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And his talents for ploughing knew no bounds. He was a regular winner of ploughing matches and it was one of these wins that secured his first date with future wife Freda.

Looking back at his time as Bert, Eric said, “The thing is, whatever they threw at him, Bert could cope somehow. Cows, sheep, weather, whatever, just keep going and have a lark with it if possible.

“His was of a handmade world, make do and mend, cobble it up with baling twine, keep stuff for a rainy day. I always imagined he still had the suit he was married in, 60 years ago. Continuity and resilience were all.”

Bert’s invention followed the death of Jethro Larkin, a faithful Brookfield farmworker (and father of Clarrie). Liz Rigbey, who was in charge of the programme at the time, said, “I wanted Bert to be an echo – but only an echo – of Jethro.

"One of those gentle, rural people who has been brought up in the country, who cannot imagine any other way of life and wouldn’t dream of trying.”

And it’s Liz we have to thank for Bert’s penchant for poetry.

“To illustrate a sort of simplicity and naivety in his character, he would proudly offer up a few lines of homespun poetry on suitable occasions,” she said. “He’d be proud of them and they might rhyme but probably wouldn’t scan. More William McGonagall than William Wordsworth. And I thought there might be room for some fun there.”

And a lot of fun was had with Bert sharing his poetic efforts with anyone in Ambridge who would listen. Typically they were driven mad by his rhyming couplets, something from which listeners were thankfully most often spared. But The Archers archive reveals in 2001 we did get to hear one of Bert’s creations at a talent show – a serious poem about the wettest-ever autumn.

Above the dark horizon,
The thunder clouds were piling,
Lightning split the sullen sky,
Only the ducks were smiling.
September soaked the sodden plough,
October turned still wetter.
My Freda said she’d emigrate,
If it didn’t get much better.

The last word should go to Eric Allan who has portrayed Bert since 1996. He took over from Roger Hume who had passed away. Eric recalled, “A couple of scenes in the Brookfield farmyard with Ruth were my audition. I made a huge effort to match my voice to the tapes of Roger Hume, my predecessor.

Eric and Roger had been friends and had worked together a lot. “We once made a rendezvous on Clopton Bridge in Stratford, hot pasties and deep lying snow, en route to record a production of “Frost at Midnight”. The voice [of Bert] drifted over the years, less Roger more me.”

For Eric, Bert Fry was “a fun job” especially the Flower & Produce Show storylines and scenes in the Grundys’ Cider Shed. “The absurdity of the egg mobile appealed,” said Eric, “a barmy idea by the Fairbrothers brought to actuality by Bert.”

But, for Eric, the most fun of all was being part of the 2015 Ambridge flood storyline. “You should have seen us - recording in the studio, wearing wellington boots, standing in buckets of water,” he said.

However, there is a sombre side to the flood too. It was overwhelming for Ambridge and caused a lot of devastation, including the death of Bert’s beloved wife. “For the first time Bert found he couldn’t cope,” said Eric. He believes that Bert has never really recovered from Freda’s death. “I kept expecting him to be killed off, lost the will to live,” he added.

On a happier note, Eric is looking forward to a long retirement with “the real Freda” and entertaining their grandchildren. “Bert and I are getting very old and increasingly out of touch with the world,” said Eric, “Computers? Mobile phones? Electronic games? Bah! We still collect conkers”.