Ealdred
Archbishop of York
Crypt of Gloucester Cathedral, which predates the Norman Conquest, and would have been contemporary with Ealdred's administration of Gloucester Abbey
Province	York
Diocese	Diocese of York
See	Archbishop of York
Elected	25 December 1060
Reign ended	11 September 1069
Predecessor	Cynesige
Successor	Thomas of Bayeux
Other posts	Abbot of Tavistock Bishop of Worcester
Orders
Consecration	1046
Personal details
Birth name	Ealdred
Died	11 September 1069 York
Buried	York Minster

Ealdred (or Aldred;^[1] died 11 September 1069) was Abbot of Tavistock, Bishop of Worcester, and Archbishop of York in Anglo-Saxon England. He was related to a number of other ecclesiastics of the period. After becoming a monk at the monastery at Winchester, he was appointed Abbot of Tavistock Abbey in around 1027. In 1046 he was named to the Bishopric of Worcester. Ealdred, besides his episcopal duties, served Edward the Confessor, the King of England, as a diplomat and as a military leader. He worked to bring one of the king's relatives, Edward the Exile, back to England from Hungary to secure an heir for the childless king.

In 1058 he undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the first bishop from England to do so.^[2] As administrator of the Diocese of Hereford, he was involved in fighting against the Welsh, suffering two defeats at the hands of raiders before securing a settlement with Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, a Welsh ruler.

In 1060, Ealdred was elected to the archbishopric of York, but had difficulty in obtaining papal approval for his appointment, only managing to do so when he promised not to hold the bishoprics of York and Worcester simultaneously. He helped secure the election of Wulfstan as his successor at Worcester. During his archiepiscopate, he built and embellished churches in his diocese, and worked to improve his clergy by holding a synod which published regulations for the priesthood.

Some sources state that following King Edward the Confessor's death in 1066, it was Ealdred who crowned Harold Godwinson as King of England.^[3] Ealdred supported Harold as king, but when Harold was defeated at the Battle of Hastings, Ealdred backed Edgar the Ætheling and then endorsed King William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy and a distant relative of King Edward's. Ealdred crowned King William on Christmas Day in 1066. William never quite trusted Ealdred or the other English leaders, and Ealdred had to accompany William back to Normandy in 1067, but he had returned to York by the time of his death in 1069. Ealdred supported the churches and monasteries in his diocese with gifts and building projects.

Early life[link]

Ealdred was probably born in the west of England, and could be related to Lyfing, his predecessor as bishop of Worcester.^[1] His family, from Devonshire, may have been well-to-do.^[4] Another relative was Wilstan or Wulfstan, who under Ealdred's influence became Abbot of Gloucester.^[1] Ealdred was a monk in the cathedral chapter at Winchester Cathedral before becoming abbot of Tavistock Abbey about 1027, an office he held until about 1043.^[5] Even after leaving the abbacy of Tavistock, he continued to hold two properties from the abbey until his death.^[4] During his tenure as abbot, he supported the abbey with gifts; the medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury said that they were splendid and many.^[6] No contemporary documents relating to Ealdred's time as abbot have been discovered.^[6]

Ealdred was made bishop of Worcester in 1046, a position he held until his resignation in 1062.^[7] He may have acted as suffragan, or subordinate bishop, to his predecessor Lyfing before formally assuming the bishopric,^[1][8] as from about 1043 Ealdred witnessed as an episcopus, or bishop, and a charter from 1045 or early 1046 names Sihtric as abbot of Tavistock.^[6] Lyfing died on 26 March 1046, and Ealdred became bishop of Worcester shortly after. However, Ealdred did not receive the other two dioceses that Lyfing had held, Crediton and Cornwall; King Edward the Confessor (reigned 1043–1066) granted these to Leofric, who combined the two sees at Crediton in 1050.^[6]

Bishop and royal advisor[link]

Harold Godwinson, from the Bayeux Tapestry, whom Ealdred failed to catch in 1051

Ealdred was an advisor to King Edward the Confessor, and was often involved in the royal government.^[9] He was also a military leader, and in 1046 he led an unsuccessful expedition against the Welsh.^[9] This was in retaliation for a raid led by the Welsh rulers Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, Rhys ap Rhydderch, and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Ealdred's expedition was betrayed by some Welsh soldiers who were serving with the English, and Ealdred was defeated.^[10]

