Only Fools and Horses’ Lennard Pearce had the chance to shoot Adolf Hitler

"I'd have done my best to kill him."

Only Fools And Horses actor Lennard Pearce once had the chance to shoot Adolf Hitler, co-star Nicholas Lyndhurst has revealed.

The actor, who famously played Granddad in the iconic BBC comedy, met the murderous Nazi dictator as he toured Europe as a young actor during the 1930s, and later revealed that he regretted not taking his opportunity to change the course of history.

The extraordinary anecdote occurred when Pearce was in his early 20s, and he later revealed his missed opportunity to Lyndhurst, who played Rodney in the classic sitcom.

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Lyndhurst said: “He was a young actor touring Europe and they were playing some German city and the Nazis walked in.

“The top honchos of the Nazi party had seen the play and came to congratulate them ­afterwards. Lennard shook hands with Adolf Hitler.

“He only ever told me once, but he said, ‘Had I known then what I know now, I would have drawn the pistol from one of the bodyguards and I’d have done my best to kill him.’”

The revelation was detailed in ‘The Story of Only Fools And Horses’, which is set to air on Dave tomorrow night.

Steve Clark, the author of Only Fools and Horses – The Official Inside Story, added: “We’re used to hearing Uncle Albert’s stories about his rather dubious wartime service in the navy, but it’s incredible that Lennard Pearce actually met Hitler during his rise to power and could have put a stop to him before he was able to do so much evil.”

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Lennard played the curmudgeonly granddad of Del Boy and Rodney for four series of the sitcom, before his death in 1984 at the age of 69.

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