Compo's Passport

J

jakob1978

Well-Known Member
One of the advantages of new DVD sets coming out, is noticing the little details that I've missed on the VHS recordings and the various quality of episodes that are out there. One such moment is in "Last Post and Pigeon" where Ivy takes a look at Compo's new passport, where we can see that -

a - Compo's birthdate is 26th February 1923
b - he doesn't have a middle name
c - he was born in Holmfirth
and
d - He doesn't seem to have signed it (it should be signed under the section, under the "United Kingdom Passport Agency" print)

compo-passport.jpg
 
Thanks for posting, Jakob. I think that pic is fascinating. To think that the show went into all that detail to come up with a realistic and well written pass port for a short clip.
 
codfanglers said:
Thanks for posting, Jakob. I think that pic is fascinating. To think that the show went into all that detail to come up with a realistic and well written pass port for a short clip.
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Yes indeed mate. Attention to detail is what separates the great from the good.
 
Sad to think that Bill died 32 days after the date on the passport.On Kathy Staff's birthday
 
George said:
Sad to think that Bill died 32 days after the date on the passport.On Kathy Staff's birthday
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Aye, theres a sort of strange irony to that, but if you thought about it too closely, you would go barmy.
 
jakob1978 said:
d - He doesn't seem to have signed it (it should be signed under the section, under the "United Kingdom Passport Agency" print)
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Well if he had signed it, it would have just been a cross!
I paused the DVD on that bit, too. I find Compo's passport quite fascinating!
 
I thought I would unearth this old topic.

Partly because we were discussing Edith Clegg's date of birth on another section of this forum, and partly because it's quite interesting.

The date of birth for Compo on this passport is 1923. We were led to believe Clegg went to school Compo, and that Clegg is more likely to have been born around 1921, from what we know from First of the Summer Wine.

Bill Owen was born in 1914.

Wonder why they chose 1923?

In The Secret Birthday of Norman Clegg, made 2002, shown 2003, Clegg wants to celebrate his birthday quietly with a nice meal in a hotel. Very unlike Clegg perhaps, though would seem appropriate if this was his 80th birthday, which could make his date of birth 1922 or 1923 which would also tie in nicely with Compo's passport.

Clearly I am over-analysing this.

Very few sitcom writers are this precise, and I wouldn't expect it. Just playing around with the dates and numbers!

But one does have to wonder why they chose 1923.

The passport picture also shows a very un-Compo-like picture. This is very likely a picture of Bill Owen as himself, rather than in character as Compo. That is certainly the smartest Compo ever appeared, with the possible exception of Some Enchanted Evening.
 
wstol said:
The passport picture also shows a very un-Compo-like picture. This is very likely a picture of Bill Owen as himself, rather than in character as Compo. That is certainly the smartest Compo ever appeared, with the possible exception of Some Enchanted Evening.
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We certainly never saw Compo in that suit and it doesn't look like one Clegg would have had to loan him either. Don't remember ever seeing Compo's hair combed quite like that either. They might well have pulled a picture of Bill Owen to use rather than dress up Compo in that way.
 
me2 said:
We certainly never saw Compo in that suit and it doesn't look like one Clegg would have had to loan him either. Don't remember ever seeing Compo's hair combed quite like that either. They might well have pulled a picture of Bill Owen to use rather than dress up Compo in that way.
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I recall that Bill Owen was a very smartly dressed person, and always wore immaculate suits and well parted hair so that fits.

As to date: in one of the FOSW episodes (great outdoors?) they go into a pub and all aver they are 18 which gives 1921 as their birth year.
 
I happened to come across a picture of Bill Owen in what looks like this suit and tie. It was a picture of the Summer Wine Cast at the 1998 BritComSociety Tribute. Morris Bright had posted the picture of the cast on twitter as a tribute to Peter Sallis on his 94th birthday.
 
The passport was a standard 10 year one , the expiry date would equate to mid series 30 episodes in terms of first airing ,perhaps like Cleggy they thought Compo would go the distance ? If he had managed to hang on in there would Hobbo , Alvin and Entwistle still have joined the show ? I suppose the answer is yes given the reduced role Truly and Cleggy had by the time series 30 aired. Wonder what he would have made of Hobbo probably thought what a chuffin barnpot!
 
captain clutterbuck said:
The passport was a standard 10 year one , the expiry date would equate to mid series 30 episodes in terms of first airing ,perhaps like Cleggy they thought Compo would go the distance ? If he had managed to hang on in there would Hobbo , Alvin and Entwistle still have joined the show ? I suppose the answer is yes given the reduced role Truly and Cleggy had by the time series 30 aired. Wonder what he would have made of Hobbo probably thought what a chuffin barnpot!
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Well, Bill Owen would have been 96 by the time 2010 rolled around, so odds are he wouldn't have been on the show even if he was still alive. I doubt if the show had continued much beyond 2010 that Peter Sallis would have been around for every episode much longer as well. Maybe an annual appearance at most for those guys. Inevitably a transition would have been necessary for the show to continue into the future and if anything I think they waited too long to try and reinvent it, though Bell implies in his book that had very little confidence in BBC management after the mid-90s so presumably that is why they were so conservative and just kept going with the same core cast, only bringing in new people as spaces opened up.
 
Ages

I think it's a mistake, as the main characters were all born around 1921, making them roughly 52 at the time of the series starting in 1973, and around 89 (in Clegg and Truly's case) by the time the last episode aired in 2010
 
Just noticed it was not even one of Cleggy's suits he was wearing: even in FOSW he was smartened up by wearign one of Mr Clegg's senior's suits!
 
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