Windsor Davies
Encyclopedia
Windsor Davies is a British actor, well known for playing the part of Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the 1970s/1980s British sitcom
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
.
parents, and he returned to his parents' native Nant-y-Moel
when the Second World War began in 1939. He attended Ogmore
Grammar School and Bangor
Teacher Training College. He then worked as a teacher and did national service before going into acting.
He became well known for playing the part of Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the British sitcom
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
(1974–81). One of his catchphrases was "Shut Up!" delivered with an ear drum shattering military scream. The other was the phrase "Oh dear, how sad, never mind", delivered in a dry, ironic manner, and used when others around him had problems. As a spin-off from the series, Davies and co-star, Don Estelle
had a number one hit in the UK with a semi-comic version of "Whispering Grass
". He played major roles in two later Carry On films
, Behind in 1975 and England in 1976. He later re-established himself as a sitcom actor with the role of antique
dealer Oliver Smallbridge in Never the Twain
, with Donald Sinden
.
He played Mog in the classic Welsh film Grand Slam
and played the role of sailor Taffy in the first of the BBC-series The Onedin Line
(1971).
He is also known for providing the voice of Sergeant Major Zero in Gerry Anderson
's Terrahawks
television series which broadcast from 1983 to 1986; and appeared in the Doctor Who
story The Evil of the Daleks
as Toby in 1967. He auditioned to be the voice of the UK's speaking clock
in 1984 but lost out to fellow actor Brian Cobby
.
Davies has never been short of voice-over work — and his distinctive, deep voice can be heard in such projects as New Zealand's Pink Batts house insulations and confectionery ads for Cadbury
's Wispa. In the 1970s, Davies read an edition of Radio Four
's Morning Story programme.
Davies played a sergeant in the Highland Regiment in Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
with Jim Dale
and Spike Milligan
. This film was released in 1972.
(1975), playing the part of Butcher Fred Ramsden and then in Carry On England
(1976), playing Sergeant Major 'Tiger' Bloomer.
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum was a British sitcom about the adventures of a Royal Artillery Concert Party, broadcast on the BBC between 1974 and 1981, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army...
.
Early life and career
Davies was born to WelshWales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
parents, and he returned to his parents' native Nant-y-Moel
Nantymoel
Nantymoel is a village and includes the formerly separate village of Pricetown in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore, and is one of the constituent villages of the Ogmore Valley...
when the Second World War began in 1939. He attended Ogmore
Ogmore Vale
Ogmore Vale is a village in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore.The village's main source of income came from coal mining. Up until the year 1865, the Ogmore valley was a quiet, isolated, rural hill farming community of less than ten farms and a few cottages...
Grammar School and Bangor
Bangor, Gwynedd
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...
Teacher Training College. He then worked as a teacher and did national service before going into acting.
He became well known for playing the part of Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the British sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum was a British sitcom about the adventures of a Royal Artillery Concert Party, broadcast on the BBC between 1974 and 1981, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army...
(1974–81). One of his catchphrases was "Shut Up!" delivered with an ear drum shattering military scream. The other was the phrase "Oh dear, how sad, never mind", delivered in a dry, ironic manner, and used when others around him had problems. As a spin-off from the series, Davies and co-star, Don Estelle
Don Estelle
Don Estelle was a British actor and singer.Born Donald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russell Street, Crumpsall. During World War II, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire, twenty miles away from his home town, to escape the German bombing...
had a number one hit in the UK with a semi-comic version of "Whispering Grass
Whispering Grass
"Whispering Grass " is a popular song written by Fred Fisher and his daughter Doris Fisher. The song was first recorded by Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra in 1940. The Ink Spots also recorded it the same year....
". He played major roles in two later Carry On films
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
, Behind in 1975 and England in 1976. He later re-established himself as a sitcom actor with the role of antique
Antiques
An antique is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age , beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features...
dealer Oliver Smallbridge in Never the Twain
Never the Twain
Never the Twain is a British sitcom that ran for eleven series from 1981 to 1991. It was created by Johnnie Mortimer, and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner, Brian Cooke...
, with Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
.
He played Mog in the classic Welsh film Grand Slam
Grand Slam (1978 film)
Grand Slam is a 1978 sports comedy film produced by BBC Wales. The film starred Oscar-winning actor Hugh Griffith, Windsor Davies, Dewi "Pws" Morris and Sion Probert...
and played the role of sailor Taffy in the first of the BBC-series The Onedin Line
The Onedin Line
The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham.The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin...
