Merseyside Mirth Makers - Deryck Guyler

Deryck Guyler

Deryck Guyler was born in Wallasey, Merseyside on the 29th of April 1914 but was brought up on the other side of the River Mersey in Liverpool, where his father was a jeweller. He attended Liverpool College and originally had planned a career in the church. In the 1930s, after taking elocution lessons, he joined the Liverpool Repertory Theatre and performed in numerous productions. During World War 2 he was called up and joined the RAF Police but was later invalided from service, whereupon he joined Entertainments National Service Association ( ENSA ) and then on the 4th of May, 1942, the BBC's Drama and Repertory company in Manchester.

'Just Fancy' - Guyler was in the radio series for nine years

During the war, he became a regular on the immensely popular radio series ITMA ( It's That Man Again ), a series built around another Merseyside comedian Tommy Handley. Guyler claimed that his character 'Frisby Dike', named after the Liverpool department store in Lord Street bombed in the Blitz, was the first time a real Liverpudlian accent was heard on the radio. He was with the show until its finish in 1949 after the death of its star Tommy Handley.
His long stints on radio included nine years of Just Fancy with Eric Barker, 11 years in The Men from the Ministry with Richard Murdoch and six years as Inspector Scott in the series 'Inspector Scott Investigates'.

Television started shortly after and Deryck began pursuing a very successful career in this new medium of entertainment. He went on to become as well known for his face as he was for his voice, doing 'voice-overs' for many, many commercials. He appeared in several TV series supporting such stars as Michael Bentine in 'It's A Square World' (1960) and Harry Worth in his own series.

There followed other series such as 'Three Live Wires' (1961), 'Room At The Bottom' (1966) and 'Best Of Enemies' (1968).

With Eric Sykes and Richard Wattis

 

There were also appearances supporting Dick Emery and Dora Bryan before Deryck really made his name as a comedy actor in the LWT series, Please Sir! in 1968 as the cantankerous school janitor 'Norman Potter'. Then there followed the well known role of  'PC Corky' in the 1972 series 'Sykes' with Eric Sykes, Hattie Jacques and Richard Wattis.

He played the 'PC Plod' character, PC Wilfred 'Corky' Turnball, whose wife Elsie was mentioned but never seen.

He appeared as the Police Inspector in the first Beatles film ' A Hard Day's Night' in 1964 and as the art professor in the Gerry & The Pacemakers film ' Ferry 'Cross The Mersey' in 1965. Deryck had also been a devotee washboard player since his school days and appeared in numerous television Light Entertainment shows performing his washboard novelty act. In 1990 he played the washboard on three tracks of an album by his long-time fan Shakin' Stevens.

Deryck also holds a unique place in theatrical history, having 'acted' in every performance of the long running Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap'. Since the opening night on the 6th of October, 1952 in Nottingham he is still heard via a recorded news bulletin which is still being used during current performances of the play at St. Martin's Theatre, London.

Having retired to Ashgrove, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1993, to be near his younger son Chris, daughter-in-law Judy and his three grandchildren, Derek died on the 7th of October 1999 in Brisbane from natural causes.

see next :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2018/07/merseyside-mirth-makers-betty-marsden.html?q=Tommy+Handley