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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Dad's Army - did they serve?


Cynthia

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:P Yes, I confess - I love Dad's Army! They just started running it here in Cleveland a few years ago, then took it off for a year (I was bereft), but now it has started again. I suppose you either love it or hate it, but I fall in the first category.

Question: Did any of the actors actually serve in the Great War? I believe the actor who played Jones was too young (he was much younger than he appeared in the series), and certainly Walker and Pike would not have. But what of the others?

So many programmes nowadays use such offensive topics to try and get a laugh, but Dad's Army, at times bawdy, at times just plain silly, really does make me giggle!

Cynthia

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Arthur Ridley (Godfrey) and John L .... (Frazier) certainly did. Put their names/Dads Army into the Forum search engine as other threads have discussed these asctors WW1 service.

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Guest Ian Bowbrick

Clive Dunn who played L/Cpl Jones served in WW2 and was demobbed in 1947, as did Arthur Lowe who played Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier who was Sgt Wilson.

Ian

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Clive Dunn who played L/Cpl Jones served in WW2 and was demobbed in 1947, as did Arthur Lowe who played Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier who was Sgt Wilson.

Ian

Clive Dunn was a POW. He was captured in Greece in 1941. IIRC he was "went into the bag" the day before he was due to be promoted to Lance Corporal!

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Just found the thread from May - and I remember reading it at the time, too! Goes to show how the little grey cells start to deteriorate at my advanced age!

Of all things, it was my dear Kate who gave the information on Arnold Ridley - sorry Kate! It all came back to me when I read it.

Cynthia

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Guest Ian Bowbrick
Clive Dunn who played L/Cpl Jones served in WW2 and was demobbed in 1947, as did Arthur Lowe who played Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier who was Sgt Wilson.

Ian

Clive Dunn was a POW. He was captured in Greece in 1941. IIRC he was "went into the bag" the day before he was due to be promoted to Lance Corporal!

I have always liked that expression 'In the bag' gets used a lot in 'Ice Cold in Alex', the war film not the other one :P

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Clive Dunn who played L/Cpl Jones served in WW2 and was demobbed in 1947, as did Arthur Lowe who played Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier who was Sgt Wilson.

Ian

Clive Dunn was a POW. He was captured in Greece in 1941. IIRC he was "went into the bag" the day before he was due to be promoted to Lance Corporal!

I have always liked that expression 'In the bag' gets used a lot in 'Ice Cold in Alex', the war film not the other one :P

Other one?

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Guest Ian Bowbrick
Clive Dunn who played L/Cpl Jones served in WW2 and was demobbed in 1947, as did Arthur Lowe who played Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier who was Sgt Wilson.

Ian

Clive Dunn was a POW. He was captured in Greece in 1941. IIRC he was "went into the bag" the day before he was due to be promoted to Lance Corporal!

I have always liked that expression 'In the bag' gets used a lot in 'Ice Cold in Alex', the war film not the other one :P

Other one?

This is a family forum Beppo, but there is a film of Danish origin with the same title...........so I have been told ;)

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I got this information from a book with several scripts, called , would you believe it,

DAD'S ARMY.

Arthur Lowe (Captain Mainwaring) was turned down by the Navy, after WWI, because of bad eyesight, but in 1938 joined the Army as a trooper, was sent to the Middle East during the war and ended up as a sergeant-major and was very involved with Forces entertainment. He returned from Egypt in 1945.

John le Mesurier (Sgt Wilson) was called up at the beginning of WWII and ended up as a captain on the Northwest Indian frontier.

You know all about Vorporal Jones (Clive Dunn).

John Laurie (Pte Frazier) joined the Honorary Artillery Company in WWI , was wounded at the front and ended as a sergeant of Musketeers at the .... Tower

of London. Incidentally, he played most of the major Shakespeare rôles.

Arnold Ridley (Pte Godfrey) served as a lance-corporal in WWI, being wounded three times. He wrote more than thirty plays, the most famous of which is THE GHOST TRAIN, which may of may not be acted today. In the series he is the only one with Great War decorations, which he refuses to wear as it would embarass

Captain Mainwaring.

Fred van Woerkom

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Clive Dunn who played L/Cpl Jones served in WW2 and was demobbed in 1947, as did Arthur Lowe who played Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier who was Sgt Wilson.

Ian

Clive Dunn was a POW. He was captured in Greece in 1941. IIRC he was "went into the bag" the day before he was due to be promoted to Lance Corporal!

I have always liked that expression 'In the bag' gets used a lot in 'Ice Cold in Alex', the war film not the other one :P

Other one?

This is a family forum Beppo, but there is a film of Danish origin with the same title...........so I have been told ;)

They did a follow up? That's great!

Is Captain Van der Pohl in it? I knew we would see a lot more of him when, in the bar in Alex, his South African identity discs were snatched away, being the only proof that he was really a German agent.

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Pity about the poor way they got stuck into the lager and after all that thirst.

I think it was Carlsberg, At least the glass carried the brand name.Come to think of it, was Carlsberg available in Egypt in them there days?.I think we have been hoodwinked.

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An early example of product placement, Frank.

Await the limited edition collectors boxed set DVD sponsored by some lager brewed in Northampton..............

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I am pretty sure that "Godfrey" (Ridley) won the MM. Long before telling everyone about his sisters fabulous "upside down cake" !!

Don't tell him Pike.......the all time classic line. Love it.

Julian

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