In Britain, England is no part of the country for more sick, frightened old men sent more often to accident and emergency in hospital

It's frightening enough for a young man or woman :

An accident or sudden illness.
The emergency phone call.
The arrival of the ambulance with sirens blaring.
Taken on a stretcher by strangers.
The ride in the ambulance sirens blaring.
Arrival at strange hospital.
Questions and examination by a stranger.

Now imagine this if you are an old man or woman over 90 and double the fear and confusion.
 
The 6th annual publication of the 'Accident and Emergency Attendance Data' by the Health and Social Care Information Centre has just revealed that this happened on 300,370 occasions in England to this group brought into hospital accident and emergency units last year. Up from 165,910 in 2009/10, an 80%.increase.

So what's going wrong ?

Members of Parliament and campaigners say, that for old men and women :

* cuts to social care budgets and failures by general practice services mean that they are not being properly looked after at home.

* lack of home help and inadequate monitoring by doctors, practice nurses and, in some cases, families has left them prone to falls, fractures, infections and sudden problems with long-term complaints such as heart failure.

Local authority spending on adult social care had been cut by the Government by £1.8 billion since 2009/10.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said:
"It is important that older people receive the treatment and care they need and sometimes this means going to hospital. However, we know that, in some cases, being admitted to hospital is the consequence of not getting good quality care at home. Access to high quality social care is increasingly difficult as many vital services are withdrawn or reduced as a result of the current crisis in care."

Andy Burnham, Shadow Health Secretary, said :
"It is appalling to think that, every week, there are thousands of frail and frightened people speeding through our towns and cities in the backs of ambulances to be left in a busy A & E. This is often the worst place for them to be and a disorientating experience that can cause real distress. With proper support in the home, this could all be avoided."

He also said it did not make financial sense to cut support to people in their homes:
"It is no answer to the challenges of the ageing society to allow our hospitals to become increasingly full of older people. David Cameron must take personal charge and reverse these terrible trends."

What a sad country Britain has become.

Britain is no longer a country for Pete Postlethwaite but is one for Maggie Watts fighting for research into the cancer which killed him and in need of 73,000 signatures

Our great British actor, Pete Postlethwaite, was struck down with pancreatic cancer and died before his time at the age of 64 in 2011.

What was said about that wonderful face :

* 'His rugged features made him every casting director's go-to guy for raw, lived-in truth.'

* 'The stark planes and bulges of his face created a veritable Easter Island statue of authenticity and plainness.'

* 'For around a quarter of a century he played the same approximate middle age, with the face of a man whose life had been hard-earned, and whose dues had been paid in full long before.'

* 'He had a face that elicited many similes, among them 'a stone archway' and 'a bag of spanners'.''

Steven Spielberg once said : "he was the best actor in the world" after working with the actor on the 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park', to which Pete quipped: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was : "'The thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world.'"

He was best known as a screen actor in the 1993 film, 'In the Name of the Father' the true-life drama about the wrongful arrest, trial and imprisonment of the 'Guildford Four' as IRA bombers. He played Guiseppe Conlon, father of Gerry Conlon and the innocent, law-abiding blue-collar worker in 1970's Catholic West Belfast who subsequently died in prison :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ff5KjZ7vM
The role earned him an Oscar nomination for 'Best Supporting Actor'.

John Prescott, former Labour Deputy Prime Minister said the greatest acclaim for an actor was to be so good that it made people get out and do something. "Pete Postlethwaite made me do the latter – twice. He was a fine actor, a devoted campaigner and a good man. Pete will be missed but his art changed the lives of many for the better. I can't think of a better compliment than that."

Julie Walters, actress : "He invented 'edgy'. He was an exhilarating person and actor."

Jim Sheridan, Film Director : "Everybody loved him. He was an amazing character and a lovely man. He was a great warrior. He looked indestructible, that was the thing about him."

Bill Nighy,actor called him "a rare and remarkable man. I was honoured by his friendship – he is irreplaceable".

