Ian Carmichael - still going at 86

Jonathan Calder quite rightly draws attention to the remarkable career of George Cole, who appeared in Diamond Geezer on ITV last night.

In terms of longevity of his acting career, it is worth sparing a thought for Ian Carmichael. Although not a child screen actor like George Cole or James Fox, Carmichael was on stage acting from 1939 and film acting from 1952. As well as being in some hilarious Boulting Brothers films in the 50s (usually as the butt of the jokes), he has been a regular on TV ever since. Only recently, he completed three series of Royal for ITV where he played Mr Middleditch, the hospital secretary. He looked remarkably young for his 86 years.