In 1050, Ealdred went to Rome "on the king's errand",^[11] apparently to secure papal approval to move the seat, or centre, of the bishopric of Crediton to Exeter. It may also have been to secure the release of the king from a vow to go on pilgrimage, if sources from after the Norman Conquest of England are to be believed.^[1] While in Rome, he attended a papal council, along with his fellow English bishop Herman.^[12] That same year, as Ealdred was returning to England he met Sweyn, a son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and probably absolved Sweyn for having abducted the abbess of Leominster Abbey in 1046.^[13] Through Ealdred's intercession, Sweyn was restored to his earldom, which he had lost after abducting the abbess and murdering his brother Beorn.^[14][15] Ealdred helped Sweyn not only because Ealdred was a supporter of Earl Godwin's family but because Sweyn's earldom was close to his bishopric. As recently as 1049 Irish raiders had allied with Gruffydd ap Rhydderch of Gwent in raiding along the River Usk. Ealdred unsuccessfully tried to drive off the raiders, but was again routed by the Welsh. This failure underscored Ealdred's need for a strong earl in the area to protect against raids.^[16] Normally, the bishop of Hereford would have led the defence in the absence of an Earl of Hereford, but in 1049 the incumbent, Æthelstan, was blind, so Ealdred took on the role of defender.^[17]

Diplomatic travels[link]

Earl Godwin's rebellion against the king in 1051 came as a blow to Ealdred, who was a supporter of the earl and his family. Ealdred was present at the royal council at London that banished Godwin's family.^[18] Later in 1051, when he was sent to intercept Harold Godwinson and his brothers as they fled England after their father's outlawing, Ealdred "could not, or would not" capture the brothers.^[19][20] The banishment of Ealdred's patron came shortly after the death of Ælfric Puttoc, the Archbishop of York. York and Worcester had long had close ties, and the two sees had often been held in plurality, or at the same time. Ealdred probably wanted to become Archbishop of York after Ælfric's death, but his patron's eclipse led to the king appointing Cynesige, a royal chaplain, instead.^[18] In September 1052, though, Godwin returned from exile and his family was restored to power.^[21] By late 1053 Ealdred was once more in royal favour.^[18] At some point, he was alleged to have accompanied Swein on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but proof is lacking.^[22][a]

In 1054 King Edward sent Ealdred to Germany to obtain Emperor Henry III's help in returning Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside, to England. Edmund (reigned 1016) was an elder half-brother of King Edward the Confessor, and Edmund's son Edward was in Hungary with King Andrew I, having left England as an infant after his father's death and the accession of Cnut as King of England.^[24] In this mission Ealdred was somewhat successful and obtained insight into the working of the German church during a stay of a year^[25] with Hermann II, the Archbishop of Cologne.^[26] He also was impressed with the buildings he saw, and later incorporated some of the German styles into his own constructions.^[27] The main objective of the mission, however, was to secure the return of Edward; but this failed, mainly because Henry III's relations with the Hungarians were strained, and the emperor was unable or unwilling to help Ealdred.^[28] Ealdred was able to discover that Edward was alive, and had a place at the Hungarian court.^[29][b] Although some sources state that Ealdred attended the coronation of Emperor Henry IV, this is not possible, as on the date that Henry was crowned, Ealdred was in England consecrating an abbot.^[27]

Ealdred had returned to England by 1055, and brought with him a copy of the Pontificale Romano-Germanicum, a set of liturgies, with him. An extant copy of this work, currently manuscript Cotton Vitellus E xii, has been identified as a copy owned by Ealdred.^[27] It appears likely that the Rule of Chrodegang, a continental set of ordinances for the communal life of secular canons, was introduced into England by Ealdred sometime before 1059. Probably he brought it back from Germany, possibly in concert with Harold.^[31]

After Ealdred's return to England he took charge of the sees of Hereford^[32] and Ramsbury.^[19] Ealdred also administered Winchcombe Abbey and Gloucester Abbey.^[33] The authors of the Handbook of British Chronology Third Edition say he was named bishop of Hereford in 1056, holding the see until he resigned it in 1060,^[34] but other sources say that he merely administered the see while it was vacant,^[35] or that he was bishop of Hereford from 1055 to 1060.^[36]

