Edwin Apps, the English artist, 
born 1931 at Wingham,Kent.

Educated at St Edmunds School Canterbury, where he 'wasted his time' painting, acting and writing plays. He left school at 17 to join a repertory company in Southport, Lancs. 

Edwin first came to notice as Mr Halliforth in 'Whacko' with Jimmy Edwards, written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden in 1957, subsequently appearing in almost all the well-known comedy shows of that time; 'The World of Wooster',  'Harry Worth',  'Steptoe & Son',  'Benny Hill', as well as successful series such as 'Danger Man' and 'The Avengers'.

Turning to writing in the '60s, he did several successful adaptations for television, such as 'Charlie's Aunt', starring Richard Briers and co-wrote' the classic comedy series about the Church of England, 'All Gas and Gaiters'.

In 1976 he left England and moved to the Marais Poitevin in the west of France and began to paint.
  
  

"People seem to find it puzzling that I changed direction and left the theatre to paint.  To me, it seems a perfectly logical development. Painting, acting and writing are all forms of communication, but painting seems to me to have the edge on the others.  When you think that with a bit of colour and  piece of cloth you can communicate directly with the spectator; You can transmit feelings and thoughts impossible to express in words.  Moreover, you can do it in stillness and silence, two qualities not much in evidence these days".