Editing Colonel Bogey March (section)

{{Short description|Popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts}}
{{redirect|Colonel Bogey|the 1948 film|Colonel Bogey (film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox musical composition
| name       = Colonel Bogey March
| type       = [[March (music)|March]]
| composer   = [[Kenneth J. Alford|F. J. Ricketts]]
| composed    ={{Start date|1914}}
| misc = {{Audio sample
 | type        = song
 | file        = Colonel Bogey.ogg
 | description = The "Colonel Bogey March", by Kenneth J. Alford, performed by the [[United States Navy Band]]
}}
}}

The "'''Colonel Bogey March'''" is a [[Music of the United Kingdom|British]] [[March (music)|march]] that was composed in 1914 by Lieutenant [[F. J. Ricketts]] (1881–1945) (pen name [[Kenneth J. Alford]]), a [[British Army]] [[bandmaster]] who later became the director of music for the [[Royal Marines]] at [[Plymouth]]. The march is often [[whistled]]. During the [[World War II|Second World War]], British soldiers sang the lyrics "[[Hitler Has Only Got One Ball]]" to accompany the tune.<ref name="Minor"/>

The march first appeared in film when it was hummed by [[Michael Redgrave]] in [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'' in 1938. English composer [[Malcolm Arnold]] added a counter-march, which he titled "[[The River Kwai March]]", for [[David Lean]]'s 1957 film ''[[The Bridge on the River Kwai]]'', set during World War II. ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' magazine included the tune in its list of 25 of Cinema's Catchiest Earworms.<ref name="Films">{{cite news |title=25 Of Cinema's Catchiest Earworms|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/catchiest-movie-earworms/ |access-date=16 April 2022 |work=Empire}}</ref>