Trivia

Always before a live studio recording of Only Fools and Horses (1981), Lyndhurst and David Jason used to go to the canteen and have the same meal, almost like a ritual or a superstition, because they used to get so nervous.

Once, he and David Jason brought a bag full of bangers into rehearsals for Only Fools and Horses (1981); they loaded the stacked chairs with them and the cubicle doors in the toilets. When production assistant Tony Dow unstacked the chairs, they went off, making him afraid to touch them. Jason and Lyndhurst thought it funny until a cleaning lady tried to mop the gents and nearly died of fright. They never pulled that prank again.

He has no interest in the showbiz scene, avoiding parties and social events in favor of diving, which is his life-long passion.

When he did a series of adverts for WH Smith a few years ago in which he played an entire family of four, he admitted to enjoying playing the mum best.

Close friends with his Only Fools and Horses (1981) co-star David Jason. Jason described them both as "a pair of silly Buddhas" and Lyndhurst as shiny-faced in his autobiography, and liked to call him Nick. They had met, along with Lennard Pearce, on other acting jobs before Only Fools and Horses (1981). Lyndhurst and Jason struck up an instant rapport in a motor-home while waiting to film location shoots, where they would mess about at the first opportunity. They used to play pranks on the set, e.g. pretending to have fallen out to worry the crew, or nailing Lennard Pearce's shoes to the floor or turning his costume inside out. Although Pearce mostly saw the funny side of things, that day he refused to work until director Ray Butt talked him around and Jason and Lyndhurst apologized. Jason claimed it was the only time Pearce lost perspective.

He is the result of an affair his mother had with a married man. He admits that he used to be shy of marriage as his father treated his mother very badly but took the plunge with his long-term girlfriend, Lucy

Trained at the Corona Academy, founded by Rona Knight.

His uncle, Richard Lyndhurst was an actor in Donald Wolfit's company.

At 8 years old, he wanted to be famous and persuaded his mother to send him to a stage school when he was 10.

His likeness was used on David Jason's 50th birthday cake as Rodney and Del Boy from an episode of Only Fools and Horses (1981) where they end up with blowup dolls; Jason's wife thought it in poor taste and Jason saw her point, although he said the baker was an artist with the marzipan.

When he came down with the flu during A Royal Flush, an episode of Only Fools and Horses (1981), it put the episode behind schedule, throwing production into a panic.

Appearing in "The Dresser" at the Duke of York's Theatre, London (May 2005)

Is left handed.