| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | After the studio recording of Time on our Hands, the last episode of Only Fools and Horses.... (1981), the cast got a standing ovation longer than any David Jason had heard; it just went on and on and on. Lyndhurst, Buster Merryfield and all the cast were joined by John Sullivan and they had a group hug on the set, all of them in tears. |
| 2 | When he came down with the flu during A Royal Flush, an episode of Only Fools and Horses.... (1981), it put the episode behind schedule, throwing production into a panic. |
| 3 | He and David Jason used to tease Lennard Pearce on Only Fools and Horses.... (1981) saying he was a lazy sod and that they were basically a 20-minute warm-up act for his one killer gag. Pearce would just say, "I'm old - I'm allowed". |
| 4 | Once, he and David Jason brought a bag full of bangers into rehearsals for Only Fools and Horses.... (1981); they loaded the stacked chairs with them and the cubicle doors in the toilets. When production assistant Tony Dow unstacked the chairs, they went off, making him afraid to touch them. Jason and Lyndhurst thought it funny until a cleaning lady tried to mop the gents and nearly died of fright. They never pulled that prank again. |
| 5 | When David Jason was knighted in 2005, Lyndhurst couldn't attend Jason's after party for fifty people but John Sullivan did - Jason took the opportunity to announce his second wedding, to rapturous applause and table thumping. |
| 6 | Always before a live studio recording of Only Fools and Horses.... (1981), Lyndhurst and David Jason used to go to the canteen and have the same meal, almost like a ritual or a superstition, because they used to get so nervous. |
| 7 | Filming on the fourth series of Only Fools and Horses.... (1981) began in February, 1984. Lyndhurst and David Jason were in makeup when a distraught Ray Butt came in to tell them Lennard Pearce had died over the weekend of a heart attack; his body at the foot of a flight of stairs. Jason and Lyndhurst were shocked and speechless and filming was canceled. Pearce had not been a well man, he was a heavy smoker even on the job. Pearce's funeral was several days later; a small and humble affair. Pearce didn't have much in the way of family; his landlady and her daughter were the closest people to him, but the cast mourned him like losing a family member. |
| 8 | Close friends with his Only Fools and Horses.... (1981) co-star David Jason. Jason described them both as "a pair of silly Buddhas" and Lyndhurst as shiny-faced in his autobiography, and liked to call him Nick. They had met, along with Lennard Pearce, on other acting jobs before Only Fools and Horses.... (1981). Lyndhurst and Jason struck up an instant rapport in a motor-home while waiting to film location shoots, where they would mess about at the first opportunity. They used to play pranks on the set, e.g. pretending to have fallen out to worry the crew, or nailing Lennard Pearce's shoes to the floor or turning his costume inside out. Although Pearce mostly saw the funny side of things, that day he refused to work until director Ray Butt talked him around and Jason and Lyndhurst apologized. Jason claimed it was the only time Pearce lost perspective. |
| 9 | On November 24th, 1986 Only Fools and Horses.... (1981) was honored with a slot at the Royal Variety Performance, something that excited the whole crew; David Jason, Lyndhurst and John Sullivan thought about either re-doing a bit from an old script, or from the current one, A Royal Flush, which was filming on the Dorset Coast, that year's Christmas special. Sullivan opted for something new, a four-minute sketch Jason described as really neat. Del Boy, Rodney and Uncle Albert have a consignment of knock-off whiskey bottles, and mixed up meeting at a nightclub with the stage of the Theatre Royal, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Jason, Lyndhurst and Buster Merryfield rehearsed it to within an inch of their lives. It was a scene they didn't want to screw up. The tight schedule forced them to drive up from Dorset on the day of the show. There were so many acts at the Royal Variety that the dressing rooms of the Theatre Royal couldn't house them. Watching the other acts from CCTV in their dressing room, they were the only ones doing something original, something that made them very nervous. They needn't have worried; the show was a success. At the end of the sketch, Del sees the Queen Mother and mistakes her for they're employer. When she waved back, Jason almost dried, because he was not expecting that. When they later met her, she said thank you; he was deeply touched, for five seconds when she said the exact same thing in the exact same tone to everyone else in the line. They then immediately went back to Dorset to finish A Royal Flush; they settled their adrenalin with bottles of whiskey and water, except for Merryfield who never drank. Jason said it was a lovely interlude. |
| 10 | His likeness was used on David Jason's 50th birthday cake as Rodney and Del Boy from an episode of Only Fools and Horses.... (1981) where they end up with blowup dolls; Jason's wife thought it in poor taste and Jason saw her point, although he said the baker was an artist with the marzipan. |
| 11 | When Barry Gibb made a cameo in an episode of Only Fools and Horses.... (1981) set in Miami, he invited Lyndhurst and David Jason into his house, gave them tea and showed them around; the place was like a palace. Gibb was a big fan of the show and used to get tapes of it sent to America. |
| 12 | During the Gulf War, David Jason met someone in a pub who worked at RAF Command Headquarters. He told Jason they race 3-wheel vans against each other, paint them yellow with Trotters Independent Traders down the sides of them like the van from Only Fools and Horses.... (1981). Jason went down to have a look, but he didn't see a race. Jason, Lyndhurst and Buster Merryfield sent a Trotters van out to Kuwait. They slipped it into a Hercules plane among other stuff on a supply run and when it was unloaded the crew would find the van, filled up with chewing gum, toothpaste, cake and Danger Mouse (1981) and Count Duckula (1988) tapes from Brian Cosgrove with labels saying Debbie Does Dallas and Unzipperdedoodah and all sorts to amuse them. Jason didn't ask for any publicity because he didn't want anyone to think it was just for that, but a private joke between the RAF and the Trotters. The van was put in the hold and covered up with medical supplies and ammunition and flew to Kuwait, where its discovery brought some light relief. |
| 13 | Buster Merryfield used to get nervous during his early days on Only Fools and Horses.... (1981) and kept crashing into the audience (delivering his lines before the laughter had died down), meaning his scenes had to be re-recorded. He also used to dry up and lose his words, something that really got to him. Lyndhurst and David Jason would sit him down for a talk when he worried he wouldn't last. Whenever they made mistakes in the middle of a recording, they would blame someone and make it into a joke. If the audience thought you didn't care, they would relax and feel part of the joke. After that, Merryfield cracked his problem, relaxed into the show and the new partnership and became the lovable Uncle Albert. |
| 14 | Appearing in "The Dresser" at the Duke of York's Theatre, London [May 2005] |
| 15 | His uncle, Richard Lyndhurst was an actor in Donald Wolfit's company. |
| 16 | When he did a series of adverts for WH Smith a few years ago in which he played an entire family of four, he admitted to enjoying playing the mum best. |
| 17 | He has no interest in the showbiz scene, avoiding parties and social events in favour of diving which his life-long passion. |
| 18 | He is the result of an affair his mother had with a married man. He admits that he used to be shy of marriage as his father treated his mother very badly but took the plunge with his long-term girlfriend, Lucy |
| 19 | Attended the Corona Stage Academy. |
$5 Million
