"Born in Twickenham, south-west London, his father was a bank manager and his mother was a housewife. He showed no interest in acting at school and his only link to the stage was his grandmother, who ran a theatrical boarding house in Northampton. On leaving school he followed his father into a banking career with Barclays and might have stayed there for life were it not for the Second World War. Sallis signed up for the RAF but failed his aircrew medical and instead became a radio instructor based at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire for the duration of the war" Peter Sallis, Last of the Summer Wine star, dies aged 96 | Daily Mail Online