By the Shortest of Heads

By the Shortest of Heads is a 1915 British film directed by Bert Haldane and starring George Formby.

A stable boy outwits a gang of villains and wins a £10,000 prize when he comes first in a horse race.

[2] George Formby Snr was worried that his son, George Formby, would watch him on stage and begin a career on stage; he was against the boy following in his footsteps, saying "one fool in the family is enough".

[3][4] After a year of Formby working at a stables in Middleham, he was apprenticed to Thomas Scourfield at Epsom, where he ran his first professional races at the age of 10, when he weighed less than 4 stone (56 lb; 25 kg).

[5] In 1915 Formby Snr allowed his son to appear on screen, taking the lead in By the Shortest of Heads.