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Windsor Davies

Jack1956 at English Wikipedia,
CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

WINDSOR DAVIES

Actor From Ogmore Vale, Wales

It ain't half hot mum', 'Never The Twain' and TV movie 'Grand Slam' along with many other appearances.

Windsor was born in London on 28th August 1930 to Welsh parents. By 1940 London was enduring the WW2 Blitz so the family moved back to their roots in Nant-y-moel, a small village a few miles North of Bridgend, South Wales.

Although a student at Ogmore Grammar School education didn't save Windsor from a stint at the local coal mine. It's unclear if he actually worked underground at the coal face. For many National Service was spent at the mines but not Windsor - he was posted to Libya and Egypt for two years with the East Surrey Regiment, ending in 1952.

Grammer School Paid-off

After training at Bangor Teacher Training College he taught English and Maths at Leek in Staffordshire, later at a school in Elephant and Castle, South London.

His interest in amateur dramatics lead him to a short drama course with a Kew Theatre Company. He became a professional actor at 31 and began working at the Cheltenham Rep in 1961.

Aged 88 Windsor died in January 2019.

Connection: Welsh parents, brought up in Ogmore Vale, Wales

COMMENT BY: 2020Vision

I lived in Llewelyn Street from 1935 and I do not remember a Windsor Davies but, when I went to Ogmore Sec. I remember a Windsor Davies in the sixth form and he was a real gentleman to a bullied second year pupil.

COMMENT BY: DanceOn

I believe that you have the connection incorrect. I am from Nantymoel in the Ogmore Valley and I am a hundred percent sure that Windsor Davies lived in Station Road , Nantymoel.

COMMENT BY: Sandy4

I am also from Nantymoel and Windsor Davies lived in my house in Graig Fryn long before I was born. He has visited since and mum and dad gave him a warm welcome with a nice cuppa.

My old neighbour Mrs. Harris remembered him as a young lad and always used to tell me stories of him dressing up and being a right character even then.

COMMENT BY: pspurr

Windsor Davies, was he the brother of Dilwyn Davies? Who also went to Ogmore Vale Secondary School who I knew in 1936-1937?

COMMENT BY :S.M.Williams

The great man may have been brought up in Wales from the age of ten but was born in Canning Town, London, my family's neck of the woods. I believe that makes him a Londoner! - (a bit of both - Ed).

COMMENT BY :Roger_Davies

Both SD Williams and Sandy are correct. Windsor lived in Graig Fryn, Nantymoel and was born within the sound of Bow Bells which supposedly makes him a true 'cockney'.

indsor was an electrician at the Wyndham Colliery before leaving to become a school teacher. He [also lived] in France.

COMMENT BY :peterdixon

Windsor Davies was indeed a school teacher. He was in leek Staffordshire in the late fifties and very early sixties.

He taught at the Mountside Boys School and was both my form master and maths teacher and very good he was too. He was a character I will always remember and I would [have loved] to hear from him again.

COMMENT BY :Sverre

I'm confused, are there two Windsor Davies?

If he was a schoolmaster in the late 1950's early 1960's, how could he be on stage in London in the late 1950's and on the 'Ken Horn' show?

The Windsor Davies I knew from the middle 1950's was a toilet attendant near the AJS factory in Plumstead, keeping the job on for quiet a while after he became a force in entertainment as he needed a quiet 'lair' to lay-up in when his 'devils' came to haunt him, you see, he'd been severely traumatised by his combat experiences and had terrible flashbacks.

Only when he had penny and he felt it was now okay, did he leave and become a full-time pro.

COMMENT BY :windsorfan

Hello, could other readers please contact me about Windsor Davies? I'm trying to put a page together about him for my new 'It ain't half hot mum' site. Kind regards, kurt

COMMENT BY :marjan1

I just want to say that I think Windsor is a great actor and I only saw him on 'It ain't half hot mum' and once on 'Doctor Beeching'. I would love to see more of him on the telly.

COMMENT BY :neilarthur

Windsor Davies and I shared a few beers in Paris when Wales were playing France and he was making the film 'Grand Slam'.

He admitted to being born the wrong side of Offa's Dyke but his Welshness is not in doubt. I also met his lovely daughter Jane the same evening; she was living in Paris then. Windsor was living in Carshalton at the time.

COMMENT BY :reddragon23

Windsor Davis worked with my father at the Wyndham Colliery and my Dad suggested that he stick to his other interests, as he would never be a miner. Years later he thanked my Dad for his suggestion!

COMMENT BY :byrd5d

I would like to hear Windsor Davies record - 'A hard days night' in the manner of Peter Sellers doing the same song by Lennon and McCartney using the voice of the Sgt. Major -lovelee boize- I think it would [have been] another hit for him. 

COMMENT BY :madmonksky

He was my teacher at Mountside Secondary School in Leek Staffordshire in the late 1950's. They don't make them like this anymore.

Related Info

It ain't half hot mum at IMDB