The Dam Busters News

Mr Baker's daughter, Sarah Pearson, who lives locally, is to unveil the plaque at the youth club building in West Lavington at noon on Saturday, after which it will be known as the George Baker Youth Centre.

THE actor George Baker, best known for his portrayal of Inspector Wexford, could have had a very different career if the James Bond author Ian Fleming had had his way: according to Fleming, Baker would have made the perfect Bond.

One of the greatest heroes of the Second World War was killed by friendly fire, according to a posthumous confession 67 years later by the man who pulled the trigger.

Baker made his name in 1955 war film The Dam Busters and went on to star in The Ship That Died of Shame with Richard Attenborough.

Of all the television detectives of recent years, George Baker's Inspector Wexford, with his mature West Country burr, slight air of fallibility and occasional stubbornness, was the one who seemed to spring from real life rather than an author's fancy.