James Beck

Visit to James Beck's Memorial Tree

Article and photo by Katie - site owner of the James Beck MySpace page

My friend and I went to St Paul's on Saturday afternoon (dodging the thundery downpours!) and after some digging around and getting rather muddy, we found Jimmy's Memorial plaque but sadly no tree.

Jimmy's plaque, which was in remarkably good condition, was on it's own in a flowerbed. The nearest tree was very large and was far too old; a smaller tree directly behind the old tree (surely not a spot you'd choose) and one other tree some distance from the plaque, which could possibly have been about the right age but had other dedicates and plaques attached to it. So it was all rather confusing!

My friend and I did manage to find someone inside the Church to ask about the Memorial Gardens. Unfortunately, this guy thought it was all rather hilarious (apparently 1973 is 'the dark ages'!!) and just kept saying that in the eyes of the Church none of the plaques exist and we could more or less choose any tree and stick the plaque in front of it!! My friend commented that it felt a bit like being in the middle of a Monty Python sketch!

Since getting home, I have contacted The Rector in the hope there maybe some Church records showing which tree is Jimmy's but I have not heard back from him yet. This is the photo I took of the plaque. While taking the photo, the sun came out for the only time in the whole day!

Many thanks to Katie for the article - feel free to e-mail in your Dad's Army stories or pictures to james@dadsarmypodcast.com

Purveyor of essential supplies on-line

James Beck on MySpace


I recently discovered a comprehensive tribute on the MySpace 'social networking' site to James Beck and his career. The page is maintained and updated regularly and has a number of really interesting features about the actor. Katie, the site owner, chronicles Beck's career - which extends vastly beyond Dad's Army. I recommend that any James Beck fans heads on over to www.myspace.com/jamesbeck29 to take a look.



More Time on Your Hands?!

Due to a technical glitch (okay, a cock-up on my part) our discussion about Time on My Hands (see blog entry 24 March 2008) for Episode 19 of the podcast is going to be re-recorded. For this feature, I will be joined once again by Paul Carpenter of the Dad's Army Appreciation Society. Paul is a fountain of knowledge of all things Dad's Army, so if you have any questions about this episode that you would like me to put to him, please e-mail them to me at james@dadsarmypodcast.com We are due to record next Tuesday (one week from today) so please let me have your questions, or indeed any other comments you may have about this episode before the 15th. You can listen to the latest podcast by clicking on the badge below, and Podcast number 18 will be on-line some point over this coming weekend.