[1] Percival was born in Sevenoaks, Kent,[2] and was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset, where he learnt to play the guitar.

He also appeared in his own BBC TV comedy series Lance at Large (also 1964), with writers Peter Tinniswood and David Nobbs.

[9] He starred alongside Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson and Jeremy Kemp in the musical film Darling Lili (1970) and also appeared in There's a Girl in My Soup.

Also in 1970, he appeared in a rare dramatic role in the war film Too Late the Hero starring Michael Caine and Cliff Robertson.

On 14 December 1970, he was involved in a fatal three-car crash in his Jaguar XJ on a notorious stretch of the A20, south of Farningham, Kent, known as Death Hill.

[12] Percival accepted liability for the accident and in a legal action that reached the Court of Appeal he paid a total of £35,781 in damages to his two passengers and to the widow and the two children of the driver who was killed (equivalent to £400,000 in 2023).