This Is More Than I Can Stand: A Biography of Charlie Hall

This Is More Than I Can Stand is a detailed biography of Charlie Hall, a little known man from Birmingham who worked with some of the biggest stars of the silver screen.

Charlie was born into a working class family in the Ward End district of Birmingham, in 1899. In 1920 he left England to start a new life in New York. Incredibly, within a few years he had moved to Hollywood, and was appearing in films with some of the greatest silent comedy stars of all time. How did this come about? And why did Charlie find himself working back in a factory in Birmingham in 1938? These and many other questions will be answered in this new book about the life of Charlie Hall.

The book contains interviews with family and friends who knew him and remember meeting him when he returned to Birmingham in the late ’30s. Plus some of Charlie’s personal letters, written at this time, giving a unique insight into his thoughts, his memories and what it was like to work with Laurel and Hardy.

From humble beginnings, Charlie experienced the early movie industry, the birth of the talkies, and the advent of television. Not bad for a lad from Ward End.

About the Author

John Ullah was born in Birmingham just a few miles from where Charlie Hall was born. He has long been a fan of early film comedies. In 1993 he started the Birmingham branch of the Laurel & Hardy Appreciation Society, which he still runs today. John’s other passion is Aston Villa Football Club. He is a life long supporter and a season ticket holder.

Writing this book has been a labour of love, but after three years of research, he realised that this was more than he could stand!

John works as a forklift truck driver, he lives in Erdington with his partner Mandy Finney.