Karno, Fred
Exeter-born Fred Karno, one of the most famous entertainers of his time, organised a team to play Exeter City reserves in 1909 when his touring company was performing in the city.
During the winter of 1908/09 Fred Karno's troupe toured the country performing 'The Football Match' billed as a take on a 'cup struggle' between Midnight Wanderers and the Middleton Pie-cans. When the company pitched up at Exeter's New Hippodrome in March 1909, during what was the newly-professionalised Exeter City's first season in the Football League, a charity match was organised between members of the cast and City's Plymouth and District League team. It was understood that the Karno XI included several former professionals but not future international celebrity Charlie Chaplin who had been a member of the company earlier in the tour.
Karno, born Frederick John Westcott in Waterbeer Street in Exeter in 1866, was both a leading theatre impresario and famous comedian in his own right. Known for his slapstick humour, Fred Karno's name became associated with any chaotic situation to the extent that soldiers in the Great War - often disillusioned by what they saw as a lack of organisation - sometimes took to labelling themselves as 'Fred Karno's Army'.
Fred Karno died near Poole in 1941 aged seventy-five.
During the winter of 1908/09 Fred Karno's troupe toured the country performing 'The Football Match' billed as a take on a 'cup struggle' between Midnight Wanderers and the Middleton Pie-cans. When the company pitched up at Exeter's New Hippodrome in March 1909, during what was the newly-professionalised Exeter City's first season in the Football League, a charity match was organised between members of the cast and City's Plymouth and District League team. It was understood that the Karno XI included several former professionals but not future international celebrity Charlie Chaplin who had been a member of the company earlier in the tour.
Karno, born Frederick John Westcott in Waterbeer Street in Exeter in 1866, was both a leading theatre impresario and famous comedian in his own right. Known for his slapstick humour, Fred Karno's name became associated with any chaotic situation to the extent that soldiers in the Great War - often disillusioned by what they saw as a lack of organisation - sometimes took to labelling themselves as 'Fred Karno's Army'.
Fred Karno died near Poole in 1941 aged seventy-five.
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