Alan Roughton

Alan Roughton was a big name in radio when radio was the only thing.  He studied singing as a boy and performed in London, England before he came to Canada in 1912.  In 1914, Alan enlisted in the Canadian Forces and went back to Europe with the 31st Battalion.  Twice wounded, he was commissioned in the field, and after discharge in 1919 he went back to work in Calgary.  In 1940 he enlisted again, this time utilizing his entertainment experience in recruiting and bond drives-one of his big shows played the Orpheum-on his way to “the dizzy height of Captain.”  He broke into radio in Calgary in 1925 and moved to Vancouver in 1933.  He freelanced, writing, producing and selling shows “for peanuts” while acting with E.V. Young at CRCV (later CBC).  To prove he was more than “a singer,” he wrote them a comedy skit, Mr. and Mrs.  It ran for three years, co-starring his wife Esther.  ‘Uncle Billy Hassell would breeze in and say “Alan I want a half hour drama script on New Westminster for Friday.  Of course there isn’t much money and for extra players you can use Alan Young and Bill Buckingham”, so I would write…’  The three men did a lot of shows, like Marston of the Mounted, with each man playing several different roles.  Alan also worked with Bernie Braden and Jack Drainie.  He understudied John Charles Thomas during the Vancouver birthday celebrations in 1946 and was a star at TUTS for nine years.  Alan was one of the great old stagers in the VIF production of This Deadly Game in 1960.  In the 40s he started hosting The British Empire Program at CKMO.  Ten years later he moved it to CKLG for another ten years as British Varieties.  He also ran annual tours to England from 1956 to 1965.  Alan died in 1976 at the age of 82.