Wilfred Pickles, OBE was an English actor and radio presenter.
Early life and personal life
Pickles was born in Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He moved to Southport, Lancashire, with his family in 1929, and worked with his father as a builder. He joined an amateur dramatic society, and in a local production there met Mabel Cecilia Myerscough, all of whose family had been connected with the stage. He remained a proud Yorkshireman, and having been selected by the BBC as an announcer for its North Regional radio service, he went on to be an occasional newsreader on the BBC Home Service during the Second World War. He was the first newsreader to speak in a regional accent rather than Received Pronunciation, "a deliberate attempt to make it more difficult for Nazis to impersonate BBC broadcasters", and caused some comment by wishing his fellow northerners "Good neet".
Early career
His first professional appearance was as an extra in Henry Baynton's production of Julius Caesar at the Theatre Royal in Halifax in the 1920s. Pickles soon became a radio celebrity, and pursued an acting career in London's West End theatre, on television and on film.
''Have A Go'' and ''Ask Pickles''
His most significant work was as host of the BBC Radio showHave A Go, which ran from 1946 to 1967 and launched such catchphrases as "How do, how are yer?", "Are yer courting?", "What's on the table, Mabel?" and "Give him the money, Barney". He appeared in the show with his wife Mabel, whom he had married at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Ainsdale, Southport on 20 September 1930. The series attracted a weekly audience of over 20 million and a mailbag of around 5,000 letters. Contestants could earn £1/19s/11d by sharing "their intimate secrets". In May 1954, he took the show to television with the programme Ask Pickles which ran until 1956. The show was publicized enthusiastically by the BBC: In 1948, a children's board game entitled Ask Pickles was published by jigsaw puzzle manufacturer Tower Press.
In 1955, Wilfred Pickles published an anthology of poetry and prose of the "north counties" of England. The book, My North Countrie, featured verses from a range of poets and writers including two Lancashire dialect verses, "A Bird Song Away" and "Th' Art Lookin' Sackless", from the award-winning weaver-poet Nicholas Freeston.
Later life
In 1950, he was awarded the OBE for services to broadcasting. In 1955, he opened the Wilfred Pickles' School for Spastics at Tixover Grange, Rutland. Also in 1955, he and wife Mabel celebrated their silver wedding anniversary by returning to the Sacred Heart Church in Southport, when they gave money for a statue of Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, which still stands in the church. They recorded an edition of Have a Go from the church hall, and later performed a version of the show in the adjacent school for the children. He appeared, to great credit and dramatic effect, in the film of "Billy Liar", starring Tom Courtenay - as his son. Pickles died in Brighton on 27 March 1978, aged 73, and is buried with his wife Mabel in Southern Cemetery, Manchester.