Ealdred became involved with the see of Ramsbury after its bishop Herman got into a dispute with King Edward over the movement of the seat of his bishopric to Malmesbury Abbey. Herman wished to move the seat of his see, but Edward refused permission for the move. Ealdred was a close associate of Herman's,^[27] and the historian H. R. Loyn called Herman "something of an alter ego" to Ealdred.^[37] According to the medieval chronicler John of Worcester, Ealdred was given the see of Ramsbury to administer while Herman remained outside England. Herman returned in 1058, and resumed his bishopric. There is no contemporary documentary evidence of Ealdred's administration of Ramsbury.^[27]

Welsh affairs, Jerusalem, and Worcester[link]

The king again employed Ealdred as a diplomat in 1056, when he assisted earls Harold and Leofgar in negotiations with the Welsh.^[38] Edward sent Ealdred after the death in battle of Bishop Leofgar of Hereford, who had attacked Gruffydd ap Llywelyn after encouragement from the king. However, Leofgar lost the battle and his life, and Edward had to sue for peace.^[39] Although details of the negotiations are lacking, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn swore loyalty to King Edward,^[38] but the oath may not have had any obligations on Gruffydd's part to Edward. The exact terms of the submission are not known in total, but Gruffydd was not required to assist Edward in war nor attend Edward's court.^[39] Ealdred was rewarded with the administration of the see of Hereford, which he held until 1061, and was appointed Archbishop of York.^[38] The diocese had suffered a serious raid from the Welsh in 1055, and during his administration, Ealdred continued the rebuilding of the cathedral church as well as securing the cathedral chapter's rights.^[38] Ealdred was granted the administration in order that the area might have someone with experience with the Welsh in charge.^[40]

In 1058 Ealdred made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the first English bishop to make the journey.^[2] He travelled through Hungary, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle stated that "he went to Jerusalem in such state as no-one had done before him".^[41] While in Jerusalem he made a gift of a gold chalice to the church of the Holy Sepulchre.^[42] It is possible that the reason Ealdred travelled through Hungary was to arrange the travel of Edward the Exile's family to England. Another possibility is that he wished to search for other possible heirs to King Edward in Hungary.^[43] It is not known exactly when Edward the Exile's family returned to England, whether they returned with Edward in 1057, or sometime later, so it is only a possibility that they returned with Ealdred in 1058.^[44]

Very little documentary evidence is available from Ealdred's time as Bishop of Worcester. Only five leases that he signed survive, and all date from 1051 to 1053. Two further leases exist in Hemming's Cartulary as copies only. How the diocese of Worcester was administered when Ealdred was abroad is unclear, although it appears that Wulfstan, the prior of the cathedral chapter, performed the religious duties in the diocese. On the financial side, the Evesham Chronicle states that Æthelwig, who became abbot of Evesham Abbey in 1058, administered Worcester before he became abbot.^[45]

Archbishop of York[link]

The funeral cortege of Edward the Confessor, from the Bayeux Tapestry

Cynesige, the archbishop of York, died on 22 December 1060, and Ealdred was elected Archbishop of York on Christmas Day, 1060. Although a bishop was promptly appointed to Hereford, none was named to Worcester, and it appears that Ealdred intended to retain Worcester along with York, which several of his predecessors had done.^[43] There were a few reasons for this, one of which was political, as the kings of England preferred to appoint bishops from the south to the northern bishoprics, hoping to counter the northern tendency towards separatism. Another reason was that York was not a wealthy see, and Worcester was. Holding Worcester along with York allowed the archbishop sufficient revenue to support himself.^[46]