(1971).
He is also known for providing the voice of Sergeant Major Zero in Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
's Terrahawks
Terrahawks
Gerry Anderson & Christopher Burr's Terrahawks, simply referred to as Terrahawks, was a British science fiction television series produced by Anderson Burr Pictures and created by the production team of Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr. The show was Anderson's first in over a decade to utilize...
television series which broadcast from 1983 to 1986; and appeared in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
story The Evil of the Daleks
The Evil of the Daleks
The Evil of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in seven weekly parts from 20 May to 1 July 1967. This serial marked the debut of Deborah Watling as the Doctor's new companion, Victoria Waterfield.Evil was initially intended to...
as Toby in 1967. He auditioned to be the voice of the UK's speaking clock
Speaking clock
A speaking clock service is a recorded or simulated human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory on 14 February 1933.The format of the service is...
in 1984 but lost out to fellow actor Brian Cobby
Brian Cobby
Brian Cobby , is a British actor and telephone exchange worker who in 1985 became the first male voice of the British speaking clock.In 2004, Cobby guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Creed of the Kromon....
.
Davies has never been short of voice-over work — and his distinctive, deep voice can be heard in such projects as New Zealand's Pink Batts house insulations and confectionery ads for Cadbury
Cadbury Schweppes
Cadbury is a confectionery company owned by Kraft Foods and is the industry's second-largest globally after Mars, Incorporated. Headquartered in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom, the company operates in more than 50 countries worldwide....
's Wispa. In the 1970s, Davies read an edition of Radio Four
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Morning Story programme.
Davies played a sergeant in the Highland Regiment in Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (film)
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is a film adaptation of the similarly titled first volume of Spike Milligan's autobiography. It starred Jim Dale as the young Terence "Spike" Milligan. Spike played the part of his father, Leo Milligan....
with Jim Dale
Jim Dale
Jim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
and Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
. This film was released in 1972.
Carry On films
Windsor Davies starred in two Carry On films, Carry On BehindCarry On Behind
Carry On Behind is the twenty-seventh Carry On film and was released in 1975. The film was the first not to feature Sid James since Follow That Camel seven years previously. It was also the first not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. James was busy...
(1975), playing the part of Butcher Fred Ramsden and then in Carry On England
Carry On England
Carry On England is the 28th Carry On film. It was released in 1976 and featured Carry On regulars Kenneth Connor, Jack Douglas, Joan Sims and Peter Butterworth. It was second and final Carry On film for Windsor Davies, Diane Langton, and Peter Jones, while Patrick Mower, Judy Geeson and Melvyn...
(1976), playing Sergeant Major 'Tiger' Bloomer.
Filmography
- The Pot CarriersThe Pot CarriersThe Pot Carriers is a 1962 British comedy drama film directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Ronald Fraser, Paul Massie, Carole Lesley and Dennis Price...
(1962) - Murder Most FoulMurder Most FoulMurder Most Foul is the third of four films made by MGM loosely based on novels by Agatha Christie and starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, Bud Tingwell as Inspector Craddock, and Stringer Davis as Mr Stringer. The story is ostensibly based on the novel Mrs McGinty's Dead, but notably...
(1964) - The Alphabet MurdersThe Alphabet MurdersThe Alphabet Murders is a 1965 British detective film based on the novel The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie, starring Tony Randall as Hercule Poirot. The part of Poirot had originally been intended for Zero Mostel but the film was delayed because Agatha Christie objected to the script. The...
(1965) - ArabesqueArabesque (film)Arabesque is a 1966 thriller starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren. The movie is based on Gordon Cotler's novel The Cypher and directed by Stanley Donen.-Plot:Professor David Pollock is an expert in ancient hieroglyphics at Oxford University...
(1966) - The Family WayThe Family WayThe Family Way is a 1966 British comedy-drama film based on Bill Naughton's play All in Good Time . It began life in 1961 as a television play entitled Honeymoon Postponed....
(1966) - Drop Dead DarlingDrop Dead DarlingDrop Dead Darling is a 1966 British comedy crime film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Tony Curtis, Rosanna Schiaffino, Lionel Jeffries and Zsa Zsa Gabor.-Plot:...
