Compo Simmonite

William Simmonite, better known by his nickname of Compo, is a character in the world's longest-running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine.

Fictional character biography

Early life

Compo was born into a poor, lower-class family in Holmfirth. He claims that his mother, a rag-and-bone woman, said that after he was born the sun began to shine and that a swallow began to sing. His family was and is a large one. He had several encounters in his schooldays, which he remembers fondly - with the exception of one with Aggie Duckett who, he claims, "used to make his nose bleed". This was due to the fact that she was always thumping him because he laughed at her dad's boots, not knowing she was wearing them at the time. His school friends included Norman Clegg (Peter Sallis), Cyril Blamire (Michael Bates), Foggy Dewhurst (Brian Wilde) and Seymour Utterthwaite (Michael Aldridge).

Love life

Compo married soon after the war, but the marriage did not last long and he does not remember her, as she "ran off with a chuffin' Pole!".^[1] He had several flings in his youth, one of which went to the next level and resulted in the birth of his son, Tom. Tom tracked his father down and wrote to him,^[2] but he arrives in Holmfirth just after his father's funeral. Out of loneliness, he once hires a housekeeper (Liz Smith). He takes her out for a meal at Sid's Café and tries to start a relationship.^[3] However, she does a moonlight flit with all his newly-bought possessions.

Nora Batty

Despite never actually divorcing his wife, he has an unrequited love for his neighbour of many a year, Nora Batty (Kathy Staff). He even photographs her when she is least expecting it.^[4] Despite constant reminders that it would never happen or, in earlier days, that she was married, Compo persisted in his attempts to elope with Nora. However, he may only like Nora because he knows it won't progress further. When he thought that Nora's downtrodden husband, Wally (Joe Gladwin), had left her and emigrated to New Zealand, he was originally going around in Wally's old clothes and tidying up. But when Clegg and Blamire tricked him into believing that Nora was intent on marriage, he panicked and tried his hardest to remove Nora from the dinner to which he had invited her^[5] (Wally had in fact gone to his mother's for a couple of days, and Compo knew that he was coming back after all).

Although Nora often gives Compo the hard end of her broomstick, she does often display concern or kindness towards him. When he cleans himself up during Wally's escape, she dresses up for a meal with him;^[6] when he disappears off a cliff on one of Foggy's wild schemes, she shows concern; when he is caught in one of Wesley Pegden's (Gordon Wharmby) exploding vehicles, she rushes forwards and tries to comfort him with a showing of her leg.^[7]

Nora feels guilty when Compo dies in hospital; allegedly, he died with a smile on his face after suffering a heart attack when seeing her in unwrinkled stockings. She and Ivy sit up for the rest of the night, reminiscing about his various exploits.

Bill Owen said in an interview that Compo sees Nora as the Elizabeth Taylor of Holmfirth.

Ivy

Although his main aim in life was Nora, he also played his luck with the formidable owner of Sid's Café, Ivy (Jane Freeman). Although Ivy rejected his advances, her lumbering, coarse husband Sid (John Comer) doesn't try to stop him. Whenever he tries to make advances to Ivy, the result is that he and his companions are thrown out of the café or hit on the head with Ivy's metal tray.

Ivy sometimes appreciates Compo's advances and, when he is not in the room, smiling superiorly.^[8] In the early episodes, when it seemed like Compo and the other two members of the trio weren't getting hospitality or being welcomed in the Cafe, they'd break out into a rendition of "There'll be a Welcome in the Hillside" much to Ivy's chagrin.

Later years

In his later life, Compo, Norman and a third man (such as Cyril) roamed the hills around Holmfirth, getting involved with hair-brained schemes to keep themselves one step ahead of boredom. Compo often talks of his vast, vast family and their exploits. He seems closest to Norman, as it is the third man who uses Compo as a guinea pig for their schemes. On one occasion Compo was repeatedly thrown backwards in the hope of getting a lift up a hill.^[10] Throughout the series Compo always loved an argument with the third man. Cyril Blamire was perhaps the person he argued with the most. This was largely because Cyril viewed himself as superior to Compo (and occasionally Clegg) and made snide remarks about Compo's working class lifestyle more frequently than his successors. His right wing political views contrasted to Compo's left wing views, (in real life Bill Owen's and Michael Bates's political views were similar to their onscreen characters and in turn both conflicted). Despite this, Compo and Cyril were still close and Compo was very miserable about his departure.

During Foggy's first stint Compo frequently argued with him in a similar manner. This was largely due to Foggy's military background and like the previous third man, Foggy often made insults of disgust over Compo's attire and frequently referred to him as "that man". As a part of his schemes Foggy also made Compo volunteer for often dangerous and ridiculous situations and as a result he was regularly harmed (though rarely injured) or humiliated.

During Seymour's brief stint in the late 80's Compo was often made to test the former's inventions which frequently ended up in disaster for him and he called Seymour a twit whenever things went wrong. Despite this, Seymour was more willing to play along with Compo's childish antics than his predecessors were.

When Seymour departed the show, Foggy returned at the beginning of the 90's. During this time Foggy was shown to have mellowed somewhat and as a result became more tolerant of Compo (though not always). It was during this period when perhaps Compo's most famous misfortune happened in the series 15 episode "Stop That Bath". The trio were helping Howard transport a cast iron bath for Marina by wheeling it on a cart through the streets. While trying to push the bath up a steep hill Compo lost his balance and fell into the bath, causing the others to lose their grip on the cart which started speeding down the hill with Compo in the bath. The bath fell off the cart and crashed into a loose drain pipe which soaked Compo.

During Truly's stint on the show Compo was similarly often involved in dangerous situations against his will. Though Truly was similarly pompous like his predecessors he eventually grew used to Compo's childish behaviour and the two did not argue frequently.

Death

Compo died a happy death; Nora, for a laugh, knocked on his front door and showed him her legs in unwrinkled stockings. He had a smile on his face when he suffered a massive heart attack. He was rushed to hospital, but nothing could be done; he died soon after his arrival.

He was buried alongside his signature wellington boots. Clegg is disappointed at not being able to say goodbye, and Truly (Frank Thornton) arranges for men in white shirts to stand in a formation saying 'See Ya, Compo' on the opposite hill. All the other main characters - Wesley, Edie (Dame Thora Hird), Glenda (Sarah Thomas), Barry (Mike Grady), Howard (Robert Fyfe), Pearl (Juliette Kaplan), Marina (Jean Fergusson), Nora and Ivy — go to view it, in their different transport modes.

Money

Compo was always broke. He spent most of his life (presumably until he reached retirement age) in the unemployment queues, as the prospect of a job sent his skin white. He always relied on Clegg and whoever was completing the trio to supply him with cigarettes, ale and other such things. His lack of funds always surprises his friends, to the point when Compo is willing to get injured as it will end up with someone, usually Foggy, buying him a drink out of guilt or remorse. Although he married soon after the war, almost thirty years later he is still in an argument with the thirty-bob tailor who made his wedding suit. He can't pay his television rental, so the shop take it back so frequently that he leaves his door unlocked so they can take it whenever necessary. In one episode, Foggy states that Compo owes him money^[11] and in the episode Compo was buried, Truly remarks that he still owed him two quid and questioned Clegg if the money was in the letter he sent to him.

References