Leslie Phillips, who has died aged 98, was a light comedian of the old school, closely associated with a roster of smooth-talking cads and lady-killers in the series of Carry On and Doctor films he graced from the late 1950s onwards.
He first coined his trademark phrase “I say, ding dong!” as the lubricious Jack Bell in Carry On Nurse (1958) and made the simple greeting “hello” sound like a frolicsome, impure invitation, earning him the nickname “King Leer” and lending itself to the one-word title of his immensely entertaining autobiography (2006).