(1966) - HammerheadHammerhead (film)Hammerhead is a 1968 British thriller film directed by David Miller and starring Vince Edwards, Judy Geeson and Diana Dors. A criminal mastermind attempts to steal NATO secrets, while an American agent is hot on his trail. It is based on the novel by James Mayo, and produced by Irwin Allen and...
(1968) - Frankenstein Must Be DestroyedFrankenstein Must Be DestroyedFrankenstein Must Be Destroyed is a British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Film Productions from 1969. The cast includes Peter Cushing, Freddie Jones, Veronica Carlson and Simon Ward. The film is the fifth in a series of Hammer films centering on Dr...
(1969) - Clinic ExclusiveClinic ExclusiveClinic Exclusive is a 1971 British comedy film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Georgiana Ward, Alexander Davion, Carmen Silvera and Windsor Davies.-Cast:* Georgina Ward as Julie Mason* Alexander Davion as Lee Maitland* Polly Adams as Ann...
(1971) - Endless NightEndless Night (1972 film)Endless Night is a 1972 British crime film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Hayley Mills, Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson, Hywel Bennett and George Sanders. It is based on the novel Endless Night by Agatha Christie.-Plot:...
(1972) - Adolf Hitler: My Part in His DownfallAdolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (film)Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is a film adaptation of the similarly titled first volume of Spike Milligan's autobiography. It starred Jim Dale as the young Terence "Spike" Milligan. Spike played the part of his father, Leo Milligan....
(1972) - Soft Beds, Hard BattlesSoft Beds, Hard BattlesSoft Beds, Hard Battles is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting, and starring Peter Sellers....
(1974) - It Ain't Half Hot MumIt Ain't Half Hot MumIt Ain't Half Hot Mum was a British sitcom about the adventures of a Royal Artillery Concert Party, broadcast on the BBC between 1974 and 1981, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army...
(1974) - The Old Curiosity ShopThe Old Curiosity Shop (1975 film)The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1975 British musical film directed by Michael Tuchner and starring Anthony Newley, David Hemmings and Jill Bennett...
(1975) - Carry On BehindCarry On BehindCarry On Behind is the twenty-seventh Carry On film and was released in 1975. The film was the first not to feature Sid James since Follow That Camel seven years previously. It was also the first not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. James was busy...
(1975) - Confessions of a Driving InstructorConfessions of a Driving InstructorConfessions of a Driving Instructor is a 1976 British sex-farce film. This was the third instalment of the Confessions sequence on the erotic adventures of Timothy Lea, based on the novels published under the name by Christopher Wood.-Premise:...
(1976) - Not Now, ComradeNot Now, ComradeNot Now, Comrade is a 1976 British comedy film directed by Ray Cooney. It was a very loose follow up to the 1973 farce Not Now, Darling. It featured a number of British comedy actors of the era including Leslie Phillips, Windsor Davies, Don Estelle and Ian Lavender.-Cast:* Leslie Phillips as...
(1976) - Carry On EnglandCarry On EnglandCarry On England is the 28th Carry On film. It was released in 1976 and featured Carry On regulars Kenneth Connor, Jack Douglas, Joan Sims and Peter Butterworth. It was second and final Carry On film for Windsor Davies, Diane Langton, and Peter Jones, while Patrick Mower, Judy Geeson and Melvyn...
(1976) - The PlaybirdsThe PlaybirdsThe Playbirds is a 1978 British sexploitation film made by Irish-born director Willy Roe and starring 1970s' pin-up Mary Millington alongside Glynn Edwards, Suzy Mandel and Windsor Davies...
(1978) - Grand SlamGrand SlamGrand Slam may refer to:-Card games:* In the game of contract bridge a bid to win all the tricks of that hand. By extension, the taking of all the important elements in an endeavour.-Equestrianism:...
(1978) - Gabrielle and the Doodleman (1984)
- Rupert and the Frog SongRupert and the Frog SongRupert and the Frog Song is a 1984 animated film written and produced by Paul McCartney and directed by Geoff Dunbar and Raymond 'George' Taylor. The making of Rupert and the Frog Song began in 1981 and ended in 1983. The film was released theatrically as an accompaniment to McCartney's feature...
(1985) - Old ScoresOld ScoresOld Scores is a 1991 film jointly produced by New Zealand and Wales, based around the two countries' mutual national sport of rugby union. It is notable for the appearance of a large number of legendary Welsh and New Zealand international rugby players in supporting roles...
(1991) - The Princess and the Cobbler (1993)
- Mosley (1997)
- Gormenghast (2000)