Coronation Street Elsie and Bet. Other recurring archetypes include the war veteran such as Albert Tatlock (Jack Howarth), Percy Sugden (Bill Waddington) and Gary Windass (Mikey North), the bumbling retail manager like Leonard Swindley (Arthur Lowe), Reg Holdsworth (Ken Morley), Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden), quick-tempered, tough tradesmen like Len Fairclough (Peter Adamson), Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson), Tommy Harris (Thomas Craig) and Owen Armstrong (Ian Puleston-Davies), and the perennial losers such as Stan and Hilda, Jack and Vera, Les Battersby (Bruce Jones), Beth Tinker (Lisa George) and Kirk Sutherland (Andrew Whyment). Villains are also common character types such as Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford),
Ken Barlow challenging the system, into a bore next door, eventually discovering that he couldn't change the world after all. Little dubbed Ken Coronation Street's elder statesman and lynch-pin, a one-man Greek tragedy, and the greatest survivor in Weatherfield. The character has a reputation amongst critics as boring and a man of morals; Moran dubbed him the archetypal boring man. Chronicling the history of "Coronation Street" in 2007, Virgin Media stated, "Perhaps unfairly dubbed boring, Ken is ultimately an intelligent man, frustrated by the cards life has dealt him – although the hair, clothes and strong morals haven't helped." Popular perception of