In 1061 Ealdred travelled to Rome to receive the pallium, the symbol of an archbishop's authority. Journeying with him was Tostig, another son of Earl Godwin, who was now earl of Northumbria.^[47] William of Malmesbury says that Ealdred, by "amusing the simplicity of King Edward and alleging the custom of his predecessors, had acquired, more by bribery than by reason, the archbishopric of York while still holding his former see."^[48] On his arrival in Rome, however, charges of simony, or the buying of ecclesiastical office, and lack of learning were brought against him, and his elevation to York was refused by Pope Nicholas II, who also deposed him from Worcester.^[48] The story of Ealdred being deposed comes from the Vita Edwardi, a life of Edward the Confessor, but the Vita Wulfstani, an account of the life of Ealdred's successor at Worcester, Wulfstan, says that Nicholas refused the pallium until a promise to find a replacement for Worcester was given by Ealdred.^[49] Yet another chronicler, John of Worcester, mentions nothing of any trouble in Rome, and when discussing the appointment of Wulfstan, says that Wulfstan was elected freely and unanimously by the clergy and people.^[49] John of Worcester also claims that at Wulfstan's consecration, Stigand, the archbishop of Canterbury extracted a promise from Ealdred that neither he nor his successors would lay claim to any jurisdiction over the diocese of Worcester. Given that John of Worcester wrote his chronicle after the eruption of the Canterbury–York supremacy struggle, the story of Ealdred renouncing any claims to Worcester needs to be considered suspect.^[50]

For whatever reason, Ealdred gave up the see of Worcester in 1062, when papal legates arrived in England to hold a council and make sure that Ealdred relinquished Worcester.^[51] This happened at Easter in 1062.^[40] Ealdred was succeeded by Wulfstan, chosen by Ealdred, but John of Worcester relates that Ealdred had a hard time deciding between Wulfstan and Æthelwig.^[52] The legates had urged the selection of Wulfstan because of his saintliness.^[53] Because the position of Stigand, the archbishop of Canterbury, was irregular, Wulfstan sought and received consecration as a bishop from Ealdred. Normally, Wulfstan would have gone to the archbishop of Canterbury, as the see of Worcester was within Canterbury's province.^[54] Although Ealdred gave up the bishopric, the appointment of Wulfstan was one that allowed Ealdred to continue his considerable influence on the see of Worcester. Ealdred retained a number of estates belonging to Worcester. Even after the Norman Conquest, Ealdred still controlled some events in Worcester, and it was Ealdred, not Wulfstan, who opposed Urse d'Abetot's attempt to extend the castle of Worcester into the cathedral after the Norman Conquest.^[55]

While archbishop, Ealdred built at Beverley, expanding on the building projects begun by his predecessor Cynesige,^[56] as well as repairing and expanding other churches in his diocese.^[33] He also built refectories for the canons at York and Southwell.^[57] He also was the one bishop that published ecclesiastical legislation during Edward the Confessor's reign, attempting to discipline and reform the clergy.^[58] He held a synod of his clergy shortly before 1066.^[59]

After the death of Edward the Confessor[link]

A penny from the time of William I

John of Worcester, a medieval chronicler, stated that Ealdred crowned King Harold II in 1066, although the Norman chroniclers mention Stigand as the officiating prelate.^[3] Given Ealdred's known support of Godwin's family, John of Worcester is probably correct.^[1] Stigand's position as archbishop was canonically suspect, and as earl Harold had not allowed Stigand to consecrate one of the earl's churches, it is unlikely that Harold would have allowed Stigand to perform the much more important royal coronation.^[60] Arguments for Stigand having performed the coronation, however, rely on the fact that no other English source names the ecclesiastic who performed the ceremony; all Norman sources name Stigand as the presider.^[61] In all events, Ealdred and Harold were close, and Ealdred supported Harold's bid to become king.^[19][62] Ealdred perhaps accompanied Harold when the new king went to York and secured the support of the northern magnates shortly after Harold's consecration.^[63]

According to the medieval chronicler Geoffrey Gaimar, after the Battle of Stamford Bridge Harold entrusted the loot gained from Harold Hardrada to Ealdred.^[64] Gaimar asserts that King Harold did this because he had heard of Duke William's landing in England, and needed to rush south to counter it.^[65] After the Battle of Hastings, Ealdred joined the group who tried to elevate Edgar the Ætheling, Edward the Exile's son, as king, but eventually he submitted to William the Conqueror at Berkhamsted.^[66][67] John of Worcester says that the group supporting Edgar vacillated over what to do while William ravaged the countryside,^[68] which led to Ealdred and Edgar's submission to William.^[69]