Film Clips :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/jan/03/pete-postlethwaite-career-clips

Danny's Speech from 'Brassed Off' in 1996 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=lKx3MUqzCcQ

Pancreatic cancer, which was responsible for Pete's death, remains the cinderella of cancers in comparison with bowel, breast and prostate. More funding and more public awareness is vital so that progress can be made in earlier detection and, ultimately, better survival rates. It is often called the 'silent killer' since many of its symptoms mirror other less critical illnesses and doctors may not recognise these early enough, resulting in lost time before diagnosis and a terminal outcome. It kills 7,900, mostly old men and women in Britain each year with 75% of cases in those aged 65 years and over.

Last year, Maggie Watts, who lost her husband to pancreatic cancer at the age of just 48 in 2009, launched a UK Government E-petition to push it further up the political agenda. The petition is a call to :

'Provide more Funding & Awareness for Pancreatic Cancer to aid long overdue progress in earlier detection and, ultimately, improved survival rates'

Maggie and her supporters need 100,000 signatures by the 8th April this year in order for these issues about pancreatic cancer to be taken up in Parliament and with 3 months to go they are still 73,000 signatures short.

Unlike Pete, Kevin Watts was in his late 40's when he was struck down. He :

* as a builder, had always been fit and healthy but in 2008, after eight months of apparently unconnected symptoms : queasy stomach, severe back pain and dramatic weight loss, with his doctor thinking he had a stomach ulcer, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

* was told that the tumour was inoperable because it was wrapped around a main artery in his pancreas, the organ responsible for making hormones such as insulin, which helps keep blood sugar levels stable, and producing digestive enzymes to break down food.

* after undergoing chemotherapy was told it had failed to shrink the tumour away from the artery and that he had 6 to 18 months to live and died in December 2009 in a hospice.

It is really very simple.
Lack of funding = lack of research.
Lack of research = lack of understanding of the condition.
Lack of understanding of the condition = late diagnosis.
Late diagnosis = a poor rate of survival.

It is important not to lose sight of the fact that poor diagnosis and resulting poor rates of survival affects the family, friends and colleagues of the departed. Maggie's loss and tribute to Kevin is a reminder of that :

 ' For my gorgeous husband Kevin: You stared pancreatic cancer firmly in the face and absolutely refused to succumb until it had drained every last ounce of your strength. We are proud of you. Your fight was truly inspirational and I will never cease to be amazed at how you handled the knowledge that pancreatic cancer would, in a relatively short space of time, take your life. You refused to give in and have left us with many, many good memories, particularly your "I'm Still Standing Party" held with all of our family and friends to celebrate outliving the 18 month prognosis! Sadly, the cancer took a firm hold not long after and we had to face the hardest part - letting you go. We did so in the knowledge that you would be at peace and watching over us. Life ends but love is eternal and we carry you with us, in our hearts, wherever we go. Love you and miss you every day. With love always Maggie xxx'

Maggie speaking to ITN : http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2014-01-21/pancreatic-cancer-campaign/

So in memory of Pete, please sign Maggie's petition and spread it to family, friends and colleagues through facebook, twitter and other social media to help Maggie get her 100,000 signatures by April :

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48389

Britain says "Hats off and Happy Bithday" to an old master of stage farce and voice of those with learning difficulties called Brian Rix.

Brian, who I remember on black and white tv and on stage in Whitehall farces, when I was a boy in the 1960's is 90 years old today.

What you possibly didn't know about Brian, that he :

* was born in Cotingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Fanny, who ran a good amateur dramatic society and was lead soprano in the local Operatic Society and Herbert, who ran a family shipping and subsequently, oil company in Kingston upon Hull.

* was, as boy, a talented cricketer, who wanted to play for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, but when at Bootham School in York (right) decided to follow his sister, Sheila, into an acting career, which he did at the age of 18 on 'deferred service' from the Royal Air Force during the Second World in 1942 and in Donald Wolfit's Shakespeare Company.

* played Sebastian in 'Twelth Night' at St James's Theatre in London, gained repertory experience with the renowned 'White Rose Players' at the Opera House in Harrogate, then joined the RAF before volunteering to work as a 'Bevin boy' in the coal pits near Doncaster.

