David Jason: My Life

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A delightful autobiography by one of England’s great TV actor-comedians. David Jason will not be known outside of England but has been a mainstay on out TV screens here since the mid-1970s. For me he is Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses but he has been in lots of other productions like Porridge, Open All Hours, The Darling Buds of May and A Touch of Frost. My mum and dad used to watch all of them. They never watched Danger Mouse though. Jason’s solace - ‘an escape I increasingly found myself hurrying towards’ - was amateur dramatics. For his performances in John Osborne and Tennessee Williams with the Muswell Hill Players, a local newspaper called him ‘a young James Cagney’.

The story of his 'rise to fame' is also interesting. Although he was thrust into the spotlight (reluctantly) in the school production, David showed dedication to a theatre group and pursued a career as an electrician before he got his big break. Sir Rod Stewart flashes the middle finger at the Celtic v Motherwell football match after he is booed byThe Green Brigade He recalled: “As Nogood Boyo, I had to be, as the Dylan Thomas Line put it, ‘up to no good in the wash-house’ with Lily Smalls – a brief cameo moment which required me to come up behind Lily, who was played by Megg Wynn Owen. On reflection that was one of only two occasions in my acting life when I found myself doing anything that could remotely be described as a sex scene.” David Jason is a hugely successful actor by any measure. Viewing figures, financial success, and the admiration of the public and his peers. For us, seeing him as Sir David, with his many BAFTA awards, it might be difficult to imagine that there was a time before Only Fools And Horses. Jason recounts those days, telling of his childhood in Finchley, his family life, his first forays into amateur dramatics and his move into professional theatre. He tells of his early television work in the 1960s with Do Not Adjust Your Set, how he was bypassed for Corporal Jones in Dad's Army and Frank Spencer in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, and how he eventually landed the roles for which he is best-known. The stories of making A Touch Of Frost are interesting, who knew that the cast played pranks on one another during location shoots?

The title is not a misnomer, this truly is a book about David's life from his childhood in London in and immediately after the second world war to becoming a household name. I loved the stories about his family, particularly his mother (her explanation of the noises in wartime as 'just God moving his furniture around' made an impression on me) and the bygone age transmitted in these tales alongside his dry humour and jovial story-telling made this an interesting read. Autobiographies can sometimes spend a long time talking about life 'pre-fame' without really giving any insight, but I felt this book grabbed my attention. I could visualise London in this era, imagining David and his friends up to their escapades. In 2022, Jason discovered that he had a daughter, Abi Harris, of whom he had been previously unaware, who was born in 1970 following a brief relationship with actress Jennifer Hill. [22] [23] However, in 1995, after 18 happy years together, Talog lost her battle with breast cancer, leaving Sir David “numb with grief”. But life hasn't all been so easy: from missing out on a key role in Dad's Army to nearly drowning in a freak diving accident, David has had his fair share of ups and downs, and has lost some of his nearest and dearest along the way. Napoleon was six years younger than Josephine - so why are they played by Joaquin Phoenix, 49, and Vanessa Kirby, 35?

At last this was the opportunity I had been waiting for to make a name for myself on television and one I intended to take with both hands,” he explains. The changing face of Doctor Who and his companions: Your ultimate guide to every Time Lord for the 60th anniversaryBut life hasn't all been so easy: from missing out on a key role in Dad’s Army to nearly drowning in a freak diving accident, David has had his fair share of ups and downs, and has lost some of his nearest and dearest along the way. In the middle of that night, Myfanwy had pressed the call button, and almost as if there was nothing wrong with her, Myfanwy asked the nurse if she could have a pen and paper. And if he is, by temperament and preference, cagey and solitary, it is a fact that you don’t get to be this successful by being nice and compliant, day in, day out. It can’t be done, though there is no need to turn into Terry Scott, Leslie Phillips or Eric Idle, either.

He said we have 18 girls and we have got no boys. We both looked at each other… when can we join? Ever since acting has been my life.” Omid Scobie's book is understood to include of volley of withering criticisms of the Royal Family. Here NATASHA LIVINGSTONE sifts fact from fiction...I can't vouch how common is such course of development with actors in general, maybe it is, but I find this trope of almost unlikely hero (electrician, in this case) turning into star actor just through sheer will, talent and, perhaps, a little serendipity here and there, fascinating no matter how many times it repeats itself. Shoppers' secret to Zen: NEOM's bestselling electric diffuser is on sale with 30% off this Cyber Weekend (it fills your home with fragrance for 7 hours) episodes; A revival of the original series, featuring original cast members Lynda Baron and Maggie Ollerenshaw. Myfanwy wrote a number of things that she would like to happen – gifts she would like to give, a certain amount of money for Gwyl, some ornaments and possessions for her nephew and niece.