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Stanley Maxted

Stanley Maxted (21 August 1895 – 10 May 1963) was a Canadian soldier, singer, radio producer, journalist and actor. He worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and later for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as a war correspondent during World War II. Following the war, he became an actor.[1][2]

Stanley Herbert Maxted
Born
Stanley Herbert Maxted

(1895-08-21)21 August 1895
Folkestone, England, UK
Died10 May 1963(1963-05-10) (aged 67)
London, England
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)Soldier, singer, radio producer, journalist, actor
Known forWorld War II reporting for BBC

Maxted was a British home child who came to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1906 via Fegan Homes. He enlisted in 1915 and fought in World War I. Twice wounded and gassed during the First World War, he survived and became a singer.[3][4] In the 1930s, he began working for the CBC as a journalist.

Maxted was seconded to work for the BBC in England during the Second World War.[1][5] Maxted was present at on D-Day and the Battle of Arnhem alongside fellow BBC reporter Guy Byam and newspaper reporters Alan Wood of the Daily Express and Jack Smyth of Reuters.[6] Maxted later covered the war in the Pacific in 1945, which he described as more difficult than reporting from Europe due to the distances covered.[7][8]

Early life

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Stanley Herbert Maxted was born on 21 August 1895 in Folkestone, Kent, England to Fanny Emma (née Sanderson) and Herbert Hope Maxted.[9] After his parents' marriage failed, he was taken into care by Fegan Homes (founded by the nonconformist evangelist J. W. C. Fegan) and immigrated to Canada in 1906.[4][10] Contrary to Fegan's policy of placing young boys on farms to serve as labourers,[11] Maxted boarded as a teenager with the family of Dr. Malcolm Sparrow, a prominent dentist and amateur tenor residing in the Parkdale district of Toronto.[12] Living with the Sparrows afforded Maxted the opportunity to attend Toronto's Parkdale Collegiate Institute, where he won two scholarships and excelled in sports.[12][13][14] Maxted also reportedly studied singing privately under the tutelage of the renowned voice instructor Otto Morando.[14][15]

Following high school, Maxted began forestry studies at the University of Toronto, but war was mounting in Europe and he only completed one term before dropping out to enlist.[14][5]

Military service and early career

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Stanley Maxted enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Toronto on 10 February 1915.[16] He named his mother, Mrs. Fanny Maxted of Folkestone, Kent, England, as his next of kin on his attestation papers.[16] Maxted was assigned to Eaton's Machine Gun Battery upon his enlistment, and was promoted to the rank of corporal before departing for England with his battalion in June 1915.[16][12] By a great coincidence, upon arrival in England, Maxted was based in his hometown of Folkestone for training.[16] In December 1915, Maxted received a commission as a lieutenant in the British Royal Field Artillery.[16] Maxted arrived in France on 1 March 1916, and immediately saw action. He was wounded three times throughout the war.[16] In September 1916, he suffered injuries to his back when a heavy timber fell on him after a shell blast.[16][17][18] On 31 July 1917 he received a bullet wound to his right thigh and suffered from the effects of gas.[16][19] And then on 6 October 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele he was gassed a second time, causing long term respiratory problems and rendering him speechless for a time.[16][20] Maxted returned to Canada on 14 February 1918, and stayed with the Sparrow family to convalesce.[21] After his recovery, he was sent on home assignment to CFB Borden, and honorably discharged in January 1919 with the rank of lieutenant.[16]

Finding employment in post-war Canada was a challenge, so later in 1919 Maxted headed south to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States, where he found work as an oven builder for the booming steel town coke industry.[5][22] Maxted spent three years living in Pittsburgh, where he was eventually promoted to a foreman.[5][22][23] However, he found the work exacerbated his lingering respiratory problems caused by gas exposure,[5] so he returned to Canada where he engaged in sales for the lumber industry.[5][14][22][24]

