Hi-de-Hi! (TV Series 1980–1988) - IMDb (United Kingdom) – See all my reviews Based to some extent on writers, David Croft and Jimmy Perry's, own experiences as Butlins Holiday Camp entertainers in the UK during the same timescale the programme follows, "Hi-De-Hi!" epitomises the 'slapstick, postcard humour" of post-war Britain. Set in the fictitious seaside town of Crimpton-on-Sea, "Hi-De-Hi" chronicles the comedic goings on within the Maplins Holiday Camp - one of many dotted along the British coast owned by the mega-rich, but never seen (on screen) Joe Maplin. Although the actual show began in 1980 with the pilot episode and ran until 1988 when the BBC deemed it too tame for it's cutting edge comedy department, seasons 1-5 focused on 1959 while seasons 6-9 spotlighted 1960 - a time when the old style British Holiday Camp began to fall into decline.

During the first 5 seasons, Jeffrey Fairbrother (played brilliantly by the late, great Simon Cadell) was the camp's entertainment manager; a well meaning, yet slightly pensive ex-university professor breaking free of his upper class background and venturing into the "real" world to head his team of entertainment staff who were in stark contrast to his own laid-back personality. From season 6 onwards, Fairbrother was replaced by Clive Dempster (played by David Griffin when Cadell quit the show at the height of it's popularity), an ex-RAF war hero who, in many ways, was similar to Cadell's character in background, but more a scoundrel than a gentleman.

However, the real stars of "Hi-De-Hi" throughout the nine seasons were Ted Bovis (played superbly by Paul Shane), a stereotypical working class, ale drinking, bawdy comic - someone who could never resist an opportunity to fiddle the campers; Gladys Pugh (played by Ruth Madoc who's currently experiencing a career comeback with appearances in the hit BBC Comedy, "Little Britain"), chief Yellowcoat (what the entertainment staff were called because of their bright yellow jackets) and sports organiser - but more importantly, the one person who saved Jeffrey Fairbrother and Clive Dempster from embarrassment by covering up their inexperience in running a holiday camp; Peggy Ollerenshaw (Su Pollard), the slightly dopey, yet lovable lowly chalet maid with a burning ambition to become a Yellowcoat, and Spike Dixon (Jeffrey Holland), Ted's innocent protégé learning more about 'show business' than he hoped for. As usual with a Croft & Perry production, the assembled cast of characters were a bunch of misfits played superbly by the actors involved. Mr.

Partridge (played by the late Leslie Dwyer, who was in his 70's by the time he left the show), the alcoholic child-hating children's entertainer; Fred Quilly (Felix Bowness), a former champion jockey with a dubious past; Yvonne & Barry Stuart-Hargreaves (Dianne Holland & Barry Howard), the snobbish former ballroom dancing champions who were in the twilight of their careers; and Sylvia and Betty (Nikki Kelly and Rikki Howard), the two main girl Yellowcoats who were always looking for the type of fun Joe Maplin would never allow in one of his camps. "Hi-De-Hi" typified the slapstick era of the late 50s with it's saucy and, to a certain degree, vulgar "tongue-in-cheek" humour (jokes about people sitting on toilets and anecdotes about 'women with big knockers' were the order of the day). But despite it's whiff of "Carry On" funniness, it was always so innocent and became something of recommended family viewing back in the 80's.

Of course, the critics of the show remarked that the show had outstayed it's welcome by a good couple of years, but I disagree. While the early seasons focused mainly on bawdiness and slapstick humour, the latter series of "Hi-De-Hi" saw more thought put into the scripts and the main characters (especially Spike Dixon & Gladys Pugh) were able to grow with more sensitive story lines. That said, there were a few criticisms of the show. Clive Dempster was no Jeffrey Fairbrother, and the former didn't quite have the on-screen chemistry with Gladys as Jeffrey did (I personally think it would've been more believable if Gladys had married Jeff); five seasons dedicated to 1959 and four to 1960 caused more than just a few continuity errors (the disappearance of old faces and introductions of new characters weren't explained properly, especially with the Yellowcoats who came and went with much regularity; and the character of Gladys Pugh, who, in the pilot episode was made out to be a free-loving man-eater that was suddenly transformed into a naive virgin like character!

Also to mention quite pedantically, most of the 1959 holiday season was covered in season one, so to stretch the rest of the year out in five further series was something bordering unbelievable. Still, the show wasn't meant to be meticulously looked upon, and the comedy more than outweighed it's flaws. All in all, "Hi-De-Hi" was probably one of the last comedies from the BBC's golden period, and even if it never managed to rival such British comedic mainstays as "Only Fools & Horses", "Porridge" or even "Last Of The Summer Wine", "Hi De Hi" will be best remembered as a comedy the whole family could enjoy. If you haven't already checked it out for yourself, I implore you to do so. 13 of 17 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Hi-De-Hi! - BBC1 Sitcom - British Comedy Guide David Croft , John Kilby and Mike Stephens Welcome to Maplin's, Britain's favourite holiday camp, where the sun-drenched summer never ends.

Here we find our heroic Yellowcoats involved in all kinds of jolly japes and comic capers; in the chalets, in the Hawaiian Ballroom, and all around the Olympic-sized swimming pool. So roll up your trousers and get those knobbly knees out, it's time for a holiday season of fun and frolics - come on campers, Hi-De-Hi! As the 1959 holiday season opens, company boss Joe Maplin has appointed a new Entertainments Manager to one camp: former Cambridge archaeology professor Jeffrey Fairbrother. His wife having left him and accused him of being deathly boring, he's determined to prove to everyone - not least himself - that he isn't. Jeffrey quickly attracts the amorous attentions of Valleys-girl Gladys Pugh, the camp's sports organiser and voice of Radio Maplin's. Meanwhile, Camp Host Ted Bovis is really running the show, often with an eye to making a quick buck for himself, much to the chagrin of new Camp Comic Spike, who does not feel at all comfortable with Ted's dishonesty.

Meanwhile, the camp's entertainment team - the Yellowcoats - are none too keen to allow aspiring performer and Chalet Maid Peggy join their ranks; ballroom dancers Yvonne and Barry Stuart-Hargreaves are often at each others' throats; and former professional jockey Fred Quilley attempts to keep equine activities under hand. Come the 1960 season, and there's a big change: Gladys is heartbroken by Jeffrey's departure, but is eventually won round by his smooth-talking replacement, the Honourable Clive Dempster, DFC. Hi-de-Hi! - Show News, Reviews, Recaps and Photos - TV.com EDIT A long-running British series drawn from the real-life experiences of writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft tells us the story of a group of people at a British holiday camp titled Maplin's, set around the 1950s. The show starts when the entertainers return to the camp for the 1959 holiday season and find out that their new camp entertainment manager is Jeffrey Fairbrother, an academic, who is a total opposite of them.

