Bernard Joseph Cribbins

Bernard Joseph Cribbins was born in Oldham, Lancashire, and served with the Parachute Regiment in Mandatory Palestine before finding success in West End revues. In 1962, he scored top-ten novelty pop hits produced by George Martin with "Hole in the Ground" (praised by Noël Coward) and "Right Said Fred". He also starred in three classic Carry On comedies.

Cribbins became a cherished staple of British childhood, narrating the BBC stop-motion series The Wombles (1973–1975) providing voices for all the characters, and reading 114 stories on Jackanory—more than any other narrator. He won acclaim as station porter Albert Perks in The Railway Children (1970). Four decades after appearing in the 1966 Dalek film, he endeared himself to a whole new global generation as Wilfred Mott, the stargazing grandfather to Catherine Tate's Donna Noble, opposite David Tennant in modern Doctor Who.