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- Don_Estelle abstract "Don Estelle (22 May 1933 – 2 August 2003) was a British actor and singer best known as 'Lofty' in It Ain't Half Hot Mum.Born Ronald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russell Street, Crumpsall. During World War II, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire, twenty miles away from his home, to escape the German bombing of the city. It was there he found his voice as a treble at the local Holy Trinity Parish Church (now called St Peter's), and on returning home after the war, he continued singing at St Mary's Church, Crumpsall. He later joined a charity group, the Manchester Kentucky Minstrels, and performed with them the Mario Lanza hit "Granada" in the talent show What Makes a Star? in 1954 at BBC Radio's northern studios in Manchester.Estelle gained experience by singing one song 12 times a week in the show The Backyard Kids at the Hulme Hippodrome in Manchester. He later toured the northern club circuit, where he met the comedy actor Windsor Davies whom he teamed with and toured for four years. In the 1960s, Estelle had cameo roles in Coronation Street and Dad's Army (in the latter he played a Pickfords man in one episode (1969), and an ARP Warden called Gerald in three more (1970)). He eventually landed the role of Gunner "Lofty" Sugden in the 1970s British sitcom, It Ain't Half Hot Mum. The character was given the ironic nickname of "Lofty" because of Estelle's stature (4 ft 9in). He had a powerful tenor voice and as a spin-off from the series, he and co-star Windsor Davies had a Number 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1975 with a semi-comic version of "Whispering Grass". Estelle also acted in the films Not Now, Comrade (1976), A Private Function (1984) and Santa Claus: The Movie (1984). Estelle and Windsor also released a 14-track LP album called 'Sing Lofty' in 1979.In the first series of The League of Gentlemen, he made brief appearances in two episodes as Little Don, the keeper of the Roundabout Zoo (a zoo on the island of a roundabout).In 2001, he appeared in an episode of Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting as "Little Don" of the "East End Art Mafia".In his autobiography Sing Lofty: Thoughts Of A Gemini, Estelle was extremely bitter about modern-day entertainment, attacking those who refused to rerun It Ain't Half Hot Mum as "tight-crutched, white-trousered morons". According to his obituary in The Independent, "in recent years Estelle cut a slightly sorry figure, dressed in his "Lofty" outfit, setting out a stall of his tapes and singing to passers-by in shopping centres. He played a dirty old man in the promotional video for The Sun Page Three Girl Jo Hicks's single "Yakety Sax" (2001) (The Benny Hill Show theme). One of the stalls he performed at for a time was in the Boston, Lincolnshire branch of Woolworths. He could also be seen performing in Cwmbran town centre in South Wales.Estelle's last years were in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he spent countless hours working with the founder of 10-piece blues band, Blutopia. Says Malcolm Bishop, "Lofty was looking for someone to believe in and bless in their own career and he picked me! He was extremely generous with time and resources." Bishop recalls sitting with Estelle until 4am the night before he returned to the UK, as Estelle gave him invaluable advice.Estelle returned to the UK weeks before his death. He died in Rochdale Infirmary, on 2 August 2003 and was buried in Rochdale, with the oversized pith helmet he wore as Gunner "Lofty" Sugden. He was survived by his second wife Elizabeth.".
- Don_Estelle activeYearsEndYear "2001".
- Don_Estelle activeYearsStartYear "1954".
- Don_Estelle alias "Donald Edwards".
- Don_Estelle birthDate "1933-05-22".
- Don_Estelle birthName "Ronald Edwards".
- Don_Estelle birthPlace Crumpsall.
- Don_Estelle birthPlace England.
- Don_Estelle birthPlace Manchester.
- Don_Estelle birthYear "1933".
- Don_Estelle deathDate "2003-08-02".
- Don_Estelle deathPlace England.
- Don_Estelle deathPlace Greater_Manchester.
- Don_Estelle deathPlace Rochdale.
- Don_Estelle deathYear "2003".
- Don_Estelle nationality British_nationality_law.
- Don_Estelle stateOfOrigin British_nationality_law.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageID "287068".
- Don_Estelle wikiPageLength "7003".
- Don_Estelle wikiPageOutDegree "64".
- Don_Estelle wikiPageRevisionID "670165946".
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink A_Private_Function.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Air_Raid_Precautions.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink BBC_Radio.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Boston.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Boy_soprano.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink British_nationality_law.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink British_people.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink British_sitcom.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:1933_births.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:2003_deaths.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:20th-century_English_male_actors.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:20th-century_English_singers.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:21st-century_English_singers.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:British_expatriates_in_New_Zealand.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:Disease-related_deaths_in_England.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:English_male_singers.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:English_male_television_actors.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:People_from_Crumpsall.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Category:People_from_Rochdale.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Christchurch.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Coronation_Street.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Crumpsall.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Cwmbran.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Dads_Army.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink England.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Granada_(song).
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Greater_Manchester.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Hulme.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink It_Aint_Half_Hot_Mum.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Lincolnshire.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Linda_Smiths_A_Brief_History_of_Timewasting.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Manchester.
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- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Mario_Lanza.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Not_Now,_Comrade.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Page_3.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Page_Three.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Pickfords.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Pith_helmet.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Rochdale.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Roundabout.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Roundabout_intersection.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Santa_Claus:_The_Movie.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink St_Peters_Church,_Darwen.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink The_Benny_Hill_Show.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink The_Independent.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink The_League_of_Gentlemen.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink The_Sun_(United_Kingdom).
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink The_Sun_(newspaper).
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink UK_Singles_Chart.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Whispering_Grass.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Windsor_Davies.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Woolworths_Group.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink World_War_II.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLink Yakety_Sax.
- Don_Estelle wikiPageWikiLinkText "Don Estelle".
- Don_Estelle alternativeNames "Donald Edwards".
- Don_Estelle birthDate "1933-05-22".
- Don_Estelle birthName "Ronald Edwards".
- Don_Estelle birthPlace Crumpsall.
- Don_Estelle birthPlace England.
- Don_Estelle birthPlace Manchester.
- Don_Estelle caption "Don Estelle as 'Lofty' in It Ain't Half Hot Mum".
- Don_Estelle dateOfBirth "1933-05-22".
- Don_Estelle dateOfDeath "2003-08-02".
- Don_Estelle deathDate "2003-08-02".
- Don_Estelle deathPlace "Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England".
- Don_Estelle hasPhotoCollection Don_Estelle.
- Don_Estelle imagesize "300".
- Don_Estelle name "Don Estelle".
- Don_Estelle name "Estelle, Don".
- Don_Estelle nationality British_nationality_law.
- Don_Estelle placeOfBirth "Crumpsall, Manchester, England".
- Don_Estelle placeOfDeath "Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England".
- Don_Estelle residence "New Zealand".
- Don_Estelle shortDescription "British actor".
- Don_Estelle spouses "Mary Birkettm 1955 Elizabeth Amy Brent''".
- Don_Estelle television "It Ain't Half Hot Mum".
- Don_Estelle wikiPageUsesTemplate Template:Authority_control.