Ealdred crowned William king on Christmas Day 1066.^[70] An innovation in William's coronation ceremony was that before the actual crowning, Ealdred asked the assembled crowd, in English, if it was their wish that William be crowned king. The Bishop of Coutances then did the same, but in Norman French.^[70] In March 1067, William took Ealdred with him when William returned to Normandy, along with the other English leaders Earl Edwin of Mercia, Earl Morcar, Edgar the Ætheling, and Archbishop Stigand.^[71] Ealdred at Whitsun 1068 performed the coronation of Matilda, William's wife.^[48] The Laudes Regiae, or song commending a ruler, that was performed at Matilda's coronation may have been composed by Ealdred himself for the occasion.^[72] In 1069, when the northern thegns rebelled against William and attempted to install Edgar the Ætheling as king, Ealdred continued to support William.^[67] He was the only northern leader to support William, however.^[73] Ealdred was back at York by 1069; he died there on 11 September 1069,^[7] and was buried in his episcopal cathedral. He may have taken an active part in trying to calm the rebellions in the north in 1068 and 1069.^[48] The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury records a story that when the new sheriff of Worcester, Urse d'Abetot, encroached on the cemetery of the cathedral chapter for Worcester Cathedral, Ealdred pronounced a rhyming curse on him, saying "Thou are called Urse. May you have God's curse."^[74]

Legacy[link]

After Ealdred's death, one of the restraints on William's treatment of the English was removed.^[75] Ealdred was one of a few native Englishmen who William appears to have trusted, and his death led to fewer attempts to integrate Englishmen into the administration, although such efforts did not entirely stop.^[76] In 1070, a church council was held at Westminster and a number of bishops were deposed. By 1073 there were only two Englishmen in episcopal sees, and by the time of William's death in 1089, there was only one, Wulfstan II of Worcester.^[75]

Ealdred did much to restore discipline in the monasteries and churches under his authority,^[1][58] and was liberal with gifts to the churches of his diocese. He built the monastic church of St Peter at Gloucester (now Gloucester Cathedral, though nothing of his fabric remains), then part of his diocese of Worcester. He also repaired a large part of Beverley Minster in the diocese of York, adding a presbytery and an unusually splendid painted ceiling covering "all the upper part of the church from the choir to the tower...intermingled with gold in various ways, and in a wonderful fashion".^[77] He added a pulpit "in German style" of bronze, gold and silver, surmounted by an arch with a rood cross in the same materials; these were examples of the lavish decorations added to important churches in the years before the conquest.^[33][78]

Ealdred encouraged Folcard, a monk of Canterbury, to write the Life Saint John of Beverley.^[79] This was part of Ealdred's promotion of the cult of Saint John,^[80] who had only been canonized in 1037. Along with the Pontificale, Ealdred may have brought back from Cologne the first manuscript of the Cambridge Songs to enter England, a collection of Latin Goliardic songs which became famous in the Middle Ages.^[81] The historian Michael Lapidge suggests that the Laudes Regiae, which are included in Cotton Vitellius E xii, might have been composed by Ealdred, or a member of his household. Another historian, H. J. Cowdrey, argued that the laudes were composed at Winchester. These praise songs are probably the same performed at Matilda's coronation, but might have been used at other court ceremonies before Ealdred's death.^[82]

Historians have seen Ealdred as an "old-fashioned prince-bishop".^[83] Others say that he "raised the see of York from its former rustic state".^[84] He was known for his generosity and for his diplomatic and administrative abilities.^[83] After the Conquest, Ealdred provided a degree of continuity between the pre- and post-Conquest worlds.^[85] One modern historian feels that it was Ealdred who was behind the compilation of the D version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and gives a date in the 1050s as its composition.^[86] Certainly, Ealdred is one of the leading figures in the work, and it is likely that one of his clerks compiled the version.^[87]

Notes[link]

Citations[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Sophie Aldred
Sophie Aldred at The Television & Movie Store, Norwich, England, on 2 February 2008.
Born	(1962-08-20) 20 August 1962 (age 49) Greenwich, England, UK
Occupation	actress, tv presenter
Spouse	Vince Henderson (1997–present)
Children	2 sons

Sophie Aldred (born 20 August 1962) is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of The Doctor's companion Ace in the television series Doctor Who during the late 1980s.

Early life[link]

Aldred was born in Greenwich, London, but grew up in nearby Blackheath. She attended Blackheath High School from 1973 until 1980, before enrolling as a drama student at University of Manchester. She graduated in 1983 and decided to embark on a career in children's theatre.

