Sid James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a British-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona. Bruce Forsyth described him as "a natural at being natural."
James was born Solomon Joel Cohen on 8 May 1913 to Jewish parents in South Africa, later changing his name to Sidney Joel Cohen, and then Sidney James. His family lived on Hancock Street in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Upon moving to England later in life, he claimed various previous occupations, including diamond cutter, dance tutor and boxer. In reality, he had trained and worked as a hairdresser.
It was at a hairdressing salon in Kroonstad, Orange Free State that he met his first wife. He married Berthe Sadie Delmont, known as Toots, on 12 August 1936, and her father Joseph Delmont, a wealthy Johannesburg businessman, bought a salon for James. Within a year James announced that he wanted to become an actor and joined Johannesburg Repertory Players. Through this he got work with the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.
Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February 1926 in Bingfield Street, King's Cross, London, the son of Louisa ("Lou" or "Louie") and Charles Williams, a barber. Williams had a half-sister, Alice Patricia, born before Louie had met Charlie Williams. He was educated at Lyulph Stanley School, later becoming apprenticed as a draughtsman to a mapmaker. He joined the Army in 1944 at 18. As part of the Royal Engineers survey section in Bombay, he first performed on stage in the Combined Services Entertainment alongside Stanley Baxter and Peter Nichols. He was a voracious reader able to quote poems or literary extracts from memory. Excerpts from the diaries he kept as an adult show he adored his supportive, theatrical mother but despised his homophobic, morose and selfish father.
Barbara Windsor: I think heaven's being left alone with a Steinbeck in the edit suite. You sit in front of your life and you're allowed to re-edit it. Cut the rotten bits, loop the sex, montage the good moments. Live it over and over, a bit better every time. And eventually, make it perfect.
This is the story of a man,
Who conquered life drink in hand
Ship unmanned.
Marked by genius, channelled good,
By some a bit misunderstood.
They'd been wrong many times before
Some times our saints are sinners,
They blur the lines and lead the way,
Their Way.
Raise hell and a glass in reverence,
The fearless lives of our great saints - our saints.
Never a stranger to late night snake
bite fist fights and empty pints,
Unrivaled heights.
He led with songs, they sang along,
created bonds that held so strong
Some were right and some were wrong
Some times our saints are sinners,
They blur the lines and lead the way,
Their Way.
Raise hell and a glass in reverence,
The fearless lives of our great saints, our saints.
It's by the sea and at nights end that's when the sin and swill begin
That's when he had that certain light inside his head
For every whisper he would scream for every draught he shared a drink
For every sorrow there is a light from our St. James
On the sea by the cliff he watches, he waits the night to see
The day - his way
Last call will find us all
But there's a light that leads the way, our way.
Some times our saints are sinners,
They blur the lines and lead the way,
Their Way.
Raise hell and a glass in reverence,
Well, I went down to Old Joe's Barroom
Down on the corner by the square
They were serving drinks as usual
Oh, the usual crowd was there
In the corner sat Big Joe McKenzie
His eyes were blood shot red
And as he turned to address the crowd around him
These were the very words that he said:
Well I went down to St James Infirmary
To see my baby there
She was laid out on that long white table
So cold, so pale, so fair
Let her go, let her go, God bless her
Where ever she may be
Let her search that whole wide world over
Never find a man as sweet as me
She'll never find a man as sweet as me
When I die, won't you bury me in my high top Stetson hat
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch hand
So the gang'll know I died standing pat
I want six crapshooters for pallbearers
Pretty gals sing me a song
I want a jazz band on my hearse wagon
To raise Hell as we roll 'long
Won't you roll out that rubber tire hack
Thirteen men go down to that old graveyard
There's only twelve of them men coming back
Now that you heard my story
Have another shot of the booze
Anything anybody should ask
I got the St James Infirmary blues