The entertainers include a wisecracking Ted Bovis; a senior Yellowcoat named Gladys Pugh; Ted's understudy Spike; a child-hater Mr. Partridge; dance instructor Barry Stuart-Hargreaves and his wife Yvonne and may other. As the time goes by, sparks fly between characters, the stories get complicated and it's all combined in an intersting and funny 30-minute episode. Hi-de-Hi! (TV Series 1980–1988) - Episodes - IMDb Tell It to the Marines A bunch of fit Royal Marines are coming to the camp to give a display of gymnastics. Having seen off aspiring keyboard player Trevor, Peggy accompanies them on the organ but her poor playing confuses them and they are a laughing stock. Ted takes up the challenge from their sergeant that the Yellowcoats are as fit as his boys and a running race is organized. The camp's staff win by cheating as two of the Yellowcoat lads are twins and one takes the other's place near the winning post. The Maplin's staff win the cash prize, which Peggy gives to Trevor to send him to ... Hi-De-Hi? Ho-De-Ho-No!

(or why Butlins hated the fictional Maplins) | Daily Mail Online Next Hi-De-Hi? Ho-De-Ho-No! (or why Butlins hated the fictional Maplins) As a new show traces the history of Brits on their hols, Hi-De-Hi! star Ruth Madoc reveals why the real-life holiday camps didn't go weak at the knobbly knees for the sitcom comments Here’s a question. Did Hi-De-Hi! encourage people to visit holiday camps such as Butlins and Pontins – or turn customers away from the world of knobbly knees and glamorous granny competitions? Ruth Madoc, who played chief yellowcoat Gladys Pugh in the Eighties sitcom, has a good idea what the real holiday camp people thought of her ‘Morning, campers!’ portrayal of life at the fictional Maplins camp in Crimpton-on-Sea. ‘I don’t suppose the Butlins organisation was very keen on it,’ she says, with delicate understatement. Morning campers: Ruth (far right) played chief yellowcoat Gladys Pugh in the Eighties sitcom Hi-De-Hi! This became clear when, eight years after Hi-De-Hi!

had finished in 1988, Ruth was presenting an episode of Songs Of Praise from the Butlins centre – they no longer used the term ‘camp’ – in Pwllheli, north Wales. ‘Before we started filming, the manager of the centre said, “You won’t mention Hi-De-Hi!, will you?”’ she recalls. She agreed not to. ‘And of course the punters started coming up saying, “Hi-de-hi, Ruth!”’ This was a dilemma. If a member of the public shouts ‘Hi-de-hi’ at you, it’d be rude not to respond with ‘Ho-di-ho’, no? So she did. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Even today Ruth, 68, is still regularly presented with the catchphrase when she’s out and about. Does it annoy her? ‘No, not at all. Because Hi-De-Hi! opened doors for me.’ She adds, ‘Most of us were picked out of oblivion.’ If the sitcom is fresh in her mind it’s because she’s been making an intriguing documentary, From Blackpool To Benidorm, for the Yesterday channel.

It’s a gentle piece of social history charting the changing taste of British holidaymakers in the second half of the 20th century. And, of course, the holiday camp gets a large role. Laurel and Hardy at Butlins: They were once judges in the knobbly knees competition Sir Billy Butlin first had the idea for his camps in the 1930s, when he realised there wasn’t much to do at the seaside on a rainy day once your landlady had turfed you onto the street after breakfast. His plan: to provide everything you need, from food to entertainment – such as glamorous granny contests (that brainwave came after he met Marlene Dietrich and realised the sultry actress was a grandmother). According to Rocky Mason, head of entertainment at Butlins for 27 years, Sir Billy’s masterstroke was the pricing. ‘His policy was that a holiday would be less than the average man was paid each week.’ There’s an interesting glimpse behind the scenes during the camps’ heyday. Long-serving redcoat Mavis Idle was there at the opening of the camp at Bognor in 1960.

It had cost £2 million to build – the equivalent of £36 million today – but wasn’t ready on time. So on opening day, Mavis recalls, some people picked up their keys from reception only to return a few minutes later saying, ‘I don’t need them. I haven’t got a door.’ Despite teething problems, Butlins had become a success – in 1963, the peak year, the camps welcomed more than one million visitors. Believe it or not, Laurel and Hardy once agreed to be judges in a knobbly knees competition. Family fun: Children enjoying a theatre show at a camp in Clacton during its heyday But tastes were changing, and in time, the holiday of choice was not at a rainy British resort with a redcoat forcing you to enjoy yourself but a week on the beach in Spain, where you could sip sangria in the sun. One of the main reasons for the change was the British weather – underlined by the opening scene in the documentary: presenter Ruth is in a deckchair on Porthcawl beach in south Wales at the height of ‘summer’. The sky is gloomy and the sunbathers are in cardigans and long trousers.

‘The weather was absolutely appalling,’ she says. But rain needn’t spoil a holiday: Ruth recalls wet days at Bridlington as a girl when her mother would encourage her to recite her times-tables or some Wordsworth – ‘anything really to take your mind off the dreadful weather’. Sounds like hell? Nope. She loved it. Meanwhile, back to Maplins. Hi-De-Hi! ran for eight successful years, bringing in up to 17 million viewers at a time. Yet you almost never see it on TV nowadays. ‘I wish the BBC would repeat them. I don’t know why they won’t.’ Hi-De-Hi? It seems the response from the Beeb is a blunt no-de-no. Blackpool To Benidorm is on Thursday, Yesterday channel, 9pm. Interesting Facts | Harwich & Dovercourt | History, Facts & Photos of Harwich Interesting Facts, Did You Know ? Some Facts about Harwich and Dovercourt , Including Street Names… HI DI HI Original Cast Hi-de-Hi! is a British sitcom that aired from 1980 to 1988.

It was set in a holiday camp during the 1950s and 1960s and was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who had written Dad’s Army and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. The series surrounded the lives of the camp’s management and entertainers, most of them struggling actors or has-beens. The inspiration was the experience of writers Perry and Croft. After being demobilised from the Army, Perry was a Redcoat at Butlins Pwllheli during the holiday season. The series gained large audiences and won a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In 2004, it came 40th in Britain’s Best Sitcom and in a 2008 poll on Channel 4, Hi-de-Hi! was voted the 35th most popular comedy catchphrase. Between October 1979 and October 1987 Warner’s Holiday Camp was used for the filming Of the popular comedy series Hi De Hi. Hi-de-Hi!

was set at Maplins, a holiday camp (Warner’s Holiday Camp Dovercourt) owned by entrepreneur Joe Maplin in the fictional seaside town of Crimpton-on-Sea, Essex. It is loosely based on Butlins, the holiday camp empire of Billy Butlin, his Redcoats replaced with ‘Yellowcoats’. Warner’s Holiday Camp Most episodes involved Ted Bovis attempting to scam the campers as well as the well-meaning Fairbrother, who also had to avoid the romantic approaches of Chief Yellowcoat and Sports Organiser, Gladys Pugh,(Ruth Madoc) as he was estranged from his wife but was initially reluctant to divorce her because of the social stigma attached. Most of the other characters in the show were out-of-work actors and entertainers at the tail-end of their careers. These consisted of Fred Quilley, a disqualified jockey; Yvonne and Barry Stuart-Hargreaves, two former ballroom champions and Mr Partridge, a failed Music Hall star reduced to performing Punch and Judy puppet shows for the children.

