BBC Still Open All Hours: David Jason’s little known twin brother, wife 20 years younger and becoming a dad in his 60s
David Jason has had quite the interesting life both on and off camera
It goes without saying that David Jason is a British comedy legend, known for Only Fools and Horses, A Touch of Frost and Open All Hours.
David, 81, has been a familiar face on our screens for almost 60 years and has amassed a large and dedicated fan base.
Given David’s popularity, it’s unsurprising that his fans love to discover behind-the-scenes details about his life off-camera.
David was born in 1940 to parents Olwen and Arthur in Edmonton, London.
A little-known fact about David is that he was born as a twin, though his brother was tragically stillborn.
Opening up to the Guardian in 2013, the acting legend said: “I’m a twin but only I emerged live from the womb.
“The fact that I was originally one half of a duo gave rise to a theory, much propounded in newspaper profiles, that my life has been one desperate effort to compensate for that stillborn brother.
“I fear the truth may be more prosaic. The incident, sad as it was, dated back to the day I was born. It was hard to feel it as a loss.”
David also has an older brother, Arthur White, who features alongside him in a number of episodes of police crime drama A Touch of Frost playing the role of PC Ernie Trigg.
In terms of his romantic life, David married Gill Hinchcliffe, 20 years his junior, in 2005.
When David was 61 years old, he became a father for the first time when Gill gave birth to baby girl Sophie Mae.
Speaking about becoming a dad at an older age, Jason said in a 2019 interview with the Telegraph: “I suppose the thing that you miss, perhaps, is being able to do all the things a younger father would do with their child.
“But Sophie is lovely – when she was a baby and a small child, she was so funny, it was sheer delight.
“I still call her ‘the warf’, because she loved Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but she couldn’t say the ‘D’. Even now, I’ll say, ‘Where’s the warfling?’, and my wife will say, ‘Oh, she’s gone out.'”
Still Open All Hours with David Jason is on BBC One tonight (Wednesday, December 8) at 7.30pm
