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Afterwards, he settled in Australia where he continued acting, and later presenting and producing. Born in India, Robin, 68, is married to Bertie and they live in Dorset. He has just
completed his autobiography – Being Mike Abbott. “I was born in Calcutta because my mother, who was in the Women’s Air Force, was posted to India where she met my father who worked with his
brother in a pharmaceuticals business. “My life changed as an 11-year-old living in London when I was walking through Regent’s Park and a passing motorist stopped to hand me his business
card. “He was a Disney scout and that chance meeting led to me playing Ralph Richardson’s son on stage in The Complaisant Lover directed by John Gielgud. I never had a burning desire to
perform – actually, I wanted to be a lawyer. “However, over the next 10 years I played everything from Lord Provost’s secretary, Jodie Ross, in Disney’s Greyfriar’s Bobby with Gordon
Jackson (1961), to Midshipman Pardoe with Alec Guinness in HMS Defiant (1962), and I appeared in Camelot on Broadway with Richard Burton. “I was 16 when my mother, who was also a pianist,
died of a heart attack and it was a disaster for me because she was a good person who supported me so well. I needed time to myself, so I left for Kenya and Uganda where my father had
friends. “I didn’t intend to return to acting but within days of arriving home I did Z Cars and Dixon Of Dock Green. “I got Bless This House simply by producers asking to see me along with
others and I got the part. All I could think afterwards was ‘I’m going to play Sid James’s son!’ “He was a huge star who the nation loved. My abiding memory is Sid saying, ‘Hello mate,’ to
everyone and you never left him without a smile. People adored him. Sid loved doing the show because he was playing Sid the family man, rather than doing his Carry On innuendo parts. “Mike
Abbott was the most wonderful person to play and Carla Lane wrote him so sympathetically that he could wander around wearing ridiculous clothes, get fed, have his washing done, get money
off Sid and do nothing. He was the hippy who pottered around. “Robin Askwith played Mike in the spin-off film because I was already booked for summer season on Bournemouth Pier, where I met
Bertie, a model who later became my wife. “I remember Sid saying to Diana Coupland [Jean Abbott] that we would be making Bless This House until we die. It was so sad when Sid died in 1976
and Diana 30 years later; both of them and Sally Geeson [Sally Abbott] had become like a second family. Bless This House remains six of the happiest years of my life. “Then I travelled to
New Zealand and Australia where Bless This House was massive. I also did Opportunity Knocks, Celebrity Squares plus dramas including Sons And Daughters and Young Doctors. I never stopped
presenting, acting and producing together with co-hosting Good Morning Sydney and Midweek Live. “Bertie and I got married two years ago and returned to England where we settled in a
200-year-old house with lovely gardens. It’s in a quiet, secluded area that allows me to sit down with a gin and tonic and continue writing my novel – I’m up to 70,000 words and it’s all
based on characters I’ve known. “I love horses and in Australia, I bred, trained and rode them, but riding is difficult now because I had two valves inserted into my lungs as a result of
emphysema. “I do lots of signings at TV and film festivals where I’m asked if I am coming back on TV and my answer is I don’t know. But I do know that a nice part in EastEnders would be
lovely.” _BEING MIKE ABBOTT BY ROBIN STEWART WITH PAUL BURTON CAN BE ORDERED AT ROBIN-STEWART.COM._