Ruxton Hayward is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 eccentric

Eccentricity (behavior)

In popular usage, eccentricity refers to unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive...

. In the early 1950s, as a scoutmaster in London, he attempted to recruit acts for a stage show. He approached Michael Bentine

Michael Bentine

Michael Bentine CBE was a British comedian, comic actor and founding member of the Goons. A Peruvian Briton by heritage as a result of his father's nationality, In 1971 Bentine received the Order of Merit of Peru because of his fund-raising work for the 1970 Great Peruvian...

, and then, at Bentine's recommendation, Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

. Sellers was so taken with Hayward's appearance -- the man being tall with a bushy red beard, and wearing a Boy Scout

Boy Scout

A Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...

 uniform with short trousers -- that he used an imitation of Hayward's high-pitched voice for the character Bluebottle

Bluebottle (character)

Bluebottle is a comedy character from the Goon Show, a 1950s British comedy radio show. The character was created and performed by Peter Sellers....

 in The Goon Show

The Goon Show

The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...

. The character became a popular regular on the series, and was often greeted by cheers from the audience.

Hayward lived on, unaware of his fame until the events above were described by Peter Sellers on television in 1972. After this Hayward attempted a stage career, developing characters he called "Bearded Schoolboy", "Woolly Wolfcub", and "Happy Sandboy". He also made appearances at meetings of the Goon Show Preservation Society

Goon Show Preservation Society

The Goon Show Preservation Society is a non-profit organisation formed to help preserve and research the history of the Goon Show. It was founded in 1972 by the Kent born Michael Coveney ....

. He is an active member of the actors union Equity

British Actors' Equity Association

Equity is the trade union for actors, stage managers and models in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1930 by a group of West End performers....

, subsection Variety. According to an article in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, he has been elected as a union representative at least once.
The Goon Show Preservation Society website reported Ruxton's death in Charing Cross Hospital, London on 22 September 2011.