All these characters were big stars in their prime, but were forced to take jobs at Maplins to due their careers failing, most of which were due to the chaos ensued by the aftermath of the Second World War. Other characters consisted of several young men and women who had summer jobs as Yellowcoats, and Peggy Ollerenshaw, an eccentric but ambitious chalet maid who dreamed of becoming a Yellowcoat. Despite regularly receiving 11,00 holidaymakers each year, the camp was closed for good at the end of the 1990 season. The site was later demolished for housing. Triangle TV Series Triangle Triangle was a BBC soap opera in the early 1980s, set aboard a North Sea ferry which sailed between Felixstowe & Gothenburg and Gothenburg & Amsterdam. A third imaginary leg existed between Amsterdam & Felixstowe to make up the program title, but this was not operated by the ferry company. The series ran for three seasons before being cancelled, but is still generally remembered as “some of the most mockable British television ever produced”. The ferry used in the first series was the Tor Line’s MS Tor Scandinavia.

In the second and third series this was replaced by the DFDS vessel Dana Anglia operating from Harwich, probably because she had a less intensive schedule and the longer time she spent in port made on board filming easier. The regular cast, playing the crew, could be joined by a constantly-changing guest cast playing the passengers as the ship sailed to interesting European locations. Advances in portable video cameras and recording equipment meant that the show could be videotaped on board a real ferry with more realism than using studio sets and more cheaply than using 16mm film which was normal for location television drama at the time. Unfortunately the plan was revealed to be flawed almost as soon as shooting began. Shot largely in the North Sea, the inclement weather made the exterior scenes appear gloomy and dull, and far from glamorous. Series 1: 5 January – 1 April 1981: 26 episodes. Series 2: 26 April – 20 July 1982: 26 episodes. Series 3: 5 April – 6 July 1983: 26 episodes Doctor Rudolf Diesel Dr.Rudof Diesel.

In the evening of 29 September 1913, Diesel boarded the post office steamer Dresden in Antwerp on his way to a meeting of the Consolidated Diesel Manufacturing Company in London. He took dinner on board the ship and then retired to his cabin at about 10 p.m., leaving word to be called the next morning at 6:15 a.m. His cabin was found empty during a roll call and he was never seen alive again. A search of his cabin revealed that Diesel’s bed had not been slept in, although his nightshirt was neatly laid out and his watch had been left where he could see it from the bed. His hat and overcoat were discovered neatly folded beneath the afterdeck railing. Ten days later, the crew of the Dutch boat Coertsen came upon the corpse of a man floating in the ocean of the North Sea near Norway. The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was unrecognizable and they did not bring it aboard. Instead, the crew retrieved personal items (pill case, wallet, ID card, pocket knife, eyeglass case) from the clothing of the dead man, and returned the body to the sea.

On 13 October these items were identified by Rudolf’s son, Eugen Diesel, as belonging to his father. There are various theories to explain Diesel’s death. His biographers, such as Grosser (1978) present a case for suicide, and clearly consider it most likely. Conspiracy theories suggest that various people’s business or military interests may have provided motives for homicide, however. Evidence is limited for all explanations. Shortly after Diesel’s disappearance, his wife Martha opened a bag that her husband had given to her just before his ill-fated voyage, with directions that it should not be opened until the following week. She discovered 200,000 German marks in cash and a number of financial statements indicating that their bank accounts were virtually empty. Harwich and Parkeston FC v Pegasus Harwich & Parkeston v Pegasus The club was established in 1877, and reached their first cup final in 1891, losing to Clapton in the final of the Essex Senior Cup. In 1898 they moved to the Royal Oak ground and also reached the final of the FA Amateur Cup, losing 1-0 to Stockton.

However, they did win the Essex Senior Cup, beating Leytonstone. In 1934-35 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup, but lost 3-0 at Bristol Rovers. In 1935 the club became founder members of the Eastern Counties League,and shared the first championship with Lowestoft Town. The following season they reached the FA Cup final in 1937 the club left the Eastern Counties League to play in the Essex County League, which they won at the first attempt, but returned after a single season. In 1938 a record attendance of 5,649 was set during the Amateur Cup quarter final match against Romford. They reached the final of the Amateur Cup in 1953, but lost 6-0 to Pegasus at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 100,000. The following season they reached the FA Cup first round again, but lost 3-2 at home to Headington United.

The first round was reached again in 1961-62 and 1963-64, but the club suffered heavy defeats on both occasions, losing 5-1 at Torquay United and 8-2 at Crystal Palace. In 1964 the club joined Division Two of the Athenian League. Champions in their first season, they were promoted to Division One. After finishing runners-up the following season, the club were promoted to the Premier Division. They remained at that level until 1973, when they switched to Division Two of the Isthmian League. With a third-place finish in 1976-77 they were promoted to Division One, also reaching the first round of the FA Cup again, where they lost 3-0 at home to Enfield in a replay after a 0-0 draw. However, they were relegated in 1979-80 and after finishing bottom in 1982-83 the club dropped into the Athenian League for one season, before returning to the Eastern Counties League.

In 2002-03 they were relegated to Division One of the Eastern Counties League, but finished runners-up in their first season to make an immediate return. They remained in the Premier Division until resigning on 9 February 2010, and subsequently joining the Premier Division of the Essex & Suffolk Border League for the 2010-11 season. The Yangtse Incident The Story of HMS Amethyst is a 1957 British war film that tells the story of the British frigate HMS Amethyst caught up in the Chinese Civil War. Plot HMS Amethyst On 19 April 1949, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst sails up the Yangtze River on her way to Nanking, the Chinese capital, to deliver supplies to the British Embassy. Suddenly, without warning, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) shore batteries open fire and after a heavy engagement, Amethyst lies grounded in the mud and badly damaged. Fifty-four of her crew are dead, dying or seriously wounded while others deteriorate from the tropical heat and the lack of essential medicines.

