Norman Painting His ashes were scattered at Painting's Plantation in Leamington Spa, with a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in May 2010. He left his recordings, scripts, books, papers and letters to Birmingham University Special Collections. Norman Painting Norman George Painting (23 April 1924 – 29 October 2009) was an English actor, broadcaster and writer. He played Phil Archer in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera "The Archers" from the pilot episodes aired on the BBC Midlands Home Service in summer 1950, after the series went national on the Light Programme on 1 January 1951, until his death in 2009, when he
The Archers Green" involving trombones, cymbals and the closing bars of the signature tune - known as the "doom music" to some fan groups. However, this tradition has been dropped more recently, such as the death of Nigel Pargetter when the normal closing music was played despite the gravity of the incident - to the irritation of some followers, who consider the jollity of the normal segment inappropriate in such circumstances. A brief extract from "The Dream of Gerontius" was played following the death of Phil Archer. When John Archer died no music was played. There was a nod to "The Archers"