Elton Hayes

[1] A few days after returning to Britain he visited the BBC, still in uniform, to watch a broadcast of Children's Hour and was immediately taken on to write and perform musical versions of Edward Lear's Nonsense Rhymes.

[1][3] His fame was extended by his appearance as the minstrel Alan-a-Dale in the 1952 Walt Disney film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, in which he was afforded a musical number, "Whistle, my Love".

"The Owl and the Pussycat" was one of six song recordings he made of Edward Lear's nonsense verse following his BBC performances, along with the Dudley Glass settings of "The Duck and the Kangaroo", "The Table and the Chair", "The Broom, the Shovel, the Poker and the Tongs", "The Jumblies" and "The Quangle-Wangle's Hat".

These were issued on a Parlophone extended play 45 single in November 1955[10] Later he had his own television shows, called "Elton Hayes - He Sings to a Small Guitar", "Close Your Eyes" and "Tinker's Tales".

[11] He obtained a follow-up film role in The Black Knight, 1954, a variation on the King Arthur story produced by Irving Allen and Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli and starring Alan Ladd.

He bought a small, thatched cottage on the Essex-Suffolk border and, after studying at a local agricultural college, became a farmer, breeding pedigree livestock.