Lionel Gordon Partridge (born April 1926) was Alan Partridge's father.
Biography[]
Partridge fought in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment in the Second World War. An administrator once misspelt his surname as "Pratridge", for which Lionel was teased. In 1964, on the day of Alan's ninth birthday, he slipped on some cake and cracked his skull.
At some point during his career, Lionel secured a job interview for a position at Dungeness Nuclear Power Plant, with British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.. According to his son, he was fascinated by the concept nuclear fusion, though he did not pursue the subject in any academic capacity. Unfortunatelty, he failed to attend to attend the interview, and his application was rejected.
One of his long-term jobs was at a dealership for Massey Ferguson, an American manufacturer of tractors and agricultrual equipment.
Lionel Partridge died on 15th February 1995. His funeral, which Alan Partridge described as "sparsely attended", took place on 20th February at Sheringham, where he was buried.
When inspecting his loft at Denton Abbey for insulation, Alan Partridge re-discovered a box of his father's belongings which promted Alan's Footsteps of His Father Walk from Norwich to Dungeness.
Personality[]
Lionel was described as grumpy and bad tempered by Alan Partridge, something which, according to his wife, only developed after his return from the war. He dismissed the idea that his "bad humour" was due to a very mild form of post-traumatic stress disorder as suggested by his son. Alan described him as an "absolute sod of a man", particularly after his rejection from Dungeness. Lionel was harsh on his son; when Alan was learning to ride a bike, his father would berate him with "withering, acerbic put-downs". Lionel did not get along with Alan during adolesence, and the pair didn't speak a lot. He became a "hard man to be around" later in life.
He "didn't believe in savings" and preferred to "enjoy his money". He was quoted as saying "if you die owning money, you've beaten the system".
According to Alan Partridge, Lionel "adored" sandwiches, although did not eat many other foods. Alan described him as very much "a man of his time"; he threw food at the television when he saw something he didn't like, "such as a black newscaster".
Appearance[]
He had thick, black hair, and, according to Alan Partridge, a "larger-than-average" head.