Room At The Bottom (Dad's Army)
"Room at the Bottom" is the sixth episode of the third series of the British comedy series ''Dad's Army'' that was originally transmitted on Thursday 16 October 1969. Plot Wilson is sitting at Mainwaring's desk, when Captain Bailey from GHQ arrives. He asks Wilson about how long Mainwaring has been in charge. Wilson says it was ever since they were Local Defence Volunteers. Bailey is surprised because there were no commissions in the LDV, and Wilson admits that Mainwaring made himself a captain. Bailey tells him that it's more ordinary to have a lieutenant in charge of a platoon, so Mainwaring must remove one of his pips. Wilson is delighted, and is even more delighted when Walker brings him his new hat: a beret. Wilson, with some glee, practises what he is going to say to Mainwaring, who then arrives, announcing that he's recruited a Drill Sergeant for drill practice. Wilson tells him about Bailey's visit, but Mainwaring laughs it off. He rings GHQ and speaks to a sergeant, who k ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dad's Army
''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC One, BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran for nine series and 80 episodes in total; a Dad's Army (1971 film), feature film released in 1971, a stage show and a radio version based on the television scripts were also produced. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still shown internationally. The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either because of age (hence the title ''Dad's Army''), medical reasons or by being in Reserved occupation, professions exempt from conscription. Most of the platoon members in ''Dad's Army'' are over military age and the series stars several older British actors, including Arnold Ridley, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Walker
"The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Walker" is a missing episode in the British comedy series ''Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on 15 March 1969. One of the three missing ''Dad's Army'' episodes, only a few short clips and screenshots survive in the archives. Synopsis To his complete surprise, Walker receives his call-up papers. Mainwaring tries his best to get the authorities to reconsider. Plot When Walker is called up, he applies to the Military Service Hardship Committee, which rejects him on the grounds that he does not keep books for his business. After Jones's attempts to sabotage his medical test fail, Walker is invalided out because he is allergic to corned beef. Cast * Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring *John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson *Clive Dunn as Lance Corporal Jones *John Laurie as Private Frazer *James Beck as Private Walker *Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey *Ian Lavender as Private Pike * Anthony Sharp as Brigadier (War Office) *Diana King as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arnold Ridley
William Arnold Ridley, OBE (7 January 1896 – 12 March 1984) was an English playwright and actor, earlier in his career known for writing the play '' The Ghost Train'' and later in life in the British TV sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (1968–1977) as the elderly bumbling Private Godfrey, as well as in spin-offs including the feature film version and the stage production. He is the great-uncle of actress Daisy Ridley. Early life William Arnold Ridley was born in Walcot, Bath, Somerset, England, the son of Rosa Caroline (née Morrish, 1870–1956) and William Robert Ridley (1871–1931). His father was a gymnastics instructor and ran a boot and shoe shop. He attended the Clarendon School and the Bath City Secondary School where he was a keen sportsman. A graduate of the University of Bristol, he studied at the Education Department, and played Hamlet in a student production. Ridley undertook teaching practice at an Elementary School in Bristol. Military service Ridley was a student ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Private Godfrey
Private Charles Godfrey MM is a fictional Home Guard platoon member, first portrayed by Arnold Ridley in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. and in the 1971 ''Dad's Army'' film. He is retired and was previously a tailor for the Civil Service Stores or the Army & Navy Stores. Godfrey was a conscientious objector during the First World War, yet he did work as a stretcher bearer with the Royal Army Medical Corps and earned a Military Medal for taking the wounded off the battle field at the Battle of the Somme. This has earned him great respect among the platoon members and resulted in him being appointed as the First Aid supervisor. Ridley himself fought at the Battle of the Somme during the First World War. Personality Godfrey was born in 1871, and is a gentle, mild-mannered and kindly old gentleman, though more complex than at first evident. He is the only member of the platoon who has retired. In the episode " Branded" it is revealed that he was a conscientious object ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Beck
Stanley James Carroll Beck (21 February 1929 – 6 August 1973) was an English actor who played the role of Private Walker, a cockney spiv, in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army'' from the show's beginning in 1968 until his sudden death in 1973. Early life Beck was born on 21 February 1929 in Islington, North London, and attended Popham Road Primary School. His childhood was hard, with his father frequently unemployed and his mother making artificial flowers to provide a small income. After attending Saint Martin's School of Art and doing his national service as a physical training instructor in the British Army, Beck became an actor. Prior to his broadcast roles he spent several seasons with the Unicorn Players based in Paignton, Devon. His early broadcast roles included Charlie Bell in an episode of ''Dr Finlay's Casebook'' (Series 1 episode 4, "Conduct Unbecoming", 1962), and Shylock in ''The Merchant of Venice'' in 1963, for which he gained positive reviews. He concentrated on ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Private Walker
Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv (or Wholesales Supplier, as he politely puts it) and Home Guard platoon member, first portrayed by actor James Beck in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. In real life, Beck died suddenly on 6 August 1973. The character of Walker was one of the seven primary characters in the show. Following his character's departure (Walker was last mentioned in the episode "The Recruit", although he does not appear in this episode) the series attempted to replace him with a war reporter called Private Cheeseman (played by Talfryn Thomas), who had made a previous cameo appearance in the episode "My British Buddy". Personality Walker is the second-youngest member of the platoon, the youngest being Private Pike, and speaks with a cockney accent. A pleasant and amiable (if slightly shifty) personality, Walker is nevertheless a constant thorn in Captain Mainwaring's side, for he doesn't share Mainwaring's idealism, and makes cheeky and wit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Laurie
John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor. In the course of his career, Laurie performed on the stage and in films as well as television. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (1968-1977) as Private Frazer, a member of the Home Guard. Laurie appeared in scores of feature films with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell, and Laurence Olivier, generally playing memorable small or supporting roles rather than leading ones. As a stage actor, he was cast in Shakespearean roles and was a speaker of verse, especially of Robert Burns. Early life John Paton Laurie was born on 25 March 1897 in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire to William Laurie (1856–1903), a clerk in a tweed mill and later a hatter and hosier, and Jessie Ann Laurie (''née'' Brown; 1858–1935). Laurie attended Dumfries Academy (a grammar school at the time), before abandoning a career in architecture to serve in the First World War as a member of th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Private Frazer
Private James Frazer is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and undertaker, first portrayed by John Laurie in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. He is noted for his catchphrases "We're doomed!" and "Rubbish!" Personality Frazer was born in 1872 and is a dour, trouble-stirring, exaggerating, wild-eyed Scottish undertakerWebber, Perry, Croft, p. 75 (formerly the keeper of a philatelist's shop with a hobby of making coffins). He hails from the "wild and lonely" Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides,Webber, Perry, Croft, p. 228 an apparently desolate and bleak place that appears to have informed most of his pessimistic, dark tendencies. He is an old sailor and traveller who claims to have had many adventures in the south seas, describing in Uninvited Guests how an expedition with a friend named Jethro led to Jethro being cursed to die by a witch doctor for stealing a ruby from a jungle temple, and recounting in Don't Forget the Diver how another friend, Wally Stuart, died ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clive Dunn
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn (9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army,'' which ran for nine series and 80 episodes between 1968 and 1977.Clive Dunn Telegraph (7 November 2012). Retrieved on 4 February 2013. Dunn started his acting career in 1935, but this was interrupted by the Second World War, in which he served as a trooper in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars. In 1941 the regiment ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lance Corporal Jones
Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance corporal and veteran of the British Empire, first portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. His catchphrases are "Don't panic!", "Permission to speak, sir?" and "They don't like it up 'em!". Jones also often recounts his past military experiences particularly those in Sudan and India and gives a glimpse to the military traditions and events in the concluding years of the 19th century. Fictional biography The backstory invented for Jones suggests that he was born in 1870 in Walmington-on-Sea, the son of George Jones, who by the start of World War II is the 88-year-old caretaker of the Peabody Museum of Historical Army Weapons. In " The Showing Up of Corporal Jones", when Major Regan asks him his age, Jones replies sixty, but tells Captain Mainwaring later in the same episode his actual age, which is seventy. Jack Jones joined the army as a drummer boy in 1884; thereafter, he served in fiv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation comedy ''Dad's Army'' (1968–1977). A self-confessed "jobbing actor", Le Mesurier appeared in more than 120 films across a range of genres, normally in smaller supporting parts. Le Mesurier became interested in the stage as a young adult and enrolled at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art in 1933. From there he took a position in repertory theatre and made his stage debut in September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre in Edinburgh in the J. B. Priestley play ''Dangerous Corner''. He later accepted an offer to work with Alec Guinness in a John Gielgud production of ''Hamlet''. He first appeared on television in 1938 as Seigneur de Miolans in the BBC broadcast of ''The Marvellous History of St Bernard''. During the Second World War Le Mesuri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sergeant Wilson
Sergeant Arthur Wilson is a fictional British Home Guard, Home Guard platoon sergeant and Bank teller, bank chief clerk, first portrayed by John Le Mesurier in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. Background Wilson was born in 1887, and is carefree, cheerful and well-spoken, although more complex than he first seems. He is chief clerk of the Walmington-on-Sea bank and captain of the cricket club. He has an upper-middle-class background; his uncle was a peer of the realm, his father had a career in the City of London, and Wilson often recalls fond memories of his nanny. He was educated at a Public school (United Kingdom), public school named Meadow Bridge, having failed the entrance exam for Harrow School, Harrow.Webber, Perry, Croft, p.228 He was destined for the Indian Civil Service (British India), Indian Civil Service but failed that exam too. The final episode reveals Wilson to have reached the rank of captain in the Middlesex Regiment whilst serving in the First World ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |