| Biography | Bob Arnold was an actor who played the part of Tom Forrest in the long running BBC radio series The Archers.
His break came in 1937 with a radio programme called In the Cotswolds, on the strength of which he became a regular entertainer, singing at village concerts and parties - in Baseley's words "a good rumbustious folk singer".
After war service in the RAF in Heywood, Lancashire, he went back to the BBC for Children's Hour and Through the Garden Gate. When The Archers was mooted, he was keen to join the team, but Baseley thought his accent was "too recognisable" and it was not until 1951, three months after the programme began, that he was enrolled as the gamekeeper Tom Forrest.
Bob Arnold made a sideline in folk music, contributing to such BBC programmes as Folk on 2, and collecting songs remembered from his Asthall pub youth for recordings. In 1972 he produced an album, Mornin' All with the Yetties. He made his last appearance on The Archers last Christmas. |