The local Communist official Colonel Peng (played by Akim Tamiroff) is adamant: either accept responsibility for the entire incident, or the Amethyst will remain his prisoner. After an attempt by HMS Consort to tow Amethyst off the mud bank fails, Lieutenant Commander John Kerans (played by Richard Todd) decides to risk steaming down the Yangtze at night without a pilot or suitable charts. After some subtle alterations to the ship’s outline to try to disguise her, Amethyst slips her cable and headed downriver in the dark following a local merchant ship, which Amethyst uses to show the way through the shoals and distract the PLA. Having finally broken through the boom at the mouth of the river, she sends a signal to HMS Concord: “Have rejoined the fleet south of Woosung … No damage… No casualties….God save the King.” The amethyst was reprieved from the breakers yard to allow producer Herbert Wilcox to use it in the film. Blank ammunition was used and the sound of explosions could be heard from Parkeston, the river Orwell and Stour between Ipswich and Manningtree. Filming at Harwich.

“Under heavy fire” Due to the summer season the film unit and actors were dispersed between Felixstowe, Harwich, Dovercourt and Ipswich. The wardrobe was provided by Bernard’s of Harwich and H.M.S. Ganges Being outside a radius of 50 miles from London the film company took on ‘extras’ locally and, mercifully, as it happened to be Ganges’ leave period, a large number of Chief and Petty Officer instructors and other ratings volunteered, in many cases using their own uniform. A number of ex-naval cutters were bought and converted into junks; these were all sailed by naval ratings. After ten days in the studio a reduced film unit had to return to Harwich on the 5th October to film the Magpie sequences which simulated the Amethyst underway. These included the Trinity House vessel Triton, which was rigged by the Art Department to look like a Chinese river steamer; this was shot at dusk to simulate night. Her ship’s company had to be dressed as coolies, complete with hats. The film was the 15th most popular movie at the British box office in 1957.

Cox’s Pond Cox’s Pond Cox’s Pond is some 150 metres from the High Lighthouse on the Main Road at Harwich, and a plague tells us that it is “a fragment of the ditch that once surrounded Harwich.” It comes as a surprise to find that it was dug out to be a horse pond in 1808, and that for a hundred years or more before that date there had been a Cox’s Pond in what is now St. Nicholas’ churchyard. The original pond was described as a moat or ditch forming part of the defensive earthworks. It was not a horse pond or a watering place for hogs, but it was used for storing timber in the water until it was needed for making masts for ships. The identity of Mr Cox who gave his name to the pond is not known. He may have been the man who used it to store his timber. On January 16th, 1808, a storm tide broke through the sea wall, flooded the Ordnance Buildings to a depth of three feet, and destroyed the old horse pond.

3rd February 1903 the war department agreed to transfer a strip of land ten feet wide round Cox’s Pond to the corporation, for the purpose of making it into an ornamental duck pond with seats for public use. It was no longer needed as a horse pond, for they could be watered at the new Fountain erected a short distance away at the end of West Street. Dateline Diamonds The Chantelles, Parkeston Quay 1965. Dateline Diamonds is a 1966 British music-film. The film was a low-budget B movie and released to support the main feature film Doctor in Clover starring Leslie Phillips. The film’s plot involves an international criminal gang who use the MV Galaxy (the ship which was the home of 1960’s pirate radio station Radio London) to smuggle stolen diamonds from the UK to Amsterdam. The film’s final sequence showing Ray Anton and Pro Forma, Mark Richardson and The Small Faces performing on stage was filmed during a genuine Radio London night at the Rank Ballroom in Watford. The film is supposedly about Radio London, and not a fictitious pirate – it mentions the station by name, and incorporates footage taken aboard the Galaxy.

However, there is little in it to represent the station we all knew and loved. The place where the Chantelles are seen performing in their matching trouser suits is merely a fantasy offshore radio studio created at Pinewood film studios at Denham. It’s huge, roomy and nothing like the cramped conditions on the ships. When land-based characters turn on their trannies, the sound that comes out bears no resemblance to Big L or any of the other offshore stations. The movie might have seemed more realistic had Kenny Everett been given the ‘DJ Drew Meredith’ part, instead of a cameo, playing himself. Exterior locations included Parkeston Quay and Harwich, and the Rank Ballroom in Watford, Herts. ‘Dateline Diamonds’ was shot in the autumn of 1965. Street Names Street and place names in a town are a thing commonly accepted by the inhabitants as a means of identifying a place, or showing where they live. But how many people realise how the streets were so named. Where do you think your own street name came from?. The names can be named after royalty, a famous person, or have a connection with the local community itself.

Here are just a few around Harwich, Dovercourt & Parkeston. Abdy Avenue. Richard Combe Abdy Following the 1920 sale, Michaelstowe Hall was acquired by “Richard Combe Abdy” (1869- 1938), a wealthy businessman with interests in cotton and banking. He also owned property abroad including homes in Alexandria, Egypt, and in Switzerland. During his ownership of Michaelstowe Hall sixty gardeners were employed to help maintain the grounds and there is a well-known tale of Squire Abdy offering £1 to any of his guests who could find a single weed anywhere on the estate. During the 1920s the house and gardens were extensively improved and extended by Mr Abdy who also spent a vast sum on creating a rock garden around the ornamental lake. The grounds were notable for a collection of rare flowering and evergreen shrubs. The gardens were well known throughout the county and the ornamental rock garden around the lake was described as probably the finest in the country. A successful businessman, Mr Abdy began his career at Barings Brothers bank in London.

He later went on to found the National Bank of Egypt, and became chairman of several other Egyptian insurance and investment companies. He was twice president of the British Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. Well known for his good humour and hospitality, his many house guests at Michaelstowe Hall included representatives from Harwich Police, and officers from visiting warships. Boy Scouts and Girl Guides from Harwich were invited to hold annual camps in the grounds. As High Steward of Harwich, Mr Abdy took a valued part in local affairs and one of his civic duties was to open the Dovercourt Band Enclosure on 14 July 1929 (later known as the Cliffs Pavilion). Mr Abdy died in Cairo in March 1938 from heart failure, aged 69. He was unmarried. Adelaide Street ,Parkeston. Adelaide Street. Developed in the mid 1880’s on much the same lines as other Parkeston streets, the name of the street takes its name from the Adelaide, a paddle steamer built in 1880, the first steel constructed vessel at Parkeston and the last paddle steamer.

The street developed on both sides 1883-1885. In 1897 the south west corner of the street provided the site for the local branch of the Co-operative Wholesale Society. Ainger Road, Dovercourt Four generations of the Ainger family were Harwich sawyers working in Cann’s yard and the old naval shipyard in Harwich. Their family had a wood-working business where logs were carted on to the green and left there until they were needed. Then they would be taken across the road to the bungalow, and made into implements for Squire Garland and local farmers. A fair expanse of land was attached to the bungalow, and some of this was sold to make way for the new Dovercourt Bay Estate. The police houses and Ainger-road (named after the family) were built on it. Albermarle Street, Harwich. Albermarle Bertie Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie.1st Baronet, Kcb, was a long-serving and at time controversial officer of the British Royal Navy who saw extensive service in his career but also courted controversy with several of his actions.

