CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Charlie MacDonald

footballer and actor (born 1970)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ5085171
Source-derived summary

Charles Lea MacDonald (born 13 February 1981) is an English footballer who last played for Barking.

Football career

Early career

MacDonald played for the Millwall youth team before joining Charlton Athletic as a trainee, turning professional in August 1998. He made his Charlton debut on 3 January 2000, as a late substitute for Martin Pringle in a 3–0 win at home to Nottingham Forest. He started the FA Cup tie against Queens Park Rangers the following weekend, scoring the only goal as Charlton progressed to the fourth round. He made two further appearances as substitute that season and won the Charlton Young Player of the Year Award.

He joined Cheltenham Town on loan in March 2001, scoring twice in seven games with both goals coming in the same game against Blackpool. He returned to the Charlton first team squad later that year and scored his first ever Premiership goal when scoring the late equaliser in the 1–1 draw with Newcastle United at The Valley. However, that was his last involvement with the Charlton first team and in February 2002 he joined Torquay United on loan, playing five games without scoring. In March 2002 he joined Colchester United on loan, but made just four appearances and scored one goal, in a 2–2 draw with Wigan Athletic, before returning to his parent club at The Valley.

He was released by Charlton in May 2002 and joined Conference side Margate in August.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Charlie MacDonald” as footballer and actor (born 1970). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Charlie, MacDonald and footballer.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1981, 1998, 2000, 2001—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1970-02-13. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Charlie, MacDonald and footballer providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Charlie MacDonald”, the useful work is to connect “footballer and actor (born 1970)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5085171. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1981, 1998, 2000 and 2001.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Charlie MacDonald”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Charlie MacDonald primary sources, Charlie MacDonald archive and Charlie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Charlie MacDonald”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Charlie MacDonald” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.