Was there a Colonel Bogey?

Colonel Bogey is a name that conjures up images of a stern and moustachioed military figure, strong of bearing, leading his troops crisply on parade. But did such a figure provide the inspiration for Kenneth J. Alford's famous march? The answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’—like all good legends the truth is more complicated, and a lot more interesting…

Colonel on the green

The story begins, of all places, on the golf course. In the late nineteenth century golfers who were attempting to match a course’s ground score (now called ‘par') referred to trying to match the elusive figure as ‘chasing the bogey man.’ This term caught on, with golfers invoking a fictitious ‘Colonel Bogey’ as they played. As the term ‘par’ also caught on, however, a ‘bogey’ came to refer to one over par, which was nevertheless considered an excellent score for an amateur golfer.

The composer tees up

Kenneth J. Alford, the pen name of British Army bandmaster Frederick Joseph Ricketts, was not just a composer, but he also liked to play a spot of golf. The legend goes that one of his golfing acquaintances, who was, indeed, an army officer, had a habit of whistling a descending minor third before striking the golf ball. Alford incorporated this melodic idea in the opening two notes of his famous melody. Given that ‘Colonel Bogey’ was already a golfing phrase and the military credentials of his fellow player, it was the obvious name for his new march.

Alford aces it

Alford wrote his march in 1914 as the world teetered on the brink of the Grear War. Initially it was played as a proper military march, but soon was heard in civilian life too. It was in World War 2, however, that the piece became phenomenally popular. The most familiar, and rather risqué, proof of this was common habit of setting the words ‘Hitler has only got one ball’ to the melody, a rather neat reference giving the golfing origin of the song itself.

Bogey goes to Hollywood

Inevitably Hollywood could not ignore such an obvious ear worm, so it soon found its way onto the silver screen, the first appearance being in Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 thriller "The Lady Vanishes”, where it is hummed by Michael Redgrave:

The most iconic use of the melody, however, was in the David Lean’s 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai, where the tune is whistled as an act of defiance by British soldiers, who are being forced to build a railway bridge by their Japanese captors:

It tune has also appeared in the movies ‘The Parent Trap’ (1961), The Breakfast Club (1985), Short Circuit (1986) and Spaceballs (1987).

The scramble continues

The tune has appeared in many other contexts. In 1951, Colonel Bogey became the first music to be played by a computer at a conference held in Australia.

It has also made its way onto television in episodes of The Simpsons, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the Man in the High Castle, Outlander and, most recently in 2024 series Monsieur Spade.

Perhaps the most remarkable adoption of the tune, however, has been in Germany, where is became a classic jingle used for Uderberg digestif bier…

and in Japan, where is has been used in game shows and children’s programmes.

That Alford’s great melody could not just be appropriated by Britain and its allies, but by its former enemies is remarkable evidence of its raw and enduring musical power.