Ronald Charles Waldron, known professionally as Ronnie Ronalde, was a British music hall singer and siffleur.
25 Facts About Ronnie Ronalde
1.
2.
Ronnie Ronalde grew up in a poor but supportive Islington home, and found a talent for singing, whistling and bird impressions from early childhood.
3.
Ronnie Ronalde would join Pye, Major Minor and Columbia records, becoming a million-selling artiste.
4.
Ronnie Ronalde's best known recording is "In a Monastery Garden".
5.
Ronnie Ronalde played it as his show finale for decades, and over a million copies of it have been sold in their varying formats.
6.
Across this decade Ronnie Ronalde was a headliner, and broke box office records all over the world: he was a big name in the UK, US, Australasia, Scandinavia, Africa, South America and Europe.
7.
Ronnie Ronalde had his own BBC Radio show from 1949 called The Voice of Variety.
8.
In 1949 Ronnie Ronalde filled Radio City Music Hall in New York City every night for ten weeks.
9.
Ronnie Ronalde was at that time the most frequent UK artiste to ever perform there.
10.
In February 1956, the British music magazine NME reported that Billy Cotton and Ronnie Ronalde had released versions of "Happy Trails", the theme music to ATV's weekly Roy Rogers series.
11.
Ronnie Ronalde performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the Royal Command Performance at the London Coliseum.
12.
At the height of his popularity Ronnie Ronalde foresaw a decline in variety performing and took a step away from the limelight.
13.
Nonetheless, Ronnie Ronalde did not abandon the entertainment industry: he maintained an engagement diary and summer seasons into his 80s, as well as TV appearances and radio broadcasts.
14.
Ronnie Ronalde settled on the island of Guernsey in the 1960s, being attracted to it after a performance there.
15.
Ronnie Ronalde purchased a hotel, and met his Austrian wife Rosemarie who would become his business manager following Steffani's death.
16.
In New Zealand in 1990, Ronnie Ronalde filled the 2,500-capacity Aotea Theatre, and was invited to stay for another concert.
17.
Ronnie Ronalde was asked to return for repeat performances in both Auckland and Christchurch town halls.
18.
Ronnie Ronalde was awarded America's North Carolina Louisburg Hall of Fame Award in 1995, their highest acclaim, given only to artists of outstanding international distinction.
19.
Ronnie Ronalde's recording "Bird Song at Eventide" was featured in the hit TV series, and subsequent best-selling soundtrack, The Singing Detective in 1986.
20.
Ronnie Ronalde's 1998 autobiography entitled Around the World on a Whistle drew extensively on memorabilia, theatre bills, photographs and clippings, and is a document of the published history of variety circuits.
21.
Ronnie Ronalde quipped that his next book would have been "an Encyclopaedia of Whistling".
22.
Ronnie Ronalde made an appearance at the Hackney Empire for a charity evening, The Golden Years of Variety, on Sunday 9 September 2012, when he received a standing ovation.
23.
Ronnie Ronalde suffered a stroke shortly after his 90th birthday in 2013, and subsequently moved into Brinsworth House, the retired entertainers' home in Twickenham, where he died.
24.
Terry-Thomas joked that he was sick of hearing Ronnie Ronalde's whistling, and attempted impersonations.
25.
On 17 August 2021 a blue plaque commemorating Ronnie Ronalde was erected by the British Music Hall Society and unveiled by Jim Carter at Ronnie Ronalde's childhood home in Downham Road, Islington, London.