Ted Ray

Who was Ted Ray?

Ted Ray was a popular English comedian of the 1940s, '50s and '60s.

Ray was born Charlie Olden in Wigan, Lancashire, England. His parents moved to Liverpool within days of his birth, and Liverpudlians regard him as a local. As a comedian of the 1940s and '50s he demonstrated his ad-libbing skills in his weekly radio show Ray's A Laugh from 1949 until 1961.

A music hall comedian, Ray usually played violin badly as part of his act. He also played comedy roles in several British films—notably as the headmaster in Carry On Teacher. He is best remembered for the Sunday lunchtime radio show Ray's a Laugh, a domestic comedy in which Kitty Bluett played his wife. Other actors and actresses who featured on the show included Peter Sellers, Fred Yule, Patricia Hayes, Kenneth Connor, Pat Coombs and Graham Stark; Sellers' earliest appearances predated The Goon Show by a couple of years. In 1940 and 1950 Ray was King Rat of the Grand Order of Water Rats.

Ray was an accomplished golfer, frequently playing with professional sportsmen. Later in his career he appeared with Jimmy Edwards, Arthur Askey and Cyril Fletcher in the comedy radio panel game Does the Team Think?