大象传媒

Arthur Lowe - Captain Mainwaring himself - would have celebrated his 100th birthday on Tuesday 22 September 2015. He died in April 1982, aged only 66. To mark his centenary, 4 Extra producer mined the 大象传媒 archive to make a tribute programme to one of the nation's most-treasured actors.

Searching the 大象传媒 sound archive to mark Arthur Lowe’s centenary has been a truly startling experience. I could not believe some of the things I was coming across, many of which had not been heard for decades.

In 1965 Arthur starred in ‘Billy’s Last Stand’, a radio play on the 大象传媒 Third Programme (the forerunner of 大象传媒 Radio 3) by up and coming writer Barry Hines, who went on to write ‘A Kestrel for a Knave’, later made into a film by Ken Loach: ‘Kes’. ‘Billy’s Last Stand’ is a dark, unnerving, comedy two hander, with Arthur playing casual coal shifter Billy - a shovel for hire - who is preyed upon by the conniving Darkly, played by Ronald Baddiley (for many years Sir Gregory Pitkin in 大象传媒 radio comedy, The Men From The Ministry).

This was three years before Arthur became Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army, yet he was already a household name after playing draper Leonard Swindley in TV's Coronation Street. But in Billy’s Last Stand he draws on his years of theatre experience (in repertory and the West End), to cut loose from the typecasting fears he sometimes talked to about, and give a mesmerising performance as a worm that finally turns.

Then there’s an edition of Radio 4's ‘With Great Pleasure’, recorded in 1976 at the height of his Dad’s Army success. Arthur chose some of his favourite prose and poetry to read, and was helped to perform them by fellow actor, Martin Jarvis. When the sound archive arrived I could not believe I was listening to Arthur playing one of the most beloved characters in comic fiction, PG Wodehouse's ultimate butler, Jeeves. But there he was undercutting, ever so subtley, Jarvis’ Bertie Wooster. His introduction and performances of other choices, which include WB Yeats, JB Priestley, Beverley Nichols and Kenneth Grahame, reveal a great deal - in a very quiet way - about what made this very private actor, tick.

Ian Lavender, Arthur’s friend and Dad’s Army co-star (Private Pike), immediately said he would love to present a radio tribute to Arthur. I knew that in Ian we would have the ultimate Dad’s Army expert to choose a brilliant episode from the 大象传媒 radio version of the series.

I also contacted Dad’s Army’s creator Jimmy Perry who was delighted to pay tribute to Arthur’s performance as Captain Mainwaring. He described how on seeing Arthur act, he’d been “transfixed by his whole being”. Visiting him at his London home, Perry cheerfully displayed his miniature version of the life-size statue of Captain Mainwaring in Thetford, Norfolk, where the Dad’s Army outside scenes were filmed.

But it was what was sadly missing from the archive that left me pondering the most. In 1970 Arthur appeared on Radio 4's . Although biographies have appeared, Arthur never wrote an autobiography. Wouldn’t it be intriguing to hear from Arthur himself? Maybe his would tell us something about his childhood, his wartime service and how he became an actor? Did he reveal how he dealt with fame and, of course, becoming a comedy immortal as Captain Mainwaring? But the programme was lost, missing from the archive. Until now.

It had been in fact been recorded off air in 1970 by a listener. Sound experts at the 大象传媒 Perivale Sound Archive worked on the sound quality and we have even been able to reuse the actual recordings of music Arthur selected from the 大象传媒 Music library.

So, for the first time in over 40 years we will hear Arthur Lowe telling his life story in his own words.

A birthday gift for everyone.

- Saturday 19 September 2015 at 09.00 and 19.00 on Radio 4 Extra. It is available on to listen on-demand for 30 days after broadcast.