Bertie won recognition for unsuccessfully defending his ship against superior odds in the American Revolutionary War. He was later criticized however for failing to close with the enemy at the Glorious First Of June and later for pulling rank on a subordinate officer just days before the capture of the French island of Mauritius and taking credit for the victory. Despite these controversies, Bertie was rewarded for his service with a baronetcy and the Order of the Bath. Bagshaw Road, Dovercourt. John Bagshaw John Bagshaw m.p ,High Steward of the Borough 1842-1849. Former East India merchant who settled in Harwich, who took over the ship yard, and planned to build a new town at lower Dovercourt. He began in 1845 by building a mansion, Cliff House, in the grounds which had become Cliff Park. After his election to parliament in 1847 he took an active part in bringing the railway to Harwich. At the same time W.H.

Lindsey, a London architect produced plans for Dover Court new town, and when a chalybeate spring was discovered in the grounds of cliff house Bagshaw built the spa which opened on the 28th August 1854 and incorporated a library, pump room, and a conservatory which was used as a reading and smoking room. The first building was Orwell Terrace which Bagshaw’s son Robert took up residence at Banksea house at the seaward in in 1857. The slopes from Orwell Terrace to Mill Lane were landscaped, with a grotto, shelters and a Miniature waterfall. Unfortunately this all left Bagshaw in severe financial difficulties and he was declared bankrupt in 1859. He died in 1861 leaving the under Cliff Walk, Orwell Terrace, the east side of Cliff Road, The Cliff Hotel, the Queen’s Head Hotel, Victoria Street, the Spa and the circular facing Waddesdon road, to remind us of his grandiose plans. Canning Street, Harwich. George Canning. George Canning (1770-1827). Canning was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister.

Canning rose quickly in British politics as an effective orator and writer. His speeches in Parliament as well as his essays gave the followers of Pitt a rhetorical power they had previously lacked. Canning’s skills saw him gain leverage within the Petite faction that allowed him influence over its policies along with repeated promotions in the Cabinet. Over time, Canning became a prominent public speaker as well, and was one of the first politicians to campaign heavily in the country. Canning has come to be regarded as a “lost leader”, with much speculation about what his legacy could have been had he lived. Clarkes Road, Dovercourt. Clarkes Road. Parts of Clarkes Road had been built in 1912, but it was not until 1915 until the street be levelled, paved, metaled, flagged, channelled and made good. By the mid-1920s there was housing on both sides of the road. Mr Clarke was a landowner, and Vacuumatic was built on some of the land he sold, including the Clarkes Road area. Coke Street, Harwich.

Sir Edward Coke Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) was an English barrister, judge and, later, opposition politician, who is considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle-class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the Bar on 20 April 1578. As a barrister he took part in several notable cases, including Slade’s Case, before earning enough political favour to be elected to Parliament, where he served first as Solicitor General and then as Speaker of the House of Commons. Edward Coke was born on 1 February 1552 in Mileham, one of eight children. The other seven were daughters – Winifred, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Ursula, Anna, Margaret and Ethelreda – although it is not known in which order the children were born.

Two years after Robert Coke died on 15 November 1561, his widow married Robert Bozoun, a property trader noted for his piety and strong business acumen (once forcing Nicholas Bacon to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a piece of property). He had a tremendous influence on the Coke children; from Bozoun, Coke learnt to “loathe concealers, prefer godly men and briskly do business with any willing client”, something that shaped his future conduct as a lawyer, politician and judge. Edward Street, Parkeston. Edward Saunders (1864-1940) was Alderman and Mayor from 1912-1918. & 1927-1929 The firm of Saunders were well known builders in the area, employing 150 Workers making bricks and tiles. Some of the Buildings that were built by Edward Saunders include. Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Empire Cinema, Harwich County Primary School, St.George;s School, Second Avenue Infants, Brooklyn Road, and Oakland Road. Foster Road, Parkeston.

Foster Road was named after “The Foster Manufacturing Company“, The Corset factory in Foster Road, Parkeston had been located in the old custom house for a good many years. The factory opened before the 1914 war, making ladies corsets, bodices and underwear threaded with ribbon, and suspenders for men and women. When the war started, it made khaki shirts, bandoliers for the ammunition, and hospital garments for the wounded soldiers. Fronks Road, Dovercourt. Fronks Road “Part of Dovercourt from the Green to what is now King’s Road. From the Pound, the Back Street (now Fronks Road) leads to Parsonage Street and Fraunks Lane”. “That part of what is now Fronks Road from the war memorial to Manor Lane was then called the Back Street and Manor Lane which was Parsonage Street.

The Manor House is shown near the junction of Manor Lane and Manor Road.” Fraunks Lane and several fields took their names from a family mentioned in our Court Rolls of the 13th century; one member, Sir William Fraunks, is reputed to have been a merchant and ship owner.” Another theory is, the name originates from an early, if not the first vicar at All Saints Church called Fraunks. Fryatt Avenue, Dovercourt. Capt. Charles Fryatt. Charles Algernon Fryatt (1872-1916) was a British mariner who was executed by the Germans for attempting to ram a U-boat in 1915. When his ship, the SS Brussels, was captured off the Netherlands in 1916, he was court-martialled and sentenced to death although he was a civilian non-combatant. International outrage followed his execution near Bruges, Belgium. In 1919, Fryatt was buried at All Saint’s Church, Upper Dovercourt. His coffin was carried from the station to the church on a gun carriage.

His widow was presented with the insignia of the Belgian Order of Leopold which had been posthumously awarded the Belgian Maritime War Cross. A wing at the old Dovercourt Cottage Hospital – which was known as the Captain Fryatt Memorial Hospital. – was named in Fryatt’s honour. A public house in nearby Parkeston is also named in Captain Fryatt’s honour. Garland Road, Parkeston. Garland Road. Edgar Walter Garland. (1814-1902) was lord of the Manor when the Eastern Union Railway, later the Great Eastern Railway, built the line from Manningtree to Harwich, much of it across land owned by the Garlands. The line opened in 1854. Some twenty years later in 1875 the board of GER decided to build their own quay up river from Harwich. Negotiations with Edgar Garland resulted in a further 50 acres of Ray Island being sold to the Railway Board for this purpose. The docks and the newly created village were named after the Charles H. Parks, chairman of the Great Eastern Railway Company and the new Parkeston Quay opened for shipping in March 1883.

