DOCTOR
WHO

In Memoriam — Jon Pertwee

On Monday 20th May 1996, Jon Pertwee, the third Doctor and much more besides, died.

Born John Gordon Devon Pertuis de Silveaux in London on 17th July 1919, he first developed an interest in acting and performing as a young teenager at Wellington House in Kent. He had his first taste of theatre appearing in school productions at Frensham Heights School in his late teens. In 1936 he successfully auditioned for RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) and from there he went onto travelling theatre. In 1938 he left repertory for the west end and in 1939 he made his debut on radio, becoming a familiar voice to the listeners of several radio soaps of the time. To supplement his income, he also worked as a film extra around this time.

At this point his career was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, during which he served in the Navy as a wireless operator and telegraphist at Portsmouth Barracks and aboard HMS St. Vincent, HMS Collingwood and HMS Hood. He then went into training as an Officer Cadet aboard the Dunluce Castle, which he never completed as a result of an injury sustained in a bomb attack on Portsmouth Barracks.

He eventually found himself in the Naval Broadcasting Section and from there he went into the Naval comedy HMS Waterlogged and its spin-offs, where he indulged a passion for funny voices. It was this that inspired one of the longest running radio comedies of all time, The Navy Lark, which ran for almost twenty years and is one of the three series for which Jon Pertwee is best known.

His first starring role in a film was in 1953‘s Will Any Gentleman?, in which he appeared with the late William Hartnell, the original star of the second of the three series for which Jon Pertwee is best known — Doctor Who. His Doctor was the first to be transmitted in colour and he played the role for five years from Spearhead From Space (1970) to Planet Of The Spiders (1974), returning for The Five Doctors (1983), the stage play The Ultimate Adventure (1989) and the radio serials The Paradise Of Death (1993) and The Ghosts Of N-Space (1996). He also made many personal appearances connected with the role and became a familiar face to convention goers throughout Britain.

The third series for which he is best known is Worzel Gummidge, the living scarecrow, based on the children‘s books by Barbara Euphan-Todd. This was made in Britain between 1979 and 1981, and in New Zealand as Worzel Gummidge Down Under from 1986 to 1987. Pertwee himself was instrumental in the series ever being made in the first place. He had an enormous faith in the character and at the time of his death, he was hoping to get Worzel resurrected as an animated series.

On a personal note, I was fortunate enough to meet Mr Pertwee on two separate occasions. At the Longleat Doctor Who Exhibition‘s 21st anniversary celebrations in 1994 and at the second Aylcon Doctor Who convention in Birmingham in 1995. He was a very charming and personable man, a great raconteur, able to keep an audience in stitches with his repertoire of funny stories culled from a lifetime in show business and he was very proud of his association with Doctor Who.

Despite modern British television being very much based on personality cults, with every other new drama series touted as a vehicle for someone, none of these people can hold a candle to the vibrant charisma of Jon Pertwee.

© Tim Farr,1996 & 2006