While living at Montreal in the late 1920s, Maxted joined the 27th Field Battery reserve force of the Canadian Field Artillery.[25] By 1928, he was promoted to the rank of captain,[25][26] and by 1929, he held the rank of major.[15]

Singing and radio career

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After returning to Canada, Maxted began to actively explore singing once again, reportedly on the advice of a doctor to help strengthen his lungs.[27] By 1927, Maxted was gaining prominence as a tenor in Montreal and began performing regularly with the Montreal Elgar Choir.[28][29]

By 1929, Maxted was rising in fame on the Canadian national music scene, especially as a performer of A. A. Milne's poetry collection When We Were Very Young, which had been set to music by Harold Fraser-Simson.[30] Maxted received high praise from critics across the country for his humor and artistry in singing Milne's works.[31] Augustus Bridle, the arts critic for the Toronto Daily Star, who himself had been a British Home Child, wrote of Maxted: "He has a delightful voice, as ductile as spun glass in the making."[31] In the fall of 1929, Stanley Maxted was a featured performer in the Canadian Pacific Railway Concert Series, which saw him performing the A.A. Milne works on tour in major cities across the country.[32][33]

In 1930, Maxted signed a contract with the Columbia Broadcasting System in New York City, singing live on five different radio programs weekly.[14] Maxted also continued to perform regularly for Canadian audiences.[34] One of his biggest concert events was performing for a broadcast on 1 June 1931 aboard the maiden voyage of the new Canadian Pacific ship RMS Empress of Britain, billed as the largest and fastest ship travelling between England and Canada.[35]

In 1933, Maxted's health forced him to return to Toronto, where he took a position as a regional program director with the Canadian Radio Commission (the immediate precursor of the CBC).[23][36] In an article published in the Ottawa Citizen in November 1933, Maxted gave advice to other radio singers: "Sing the good things whenever you can. Sing in concert as often as possible, for radio tends to give a man a small voice."[23] After joining the Canadian Radio Commission, Maxted continued to perform at concerts across North America, and even began composing his own songs as well.[24][36]

In May 1937, six months after the formation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Maxted went to London, England to work with commercial radio interests.[37] He returned to Canada in September 1939 at the outset of World War II.

WWII journalist

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At the start of the second world war, Maxted produced the Carry On, Canada! radio show for the CBC, which used short radio dramas to encourage Canadian men to join the army and others to donate to the war effort.[38][39] In October 1940, Maxted was loaned from the CBC to the BBC as a producer and commentator.[37][39] Upon his return to London, he began to produce a variety of radio entertainment programs in a West End theatre with a live audience, a practice that was more commonly found in North American studios.[37] As a commentator, the feature he was best known for was the program Off the Record, which was also broadcast to North American audiences on the BBC shortwave North American Service.[37][5] By 1942, Maxted's five-minute talks regarding blackout precautions and air raid survival tips during the London Blitz had become so popular with American audiences that the BBC initiated a weekly shortwave broadcast.[40]

In 1943, after being anxious to get into the action, Maxted joined the BBC's corps of war reporters.[37] This required training with troops on maneuvers and getting used to the job of handling portable radio equipment in the field.[37]

On 4 June Maxted went aboard the lead of the 9th Minesweeping Flotilla, HMS Sidmouth, as Allied forces prepared to invade France. The flotilla’s instructions were to sweep one of the ten passages in the Germans’ huge outer screen minefield some 5-10 miles off-shore. The 9th MF was assigned ‘Channel 7’ through which Force ‘J’ would proceed to the Juno Beaches - which were largely taken by Canadian forces. In this way, minesweepers were the first vessels to approach the coast of France in the early hours of 6 June. It was from HMS Sidmouth that Maxted broadcast one of the first reports of D-Day for the BBC.