Edgar Garland died without issue in 1902, and was succeeded by his nephew Arthur Nathaniel Garland. Grafton Road, Dovercourt. Grafton Road Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, (1735-1811). Between 1747 and 1757, he was a British Whig statesman of the Georgian era. He became Prime Minister in 1768 at the age of 33, leading the supporters of William Pitt , and was the youngest to have held office until the appointment of William Pitt the Younger 15 years later. However, he struggled to demonstrate an ability to counter increasing challenges to Britain’s global dominance following the nation’s victory in the Seven Year’s War. He was widely attacked for allowing France to annex Corsica, and stepped down in 1770 handing over power to Lord North. He first became known in politics as an opponent of Lord Bute, a favourite of King George III.

Grafton aligned himself with the Duke of Newcastle against Lord Bute, whose term as Prime Minister was short-lived largely because it was felt that the peace terms to which he had agreed at the Treaty of Paris were not a sufficient return for Britain’s performance in the Seven Years War. Gwynne Road, Dovercourt. Gwynnes Limited was a City of London England engineering business, iron founders and pump makers founded in 1849 to capitalise on the centrifugal pump invented by James Gwynne (1804–1850). Mr J.E.A.Gwyne was a civil engineer who gave the site for St.Augustine’s Church at Dovercourt and persistently complained of the lack off sewers. Hamilton Street, Parkeston. Hamilton Street Hamilton street was named after the iron hulled paddler and also the chairman of the Great Eastern Railway – Lord Claud Hamilton, (1843-1925). The Paddle steamer was a favourite of the company and passengers alike. she lasted longer than later steamers of the fleet and served on the GER Continental route from Harwich. She is credited with enhancing the popularity of this service as she was large, comfortable and well appointed.

Her well balanced lines graced the East Coast and English Channel for 22 years, when she was the Company’s last steamer on the route. She was sold to the Corporation of the City of London for the somewhat humbler purpose of transporting cattle to the Deptford Foreign Cattle Market from Gravesend as the large foreign cattle boats could not travel as far as the market in Deptford, because the waters were too shallow for them to navigate the River Thames at that point. She lasted until 1914 when she was sold to Dutch ship breakers for breaking up. Hordle Street, Dovercourt Reverend. William Hordle former minister of the independent chapel in George Street. Laurel Avenue, Dovercourt. Laurel Shrub, Known as laurel by the Greeks who wore it as a garland round their heads. Also known as Bay laurel and Sweet bay. One of the most versatile herbs, Bay laurel can be grown as a tall evergreen tree with its glossy foliage or in containers often as standard. Hardy to around -7C. Another great advantage of a container bay laurel is that it can be a houseplant in the winter.

The leaves are used in the French herb mixture ‘bouquet garni’ and it is often used to flavour stews and meat dishes. Lee Road, Dovercourt. Lee Road. “Henry Lee” was born on the 31st of August, 1823, and was the eldest son of Mr Henry Lee, who died in 1867, senior partner of the firm of Henry Lee and Son. The firm was originally John and Henry Lee, builders and contractors, of Chiswell Street, Finsbury; After Henry Senior’s death, his two sons, Henry and John, took over the running of the firm. Among other contracts carried out by the firm during Mr. Henry Lee’s connection, Harwich breakwater ; deepening Harwich harbour ; extension of sea-wall to Dovercourt ; sea-wall, groyne, and parade. After Henry Lee went bankrupt Lee Road was completed by the Chelmsford Land Company. Nelson Road, Dovercourt.

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB (1758 -1805) was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of decisive naval victories. He was wounded several times in combat, losing one arm and the sight in one eye. Of his several victories, the best known and most notable was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during which he was shot and killed. Parkeston Road, Parkeston. Parkeston Road. The Port was named Parkeston Quay, after “Charles H. Parkes“, Chairman of the GER. The existing railway line was re-routed to pass through the port, Most of the terraced housing in Parkeston was built for railway employees and some of the streets in the village have names that can be theoretically linked to the shipping and general activities of the railway. There can be very few examples of a village created by a railway company to house the company’s workers for their very extensive railway and shipping services.

The railway operation also including a locomotive shed and very extensive marine workshops to service the fleet of vessels based on the port. That fleet c Pepys Street Pepys Street Samuel Pepys had been made a freeman, and with Sir Anthony Deane, was elected in 1679 as a Member of Parliament to represent the borough at Westminster. Their election was surprisingly easy in view of their close association with the King’s brother James, Duke of York, at the Admiralty, for he was a central figure in the fierce anti-Catholic feeling aroused by the Popish Plot of Titus Oates. Both Pepys and Deane had been sent to the Tower of London in May 1679 charged with selling naval secrets. They were released on bail and eventually cleared in June 1680. Pepys and Deane had been returned for Harwich at the election which followed the death of Charles II in 1685 but the fact that they served James when others were preparing to betray him meant the end of their careers in Parliament and at the Admiralty.

Rebow Road Sir Isaac Rebow descended from Flemish Protestant refugees and the grandson of a weaver, Rebow made a fortune in the clothing industry, becoming one of the leading men in Colchester, for which he was returned at the Revolution as a Whig. He was knighted by William III, who used to stay at his house on the way to and from Harwich. Re-elected in 1715, he consistently supported the Government. Defeated in 1722, he petitioned, but though twice renewed his petition was not heard. He died 6 Sept. 1726, leaving the bulk of his estates to his grandson, Isaac Lemyng Rebow. Tyler Street, Parkeston Named after “The Lady Tyler” a paddle steamer operating out of Parkeston Quay. 1880-1893. Una Road, Parkeston. Named after the daughter of the vicar of Ramsey. Vansittart Street, Harwich. Nicholas Vansittart. was born on 29 April 1766 in Old Burlington Street, London.

He was the fifth son of Henry Vansittart (1732-1770), governor of Bengal, by Emilia, daughter of Nicholas Morse, governor of Madras. On his father being lost at sea in 1770, Nicholas was placed under the guardianship of his uncles, Sir Robert Palk and Arthur Vansittart. On 16 June 1814 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. High Steward of Harwich 1823-1836 and was one of the longest-serving Chancellors of the Exchequer in British history. William Bleakley Mews. Named after the late Bill Bleakley, who served as a Tendring District Councilor for many years representing the Harwich Wards, he was also a former Mayor between 1970-1971 served as High Steward for Harwich for 25 years. Mr. Bleakley passed away in 2007. Su Online ï¿½ The Hi-de-Hi! Scrapbook Hi-de-Hi! - The Scripts (BBC Books 1983) "Hi-de-Hi! readers!