* returned to the stage after the War and formed his own theatre company at the age of 23 in 1947 after talking his father and uncles, into putting up the then considerable sum of £1,000 and used £50 of the cash to buy an option on 'Reluctant Heroes' become the first 'Whitehall farce' and 'number one' cinema hit in 1952, with him playing the gormless north-country Army recruit, Horace Gregory.

* at 25, married actress Elspeth Gray, remained with her, domestically and professionally for 64 years until her death last year and worked alongside her in in the 50s and 60s for 16 years in his farces at the Whitehall Theatre before he moved to the Garrick Theatre, breaking West End records in the process.

* after his wife gave birth to their first child in 1951, was summoned to her obstetrician's Harley Street rooms where, offering him a cigarette, the doctor asked: "Have you heard of mongolism? I am afraid that your daughter is a mongol. Will you tell your wife?"

*  became, with his wife, involved in the world of learning disability after finding a complete lack of welfare support and education for his daughter with Downs Syndrome with the only care in the shape of a Victorian, run-down hospital where 'patients' were left to their own devices for hours on end.

*  threw himself into fundraising for learning disability charities, became the first treasurer of the 'Stars Organisation for Spastics', which supported the then 'Spastics Society', became first chairman of the 'special functions fundraising committee' of the then 'National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children and Adults', which became 'Mencap'.

* presented more than 90 farces on BBC TV, with viewing figures regularly topping 15 million and in the early 1960s was its highest paid actor, but is rarely mentioned in retrospective programmes looking at the early days of tv because only 6 recordings exist in the BBC archive.

* became renown for losing his trousers and subsequently lost them at least 12,000 times in 26 years he was on stage, although less on tv in scenes, with his character innocently caught with his trousers down in the bedroom of a woman who was not his wife.

* produced 'Dry Rot' (left) in 1954 and saw it run for 4 years, followed by 'Simple Spyman' and 'Chase Me Comrade' with Ronald Bryden in the 'New Statesman' writing : 'There they are are: the most robust survivors of a great tradition, the most successful British theatrical enterprises of our time. Curious that no one can be found to to speak up wholeheartedly for them – no one, that is, outside enthusiastic millions who have packed every British theatre where they have played.'

* made films 'And the Same to You' in 1960 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ate1mATfPP8 and  'The Night We Got the Bird' in 1961 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIObu7DMhsg

* was described by Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times as : 'The greatest master of farce in my theatre-going lifetime', but received no theatrical awards and after 26 years of almost continuous performance in the West End, on 8 January 1977, gave his final very emotional performance in 'Fringe Benefits' to a packed house on the stage where he started, the Whitehall Theatre.

* from 1978-82, with his daughter, Louisa, presented the BBC TV series, 'Let's Go', the first designed specifically for people with learning disability and in 1980, became the Secretary-General of Mencap, then Chairman in 1988 and at the age of 76, President, an office he still holds today.

* entered the House of Lords as an apolitical cross bencher in 1992, campaigned ceaselessly on legislation affecting people with a learning disability, has been one of the most regular attenders, introducing numerous amendments to legislation associated with health, social welfare and education and  saw his amendments to the 'Childcare Bill' extend statutory childcare provision for children with a disability from 16 to 18 years old and changes to the 'Electoral Administration Bill' lead to people with a learning disability being able to vote freely.

* served as the first Chairman of the 'Arts Council Monitoring Committee on Arts and Disability', founded and chaired the charity 'Libertas' which produced audio guides for disabled people at museums, historical buildings and  places of interest, gave up smoking in 1950 when he lost his voice during a matinee of 'Reluctant Heroes' and subsequently became a founding member of ASH, 'Action on Smoking and Health'.

* has produced two autobiographies : 'My Farce From My Elbow' in 1974 and 'Farce About Face' in1989 and 'Gullible's Travails', an anthology of travel stories by the famous for the 'Mencap Blue Sky Appeal' and for Mencap's 60th anniversary, produced 'All About Us! – The history of learning disability and of the Royal Mencap Society.'

So its 'Hats Off' as a salute to an old Brit who started his career making audiences laugh in the Whitehall Theatre with his trousers down and ends it making the lives of those with learning difficulties better with his amendments to laws in the Mother of Parliaments.

