David Jason Both an accomplished dramatic actor and a comedian with more than four decades of television work under his belt, this much admired British born actor brought to life one of the nations best loved losers, ‘Delboy’ Derek Trotter in the comedy show, Only Fools and Horses. David Jason was born on February 2nd 1940 in Edmonton, London, England. Raised in Lodge Lane, North Finchley, London, he went to Northside primary school and after leaving school he trained as an electrician while negotiating his way into repertory theatre. With his birth name being White, on discovering there was already a David White on Equity's books, he took the stage name Jason from his younger twin brother who died in infancy. David began his career in television in 1964 playing the part of Bert Bradshaw in the soap opera Crossroads. In 1967 he played a spoof super-hero Captain Fantastic in the television sketch comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set. His co-stars were Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. In 1973 he played junior employee Granville in the first programme of the comedy series called Open All Hours which starred Ronnie Barker as the miserly proprietor of a corner shop. Four series of Open All Hours were subsequently made from 1976 to 1985 after which David went on to feature in Barker's prison based comedy Porridge, as the character, Blanco. David also took the lead role in ITV sitcom A Sharp Intake Of Breath. It was 1981 that brought David his most enduring and popular role as Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses as a wide-boy who makes a dubious living in Nelson Mandela House, Peckham, south London, trading in shoddy and counterfeit goods. He is assisted by his brother Rodney, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst and Grandad played by Lennard Pearce and in later episodes, their devious Uncle Albert, a veteran of World War II, played by Buster Merryfield. In this role Jason popularised London rhyming slang, examples being ‘Barnett Fair’ (meaning hair), apples and pairs (meaning stairs), boat race (meaning face) and the celebratory slang expression "lovely jubbly".
David’s straight acting roles included the character of Pa Larkin in The Darling Buds of May in which he played the father of Catherine Zeta Jones prior to her success in Hollywood and her marriage to Michael Douglas. Detective Jack Frost was one of David’s best known straight character roles in the TV series A Touch of Frost where he played a laid back, aging detective, similar to the shabby raincoat wearing Columbo. David Jason’s contribution to the world of acting and comedy was recognized in 1993 when he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire but his greatest accolade came in 2005 when Queen Elizabeth II Knighted him in her Birthday Honours List. Always a popular actor with the public, in September 2006, he was voted by the general public as number 1 in ITV's poll of TV's Greatest Stars and the show with which he has become synonymous, Only Fools and Horses has constantly remained in first place in the best comedy shows of all time. Never married, but with a long time girlfriend, it was with much sadness that David nursed partner Myfanwy Talog prior to her death from breast cancer in 1995. Ten years after her death David went onto marry Gill Hinchcliffe in November 2005. Together they have one daughter. ABB | 
