Harry 'Buster' Merryfield
Born	Harry Merryfield 27 November 1920 Battersea, London, England
Died	23 June 1999 (aged 78) Poole, Dorset, England

Harry 'Buster' Merryfield (b. November 27, 1920 - d. June 23, 1999) was an English actor who became a national institution after joining the hit BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses in 1984, as the former seafaring Albert Gladstone Trotter, known as Uncle Albert. The character effectively took over the role of senior citizen member of the irrepressible Trotter family from Lennard Pearce who played Grandad, Uncle Albert being Grandad Trotter's globetrotting long-lost brother. Image File history File links Albert1. ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Battersea is a place in the London Borough of Wandsworth. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ... Poole is a coastal town, port and tourist destination, situated on the shores of the English Channel, in the ceremonial county of Dorset in southern England. ... Dorset (pronounced DOR-sit or [dɔ.sət], and sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the south-west of England, on the English Channel coast. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... A comedy is a dramatic performance of a light and amusing character, usually with a happy conclusion to its plot. ... Only Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast in the UK between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003. ... Albert Gladstone Trotter (1920-1999) was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. ... Lennard Pearce (February 9, 1915- December 15, 1984) was an English actor who mostly worked in theatre. ... Edward Kitchener Trotter (1909-1985 Peckham Rye), known better as simply Grandad, was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses from 1981-1985. ... Albert Gladstone Trotter (1920-1999) was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. ...

Born in Battersea, South London, England, Merryfield attended Sir Walter St John's Grammar School and served with the Royal Artillery in World War II as a physical training and jungle warfare instructor. He served in South Africa and India and was commissioned as a lieutenant. As sports and entertainments officer he organized shows for the troops and it is believed that this is where his passion for acting originated. However, it was to be many years before he became a professional actor at the age of 57, after working for the Westminster Bank (later the National Westminster Bank) for nearly 40 years. Battersea is a place in the London Borough of Wandsworth. ... South London area South London (known colloquially as South of the River) is the area of London south of the River Thames. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... RGA redirects here. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... National Westminster Bank Plc, or NatWest, is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom which has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc since 2000. ...

Before turning professional Merryfield was a keen amateur actor and director. His productions of John Osborne's The Entertainer, The World-My Canvas by Ruth Dixon and A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller, for the now defunct amateur theatre group The Characters, won Best Play at the Woking Drama Festival in 1966, 1968 and 1969 respectively.^[1] He also won the Best Actor trophy for his roles in The Entertainer and The World-My Canvas.^[2] John James Osborne (December 12, 1929 – December 24, 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and critic of the Establishment. ... A View from the Bridge is a play by Arthur Miller originally produced as a one-act verse drama on Broadway in 1955. ... Arthur Bob Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. ...

He always prided himself on his fitness, following a strict fitness regime of daily press-ups and swimming sessions. Unlike his TV character, forever replenishing his mariner's pipe, Merryfield never smoked. His efforts to stay fit could be traced back to his time as a child boxing star in the 1930s. He was British schoolboy champion in 1936 and Southern Command army champion in 1945. He also had a brief spell as a professional footballer with Millwall F.C. although he only played one full first team game for The Lions. Millwall Football Club are an English professional football team based at the New Den Stadium in Bermondsey, South East London. ...

In 1997 he fell over at the British Comedy Awards whilst walking up to the stage to collect an award for David Jason for his part in Only Fools and Horses. Despite cutting his forehead, he soldiered on and collected the award. The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. ...

He is known for Uncle Albert's catchphrase of "During the war..."

He died, aged 78, in June 1999, as a result of a brain tumour. He was survived by Iris, his wife of 57 years. A brain tumor is any mass created by an abnormal and uncontrolled growth of cells either found in the brain (neurons, glial cells, epithelial cells, myelin producing cells, etc. ...

Appeared in

• Only Fools and Horses
• Shroud for a Nightingale
• Strangers and Brothers
• The Citadel
• The Entertainer (play)

Only Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast in the UK between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003. ... Strangers and Brothers is a series of novels by C.P.Snow, published between 1940 and 1974. ... The Citadel is a novel by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937, turned into a 1938 film, with two 1960 US and another 1983 BBC television adaptations. ...

External links

• Buster Merryfield at Find A Grave

Find A Grave is an online database of seventeen million cemeteries and burial records. ...

Notes

1. ^ Woking Drama Festival - Best Play
2. ^ Woking Drama Festival - Best Actor