Britain's old men with pancreatic cancer have a champion in Maggie Watts, but one with an e-petition in dire need of 70,500 signatures

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of death from in Britain yet with the worst survival rate of all cancers, it receives only 1% of money spent on research. Its five year survival rate of 3% hasn’t improved in over 40 years. By comparison, prostate cancer affecting old men, has a survival rate rising from 31% in 1971 to 81% today. PC  has been responsible for the death of our much loved parliamentary sketch writer, Simon Hoggart at the age of 67 and actor, Roger Lloyd-Pack at the age of 69, within weeks of one another.

Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Britain is no longer a country for an old and rare political sketch writer called Simon Hoggart who wielded a truthful, witty pen
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/britain-is-no-longer-country-for-old.html


Friday, 17 January 2014
Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to an old many-faceted actor called Roger Lloyd-Pack who was and will forever be, Colin 'Trigger' Ball
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/britain-is-no-longer-country-for-and_17.html

In addition, 66 year old rock guitarist, Wilko Johnson, continues his fight against pancreatic cancer.

Friday, 12 July 2013
Britain is still a country for, but only just, and says "Happy Birthday to an old blues guitarist called Wilko Johnson
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/britain-is-still-country-for-but-only.html

Pancreatic cancer remains the cinderella of cancers in comparison with bowel, breast and prostate. More funding and more public awareness is vital so that progress can be made in earlier detection and, ultimately, better survival rates. It is often called the 'silent killer' since many of its symptoms mirror other less critical illnesses and doctors may not recognise these early enough, resulting in lost time before diagnosis and a terminal outcome. It kills 7,900, mostly old men and women in Britain each year with 75% of cases in those aged 65 years and over.

Last year, Maggie Watts, who lost her husband to pancreatic cancer at the age of just 48 in 2009, launched a UK Government E-petition to push it further up the political agenda. The petition is a call to :

'Provide more Funding & Awareness for Pancreatic Cancer to aid long overdue progress in earlier detection and, ultimately, improved survival rates'

Maggie and her supporters need 100,000 signatures by the 8th April this year in order for these issues about pancreatic cancer to be taken up in Parliament and with 3 months to go they are still 77,000 signatures short.

Unlike Simon and Roger in their late 60's, Kevin was in his late 40's when he was struck down. He :

* as a builder, had always been fit and healthy but in 2008, after eight months of apparently unconnected symptoms : queasy stomach, severe back pain and dramatic weight loss, with his doctor thinking he had a stomach ulcer, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

* was told that the tumour was inoperable because it was wrapped around a main artery in his pancreas, the organ responsible for making hormones such as insulin, which helps keep blood sugar levels stable, and producing digestive enzymes to break down food.

* after undergoing chemotherapy was told it had failed to shrink the tumour away from the artery and that he had 6 to 18 months to live and died in December 2009 in a hospice.

Ali Stunt, founder of the charity, Pancreatic Cancer Action has said :
"Pancreatic cancer has been overlooked, almost as if it's too hard to deal with ... There's a direct correlation between those cancers where there has been significant investment in research and improved survival rates. With pancreatic cancer, five-year survival isn't even discussed, and we know 50  per cent of patients hadn't heard of pancreatic cancer before their diagnosis. Even the one-year survival rate is under 20 per cent."

Ross Carter, Consultant in Pancreatic Surgery at Glasgow Royal Infirmary has said that the main problem is late diagnosis with 80% of patients too late for surgery, the only potentially curative option as the cancer spreads or has wrapped around major blood vessels at the back of the pancreas.
"If patients complain of persistent indigestion symptoms that normally effective medication hasn't treated after a few weeks, more serious conditions need to be considered and they may need urgent investigations. This could enable them to be diagnosed more quickly - at a stage where surgery is more likely to be an option."

It is really very simple.
Lack of funding = lack of research.
Lack of research = lack of understanding of the condition.
Lack of understanding of the condition = late diagnosis.
Late diagnosis = a poor rate of survival.

