grumpyf1

"You WHAT?" Yesterday saw the funeral take place of the wonderful George Cole. A talented actor, he will probably be most fondly remembered for his portrayal of Arthur Daley. A long time ago, I occasionally had the surreal experience of walking home from school and passing a very familiar character, sat in his car. George Cole’s daughter was in my younger brother’s year, and he used to pick her up just like any other dad – except he was in a Jag, and as far as every kid at school was concerned, he was Arthur Daley, the ‘dodgy geezer’ who would do anything to make a spot of dosh, even if it wasn’t entirely legal or scrupulous, on hit ITV show ‘Minder’. Running from 1979 to 1994, the show initially focused on Arthur’s ‘Minder’, Terry, played by Dennis Waterman (fresh from his success in ‘The Sweeney’), but it soon became clear the interplay between the two, and Cole’s comedic genius as the double-dealing, cowardly, cigar-smoking Arthur (complete with trademark Tril...