Knowing how much I really enjoyed working on Dad’s Army from the start, for my 82nd birthday my wife commissioned the artist Erica Sturla to create a portrait of the Dad’s Army team and myself on location!
The butcher’s van was important because I was the one who found it (with help) and organised the modifications and the graphics to be made to it. Erica came up with a sketch, having done some research herself, and with photographs supplied by my wife of the van, and also how I looked all those years ago, she managed to create the most beautiful painting using acrylic paint for the background and polymer clay for the Magnificent Seven and myself. All of them instantly recognisable.
My wife and I now have a gallery in Mousehole which our children run, and Erica Sturla has several of her creations on our walls for sale. The website is . Erica is also going to be at the Bath Art Fair in September.
Paul Joel