Career[link]

In 1987, she was cast as Ace in Doctor Who. Her tenure on the show spanned the last nine stories of the programme's original run, which ended in 1989.^[1]

Both before and since Doctor Who, Aldred has had a varied and busy television career, particularly in children's programming, where she has presented educational programmes such as Corners, Melvin and Maureen's Music-a-grams (which ran from 1992 to '96), Tiny and crew (which she presented, 1995–99), the BBC series Words and Pictures (since 1993), and also CITV paranormal show It's a Mystery in 1996. She also played the character Minnie The Mini Magician from Series 8 onwards on CITV's ZZZap! between 1999 and 2001.

Aldred has presented and sung in several BBC Schools Radio series, including Singing Together, Music Workshop, Time and Tune and Music Box. She has also performed on radio and in the theatre. She has also reprised her role as Ace in the charity special Dimensions in Time and the Doctor Who audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions.

Throughout the 2000s she has worked extensively as a voice-over artist for television advertisements,^[1] and has also provided voices for animated series such as Bob the Builder and Dennis & Gnasher.^[2]

She co-wrote the hardback reference book, Ace, The Inside Story of the End of An Era with Mike Tucker, published by Virgin Publishing in 1996. (ISBN 1-85227-574-X).

Aldred provided voices for the 2009 series Dennis and Gnasher, including that of title character Dennis the Menace.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Sophie Aldred married Vince Henderson on 12 July 1997. They have two sons, Adam and William, who make occasional convention appearances with their mother.

References[link]

External links[link]

• BBC Norfolk interview: Sophie Aldred - Feb '08
• Sophie Aldred at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2010)

Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy at The Television & Movie Store, Norwich, England, on 12 April 2008.
Born	Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (1943-08-20) 20 August 1943 (age 68) Dunoon, Scotland, UK
Occupation	actor
Website
www.sylvestermccoy.tv

Sylvester McCoy (born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith; 20 August 1943) is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to 1989 – the final Doctor of the original programme – and a brief return in a television film in 1996.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born as Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith in Dunoon,^[1] Scotland on the Cowal peninsula, to an Irish mother and English father. His father had been killed in action in World War II a month before he was born.^[2]

He was raised primarily in Dublin.^[3] In his youth, he trained for the priesthood, but gave this up and spent time working in the insurance industry. He worked in The Roundhouse box office for a time, where he was discovered by Ken Campbell.^[4] He currently resides in London.

Career[link]

He came to prominence as a member of the comedy act "The Ken Campbell Roadshow". His best known act was as a stuntman character called "Sylveste McCoy" in a play entitled An Evening with Sylveste McCoy (the name was coined by actor Brian Murphy, part of the Roadshow at the time), where his stunts included putting a fork and nails up his nose and stuffing ferrets down his trousers, and setting his head on fire. As a joke, the programme notes listed Sylveste McCoy as played by "Sylveste McCoy" and, after a reviewer missed the joke and assumed that Sylveste McCoy was a real person, Kent-Smith adopted this as his stage name. Some years later, McCoy added an "r" to the end of "Sylveste". Notable television appearances before he gained the role of the Doctor included roles in Vision On (where he played Pepe/Epep, a character who lived in the mirror), an O-Man in Jigsaw and Tiswas. He also appeared in Eureka, often suffering from the inventions of Wilf Lunn. McCoy also portrayed, in one-man shows on the stage, two famous movie comedians: Stan Laurel and Buster Keaton. He also appeared as Henry "Birdie" Bowers in the 1985 television serial about Scott's last Antarctic expedition, The Last Place on Earth.^[5]

McCoy also had a small role in the 1979 film Dracula opposite Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasence,^[6] and has sung with the Welsh National Opera.

[edit] Doctor Who (1987–1989, 1993 & 1996)

McCoy became the Seventh Doctor after taking over the lead role in Doctor Who in 1987 from previous incarnation Colin Baker. He remained on the series until it ended in 1989 (see List of Doctor Who serials). As Colin Baker declined the invitation to film the regeneration scene, McCoy briefly wore a wig and appeared as the 6th Doctor in the regeneration scene. He played the Doctor in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, and again in 1996, appearing in the beginning of the Doctor Who television movie starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. McCoy is thus acknowledged as the actor who, in a way, played the Doctor for a longer "period of time" than any other.^[7]