On 16 September 1944, Maxted was summoned to a briefing regarding Operation Market Garden, an attempt by the Western Allies to gain a foothold in German-held territory in the Netherlands.[41] Maxted was told that he and other members of the press, including Alan Wood of the Daily Express, would be accompanying British troops of the 1st Airborne Division (the 'Red Devils') as part of an invasion on the far side of the Rhine River.[27][41] The objective was to secure the bridge at the Dutch town of Arnhem.[41] Maxted and the other journalists were given seats aboard a glider plane that was loaded with equipment and supplies, while most of the division landed as paratroopers.[41] After initial success upon landing, the Battle of Arnhem became increasingly desperate for the British.[41] The planned reinforcements never arrived by land, and Allied supply planes inadvertently dropped ammunition and food rations right into German hands.[41] Maxted sent dispatches almost daily to report on the action at Arnhem.[41] Eventually the remaining soldiers of the 1st Airborne Division were completely surrounded at Arnhem, and were ordered to withdraw in a midnight escape.[41] Maxted recounted crawling with the men through mud and rain to reach the Rhine River where Allied boats under machine gun fire carried them to safety on the other side.[41] Maxted's account of the Battle of Arnhem can be read in a Maclean's article from Nov 1944 entitled I Was at Arnhem.[41]

Just weeks following his escape from Arnhem, Maxted returned to Canada on 2 November 1944, where he told his story widely.[42] [43] He also performed in the seventh Victory Loan Star Show that was broadcast coast to coast in Canada on 8 November 1944.[44]

Maxted returned to England and his work as a BBC war correspondent shortly afterwards. In March 1945, he landed with the 6th Airborne Division as part of Operation Varsity on the far side of the Rhine.[45] He recounted the harrowing landing and the events that followed in another Maclean's article, I Crossed the Rhine with the Glider Troops.[45]

In May 1945, Maxted briefly passed through Canada on his way to report on the war in the Pacific.[46] Maxted was with the first Americans to land at Tokyo, after which he accompanied British and Canadian naval units to Hong Kong.[47] He was also aboard the U.S.S. Missouri when Japanese representatives came on board to sign surrender on 2 September 1945.[47]

Following the war, it was reported that a card bearing Stanley Maxted's name was found in the records of the Gestapo offices in Berlin, along with a list of the broadcasts he had made for the BBC.[47] Reportedly, one broadcast was noted as being particularly disliked by Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler.[47]

Maxted returned to Toronto once again on 29 December 1945 after the close of the war,[48] but his stay in Canada was short-lived. In 1946, he was back in Europe filming, Theirs is the Glory, a documentary that recruited surviving veterans to re-enact the Battle of Arnhem using the actual devastated buildings at Arnhem as the set.[49] Maxted both narrated and appeared as himself in the film.[49]

Acting career

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After his film debut in Theirs is the Glory, Sir Laurence Olivier asked Maxted to join the cast of Born Yesterday on stage at the Garrick Theatre in London in 1947.[2][27][50] In 1949, he appeared in The Way Back at the Westminster Theatre, which also starred Richard Attenborough.[50]

After providing narration for the documentary films, The Victory Parade (1946) and Oslo 1947 (1947),[3] Maxted appeared in an uncredited role in the comedy film I Was a Male War Bride starring Cary Grant.[3] Maxted continued to add to his acting credits until 1958, when his health began to decline.[27] His performances included five episodes of BBC Sunday-Night Theatre, a series of television plays performed live.[50]

Personal life

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Stanley Maxted married Olga Juhler of Toronto on 14 August 1921 in Pittsburgh.[51] The couple had four children[36] and divorced in January 1946.[52] Maxted remarried to Charlotte Elgitha Veronica Boswell Eliott, the daughter of an American-born Scottish Baronet.[53]

In his later years, Maxted experienced worsening lung problems, likely the result of his exposure to gas in WWI.[27] He died on 10 May 1963 in a hospital in London after suffering a heart attack.[27] In obituaries published in Canada and the UK, Maxted was noted primarily for being the "Voice at Arnhem."[27][50]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1949 I Was a Male War Bride U.S. Consul in Heidelberg Uncredited
1953 The Net Prof. Adams
Never Let Me Go John Barnes
The Final Test Senator
1954 The Love Lottery Stanton
1955 I Am a Camera Curtis B. Ryland, editor
1956 Ett kungligt äventyr J G Parker
It's Never Too Late Lee Sax
The Weapon Colonel
1957 Across the Bridge Milton
Campbell's Kingdom Henry Fergus
1958 The Strange Awakening Mr. Moffat
Fiend Without a Face Col. Butler (final film role)

