Another little piece of childhood ebbs away...
Windsor Davies - the archetypal Welshman, always called upon to play bombastic authoritarian figures in such prime-time favourite telly comedies as It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Never The Twain, who was actually born in Canning Town in London's East End - is dead.
A real-life veteran of National Service, he was ideally placed to play the overbearing Battery Sergeant-Major Williams in It Ain't Half Hot Mum, whose entire premise was the misadventures of a troupe of conscripted soldiers-turned-entertainers in the British peace-keeping mission in the jungles of Malaya in the 50s. Contrary to his "big-bad-bully" image however, just about everyone who worked with him praised his gentle and generous nature.
His comedic talents were second-to-none - not least when someone discovered the fact that the show's diminutive character "Lofty" aka Don Estelle had, in fact, the most beautiful singing voice and he and Mr Davies were teamed up (in character) to produce this memorable duet; which was a million-selling Number 1 hit in our charts in 1975!
RIP, Windsor Davies (28th August 1930 – 17th January 2019)
I used to love It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and they'll never re-run it because of the racial issues. I used to love 'Gloria' though!
ReplyDeleteSx
We live in such a "permanently offended" world of social media/"social justice warriors", practically bugger all of the entertainment shows we enjoyed as youngsters would be re-run these days - although, surprisingly, when I was in Plymouth for the funeral, on the telly yesterday at sis-in-law's house they had ITV3 on, showing On The Buses! Jx
DeleteBloody 'ell!
Delete"I 'ate you, Butler!"
DeleteJx
I know!! It's still okay to offend women. ITV4 shows The Sweeney sometimes; I caught an episode and it seemed that every woman that John Thaw laid eyes on would immediately drop her knickers!
ReplyDeleteSx
Every programme was a bit like that - think of the opening credits for Quincy or The Rockford Files, or anything Sid James was in, or Robin Askwith, or Benny Hill. Mind you, when we think of things as being "offensive", other cultures don't think the same - Mind Your Language is still wildly popular all across the globe; whereas we thought of the characters as stereotypes, other people thought it was great to see "themselves" on telly. Even It Ain't Half Hot Mum is popular in India... Jx
DeleteI don't think I ever saw It Aint Half Hot, Mum or Never the Twain, but I fondly remember Windsor Davies' distinctive voice as Sergeant Major Zero from Terrahawks, as well as his appearances in the Carry On films.
ReplyDeleteThe use of his voice in Terrahawks was a brilliant bit of casting. The two Carry On films he was in, however, were at the time when that series was way past its best - neither Sid nor Babs were in Behind and by the time England was released Sid was dead, and even Kenneth Williams had refused to be in them any more [I think he was "contractually obliged" to do the last of the run Emmannuelle, but it was obvious he was just "phoning it in"]... Jx
DeleteA lovely man apparently
ReplyDeleteSo it would seem. Even Wales's answer to Banksy has done a tribute... Jx
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