Windsor Davies

Davies' best known role was as Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the British sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981).[1] Modelled on similar individuals Davies had met as a soldier during his National Service. "Bastards, real bastards some of them were. They knew it too, and took pride in it," he once said.[6] Among his character's catchphrases was "Shut Up!!", delivered as an eardrum-shattering military scream.[7] Another phrase was "Oh dear, how sad, never mind", delivered in a dry, ironic manner, and used when others around him had problems. Davies and co-star Don Estelle had a number one hit in the UK with a semi-comic version of "Whispering Grass" in 1975.[1] Journalist Neil Clark, contributing to The Times in 2005, described his performance as the "definitive portrayal of a bullying and uneducated sergeant-major" and reported Spike Milligan was of the opinion that Davies' role was "the funniest comic performance he had ever" watched.[8]

Other television roles included the sailor Taffy in the first of the BBC-series The Onedin Line (1971), a special branch detective in Callan (1972) and the antique dealer Oliver Smallbridge in Never the Twain (1981–1991), with Donald Sinden.[9] In the field of science fiction television, Davies appeared in the 1967 Doctor Who story The Evil of the Daleks as Toby;[10] and was the voice of Sergeant Major Zero (a spherical robotic soldier in charge of 100 other spherical robotic soldiers) in the 1983 Gerry Anderson-Christopher Burr production Terrahawks.[1]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.[11]

In September–October 1985, Davies played the lead role of George Vance – a museum custodian elevated to the peerage – in the six-part BBC2 comedy series The New Statesman.[12] This was based on the play by Douglas Watkinson[13] and is not to be confused with the later sitcom of the same name. (Colin Blakely played the role of Vance in a pilot episode transmitted on BBC2 in December 1984.)[14]

Davies also played in the BBC comedy sitcom Oh, Doctor Beeching!, written by David Croft and Richard Spendlove, as the Lord Mayor in an episode broadcast in 1997.

In the cinema, Davies played major roles in two Carry On films, Behind (1975) and England (1976) – in the latter again as a sergeant major. He played Mog in the Welsh rugby film Grand Slam (1978). He played a sergeant in the Highland Regiment in Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973) with Jim Dale and Spike Milligan.[15] In 1989 he revived the role of Sergeant Major Williams in a 30 minute Royal Air Force training film, Hazardous Ops.[16]

Davies appeared in the following films:[15]

Davies' distinctive voice was heard in commercials for New Zealand's Pink Batts house insulations and confectionery ads for Cadbury's Wispa[17] and for Heinz Curried (Baked) Beans.[18] He also appeared alongside New Zealand rugby union coach Alex Wyllie in New Zealand advertisements for Mitre 10 hardware stores in the early 1990s.[19] Davies and Wyllie had worked together previously on the rugby-themed film Old Scores in 1991.[20]

In the 1970s, he read an edition of BBC Radio 4's Morning Story programme,[1] and also narrated the audiobook for the Ladybird children's classic Treasure Island.[21] He sang and voiced many characters in the Paul McCartney film Rupert and the Frog Song in 1984 and appeared that year in the children's film Gabrielle and the Doodleman as three different characters (the Ringmaster, the Black Knight and an Ugly Sister).[20] Also in 1984 he auditioned to be the voice of the UK's speaking clock.[1]