{{Short description|English songwriter and scriptwriter (1926–2007)}} {{More footnotes|date=June 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Use British English|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Myles Rudge | background = solo_singer | image = Myles_Rudge_Portrait.png| | birth_date = {{birth date|1926|07|8|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|10|10|1926|07|08|df=y}} | origin = Bristol, England | genre = Folk, popular music | occupation = Songwriter, scriptwriter | years_active = 1960–1992 | birth_name = Myles Peter Carpenter Rudge }}
'''Myles Peter Carpenter Rudge ''' (8 July 1926 – 10 October 2007) was an English songwriter, known for writing the lyrics for novelty songs. His songs "The Hole in the Ground" and "Right Said Fred" were both British Top 10 chart hits in 1962,<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 127}}</ref> both recorded by Bernard Cribbins to music by Ted Dicks and produced by George Martin for Parlophone.<ref name="Stevens">{{cite book |last= Stevens |first= Christopher |title= Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams |publisher= John Murray |year= 2010 |isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5 |page=393 }}</ref> Another of his songs, "A Windmill in Old Amsterdam", was a hit in 1965 for Ronnie Hilton, and won an Ivor Novello Award in 1966 for the Year's Outstanding Novelty Composition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theivors.com/archive/1960-1969/the-ivors-1966/|title=The Ivors 1966|website=Theivors.com|accessdate=20 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815072315/http://theivors.com/archive/1960-1969/the-ivors-1966/|archive-date=15 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Life and career== Rudge was born in Bristol, England, where his father was an advertising copywriting clerk. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School, where a friend and classmate was playwright Peter Nichols.<ref name="Stevens"/> Rudge became an actor, working in at the Bristol Old Vic and Liverpool Playhouse. He served in the Royal Navy during and immediately after the Second World War, from 1944 to 1947. He joined RADA after the Navy, and worked in repertory. Tall and blond, he delivered the line "Who's for tennis?" in Julian Slade's musical ''Salad Days'' at the Vaudeville Theatre. In 1957, he played an estate agent, in ''You Pay Your Money''.
He left acting to write comedy scripts for television and radio. With composer Ted Dicks, he wrote songs and sketches for West End revue shows, including ''And Another Thing'', which had a long run at the Fortune Theatre in 1960, featuring Bernard Cribbins, Anna Quayle, and Lionel Blair and Joyce Blair. One of the show's songs, "Folk Song", became a hit for Cribbins, produced by George Martin, and led to them collaborating on the top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, "The Hole in the Ground" and "Right Said Fred".<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/><ref name="Stevens"/> Noël Coward chose "The Hole in the Ground" as one of his records on ''Desert Island Discs'', saying he would pass the time on his desert island by translating it into French. Richard and Fred Fairbrass adopted "Right Said Fred" as the name of their pop group.
Rudge and Dicks also wrote the theme song for the film ''Carry On Screaming'' (1966),<ref name="Stevens"/> and worked with Kenneth Williams on an album entitled ''On Pleasure Bent'' (1967). Other songs written by Rudge were recorded by Topol, Val Doonican, Matt Monro, Joan Sims, Jim Dale and Petula Clark.
Rudge wrote several scripts for BBC television in the 1960s, including scripts for the soap opera ''Compact''. He also wrote two series of ''Stop Messing About'' (1969), a follow-on radio comedy to ''Round the Horne'' with Kenneth Williams, and (with Ronnie Wolfe) three series of ''Something to Shout About'' (1960–62), a BBC radio sitcom set in an advertising agency. With Vince Powell, he co-wrote a religious sitcom ''Father Charlie'' (1982), starring Lionel Jeffries and Anna Quayle. He also wrote pantomime scripts, particularly for the Glasgow Citizens Theatre. Rudge was a volunteer for the Samaritans.
==References== {{wikiquote}} {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071030201738/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/26/db2602.xml Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 29 October 2007] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110524060605/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2865016.ece Obituary, ''The Times'', 14 November 2007] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071117040039/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article3166403.ece Obituary, ''The Independent'', 14 November 2007]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudge, Myles}} Category:1926 births Category:2007 deaths Category:English male songwriters Category:English television writers Category:People educated at Bristol Grammar School Category:Musicians from Bristol Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:20th-century English screenwriters Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War II Category:British comedy musicians