# Basil Hallam > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Basil_Hallam > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Basil_Hallam.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Hallam > Source revision: 1332257856 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English actor and singer (1888–1916)}} {{more citations needed|date=March 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} [[File:BlindnessofVirtue1913.tif|thumb|[Doris Lytton](/source/Doris_Lytton) as Effie and Hallam as Archie in [Cosmo Hamilton](/source/Cosmo_Hamilton)'s ''The Blindness of Virtue'' (1913).]] '''Basil Hallam Radford''' (3 April 1888 – 20 August 1916) was an English actor and singer, known for the character of Gilbert the Filbert in ''[The Passing Show](/source/The_Passing_Show)''. He died in action on the [Western Front](/source/Western_Front_(World_War_I)) during [World War I](/source/World_War_I). ==Early life== Basil Hallam was born on 3 April 1888 at 55 Marine Parade, [Brighton](/source/Brighton), [East Sussex](/source/East_Sussex), [England](/source/England), the youngest son and child of Walter Thomas Hindmarsh Radford, a ship and insurance broker (1845–1927), and Ann Louisa Maria Radford (née Wulff) (1847–1924). He was the youngest of six siblings: Annie Marguerite (1874–1943), Walter Guy (1875–1947), Ethel May (1880–?), Archibald Campbell (1881–1958) and Maurice Clive (1884–1915). Hallam was baptised on 23 May 1888 in St Mary's, [Hendon](/source/Hendon), Middlesex. He was educated at the Meads preparatory school in [Eastbourne](/source/Eastbourne), [Charterhouse School](/source/Charterhouse_School) and the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford). ==Theatrical career== He began his career in [Shakespearean](/source/Shakespearean) roles with Sir [Herbert Beerbohm Tree](/source/Herbert_Beerbohm_Tree)'s company in 1908. He had an early success as Archie Graham in [Cosmo Hamilton](/source/Cosmo_Hamilton)'s ''The Blindness of Virtue'', opposite [Doris Lytton](/source/Doris_Lytton) as Effie. He appeared in New York City with [Billie Burke](/source/Billie_Burke) in ''Mrs. Dot''.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/08/23/104687632.pdf "Basil Hallam Killed; Vaudeville Star Well Known Here Meets Death at the Front"], ''The New York Times'', 23 August 1916, p. 2. On 2 April 1911, he was resident at 25 Park Crescent, St Marylebone, London, England. He created the character of a privileged young "knut", Gilbert the Filbert, for ''The Passing Show'' (1914), the original [revue](/source/revue) of that title by [Herman Finck](/source/Herman_Finck), which opened at the [Palace Theatre](/source/Palace_Theatre%2C_London), London, on 20 April 1914. He also recorded the song of the same name for the [His Master's Voice](/source/His_Master's_Voice_(British_record_label)) label on 4 June 1914. (The song can be heard on a 2012 release by the Diversions record label, ''The Finck Album'', sung by [Mart Sander](/source/Mart_Sander).) ==Personal life== Before entering service for World War I, Hallam fell in love with [Elsie Janis](/source/Elsie_Janis), with whom he had starred in ''The Passing Show of 1915''.Howard, William F. [http://www.archives.nysed.gov/apt/magazine/archivesmag_winter05.shtml "The Sweetheart of the A.E.F."] {{webarchive |url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20110706064950/http://www.archives.nysed.gov/apt/magazine/archivesmag_winter05.shtml |date=6 July 2011 }}, ''New York Archives'' magazine, Winter 2005, Volume 4, Number 3, accessed 1 November 2012. They set up home in the city of [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool)."Echoes of the Day", ''Liverpool Echo'', 25 August 1916, p. 3. ==Death== [Granville Bradshaw](/source/Granville_Bradshaw) bitterly claimed that his friend Basil Hallam, who was famous for his song "Gilbert the Filbert the Colonel of the Knuts", was de facto killed by [White Feather Campaign](/source/White_Feather_Campaign) women. According to Bradshaw, the two men were walking down [Shaftesbury Avenue](/source/Shaftesbury_Avenue) after Hallam's show when "we were both surrounded by young, stupid, and screaming girls who stuck white feathers into the lapels of our coats. When we extricated our selves Basil said, 'I shall go and join-up immediately'—he did. I heard a few weeks later that my friend Basil Hallam had joined the para troops (balloon observer) and in his first descent with a parachute it failed to open. He was killed and he died during the afternoon.""White Feathers and Wounded Men: Female Patriotism and the Memory of the Great War". Nicoletta F. Gullace. G. Backhaus to BBC, May 15, 1964, IWM, BBC/GW, vol. BAB-BAP, fol. 18. Hallam died on 20 August 1916, aged 28, while serving as a Captain with a [Kite Balloon Section](/source/Kite_balloon) of the [Royal Flying Corps](/source/Royal_Flying_Corps) in France at the [Battle of the Somme](/source/Battle_of_the_Somme)."British Legion", ''Exeter and Plymouth Gazette'', 8 July 1929, p. 2."How Basil Hallam Died", ''Western Daily Press'', 24 August 1916, p. 8. In the afternoon of 20 August 1916 on the Northern part of the Somme battlefield he was crewing a tethered un-powered [observation balloon](/source/observation_balloon) watching the German line near the village of [Gommecourt](/source/Gommecourt%2C_Pas-de-Calais), when its steel cable tether snapped, and the balloon, caught in an Easterly wind, began to drift towards enemy lines out of control. To avoid capture, Hallam bailed out of the balloon's basket but he was obstructed from jumping clear, and fell several hundred feet to his death after his emergency parachute failed to deploy.Pollard, A. C. ''The Royal Air Force'', London 1938, p. 106.{{Cite web |url=https://www.therebutnotthere.org.uk/today-remember-basil-hallam/ |title=Today we remember: Basil Hallam - Remembered |access-date=15 July 2019 |archive-date=15 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715192654/https://www.therebutnotthere.org.uk/today-remember-basil-hallam/ |url-status=dead }} His body was buried at a [British military cemetery](/source/Commonwealth_War_Graves_Commission) at the nearby village of [Couin](/source/Couin).[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/175203/RADFORD,%20BASIL%20HALLAM Casualty Details for Basil Hallam Radford], Commonwealth War Graves Commission.org, accessed 1 November 2012, ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==External links== *{{YouTube|ppJCuAx1K40|Hallam singing "Gilbert the Filbert"}} *[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp126889/basil-hallam Photos of Hallam] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hallam, Basil}} Category:1889 births Category:1916 deaths Category:20th-century English male actors Category:20th-century English male singers Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme Category:English male stage actors Category:Military personnel from Brighton Category:Parachuting deaths Category:People educated at Charterhouse School Category:Royal Flying Corps officers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Basil Hallam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Hallam) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Hallam?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.