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The original Dan Archer - Harry Oakes.

• Message 1. 

  Posted by AJB65 (U14646595) on Wednesday, 13th October 2010

  Does anyone have any information about the original Dan Archer - Harry Oakes? How did he come to be picked for the part, what other acting work did he do, when and why was he replaced - anything at all really?
  
  Any help would be gratefully received - thanks.
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by taddydogman (U13374770) on Thursday, 14th October 2010

  Although this may not be strictly relevant to your question, I can tell you that Harry Oakes once appeared on the radio quiz show "What Do You Know?" which later became "Brain of Britain". The quiz chairman at that time was Franklin Engelmann who decided that rather than address Harry Oakes as "Mr Oakes" on the show, he would refer to him as "Mr Archer" as that was how the radio audience would relate to him.
  
  This must have been in the mid-1950s I think.

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  Posted by mike (U14258103) on Thursday, 14th October 2010

  Harry Oakes died in 1960. There are lots of page references to Harry in the William Smethurst book (several editions, but the one I have is called "The Archers: the history of radio's most famous programme" (pub Michael O'Mara booksm 2000). This book is out of print (see FAQ link on left) but it it fairly easy to get hold of this (or an earlier edition). I couldn't spot anything on why he was cast or his earlier career. During the 1950s the Labour Party complained to the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú that he and Gwen Berryman (Doris Archer) were opening Conservative fetes around the country "in character".

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  Posted by taddydogman (U13374770) on Thursday, 14th October 2010

  A valuable source of reference material on Harry Oakes is Godfrey Baseley's book "The Archers: A Slice of my Life" which was published in 1971. In Chapter 10, which deals with the cast of TA, the following information appears:
  
  Harry Oakes, who created the part of Dan Archer, was a Staffordshire man from the Potteries. He was a pottery designer, who in the true tradition of the Potteries was keen on music and graduated through the choral society to become a solo singer and as an amateur took part in many musical shows over the years. He had a rich baritone voice and could produce an authentic Staffordshire accent. It was for this ability that he first came into broadcasting to take part in programmes that reflected life in the Potteries.
  
  During the war, when many of the pottery manufacturers had to close down, Harry came to Birmingham to work for the Ministry of Supply. Being on the spot as it were he was easily available for broadcasting and through that wonderful 'nursery', Children's Hour, he enlarged his capacity as an actor and graduated to drama and features.
  
  Harry was a warm and friendly person, with a ready wit, a sense of fun and above all a great sincerity and attention to detail in all he undertook. These natural qualities were just what were wanted for the character of Dan Archer.
  
  (Then follows a bit about the character of Dan himself. The narrative continues as below):
  
  Harry Oakes took his briefing well, in spite of the fact that his background was closely associated with industry, but in many ways the fortunes of men and women involved in the pottery industry were very similar to those in farming, and Harry who knew his social history appreciated all that was required of him. It came to him so naturally and he believed in the character so much that when he discarded his city suiting and adopted tweeds, it all seemed natural and right. So absorbed did he become in his character that he could hold his own in a group of farmers - and look exactly like one of them. He soon became the father figure not only in the programme but with the other members of the cast and spoke and acted on their behalf. It was a very great loss to the programme when he became so ill that he was unable to continue playing the part.

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