Joseph Anthony Capstick (27 July 1944 – 23 October 2003) was an English comedian, actor, musician and broadcaster.

Life and career

First son of Joe Capstick, a wireless operator in the RAF, and his wife, June, née Duncan, he was born in

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, England, and spent most of his childhood in Swinton, near

Mexborough Mexborough is a town in the City of Doncaster, City of Doncaster District, South Yorkshire, England, between Manvers and Denaby Main, on the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don close to where it joins the River Dearne, and the A6023 road. It is co ...

. For over thirty years he was a presenter on BBC Radio Sheffield. In the 1970s he presented ''Folkweave'' for

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

and continued to work for that station sporadically until the early 1990s. Outside

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, he is perhaps better known as one of the policemen in the long-running British sitcom, ''

Last of the Summer Wine ''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom set in Yorkshire created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first seri ...

'', where he played the role until his death in October 2003, with his final appearance on the show broadcast in April 2004.

Biography

A regular performer on the folk circuit, he recorded many albums. The first was for the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

based record label Rubber Records (''His Round'' with Hedgehog Pie, ''Punch and Judy Man'', ''Tony Capstick Does a Turn'', ''Songs of Ewan MacColl'' with Dick Gaughan and Dave Burland and ''There Was This Bloke'' with

Mike Harding Mike Harding (born 23 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, writer, broadcaster and musician. Early life and education Harding's father, Louis Arthur "Curly" Harding, a navigator in the RAF, was killed in the Second Worl ...

, Derek Brimstone and Bill Barclay). In 1981, he unexpectedly reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart with "The Sheffield Grinder" / "Capstick Comes Home". It was recorded with the Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band. His recitation, "Capstick Comes Home", was based on the well-known Hovis wholemeal bread television commercials directed by

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...

. "Capstick Comes Home" also peaked at number 92 in Australia in July 1981. As a comedian, he had an eight-part television series, ''Capstick's Capers'', on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in 1983. Capstick was also a prolific bit-part actor, with a career including minor roles in the soap operas ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

'' and ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

''. In the latter he played the recurring character of the

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

Harvey Nuttall. His career at Radio Sheffield came to an end in January 2003. He continued to write a regular column in a local weekly newspaper, the ''Rotherham Advertiser''. Capstick was an author, with Paul Donoghue, of a book on the Appleby Horse Fair.

Death

On 23 October 2003, Capstick was found dead at his cottage in Hoober, near Wentworth, South Yorkshire, he had suffered an aneurysm following a bout of pneumonia. He was survived by wife Gillian and his two children from his first marriage.

Discography

*''His Round'' (with Hedgehog Pie), 1971 *''Punch and Judy Man'' (with Hedgehog Pie), 1974 *''Does a Turn'', 1978 *''Songs of Ewan MacColl'' (with Dick Gaughan and Dave Burland), 1978 *"Capstick Comes Home" / "The Sheffield Grinder, No. 3 UK Singles Chart, 1981

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

BBC ObituaryBBC list of his work
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Capstick, Tony 1944 births 2003 deaths English male television actors English folk musicians English radio presenters English male comedians English chroniclers English columnists People from Mexborough Male actors from South Yorkshire BBC Radio 2 presenters 20th-century English comedians Comedians from South Yorkshire People from Swinton, South Yorkshire Actors from Rotherham