User:Pete Phatbuds
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Peter Jones (June 12, 1920 – April 10, 2000) was an English actor, born at Wem in Shropshire.
He was most noted for his lead role in the TV sitcom The Rag Trade and his elegant repartee on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Just a Minute. On Just a Minute, he was known for being very good at quick one liners without ever really becoming that great at the game itself.
Between 1952 and 1955 Jones starred alongside Peter Ustinov in the much-loved BBC radio comedy In All Directions. The show featured Jones and Ustinov as themselves in a car in London perpetually searching for Copthorne Avenue. The comedy derived from the characters they met along the way, often also played by themselves. The show was unusual for the time as it was largely improvised. Jones and Ustinov improvised on to a tape which was then edited for broadcast by Frank Muir and Denis Norden who also sometimes took part. Possibly the favourite characters were Morris and Dudley Grosvenor, two rather stupid East End spivs whose sketches always ended with the phrase "Run for it Morry" (or Dudley as appropriate.) Sadly no recording is known to survive.[1]
Jones was also the voice of The Book in the original BBC radio and subsequent television and LP adaptations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He also narrated Douglas Adams's radio series Last Chance to See. He also had guest starring roles in the British comedy series The Goodies and the courtroom drama Rumpole of the Bailey.
In addition to appearing in a number of television series, such as Holby City, Whoops Apocalypse and The Bill, Jones featured in a number of films, including Private's Progress, School for Scoundrels (reprising his Dudley Grosvenor character as a used-car salesman), Chariots of Fire and The Return of the Pink Panther.
He was also a talented scriptwriter. His daughter, Selena Carey-Jones, is herself an actress.
