Matthew Corbett

Matthew was born in Guiseley, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 28 March 1948. In the late 1960s he had to choose another name when joining Equity, as there was already a Peter Corbett registered. He kept his surname and chose to go by the first name Matthew, retaining the name throughout his television career.[2]

Matthew appeared in the 1971 Doctor Who serial The Dæmons as a character called Jones and was a regular performer in the Thames Television children's show Rainbow, where he sang and performed and wrote with Rod Burton and Jane Tucker as Rod, Matt and Jane, later on known as Rod, Jane and Roger and finally being better known as Rod, Jane and Freddy.

In 1976, Matthew left Rainbow to take over The Sooty Show from his father Harry, who was retiring (he made a special guest appearance on Rainbow with Sooty in the episode "The VIP"). Matthew retired in 1998 after 22 years, and chose Richard Cadell to replace him.

Since retiring in 1998, Matthew is known to rarely make public appearances. However, in January 2008, he reappeared on television, presenting Locks and Quays, a regional interest programme shown in the ITV Granada area (North West England),[3] featuring a journey from the east to the west coast of England, along waterways such as the River Humber, the Aire and Calder Navigation and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.[2]

On Sooty's 60th birthday in 2012, he said that the bear was "in, or should I say on, the right hands".[4]

Matthew's great-uncle was the fish and chip shop chain owner Harry Ramsden, as revealed on Locks and Quays.[1]

• Tibballs, Geoff (1990). The Secret Life of Sooty. Letchworth, UK: Ringpress Books. ISBN 0-948955-56-2.

• Matthew Corbett at IMDb