Guildford Lawn Ramsgate

The English comedian, actor, film director and astronomer Will Hay lived for many years in Ramsgate at 8 Hollicondane Road and 3 Guildford Lawn, that house is marked with a blue plaque.

Hay was born in Stockton, County Durham in 1888. Although he became famous as a comic actor, he was also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and he designed and built a powerful telescope whilst living in Ramsgate and in 1933 he discovered a great white spot on the Planet Saturn.
He was also one of Britain’s first private pilots. He even gave flying lessons to Amy Johnson!

He was fluent in French, German, Latin, Italian, Norwegian and Afrikaans, and before he became an actor he worked as a translator. He trained as an engineer but gave it up for an acting career at the age of 21 after watching WC Fields perform a juggling act in Manchester.

He established himself as a music hall artist, and it was not until he was in his mid-forties that he made the first of his immensely popular films. In fact, despite his profile and successful output, his film career lasted less than ten years, from 1934 to 1943. The weekly Will Hay Programme started in August 1944 and was broadcast live from the Paris Cinema, near Piccadilly Circus. In 1947 he had a stroke which had left him crippled and he died at his home in London after a further stroke in 1949.

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Ps Just in time HFF! everyone!