Norman Painting

He was found to be medically unfit for military service in the Second World War, and studied English at the University of Birmingham instead, graduating with a first-class degree.

He became a script writer for the series in 1966, following in the footsteps of Edward J. Mason, Geoffrey Webb, David Turner and John Keir Cross.

Artistic disagreements with a then editor, plus a general disillusionment with the BBC management, led him to retire from writing scripts in 1982 and to stick to just performing them.

Perhaps his most famous moment occurred on 22 September 1955, when his wife, Grace Archer (née Fairbrother), was killed while trying to rescue a horse, Midnight, from a burning barn – the episode being transmitted on first day of ITV broadcasts.

Painting suffered from poor health in later life, with several heart attacks in 1982 and later pancreatitis, a retinal detachment, and prostate surgery.

He left his recordings, scripts, books, papers and letters to the University of Birmingham, and they are currently held at the Cadbury Research Library.