A Son of the Rock

Welsh rugby legend -and one of the best rugby players I have ever seen – Barry John, died last week. Despite only winning twenty-five caps (and five more test appearances as a British and Irish Lion) his status as one of the best rugby players of all time is secure. He seemed to be able to glide past opponents as if they weren’t there and was also able to kick accurately from either foot.

Sadly the attention he gained from his fame laid on his mind and he retired from rugby aged only 27.

This film clip contains footage of John in action:-

Barry John: 6/1/1945 – 4/2/2024. So it goes.

Hard on the heels of the news of John’s death came the announcement that the last surviving major cast member of the incomparable BBC comedy series Dad’s Army, Ian Lavender, had also passed away.

Though he made many other film and TV appearances he will be mainly remembered for playing the “stupid boy,” Private Pike, a role which probably overshadowed the rest of his acting career. This sequence contains probably the best joke in the whole run of Dad’s Army. It captured superbly both Pike’s naive exuberance and Captain Mainwaring’s unthinking bumptiousness.

Lavender also had a part in the 2016 film of Dad’s Army as Brigadier Pritchard, a very different character to Private Pike.

Arthur Ian Lavender: 16/2/1946 – 2/2/2024. So it goes