On the day that Czech and Slovak Film Festival at Newtown’s Dendy is reaching its end and Pacho makes everyone laugh one comes across a quote that reminds us of some of our current leaders who are experiencing the dizziness of power:
Juraj Jánošík saw royal police pull fish out of the water just to watch them not breathe.
Mrs. Polouvicka : We have a saying in old Czechoslovakia, that the teapot that is left longest grows coldest.
Mrs. Polouvicka : [to Audrey] There is a saying in old Czechoslovakia, that the cat who eats from the dog's bowl gets her whiskers bitten off. Watch your step, my girl.
Mrs. Polouvicka:
We have a saying in old Czechoslovakia.
To The Manor Born star Peter Bowles has died from cancer at the age of 85.
Bowles was best known for his role as Richard DeVere in the BBC sitcom which aired from 1979 to 1981, starring as the self-made businessman alongside Dame Penelope Keith, with the pair reprising their roles in a 2007 special.
The manor is bought by Richard DeVere (played by Peter Bowles), a nouveau riche millionaire supermarket owner originally from Czechoslovakia
His character was a Czech-born immigrant with a caddish moustache who had come to Britain as a boy, made millions and bought Audrey’s family mansion. As the two rubbed fractiously along, To the Manor Born developed into a romantic comedy. Watched by an audience of nearly 24 million at its peak, it ran for three series until the last episode, in which the couple married. Bowles was 42 when he made his name.
And for the first two series Daphne Heard, who played my Czech-speaking mum (she made up the much-praised authentic accent) had to pay for her own digs in London as she lived in Bristol, so nearly all her fee went in rent. Penny and I put a stop to that the minute we knew about it.
Daphne Heard - The English actress and drama teacher shot to fame as Richard's elderly mother Mrs Polouvicka in the BBC sitcom.
Audrey fforbes-Hamilton:
Democracy is all very well, but why give it to the people?
To the Manor Born catapulted Bowles to fame, with the series regularly attracting TV audiences of 20 million. He played the nouveau-riche businessman DeVere, a wholesale foods magnate of Czech descent, who purchases a grand English manor house from its original owner, Audrey fforbes-Hamilton (Keith), who is forced to sell her beloved Grantleigh estate and decamp to a tiny cottage on site, from where she views DeVere’s activities disapprovingly. The pair marry in the final episode. The chemistry and comedy that Bowles generated with Keith turned the show into one of the most watched programmes of the 1970s.
In 2013, Bowles told the Guardian in an interview about the sitcom: “The show cut across all classes and was watched by 20 million viewers at its peak. The day after the first episode, I walked out to get my morning paper and people stopped me in the street; when I went on stage that night there was a huge round of applause. Suddenly people wanted to talk to me.”
Peter Bowles, star of TV sitcom To the Manor Born, dies aged 85
Actor best known for playing Richard DeVere in BBC series from 1979 to 1981 remembered as ‘a true gentleman’
• Peter Bowles: a commanding talent who was so much more than a sitcom star
