I grew up in Goldthorpe, halfway between Doncaster and Barnsley. We play soldiers in the Anderson shelter. The flying Scot and the Mallard would come along the railway line. The teachers worshiped me at school. I was a boxing champion, but also imaginative.
I will sit outside my house of six or seven years old and read the Beano, waiting for my dad to come home from the coal mines. I would see the light of his pit helmet shine through the mist, and he would pick me up with his black face and carry me into the house.
Inside was like An Ovaltine advertisement, with a burning fire and a black kettle. My dad would bathe, then we turn on the radio. We listened Saturday Night Theater: “The time is 8.30, Curtain on now offers: Treasure Island. “Pieces eight,” said the parrot. ‘Or we would travel in space The lost world or The World War. Then I go out into the street and shoot my bow and arrow at the bloody V-2 bloody rockets that blow up Sheffield. That bastard. We finally beat him.
I remember when Hitler is dead. There were these Italian soldiers who loved very much. I run to the gate and shout, ‘Hitler is dead! The war is over! And these soldiers began to rejoice. They could not stand Hitler. ‘I can go home! Thank you, thank you. “They all started singing. They were very colorful days.
The BBC wanted me to be Doctor Who. They said: ‘William Hartnell is getting older. We would like you to play the doctor in a different way. “I was still a young man, so I said, ‘I’m interested, but I want to make him Oriental. His name is Who, so I would like to play him like Charlie Chan. It frightened them. They went, “Good God, no!” and abandon the idea.
Everywhere I go, kids come to me because of Grampy Rabbit [in Peppa Pig]. Grampy Rabbit likes to go on adventures, just like me. I have been an explorer and a 50% actor for 60 years.
People think so I’m a noisy person, but I’m just loud when I choose to be. I played very very quiet parts. I like rest and peace. I like writing a lot. And of course I like expeditions. I climbed Everest and I am the oldest man to reach the North Pole on foot.
I completed space training in Moscow. I want to get out into space. We must give the earth rest. We’re just kids. We have not yet begun to explore. We will get there.
I have a cabin in some overgrown forests. This is absolute happiness. I love gardening and all that. Kenneth Branagh comes over once a week and we discuss all his films. Life is very colorful. We’re going to make it through this bloody virus.
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