Norman Clegg
| Norman Clegg | |
|---|---|
| 'Last of the Summer Wine' character | |
| First appearance |
Of Funerals and Fish (Comedy Playhouse) 4 January 1973 |
| Last appearance |
How Not to Cry at Weddings 29 August 2010 |
| Created by | Roy Clarke |
| Portrayed by |
Peter Sallis (Last of the Summer Wine) David Fenwick (First of the Summer Wine) |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Lino salesman (retired) |
| Family | David Clegg (father) Violet Clegg (mother) |
| Spouse(s) | Edith Clegg (1940-1971) |
| Relatives | Bradley (cousin) Arthur Clegg (uncle) Cyril Clegg (uncle) |
Norman Clegg, often nicknamed Cleggy, is a fictional character from the world's longest-running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine.
Norman Clegg was the only child of a builder and decorator, David Clegg, and his rather volatile wife Violet (Peter Sallis and Maggie Ollerenshaw). David, a war veteran, was very impatient and neglecting with his family, much to the anger of Norman, who thought his father didn't like him (Vi felt the same way). His mother was overprotective of her son, and panicked when he was walked home by a girl a year older than him.
Norman married his wife, Edith, in the 1940s; she died in 1971. Especially in earlier episodes, Norman reminisced about his wife and her traits: how she hated his camping phase; and her sharp tongue. After her death and being made redundant from his job as a lino salesman, he hung around with his school-friends Compo Simmonite and Cyril Blamire. They divided their time between the local library, pubs, eating at Sid's Café and devising adventurous exploits to stave off boredom. Clegg was a cynic, and more critical of the schemes than the others, preferring to take a back seat and casually watch, for example, an antic involving three meat pies; Compo, Cyril and Sid; an alloy spoon and a very angry Ivy.
Norman enjoys watching Compo and the third man, usually Foggy, arguing or trading insults such as "great long dollop" (Sid), "Elsie" (Foggy) and "Rex Hammond" (Cyril). He often goes along with the ideas just to please the others. Clegg aims for a relaxing, peaceful retirement following his redundancy from his job as a lino salesman, but is continually involved in the schemes of Foggy and the others. Happy just reading alone in his cosy home, he also finds enjoyment in some of the simpler things in life, such as Sid's skirting board and the price of beer. He is also so anxious and shy that he wears several layers of clothing: vest/long johns, shirt, jumper/sweater, waistcoat/suit vest, jacket/sport coat, and finally a plastic mac, which he just carries when it's not windy or raining. He is also the only one of the trio with a driving licence and so finds himself pressured into driving on the very rare occasions that they are not merely walking about locally and manage to find a vehicle but no driver. This invariably results in a panic attack for Clegg, who fumbles about uncontrollably with the gears and pedals, limiting his speed to about 3 mph (5 km per hour) (which is just to his liking). In the series 1 episode "The New Mobile Trio" he decides that the trio should buy a car, but shortly after they bought one he accidentally crashed it into a passing tractor. Because Clegg was at first optimistic on the idea of driving, it is likely that incidents such as this triggered his fear of driving and he mentions in series 21 that he doesn't hold a drivers license any more and is proud as a result. He sometimes could also be quite superstitious as in one episode he believed he, Compo and Foggy had aroused the anger of an old Yorkshire god named Earnshaw and in the episode where Compo is buried he believed Compo heard him shouting "Goodbye Compo" when in fact it was a random passerby who overheard him.
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