Thursday, 11 February 2021, 6:33 am
The name Arnold Ridley will be familiar to many viewers
of ‘Dad’s Army’, one of Britain’s best-loved TV
comedies, which ran a long time ago (1968-1977) but is still
shown on prime time BBC TV.
Ridley played Private
Godfrey, the loveable, most doddery member of a Second World
War platoon of elderly Home Guard troops tasked
with defending a stretch of the British coast ‘from the
Novelty Rock Emporium to Stone’s Amusement
Arcade’.
Godfrey would typically interrupt
preparations to repel Nazi stormtroopers with observations
such as, ‘My sister Dolly makes very nice cucumber
sandwiches.’ It was lovely, gentle humour, contrasting the