Peter Reginald Gadd (3 June 1925 â€" 11 May 2013), known
professionally as Arnold Peters, was an English actor, who played Jack
Woolley in The Archers radio soap opera for 31 years.Born in Hendon,
Middlesex, but brought up in Northamptonshire, he was educated as a
day boy at Wellingborough School. He joined the Royal Air Force in
1944, but was found to be unfit for military service. and after the
war spent five years at the Northampton Repertory Theatre (now the
Royal & Derngate). While performing in a pantomime during this period
he met Beryl, a dancer, who became his wife.Peters made many
appearances on TV, including a regular role in Swizzlewick (1964),
which also featured Philip Garston-Jones, whom he replaced as Jack
Woolley, and Margot Boyd, also known for her work in The Archers. He
also appeared in Jude the Obscure (1971), London Belongs to Me
(Thames, 1977), Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven (1978) and an
episode of Only Fools and Horses called "A Royal Flush" (1986). In the
1990s, Peters appeared in television advertisements for Werther's
Original Toffees.He was best known for playing businessman and
hotelier Jack Woolley in the long running BBC radio series The Archers
from May 1980 until 2011. Jack Woolley was not the first role he had
performed in The Archers, but was by far the most extended of his
three roles in the soap opera; he had first joined the cast in 1953,
the year he became a Midlands member of the BBC repertory company. The
role, as farmhand Len Thomas lasted for 13 years, and the actor was
soon cast again, as the Reverend David Latimer in 1968; the character
died in 1973.
professionally as Arnold Peters, was an English actor, who played Jack
Woolley in The Archers radio soap opera for 31 years.Born in Hendon,
Middlesex, but brought up in Northamptonshire, he was educated as a
day boy at Wellingborough School. He joined the Royal Air Force in
1944, but was found to be unfit for military service. and after the
war spent five years at the Northampton Repertory Theatre (now the
Royal & Derngate). While performing in a pantomime during this period
he met Beryl, a dancer, who became his wife.Peters made many
appearances on TV, including a regular role in Swizzlewick (1964),
which also featured Philip Garston-Jones, whom he replaced as Jack
Woolley, and Margot Boyd, also known for her work in The Archers. He
also appeared in Jude the Obscure (1971), London Belongs to Me
(Thames, 1977), Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven (1978) and an
episode of Only Fools and Horses called "A Royal Flush" (1986). In the
1990s, Peters appeared in television advertisements for Werther's
Original Toffees.He was best known for playing businessman and
hotelier Jack Woolley in the long running BBC radio series The Archers
from May 1980 until 2011. Jack Woolley was not the first role he had
performed in The Archers, but was by far the most extended of his
three roles in the soap opera; he had first joined the cast in 1953,
the year he became a Midlands member of the BBC repertory company. The
role, as farmhand Len Thomas lasted for 13 years, and the actor was
soon cast again, as the Reverend David Latimer in 1968; the character
died in 1973.
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