This Sunday, the 17th April 2016, the vicar from Dad's Army will be visiting Olney. It's An Audience With Frank Williams at The Carlton House Club at 38 High Street, Olney, MK46 4BE at 16.00 hours sharp, as Captain Mainwaring would say ...
Olney will be welcoming actor Frank Williams, the Dad's Army vicar, on Sunday 17th April.
Frank played the vicar all the way through the Dad's Army TV series from 1968 to 1977, and had a splendid time doing so.
"Of course, like all these British character actors there is far more to Frank than just Dad's Army."
Although Dad's Army certainly made Frank a recognised face for all time, he did also work with such light entertainment luminaries as Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies, Tommy Cooper, Harry Worth and many more which he will tell us all about. More recently he played the role of the vicar again in the new Dad's Army film.
Frank is now 84 and other than Ian Lavender (Private Pike), the only surviving member of the original cast.
Frank took a fascinating film of backstage footage of Dad's Army when the TV series was being filmed and shares it with us, and then talks about his career and takes questions and answers of course. He is always pleased to chat afterwards as he's a delightful man as you can image.
If you'd like to come along and share this blast of nostalgia, then click here to send me an email, or phone me on 01234 241357 and I'll reserve tickets for you. Tickets are £12.50.
As I said, it's at 16.00 hours on Sunday, so you can have Sunday lunch first and then trip on down to The Carlton House Club. Or you could have lunch at The Carlton House Club as they do a splendid roast but do give them a ring on 01234 711348 as they do get booked up for lunch.
Can you think of a better way to spend a Sunday? Come along, it'll be great fun.
David is the owner of David Pibworth Productions who provides entertainment for theatre and corporate events. This ties in very well with The Arches Theatre, an outside venue that David owns underneath a disused railway line, equidistant from Bedford, Northampton and Milton Keynes. This was one of the few venues that could operate with social distancing in place during the summer of 2020 and where they ran everything from Shakespeare to Richard Digance through the summer months.
David has been involved in light entertainment for many years, even going back as far as working on a production with Norman Wisdom in London. He has a knack of keeping in touch with everyone he's worked with and would bring such people as Chas and Dave, Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk round to play locally when the chance arose.
His company also represent the stage rights for Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, the writers of Steptoe and Son and Hancock's Half Hour. He has recently negotiated permission with Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais to produce Porridge on stage although this is all hampered by the current situation and the availability of theatres.
Next year, at the Arches Theatre, he will produce Ripping Yarns, written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones. This will be an interesting production as not only does one episode involve playing a football match, but also with the agreement of Michael Palin and the wife of the late Terry Jones, it has been decided that all the profits on this production will go to a dementia charity as Terry Jones died as a result of dementia, as did David's father and uncle.
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