Arthur Lowe

Amazingly, no one has written a proper biography of Arthur Lowe, the legendary Captain Mainwaring of TV's DAD'S ARMY, one of the best-loved characters ever to have appeared on British TV screens. More than twenty years after Lowe died in 1982, DAD'S ARMY has become a classic comedy series, is regularly repeated all over the world, and has captured yet another generation of enchanted fans. On 28 May 2001, BBC1 screened a 90-minute tribute to Lowe. Lowe became an actor when he was a sergeant fighting in the North African desert during WW2 after helping one of his officers build a theatre in Alexandria. On top of his long TV career, which took off when he played the pompous draper Leonard Swindley in CORONATION STREET in 1958, he also appeared as a singer and dancer in three West End musicals, on stage in numerous serious plays and in more than fifty films. For this first in-depth biography of Lowe, Graham Lord has followed in his footsteps all over Britain and has interviewed both of his sons and other relatives as well as dozens of actors, friends and army comrades, including all of the surviving stars of DAD'S ARMY.
The result is a vivid and moving account of one of British television's most beloved comic actors. Graham Lord is regarded as one of the best biographers of popular characters. His previous two books have both been bestsellers.