An Evening with Boycie says it all: that sneering, greasy, aspiring, clipped monotone reminding us of the glory days of Only Fools And Horses.

But under the second-hand car dealer facade resides John Challis, an endearing, articulate, surprisingly posh, open, cultured man who usually gets both forgotten and buried under his famous character. Not that he minds, because he embraces his infamous persona rather than resenting him, and talks affectionately about his 23 years in Britain’s favourite comedy.

“It was extraordinary to be part of that and for it to play a big part in your life, because it follows you all over the place. You can react against it or embrace it. However good or successful you are, OFAH will always be the biggest thing you’ve done. You have to rationalise that and remember how much it made people smile and the pleasure it gave.”

Yet Boycie’s creation wasn’t a coincidence, the maverick being purposefully constructed by John from the colourful collection of habits, mannerisms, voices and accents he hoards.

“Boycie was based on a guy in my local who used to prop up the bar with a small white dog on a lead. He was a Walter Mitty character, a man of mystery and extremely arrogant, with dubious stains on his suit, and when I asked what he did he said he couldn't talk about it but he worked in the electronics arena. It turned out he was a travelling salesman selling tape recorders. And I filed him away with the others for future use.”

And the laugh? “Oh I got that from a woman I met who had this machine gun laugh. So I brought it out in rehearsals and everyone fell about laughing and that was it.”

A well-known trait of character actors, mimicry is something John Challis had done since he was young: “Even when I was a little boy I was fascinated by people and copied them all the time, so I was always getting told off for staring,” he laughs. “I remember when I was young, impersonating the bus braking and everyone getting up to see whether there’d been an accident. So it wasn’t just voices and mannerisms but noises. I collected them all.”

Mr and Mrs Challis presumably weren’t terribly surprised then when their son decided to become an actor? “It was a natural progression. When I got to school I was in every production, so when I look back on it, of course I was going to be an actor. I just wanted to perform.”

And perform he did, working his way into TV in programmes such as Citizen Smith. But it was Boycie who made John Challis a household name. Which is one of the reasons John wrote everything down, 23 years at the top meaning that the 71-year-old had a lot of memories, which now form the mainstay of his two books Being Boycie and Boycie and Beyond.

The books are also wonderful insight into the Only Fools And Horses team, a close-knit group or “slightly dysfunctional family,“ as John puts it, “but when you consider there were only three channels when we started and by 1996 we had 24 million viewers, that’s half the country,” he says, still amazed.

“And we used to howl with laughter. I remember the episode when Rodney had to dress as a Roman centurion and Cassandra was a policewoman because Rodney liked women in uniform, and they walk out of the bedroom and Del Boy looks at them pauses and says ‘all right’, and we just couldn’t get past that because we kept laughing.”

John’s books and talks also dip into his personal life, which is as flamboyant as any of the characters he’s played, having been married four times. “It’s warts-and-all which meant there were lots of things I had to confront, darker times, and some memories were painful. But it ended up being therapeutic,” he said.

“I’m not particularly proud of being married that many times but it’s interesting to look at and see how and why it happened. Because this profession isn’t conditioned towards a settled existence. Actors shouldn’t get married or have a mortgage and just go where the work is. But I’m a romantic and always wanted to live happily ever after. It just took a long time to find the right person.”

Find her he did, having been married to Carol for two decades. So what changed? “I didn’t marry an actress which was a good move and for the first time I looked for someone I had something in common with,” he tells me. Biting my tongue, I ask what he went for before that? “An adventure and lots of physical activity,” he says unashamedly. “But as you get older, your values change, it’s part of growing up.”

Carol brings out the best in him, he says. “We are terrific friends and appreciate each other.” Their main project has been the restoration of a 12th-century house in Herefordshire which they fell in love with 15 years ago — and which turned out to be Carol’s ancestral home.

“English Heritage helps because it’s a celebrated building and we have created a garden here and have lots of visitors and are very proud of it. It’s an ancient monument,” he says before adding: “I feel a bit like that myself actually.

“But that’s one of the reasons I have to go and tell the story. I enjoy it and it’s been an interesting journey.” ‘Marlene!’........