The mystery of Jason King’s wig

IN hIs guise as Jason King — a thriller writer who solved crimes the police were unable to crack — seventies tV star Peter Wyngarde, who died this week aged 90, was so magnificently coiffured and flamboyantly dressed that he inspired mike myers to create the spoof character Austin Powers.

But much about Wyngarde was very different from the image he projected. ‘his Jason King hair was a wig,’ says actor and producer marc sinden, son of sir Donald sinden, who became a lifelong friend of Wyngarde after a year-long theatrical tour in his company.

‘he used to wear very, very clever wigs,’ explains sinden, who adds that at one stage Wyngarde went in for a ‘ridiculous’ hair transplant. ‘he ran out of money halfway through, so only half of it was done. eventually he decided to shave it all off and wear a baseball cap. he was a lovely, lovely man.’