Goodbye Sir!

I was sad to read in today’s paper of the death of actor Richard Davies (pictured right, with co-star John Alderton).

For anyone like me who is something of a connoisseur (or should that be an anorak) of 60s, 70s and 80s TV shows and sitcoms, Davies is best remembered as Mr Price, the Welsh Science teacher in London Weekend TV’s Please Sir, which initially aired in the late 60s to early 70s.

Starring such infamous sitcom actors as John Alderton, Deryck Guyler and Joan Sanderson, Please Sir was based at a fictional school in London’s Fenn Street and it took in the antics of both teachers and pupils in the school. It ran on TV for 55 episodes, spinning off into a separate sitcom called the Fenn Street Gang. The original show also found its way on to the big screen in 1971.

Initially from Merthyr Tydfill, Richard Davies went down the pit at the age of 14 and when training to join the military police in the 2^nd World War, was moved into an entertainment unit.

He was a regular visitor to our TV screens over the years appearing in favourite shows such as Coronation Street, Fawlty Towers, 2 Point 4 Children and Oh No, it’s Selwyn Froggitt. He is also fondly remembered for his role of Private Jones in the silver screen blockbuster Zulu.

In recent years he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and passed away aged 89, survived by his wife and 3 children.

Did you know?

1. Peter Cleall, who played student Eric Duffy in the original Please Sir sitcom is now 71 years old. That is just 3 years younger than John Alderton, who played Bernard Hedges, the teacher of class 5C, who is now 74.

2. David Barry, who played the self styled gum chewing tough guy Frankie Abbott, who was really something of a “mummy’s boy”, is now a successful author of numerous novels such as Each Man Kills, Flashback and Willie The Actor (click here for link to David's Amazon page).