Ian Lavender (born 16 February 1946) is a film and television actor best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army. February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The stupid boy Private Frank Pike is a fictional junior bank clerk and Home Guard platoon member portrayed by Ian Lavender on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-On-Sea during World War Two. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of £4 billion. ... Dads Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. ...

Born in Birmingham, England, Lavender went straight from school to the Bristol Old Vic Drama School, with the assistance of a grant from the City of Birmingham. He quickly made his mark as a talented young actor and following his graduation in 1967 appeared on stage in Canterbury. His first television appearance was as the lead in an ATV play entitled "Flowers at my Feet" in 1968. The city from above Centenary Square. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... St Peters St, Canterbury, from the West Gate, 1993 Canterbury (Latin: Duroverum) is a cathedral city in the county of Kent in southeast England. ... Associated TeleVision Limited, later ATV Network and best known simply as ATV, was a British ITV company from 1955 until 1981. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

Shortly afterwards, he was cast as Private Pike, the youngest member and 'stupid boy' of the platoon in Dad's Army. This made him a household name and gave him the great advantage of working alongside a number of experienced and distinguished actors during his formative years, helping him to hone his acting skills. He appeared in the entire run of the series and in the spinoff film, made in 1971. He still takes part in occasional fan conventions and cast reunions. Dads Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ...

Since Dad's Army, Lavender spent most of his career in the theatre, most notably in a production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice alongside Dustin Hoffman. Between 1971 and 1973 Lavender joined Dad's Army castmate Arthur Lowe on the BBC radio comedy Parsley Sidings. He also appeared in films and television series, one of which featured him starring alongside Peter Jones. During the 1970s he appeared as a supporting actor in a number of British "low farce" films, including one Carry On film - Carry On Behind (1975). He was reunited with the Dad's Army scriptwriters David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd in 1977 for the television series Come Back Mrs Noah, though it was not particularly successful. 1978's The Glums proved rather more satisfactory, being a recreation of the characters from the popular Take It From Here radio series, written by its original writers Frank Muir and Denis Norden. He appeared in Granada Television's 1990 television game show Cluedo, based on the eponymous board game. William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... Title page of the first quarto (1600) The Merchant of Venice is one of William Shakespeares best-known plays, written sometime between 1594 and 1597. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Arthur Lowe (September 22, 1915—April 15, 1982) was a British actor. ... Parsley Sidings was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Jim Eldridge and with actors Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender and who were starring in the television war sitcom Dads Army at the time of broadcast, as well as Kenneth Connor of Carry On fame. ... Peter Jones in an episode of Rumpole of the Bailey Peter Jones (June 12, 1920 – April 10, 2000) was an English actor, born at Wem in Shropshire. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... The Carry On films were a long-running series of British popular low-budget comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. ... Carry On Behind is a 1975 film in the British Carry On series of comedies. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... David Croft (born September 7, 1922 in Sandbanks, United Kingdom) is a writer, producer and actor. ... Jeremy Lloyd (born 1932) is an English actor and scriptwriter, best known as the co-author of several successful British sitcoms. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Come Back, Mrs Noah was a short-lived BBC1-series broadcasted between 13 December 1977 (pilot) and 14 August 1978 written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Take It From Here was BBC radio comedy programme starring Jimmy Edwards, a moustached comedian; Dick Bentley, an Australian; and Joy Nicholls, later to replaced by June Whitfield. ... Take It From Here (often referred to as TIFH, pronounced tife) was a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1947 and 1958. ... Frank Muir (5 February 1920 - 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. ... Denis Norden (born 1922) is a British comedy writer and television presenter. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the year. ... A game show involves members of the public or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, playing a game, perhaps involving answering quiz questions, for points or prizes. ... Cluedo was a television game show in the United Kingdom and Australia based on the board game of the same name. ... Cluedo (Clue in North America) is a crime fiction board game originally published by Waddington Games, UK in 1948. ...

Lavender has since appeared in several other comedy shows including two episodes of Yes Minister, as Dr Richard Cartwright, and the shortlived The Hello Goodbye Man, as the inept salesman Denis Ailing. He went on to play Derek Harkinson for some years in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, and also had a bit-part as a burglar alarm salesman in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. Yes, (prime) minister: Sir Humphrey Appleby, James Jim Hacker, Bernard Woolley Yes, Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister are British sitcoms about the struggle between (Dr) James Jim Hacker (played by Paul Eddington), the government minister of the (fictional) Department of Administrative Affairs (and later as Prime Minister) and... Derek Harkinson was a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. ... The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television... EastEnders is a popular BBC television soap opera, first broadcast on BBC1 on 19 February 1985[2] and continuing to date. ... Keeping Up Appearances was a British sitcom, which ran on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995. ...

He made a memorable appearance in Goodnight Sweetheart as two different parallel universe versions of the time-travelling lead character's son Michael. Nicholas Lyndhurst and Elizabeth Carling Goodnight Sweetheart was a British sitcom that was broadcast between 1993 and 1999 starring Nicholas Lyndhurst, in which Lyndhursts character Gary Sparrow comes across a time portal in the East End of London which allows him to travel between the modern day and World...

Lavender successfully fought off cancer of the bladder in the 1980s and in 2004 cut down his workload after suffering a mild heart attack. Bladder cancer refers to any of several types of malignant growths of the urinary bladder. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A myocardial infarction occurs when an atherosclerotic plaque slowly builds up in the inner lining of a coronary artery and then suddenly ruptures, totally occluding the artery and preventing blood flow downstream. ...

He is currently touring with The Rocky Horror Show musical. He plays the narrator. The Rocky Horror Show is a long running stage musical (in London initially, on June 16, 1973) which inspired the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show. ...

Trivia

Lavender supports Aston Villa F.C. When filming began on Dad's Army, Lavender was allowed to choose Frank Pike's scarf from an array in the BBC wardrobe, and chose a claret and blue one - Aston Villa's colours. Aston Villa Football Club play at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham, England. ...

On the 26 October 2006, Lavender was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law by the University of East Anglia at a ceremony conferring Suffolk College degrees held at Trinity Park, Suffolk.

External links

• Ian Lavender at the Internet Movie Database