Trivia

He did not find out until age 14 that he had a twin brother who had died at birth.

He had no formal education.

He worked as a self-employed electrician before becoming an actor, initially in the theatre and later moving to television.

He landed the part of Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses (1981) by making fun of director Ray Butt's Cockney accent with a pitch perfect imitation.

When Jason was cast as Detective Inspector Jack Frost, the character had to be cleaned up from the books, where Frost was a chain smoker, but Jason recently gave up smoking. He used to smoke four or five cigarettes a day, or in the evening with a drink, and didn't want to start again, and smoking was taboo on TV in 1992.

The famous scene from Only Fools and Horses (1981) where Del Boy fell through the open bar flap derived from John Sullivan watching the exact same thing happen to a man in a wine bar, except he grabbed onto the fixed part of the bar so he didn't fall right over. Sullivan thought it funny for the man's body language, trying to recover his cool. Sullivan wanted a slip, stumble and a tree like fall; Jason thought Del should go all the way over - start to go sideways, and than go over without looking in the direction of the fall, which Jason thought was the key to the scene. There was a hidden crash mat, but it was a hard shot to get because it was hard not to look where Jason was falling; Jason had done a number of falls in the theatre so that came in handy. Just as funny was Trigger's baffled reaction to Del's sudden disappearance. Jason gets people asking him about that fall all the time, and some never like to talk about anything else, but he's happy to be remembered for something so iconic.

He is the younger brother of actor Arthur White, who appears in many episodes of A Touch of Frost (1992) with him.

In 2005, he was knighted in the Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honours. He collected the award from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 1 December 2005, having secretly married his long-term partner Gill Hinchcliffe at the Dorchester Hotel in London the day before.

He didn't watch television until the age of 13, when he saw the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, she later knighted Jason. His family didn't hire a television until he was age 15, when ITV was first launched.

He was a friend of Darth Vader actor David Prowse since the beginning of his TV career.

He became a father for the first time at age 61 when his partner Gill Hinchcliffe gave birth to their daughter Sophie Mae White on 26 February 2001.

He was given advice by Jon Pertwee when first starting his acting career.

After discovering that there was already a "David White" registered with Equity, he took the name "David Jason". It has long and popularly been rumoured that the name "Jason" came from his twin brother who had died in infancy. This is incorrect. His twin brother died without being named, and he chose "David Jason" as his stage name from his favourite book at school Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

He still owns the credit board Phantom Raspberry Blower - David Jason from The Two Ronnies (1971). He's enormously proud of his contribution to "that little moment of comic history".

Bob Monkhouse was enthusiastic about David Jason's comic potential and attempted to put together a pilot film for him called "Jason" in the late 1960s-early 1970s.

When he was 14, he worked as a grocery delivery boy at the local supermarket for almost no pay where he learned to ride a delivery bike. He always liked to ride a bike to work and home because it kept him at 8 stone and a 29 inch waist.

In September, 2008 a press release went out about Detective Inspector Jack Frost's retirement. Not because of lack of storylines or Jason losing interest in the character (he would have happily played him forever). The problem was Jason's age: at 68, Jack Frost was the oldest copper on the force. He would have retired ten years before or sooner, so he bowed out.

He received two awards at the British Television Awards. He got the awards for "Britain's Best Actor" and "Britain's Best Comedy Actor".

When the pilot episode of Only Fools and Horses (1981) went through a chaotic production, including going through three directors at one point, Jason privately felt the BBC were trying to sabotage the show.

He is a huge fan of Alastair Sim ever since he saw him in A Christmas Carol (1951). Jason considers Sim the definitive Scrooge.

He penned his autobiography, My Life, in 2013.

He had an on-off relationship with Phil Collins's older sister, which began when Collins was still living at home with his parents. As a result, the first rock concert Jason actually went to was Genesis with Collins on drums and Peter Gabriel on vocals at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1974.

For The Wind in the Willows (1984), Cosgrove Hall wanted Jason to play Ratty but he preferred Mr Toad. Everyone who had voiced Toad had made him unpleasant, but Jason made him into a lovable showoff. After Jason recorded an audition, he got the part.

Yorkshire Television wanted Jason to play Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May (1991). He admitted he was amazed the show went on to be a national, award-winning success. He had never read the book so went away and did so before accepting the part; he pronounced it a charming read, as well as lovely, but not much happened and didn't go anywhere. But the characters were strong, especially Pop Larkin, and he would be fun to play. Jason's condition was to shoot the series on film, because he didn't want it to be a studio production. At least on film, it would look good and have some quality about it, even if nothing happened.

