Talbot Rothwell OBE

Talbot Nelson Conn Rothwell was born in Bromley, Kent on the 12th of November 1916. He was nicknamed ‘Tolly’ and educated at Cranleigh School, Surrey. Upon leaving school he was employed as a town clerk at Brighton Borough Council.

He then became a police officer in Palestine before returning to England and enlisting in the RAF.

During the Second World War as a pilot officer, Rothwell was posted to 224 Squadron Royal Air Force Coastal Command, based at RAF Leuchars, Fife in Scotland. On the 14th of June 1940 at 09.35 hours, as part of a crew of four, Talbot took off in a Lockheed Hudson bomber on a special coastal reconnaissance mission of Norway. At 11:30am local time the plane was reported shot down over the North West of Stavanger, Norway.

The aircraft had been hit by an exploding burst of flak fired by German Anti-Aircraft Artillery. Rothwell bailed out and was captured and imprisoned in the notorious Prisoner Of War camp Stalag Luft III in Germany.

In the camp, Talbot Rothwell met Peter Butterworth and they asked the camp commandant if they could set up a theatre to entertain the captive audience with comedy shows. The commandant gave his permission on the condition that Rothwell and Butterworth would give their word that they wouldn’t try to escape their imprisonment. Rothwell and Butterworth were also given permission to set up the theatre by senior British officer at Stalag Luft III, Herbert Massey. This was with the order to make any rehearsals and performances very noisy to mask the noise of other prisoners digging escape tunnels.

Talbot Rothwell wrote the camp concerts with Peter Butterworth, who took a starring role on stage. In the early hours of Friday the 24th of March 1944, 76 prisoners broke out of the camp in what became known as The Great Escape. This daring attempt to make a ‘home run’ as it was called to a neutral country was completed by only 3 of the escapees. Talbot Rothwell and Peter Butterworth didn’t escape as they had promised the commandant that they wouldn’t try and they remained true to their word. In January 1945 the Soviet Army liberated Stalag III.

After the war Talbot Rothwell returned to England and wrote radio scripts for The Crazy Gang, Arthur Askey, Ted Ray and Terry-Thomas. He was also an acclaimed playwright with his play Queen Elizabeth Slept Here running for 349 performances at the Strand Theatre in London’s West End. He wrote scripts for the television show Mr Pastry and adapted the French detective novels Maigret for the BBC series. Rupert Davies, a fellow prisoner of Stalag III, who had also performed in the camp’s shows played Inspector Maigret.

Peter Butterworth auditioned to play himself in the film ‘The Wooden Horse’ about the other famous escape from Stalag III. A wooden gymnastic box had been placed in plain sight of the German guards in the camp compound. Peter had taken it in turns with other prisoners to vault the ‘horse’ while two prisoners inside dug an escape tunnel out of the camp. Peter wasn’t cast in the film and was told it was because “He didn’t look convincingly heroic or athletic enough.”