David Jason

David John WhiteSir David John White, OBE, known by his stage name David Jason (born 2 February 1940 in Edmonton, London) is an English actor. He first found fame on the popular sitcom Open All Hours as Granville, Ronnie Barker’s corner shop delivery boy. He later starred in Only Fools and Horses, where he played cockney chancer Derek Trotter, before moving into more serious territory as the gruff Inspector Jack Frost, on the long-running crime drama A Touch of Frost.
His elder brother, Arthur White, is also an actor.
In 1981 he found his most enduring and popular role, Derek ‘Del-Boy’ Trotter in the BBC situation comedy Only Fools and Horses (created by John Sullivan). Del-Boy is a wide-boy who makes a dubious living in Peckham, south London, trading in shoddy, stolen, and counterfeit David John White oldgoods. He is assisted by his brother Rodney (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Grandad (played by Lennard Pearce) or, in later episodes, Uncle Albert (played by Buster Merryfield). In this role Jason popularised some slang words and phrases; examples being the mild insults “dipstick” and “plonker”, and the celebratory “lovely jubbly”.
He has also earned acclaim for a string of straight roles. These include Skullion in Porterhouse Blue (for Channel 4), Pa Larkin in the rural idyll The Darling Buds of May (Yorkshire Television/ITV) and based on the H. E. Bates novel, which also featured Catherine Zeta-Jones. He also appeared as Detective Inspector Jack Frost in the long-running TV series A Touch of Frost (Yorkshire Television/ITV).
In addition to these roles, he has also worked as a voice artist for Cosgrove Hall on a number of children’s television productions, providing voices for Danger Mouse, The BFG, Count Duckula and Toad from The Wind in the Willows (all produced by Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television/ITV), as well as several other cartoon voice-overs and advertising work including the DIY chain Do It All in 1988 and supermarket chain Morrisons in the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1999 he starred as Captain Frank Beck in BBC’s feature-length drama All the King’s Men about the Sandringham regiment lost in World War I.
David JasonDavid Jason more recently starred in the two part ITV drama Ghostboat (Yorkshire Television/ITV) and presented a special programme celebrating the work of Cosgrove Hall Films `Cartoon Kings’ for ITV1.
He lived with long-term partner Myfanwy Talog, a Welsh actress, for eighteen years, and nursed her through breast cancer until her death from the disease in 1995. This experience inspired him to organise his own charity – The David Jason Trust – for terminally ill children.
On 30 November, 2005, he married Yorkshire woman Gill Hinchcliffe in a private ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel. He has one daughter – Sophie Mae – by her.