie Chester (April 26, 1914 – June 26, 1997), was a popular British stand-up comedian and TV and radio presenter, broadcasting almost continuously from the 1940s to the 1990s. His style was similar to that of Max Miller.
[edit] Life and career
Charlie was born (as Cecil Victor Manser) in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and became a singer in his youth before turning to comedy. Known as 'Cheeky' Charlie Chester he was well-known to British audiences in the 1940s from his BBC radio show Stand Easy. This show was adapted for television as The Charlie Chester Show in 1949 and became a standup/sketch show for the next 11 years. Frequent cast members included Edwina Carroll, Eric 'Jeeves' Grier, Len Lowe, Deryck Guyler, Len Marten, Arthur Haynes and Fred Ferrari. His radio shows included A Proper Charlie and That Man Chester. Another series - which started out as a sketch - was Pot Luck (1957).
In 1961, Chester starred in a new BBC series called Charlie Chester On Laughter Service, a music and comedy show which visited forces bases throughout Britain. Most of these shows were co-written by Chester colloborators Bernard Botting and Charlie Hart. Late on in his career, he appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Never Say Die.
In the 1960s he also began presenting a record show on the BBC Light Programme (later Radio 2).
