Arriving at Southampton after five seasons at Bolton, John Fitchett had already represented the Football League on three occasions and had played in an unofficial international in Germany. After a few early games in the Southern League side, at right-half, Fitchett became mainly a Western League player for the Saints – until a flurry of Cup and Southern League games early in the New Year.

His energetic tackling and neat passing may have been appealing to the fans, even if he was sometimes criticised for being over-elaborate, but his off-the-field behaviour led to his leaving the club, on 3 March 1903, under quite a cloud.

He had admitted a charge that, while drunk, he had insulted and threatened to throw two members of the public into the sea. He was ordered to leave town by noon the next day or face police action. Having taken the former option, he had a series of short spells elsewhere, including two in the Football League’s Division II with Manchester United. He decided to make a career change at this point, still only 27 he hung up his boots and signed as a touring comedic actor for the famous impresario of the British music hall, Fred Karno.

The troupe was soon joined by an 18-year old, Charlie Chaplin who paired up with Jack in an act called The Mumming Birds. Both men would soon quit the road and while Chaplin found fame in Hollywood,

Fitchett managed one of Karno’s vaudeville theatres in Exeter and even briefly came out of retirement to play a few Southern league games. He then managed the Hippodrome in Exeter before, in 1925, taking over at the New Palace Theatre in Plymouth. In 1931 Chaplin came to town as a guest of Lady Astor, the local MP and accepted an invitation from his old partner to appear on stage at his theatre. It was the least Jack could do to wave his guest off later at the station. By the time Jack died in 1942 he had retired from the theatre to run the nearby Royal Sovereign Hotel.