During the Gulf War, Jason met someone in a pub who worked at RAF Command Headquarters. He told Jason they race 3-wheel vans against each other, paint them yellow with Trotters Independent Traders down the sides of them, like the van from Only Fools and Horses (1981). Jason went down to have a look, but he didn't see a race. Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Buster Merryfield all sent a Trotters van out to Kuwait. They slipped it into a Hercules plane among other stuff on a supply run and when it was unloaded the crew would find the van, filled up with chewing gum, toothpaste, cake and Danger Mouse (1981) and Count Duckula (1988) tapes from Brian Cosgrove with labels saying Debbie Does Dallas and Unzipperdedoodah and all sorts to amuse them. Jason didn't ask for any publicity because he didn't want anyone to think it was just for that, but a private joke between the RAF and the Trotters. The van was put in the hold and covered up with medical supplies and ammunition and flew to Kuwait, where it's discovery brought some light relief.

He once played a raven on stage and prepared for the role by studying raven behavior at the Tower of London. In the Season 6 premiere episode of Only Fools and Horses (1981), Del Boy mentions how he once had a job at the Tower of London.

Jason got a letter from someone saying they saw a house on the market identical to Toad Hall from The Wind in the Willows (1984); it was three miles from Jason's house. He went looking for it and found it. He said it was wonderful and seemed to go on forever, it even had a lake, fed by its own spring. It wasn't Toad Hall, but he could imagine living in it. It was twice the value of the house he owned then. He thought about it but had to pay full price when he lost a coin toss (despite his reputation as a wheeler-dealer). But just driving up to the house made him realize how much he wanted it.

Once, while staying as a guest in Ronnie Barker's house, he got slightly drunk and couldn't sleep; he saw a door and assuming it led to a flat roof, decided to get some fresh air to help him sleep even though he couldn't see a thing beyond the door. He reconsidered after worrying about cutting his feet on any stones. The next morning he found the door led to nowhere but a 30ft drop to a disused mill wheel; Barker had a balcony built to prevent any more near tragedies.

During a horse riding lesson, the horse stepped on his foot, dislocating two of his toes; his injury was written into a play he was doing where the character had gout.

Former PM Tony Blair sent a letter to Jason asking if he would like to become a knight bachelor. Jason suspected a prank, considering it may have been Brian Cosgrove who hired Jason to play Dangermouse, Count Duckula, Mr Toad and the BFG, but the offer was genuine.

He did Only Fools and Horses (1981) and Open All Hours (1976) at the same time with occasional theatre work.

He worked as an electrician, which involved licking a finger and poking live circuitry to see how much of a shock you got. He considered a career as an electrician but then went to drama school at the age of 24. When acting dried up in the early years of his career, he went back to work as an electrician.

His first experience of playing in the West End was as a pirate in a production of Peter Pan at the Strand; it was also his first experience of touring the country.

He is a big fan of the cult series The Prisoner (1967).

He is a big fan of Buddy Holly.

He wanted to work with Ronnie Barker years before Open All Hours (1976). He believed it profoundly affected the course of his life. He always considered him a mentor whenever they worked together. He never understood why Barker left ITV for the BBC because he wasn't in the know. He considered working with Barker on an entire series a dream outcome. The two became close friends. He claimed Barker was very wise and if he thought something was OK, that was good enough.

Filming A Touch of Frost (1992) meant spending a lot of time away from home, at the studios in Leeds or on location in Wetherby, Harrogate, Dewsbury and all local stations. Yorkshire Television made it easy on Jason by renting out a cottage rather than pay for a hotel, especially since Jason could cook for himself; he just wanted somewhere simple to go at the end of the day to clear his head. Yorkshire Television found Jason an old farmer's cottage without central heating, so he had to light a fire; on warm evenings he sat out in the garden which was always a pleasure. When asked did he get lonely, he said he didn't, because he enjoyed the quiet time. He also had his own driver, on call 24hrs a day, who collected Jason from Buckinghamshire for the 3hr drive to Yorkshire while he worked on his scripts, stopping along the way for a bacon and egg roll and a cup of tea ("a very Frost-like meal"). Jason lived in a spartan farm cottage while the cast stayed at a hotel.

He was made an O.B.E. (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of British Empire) for services to drama.

During World War II, a human arm landed on the roof of his childhood home; the family thought it was a chicken that would feed them for two meals.

