Charles Kenneth Horne was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne. Horne had a burgeoning business career with Triplex Safety Glass, which was interrupted by service with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. In 1958 Horne suffered a stroke and gave up his business dealings to focus on his entertainment work. He died of a heart attack while hosting the annual Guild of Television Producers’ and Directors’ Awards.
About Kenneth Horne in brief
Charles Kenneth Horne was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne. Horne had a burgeoning business career with Triplex Safety Glass, which was interrupted by service with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. In 1958 Horne suffered a stroke and gave up his business dealings to focus on his entertainment work. He died of a heart attack while hosting the annual Guild of Television Producers’ and Directors’ Awards before the planned fifth series of the comedy was recorded. A 2002 BBC radio survey to find listeners’ favourite British comedian placed Horne third, behind Tony Hancock and Spike Milligan. He was the seventh and youngest child of Silvester Horne and his wife, Katherine Maria née Cozens-Hardy. His father was the Liberal MP for North Norfolk who became the Master of the Rolls in 1907 and Baron Cozens/Hardy on 1 July 1914. He also served as the chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales from 1910 to 1914. In 1914 he collapsed and died, aged 49, while on a speaking tour of the US and Canada, and then travelled to Toronto; as the ferry he took entered harbour, he died, age 49. He attended St George’s School, Harpenden as a boarder, and represented the school in rugby and cricket. In 1925 he was knocked out by the future Wimbledon finalist Bunny Austin in the Public Schoolboys Lawn Tennis Championship at Queen’s Club.
In 1926 he joined the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies to take over the essential services. During the general strike in 1926 he spent two days driving a London bus before the strike was called off. He represented the college team alongside the future Olympic gold medall Lord Burghley at Cambridge in the rugby team. In 1927 he was sent down to Birmingham for an interview with the Triplex Glass Company at King’s Norton, Birmingham. Despite the disappointment, he decided against offering the young man a post in the family firm and decided against it. Through the influence and generosity of an uncle, Austin Pilkington of the pilkington family of St Helens, he was able to enrol at Magene College, October 1926. He then went on to study at the London School of Economics in October 1925, where his tutors included Hugh Dalton and Stephen Leacock. Although he was not strong academically, he developed into a good sportsman, and during the summer holidays took part in the public schoolboys Lawn tennis Championship. He later became the chairman and managing director of toy manufacturers Chad Valley. His career in industry flourished, and he later became a director of the company. In 1964, the same cast recorded four series of comedy Round theHorne. The series has been regularly re-broadcast since his death. He had a son, Kenneth, who was born on 27 February 1907.
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