The entertainer: Laughter not best medicine, tribunal ruled

Published on Wednesday 10 November 2010 18:06

In his application, Fyffe claimed his act was 'one of the best tonics for soldiers and sailors'

One of the most celebrated stars of Scottish stage and screen was among applicants to the tribunal hoping to escape service in the First World War.

Will Fyffe, the Dundee-born comedian, went on to become a major star in the 1930s and 1940s on stage, screen and vinyl, winning fame with his song I Belong to Glasgow.

In March 1918 Fyffe appeared before the Military Appeal Tribunal seeking exemption on the grounds that his civvy job in the music halls was "in the national interest".

It was stated on Fyffe's behalf that "the entertainment offered by such artists as the Appellant is, in the opinion of both Medical and Military Authorities, one of the best tonics for soldiers and sailors on leave from the front, and for men, who, having been wounded, are in convalescence."

The tribunal summarily dismissed his appeal and he was ordered to serve.

Fyffe survived the war. In 1920 he went on to even greater fame with his song "I belong to Glasgow" and in 1940 he starred alongside Sir John Gielgud in the film The Prime Minister, about the life of Benjamin Disraeli.

According to Albert Mackie's The Scotch Comedians, Fyffe found the inspiration for I Belong to Glasgow in a drunk he met at Glasgow Central Station. The "genial" man was "laying off about Karl Marx". Fyffe asked him: "Do you belong to Glasgow?" and the man replied: "At the moment, at the moment, Glasgow belongs to me."