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Nicholas Lyndhurst

English actor (born 1961)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ2692341
Source-derived summary

Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst (born 20 April 1961) is an English actor who began his career as a child actor. He is best known for his role as Rodney Trotter in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003).

Lyndhurst had major roles in other sitcoms, including as Raymond Fletcher in Going Straight (1978), as Adam Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983), as Ashley Phillips in The Two of Us (1986–1990), as Peter "Piglet" Chapman in The Piglet Files (1990-1992), as Gary Sparrow in Goodnight Sweetheart (1993–1999, 2016), and as Jimmy Venables in After You've Gone (2007–2008). He starred as Freddie Robdal in the comedy-drama series Rock & Chips (2010–2011) and co-starred as Danny Griffin in the police procedural series New Tricks (2013–2015). He portrayed Professor Alan Cornwall in the revival of the American sitcom Frasier (2023–2024).

Lyndhurst won two National Television Awards for his role in Goodnight Sweetheart, as well as being nominated for a British Comedy Award and three British Academy Television Awards for his role in Only Fools and Horses.

Early life

Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England, on 20 April 1961, as the only child to Anthony Arthur Joseph "Joe" Lyndhurst and Elizabeth M "Liz" (née Long). He grew up in Emsworth. His parents met at the holiday camp on the farm owned by his paternal grandfather, Francis Lyndhurst, a theatrical scenery painter, film producer and film director, who set up an early film studio at Shoreham Fort, Shoreham-by-Sea. His parents separated when he was young, reuniting and separating permanently later on.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Nicholas Lyndhurst” as english actor (born 1961). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Nicholas, Lyndhurst and English.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1961, 1981, 2003, 1978—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1961-04-20. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Nicholas, Lyndhurst and English providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Nicholas Lyndhurst”, the useful work is to connect “english actor (born 1961)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2692341. VIAF identifies the subject as 6892518. The Library of Congress control number is nb99156935. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1981, 2003 and 1978.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Nicholas Lyndhurst primary sources, Nicholas Lyndhurst archive and Nicholas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Nicholas Lyndhurst” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.