I like to do difficult things and then move on

I like to do difficult things and then move on.” It was on the set of Hi-de-Hi! that Cadell met his future wife Rebecca Croft, daughter of the show’s producer, David Croft.Life Without George (which ran from 1987 to 1989), the television series which further popularised Cadell, was co-written by Penny Croft, his sister- in-law. Consistently the anti-hero, he was the only member of the cast not to have any jokes written into his script. “It is the most difficult way to be funny,” he said, “and that’s why I get a kick out of it. “Fairbrother was an honest academic out of his depth – Hamlet was just another character out of his depth,” he said.In the tradition of Bob Hope or Jacques Tati, he subscribed to the belief that “It is the clown, the failure, the good-natured, averagely attractive man whom British women feel at home with as an entertainment figure.”Playing the part of Fairbrother in Hi-de-Hi! (which was screened from 1980 to 1983 and had an extended run of 35 episodes), Cadell believed he looked every inch the innocent abroad: his thinning hair brushed back and parted on the side, dressed conservatively in tweed jackets, checked shirts and ties, always managing to look awkward among his team of self- confident “yellow-coats”, and wearing an expression of consternation and embarrassment. He joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School the same year and got his first acting job in 1969.Cadell’s ability to make people laugh was, his fellow actor John Wells said, partly in his comic sense of timing and partly being able to keep a straight face. His natural sense of irony led him to see parallels between many of the parts he played.

This seemed to be a recurring theme throughout Cadell’s career: he was always seeking new challenges and believed “for an actor, getting stale is the cardinal sin”.His first stage appearance was in 1967 with the National Youth Theatre in the original production of Zigger Zagger by Peter Tearson. At the age of 16 he ran away because he could not stand the routine. His sister Selina is also an actress.As a boy in his teens at Bedales School, in Hampshire, Simon was puppyish and chubby and disliked playing rugby. His father, John Cadell, was the son of the West End actress Jean Cadell and a distinguished actor’s agent, while Simon’s mother, Gillian, was the Principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. If on the screen he specialised in characters whose very fallibility made them appealing, on stage he was an accomplished actor who never did straight “impersonations”, which he believed were dull; rather, he tried to give the audience a sense of a fully-rounded character.
Playing the part of Noel Coward in Noel and Gertie, a show which was put together by Coward’s godson, Sheridan Morley, and which opened at the Comedy Theatre in December 1989, Cadell said: “You have to take what you think of the man’s personality as you perceive it, and use those things and lose the rest.” Cadell was himself witty, urbane and a bon viveur.Born in 1950, Simon Cadell came from a family with a rich theatrical tradition spanning three generations.

It was while playing the role of Jeffrey Fairbrother in the series, the scrawny, well-spoken entertainments manager of the fictitious Maplins holiday camp at Crimpton- on-Sea, that he first found fame. But Cadell was as much at home in serious theatre as in television comedy. This was something he had become used to in the 15 years since the hit series Hi-de-Hi! was first shown on BBC television, believing it to be “part of the job”. Strangers would still come up to Simon Cadell in the street and yell the catchphrase “Hi-de-Hi!”. He did not forget the wonderful heritage which was his and the way in which General Booth transformed the ranks of the down-and-outs everywhere. He did not hesitate to speak out when a public issue demonstrated rights and wrongs.I well remember Stanley Booth-Clibborn’s enthronement on a day full of snow and ice: he laboured thereafter amid all the demands of the diocese to set forward the cause of Christ in the teeming diocese of Manchester.Stanley Eric Francis Booth-Clibborn, priest: born London 20 October 1924; ordained deacon 1952, priest 1953; Training Secretary, Christian Council of Kenya 1956-63; Editor-in-Chief, East African Venture Newspapers 1963-67; Leader, Lincoln City Centre Team Ministry 1967-70; Vicar, St Mary the Great, Cambridge 1970-79; Bishop of Manchester 1979-92; married 1958 Anne Forrester (two sons, two daughters); died Edinburgh 6 March 1996.Canon F W Dillistone died 5 October 1993. He did not forget missionary responsibilities and when time allowed found out conditions at first hand.

It was not surprising that William Temple was chosen more than 50 years ago to take charge of enterprises ranging from the great Conference on Politics, Economics and Citizenship to the stirring evangelistic efforts on the Blackpool Sands.In philosophy, history and economics, Manchester became a stage from which distinguished scholars went on to Chairs in other universities: leading industrialists witnessed the great change-over from the mills and factories to a much more diversified pattern (with the enormous influence of the growing radio and television industries, together with the long tradition of the Manchester Guardian), culminating in a pattern of communication today which is far more central in its general outreach.Stanley Booth-Clibborn and his wife Anne went on steadily relating themselves to the many problems which a vast diocese brings. In consequence a bishop has to assume leadership within his own diocese as well as maintaining relations with the other religious bodies within his area. It has had a long Anglican tradition, the diocese having been formed in the early 19th century. With its famous football teams, its important airport and its flourishing university, Manchester holds a world-wide reputation. Moreover, it has undoubtedly been the centre in the north of England for other religious enthusiasms – not only non-Anglican but also Jewish, Muslim and Far Eastern.