among the music hall comedians who worked for him were charlie chaplin and his understudy, arthur jefferson, who later adopted the name of stan laurel. these were part of what was known as "fred karno's army", a phrase still occasionally used in the uk to refer to a chaotic group or organisation. the phrase was also adapted by british soldiers into a trench song in the first world war, as a parody of, or rather to the tune of, the hymn "the church's one foundation". in the second world war it was adapted as the anthem of the guinea pig club, the first line becoming "we are mcindoe's army ...".