THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Charles Cornford (1933-34)

[Born c.1903]

Charles Cornford made his first appearance on the London Stage as Nestor in A. P. Herbert's Helen!, an adaptation of Offenbach's La Belle Helène at the Adelphi (January-June 1932).From November 1932 to January 1933 he was an extra in the comedy with music A Kiss in Spring at the Alhambra.

Cornford joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company chorus in March 1933, taking the small part of Second Yeoman in The Yeomen of the Guard during the next three months.From August 1933 to April 1934, when he left the Company, his roles included Second Yeoman, Scynthius in Princess Ida, Go-To in The Mikado, and Giorgio in The Gondoliers.

He later appeared in London as Friar Tuck in the Drury Lane pantomime Babes in the Wood (1938-39), and as Lt. Dick Graham and leader of the Vincent Tildesley Eight Royal Mastersingers in the Noel Gay "revusical comedy" Present Arms (Prince of Wales's, 1940).

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