In his first series, McCoy, a comedy actor, portrayed the character with a degree of clown-like humour, but script editor Andrew Cartmel soon changed that when fans argued that the character (and plots) were becoming increasingly lightweight. The Seventh Doctor developed into a much darker figure than any of his earlier incarnations, manipulating people like chess pieces and always seeming to be playing a deeper game. A distinguishing feature of McCoy's performances was his manner of speech. He used his natural slight Scottish accent and rolled his rs. At the start of his tenure he used proverbs and sayings adapted to his own ends (e.g. "There's many a slap twixt cup and lap" — Delta and the Bannermen), although this characteristic was phased out during the later, darker series of his tenure. In 1990, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted McCoy's Doctor "Best Doctor", over perennial favourite Tom Baker.^{[citation needed]} McCoy was the last lead actor to have his face in the Doctor Who opening titles.

[edit] Career post Doctor Who

McCoy's television roles since Doctor Who have included Michael Sams in the 1997 telemovie Beyond Fear, shown on the first night of broadcast of Five. He has also returned to play the Seventh Doctor in a series of audio plays by Big Finish Productions. In 1988, while still appearing in Doctor Who, McCoy presented a BBC children's programme called What's Your Story?, in which viewers were invited to phone in suggestions for the continuation of an ongoing drama.

He has also acted extensively in theatre in productions as diverse as pantomime and Molière. He played Grandpa Jock in John McGrath's A Satire of the Four Estaites (1996) at the Edinburgh Festival. He played the role of Snuff in the macabre BBC Radio 4 comedy series The Cabaret of Dr Caligari.

In the early 1990s, McCoy was attached in the role of Governor Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl when Steven Spielberg was planning on directing, but Disney did not give permission for the film to be made. McCoy was the second choice to play the role of Bilbo Baggins in the Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.^[4] In 1991, he presented the Doctor Who video documentary release The Hartnell Years showcasing selected episodes of missing stories from the First Doctor's era.

On stage he appeared as the Sheriff of Nottingham in a musical version of Robin Hood that featured songs by British composer and lyricist Laurence Mark Wythe at the Broadway Theater, Lewisham in London.^{[citation needed]} He also appeared as the lawyer Dowling in a BBC Production of Henry Fielding's novel, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling.

McCoy performing with Sandi Toksvig in The Lovely Russell Concert in June 2008.

McCoy has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and in King Lear in 2007, playing the Fool to Ian McKellen's Lear,^[8] a performance which made use of McCoy's ability to play the spoons. The RSC production with McKellen and McCoy was staged in Melbourne, Australia during late July/early August 2007 and Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand during mid to late August 2007. It came into residence at the New London Theatre in late 2007, ending its run in January 2008. He reprised the role for the 2008 television movie of the production.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2008 he performed with the Carl Rosa Company in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, playing the title role. He only performed with the company briefly, for the week of the show's run performing at the Sheffield Lyceum. Despite being set in Japan, he was able to demonstrate his ability to play the spoons by using his fan. In 2009 McCoy played the character of Mr. Mushnik in the Chocolate Factory's production of Little Shop of Horrors.^{[citation needed]}

He has also made guest appearances in the television series The Bill, the Rab C. Nesbitt episode "Father" as Rab's mentally ill brother Gash Sr. and the Still Game episode "Oot" (AKA "Out"), where he played a hermit-type character adjusting to life in modern Glasgow, having remained in his house for over 30 years. In October 2008, he had a minor guest role as an injured ventriloquist on Casualty. In the same month McCoy guest starred in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors, playing an actor who once played the time-travelling hero of a children's television series called "The Amazing Lollipop Man". The role was written as a tribute to McCoy.^[9][10]

Video games[link]

McCoy returned to the role of the Seventh Doctor in 1997, recording new audio for the video game Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors.

Recent projects[link]

McCoy began filming for The Hobbit, a two-part adaptation of the book, in Spring 2011. He is to portray the wizard Radagast,^[11] alongside fellow King Lear actor Ian McKellen who will be reprising his role as Gandalf.^[12] According to fellow actor Christopher Lee, Radagast will have "A considerably important part" in the two upcoming films.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sylvester McCoy at the Internet Movie Database
• Travelling Light – Sylvester McCoy article at Kasterborous.com
• The Sylvester McCoy Appreciation Society