Colonel Bogey Alford, Kenneth J.

Colonel Bogey by: Kenneth J. Alford (Frederick J. Ricketts)

Original Copyright: 1914 By: Boosey & Hawkes

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Cooley-Selland Collection

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North Royalton, Ohio www.bandmusicpdf.org

Alfo

rd, K

enne

th J

. (Fr

eder

ick

Jose

ph

Ric

ketts

)

DO

B:

Febr

uary

21,

188

1 (L

ondo

n, E

ngla

nd)

D

OD

: M

ay 1

5, 1

945

(Rei

gate

, Eng

land

)

Ken

neth

Jos

eph

Alfo

rd is

a p

seud

onym

take

n by

Maj

or F

rede

rick

Jose

ph R

icke

tts.

As

a co

mpo

ser,

he w

as b

est k

now

n fo

r his

mar

ches

, th

e m

ost f

amou

s of

whi

ch w

as C

olon

el B

ogey

. B

ritis

h of

ficer

s of

the

day

wer

e no

t enc

oura

ged

to p

ursu

e in

tere

sts

outs

ide

the

Arm

y so

, as

a Li

eute

nant

, he

publ

ishe

d w

orks

und

er a

pse

udon

ym.

The

first

nam

e,

“Ken

neth

,” w

as th

at o

f his

eld

est s

on, a

nd th

e su

rnam

e, “A

lford

,” w

as

his

mot

her’s

mai

den

nam

e.

He

join

ed th

e R

oyal

Iris

h R

egim

ent a

s a

mus

icia

n in

189

5 an

d w

as c

omm

issi

oned

into

the

Roy

al

Mar

ines

as

a di

rect

or o

f mus

ic in

192

7. H

e re

tired

in 1

944

with

the

rank

of M

ajor

. R

icke

tts/A

lford

is

know

n as

“The

Brit

ish

Mar

ch K

ing.

”1

C

olon

el B

ogey

(mar

ch) w

as p

ublis

hed

in 1

914

by H

awke

s an

d S

on.

The

com

pose

r is

said

to h

ave

hear

d th

e op

enin

g 2

note

mot

ive

whi

stle

d as

a s

igna

l whi

le h

e w

as s

trolli

ng o

n a

golf

cour

se in

S

cotla

nd o

ne d

ay. T

he id

ea s

tuck

in h

is m

ind

and

the

mar

ch, “

Col

onel

Bog

ey” r

esul

ted

with

the

golfi

ng te

rm in

its

title

. W

WI s

oldi

ers

sang

the

mel

ody

with

baw

dy w

ords

muc

h to

the

dism

ay o

f the

co

mpo

ser,

even

thou

gh h

e un

ders

tood

its

valu

e as

a m

oral

e bu

ilder

.

The

mar

ch p

laye

d a

prom

inen

t rol

e as

a m

ajor

mus

ical

them

e in

the

mov

ie, “

Brid

ge O

ver t

he R

iver

K

wai

.” C

olon

el B

ogey

is a

per

enni

al fa

vorit

e of

ban

ds a

nd a

udie

nces

.

Pro

gram

not

e re

sear

ched

by

Mar

cus

L. N

eim

an

Med

ina,

Ohi

o

Add

ition

al in

form

atio

n on

eith

er th

e co

mpo

ser o

r com

posi

tion

wou

ld b

e w

elco

med

. P

leas

e se

nd

info

rmat

ion

to

mar

cusn

eim

an@

zoom

inte

rnet

.net

1 h

ttp://

en.w

ikip

edia

.org

/wik

i/Ken

neth

_Alfo

rd