The Old Un remembers Jonathan Cecil (1939-2011), one of the finest upper-class twits of his era
How quickly time flies! It is already ten years since the death, on 22nd September 2011, of the much-loved British comic actor Jonathan Cecil (1939-2011), once described by the Spectator as ‘one of the finest upper-class-twits of his era’.
Upper-class he certainly was – the son of the writer Lord David Cecil. His many distinguished relatives included Elizabeth I’s chief minister, Lord Burghley, his son Robert Cecil (her great spymaster after the death of Walsingham) and three-times Prime Minister Lord Salisbury.
Jonathan was no twit in real life. After Eton and Oxford – with Dennis Potter, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett – he trained at LAMDA, where fellow students included Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. He also reviewed books for the Spectator, the Times Literary Supplement and others, and took a keen interest in the history of the theatre and music hall.
Though he was praised for his ‘straight’ acting, his looks and accent made him a perfect choice for playing dim-witted toffs such as P G Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster and the hapless Captain Cadbury in a 1973 Dad’s Army episode.
He also narrated a number of talking-book versions of Plum’s stories, and was praised for giving ‘his now celebrated impersonation of a semi-detached goldfish’ (Sheridan Morley).
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography described him thus: ‘A colourful character, often seen in an immaculate Jermyn Street suit set off by a raffish fedora, he was a bon viveur and a brilliant raconteur, and spent much time at the Garrick Club.’
