The son of a star refused to see his actor father be handed his OBE for services to the theatre because of his dad’s real-life war experiences.
Nicolas Ridley, son of the late Arnold Ridley, was invited to to see his father receive the award but was “too angry” to face it. In 2010, Nicolas admitted to the Daily Mail that the honour “seemed to me a poor, overdue reward for his service to his country”.
Arnold – best known for his role as Private Charles Godfrey in the hit sitcom – was on the frontline in both World Wars, first enlisting as a Private in the in which he sustained injuries from a close-quarter battle. The actor and playwright was left with a “virtually useless” left hand after the Battle of the Somme, while his legs were embedded with shrapnel.
In addition, he received a bayonet wound to the groin and a blow to the head with a butt of a rifle left him prone to blackouts once the war ended, necessitating him to be medically discharged in 1917.
But in 1939, he rejoined the Army for , becoming a captain. In 1940 he joined the Home Guard after being discharged from the forces on health grounds.
Arnold Ridley actively served in both World Wars (Image: BBC)
And an OBE for his role in comedy Dad’s Army wasn’t enough after all his dad went through, argued Nicolas.
In his column for the Mail, he wrote: “The irony of my father being given an OBE for playing a conscientious objector was hard to bear. For my father, Arnold Ridley, had been one of the brave young men who went ‘over the top’ at the Battle of the Somme. He ended up being wounded three times and suffered from shell-shock, blackouts and haunting nightmares.”
He added: “In an unpublished memoir written towards the end of his life, he recalled, ‘Within hours of setting foot on the quay at Cherbourg [in World War II], I was suffering from acute shell-shock again. It took the form of a mental suffering that can best be described as an ‘inverted’ nightmare.’”
Arnold Ridley joined the Army in WW1 (Image: Getty)
Eventually Arnold refused to write more about his wartime experiences because he was “too afraid” of reliving the harsh memories.
Nicolas hated his father’s role, admitting: “Recently, I sat down to watch several episodes of Dad’s Army, but I still didn’t warm to Godfrey. His deference irritated me, as did his requests to be excused. And why did he have to look so gaga?”