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Sir David John White OBE (born 2 February 1940), better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind in the Willows and as Detective Inspector Jack Frost on the ITV crime drama A Touch of Frost from 1992. Other high profile television roles were as Granville in the sitcom Open All Hours, and Pop Larkin in the comedy drama The Darling Buds of May. His last original appearance as Del Boy was in 2003, while Jason retired his role as Frost in 2010.

Jason was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1993, and knighted in 2005, both for services to drama. Jason has won four British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), (1988, 1991, 1997, 2003), four British Comedy Awards (1990, 1992, 1997, 2001) and six National Television Awards (1997, 2001, 2002 twice, 2003, 2011). These included the British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 2003. In 2006, Jason topped the poll to find TV's 50 Greatest Stars, as part of ITV's 50th anniversary celebrations.

While his best-known roles have spanned three decades from 1981, he started his television career in 1964 as Bert Bradshaw in the soap-opera Crossroads, and after several appearances as Captain Fantastic on the children's television show Do Not Adjust Your Set, by the 1970s Jason was already an established screen comedy actor with recurring appearances in television series. In 1974 he starred in the title role in The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs and in 1977 he played the main character of Peter Barnes in A Sharp Intake of Breath. He had also debuted in the Granville role in 1976 for the first series of Open All Hours, before it resumed for three more from 1981. Later television roles have included two appearances in Sky One's two-part adaptations of Terry Pratchett's fantasy novels, as Albert in Hogfather in 2006, and Rincewind in The Colour of Magic in 2008. Jason has also appeared on several radio comedy shows, and had numerous voice acting parts, notably in the long running animated series Danger Mouse, Count Duckula and The Wind in the Willows of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Jason lived with his long term girlfriend, actress Myfanwy Talog for eighteen years until her death from breast cancer in 1995. Jason became a father for the first time at age 61, after his girlfriend, 41 year old Gill Hinchcliffe, gave birth to a baby girl in 2001; they married in 2005.

Jason's older brother, Arthur White, is also an actor and played Ernie Trigg alongside Jason in A Touch of Frost.

In an interview in 1984, Jason claimed to have changed his name as a homage to his childhood fictional hero Jason, in Jason and the Argonauts, because when he decided to enter into a career in acting, he was told that there was already an actor called David White.^[1]

Early life[link]

David's father, Arthur R White, was a porter at Billingsgate Fish Market, and his Welsh-born mother, Olwen Jones, worked as a charwoman. She gave birth to twin boys in Edmonton, North London in February 1940, but David's twin brother died during child-birth.^[2] It is an urban myth that he chose the name Jason as a tribute to his dead twin:^[3] however, Jason himself has denied this.^[1]

Jason's elder brother is the actor Arthur White, born in 1933. The two have appeared together in the crime drama A Touch of Frost, with Arthur playing police archivist Ernie Trigg; and again in 2008, in the comic fantasy, The Colour of Magic, where Arthur starred as a character called "Rerpf". He also appeared briefly with his brother in an episode of The Darling Buds of May.

At school, David developed a defence against bullies by making them laugh: and took on the lead role in the school play, when the boy playing it developed measles. He then joined the local Amateur Dramatic Society. On leaving school, David wanted to follow in his brother Arthur's footsteps as an actor, but their father insisted that he first get a trade. So, for nine months he trained as an electrician, before giving up his girlfriend at the time, and becoming a jobbing actor.^[2]

Radio and TV career[link]

Early years[link]

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Jason started his television career in 1964 playing the part of Bert Bradshaw in Crossroads.^[2] In 1967 he played a spoof super-hero Captain Fantastic (and also other roles), in the children's television sketch comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set (Rediffusion London/ITV). His co-stars were Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Denise Coffey and Michael Palin. Humphrey Barclay, who recruited David Jason to appear in Do Not Adjust Your Set (partly to offset the rather intellectual style of Idle, Jones and Palin), admired Jason's sense of timing. DNAYS had a very successful run on ITV and ended in 1969.

Jason was cast for the role of Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the Jimmy Perry and David Croft BBC comedy Dad's Army. Croft had been very impressed with the actor and knew that he had the ability to play a man much older than his real age. However Bill Cotton overruled him, casting Clive Dunn. David Jason appeared in the BBC comedy series Hugh and I, which starred Hugh Lloyd and Terry Scott as two friends who lived together in south London.

In the 1970s he also acted in radio comedies, including the weekly topical satire Week Ending (in which he regularly played such figures as then UK Foreign Secretary Dr David Owen) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (as the "B Ark Captain" in the sixth episode, in an in-joking reference to his Week Ending role as Owen). Jason also appeared in The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately and made appearances on panel games such as The Impressionists as well as his own series, The Jason Explanation. In the early 1970s he appeared in Mostly Monkhouse supporting Bob Monkhouse with Josephine Tewson.

