Paul Eddingtom was a British actor born on the 18th June 1927 and died of lymphoma on 4th November 1995.
Paul Eddington was an actor famous for starring roles in The Good Life and Yes Minister/Yes, Prime Minister. But his fledgling acting career was disrupted by the Second World War and before becoming a household name, Eddington became a Conscientious Objector (CO). As a Quaker it meant that Eddington was a staunch pacifist.
Here Paul explains his early years and why he was a Conscientious Objector during World War 2.
Eddington was to turn 18 in June 1945, qualifying him for military service under conscription. As a Quaker with pacifist beliefs, he decided to apply to be a CO and face a tribunal. Eddington’s former teacher, Frank Parkin, offered advice in this letter of 30 March 1945: “You have not to convince them you are right, but that you believe you are right”.
Eddington submitted this application form to his tribunal, held at Birmingham on 24 July 1945. It outlines his beliefs, as well as showing he was part of the cast of ‘Jeannie’, which had toured to Orkney. The tribunal granted Eddington conditional registration as a CO on the basis he continued his ENSA acting work. The war ended only a few weeks later.
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