Charles Penrose (entertainer) Charles Penrose (entertainer) Charles Penrose (born Charles Penrose Dunbar Cawse; 11 November 1873 – 17 November 1952) was an English music hall and theatre performer, and later radio comedian, who is best known for his unusual comic song "The Laughing Policeman". He was born in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, the son of a master watchmaker and jeweller. He initially followed his father into the jewellery trade, but enjoyed such success with his innovative laughing songs at local concert parties that he was invited to join a theatrical tour at the age of 18. His theatrical career took off, and he appeared in
Sam Hall (song) to be based on the tune "Ye Jacobites by Name" (Roud # 5517), whereas the version more common in the USA ("My name it is Sam Hall, T'is Sam Hall...") is a variant of the tune to "Frog Went A-Courting" (Roud # 16). Sam Hall (song) “Sam Hall” is an old English folk song about a bitterly unrepentant criminal condemned to death (Roud #369). Prior to the mid-19th century it was called “Jack Hall”, after an infamous English thief, who was hanged in 1707 at Tyburn. Jack Hall’s parents sold him as a climbing boy for one guinea, which is