Norman Arthur Eschle 'Eshley'. 30 May 1945 - 02 August 2025. BGS 1956-1962.

Extract from The Times - full artcle here.

Norman Eshley, the actor, who has died aged 80, was best known for playing Jeffrey Fourmile in George and Mildred (ITV, 1976-79), a character who rivalled The Good Life's Margo Leadbetter as the snobbiest next door neighbour in 1970s sitcome suburbia.

Over the course of five series, plus a 1980 feature film, Mr Fourmile's function was to carp endlessly about his idle, working-class neigjour George Roper (Brian Murphy), married to the would-be upwardly mobile Mildred (Yootha Joyce). In reality, Eshley enjoyed working with Brian Murphy.

"There was one silly little exhcnage that we couldn't do with a striagh face.I had to go up to George in the pub and say, 'I want to talk to you, Roper.' 'What about?' he replies. 'Wedd in your garden,' I say. 'Who did?' We did get it right finally in the recording."

Eshley's steady career as a telelvision and stafe actor was torpedoed when, visiting the Dordogne in 1993, he was a passenger in a car that collided with a lorry on a narrow country road. His injuries were so serious that he would told he was unlikely to live for much more than a decade.'

Formerly a Royal Shakespeare Company regular, he was no longer able to work in theatre - 'I ... lost my bottle a bit. I tried a play in Nottingham and I couldn't remember a line.' - and he 'mooched around for years and did nothing creative. I cared for my mother and drank too much.' Eventually, however, he reinvented himself as a writer. 'I found it reall satisying, much more satisfying than acting.'

The son of a bank worker, Norman Eshley was born in Bristol on May 30 1945. One of his teachers at Bristol Grammar School told him that he was talented enough to audition for the National Youth Theatre, with which he spent a season in London. He then started working in a bank but loathed it, and secured a scholarship to train at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

• Obituary in the Independant
• Obituary in Hello! Magazine
• IMDB link.

Memories from BGS school friends

Dave Powell - "We were in the same year at school. Norman had the starring role in 'Billy Budd' whilst I was an ordinary seaman. RIP Norman."

Mike Burmester - "I remember him from the year above me at BGS"

Mentions in The Chronicle

Norman write the following for teacher Mr Payne's retirement.

"Upon being asked to write a tribute to Mr. Payne on his retirement, I thought of many things to say about him, all of admiration. But the difficulty was to translate these thoughts into words, because what Mr. Payne has done for drama in Bristol is immeasurable. Not only in School, where his productions were elevated above the accepted standard of school plays, but outside,where his activities have influenced actors and societies in a far greater way than most people have appreciated. Mr Payne has been instrumental in creating a Bristol Youth Theatre, which has increased theatre appreciation in young Bristolians tenfold. He has brought to these young people a satisfaction which hitherto had been frustrated by virtue of their age. Many people have been able to see that theatre in the future could only thrive on the interest of today's younger generation, but Mr. Payne was the first to take a practical view of this and form thelocal counterpart of the National Youth Theatre. It is a common error when presenting plays for youth to concentrate on visual effects to compensate for oral difficulties. But Mr. Payne while presenting drama has brought a clarity of language that should serve as an example to many. Mr. Payne has now many young admirers and friends in Bristol who no doubt will cause his "retirement" to be far more active than he anticipated. But knowing his energy, they will probably tire beforehe does.I personally would like to thank Mr. Payne for all he has done for me and wish him a very happy retirement."