Colonel Bogey March

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"Colonel Bogey March"
Written byF. J. Ricketts
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"Colonel Bogey March"
Written byF. J. Ricketts
"Colonel Bogey March" is the authorised march of The King's Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC) of the Canadian Forces. This version is performed by the United States Navy Band.

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The "Colonel Bogey March" is a popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts (1881–1945), a British army bandmaster who later became the director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth.


Since at that time service personnel were not encouraged to have professional lives outside the armed forces, Ricketts published "Colonel Bogey" and his other compositions under the pseudonym Kenneth Alford.[citation needed] Supposedly, the tune was inspired by a military man and golfer who whistled a characteristic two-note phrase (a descending minor third interval About this sound Play ) instead of shouting "Fore!". It is this descending interval that begins each line of the melody. The name "Colonel Bogey" began in the later 19th century as the imaginary "standard opponent" of the Colonel Bogey scoring system,[1] and by Edwardian times the Colonel had been adopted by the golfing world as the presiding spirit of the course.[2] Edwardian golfers on both sides of the Atlantic often played matches against "Colonel Bogey".[3] Bogey is now a golfing term meaning "one over par".


The sheet music was a million-seller, and the march was recorded many times. At the start of World War II, "Colonel Bogey" became part of British way of life when the tune was set to a popular song: "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball", with the tune becoming an unofficial national anthem to rudeness.[4] "Colonel Bogey" was used as a march-past by the 10th and 50th Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the latter of which is perpetuated today by The King's Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC) of the Canadian Forces who claim Colonel Bogey as their authorised march-past in quick time.

The Bridge on the River Kwai[edit]

English composer Malcolm Arnold added a counter-march, The River Kwai March for the 1957 dramatic film The Bridge on the River Kwai, set during World War II. The two marches were recorded together by Mitch Miller as "March from the River Kwai - Colonel Bogey". Consequently, the "Colonel Bogey March" is often mis-credited as "River Kwai March". Since the film portrayed prisoners of war held under inhumane conditions by the Japanese, there was a diplomatic row in May 1980, when a military band played "Colonel Bogey" during a Canadian visit by Japanese prime minister Masayoshi Ōhira.[5]


  1. ^ The Royal Cornwall Gazette of 10th March 1892 reports the results of the Royal Cornwall Golf Club Ladies vs "Colonel" Bogey
  2. ^ Many references to the Colonel in the press include a letter from a "golf widow" to The Times of 3rd June 1914
  3. ^ Toronto; Globe 25 October 1904 p. 10.
  4. ^ "Minor British Institutions: Colonel Bogey". The Independent. Retrieved 4 December 2012
  5. ^ The Canadian Press (6 May 1980). "Our band hit sour note for Japan's prime minister". Montreal Gazette. p. 1. Retrieved 16 October 2010. 

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