Jon Pertwee That's Who!
- Publication: News Letter
- Date: 1973-04-28
- Author: Al Flett
- Page: 4
- Language: English
Take my word for it, the BBC has our welfare very much at heart.
It was in November, 1963 that the Corporation first recognised the threat to our security of horrible alien intelligences from other time dimensions in outer space.
So they recruited "Dr. Who" to lead the battle against the invaders a chap called William Hartnell. He did very well.
He kept the intruders at bay, but in November, 1966, he retired from the struggle. Patrick Troughton picked up the crusading mantle.
He, too, wore himself out in the pitiless fight. We suffered with him in the weekly reports from the battle-front, watched him die in January. 1970.
Was this to be the end? Had earth capitulated? No, the spirit of Dunkirk was still there.
A chap called Jon Pertwee said: "Gimme that cloak." This time, all of us can be sure, the slimy creatures and their earthling agents will get their come-uppance.
Because Jon Pertwee is the sort of tough Joe needed for the job. He's an aqualung diver. A snow and water skier. A hydroplane driver. Go-karter. Racing motorist. Top-flight motor-cyclist.
Just for good measure, he is bi-lingual. Hardly surprising, that, when you realise Pertwee is simply a simplification of the family name Pertouis de Laiccault.
Forget he is 53 years old. His lithe 6ft. 2 1/2 in. frame is packed with hard muscle. His physical and mental reflexes are razor sharp.
He's a one-man Common Market. Add to his French family background a half- Austrian mother and a German wife and it's really surprising that "The Master", the Daleks, Cybermen, Sea Devils and Mutants don't just pack up and retreat to whatever galaxies they normally inhabit.
Jon Pertwee is enjoying the battle. He positively bubbled with enthusiasm. while he talked to me about "Dr. Who".
"I like the man. He's ageless. Tackles anything. Does everything. Cocks a snook at authority-all in a good, cause, mind you."
That, I can assure you, fits Jon Pertwee like a glove. His individualism dates back nearly 40 years. "I was expelled from Sherbourne when I was 14 years old," he cheerily confesses. "I beat up my fag-master when I got fed up with his bullying."
And he was "fired" from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art because, he was told, he had "absolutely no future as an actor."
He was also sacked from a repertory company in Jersey in the Channel Islands. "That was because I introduced in-. to a play a gag that the.
audience loved. Every time I had to shake hands with. Peter Glenville I had a raw egg in my hand. Peter didn't like it, nor did the management."
He yells with laughter at the memory.
Had the fame and knowhow of playwright Roland Pertwee helped him at all in those early days of struggle?
"Well, my father knew. where the doors were. He showed me where they were. But he never actually got a job for me."
Because he was "terrified of bayonets" he joined the Navy on the outbreak of war, survived the HMS Hood disaster because he was transferred just before the action in which the ship was sunk. Commissioned, he went into Naval Intelligence and, later, into the Naval Broadcasting Service.
This was a turning point. "That was when I met Eric Barker. After the war we went into radio in 'Waterlogged Spa'. I've been associated with BBC off and on ever since."
There has been music hall, too. And films and cabaret. And, in the early days of television, "The Amazing Adventures of Commander Highprice" with David Jacobs.
"I toured Australia for a year with a revue," Jon Pertwee remembers. "Oh, and I was in an ice show at the Empress Hall in London."
Was there, I wondered, anything he hadn't tackled?
"Well, I worked in Billy Smart's Circus. Had some performing geese. Did a rid ing act. Did a few turns as ringmaster...
At some time or other he has played most of London's West End and, of course, helped to formulate "The Navy Lark", the radio show that still enjoys top ratings after 14 years.
His wife Rhoesa is the daughter of a former German finance minister. His seven-year-old son, Sean, is waiting to hear the result of an audition for a film part, while daughter Darriel (10) has just missed out on another film.
Why is "Dr. Who" so successful as acceptable to adults as to children?
"Because I play it straight The programme isn't a sendup. I'm sure that's why 12 million viewers tune in."
Jon Pertwee admits to being an intolerant man. "I've had some mighty set-tos with producers and people. because I just can't stand inefficiency in any form at all"
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Flett, Al (1973-04-28). Jon Pertwee That's Who!. News Letter p. 4.
- MLA 7th ed.: Flett, Al. "Jon Pertwee That's Who!." News Letter [add city] 1973-04-28, 4. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Flett, Al. "Jon Pertwee That's Who!." News Letter, edition, sec., 1973-04-28
- Turabian: Flett, Al. "Jon Pertwee That's Who!." News Letter, 1973-04-28, section, 4 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Jon Pertwee That's Who! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Jon_Pertwee_That%27s_Who! | work=News Letter | pages=4 | date=1973-04-28 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=19 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Jon Pertwee That's Who! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Jon_Pertwee_That%27s_Who! | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=19 April 2025}}</ref>
