Forever Ambridge

Just heard of the death of Norman Painting aka Phil Archer.

The BBC Obituary describes him as "A consummate professional" and he surely was. I have been listening to his voice on the radio for as long as I can remember [Mum used to listen to 'The Archers' when I was a child] Norman Painting played Phil for almost 60 years - which is an amazing record.

Although his voice has been heard less in Ambridge recently, it is odd to think of him not being there at all. But The Archers was only a fraction of his working life.

He once wrote "People are always asking me, 'don't you get bored with it'? But although the programme goes out almost daily, we only have to spend six days a month recording it. The other three weeks a month I have spent on my satisfying, if undistinguished, career writing radio plays, features, adaptations and children's plays. Although to our audience, I have been Phil Archer for the majority of my adult life, my Archers salary always went down on my tax returns as incidental earnings."