John Junkin
Encyclopedia
John Francis Junkin was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 performer
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and scriptwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

.

In 1960 Junkin joined Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...

's Stratford East Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...

, and played the lead in the original production of Sparrows Can't Sing
Sparrows Can't Sing
Sparrers Can't Sing is a 1962 British film. Based on a 1960 play, it was directed by Joan Littlewood and was from a story by Stephen Lewis. The producer was Don Taylor and the incidental music was composed by Stanley Black...

. A few years later he joined the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

 company and was the foil to Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock
Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...

 in some of Hancock's last work for British television. He played a diverse range of roles on the small screen; however he is best remembered for his comedy roles, and his appearances as a television quiz master. Worldwide moviegoers will remember him best for playing "Shake", the assistant to Norman Rossington
Norman Rossington
Norman Rossington was an English actor best remembered for his roles in The Army Game, the Carry On films and the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night.-Early life:...

, in the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...

. In comedy roles, Junkin was rarely short of work, on account of his outstanding ability to play the stoney-faced symbol of low level, petty-minded and unquestioning authority, whether the army sergeant, police constable or site foreman. One of his rare leading roles was in the BBC series The Rough with the Smooth, in which he and Tim Brooke-Taylor
Tim Brooke-Taylor
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...

 played comedy writers (with both actors contributing scripts to the series as well).

Junkin has an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the voice of "Mr Shifter", one of the chimps in the PG Tips
PG Tips
PG Tips is a brand of tea in the United Kingdom, manufactured by Unilever UK. It is claimed that Britons drink 35 million cups of the tea every day.-Brand name:...

 tea advertisement, the longest-running series of commercials on television.

Junkin lived in Wendover
Wendover
Wendover is a market town that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district...

, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, where he was a popular regular at the Red Lion pub. He married Jenny Claybourn in 1977 and had one daughter. He died on 7 March 2006 in the Florence Nightingale House
Stoke Mandeville Hospital
Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a large National Health Service hospital within Aylesbury Urban Area to the south of the town of Aylesbury, near the village of Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire...

, Stoke Mandeville
Stoke Mandeville
Stoke Mandeville is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district to the south-east of Aylesbury in the county of Buckinghamshire, England. Although a separate civil parish, the village falls within the Aylesbury Urban Area...

, several miles from his home. He had been suffering from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

, emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...

 and asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...

. His life and work were honoured at the British Academy Television Awards in 2006.

Credits

  • Cinema:
    • The Wrong Arm of the Law
      The Wrong Arm of the Law
      The Wrong Arm of the Law is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, Lionel Jeffries, John Le Mesurier and Bill Kerr...

       (1963)
    • Hot Enough for June
      Hot Enough for June
      Hot Enough for June is a 1964 British spy comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and featuring Dirk Bogarde, Sylva Koscina, Robert Morley, Leo McKern, John Le Mesurier and Roger Delgado. It was based on the 1960 novel "The Night of Wenceslas" by Lionel Davidson and directed by Ralph Thomas. It was...

       (1964)
    • A Hard Day's Night
      A Hard Day's Night (film)
      A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...

       (1964)
    • Confessions from a Holiday Camp
      Confessions from a Holiday Camp
      Confessions from a Holiday Camp is a 1977 British comedy film. It is the last film in the series which began with Confessions of a Window Cleaner.-Plot:...

       (1977)
    • A Handful of Dust
      A Handful of Dust
      A Handful of Dust is a novel by Evelyn Waugh published in 1934. It is included in Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels, and was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to present....

       (1988)
    • Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
      Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
      Chicago Joe and the Showgirl is a 1990 British crime drama film directed by Bernard Rose and written by David Yallop. The film was inspired by the real-life Hulten/Jones murder case of 1944, famously known as the Cleft Chin Murder.-Plot:...

