Dad's
Army News - August 2003
Don
Estelle 1933 - 2003
A Tribute by Andy Howells
The actor
Don Estelle has died after a long illness. Don was known to millions
for his appearances in Jimmy Perry and David Croft's It Ain't
Half Hot Mum! and Dad's Army.
Don Estelle was also a popular singer on the cabaret circuit in
the Northern cities during the 1960's. When he decided to break
into acting, he gained a few walk on parts in Coronation Street
before taking Arthur Lowe's advice and writing to David Croft
for a part in Dad's Army. The
letter paid off and began a long association with Jimmy Perry
and David Croft.
Don made his
Dad's Army debut in the 1969, series 3 episode "Big
Guns" in which he played a Pickfords man who delivers
a Naval Gun to the platoon. Don made such an impact in this role,
he was invited back to play Gerald - a Warden who was answerable
to ARP Warden Hodges (Bill Pertwee) in 3 episodes of Series 4
"Don't Forget The Diver", "The Test"
and "Uninvited Guests".
In 1973, when
Jimmy Perry and David Croft were putting together It Ain't
Half Hot Mum! they decided on Don to play the role of Gunner
'Lofty' Sugden, the perfect foil, it would turn out for BSM Williams
as played by Windsor Davies. 'Lofty' was a role Don relished,
mainly because he could sing as well as act.
His singing
and partnership with Windsor Davies was brought to the forefront
in 1975 with the release of the It Ain't Half Hot Mum!
soundtrack album, he performed a cover version of the Ink Spots
"Whispering Grass" with Windsor and the single
from the soundtrack album subsequently rocketed to the top of
the UK Pop charts.
Another single
"Paper Doll" followed as did an album "Sing
Lofty" which featured more reworkings of songs by Don
and Windsor. A tour followed but Don later admitted that the formula
was repeated so much the popularity of the records wained and
future releases failed to make an impression on the charts. Still,
"Sing Lofty!" did become one of EMI's biggest
selling albums ever when it was released and re-released to great
acclaim.
It Ain't
Half Hot Mum! continued until 1981, when it ended after 56
episodes. Don however, continued recording albums and ran his
own music publishing company. He was a familiar face in many shopping
malls over the years in which he would frequently perform songs
from his latest releases.
I had the
pleasure of meeting Don a few years ago when he came to Yate Shopping
Centre and found him very friendly and charming. He'll be greatly
missed by many and will be remembered for the amount of pleasure
he gave people through his television appearances and his music.
Don't miss the train for Parsley Sidings!
 BBC7
are currently rerunning episodes from the classic radio
series Parsley Sidings on Thursdays at 12.30pm and 7.30pm
respectively.
Parsley Sidings had the distinction of featuring both Arthur
Lowe as Horace Hepplewhite and Ian Lavender as his son Bertrand,
in charge of a small railway station on the outskirts of
Birmingham.
Each week they were joined by both Kenneth Connor and Liz
Fraser,both stars of the Carry On films and Liz herself
was even the Dad's Army Feature Film Mrs Pike!
Written
by Jim Eldridge, many of the original episodes were junked
by the BBC in the 1970's. Thankfully Dave Homewood of the
DAAS New Zealand branch helped secure and return some of
the missing episodes in 2001.
You can catch the programme on-line at BBC7
every Thursday.
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Dad's Army
News Written & Compiled by Andy Howells
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