Sir David Jason, born David John White on 2 February 1940 in Edmonton, London, is one of British television's most decorated comedy and drama actors. His mother, Olwen Jones, was from Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales, and worked as a charwoman; his father, Arthur Robert White, was a porter at Billingsgate Fish Market. Jason was a twin, though his brother died at birth, and his elder brother, Arthur White, also became an actor and appeared alongside him in several productions.
Jason is best known for playing Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in Only Fools and Horses, Detective Inspector Jack Frost in A Touch of Frost, Granville in Open All Hours and its sequel Still Open All Hours, and Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May, the series that gave a young Catherine Zeta-Jones her breakthrough role. He has also voiced numerous animated characters, including Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, Mr Toad in The Wind in the Willows and the title role in the 1989 animated film The BFG.
He was knighted in 2005 for services to acting and comedy, having already won four BAFTA Television Awards, four British Comedy Awards and seven National Television Awards. In September 2006 he was voted the public's favourite in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.
Jason's Welsh connection extends beyond his mother's family: for eighteen years, from 1977 to 1995, he was the partner of the Welsh actress Myfanwy Talog, who was born in Caerwys, Flintshire, and grew up in Taffs Well. He cared for her through her illness with breast cancer until her death in 1995. Jason later married Gill Hinchcliffe in 2005; the couple live in Buckinghamshire.