Every actor strives to bring something special and personal to each role they play, and sometimes when they play a long-established character, the boundary between actor and character becomes blurred. Peter Adamson was one such actor.

Starting in episode 16 of the ITV soap opera "Coronation Street", Peter Adamson played Len Fairclough, the Liverpudlian ex-Navy builder with a short temper, a pair of fists and a taste for beer - a character not unlike Peter Adamson



Peter Adamson was born in Liverpool on 16 February 1930 and was educated at Gilmour School. He was the youngest of six children born to a tailor-shop owner and his wife. After the war he began acting at the Wavertree Community Centre whilst training as an engraver at Toxteth Technical School. Peter graduated as an engraver in 1948 but then enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Drama. Peter refused to take his drama studies seriously so after two months he left.

Peter then worked as a film extra before working at Sale Theatre in Cheshire. Later that year, Peter joined the Frank H Fortescue Players at Bury as a stage manager. On 20 December 1953 he married Jean, and they produced two sons Michael and Greig.

In 1956 Peter made his television debut as a comedy host of a record show before working on the Granada TV shows Skyport and Knight Errant. In December 1960 he joined the newly born soap Coronation Street as builder Len Fairclough. By the late 1960s he had a serious drink problem, although in February 1973 he managed to stop drinking, with the help of Alcoholic Anonymous.

http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actor...son_peter.html