Francis Charles Chacksfield was born in Battle, East Sussex, and as a child learned to play piano and organ. He appeared at Hastings Music Festivals by the time he was 14, and then became deputy church organist at Salehurst. After working for a short period in a solicitor's office he decided on a career in music, and by the late 1930s led a small band at Tonbridge in Kent. At the beginning of World War II he joined the Royal Corps of Signals, and