1. William Joseph Waddington was an English actor, comedian and co-author who was born in Oldham, Lancashire.
22 Facts About Bill Waddington
1. 2.
Bill Waddington was born on 10 June 1916 in Oldham, Lancashire.
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Bill Waddington was the couple's fourth child, having lost twins the year before.
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The family moved house frequently and Bill Waddington attended many different schools in Oldham.
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Bill Waddington's mother was less supportive, and Waddington had a series of jobs as a manager of a butchers in Blackpool, a door-to-door salesman, and a car salesman.
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Bill Waddington became a member of a group called the Blue Pencils, recruited to entertain forces during the War.
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Bill Waddington won the Normandy medal and Liberation of France medal.
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Bill Waddington appeared in more than 800 variety and comedy programmes on radio, and made his mark on television, starring with Margaret Lockwood as early as 1946.
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Bill Waddington appeared as a magician in Victoria Wood's first play Talent for Granada Television in 1979.
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Bill Waddington appeared as Eric Summers, Rita Sullivan's theatrical manager, in 1978 and George Turner, best man at the wedding of Emily Bishop and bigamist Arnold Swain, in 1980.
11.
Two years into retirement, aged 67, Bill Waddington played his best known role of cantankerous pensioner Percy Sugden in Coronation Street from August 1983 until quitting the serial in October 1997, because the soap had become too raunchy.
12.
In one autobiography, Bill Waddington admitted that he and Sugden had a lot in common.
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Bill Waddington was the subject of This Is Your Life in September 1986 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews and Joe Loss with his orchestra at London's Euston Station.
14.
In 1989, along with the rest of the Coronation Street cast, Bill Waddington made a second Royal Variety Performance appearance.
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Bill Waddington wrote two books, an autobiography, 'The Importance of Being Percy' in 1992, and a tie in with the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings, 'Percy's War' in 1994.
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Bill Waddington had previously released his own single "Don't Forget The Old Folks at Christmas" in 1986 but this failed to chart.
17.
In 1982, Bill Waddington married Irene Beaumont, however the marriage ended in divorce after 9 months.
18.
Bill Waddington married Sheila Torr, sister of comic duos The Chuckle Brothers and The Patton Brothers and almost 20 years his junior, in 1995, and the couple lived in a 17th Century farmhouse high on the Pennine Moors, in the nearby village of Micklebring, near Rotherham.
19.
Bill Waddington had over 2000 pigs, turkeys and several race horses.
20.
Bill Waddington became increasingly frail, and spent his final months at a nursing home in Maltby, South Yorkshire, where his wife visited him daily.
21.
Bill Waddington died at Rotherham General Hospital on the morning of 9 September 2000 at the age of 84 after a fifty-year acting career.
22.
Bill Waddington had been suffering from Parkinson's disease and was buried at St Peter's graveyard at Minshull Vernon, near Crewe.