A man of many talents, I never realised until today that he wrote the lyrics for the Vera Lynn classic ‘White Cliffs of Dover’!
Most of his films were made in and around the streets of Windsor and my personal favourite ‘On the beat’ was filmed in and around the streets where I lived – if anyone remembers the bit where he’s being chased over the garden fences by loads of coppers, well that was my back garden!
Somewhere in the family is a photo of him in his police uniform holding me as a baby of about a year old and I’d always hoped to get him to sign it but that will never happen now I guess.
Apparently Charlie Chaplin said that he was the only person who could ever replace him on the silver screen – what a compliment from another all-time great.
RIP Norman you have and always will put a smile on people’s faces.