'Only Fools And Horses' Star Lennard Pearce Could Have Shot Adolf Hitler

His replacement on the show, Uncle Albert, might have famously banged on about his time in the navy 'during the war', but it turns out that Only Fools and Horses' actor Lennard Pearce (who played Grandad) had a war story that was stranger than fiction.

According to Nicholas Lyndhurst, who played Rodney Trotter, prior to his 23-episode run on the sitcom, Lennard met Adolf Hitler and later told ­how he wished he had killed him and stopped the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime.

Credit: UKTV Gold / Only Fools and Horses

Nicholas said: "He was a young actor touring Europe and they were playing some German city and the Nazis walked in.

"The top honchos of the Nazi party had seen the play and came to congratulate them ­afterwards. Lennard shook hands with Adolf Hitler.

"He only ever told me once, but he said, 'had I known then what I know now, I would have drawn the pistol from one of the bodyguards and I'd have done my best to kill him'."

Credit: PA Images

Steve Clark, author of Only Fools and Horses - The Official Inside Story, added: "We're used to hearing Uncle Albert's stories about his rather dubious wartime service in the navy, but it's incredible that Lennard Pearce actually met Hitler during his rise to power and could have put a stop to him before he was able to do so much evil."

Lennard died in 1984 aged 69 during the fourth Only Fools and Horses series. Uncle Albert, played by Buster Merryfield, was then brought in as a replacement for the character - written as Grandad's long-lost younger brother.

Credit: UKTV Gold / Only Fools and Horses

Last month, a 'lost' episode of Only Fools and Horses from 1984 was found, with scenes to be shown on TV for the first ever time on Tuesday.

The episode, called 'Licensed to Drill', is said to have been found on a dusty shelf, and was the last one to star Lennard Pearce. In the episode, Del Boy buys an oil rig for £400, hoping to make a couple of million.

Scenes from the episode will be shown on UKTV Gold's The Story Of Only Fools And Horses on 3 October. The series, which is on weekly at 8pm, also features bloopers and interviews with the cast.

Featured Image Credit: BBC / Only Fools and Horses

Topics: Nazi

James Dawson

James Dawson is a Journalist at LADbible. He has contributed articles to LADbible’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing EU’ series on the EU referendum, the 'Electoral Dysfunction' series on the 2017 general election, the ‘U OK M8?’ series tackling mental health amongst young men, and for its ‘Climate Change’ initiative in partnership with National Geographic.

@thejaytoday