Ronald Brittain was born on the 2nd of September 1899 in Gordon Terrace, Aigburth Vale, Liverpool, the son of a gardener. After leaving school, he worked in a local butcher's shop until 1917, when he enlisted in the King's (Liverpool) Regiment during WW1. Here he was a RSM ( regimental sergeant major ) in the British Army. He transferred into the South Wales Borderers where his imposing height of six feet three inches soon saw him promoted. Eventually Brittain was transferred to the Coldstream Guards and was attached to the training staff at the Royal Miltary College Sandhurst, where he became well known for his parade ground bellows, and was said to have possibly the loudest voice in the British Army. This Warrant Officer Class 1, who was reported on widely in the newspapers of the day, featured in several British military training films during the Second World War. In his later years, he was assigned the position of Regimental Sergeant Major of the Guards Depot. He also served at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot where it was estimated that around 40,000 officer cadets passed through his parade ground. Known to the cadets as 'The Voice', he was credited as the originator of that phrase so beloved of sergeant majors: "You 'orrible little man!" and "Am I hurting you?...I should be, I'm standing on your hair!". It was said he could reduce gentlemen cadets, many of them foreign princes and titled sons of the aristocracy, to trembling wrecks. A conscript of that time remembers, "Wheeling companies of men about the square as if for Trooping the Colour, he was a stickler for perfect dressing. ‘Pull on your rifle butt!’ he instructed one of the witnesses - its angle was wrong - and he was 30 yards away. Looking down a line of some 60 men, he yelled: ‘The small cadet in the Royal Army Service Corps, get your left thumb back!’ I glanced down. My thumb was indeed sticking out. RSM Brittain was respected in a way, like an orchestral conductor. He would urge us not to spoil 'the beauty of the drill'." He was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1947.
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| His last parade at Aldershot on 11th Nov. 1954 |
On the 19th of November, 1953 he received a bar to his Long Service and Good
Conduct Medal having been in the Army 36 years. The presentation was
made by Major General E.S.B. Gaffney, GOC Aldershot District, at a
passing out parade at Mons Officer Cadet School. He retired from the army in 1954 after 37 years' service (20 years as an
RSM); he was well above the normal retirement age for service personnel.
On retiring from the army and after a spell as a salesman for an outsized clothing outfitters, Brittain's fame enabled him to enjoy a career in advertising, voice-over work and acting, playing characters that resembled an archetypal Sergeant Major. His disposition would go on to earn him roles in several major films of the time, carving out a very good career for himself. Brittain appeared in a whopping 11 major films, including 'They Were Not Divided' (1950), 'The Criminal' (1960), 'You Lucky People'/Carrington V.C.' (1955) and '55 Days at Peking' (1963).
As well as a successful film career, he also appeared in many radio and television advertisements, using his voice to full effect. In 1959 his voice was featured on a record, "Regimental Rock" released on the Saga label. Still an imposing figure in old age, he was a popular presence at public functions and a member of the Society of Toastmasters.
Ronald died at Chester in 1981, aged 81.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/04/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-binnie.html
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