Lance Percival dies

[Gangster Octopus]

And a bit more of my childhood goes with him...

[Benjm]

Lance Percival dies

In my childhood Lance Percival was one of those mystifying figures who was clearly very well known to my parents and other adults without my knowing at all what he was actually famous for. I used to get him mixed up with Pete Murray for some reason and thought he was a DJ cum light entertainment utility man rather than an actor.

[Gangster Octopus]

Lance Percival dies

Funny you say that, but I've just been thinking "what do I actually remember him in?". And I can't come up with anything; it's just that I remember him always being around...

[Toby Gymshorts]

Lance Percival dies

I always associate him with Up Pompeii!, and virtually nothing else.

[Jah Womble]

Lance Percival dies

Surely, to our generation at least, the Carry On... films are how he's best remembered? (Edit: Wikipedia has him listed as only having appeared in Carry On Cruising, which I'm sure can't be right?)

I also have fond memories of his Cup Final day calypsos on Radio Four.

RIP.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Lance Percival dies

Well, that's the thing. If you asked me what he'd appeared in, I'd go straight to Up Pompeii without mentioning Carry on..., TWTWTW, even that kid's programme he did, the name of which escapes me.

Which I'm sure does him a massive disservice.

[Benjm]

Lance Percival dies

The BBC obituary seems to back you up on this, TG.

I somehow doubt that time has served his satirical calypso work very well.

[Jah Womble]

Lance Percival dies

Oh, probably not at all, no - but it was all part of Cup Final day excitement, when indeed there still was excitement. (As I've mentioned elsewhere on OTF, 'King of the Calypso' was undoubtedly Lord Kitchener.)

[Amor de Cosmos]

Lance Percival dies

Yes, to some of us he was all about TW3. Only Ken Cope and Millicent Martin left, that I actually remember. David Kernan I can't picture at all.

[tee rex]

Lance Percival dies

To me the name evokes BBC Radio 2/4 panel shows. One of those regulars who kept popping up, always in the producers' booking books, with the day job remaining a mystery.

Or perhaps that was Cardew Robinson.

[MsD]

Lance Percival dies

I thought he did Gossip Calypso, but that was Bernard Cribbens.

He was in an episode of Jason King as well as the Carry On Films.

[treibeis]

Lance Percival dies

Gangster Octopus wrote: Funny you say that, but I've just been thinking "what do I actually remember him in?". And I can't come up with anything; it's just that I remember him always being around...

Lance Percival was, for me, The Man Who Wasn't Who I Thought He Was.

After reading your post, I thought, 'Ah, Lance Percival used to sing 'Everyone's a Fruit & Nutcase' in the adverts for the chocolate bars.

But it turns out I'd confused him with Frank Muir - even though I'd previously always confused Lance Percival with either Leslie Phillips or somebody else from that generation of 'entertainers' whose name I can't remember.

On top of that, I thought the guitarist from Balaam And The Angel looked like he could have been related to Lance Percival.

[Jah Womble]

Lance Percival dies

I'd guess that Lance Percival would've loved to have been mistaken for Leslie Phillips. (Well, I s'pose they were both 'LPs' even if they had nothing else in common...)

I once worked with a guy who was the spit of Percival. And his surname, 'Cavalier', would've made a far better showbiz moniker, if you ask me.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Lance Percival dies

Jah Womble wrote: I once worked with a guy who was the spit of Percival. And his surname, 'Cavalier', would've made a far better showbiz moniker, if you ask me.

Did he live in Vauxhall?

[Commodore]

Lance Percival dies

Percival's turn in Carry on Cruising is noteworthy as he played a chef who liked to drink whilst on duty - Charles Hawtrey was supposed to play this role (Hawtrey's liking for booze would have made him a shoe-in for this role) but he was 'sacked' for wanting more money and top billing, something you never did where Carry Ons were concerned.

As Percival was drafted as Hawtrey's replacement then I guess he wasn't asked to return to the Carry On fold once Hawtrey was allowed back in, although TW3 wasn't a bad career move.

I think the fact that you can't attribute a particular role to Percival speaks more for his somewhat overlooked versatility - Wikipedia has him down as the voice of McCartney and Ringo in the Beatles cartoon which I will want to discover once I've recovered from the demise of so many key figures of my childhood this weekend.

[Jah Womble]

Lance Percival dies

Yeah, Hawtrey - for all his apparent on-screen meakness - was known as a tricky blighter in the business. He lived in Deal, and at least one school pal of mine who lived there claimed to have been told to 'eff off' by him. (Not that I'd have blamed him for short-shrifting a bunch of spotty oiks, but still...)

From what I recall of those Beatles cartoons, they all sounded like Cockneys - which led me to believe that the programme must've been acted by Americans. Research (oh, all right then, Wikipedia) tells me that only one was - the other being Lance Percival.

[wittoner]

Lance Percival dies

Also did voice work on the far superior "Yellow Submarine" - The Nowhere Man I Think.

I always associate him with 70s/80s Comedy panel/quiz shows on the radio where he was always good value.

I also remember reading a Manchester City players autobiography (possibly Franny Lee) which related how they celebrated winning the cup in 69
by going to a nightclub where Lance Percival was doing the caberet after which he invited them all back to his house.

[MsD]

Lance Percival dies

Jah Womble wrote: Yeah, Hawtrey - for all his apparent on-screen meakness - was known as a tricky blighter in the business. He lived in Deal, and at least one school pal of mine who lived there claimed to have been told to 'eff off' by him. (Not that I'd have blamed him for short-shrifting a bunch of spotty oiks, but still...).

He also lived with his mother round the corner from us in Hounslow; it's family lore that he said of me (in my pram) "he's a cheeky one".

[Gangster Octopus]

Lance Percival dies

For fans of Calypso, there's this on Lord Kitchener at half-eleven on Radio 4.

[Ray de Galles]

Lance Percival dies

Oh, thanks for that GO! Quite a lot of interest in him recently with the 'Paddington' soundtrack using 'London Is The Place For Me' too.

[Sam]

Lance Percival dies

Gangster Octopus wrote: For fans of Calypso, there's this on Lord Kitchener at half-eleven on Radio 4.

Cheers for that GO, I enjoyed it. And I have decided that of all the accents to listen to radio in, West Indian/Trinidadian is the best.

[MsD]

Lance Percival dies

It's that lovely sing-song lilt from Trinidad (and some other islands), really uplifting.

[Sam]

Lance Percival dies

Indeed, and especially when music or poetry is the subject, I could listen to it all day.