Will Hay

Stockton-on-Tees-born Will Hay became one of Britain’s leading screen comedians. In 1938 he ranked third at the British box office, behind George Formby and Gracie Fields. His 1937 film Oh, Mr. Porter! remains a celebrated British comedy, recognised as a classic by the British Film Institute.

Away from the stage and screen, Hay was a serious amateur astronomer and became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1932. On 3 August 1933 he observed a Great White Spot on Saturn, an observation recorded in the history of the British Astronomical Association.