Will Hay - Private Life

Private Life

Aside from his day job as a comedian, Hay was a dedicated and respected amateur astronomer. His personal observatory sat in his garden in Mill Hill, the dome very visible from the main Hendon Road. He became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1932. He is noted for having discovered a white spot on the planet Saturn in 1933; the spot lasted for a few months and then faded. He also measured the positions of comets with a micrometer he built himself, and designed and built a blink comparator. He wrote the book Through My Telescope in 1935, which had an impressive foreword by Sir Richard Gregory, formerly Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at Queen's College, London. At Hay's death, a few items of his equipment were bequeathed to the British Astronomical Association.

He built a glider in 1909. Later he became one of the Britain's first private pilots and owners, and gave flying lessons to Amy Johnson. In 1942, as part of the war effort, he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), serving in the Special Branch as a sub-lieutenant. He was able to put his hobby to practical use when he later became an instructor in astronomy and navigation with the Sea Cadet Corps.

He was a polyglot and, before entering the acting profession full-time, was an accomplished translator - fluent in French, German, Latin, Italian, Norwegian and Afrikaans.

As a favourite trick for his friends, he would rapidly write seeming nonsense on a blackboard, look at it thoughtfully for a minute with a puzzled expression, then turn the blackboard upside down and there would be a perfectly written statement of some kind. And he could take someone's dictation, and repeat the trick.

He married Gladys Perkins in 1907, whom he had known since he was 15, but legally separated on 18 November 1935. They had two daughters and a son: Gladys Elspeth Hay (b. 1909), William E. Hay (b. 1913), and Joan A. Hay (b. 1917).

In 1947, Hay suffered a stroke which left him physically disabled. He died at his flat in Chelsea, London after a further stroke in 1949 and is buried in Streatham Park Cemetery, London SW16.