Charles Kay, also known at various times as Charles Beachcroft Kay, C B Kay, Charles Beachy Kay Beachcroft, C B K Beachcroft, and even as Jack Trent, was a larger than life character who seemed to excel at pretty-well everything that he did, whether at being a 'Gentleman of Independent means', a sporting legend who played at County level in cricket, hockey and rugby, captained an England cricket team that won a gold medal in the 1900 Paris Olympics, introduced 'ping pong' and roller skating to the west country, won major shooting competitions, was a respected baritone singer, acted as 'mine host' and entertainer at all kinds of local events and venues, was a regular gambler, landlord or licensee of various east Devon public houses and, eventually, becoming a well-known Music Hall variety artist, song writer, comedian, actor and touring theatre company manager who played at venues throughout the UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for more than twenty years. Charles Kay was born in Rickmansworth in 1870. His father, John Lowder Kay, had grown up in Liverpool before studying for the ministry and later becoming the vicar of Greatworth in Northamptonshire. Following his father's death in 1877, his mother moved with Charles to Wolborough, a small parish near to Newton Abbot in Devon, close to his mother's original family home, where Charles then attended one of the best public schools in the west of England and where he started to build a reputation for his sporting achievements.Search through historical newspaper, magazine and theatre records from around 1886 to the middle 1920s and there hardly seems to be more than a month or two when he is not mentioned for either some sporting activity in Devon, whether cricket, hockey, rugby, rowing, pigeon shooting, ping-pong, billiards, swimming, cycling, dog coursing, ice and roller skating, tennis, or for all kinds of highly praised theatre performances in Devon, London and the provinces. He was also something of a serial adulterer with court appearances in Newton Abbot, Dawlish or Exeter for abduction and for desertion, as well appearing numerous times in courts for everything from trespass, poaching, debt, licensing disputes, gambling and bankruptcy. In all these references he was regularly described as being the possessor of a fine appearance and splendid physique, as charismatic, a great charmer, intensely funny, humorous, an excellent character impersonator, and a well-loved comedian who could fill theatres. He was certainly very much a 'ladies man' who had a succession of very young 'wives' over a period of forty or so years, even to the extent of being charged with the abduction of a minor with the intention of having carnal knowledge, as well as having multiple children (at least 13) by four different wives/lady friends.Performing on the amateur and professional stage was perhaps a natural extension of his very eventful life. Beginning in 1890 as an enthusiastic amateur in venues across Devon and later going on the professional stage, performing over the years with four different female 'partners'.Charles Kay, later to change his name to Jack Trent for several years before emigrating to Australia when the new world of cinema and silent films began to adversely affect bookings at the UK's variety theatres after World War I and into the early 1920s, and where he was to go on to successfully tour theatres in both that country and New Zealand for almost seven years, and then having his own late evening radio show in Melbourne, eventually dying from pneumonia in Melbourne in 1928.
About the Author: Michael Fairley has written or contributed to over 25 books in his close to fifty-year career as a writer, author and publisher, including four historical titles, five international encylopedias, and around 17 text or technical books. He has contributed to magazines and journals worldwide.