Welcome to Maplin's. For the benefit of newcomers, there's Jeffrey Fairbrother, the entertainments manager, who used to be a professor at Cambridge. There's Ted Bovis, your camp host, his assistant, Spike Dixon, and Mr Partridge, the Punch-and-Judy man. There's Fred Quilly, who looks after the horses, and Yvonne and Barry Stuart-Hargreaves, the stuck-up ballroom dancers. There's scatter-brained Peggy, the chalet maid, and, of course, there's Gladys Pugh, the chief yellowcoat. Finally, there's someone you haven't seen on your screens, Charley Binns, the senior camper, who knows all the secrets of Maplin's. He tells you about the night Jeffrey and Gladys were trapped in the Three Bears' Cottage, about how Ted raised the money for his wife's alimony, about the Most Popular Girl Yellowcoat Competition and many other things. With this book in your pocket your holiday is bound to be a happy one. And if you read it at home you'll think that you are on holiday. So Hi-He-Hi! readers!

Welcome back to Maplin's!" Right: Signed picture of Jeffrey Holland, aka Spike Dixon. Hi-de-Hi! - The Holiday Musical Escape From Maplins! So you think life is one big holiday for the stars of Hi-de-Hi! Well think again. The Maplins mob has been so successful, it's going to be a long time before they can get away from it all. After spending the summer packing them in at Bournemouth's Pavilion Theatre, they will start work on a new TV series. On top of that there is talk of appearing in the West End - and even a tour to Australia. That means that on the rare occasions they do get a break, the stars of the show steer well clear of holiday camps... Simon Cadell Camp manager Jeffrey Fairbrother spends his working life dealing with people - but Simon just wants to get away from it all. "I just love to escape to a friend's farm in the French Alps," he says. "Last year I crashed out for four glorious weeks just resting in his peaceful vineyards, drinking wine and eating toast and pate. I don't like crowds, and would rather be with people I know, getting brown beside a private pool rather than a public beach.

"Some evenings we'd drive down to the coast and have marvellous meals, looking out over the Mediterranean. "That's as far from Maplins as you can get!" Paul Shane The man who plays Maplin's resident comic Ted Bovis always takes his holidays lying down. He can usually be found flat on his back in his Scarborough garden, somewhere among the weeds. "That's because I'm terrified of flying - and hate weeding," he says. "Years ago I flew to the Shetlands in something more like a paraffin budgie than a plane. It took off on its knees and it had a thatched propellor. I never thought I'd get out alive - and the experience put me off for life." Paul's had no better luck with other forms of transport. "Last year we thought we really would try to get away and so the wife and I took a coach to the south of France. "It was agony. Doris and I clambered out 24 hours later, both looking like the elephant man. All our limbs had swollen up and we could only shamble about. "I'd love to go to the Bahamas. That's a spot I want to lie all over.

But it's a long flight - and a long way to walk back if anything goes wrong." So if you want to find Paul and Doris, try home first. Ruth Madoc It's no surprise that the girl who plays amorous Gladys Pugh likes putting herself about a bit. "I like an active holiday, know what I mean?" she says. "I've got ants in my pants. Can't sit still for five minutes at a time. "I've got to be doing things. You know, climbing mountains, swimming in the sea, chattering to anyone who'll listen." For the last two years Ruth and husband John have shot off to Tenerife in March to get the sun. "I love the sun - it's so rejuvenating." says Ruth. "John insists we stay in a hotel because he says I work so hard I need a complete rest. "Secretly, though I'd rather like to do some cooking and I wouldn't mind a self-catering holiday in the Canaries next time. "I'd love to travel to the Far East - India, Singapore, Hong Kong - fascinating places. "But John did all that in the army, and he's not keen.

"I think he's a bit afraid his past will catch up with him if I start poking around too closely out there!" The man behind ballroom dancer Barry Stuart-Hargreaves says he goes wild on holidays. "I really do, it's all so invigorating!" And he's full of his great new holiday discovery - Florida. "I was so fed up with Spanish holiday hotels," he says. "The constant sounds of drills and hammering as new buildings shoot up all the time." "But the very thought of America terrified me. I'd imagined them brash and loud-mouthed, while I'm such a typical Englishman. Then I tried it. "Florida is just magic and the American people are really beautifully kind. I toured the Everglades, saw the alligators - and ordered myself a matching handbag and shoes. "Best of all I discovered Disney World. That really is a place for all children over the age of 30 - and I just squeeze into that category. "I tried all the rides and want to go on them all again. There is so much to wonder at, you can't take it all in at once.

A bit like my performance in the show, dear." Su Pollard Dotty chalet maid Peggy is a fixture at Maplins, but Su likes to get right away from the british seaside. "I can't swim so I don't spend any time in the sea," she says. "For the last two years I've travelled with a friend in Crete. We've gone walking in the mountains, meeting the Greeks who are ever so friendly. It was magic. "There was plenty of nightlife too. I like a bit of a dance but, most of all, I like to chat into the small hours and drink some of the old village wine." "Maplins could do with a bit more of that. Get the old knobbly knees really knocking that would." SAY HI-DE-HI TO TED AND THE GANG It's three years since the Hi-De-Hi! stars said By-De-Bye to campers. Some of them are making us laugh in You Rang, M'Lord?, but what happened to the rest of the Maplin's staff? Steve Clark reports. TED BOVIS Paul Shane landed his role as holiday camp comic Ted Bovis after Hi-De-Hi!

writer Jimmy Perry spotted him making a cameo appearance in Coronation Street with Elsie Tanner in Alf Robert's shop. 'Hi-De-Hi! was seven years of bliss,' says Paul, who has worked in cabaret as a stand-up comedian and a singer. As well as playing butler Alfred Strokes in You Rang, M'Lord?, Paul also starred as a dodgy theatrical agent in the ITV comedy Very Big, Very Soon, and will appear with Hi-De-Hi! co-star Su Pollard in Dick Whittington at Sheffield this Christmas. Paul, 51 and his wife Dory have three daughters, Janice, Andrea and Gillian. JEFFREY Simon Cadell had us all in stitches as Maplin's Entertainment's Manager Jeffrey Fairbrother, always fighting off the affections of Gladys Pugh. Since leaving the show in 1986 (when he was replaced by David Griffin as Squadron Leader Clive Dempster) Simon has appeared in a string of TV hits including Blott On The Landscape, Life Without George, About Face and Singles, and on stage he has appeared in Hamlet, Blithe Spirit, Noel And Gertie and Don't Dress For Dinner.

