Thu 23 February 2023, 10:30
Tottenham HotspurActor, performer and writer Paul Whitehouse, 64, has been involved in some of Britain’s best-loved comedy shows over the last 25 years, including The Harry Enfield Television Programme, The Fast Show, Harry & Paul, Harry Enfield & Chums and, more recently, Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. He’s also appeared in a number of films including Alice in Wonderland and The Death of Stalin. First on our screens in 1990, he’s won five BAFTA’s and was awarded the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award at the 2013 British Comedy Awards.
He is currently playing the role of Grandad in the stage show of the iconic comedy Only Fools & Horses, which has played at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, for four years, and will run until the end of April.
Paul's story...
“I was brought up in Enfield, so Spurs is my local team and I’ve always supported Spurs since I was about that high. My first game was in 1970, Manchester United, it was a 2-2 draw and I remember Gilly, Alan Gilzean, getting one of them, and I can’t remember who the other scorer was (it was Martin Peters). It was amazing. It was just me and my little mate from school. There were some serious geezers on the terraces, and we’re thinking, ‘we’ve grown up, here’, and it stuck with me. I’ve had my odd moment away, fishing came along, so I’ve always juggled fishing and football, then women and music got in the way, but it always pulls you back, doesn’t it?
“My favourite players? Martin Chivers, Alan Gilzean, I just missed Jimmy Greaves, really, just missed him. I loved Steve Perryman, Graham Roberts, Glenn Hoddle, obviously. If I had to pick my favourite... Harry Kane is giving him a run for it, but in the past it would have been Hoddle. What a player, unbelievable. When Maradona came on for Ossie’s testimonial (at the Lane in 1986), Hoddle was just picking him out, he must have thought, ‘this is fantastic’. That was the chant, ‘sign him up’!
“The 1984 UEFA Cup Final was certainly the best game I was ever at. We managed to turn disaster into triumph, Danny Thomas*, I just remember going back to Enfield singing Danny Thomas’ name on the bus. It was an amazing night. It was such an amazing response from the crowd that night. The other incredible game was the semi-final of the FA Cup at Wembley. I was there. I have this abiding memory of that goal (Gazza’s free-kick) going in, and the silence from the red end. I couldn’t believe it, and it was the contrast between us and the red silent wall.
“As for Only Fools... it’s been a privilege. It’s the longest run at that theatre. We’re very proud of that, and we’re going to go out on a high at the end of April, then maybe next year we’ll do a tour.”
Read Paul’s biography in full on the Only Fools & Horses official website...
*Danny Thomas missed our fifth penalty in the UEFA Cup Final shoot-out in 1984. However, the fans sung, 'there's only one Danny Thomas' as he trudged back to the halfway line. Step up Tony Parks, who saved Anderlecht's next penalty from Arnor Gudjohnsen to secure a famous victory.
