The Film and TV Buffs vs ECF Oxfordshire

Recently it was the 95th anniversary of the birth of Robert Hardy CBE, who died in 2017, aged 91. Born in Cheltenham, Gloucester returning throughout his life to the Cotswolds, he was educated at Rugby School in Warwickshire before Magdalen College, Oxford University which was interrupted by serving in the RAF through WW2. After the war he finished his degree in English tutored by both Tolkein and C S Lewis and turned to acting, learning his trade at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon before appearing as a regular at the Old Vic. He became much loved onscreen and much admired in a career lasting 66 years with 142 screen credits. He earned six BAFTA nominations, but is most remembered as Siegried Farnon in the original All Creatures Great and Small 1978-90 and for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in The Wilderness Years 1981, repeated in subsequent productions 1989-2015 and regarded as one of the best representations of Britain's greatest hero. He will be remembered by the younger generation as Cornelius Fudge in four Harry Potter films from Chamber of Secrets 2002 to Order of the Phoenix 2007. Through Creatures, his love and adoption of Yorkshire endured as he became patron of the Wensleydale Railway between Northallerton and Garsdale. He raised his family and lived much of his working years in Oxfordshire, but in 1995 he achieved a life ambition when he became the laird of a small castle near Edinburgh, though ended his days at the retirement home for actors in Northwood, North London. We believe he is worthy of a match in his honour and hope you will accept. If our number or ratings do not suit, then please make contact to adjust