Comedy writer and performer, born in Oldham, Lancashire, NW England, UK. After entertaining in RAF shows during World War 2, he started to write scripts for radio shows such as Variety Bandbox (1947) and Educating Archie (19504). The creator of his own BBC series (195965, 197280), he offered simple, innocent humour devoid of malice and with a propensity towards physical jokes and slapstick antics. His film appearances include One Way Pendulum (1964), Shalako (1968), Theatre of Blood (1973), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). He has written, directed, and acted in short, silent comedies such as The Plank (1967) and Rhubarb (1970), and his television series include Curry and Chips (1969) and The Nineteenth Hole (1989).
Biography
Sykes's career in entertainment began during his time in a Royal Air Force Special Liaison Unit during World War II, during which time he worked with Flight Lieutenant Bill Fraser.
He also helped Spike Milligan with The Goon Show after Milligan's depression. He had first collaborated with Milligan on a radio special called Archie in Goonland, which was a crossover between The Goon Show and the "radio ventriloquism" show Educating Archie starring Peter Brough and his dummy Archie Andrews, which Sykes had been writing.
One of Sykes' best known creations is his classic wordless slapstick routine, The Plank, which began as a sketch in his TV series.
On 25 December 1979 Sykes was the subject of Thames Television's This Is Your Life.
Sykes toured Australia with the play Run for Your Wife during (1987-1988).
Sykes became partially deaf due to illness as an adult.
In the British New Year's Honours List published 31 December 2004, Sykes was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Drama, following a petition by MPs after he was excluded from the Birthday Honours List.
More recently, Sykes appeared as Mollocks, the servant of Dr Prunesquallor, in the BBC's mini-series adaptation of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast.
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