...And it's Goodnight from that HP

 

I'm thinking of doing a regular slot on The Gas Spanner called something like "famous ex-hospital porter of the week". The latest addition to this most illustrious hall of fame is the comedy actor Ronnie Barker. (I must thank my friend and Spanner listener David for telling me about this.) Ronnie Barker was a versatile performer who was equally at home sit-coms, most notably Porridge, and the very long running sketch show he did with Ronnie Corbett, hence its title The Two Ronnies. I used to have the claim to fame that I lived in the house where he was born in 1929, but that's not true. He moved to 23 Church Cowley Road, Oxford when he was four years old, about 1933. Since I moved out, a blue plaque has been placed on the wall. I started watching Ronnie on TV when I was a child and always enjoyed his shows. The famous movie actor Alec Guinness was once asked which of his fellow thespians he admired the most. Everyone expected him to reply with the name of a Hollywood legend, but he said instead: Ronnie Barker. Ronnie was enormously talented. One of the best sketches he ever did with Corbett was their parody of The Professionals in which Barker plays a dark and sinister character obsessed with continuously drinking tea. He is based on John Le Carré's George Smiley, see: https://ok.ru/video/4292584016580. Anyway, on to the important stuff. Ronnie started out in drama like most actors, as an amateur and part-timer who aspired to greater success. In 1949 the theatre company he was touring with went bankrupt and he was forced to quit and get a day-job at the age of just twenty-one. He became a HP at the hospital today called the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford; in those days it was called the Wingfield-Morris Hospital. His service there affected him his whole life. He developed compassion and empathy while caring for the patients, some of whom had been struck down by polio. He cheered them up by performing impromptu comedy routines. It makes me think of Patch Adams, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKNh9e6QPJY. Ronnie Barker died in 2005 after a lifetime of brightening up people's lives, including my own. This was partly from his comedy, but also from his stint in our ancient and noble profession. I salute MEP&DBP Ronnie Barker.