Are you ready to take in some heavenly views of the skies above?

Teesside made Hay – and comedian went on to become a leading star

SEVENTY-FIVE years ago, one of the country’s most successful comedians and character actors died in Chelsea, but they were made on Teesside.

William Thomson Hay was born in Stockton on December 6, 1888, at 23 Durham Street. Will’s father’s career as an engineer meant the Hay family was frequently on the move.

Will’s transient upbringing may have been the reason he developed a love of languages and was multilingual by his late teens.

Speaking fluent Italian, French and German, he worked as an interpreter after leaving school.

It was seeing the legendary WC Fields perform in Manchester that inspired a 21-year-old Will to take up a different profession.

Hay was working as a stand-up comic when impresario Fred Karno, whose previous proteges had included Stan Laurel and Charlie

Chaplin, spotted him. A colleague of his sister, who was a teacher, provided Will with the material to create his most famous character.

However, Hay’s internationally acclaimed schoolmaster of the ‘Fourth Form of St Michael’s’ was originally a schoolmistress, performed in drag. Will’s wife Gladys travelled the world with her husband playing the part of a schoolboy or the old man, Harbottle.

A tour of the United States sparked Hay’s interest in transferring his skills to the screen.

He worked initially for Elstree, predominantly Gainsborough Pictures and later Ealing Studios. In 1937 he starred in his most wellknown film, Oh Mr Porter!

By 1938, Will Hay was the third highest grossing British box office star behind George Formby and Gracie Fields.

Alongside his prolific film making, Hay reached for the stars in other ways. When not coaching worldbeaters like Amy Johnson to fly, Will had time to discover a great white spot on the planet, Saturn.

Hay continued working in film and radio into the 1940s, appearing only three days before he died of a stroke on April 18, 1949. Comedians across the decades, including Tommy Cooper and Harry Enfield, have named Hay as an influence. Will Hay’s star still shines bright as Asteroid 3125 Hay.