Jason appeared in variety shows in support of stars such as Dick Emery, and his performances caught the attention of Ronnie Barker, who soon became a mentor to Jason. In 1969 Jason was recruited to appear in Hark At Barker, starring Ronnie Barker as Lord Rustless, as Dithers, the hundred-year old gardener. There was also a sequel, His Lordship Entertains. That year he also made an appearance in the popular ITC show Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in the fifth episode of the series "That's How Murder Snowballs" as Abel, a framed performer in a major London theatre. In 1973 he played junior employee Granville in the first programme of the comedy anthology Seven of One, called Open All Hours (BBC) and starring Barker as the miserly proprietor of a corner shop. Four series of Open All Hours were made from 1976 to 1985. He featured in Barker's Porridge (BBC), a prison-based comedy, as the elderly Blanco in three episodes. He also appeared with Ronnie Barker in various disguises in the Two Ronnies Show with the main character being the Voice of The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town. He also took the lead role in the ATV sitcom A Sharp Intake Of Breath. In 1974, Jason played the part of the inept spy Edgar Briggs in the television comedy series The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs (ATV/ITV).

In 1979 Jason appeared as Buttons in the pantomime Cinderella at Newcastle's Theatre Royal with Leah Bell and Bobby Thompson produced by Michael Grayson and directed by John Blackmore.

In 1976 Jason starred in London Weekend Television's Lucky Feller, written by Terence Frisby and produced by Humphrey Barclay. About two brothers in South-East London, the series was in many ways a forerunner to Only Fools And Horses, only Jason was in the more dopey 'Rodders' role, with Peter Armitage playing the cleverer of the two. The brothers drove around in a comical bubble car, a precursor to the famous Trotters' van; and there was even the gag where, just as he was trying to impress the girl (played by Cheryl Hall) Jason casually leaned back against the bar, without his knowing that barman had just lifted it behind his back, and fell through. This situation was re-enacted in Only Fools And Horses.

Years later, LWT approached Jason hoping to revive Lucky Feller but Jason, conscious that he was being over-exposed, refused to let it be shown again.

Childrens television[link]

Aware of his early years as a struggling actor, Jason has been willing during his career to take on a number of diverse roles and opportunities. This led to him becoming a noted children's voice-over artist.

In the 1980s, he developed a relationship with Cosgrove Hall, and subsequently provided as a voice artist for a number of children's television productions. This included voices for Danger Mouse alongside Terry Scott, The BFG, Count Duckula, Hugo from Victor and Hugo and Toad from The Wind in the Willows, all produced by Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television/ITV.

Most recently he has provided the voice of Father Christmas in Father Christmas and the Missing Reindeer, Rola Polar in The Adventures of Dawdle the Donkey, and did voices in animated films including Wombling Free and The Water Babies.

Jason presented a special programme celebrating the work of Cosgrove Hall Films `Cartoon Kings' for ITV1.

Maturity and success as a leading man[link]

In 1981 he found his most enduring and popular role, Derek 'Del-Boy' Trotter in the BBC situation comedy Only Fools and Horses, created by John Sullivan. Del-Boy is a wide-boy who makes a dubious living in Peckham, south London, trading in shoddy, stolen, and counterfeit goods. He is assisted by his brother Rodney (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Grandad (played by Lennard Pearce) and, in later episodes, Uncle Albert (played by Buster Merryfield). In this role Jason popularised some slang words and phrases; examples being the mild insults "dipstick" and "plonker", and the celebratory "lovely jubbly". His portrayal of the elder brother to Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) produced classic comic scenes and touching serious moments.

In 1999 he starred as Captain Frank Beck in BBC's feature-length drama All the King's Men about the Sandringham regiment lost in World War I.

He has also earned acclaim for a string of straight roles. These include Skullion in Porterhouse Blue (for Channel 4), Sidney "Pop" Larkin in the rural idyll The Darling Buds of May (Yorkshire Television/ITV) and based on the H. E. Bates novel, which also featured the then unknown Catherine Zeta-Jones. All these roles had sharp comic touches.

In 1992, fed up with the lack of investment at the BBC,^[2] he signed a golden-handcuffs deal at ITV to star as Detective Inspector Jack Frost in the long-running TV series A Touch of Frost (Yorkshire Television/ITV). In September 2006, he was voted by the general public as number 1 in ITV's poll of TV's Greatest Stars. In December 2006, he starred in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather on Sky1 as Albert. In early 2007, he starred in Diamond Geezer (Granada Television/ITV). This series ran for 3 episodes of 90 minutes each. There was a pilot in 2005. In March 2008, he starred as Rincewind in The Colour of Magic, and in the two part ITV drama Ghostboat.

On 16 September 2008, Jason announced that he would retire his role as Det Insp Jack Frost after 16 years.^[4] Three new episodes of the show were shown in autumn 2008, and were followed by a two-part finale in 2010.

Approached by BBC1 controller Danny Cohen in early 2011, Jason read three scripts and agreed to shoot a pilot for The Royal Bodyguard, which was shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival.^[2] The pilot episode was shown on the BBC on Boxing day with a very poor critical response. David Jason was not blamed personally but the blame lay instead at the door of the directors/writers.

