Will Hay was a British film, stage and radio comedian who starred in 19 films from 1934-1943, having a longer screen career than any British comedian of that time other than George Formby who had two years longer. His radio programmes had some of the biggest listening figures in BBC history. He was also amongst the top ten money making stars of the era.

William Thomson Hay was born on December 6th 1888 at Stockton on Tees and died April 18th 1949 at Chelsea London. He followed in his fathers footsteps and was apprenticed as an engineer but the lure of the stage proved too strong and by 1909 Will was treading the music-hall boards.

His great interest in astronomy came from when he was still at school and this was to carry on into his professional career. He would often conduct his research work into the planets and comets after he had finished his nightly stage act. Will Hay was  a big  player in  the music-halls not only  in this country but in South Africa, Australia and America. Will Hay's stage career really took off when in the 1920's he realised that his bumbling schoolmaster routines began to strike a happy note with his audiences. Radio appearances followed and then the motion pictures. It was in the 1920's that he turned to radio but not as Will Hay. He used the assumed name of Charlie Kidd and regularly broadcasted from the BBC's Savoy Hill headquarters and began to achieve quite a name for himself. The reason for the assumed name was that he did not want to risk the reputation that he had built up on the music-halls on the new medium that was radio. His film career took off once he had stopped playing the manufactured parts that the Pinero adaptations provided, by way of 'Those Were The Days'(1934) and 'Dandy Dick' (1935) and he allowed his stage persona to shine through as he did in 'Boys Will Be Boys'(1935). It might be quite difficult to imagine but Will Hay was one of the truly representative figures of the 1930's. There was not a time during that period when he was not in the public limelight be it his radio or film work or his stage appearances at the top venues. He was probably the funniest of all British screen comedians. Sometimes clever, sometimes ludicrous. He displayed all the human weaknesses of vanity and pomposity, yet he always remained warm and likeable.

One might argue that Will Hay will be remembered as the 'schoolmaster comedian,' but it was this role that he played out in his stage and radio work with great effect. He was the ineffectual teacher and his pupils knew it.They all happened to be more academically inclined than himself, and by fair means or foul, he would always rescue himself from the ensuing melee.The vision of Hay peering over his glasses with the look of suspicion and dismay at his pupils after once again being 'found out' is a endearing one. Each line Hay imparted was usually accompanied by his famous nervous cough, sniff & grimace. He was an absolute master of timing and the double take. It was mainly on the stage that he played the schoolmaster roles, but fortunately he widened his horizons for the big screen and went on to star in many other roles away from his ineffectual authoritarian schoolmaster roles. He was always the figure of total incompetence, engulfed in all the trappings of authority, surrounded by sidekicks who were full of high spirits and stupidity. Despite all the criticisms aimed at Will after his break-up with Graham Moffatt & Moore Marriott one must pay tribute to him in that he always took on another well known actor as his new partner.

With other film comedians from this era, the supporting casts were usually very much forgotten. They had to make way and give all the limelight to the leading actor. Because of the way the characters interacted in Hay's movies, they were shown off to great effect, so we remember the likes of Graham Moffatt & Moore Marriott. Claude Hulbert, John Laurie and Edgar Kennedy.Will Hay was one of the few music-hall comedians to make the transition from stage to screen and this is reflected by way of his films which have become classics in every sense of the word. Between 1934-1943 he was a prolific and popular comedian. He was credited on several of his films as writer or co-writer, and arguably was the dominant force in all the films in which he appeared, in that they were built around his music-hall routines that he had developed many years earlier. He made films at Elstree, then Gainsborough and then onto Ealing. Most people would agree that the Gainsborough period was the most successful for Hay, especially when he worked with the team that was director Marcel Varnel and writers Val Guest and Marriott Edgar along with actors Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. Will Hay's place in history is assured not only for his film, stage and radio contributions but also for his discovery of a big white spot on the planet Saturn on August 8th 1933, thus achieving a considerable reputation as a astronomer.