       (1990)
    • The Football Factory (2004)

  • Radio:
    • Radio Caroline
      Radio Caroline
      Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...

       first voice of the test transmissions in March 1964
    • Hello, Cheeky!
      Hello, Cheeky!
      Hello Cheeky was a series broadcast on BBC Radio 2 between 1973 and 1979. It was written and performed by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, and John Junkin, with music by the Denis King Trio, and produced by David Hatch, Richard Willcox, and Bob Oliver Rogers.There were also three Christmas...

       with Tim Brooke-Taylor
      Tim Brooke-Taylor
      Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...

       and Barry Cryer
      Barry Cryer
      Barry Charles Cryer OBE is a British writer and comedian. Cryer has written for many noted performers, including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie...

    • Just a Minute
      Just a Minute
      Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003....

       as an occasional guest
    • I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
      I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
      I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...


  • Television:
    • The Plane Makers
      The Plane Makers/The Power Game
      The Plane Makers is a British television series made by ATV for ITV between 1963 and 1965.The series focused on the power struggles between the trades union and the management on the shop floor of an aircraft factory, Scott Furlong Ltd, as well as the political in-fighting between the management...

      , drama series set in an aircraft factory, 1962-65
    • Marty
      Marty (TV series)
      Marty is a British television sketch comedy series, with Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin, Roland MacLeod, Mary Miller and Peter Pocock which was made in 1968...

      , a comedy television series with Marty Feldman
      Marty Feldman
      Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman was an English comedy writer, comedian and actor who starred in a series of British television comedy shows, including At Last the 1948 Show, and Marty, which won two BAFTA awards and was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Young...

      , Tim Brooke-Taylor
      Tim Brooke-Taylor
      Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...

       and Roland MacLeod
      Roland MacLeod
      Roland MacLeod was an English actor of film and television.He appeared as a vicar in John Cleese's film A Fish Called Wanda and The Last Remake of Beau Geste....

      .
    • The Blackpool Show a 1966 series with Tony Hancock
      Tony Hancock
      Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...

      .
    • The Goodies
      The Goodies (TV series)
      The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...

    • The Professionals (Series 5 Episode 8 as Mr Hollis)
      The Professionals (TV series)
      The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon...

    • Out
      Out (miniseries)
      Out is a British television crime drama written by Trevor Preston. It was produced by Thames Television in 1978.In the weeks prior to its broadcast on Monday evenings, brief clips of the programme were shown to arouse viewer interest in which a character provided only the cryptic information that...

    • Inspector Morse
      Inspector Morse (TV series)
      Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....

    • The Avengers
      The Avengers (TV series)
      The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

    • Crosswits
      Crosswits
      Crosswits is a British TV quiz show, originally hosted by Barry Cryer, then comedian Tom O'Connor took over until the show ended in 1998....

       (quiz panelist)
    • Odd One Out
      Odd One Out
      Odd One Out was a weekly quiz programme that was hosted by Paul Daniels and was broadcast on BBC1 from 16 April 1982 to 19 April 1985.-Gameplay:The object of Odd One Out is to guess which one of four items does not belong & why it doesn't belong...

       (voiceover)
    • Mr Bean
    • Ask No Questions
      Ask No Questions
      Ask No Questions was a celebrity panel game that was produced by Yorkshire Television and aired on ITV in 1986 and 1987. The programme was co-hosted by John Junkin and Carol Vorderman...

    • Picking Up The Pieces
    • The Thing About Vince
    • The Sins
      The Sins
      The Sins is a television series from 2000. It was directed by David Yates, Sallie Aprahamian and Simon Curtis and written by William Ivory. It centres on Len Green , a former bank robber and getaway driver, who has retired from the criminal life and joined the undertaker's run by his uncle...

    • Macready and Daughter
    • Coronation Street
      Coronation Street
      Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

       (as a short-lived boyfriend of Elsie Tanner
      Elsie Tanner
      Elsie Tanner is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Patricia Phoenix from 1960 to 1973 and from 1976 until 1984. Elsie Tanner was one of the original core characters on Coronation Street and appeared in the very first episode...

      )
    • EastEnders
      EastEnders
      EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

       (2001–02) as Ernie Johnson

External links

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