Arnold Ridley (1896-1984)

Death: 12th March 1984
Location: Cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his urn buried at his parents' gave in Bath Abbey Cemetery, Bath, Somerset, England
Photo taken by: Milky
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English playwright and actor, first notable as the author of the play The Ghost Train (1923) and later in life for portraying the elderly Private Charles Godfrey in the British sitcom Dad's Army.
After being stranded for an evening at Mangotsfield railway station, near Bristol, Ridley was inspired to write the play, The Ghost Train. It was a tale of passengers stranded at a haunted railway station in Cornwall, with one of the characters being a detective trying to catch smugglers. The show became a huge success, enjoying 665 performances in London's West End and two revivals. The Ghost Train was first filmed in 1931 and again in 1941 when it starred Arthur Askey. Ridley also wrote over 30 other plays including The Wrecker (1924), Keepers of Youth (1929), The Flying Fool (1929) and Recipe for Murder (1936).
During his time in military service in the Second World War he adapted the Agatha Christie novel Peril at End House into a West End play that premiered in 1940. Ridley's post-war play, Beggar My Neighbour, was first performed in 1951 and adapted for the Ealing Comedy film Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953).

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