Talbot Rothwell
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Talbot Nelson Conn Rothwell OBE (born November 12 1916, died February 28 1981) was born in Bromley, Kent, he had a variety of jobs during his early life; Town clerk, Police officer and Pilot.
He was made a prisoner of war during WWII after being shot down over Norway, it was during this period of his life while incarcerated in Stalag Luft III that he really started to write. Peter Butterworth was in the same camp and they became firm friends, with Rothwell mostly writing and Butterworth performing for camp concerts.This certainly helped to relieve the boredom of camp life and the noise of the concerts helped cover tunnelling escape efforts.
After WWII Rothwell took up writing as his profession, writing scripts for The Crazy Gang, Arthur Askey, Ted Ray and Terry-Thomas. By the time he submitted a screenplay to Carry On producer Peter Rogers, he was already an established screenwriter. This first screenplay was called "Call me a Cab", it went on to be renamed Carry On Cabby.
Peter Rogers liked Rothwell's writing so much he asked him to become the Carry On staff writer, Rothwell went on to write a further 19 Carry On films. He took the genre into a more lewd and bawdy direction from Carry On's first screenwriter Norman Hudis, but he was careful never to stray into pornography, he saw the films as a continuation of Music Hall entertainment, Max Miller being a hero of his.
Rothwell also wrote several Carry On TV specials for Christmas and the first series of Up Pompeii starring Frankie Howerd.
Rothwell was awarded the OBE in 1977 for his services to the cinema industry.
In the late 1970s he retired due to a prolonged illness, he spent his last years in Worthing.
External References
- [Carry On Films at The Whippit Inn] Detailed information on the Carry On film series
- [What a Carry On] A tribute to the Carry Ons and their stars
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