It is important not to lose sight of the fact that poor diagnosis and resulting poor rates of survival affects the family, friends and colleagues of the departed. Maggie's loss and tribute to Kevin is a reminder of that :

 ' For my gorgeous husband Kevin: You stared pancreatic cancer firmly in the face and absolutely refused to succumb until it had drained every last ounce of your strength. We are proud of you. Your fight was truly inspirational and I will never cease to be amazed at how you handled the knowledge that pancreatic cancer would, in a relatively short space of time, take your life. You refused to give in and have left us with many, many good memories, particularly your "I'm Still Standing Party" held with all of our family and friends to celebrate outliving the 18 month prognosis! Sadly, the cancer took a firm hold not long after and we had to face the hardest part - letting you go. We did so in the knowledge that you would be at peace and watching over us. Life ends but love is eternal and we carry you with us, in our hearts, wherever we go. Love you and miss you every day. With love always Maggie xxx'

Maggie speaking to ITN : http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2014-01-21/pancreatic-cancer-campaign/

So sign Maggie's petition and spread it to family, friends and colleagues though facebook, twitter and other social media to help Maggie get her 100,000 signatures :

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48389

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to an old 1950's corinthian runner and 1960's consensual politician called Christopher Chataway

Chris, who was a British athletic champion in the 1950s corinthian, 'Chariots of Fire' tradition and a 1970s consensual Conservative Government Minister before the advent of Thathcherism, has died at the age of 82.

What you possibly didn't know about Chris, that he :

* was born in 1931 in Chelsea, London, eight years before the outbreak of the Second World War and bought up before its outbreak partly in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, where his
father was a district commissioner, until sent to Sherborne public school for boys where he excelled at rugby, boxing and gymnastics but did not win a race until he was 16 and then went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read philosophy, politics and economics and became President of the Athletics Club.


* had taken up competitive running at University at the age of 19 in 1950 and acted as one of the pacemakers when his close friend, Roger Bannister, ran the first sub-four minute mile on 6 May 1954 at the University's Iffley Road Track
and after the race congratulated Roger (centre) with fellow runner Chris Brasher on the left.

* ran in the 5,000m final of the Helsinki Olympics, where he kept up with athletes of the calibre of Emil Zatopek, before stumbling on the final bend, then picking himself up to finish fifth.

* was unsponsored and part-time as an athlete who later said : "Our group was the last generation who were lucky enough just to be at the top of the sport while having it only as a recreation, a very serious recreation to be sure – we worked hard at it, but we had other work as well."

* with his red hair, ran as 'Red Fox', trained for an hour a day, six months a year, smoked fifty cigarettes a week and, after he broke the world record for the 5,000m, in front of a 45,000 crowd at White City at the age of 23 in 1954, beating the Soviet champion, Vladimir Kuts to set a world record of 13 minutes 51.6 seconds for the 5,000m, surprised his Russian rivals by lighting a large cigar at the reception.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOXLX3WYFtY

* became, as a result of his victory, the first ever winner of the BBC’s 'Sports Personality of the Year' and later commented with self-effacement : “They say 12 million watched. So, basically, if you were watching TV and didn’t want to see me, sadly there wasn’t any alternative for you because there were no other channels!”

* in 1954, acted as pacemaker for Roger Bannister when he broke the four-minute-mile barrier for the first time

* worked for the Guinness Company for two years and was the first to suggest that it might publish a 'Book of Records', edited by his athlete friends, the McWhirter twins, before moving into tv in at the age of 24 in 1955 at the  newly established ITN, where his glamour and fame saw him briefly become a newsreader and the presenter of its first bulletin.

* joined and was a member of the BBC's 'Panorama' team as a reporter for four years,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_7966000/7966451.stm
while aspiring to a career in politics, just the sort of dynamic young candidate the Conservative party under Harold Macmillan was looking for and rather than being 'parachuted' into a safe parliamentary seat, chose to serve an apprenticeship representing North Lewisham on the London County Council for three years before being elected as its Member of Parliament at the age of 28 in 1959.

