Goodbye to a likely lad and a lovely man

FAREWELL Rodney Bewes, pictured, the Likely Lad who passed away yesterday at the age of 79. His performance in the beloved sitcom made him something of a workingclass hero but he was also a fixture of the London scene, and a regular at The Garrick and Chelsea Arts Club. When found there, he had an anecdote for every occasion.

Back in the 1960s Bewes was st arring in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Ralph Richardson. Richardson, up there with the greats John Gielgud andLaurence Olivier, had top billing, playing

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NICK Hytner and Nick Starr’s new Bridge Theatre had some teething problems last night as technical failures meant the performance of Young Marx had to be abandoned. Rory Kinnear, who plays Marx, explained to the audience Bewes’s Flute. How to impress? Bewes bought an old Rolls- Royce and parked it outside the theatre, where Richardson soon spotted it.

“I’d love a spin in your car, dear boy,” Richardson said.

“Delighted, sir,” Bewes replied obligingly, buoyed by hopes of a new friendship, and proposed they meet the next day at noon. “Where to sir?” Bewes asked.

“The Athenaeum,” Richardson said. “Come back for me at 2.30.”

Bewes also had problems in his film career. “There’s an M&S in South End Green where the cinema used to be,” he recalled in 2 0 0 9. “I was sacked from there for screening the first reel of The Tr i a l s o f Ad o l f Eichmann upside down.”

RIP Rodney!

just before the interval that they were experiencing “technical difficulties”. An interval was called and the audience waited a further 30 minutes before being told the show was cancelled. Some rather bad reviews ensued on Twitter.