Roy Castle Biography Roy Castle OBE (August 31, 1932–September 2, 1994) was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television host, and musician. He was an exceptional jazz trumpet player who could also play a variety of other instruments. After a diverse career as a stage, television, and film performer, he became best known to British television viewers as the long-running host of the children’s show Record Breakers.
Roy Castle Biography 2025
Roy Castle, an outstanding performer with a forty-year career in show business, is best known as the long-time presenter of the BBC Children’s Television Series “Record Breakers”. Roy was a gifted and varied musician (with a repertoire of over 40 instruments), as well as a dancer, singer, popular comedian, actor, and passionate charity advocate. Roy was respected and admired for his modesty, and the late Harry Secombe wrote that when Roy left the room, “he leaves behind a soft ‘afterglow'”. Roy, an only child, was raised in Scholes, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire. His family resided in a small terraced house adjacent to his grandparents, where he had a modest but pleasant upbringing. Roy began tap dance lessons at the Nora Bray School when he was seven years old. After becoming a successful child dancer and vocalist, his mother responded to an advertisement.
Roy Castle Biography 2025 Details
| Born |
31 August 1932
Scholes, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
|
| Died |
2 September 1994 (aged 62)
Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England
|
| Occupations |
- Dancer
- singer
- comedian
- actor
- television presenter
- musician
|
| Years active |
1953–1994 |
| Known for |
Record Breakers |
| Spouse |
|
| Children |
4, including Ben |
| Category |
Singers Bio |
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Roy Castle
Roy Castle OBE was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. In addition to being an accomplished jazz trumpet player, he could play many other instruments.
Born: 31 August 1932, Scholes, United Kingdom
Died: 2 September 1994 (age 62 years), Gerrards Cross, United Kingdom
Spouse: Fiona Dickson (m. 1963–1994)
Children: Norberto Castronuovo, Ben Castle, Antonia Castle, Julia Castle
Height: 1.75 m
Death
Castle was diagnosed with lung cancer in early 1992 and informed that his chances of recovery were limited and that he wouldn’t last more than six months. He had chemotherapy and radiotherapy before going into remission later that year. He was not a smoker and blamed his sickness on passive smoking while playing the trumpet in smokey jazz venues. Castle revealed on November 26, 1993, that his disease had resurfaced and he was undergoing a second round of treatment. Despite his declining health, he took part in the high-profile Tour of Hope in the spring and summer of 1994 to raise cash for the construction of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, which is the.
Early career
Castle was born in Scholes, near Holmfirth in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was a tap dancer from a young age and trained at Nora Bray’s School of Dance with Audrey Spencer, who later operated a large dance school. After leaving Holme Valley Grammar School (now Honley High School), he began his career as an entertainer at an amateur musical party. As a teenage performer in the 1950s, he lived in Cleveleys in Blackpool and performed at the local Queen’s Theatre before going professional in 1953 as a stooge for Jimmy Clitheroe and Jimmy James. By 1958, he was performing in the Royal Variety Show. As a performer, he released one hitting record in 1960, the Christmas carol “Little White.
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Television and film career
Castle appeared in an episode of the Morecambe and Wise sitcom Two of a Kind, which aired August 3, 1963. He was billed twice for his guest appearances on both halves of the event. Castle featured alongside Peter Cushing in the 1965 film Dr. Who and the Daleks, the first of two cinematic adaptations of the BBC television series. He played Dr. Who’s first male assistant, Ian Chesterton, and was cast to play the part in a more comic manner than William Russell did in the comparable serial. Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors featured him as a jazz musician. Castle featured in Carry On Up the Khyber in 1968 and the TV musical Pickwick for the.
In the 1990s, he returned to Pickwick, touring the country with Sir Harry Secombe and recording the program once more. (Secombe performed in the original West End production in 1963.) In 1973, Castle collaborated with comedic actor Ronnie Barker on an original one-off called “Another Fine Mess” (an episode from Barker’s series Seven of One). Barker was one of Castle’s closest friends, and he paid tribute to their work together immediately after Castle died.
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Singing career
Between 1958 and 1969, Castle made three LPs. One of them, Songs for a Rainy Day, was recorded for the Columbia label in 1966 and reissued in the UK on CD by EMI Gold in 2005 under the title Isn’t This A Lovely Day. The album has twelve songs with rain as the topic. The record features jazz arrangements by Victor Graham covering a variety of styles such as big band (“Pennies From Heaven”, “Stormy Weather”), ballads (“February Brings The Rain”, “Here’s That Rainy Day”, “Soon It’s Gonna Rain”), and bossa novas (“Everytime It Rains”, “The Gentle.
Castle’s recorded career featured spoken word performances. He recorded eight Bible parables for the Scripture Union Label in 1978, which were published on side 1 of the LP Castle on Luke Street (SU0806), based on David Lewis’s ‘Luke Street’ books. Kenneth Williams, Dora Bryan, Derek Nimmo, and Thora Hird told one story each on Side 2.
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Personal life
Castle married dancer Fiona Dickson on July 29, 1963. Eric Morecambe had introduced them to each other. Castle and his wife were devout Christians who routinely attended the Baptist church near their home. They have four children. Their youngest son, Ben Castle (born 1973), is a jazz saxophonist who has collaborated with many musicians, including Jamie Cullum, Carleen Anderson, Beth Rowley, Marillion, and Radiohead, as well as appearing on film soundtracks.
Castle was a football aficionado who supported Liverpool. On March 13, 1994, less than six months before his death, he attended the Liverpool-Everton derby at Anfield and stood on the Spion Kop terrace. He was also among the audience for Liverpool’s FA Cup final victory over Sunderland. At the time, Ronnie Barker offered them credit, referring to their portrayal of characters in Another Fine Mess who bore a striking resemblance to Laurel and Hardy. Castle received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 New Year Honours on December 31, 1992.
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