1. William Desmond Anthony Pertwee was an English actor and comedian.
18 Facts About Bill Pertwee
1. 2.
Bill Pertwee was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, on 21 July 1926.
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Bill Pertwee's education was disrupted by the moves and he attended many schools including an independent convent school, a small independent school, followed by Frensham Heights School in Surrey, Dartford Technical College and Southend College.
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Bill Pertwee left school during the Second World War and worked for a company that made parts for Spitfire cannons.
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Bill Pertwee was declared unfit for RAF service as he was on medication following a swimming accident, but was a member of the Air Training Corps.
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Bill Pertwee later worked as an accounts clerk at the Stock Exchange and as a salesman for the clothing retailer Burberry in London.
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Bill Pertwee appeared in the radio comedy series Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne.
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Bill Pertwee was a warm-up act for many television shows.
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The subject of This Is Your Life in 1999, Bill Pertwee was surprised by Michael Aspel at the Imperial War Museum.
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In 2011 a portrait of Bill Pertwee, painted by a local artist, was unveiled in the Dad's Army Museum, Thetford where it now resides.
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Bill Pertwee was patron of the museum and of the DAAS until his death.
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Bill Pertwee married Marion Macleod, sister of John and Norman Macleod of the Maple Leaf Four, in 1955.
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Bill Pertwee was awarded an MBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list for his services to charity.
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Bill Pertwee was vice-president of the "Railway Ramblers" and a member of the executive committee of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund and was initiated in 1976 as a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats.
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Bill Pertwee had been ill since the previous year and died peacefully at his home in Cornwall.
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Bill Pertwee's brother James Raymond "Jiggy" Bill Pertwee was an RAF Whitley Bomber pilot who was killed in a crash on a hillside close to a disused quarry above Bank Foot, near Ingleby Greenhow in North Yorkshire, following a leaflet drop over Dortmund, Germany, in June 1941.
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Bill Pertwee was related to Michael Pertwee and Jon Pertwee, being a second cousin of Michael's and Jon's father, the screenwriter and actor Roland Pertwee.
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Bill Pertwee was godfather to one of the sons of his Dad's Army co-star Ian Lavender.