Edward Kitchener "Ted" Trotter, better known simply as Grandad (9 July 1905 – c. February 1985), is a fictional character who was one of the original leads of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He appeared in the show's first three series, played by Lennard Pearce. The character is grandfather to Del Boy and Rodney Trotter. Pearce's death in December 1984 was written into the series with the death of Grandad. His place was taken by Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield). The character was portrayed by Phil Daniels in the prequel series Rock & Chips. Backstory Born in Peckham Rye, London, in 1905, Grandad stated that his earliest memories were of watching the soldiers marching off to World War I and witnessing their return after the Armistice in 1918. He later spoke of the horror of these experiences with his description of the wartime government policy ("They promised us homes fit for heroes, they gave us heroes fit for homes!"). Grandad got a job as a decorator working for the council but was sacked after just two days for wallpapering over a serving hatch. He then began working as a lamplighter for the London Gas Light and Coke Company, and trained as a chef at the Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. He also worked as a security officer at a warehouse in Kilburn, which he was sacked from after a janitor stole over three hundred briefcases from under his nose. By the 1930s, he was unemployed and living with his parents and his brothers, George, Albert, and Jack, in Peabody Buildings, Peckham Rye. In 1936, he and his friend Nobby Clarke ran away to Tangier to join the French Foreign Legion; however, they were unsuccessful and ended up becoming gun runners during the Spanish Civil War. They were caught by the authorities. Nobby was tortured but Grandad chose to confess everything under interrogation. Both were deported from Spain and all her territories and dominions. Grandad returned to Peckham and joined the dole queues, marrying his wife Violet sometime before the war, and fathering a son, Reg. During World War II, Grandad evidently served some time in the army, as he told Del he was given a double-headed coin by a fellow soldier, and his son Reg checked his blood group on his old army records, as mentioned in "Thicker than Water." However, he must have been demobbed before the end