Norman Painting
| Norman Painting OBE | |
|---|---|
Star on Walk of Stars, Broad Street, Birmingham
|
|
| Born |
23 April 1924 Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England |
| Died | 29 October 2009 (aged 85) Warmington, Warwickshire, England |
Norman George Painting OBE (23 April 1924 – 29 October 2009) was an English actor, broadcaster and writer. He played Phil Archer in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers from the pilot episodes aired on the BBC Midlands Home Service in summer 1950, after the series went national on the Light Programme on 1 January 1951, until his death in 2009, when he was the longest-serving member of the cast. His last episode, recorded two days before he died, was broadcast on 22 November 2009. The character lived on until Phil was "found dead" in his armchair in March 2010. According to Guinness World Records, Painting held the world record for an actor playing a continuous role, a total of 59 years.
Painting was born in Leamington Spa, the son of a railway signalman. He was educated at Leamington College and King Edward VI School, Nuneaton, but left school aged 15 to work in a library. He was found to be medically unfit for military service in the Second World War, and studied English at the University of Birmingham instead, graduating with a first-class degree. He did post-graduate research at Christ Church, Oxford, and then became a tutor in Anglo-Saxon at Exeter College, Oxford.
He began to appear on BBC radio while at the University of Birmingham, and continued while also performing as an actor with Oxford University Dramatic Society. He left Oxford University in 1949 to work for the BBC in Birmingham.
...
Wikipedia