He attended Grove Park School in Wrexham, where he was encouraged to study journalism by a teacher who observed that he had a talent for writing.

[3] Charles was involved in one of the Wrexham Star's scoops when he was able to smuggle himself into the lamp room of Gresford Colliery following the disaster there in 1934.

He then left to manage the Montgomeryshire Express where he met a reporter called John Roberts Williams.

He covered the protest in 1956 when demonstrators who supported the threatened community travelled to Liverpool to hear the president of Plaid Cymru address the council.

[3] The cellulose was decaying and creating acetic acid (vinegar syndrome) which would in time destroy the image.