Simon, 41, who lives in North London with his wife Rebecca and sons Patrick and Alec, is also one of Britain's top voice artists and his smooth tones provide the background to many of television's most popular commercials. BARRY Barry Howard is amazed that he's still recognised as ballroom dancer Barry Stuart-Hargreaves, even though he left the show more than four years ago. He was replaced by Ben Aris, who played Julian, a former pig farmer. 'People have such tremendous memories,' Barry smiles. He was axed from the series in 1986 and admits: 'Drink was the problem. I was bevvying it up too much but I'm teetotal now.' He's currently playing the narrator in a national tour of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. 'I'm loving every moment,' he says, 'I'm a bit of a father figure.' Barry, 54, who lives in Bournemouth, is due to play the Dame opposite Ronnie Corbett in Jack And The Beanstalk at Bromley, Kent this Christmas. SYLVIA Nikki Kelly, 38, played leggy Yellowcoat Sylvia. She has worked mainly in theatres since and also teaches drama to children.

She is currently directing the musical Bugsy Malone at a stage school. At Christmas she'll appear as the Wicked Queen in Snow White at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. BETTY Rikki Howard, 37, who played Yellowcoat Betty, lives in West London and is married to a French businessman. She does some occasional acting, including TV commercials, but devotes most of her time to her two daughters Lalle, six, and Tiana, four. RAMONA Jean Lear was the organ playing Yellowcoat Ramona. She lives in Norwich and teaches piano and organ. Jean and husband Rex also work as television extras and have appeared in many shows including The Chief, Lovejoy and the PD James Mysteries. PEGGY Su Pollard, who played madcap chalet maid Peggy, describes Hi-De-Hi! simply as 'the biggest break in my entire life.' Since the series ended Su, 42, has hosted the TV game show Take The Plunge and is currently appearing with Simon Cadell in the West End farce Don't Dress For Dinner. She's also on screen in You Rang, M'Lord? Next year she hopes to take her one-woman show to Australia and New Zealand.

GLADYS When Ruth Madoc, who played lovesick Gladys Pugh, married her second husband John Jackson nine years ago her pals from Hi-De-Hi! were there to wish her well. 'It was great having them there with us,' says Ruth. 'I'm very proud of the show because its standard was maintained from beginning to end. People still ask me why the BBC decided to take it off the air. 'I've done a lot of different characters since Hi-De-Hi!, not particularly to get Gladys out of my hair but to make sure I could still do it for myself.' Her many theatre appearances include the musical Gypsy, Nightclub Confidential and A Taste Of Honey. She is currently in the BBC1 series An Actor's Life For Me, and at Christmas will star as the Wicked Witch in Jack And The Beanstalk at Stevenage. Ruth, 47, lives in Cambridge with her husband, parents and daughter Lowri, 17. She also has a son Rhys, 24. The children are from her first marriage to actor Phillip Madoc. FRED THE JOCKEY Playing Fred the jockey in Hi-De-Hi!

meant a rare appearance on screen for Felix Bowness. For comedian Felix is actually one of Britain's top warm-up men, whose job it is to get the studio audience falling about laughing before the live recording of shows such as Hi-De-Hi!. In recent years he has warmed-up for The Russ Abbot Show, Singles, The Noel Edmonds Roadshow, You Rang, M'Lord? and Wogan. 'I'd had a little bit of TV work before Hi-De-Hi!, but no one ever knew me,' says Felix. 'Doing the show was brilliant. They were the happiest years of my life.' In addition to his warm-ups, Felix, who says he's the 'wrong side of 59,' makes regular after dinner speeches and plays a grocer in You Rang, M'Lord?. 'I am very busy,' he says. 'But I can't say no when work comes in. I ought to take it easier but I'm just as keen as ever.' Felix now lives in Berkshire with his wife Mavis. Their son Robert is a policeman. THE TWINS David and Tony Valentine Webb starred as the Yellowcoats, Stanley and Bruce.

'We perform in real holiday camps, keeping Hi-De-Hi! alive wit hour Happy Campers Show with Felix Bowness,' says freelance broadcaster David, 45, who lives in Suffolk. Tony, the older by ten minutes, lives in Essex. Both are married. TRACEY Gail Harrison played Yellowcoat Tracey and left to star in the C4 comedy Brass as Isobel. She has also appeared in Return Of The Antelope, Come Back, Game, Set and Match, Only Fools And Horses and The Lisa Maxwell Show. SPIKE Many of Jeffrey holland's memories of Hi-De-Hi! involve being very cold and wet. For, as Maplin's funnyman Spike Dixon, Jeffrey was frequently thrown into water. 'I remember a very unpleasant day in the middle of October when I had to end up in the swimming pool,' recalls Jeffrey. 'I was dressed in a bathing suit with a balloon and a blonde wig. 'It was so cold that my legs started to go numb. I knew if I didn't get out they'd have had to pull me out!' Three years after Jimmy Perry and David Croft's series finished, Jeffrey is still recognised as Ted Bovis's hapless sidekick.

'I was on the tube the other day and these guys shouted "Hello Spike, Hi-De-Hi!",' he says. He has since starred in other television comedy series including You Rang, M'Lord? and The Russ Abbot Show, and on stage in Run For Your Wife. This Christmas, Jeffrey, who lives in Somerset with his wife Eleanor and children Lucy, 18, and Sam, 15, will star as Widow Twanky in Aladdin at the New Theatre, Cardiff. YVONNE People who met Diane Holland when she wasn't playing prim and proper ballroom dancer Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves usually got a shock. 'People expected me to be snooty and I hope I'm not like that atall,' she laughs. At the height of Hi-De-Hi!'s fame Diane became a forces sweetheart. 'Somebody had written from the Falklands asking for pictures of me and it snowballed.' Now 60, Diane is to appear in a new BBC comedy series Grace And Favour, and has also appeared in The Upper Hand, and the TV film Lace II and Bergerac. Diane, who is unmarried and lives in Surrey, trained as a dancer.

She will be playing a maiden aunt in Nutcracker at Covent Garden this Christmas. MR PARTRIDGE Veteran actor Leslie Dwyer found fame late in life as Maplin's miserable Punch And Judy man Mr Partridge. Although Hi-De-Hi! made a star of Leslie, he had actually appeared in more than 100 films including the classics The Way Ahead and In Which We Serve. In 1985 ill health forced him to quit Hi-De-Hi! and he died a year later, aged 80. His character was not continued, but to balance the show Kenneth Connor joined as Uncle Sammy, a tramp who had become a children's entertainer. Kenneth, star of 17 Carry On films, has since appeared in Blackadder the Third, You Rang, M'Lord?, Made In Heaven and Norbert Smith - A Life, and is recording a new series of 'Allo,' Allo. Now in his early 70s, Kenneth lives in London with his wife Margaret. GARY Former boxer Chris Andrews - Yellowcoat Gary - now travels the world as a bodyguard to pop stars, including Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Jason Donovan and Chris De Burgh.

Chris, 46, who lives in Surrey, once played the Artful Dodger in a stage show of the musical Oliver!, taking over from Monkees star Davey Jones.

Question: What is the name of the holiday camp in the UK television series ‘Hi De Hi’?
Answer: Maplins