* in his maiden speech, expressed the hope that the England Cricket Team would refuse to play a tour in apartheid South Africa and served as an MP for seven years, working in the Macmillan Government as a Junior Education Minister until he lost his seat in the Labour landslide of 1966 and then served as Leader of the 'Inner London Education Authority' and made a cautious introduction of comprehensive secondary education.

* returned to the Commons in 1969 for the safe seat of Chichester and following the Tories' unexpected general election victory in 1970, was appointed by Prime Minister Edward Heath to the Privy Council and on being offered the still novel and junior post of Sports Minister, declined and opted instead to become 'Minister of Posts and Telecommunications' and introduced commercial radio before being promoted to become 'Minister for Industrial Development' in charge of regional aid.

*  was always moderate in his conservatism and, for example,  a doughty opponent of racial discrimination and finding the tide running out on his style of consensual  politics, stood down at the 1974 election, to start a career in the City, principally as Managing Director and then Vice-Chairman of 'Orion Merchant Bank'.

* served as President of the 'Commonwealth Games Council for England', was for a time Chairman of 'UK Athletics' and in 1991 at the age of 60, became Chairman of the 'Civil Aviation Authority' and four years later was knighted for his services to aviation, was also Chairman of 'Groundwork', an environmental charity, Chairman of 'ActionAid' and Treasurer of the 'National Campaign for Electoral Reform'.

* supported the charity, 'Vicky's Water Project', set up in 2006 by his son Adam after his fiancee was killed in a road accident which aimed to bring fresh water to villages in Ethiopia Project http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_cCjSEQqrk and has transformed the lives of 20,000 people and at the age of 79, preparing to take part in the 'Great North Run' to raise money for the Project and aiming to beat 80% of the field, said :
"I sometimes think that running, which was a sort of tormentor in my youth, has returned to be a friendly codger in my old age."

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to an old many-faceted actor called Roger Lloyd-Pack who was and will forever be, Colin 'Trigger' Ball

Roger, who played 'Trigger' the slow-witted London road sweeper and patron of the Nags Head pub in the comedy series, 'Only Fools and Horses', has died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 69.

What you possibly didn't know about Roger, that he :

* was born in Islington, North London in 1944, during the Second World War, the son of Elizabeth, an Austrian, Viennese Jewish refugee from the Nazis, who worked as a travel agent and later founded a kindergarten and Charles Pack, an actor, proud of his working-class origins in East London who added 'Lloyd' to his name in the 1930s and worked as a regular in 'Hammer' horror films.


* was sent to St David’s,“a snobby little prep school run by a sadistic couple” and independent coeducational boarding school, Bedales, where he “coasted” but did begin acting and then, after leaving , decided to follow his father into acting, thinking that it was "magic and what I want to do".

* trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and made his stage debut in 'The Shoemaker's Holiday' by Thomas Dekker at the Theatre Royal, Northampton, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company, but found jobs hard to come by, which, in part, he put this down to his looks saying : “It took a while for all my features to fall into place”

* made his film debut at the age of 23 in 1968 with a small part in Guy Green's 'The Magus', based on the John Fowles novel and starring Michael Caine and Anthony Quinn and in 1970 had a minor role in 1970 Joseph Losey's 'The Go-Between' adapted by Harold Pinter from LP Hartley's novel and starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates.

* had made his tv debut in 'The Avengers' at the age of 20 in 1965, followed by appearances in the 1970s series : 'Jason King', 'Crown Court' and 'Softly Softly: Taskforce'.

* in theatre in the mid-1970s, was a committed member of the 'Joint Stock Theatre Company', formed by William Gaskill and Max Stafford-Clark which pioneered the idea of using collaborative workshops to inspire new material from playwrights such as David Hare and Caryl Churchill.

