100 Crimes and a Pint Too Many: The Tragicomic Life of Birmingham’s Charles Paige

I came across this video a few months ago, and didn’t get around to featuring it but it stuck in my mind. Or, rather, the story of Charles Paige did.  He was well-known in and around Birmingham (the one in the UK, not the one in Alabama) for being something of a nuisance around the pubs of England’s second city. It's a tale both comedic in parts but ultimately deeply tragic - but for some reason my mind kept wandering back to the life of this hapless, hopeless, half-cut huckster - Mr Charles Paige.

The story is brought to life by yourfamilyline, a YouTube channel with an associated website, dedicated to  “telling the stories of forgotten lives, and bringing their voices back into the light through detailed research and digital storytelling”.  It looks like it’s a one man show, which makes it all the more impressive and has a growing number of subscribers. (The picture used at the top of this post is an AI rendition of Charles Paige and not affiliated with yourfamilyline).

Paige was an inveterate alcoholic and well-known to the police. In fact, over the decades spanning the late 1890s to the early 1920s, Paige was convicted numerous times, and reached his “century” (his 100^th offence) towards the end of his criminal career.  The constabulary at local police stations must have rolled their eyes each time he rolled in…

No personal record was left by Charles Paige, which is a shame as we get one side of the story – that left behind in court and newspaper archival material.  He was infamous for his confidence tricks – posing as someone who might wish to purchase a large amount of alcohol from a pub (you could do that, then) and asking for free tasters to ascertain what he should buy.  That sounds like a good trick and many landlords (who are certainly not known for their gullibility) fell for it, which shows that he had a certain knack – he was able to present himself in a way that persuaded people that his requests were legitimate. Some say that his ghost haunts the pubs and canalsides of Birmingham to this day.

There are many comedic elements in Charles Paige’s story, but also an underlying and profound sadness. After all, it is a story of alcoholism, a chronic, relapsing brain disease – an oh boy, did Paige relapse. Although it seems he spent time getting help in “certified inebriate reformatories” this leopard did not change its spots.  Handled correctly, I think Paige’s story could be the basis of a very good British comedy-drama.  I'm already casting in my mind - perhaps Toby Jones, Reece Shearsmith or Mark Rylance? No, if I was the casting director, the job would go to Steve Pemberton.  I’m now blathering on – have a watch of the story of Charles Paige and make your own judgement about him – after all, he was quite used to other people doing that…