Television

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Year Show Role Notes
1952 BBC Sunday-Night Theatre Detective Parsons Episode: "Mystery Story"
1953 BBC Sunday-Night Theatre Justin Clayfield Episode: "The Bridge"
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre Ambassador Episode: "Operation North Star"
1954 BBC Sunday-Night Theatre Colonel Dangerfield Episode: "Halycon Days"
1956 BBC Sunday-Night Theatre Harry Lancaster Episode: "Marching Song"

Stage

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Year Title Theatre Role Ref(s)
1947 Born Yesterday Garrick Theatre Ed Deverey [2]
1949 The Way Back Westminster Theatre Doctor [50]

References

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  1. ^ a b Marie Gillespie; Alban Webb (3 January 2013). Diasporas and Diplomacy: Cosmopolitan contact zones at the BBC World Service (1932–2012). Routledge. pp. 48–. ISBN 978-1-136-44864-5.
  2. ^ a b c "Stanley Maxted – Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  3. ^ a b c "Stanley Maxted". Archived from the original on 7 November 2017.
  4. ^ a b Andrea Thomas Harris (September 2019). "Stanley Maxted (1895–1963)". British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association: September 2019 Newsletter. Barrie, Ontario, Canada: BHCARA. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Ex-Torontonian Now Producer With the B.B.C.: Well Known Singer, Stanley Maxted On Loan from C.B.C." Calgary Herald. Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 25 April 1942. p. 21. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  6. ^ Martin Bowman (30 August 2013). Shrinking Perimeter. Pen and Sword. pp. 179–. ISBN 978-1-78159-177-2.
  7. ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (2 June 1945). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 4–. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ Vincent Dowd (12 September 2015). "WW2: Guy Byam, the BBC's lost reporter". BBC News Online. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  9. ^ "PDF copy of birth certificate for Stanley Herbert Maxted, 21 Aug 1895". GRO Reference: 1895 D Quarter in ELHAM Volume 02A Page 956 Occasional Copy: A. General Register Office, UK. 1895. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ "Herbert Stanley Maxted". British Home Child Registry. BHCARA. 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Boys for the Farms:One Hundred Boys Arrived by Empress of Britain from England". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 14 May 1906. p. 2.
  12. ^ a b c "Stanley Maxted's Rise". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 11 January 1916. p. 7.
  13. ^ "Bright students who won high school scholarships". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 29 September 1911. p. 9.
  14. ^ a b c d e "Toronto Tenor Sings for Columbia System: Stanley Maxted Studied Forestry, But Music Called Him". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 6 September 1930. p. 22.
  15. ^ a b "Popular Tenor". The Winnipeg Tribune. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. 20 May 1933. p. 11.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Personnel Records of the First World War". Library and Archives Canada. Government of Canada. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Lieut. Maxted Wounded". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 18 October 1916. p. 10.
  18. ^ "Back Badly Injured: Lt. S.H. Maxted, However, Progressing Well". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 21 January 1916. p. 10.
  19. ^ "Lieut. Maxted Wounded: He Had Been Previously Wounded and Mentioned in Despatches". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 13 August 1917. p. 2.
  20. ^ "Speechless From Hun Gas: Lieut. Stanley H. Maxted Reported Gassed a Second Time and Fighting for His Life". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 30 October 1917. p. 2.
  21. ^ "Lieut. Maxted is Home". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 16 February 1918. p. 9.
  22. ^ a b c "Versatile Man Is Versatile Artist". The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 25 November 1933. p. 26. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  23. ^ a b c "Radio Shots and Shorts". The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 4 November 1933. p. 15. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  24. ^ a b "Stanley Maxted Versatile Gent". The Leader-Post. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. 10 October 1934. p. 8.
