Charlton held the record for most appearances for Manchester United ( 758 ), but this was surpassed by Ryan Giggs on 21 May 2008 ( the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final ).

Charlton also held the club record for most league appearances ( 606 ) until this too was overtaken by Giggs on 6 March 2011.

In January 2011 Charlton was voted the 4th greatest Manchester United player of all time by the readers of Inside United and ManUtd. com, behind Ryan Giggs ( who topped the poll ), Eric Cantona and George Best.

Charlton was related to several professional footballers on his mother's side of the family: his uncles were Jack Milburn ( Leeds United and Bradford City ), George Milburn ( Leeds United and Chesterfield ), Jim Milburn ( Leeds United and Bradford City ) and Stan Milburn ( Chesterfield, Leicester City and Rochdale ), and legendary Newcastle United and England footballer Jackie Milburn, was his mother's cousin.

On 9 February 1953, Bedlington Grammar School pupil Charlton was spotted playing for East Northumberland schools by Manchester United chief scout Joe Armstrong.

He worked his way through the pecking order of teams, scoring regularly for the youth and reserve sides before he was handed his first team debut against Charlton Athletic in October 1956.

Charlton, still only 19, was selected for the game, which saw United goalkeeper Ray Wood carried off with a broken cheekbone after a clash with Villa centre forward Peter McParland.

Though Charlton was a candidate to go in goal to replace Wood ( in the days before substitutes, and certainly before goalkeeping substitutes ), it was teammate Jackie Blanchflower who ended up between the posts.

Charlton, strapped into his seat, had fallen out of the cabin and when United goalkeeper Harry Gregg ( who had somehow got through a hole in the plane unscathed and begun a one-man rescue mission ) found him, he thought he was dead.

Gregg returned to the plane to try to help the appallingly injured Busby and Blanchflower, and when he turned around again, he was relieved to see that Charlton and Viollet, both of whom he had presumed to be dead, had got out of their detached seats and were looking into the wreckage.

Charlton suffered cuts to his head and severe shock and was in hospital for a week.

Charlton was the first injured survivor to leave hospital, Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes were not hospitalized since they escaped uninjured.

Charlton was handed his debut as England romped home 4 – 0, with the new player gaining even more admirers after scoring a magnificent thumping volley dispatched with authority after a cross by the left winger Tom Finney.

In between, there was the pressing matter for Charlton of the 1966 World Cup for which England, as hosts, had not needed to qualify.

England defeated Argentina 1 – 0 – the game was the only one in which Charlton received a caution – and faced Portugal in the semi finals.

Charlton opened the scoring with a crisp side-footed finish after a run by Roger Hunt had forced the Portuguese goalkeeper out of his net ; his second was a sweetly struck shot after a run and pull-back from Geoff Hurst.

Charlton's next England game was his 75th as England beat Northern Ireland ; 2 caps later and he had become England's second most-capped player, behind the veteran Billy Wright, who was approaching his 100th appearance when Charlton was starting out and ended with 105 caps.

In 1969, Charlton was awarded the OBE for services to football.

Shortly before the World Cup Charlton was involved in the Bogotá Bracelet incident in which he and Bobby Moore were accused of stealing a bracelet from a jewellery store.

However, Charlton failed to build on this achievement and Curbishley left two years afterwards in 2006, after 15 years as manager, with the club still established as a solid mid table side.

The Charlton Free Public Library was established in 1882.

It was eventually established that the Charlton Comics incarnation of the Dan Garrett Blue Beetle made his debut on August 14, 1939.

Ten regional " mini-leagues " were initially established in 1939 as well as the Football League War Cup which ran six seasons from 1939 to 1945 with West Ham United, Preston North End, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers winning the trophy while in 1943-44 Aston Villa and Charlton Athletic shared the trophy after drawing 1-1.

Walsh began his career at Charlton where he quickly established himself in the team, he made his debut as a 16 year-old substitute in a Second Division fixture with Shrewsbury Town during the 1979 – 80 season and went on to appear in nine league games as Charlton failed to hold to their Second Division status.

Unable to compete with established teams nearby, such as Charlton Athletic, Clapton Orient, Millwall and West Ham United, Thames struggled.

Charlton's poor mid-season form saw him dropped in favour of Kiely at first, then Thomas Myhre, who established himself as first choice as Charlton turned their season around.

Unlike many other towns in the region, Charlton was not established as a result of gold mining, but for pastoral purposes and the proximity to a permanent water supply ( the Avoca River ).

Lee came through the academy of Charlton Athletic and established himself in the first team by the 1984 – 85 season.

In 1924 Charlton was invited to a meeting of the League of Nations ( now United Nations ) but was unsuccessful in getting Australia to adopt the Geneva Protocol, established during the meeting.

Sir Robert " Bobby " Charlton CBE ( born 11 October 1937 ) is an English former football player.

Charlton began to settle back into his footballing life with Manchester United and England and enhanced his reputation as a scorer of great goals as well as a great goalscorer – rarely is a player regarded as both.

In the 2003 – 04 season, Charlton spent much of the campaign challenging for a Champions League place, but a late-season slump in form, combined with the sale of star player Scott Parker to Chelsea, left Charlton in 7th place, which was still the club's highest finish since the 1950s.

* 1963 – Norm Charlton, American baseball player

* 1929 – Eddie Charlton, Australian snooker player ( d. 2004 )

** Eddie Charlton, Australian snooker player ( b. 1929 )

He was also the first football player in the world to earn 100 caps, and it was more than a decade before his record was broken by another player, Bobby Charlton.

As of 2010, Wright remains the fifth most capped player ever to have played for England, after Peter Shilton ( 125 ), David Beckham ( 115 ), Bobby Moore ( 108 ) and Bobby Charlton ( 106 ).

He began at Charlton Athletic as a youth player in 1960, though only managed three league appearances before hie departure in 1966, when he joined Exeter City.

* Ike Charlton ( born 1977 ), American football player

In the first round Davis defeated Mark King 10 – 9, becoming, at the age of 52, the oldest player to win a match at the Crucible since Eddie Charlton beat Cliff Thorburn in 1989.

A stained-glass window depicting the player, designed by Francis Skeat, was unveiled in St Francis's Church, the parish church for the Priory Estate, by Matt Busby in 1961, and a statue in the town centre was dedicated by his mother and Bobby Charlton in 1999.

Bobby Charlton described him as " the only player that made me feel inferior " and said his death was " the biggest single tragedy ever to happen to Manchester United and English football ".

Andy " The Viking " Fordham ( born 2 February 1962 in Charlton, London ) was an English darts player.

* Ken Charlton – player ( RB / FW ), 1992 ( Saskatchewan Roughriders 1941, 1948 – 54 ; Winnipeg RCAF Bombers 1942 ; Regina All-Services Roughriders 1943 ; Ottawa Rough Riders 1945 – 47 ).

Peters scored against the Germans again early in the second half – a run and finish from behind a defender which no West German player had spotted – to establish a 2 – 0 lead, but later Ramsey committed a tactical error by substituting Peters and Bobby Charlton with Colin Bell and Norman Hunter, and West Germany won 3 – 2 in extra-time.

In the final Reardon defeated Eddie Charlton, a player Spencer would not lose to in a major match until 1979.

Also, John Parrott is the only player to have recorded a " whitewash " in the World Championship final stages – he beat Eddie Charlton 10 – 0 in the first round in 1992.

In his foreword to Colin Bell's autobiography, Bobby Charlton has stated that ' Colin Bell was unquestionably a great player '.