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eBook Category: Sports/Entertainment/People
eBook Description: Buster Merryfield became a household name as Uncle Albert from the long running BBC television series 'Only Fools and Horses'. Uncle Albert's famous catchphrase--During The War..." is relevant to Buster's own life, as he served as an officer in Africa during the second world war. His reminiscences are amusing, touching and tell of a life quite distant from that as bank manager, director of amateur dramatic productions, father and husband. Buster broke into the notoriously difficult world of professional acting at a relatively late stage in his life. He offers us his advice on how to succeed in show business and tells us how he made it. A heady mix of luck opportunity, talent, experience, experiment, fearlessness, originality, faith and belief created this much loved figure of British television comedy.

eBook Publisher: Summersdale Publishers Ltd/Summersdale Biography, Published: 2004
Fictionwise Release Date: April 2005

Available eBook Formats:
All formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

?All that's just detail. Let's get the important things decided first," and going down on one knee I looked up into her eyes with great sincerity. " Will you marry me?" I beseeched her. What could she say, except, "yes." With that I made immediate enquiries as to where the nearest Registry Office was. I think I had romantic notions of dashing round there straight away for an instant marriage. I discovered the nearest was in Norbiton and they insisted on forty-eight hours notice. But a newly-commissioned officer couldn't wait that long and persuaded them to cut it to twenty-four. Having made arrangements for the following morning, we began to get quite excited. There were so many things to do. First we rushed down to the local confectioners and picked out a small iced cake, which they agreed to decorate for us as a wedding cake. Then it was off to the florists for carnation button holes and--oh gosh--we must not forget the ring. I had next to no money, having had to pay for my uniform out of my salary and had not yet got the grant to reimburse me. Iris fished in her purse and managed to find enough for a nine-carat wartime special, costing all of ten and eleven pence. At the end of the day, Iris decided it was time to take me home and break the news to her mother. I discovered her father worked in Nairobi and normally only came home once a year. Since the war had started, he hadn't even been able to manage that. I suppose in normal circumstances she would have taken me home before she accepted my proposal and I would have asked her father's permission to marry his daughter whilst her mother looked me over. But this was wartime and these were not normal circumstances. I found the family atmosphere very friendly and casual and completely lacking the formality I had been used to in my own upbringing. Her brother Tommy and younger sister Rosemary made a fuss of me and asked a continual stream of questions about life in the Army. We sat informally round the kitchen table for tea and when one of the neighbours popped in I was introduced as Iris? husband-to-be. The neighbour, Mrs Shadwell, was just as excited as the Mountfords and insisted on being one of my witnesses at the Registry Office. That night I was given a makeshift bed on the front room floor and after breakfast we set off for Norbiton. There were just four of us; Iris and I, Mrs Shadwell and Iris? brother Tommy. There was only one thing spoiling my complete enjoyment. It had occurred to me as I lay awake in my pre-nuptial bed that I would have to tell Iris that I had lied about my age, and that I was now only twenty-one. I was pondering on how best to break it to her when she looked at me very seriously and said, "Buster, I'm afraid I've a confession to make." My heart raced. What was she about to tell me? Had she been out with somebody else while I had been away? Did she have some incurable disease? Had she changed her mind about the wedding? All sorts of fears ran through my mind. I could hardly force myself to reply. "What's that then," I croaked. "You know when we met and you asked how old I was?" ?Yes." ?Well I didn't tell you the truth. I'm not twenty-five, I'm thirty-one." I was so relieved. Was that all she had to tell me. Now I felt happier, and my confession could only make her feel less guilty. "I've got a confession to make as well. I'm not twenty-five either. I'm only twenty-one. Now how do you feel?" ?That's funny," she said, "I thought you looked young when we met, so...