Ray Alan

Ray Alan (18 September 1930 – 24 May 2010) was an English ventriloquist and television entertainer from the 1950s until the 1980s. He was associated primarily with the puppet Lord Charles and later also with the puppets Tich and Quackers.

Biography

Born in Greenwich, London, Alan was educated at Morden Terrace School, Lewisham. Alan was introduced to the world of entertainment at a young age, entering a talent contest at the age of five at his local Gaumont cinema.

Career

Aged 13 he became a call-boy at the Lewisham Hippodrome Theatre, where he started to do magic sets on stage between acts. He then started to entertain private functions, introducing ventriloquism into his act, along with playing the ukulele.

Alan toured in cabaret all over the world and performed once with Laurel and Hardy in 1954. Laurel had provided inspiration for the look of Alan's most famous creation, Lord Charles, who first appeared at a charity show in Wormwood Scrubs Prison, London.

Alan made his television debut with Lord Charles on the BBC programme The Good Old Days in the 1960s and the pair regularly re-appeared on the programme. In the 1960s he also appeared on a children's programme Tich and Quackers with Tich, a small boy, and his pet duck Quackers. He also created the puppet character Ali Cat for the HTV series Magic Circle (1977). He was also the presenter for two years of the BBC show Ice Show. In 1985 he was a special guest for Bob Hope's birthday show at London’s Lyric Theatre. In 1986 he presented a show on Channel 4 on ventriloquism, called A Gottle of Geer.