Harry Secombe

From Wikipedia Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE 8 September 1921 11 April 2001 was a Welsh comedian and singer He played Neddie Seagoon a central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show 195160 He also appeared in musicals and films and in his later years was a presenter of television shows incorporating hymns and other devotional songs With the success of The Goon Show Secombe developed a dual career as both a comedy actor and a singer At the beginning of his career as an entertainer his act would end with a joke version of the duet Sweethearts in which he sang both the baritone and falsetto parts Trained under Italian maestro Manlio di Veroli he emerged as a bel canto tenor characteristically he insisted that in his case this meant can belto and had a long list of bestselling record albums to his credit In 1958 he appeared in the film Jet Storm which starred Dame Sybil Thorndike and Richard Attenborough and in the same year Secombe starred in the title role in Davy one of Ealing Studios last films In 1963 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE He was knighted in 1981 and jokingly referred to himself as Sir Cumference in recognition of his rotund figure The motto he chose for his coat of arms was GO ON a reference to goon