  25. ^ a b "Medium Artillery Brigade Returns from Petawawa: 2nd Montreal Regiment, C.A., Complete For Two Days at Camp". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 9 July 1928. p. 11. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  26. ^ "Artillery Officers Present". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 14 July 1928. p. 3. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  27. ^ a b c d e f g "Stanley Maxted: Former Singer Covered Plight Of Red Devils". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 11 May 1963. p. 2.
  28. ^ "All-Canadian Concert". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 22 March 1927. p. 7. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  29. ^ "Elgar Choir Gave Opening Concert: Interesting Programme Given Fine Interpretation by Local Artists". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 24 November 1927. p. 8. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  30. ^ Maxted, Stanley (performer), Milne, A.A. (writer-lyrics), Fraser-Simson, Harold (composer) (April 1928). Buckingham Palace ["When We Were Very Young" Series of Children's Songs] (78rpm). USA: Internet Archive. 78_buckingham-palace_stanley-maxted-milne-fraser-simson_gbia0059206b. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  31. ^ a b Bridle, Augustus (11 March 1929). "Stanley Maxted Sings "Very Young" Lyrics: Vocal Panorama of Make Believe Made Vividly Interesting by Vocal Art". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. p. 13.
  32. ^ "Frances James, Stanley Maxted Will Sing Here". The Winnipeg Tribune. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. 10 October 1929. p. 11.
  33. ^ "Stanley Maxted and Mary Frances James Present High Class Vocal Recital at Royal York". Toronto Daily Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 4 November 1929. p. 15.
  34. ^ "Stanley Maxted Heard in Recital: Canadian Tenor Offers Interesting Programme in Victoria Hall". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 1 May 1931. p. 8.
  35. ^ "Sings From Ship". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 1 June 1931. p. 13.
  36. ^ a b c "Rotogravure Section". Maclean's. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 15 February 1935. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  37. ^ a b c d e f Moore, H. Napier (15 May 1945). "In the Editor's Confidence". Maclean's. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  38. ^ "It's On The Air". The Leader-Post. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. 11 June 1940. p. 19. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  39. ^ a b "Bowman and Maxted Return to England". The Interior News. Smithers, British Columbia, Canada. 2 October 1940. p. 2.
  40. ^ "Short Wave Broadcasting Service". The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 12 January 1942. p. 22.
  41. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Maxted, Stanley (15 November 1944). "I Was At Arnhem". Maclean's. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  42. ^ Chamberlain, Frank (2 November 1944). "Radio Column". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. p. 13.
  43. ^ "Newsman for BBC Describes Arnhem: Maj. Stanley Maxted Tells Rotary Operation in Holland Was Not Failure". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 22 November 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  44. ^ "Tonight: The Victory Star Show". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 8 November 1944. p. 17.
  45. ^ a b Maxted, Stanley (15 May 1945). "I Crossed the Rhine with the Glider Troops". Maclean's. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  46. ^ "To The Pacific". The Gazette. Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada. 31 May 1945. p. 4.
  47. ^ a b c d "Stanley Maxted's Gestapo Record Now Rests in BBC Headquarters". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 16 January 1946. p. 7. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  48. ^ "Stanley Maxted Home on Liner". The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 29 December 1945. p. 7.
  49. ^ a b Hurst, Brian Desmond (director) (1946). Theirs Is The Glory (motion picture). United Kingdom: General Film Distributors. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  50. ^ a b c d e "Obituary: Mr. Stanley Maxted". The Guardian. London, England. 11 May 1963. p. 4.
  51. ^ "Marriage Announcements: Maxted-Juhler". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 19 August 1910. p. 4.
  52. ^ "Osgoode Hall". The Globe. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 1 February 1946. p. 24.
  53. ^ "Who are James Boswell's descendants?". James Boswell.info: Everything Boswell. Franzden Communication. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
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