RISE OF THE REDCOAT
MARION MARIO McMULLEN on the Great British holiday camp and the Butlins Redcoats who topped the bill
WHEN Sir Billy Butlin opened the first holiday camp he thought the entertainers looked a bit grey. Having arrived in Britain from Canada, he thought a touch of red – as worn by the famous Canadian Mounties – would add a bit of colour so instructed his resident entertainers to find a distinctive blazer “something bright, cheerful and holiday-looking”.
The result was the birth of the Redcoats and they made their first appearance in Skegness in 1936.
The original uniform consisted of a red jacket and white slacks and red shoes and a red tie were added later.
The Redcoats acted as holiday hosts looking after children’s activities and sporting events as well as appearing on stage.
The 1950s and 1960s saw Butlins employ a number of talented youngsters determined to make their mark in showbusiness. They included comedian Charlie Drake, who initially worked at the holiday camps as a boxing instructor, but was later personally sacked by Billy Butlin for fiddling the bingo.
Irish comic Dave Allen was a Redcoat in Skegness and Des O’Connor worked at the Filey holiday camp for two years and met his first wife, Phyllis Gill, there. She was also winner of the 1953 Holiday Princess Contest.
Des later wrote in his autobiography that working in Butlins gave him the confidence to pursue his singing dreams and gave him valuable experience of performing. He said: “I would volunteer for the bingo sessions, because they were a real challenge. As many as a thousand campers at a time would play, and there were frequent long breaks while cards were being checked. You would have to keep the crowd entertained with jokes, quips, gags and off-the-cuff sing-songs, anything to keep the customers happy”.
Freddie “Parrot Face” Davies was another popular Redcoat at the time and other famous names included Jimmy Tarbuck, who worked in Pwllheli during the 1950s, Cliff Richard, Roy Hudd and future 3-2-1 quiz host Ted Rogers.
Liverpool comic Jimmy Tarbuck first became a Redcoat in 1961 and was also involved in organised snooker and darts competitions for holidaymakers. He made his TV debut on Comedy Bandbox at the age of 22 shortly after leaving Butlins.
Billy Butlin gradually increased the number of resident entertainers over the years and holidaymakers got to see the early performances of people like Terry Scott, Norman Vaughan, Val Doonican, Hughie Green, Bill Maynard and Les Dennis.
A young Glenda Jackson wasn’t a Redcoat but worked as a coffee bar assistant at Filey before finding Oscar-winning fame in movies like A Touch Of Class and Women In Love and her then husband, Bill Hodges, was in the camp repertory company.
The Beverley Sisters, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, Dusty Springfield, Bruce Forsyth, Benny Hill and Georgie Fame were also among the regular performers and Beatles drummer Ringo Starr played in his first band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, at Butlins in Pwllheli.
British designer Zandra Rhodes gave the Redcoat uniform a makeo- ver in the late 1980s and Jeff Banks redesigned it again in 1998 in preparation for the launch of the new Butlins Family Entertainment Resorts the following year. More than 3,000 hopefuls applied in 1998 to become Redcoats and more then 300 queued up at London’s Hippodrome for the chance to audition.
The next generation of Redcoats included future Steps singer Ian “H” Watkins, Darren Day and Catchphrase and Britain’s Got More Talent host Stephen Mulhern, while Diana Moran, better known as TV’s Green Goddess, ran keep fit classes at the Bognor Regis resort.
Film star Catherine Zeta Jones also visited Butlin’s in Minehead when she was 10 and reached the final of 1979 Junior Star Trail talent competition during her stay.
Billy Butlin was knighted in the 60s for helping make family holidays and entertainment available to all. Comedy legends Laurel and Hardy once judged the knobbly knees contest and Sir Billy personally came up with the idea for the glamorous granny contests after meeting film star Marlene Dietrich in America in 1964 and being stunned to discover she was a grandmother.
Skegness was the first holiday camp and was officially opened by famous pilot Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. Within a year the resort had doubled in size.
It is said the first Butlin’s holidaymaker was a lady named Freda Monk. She arrived at Butlin’s Skegness a day early to find the camp was not yet open for business. Billy Butlin heard about her predicament and personally opened the gates and welcomed her in.