Found throughout the British Isles from earliest times, ‘Booth’ is a popular surname that figures prominently in the historical record of a number of nations. From the revolutionary politics of late seventeenth century England and the nineteenth century assassination of an American President to great humanitarian causes and the stage, bearers of the name have gained fame. Born in Lancashire in 1904, Hoy Booth was the leading star of the British stage and screen throughout the 1930s and 1940s better known as George Formby, while behind the camera lens Margaret Booth was the award-winning American film editor whose many credits include the 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty and, from 1973, The Way We Were. Chronicled here are the colourful and frequently turbulent lives and times of the Booths of both yesteryear and today.