*  achieved national recognition and huge popularity at the age of 36 in 1981, playing Colin 'Trigger' Ball, the lugubrious Peckham road sweeper in the late John Sullivan's brilliantly acted tv comedy series, 'Only Fools and Horses' and continued to appear alongside David Jason's, 'Del Boy' and Nicholas Lyndhurst's, 'Rodney' with many a seasonal 'special' for another decade and to record audience of 24 million in 1996. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwKFc6jclK8

* demonstrated his comic timing and deadpan delivery in the episode,'Yuppy Love', when he descended the stairs of the wine bar in an arresting electric blue suit and in response to Del's advice about picking up women : "This place is full of yuppy sorts. We can’t go wrong here. All we’ve got to do is learn their language", responded with : ‘Why, are they foreign, then?’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63rcdLeXiU8

* delivered John Sullivan's lines with comic perfection :
"I don't know what you're worried about (BSE). I've been eating British beef all my life."
"No, I told them (a dating agency) I was bus conductor. To add a bit of glamour"
"That's what I've done. Maintained it (his roadsweeper's broom) for 20 years. This old brooms had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time."

* on stage, appeared in Alan Bennett's, 'Kafka's Dick' in 1986, directed at the Royal Court by Richard Eyre and played an anguished Rosmer in Ibsen's 'Rosmersholm' at the National in 1987, opposite Suzanne Bertish and in film, two years later, played in Peter Greenaway's 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover'.

* started to play in 1994, at the age of 49 and continued to play for the next 13 years, Owen Newitt, the local farmer in the tv comedy series, 'The Vicar of Dibley', written by Richard Curtis and starring Dawn French as the ecclesiastical new broom, Geraldine, in a sleepy Oxfordshire parish.


* on stage, appeared alongside Nigel Havers and Barry Foster in Yasmina Reza's, 'Art' in the West End in 2001 and in film in 2005, joined forces with his friend and neighbour, the director, Mike Newell, in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' playing Barty Crouch.

* in 2006, at the age of 61, had fun as John Lumic (left) in the reappearance of 'Doctor Who' on tv, playing opposite David Tennant and in 2009-10 and in 'The Old Guys', with Clive Swift, played an ageing has-been, focusing his attention on  Asher, his disobliging neighbour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9gE7i3RZ9k&list=PLEA5C87AC1D2F257B&index=1

* returned to the stage in a revival of Patrick Marber's gambling classic, 'Dealer's Choice' at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2007 and earned praise as a growly old 'Davies' in Pinter's 'The Caretaker' at the Nuffield, Southampton and a fierce 'Prospero' in 'The Tempest' at the Edinburgh Festival.

* in film in 2010, appeared in 'Made in Dagenham' about the strike at the Ford car plant in Essex in 1968 and the following year, played Inspector Mendel in 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'.

* on stage, in what would be his last appearances, played the Duke of Buckingham (left) in Mark Rylance's 'Richard III' at Shakespeare's Globe and in the West End in 2012 and paired this with a definitive Sir Andrew Aguecheek, the dim-witted, lovelorn sidekick of Toby Belch in Shakespeare's 'Twelth Night' (right).


* participated in community matters in Kentish Town, North London where he was an active political campaigner, backing the 'Save The NHS' campaign and protested against threatened hospital closures and cuts to services and in Fakenham, Norfolk, was highly visible in political and charitable activities and in his commitment to schools, the ambulance service and integrated traffic policies.

* was a cricket fan and supporter of the MCC, Tottenham Hotspur and the Labour Party and campaigned for Ken Livingstone in the 2012 London Mayoral Election, but in 2013, accused Ed Miliband of turning his back on union members who won him the leadership, resigned his Labour Party membership and called for the creation of a new party of the left.

* came to terms with the fact that over the years on many occasions, passers-by, even policemen, would shout out “Wotcher Trig” at him in the street and in conversation, strangers assumed that he was very thick, by describing the role as “like an albatross in one way. If something becomes mega, like Fools, you’ve had it. I’ll never escape Trigger, I’ve learnt to live with that.”


* in his life demonstrated the truth of David Jason's words : "Although he played the simple soul of Trigger in Only Fools and Horses, he was a very intelligent man and a very fine actor capable of many roles."

* revealed that he would like to buried in a cardboard coffin and as for his obituary : “I don’t really care what they say, so long as they are fair. I know I will be best remembered for Trigger in Only Fools and Horses, but I hope all my other work will be acknowledged, too.”

YouTube tribute : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRE-ix6HwOk