DESPITE being best known as Boycie in Only Fools and Horses, John Challis chose the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon, rather than the streets of Peckham, to begin a look back at a life in acting.

The year is 1966 and the cast are more interested in England’s heroics at the World Cup, being shown on a flickering TV in a band room, than they are in their performance of Twelfth Night.

“The final scene was the fastest scene of Twelfth Night ever in the history of the world,” Challis said, recalling how goals were urgently relayed to those about to go on stage. Sun-tanned, relaxed and dressed in a red tie and matching corduroy trousers, Challis rolled out his memories with gentle humour in conversation with Peter Burden at the Arts Centre last night.

“Challis is an actor to the core,” Burden told the audience in his introduction, perhaps pointing out he is more than everyone’s favourite pedantic at the bar.

The amble down memory lane took in school plays, where he excelled at female parts, and a childhood holiday in France warmly recounted from his autobiography, Being Boycie.

Challis flitted between the characters of his past – both those he met and the roles he played – with suitably theatrical impressions from dead-pan desk sergeants to members of the Beatles. He also vividly recalled, again dipping into his book, watching the Stones at a “sticky, tobacco-stained function room packed to bursting” in Richmond.

One of his biggest regrets came in a job interview with the Beatles, where he told the stars that “he preferred the Stones” in words he wished he could have picked up off the floor and put back in his mouth. He was up for a part in the Magical Mystery tour which he landed – only to turn it down after it clashed with a TV part he was already signed up for.

Challis also told of his aborted career as an estate agent – he was sacked, twice – and attempt to set up a gardening store in the drought of 1976.

“It was the worst possible time to start a gardening centre,” he said. “There was a hosepipe ban for a start.” His business partner ran off, but his mum bailed him out.

A grounding in stage roles – where you get the impression Challis feels happiest – led to his screen career. Memorable moments include wading into a stream to wrestle a triffid in Dr Who – after being promised a bottle of whiskey by the crew. Challis had to do the scene twice, and ended up with two bottles. It’s not until almost an hour into the show that Only Fools and Horses is mentioned – and then, bar a few questions from the audience, it was all over.

Yet the picture of John Challis which emerged from Boycie’s shadow was one of an accomplished Shakespearian actor, gardener, Stones fan and consummate teller of stories.