John Lancelot Blades Percival (26 July 1933 – 6 January 2015), known as Lance Percival, was an English actor, comedian and singer, best known for his appearances in satirical comedy television shows of the early 1960s and his ability to improvise comic calypsos about current news stories. He later became successful as an after-dinner speaker.[1]
Biography
Percival was born in Sevenoaks, Kent,[2] and was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset, where he learnt to play the guitar. He then did national service with the Seaforth Highlanders as a lieutenant and was posted to Egypt. In 1955 he emigrated to Canada where he worked as an advertising copywriter, writing jingles for radio. He also formed a calypso group as "Lord Lance" which toured the US and Canada.[3]
He first became well known in the early 1960s for performing topical calypsos on television shows such as That Was The Week That Was, after having been discovered by Ned Sherrin, performing at the Blue Angel Club in Mayfair.[4] A tall thin man with a distinctive crooked nose and prominent ears, he also appeared in several British comedy films including the Carry On film Carry On Cruising (1962) (replacing Charles Hawtrey who quit in a dispute over billing). He had a cameo role in The V.I.P.s (1963) and another in The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964). He had a major role, and second billing, in the comedy musical It's All Over Town (1964).
Working, like many British comics of the era, with George Martin at Parlophone, Percival had one UK Singles Chart hit, his cover version of a calypso-style song entitled "Shame and Scandal in the Family" which reached number 37 in October 1965,[6] and recorded several other comedy songs, including "The Beetroot Song" ("If You Like Beetroot I'll Be True To You", 1963), written by Mitch Murray, and "The Maharajah of Brum" (1967), written with Martin.[7]
On 14 December 1970, he was involved in a fatal three-car crash in his Jaguar XJ on a notorious stretch of the A20, south of Farningham, Kent, known as Death Hill.[10] Percival was in hospital for a month, he almost lost the sight of one eye and required 123 stitches.[11] Following his recovery, he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving. In court he testified remembering the car drifting left and right, but his memory of the accident was vague. He was acquitted after evidence showed that a tyre on his car had probably deflated before the crash.[12] Percival accepted liability for the accident and in a legal action that reached the Court of Appeal he paid a total of £35,781 in damages to his two passengers and to the widow and the two children of the driver who was killed (equivalent to £400,000 in 2023).[13][14][15][16][17]
Percival appeared on BBC Radio light entertainment programmes such as Just a Minute throughout the 1980s and was also the author of two books of verse, Well-Versed Cats and Well-Versed Dogs, both illustrated by Lalla Ward. Subsequently, he gained a reputation as a writer and later as an after-dinner speaker.[18]
Percival died on 6 January 2015, aged 81, after a long illness.[1] His son Jamie said: "When he spoke about his showbiz life, he spoke fondly of his time on That Was the Week That Was, and he always loved Ned Sherrin, who discovered him performing at the Blue Angel Club". He was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium on 20 January 2015.[4]
Filmography
Film
The Devil's Daffodil (1961) – Französischer Gendarme / French gendarme (uncredited)
^"Operation to save actor's eye". The Guardian. London. 16 December 1970. p. 20.
^"Percival to pay £5,200". The Guardian. London. 27 July 1974. p. 12. The court increased from £18,331 to £25,531 damages awarded to Mrs. Jillian Young, aged 31, for the death of her husband [...] Last year Mr. Percival, himself seriously injured in the accident, agreed to pay damages totalling £12,250 to his two passengers.
