Dixon, David: Cousin from a galaxy far far away

FORMER Derby Borough councillor John Orgill has revealed a dark secret to Bygones.

He is related to an alien – well almost. Actor David Dixon who played Ford Prefect in the cult TV series, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is his second cousin.

John, of Littleover, writes: “Or should that be cousin once removed? I never did understand the difference. He is from my late mother’s side of the family.

“She was one of nine children born into a Sheffield family and her sister, Mary, was grandmother to David and his brother, Robert.

“Time and age dim the memory, but I do recall visiting his parents’ home in St James’ Road, Derby, in the 1950s and acting out our childhood games in the back garden.

“For some time, his mum and dad, Alf and Lillian (my cousin), lived over their newsagent’s shop opposite the Coliseum Cinema in London Road, now all demolished to make way for various road and shopping developments.

“We would play ‘cowboys and Indians’ or ‘cops and robbers’ with his brother, Robert, who was usually the one to get beaten up as he was the youngest! That must have been the actor in David manifesting itself even at his young age.

“Obviously, his ambition for acting was not dimmed, even when his dad would storm upstairs from the shop to give us a rocket for leaping around on sofas and beds!

“The family moved to run a newsagent’s shop in Radford, Nottingham, and I lost touch with David when he went to the Guildhall School of Drama, in London.

“I met up with him again a year or so ago, sadly at the funeral of a cousin. David's father died quite young, but his mum still lives in Stapleford.”

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This article is from the Derby Evening Telegraph and is reproduced online here.