Charles Maxwell (radio producer)

Charles Chalmers Maxwell (1 September 1910 – 4 August 1998) was a British radio producer who produced shows for the BBC such as Take It From Here and brought together the scriptwriting partnership of Frank Muir and Denis Norden. Later in his career he commissioned the long running series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again.

Maxwell was born in Fife, Scotland and after attending Edinburgh Academy went to university to study law and qualified as a solicitor. However he soon abandoned the law for a career in show business.

In 1936 Maxwell joined Radio Luxembourg as a station announcer. One of his jobs was to read out commentary on English Test cricket. The script was written in London and was telephoned through to broadcaster Roy Plomley who was working at another commercial station, Radio Normandy, Plomley then telephoned it through to Maxwell for him to broadcast. As Plomley recalled "As neither Charles nor I had the least knowledge of, or interest in, cricket, it was a laborious process." After a period with Radio Luxembourg, Maxwell moved to Radio Normandy before returning to Britain in 1938 to work for Radio Normandy's parent company, the International Broadcasting Company (IBC). With the outbreak of the Second World War, set up Radio International Fécamp and Maxwell worked as one of the presenters until the station went off the air in January 1940.

After brief service in the Royal Air Force, Maxwell joined the BBC, an association that would continue until 1970. Joining the BBC Forces Programme (later the BBC General Forces Programme) as a variety producer where he produced a number of programmes, the most notable being Navy Mixture which ran from 1943 until 1947.

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