Trivia

He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1970 Queen's Birthday Honours List for charitable services to handicapped children.

His father was a circus clown and acrobat. His grandfather was a groom at Sanger's Circus. Richard himself took on the family tradition and became an acrobat, working for a while at Chipperfield Circus. He was proud of having learned 49 different ways of falling down ! He was also successful as a comedian, actor, writer and dancer.

First artist to be known as a "television star" and also the first to have his own regular programme.

He was offered the starring role of the BBC series Docteur Who (1963) after the departure of Jon Pertwee, but his insistence that he play the part in the style of his 'Mr Pastry' character was unacceptable to the series' producer, Barry Letts.

He had 2 daughters.