Before the start of the sixth series of Only Fools and Horses (1981), Jason was annoyed about something and went to see John Sullivan. Sullivan was writing terrific scripts that were too long and had to be edited down to 30 minutes. Jason felt they were cutting more funny material than most sitcoms manage in a full episode. One edit that had particularly vexed Jason was during the Series 5 episode Tea For Three. After Del Boy returned from a disastrous hang-gliding session, he originally had a speech Jason described as "beautifully constructed, full of suppressed rage" about all of the places Del had visited. Jason considered it a comic masterpiece, but because the episode had overrun, half the speech got cut. Sullivan agreed with Jason that the episodes needed to be longer. Jason and Sullivan approached Gareth Gwenlan while he was producing Series 6 with the plan to extend the episodes from 30 to 50 minutes. Gwenlan didn't think that was possible since sitcoms were traditionally 30 minutes in length, and couldn't sustain a longer running time. Jason said that would be true of an average writer, but not one of Sullivan's caliber. And yet they still keep cutting great material. Gwenlan than okayed the idea.

Del Boy's core business in Only Fools and Horses (1981) is fly-pitching, although it was rarely seen. Jason loved doing the patter, the banter and the rhythm. He learned about fly-pitching from watching illegal street traders when he was living in London and doing theatre work. It was good research, and all his fly-pitching scenes were ad-libbed.

Although against illicit substances, he did smoke a joint for the first time when he was 40; it was his only one.

He plays the trombone.

Jason was never asked if he wanted to pursue a personal project until the end of The Darling Buds of May (1991). He decided he wanted to play a detective, which culminated in A Touch of Frost (1992). Before he got the role, five books, all crime fictions in different areas by different authors were posted to him. Jason took them on holiday to Florida and read them over the next fortnight by the pool. Before Jason settled on Detective Inspector Jack Frost, he considered a Sherlock Holmes type detective because it was different from anything else he had done. Jason called from Florida saying he wanted Frost.

The first review of his work was "David White looked like a young James Cagney and played, though only 16, with the ease of a born actor". He still remembers it but thought it unlikely.

In 1989, after the end of the sixth series of Only Fools and Horses (1981), he won a BAFTA award for Best Comedy Performance. He put the award on his mantelpiece, next to the one for Best Actor he had already.

He was a huge fan of The Goon Show (1968) and the first time he went to the theatre was to watch a recording of it.

When alone in a caravan on a film shoot for A Touch of Frost (1992), Jason turned it into a workshop, making models from plastic kits, or during the evening to relax. He liked to build ships and planes which than developed into rockets and than launchable rockets between two and five feet tall, with an engine and an explosive component that could fly between 500 and 900ft in the air; Jason liked the rockets best because you could get a performance out of them. Jason assembled them with tools packed in an old makeup case and from specialist parts from obscure sources across Yorkshire. Jason launched them for cast and crew at the back of Leeds Hospital for three years when they filmed in the mortuary; sometimes to great acclaim, sometimes not. Jason later built a launch pad from an old lighting stand and added a launcher with a key, lights and a 2-tone alarm. They were the campest thing you had ever seen in your life. The masterpiece was a Saturn V replica with one of the biggest engines so it was a complex build. It launched like the real thing by hovering above the pad and set off into the sky. Jason liked launching that one most, especially when they came back, which was never a sure thing, with a parachute that emerged from the nose cone. After constant use, it failed to launch at all, and was reluctantly retired.

Jason liked the darkness of A Touch of Frost (1992) after the lightness of Only Fools and Horses (1981) and The Darling Buds of May (1991) because it showed audiences he could play both, but lightness became a part of Frost too.

Jason put on weight when playing Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May (1991). It was because of all the food in the show; bread and ham, cheese, pickled onions, roast dinners, chocolate, etc. It was meant to show the Larkin family's generous spirit and carefree love of life. There were also fried breakfasts cooked fresh on the set on a little stove. One day on the set, the shooting schedule meant Jason sat down to breakfast five times, which meant it was piled with bacon and eggs. Jason asked if he could skip the fry-ups, so they switched to kippers, which was just as bad. The extra weight he put on meant he couldn't wear a dinner jacket to that year's BAFTA's that fit the year before. He had to go on a few months of dieting to regain his former, "sylph-like" weight. A Touch of Frost (1992) also had a tough food regime that was hard on Jason's stomach, because Frost wasn't a healthy eater, e.g. bacon sandwiches, chips, fry-ups, etc. People used to remark on it to Jason, that he was eating badly.