Like all the airmen in the Battle of Britain, which began 80 years ago today, John Holderness would not dwell on the horrors of war.
But turning in for the night it was impossible not to, says his niece, the Only Fools and Horses actress Sue Holderness. Flight Lieut John was one of three airmen brothers, including Sue’s dad, who survived The Second World War. “They were very reluctant to talk about it, but they would say it was very hard when you came back and you would see – because your beds were all there – that some people hadn’t,” says Sue, who played Boycie’s wife Marlene in the nation’s favourite sitcom. “It was terribly stiff upper lip, but if they had gone into their feelings they couldn’t have gone on.
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