Ronnie Barker

Ronnie Barker OBE (born September 25 1929) is a British comic actor, now retired. His best-known appearances were as Ronnie Corbett's partner in the long-running TV variety show The Two Ronnies and as Fletch in the sitcom Porridge. He began his broadcasting career with a variety of minor characters in The Navy Lark, a navy based sit-com on the BBC Light Programme, still available on tape and frequently rerun on BBC 7. He performed many satirical skits in The Frost Report and starred with David Jason as a bumbling aristocrat in the TV sit-com "Hark at Barker". Both he and Jason are widely recognised as having an excellent sense of comic timing and delivery, which accounts for their enduring popularity. Jason apeared in several episodes of Porridge, and co-starred as the assistant to Barker's stuttering shopkeeper in the sitcom Open All Hours, written by Roy Clarke (who also wrote Last of the Summer Wine).

Barker briefly came out of retirement to play Winston Churchill's butler - a "straight" role, but with opportunities for comic asides - in the BBC drama The Gathering Storm (?2001) confirm year?