Honours[link]

In 1993, Jason was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and twelve years later, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2005, he was knighted for services to acting and comedy.^[5] The granting of the knighthood was well received by the public. On the day his knighthood was announced, many British newspapers used the headline "Arise Sir Del Boy" or similar, in reference to his most famous role. The Daily Mirror ran the headline "It's Sir Del and Sir Tel" (popular BBC Radio 2 DJ Terry Wogan was also knighted on the same day). Upon receiving the knighthood from the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 1 December 2005, he said he was "humbled" by the "fantastic tribute".^[6][7]

Personal life[link]

Jason lived with long-term girlfriend Welsh actress Myfanwy Talog, for eighteen years, and nursed her through breast cancer until her death from the disease in 1995. This experience inspired him to organise his own charity, The David Jason Trust, for terminally ill children.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001 Jason's girlfriend, 41 year old Gill Hinchcliffe, gave birth to a baby girl, Sophie Mae.^[8] It was Jason's first child and he was 61 at the time. Jason and Hinchcliffe married on 30 November 2005, in a private ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel. The family live in Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire.^[2]

Jason is a qualified helicopter pilot.^[9]

Career[link]

Radio[link]

Television[link]

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1964	Crossroads	Bert Bradshaw	Unknown character duration.
1966	Softly, Softly	Smith	Episode ‘Overtake’
1967–1969	Do Not Adjust Your Set	Various	A children’s sketch show; popular with adults.
1968	Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)	Abel	Episode ‘That’s How Murder Snowballs’
1969	Counterstrike	Taffy Sadler	Episode ‘On Ice’
1969	Canada Goose	Unknown
1969–1970	Hark at Barker	Various
1970	Doctor in the House	Mr Drobnic	Episode ‘What Seems to be the Trouble?’
1970	Two D's and a Dog	Dingle Bell
1971	Six Dates With Barker	Odd Job Man	Episode 3 – ‘The Odd Job’; Starred with Ronnie Barker
1971	Doctor at Large	Victor Bligh	Episode ‘Let’s Start at the Beginning’
1972	His Lordship Entertains	Dithers	Starred with Ronnie Barker
1973	Seven of One	Various	Episodes 1 (Open All Hours) and 2 (I’ll Fly You For A Quid)
1974	Doctor at Sea	Manuel Sanchez
1974	The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs	Edgar Briggs
1975; 1977	Porridge	Blanco Webb	Guest starred in three episodes; Happy Release, No Peace for the Wicked and Pardon Me.[11] Starred with Ronnie Barker.
1976	Lucky Feller	Shorty Mopstead
1976–1985	Open All Hours	Granville	Broadcast: 1976; 1981-1985. Starred with Ronnie Barker.
1977–1981	A Sharp Intake of Breath	Peter Barnes
1981–2003	Only Fools and Horses	Del Boy	Broadcast: 1981-1983,1985–1993,1996,2001–2003
1985–1987	The Berenstain Bears	Papa Bear
1987	Porterhouse Blue	Skullion
1989	A Bit of a Do	Ted
1990	Amongst Barbarians	George
1991–1993	The Darling Buds of May	Pop Larkin
1992–2010	A Touch of Frost	DI Jack Frost
1993	The Bullion Boys	Billy Mac
1997	The Ice House[disambiguation needed ]	Unknown
1998	March In Windy City	Steven March
1999	All the King's Men	Captain Frank Beck	A 1999 television film.
2001	Micawber	Micawber
2002–2004	The Quest	Dave	A three-part film series.
2005–2007	Diamond Geezer	Des	Pilot in 2005; Series in 2007.
2006	Ghostboast	Lt. Prof. Jack Hardy R.N. Rtd	Two part ITV drama.
2006	Terry Pratchett's Hogfather	Alberto Malich	Two part Sky1 drama.
2006	Cartoon Kings	Narrator	Documentary.
2006	Prehistoric Park	Narrator	Documentary-style drama.
2008	Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic	Rincewind	Two part Sky1 drama.
2009	The Green Green Grass	Del Boy	Archive footage: Episode 'I Done It My Way'
2010	David Jason:The Battle of Britain	Presenter	ITV documentary
2010	Albert’s Memorial	Harry	ITV1 feature length drama.
2010	Come Rain Come Shine	Don	ITV1 feature length drama, starring alongside Alison Steadman
2011	David Jason's Great Escapes	Himself	Documentary
2011-2012	The Royal Bodyguard	Captain Guy Hubble	BBC Comedy. First episode broadcast Boxing Day 2011 on BBC One.

Films[link]

Animation[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

David Jason has won a total of twenty-three awards between 1986 and 2003. His hit comedy show, Only Fools and Horses won many of these awards, and was also nominated many times. His crime drama, A Touch of Frost, has also won and been nominated numerous times. Porterhouse Blue, The Second Quest, All the King's Men and A Bit of a Do have won David Jason one award each.

References[link]

External links[link]

• David Jason at the Internet Movie Database
• TV Greats biography of David Jason – From website Television Heaven
• Interview by BBC "David Jason collects knighthood", with video
• David Jason Quits as Frost