WEB PAGE NO. 2818 18th September 2021 Sam Kydd 1ST PICTURE: Sams typical character

2nd PICTURE; This is Your Life

3RD PICTURE; With son Jonathan and wife Pinkie

4TH PICTURE; Locally made film in which he appeared

Sam Kydd was one of those faces that kept turning up in small parts in TV productions and over 200 films more than any other British actor. He was born Samuel John Kydd on 15th February 1915 and was an Irish-born British actor.[ His best-known roles were in two major British television series of the 1960s, as the smuggler Orlando O'Connor in Crane and its sequel Orlando, and as a recurring character in Coronation Street. He was an army officer's son born in Belfast and moved to London as a child and attended Dunstable school in Bedfordshire. During the mid-1930s he was an MC for the Oscar Rabin Band and one of his "Hot Shots". He would warm up audiences with jokes and impressions (Maurice Chevalier was a favourite) and even some tap dance routines then introduce the other singers and attractions on the bill. During the late 1930s he had joined the Territorial Army serving with the Queen Victoria's Rifles and when war broke out he was called up for active service. Early in the Second World War, he went to France with the British Expeditionary Force but was quickly captured, spending the rest of the war in Stalag XX-A, a camp in German-occupied western Poland. He later wrote of his experiences as a POW in his autobiographical book For You the War Is Over. During his internment where he remained for the next five years, he took command of the camp's theatrical activities - devising and staging plays. He felt so strongly about his work there that, when he was offered repatriation after three years, he turned it down to continue with his theatrical work. In recognition of his valuable services during these years he was awarded a pair of drama masks, made by the Red Cross . Returning to Britain he applied for the film The Captive Heart, which was about life in a prison camp, and as this was an area where he had much experience, he got a part. He went on to appear in more than 240 films and 1,000 TV plays and series, including such films as The Blue Lamp, Father Brown, The 39 Steps and I'm All Right Jack. He often played the part of a strong and resilient cockney. In 1963, he appeared as the lovable smuggler Orlando O'Connor in Crane starring Patrick Allen. The programme ran for 39 episodes and was watched each week by over 16 million viewers. Sam's character was so popular that when Crane finished he was given his own programme, Orlando, a children's adventure series which ran for 76 episodes. He also appeared on TV in The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Pickwick Papers, Mess Mates, Arthur Askey, Benny Hill, Charlie Drake, Harry Worth, The Expert, Dixon of Dock Green, Fossett Saga, Curry and Chips, The Tony Hancock Show, Minder, Crossroads, Coronation Street (playing the part of Mike Baldwin's father, Frankie), The Eric Sykes Show, and Follyfoot. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1974. He married Pinkie Barnes, an ex-international table tennis champion (she was World Doubles Finalist in 1948) and one of Britain's first women advertising copywriters. Their son, Jonathan Kydd, followed his father into the acting profession. Sam Kydd died of emphysema in 1982 aged 67. You Write: Letter from Roger Hello Peter, It’s been a long time since I last was in touch; hope that you are still keeping well and I still enjoy reading your updates. To remind you? I was never a fellow pupil of you all, but was at Northern Grammar School September 1956 to July 1961 and was interested to read in your Page 2800, of 10th July, this year, that you held your Speech Day there in the October of ’61. I also read through the list of Members of the Choral Society, not that I ever expected to find reference to any one who I would know, and you asked if anyone might know of the whereabouts of any those “lost” members. It was with some surprise, and pleasure, that at number eight in the list of Contraltos I saw Diane Ledgers’ name. I met her, and her family, after she left the school and we both worked for the Co-op shoe department, she at Melanies, North End, and myself at Co-op House in Fratton Road, in 1962/63. We went out together steadily and then I joined the Royal Navy in 1963 and she and her family emigrated to Perth W. Australia in 1964/65. I was able to meet up with her in Geraldton, Western Australia, Christmas/New Year 1965 when the ship I was on, HMS EURYALUS, visited as part of our Australia tour. I last saw her in Portsmouth and Plymouth, for several days, when she visited England in the mid 2000’s. We still keep in touch and she still lives in Western Australia, albeit some distance from Perth in the “sticks”. I cannot be certain but she COULD be the girl in the photograph, looking at the picture, sitting 5th in from the left side, in the second row from the front. I know it is a bit late for me to be getting back to you from the date you published the item, but I often read back to previous issues and find things which I missed the first time round. With every good wish and thanks you for your, always, interesting reminders of the past. Best wishes and regards, Ray Johnson (Ex Copnor Juniors and N.G.S.B)