Robert Harper was a factory welder  in Oldham, Lancashire when he met Tommy Derbyshire, and together decided to form the double act Cannon and Ball. They started as singers working the pubs and clubs before switching to comedy because the money was better. From a 1974 appearance in Opportunity Knocks they rose to be a staple of primetime Saturday night TV in the 1980s, with their self-titled LWT show running for nine series, leading to the 1982 film The Boys in Blue together in 1982, in which they played policemen. They enjoyed the trappings – and the stresses - of success in their heyday,  living the high life – with Ball an especially notorious hell raiser - but also falling out to the point they were barely on speaking terms. That changed when Ball became a Christian in 1986 and put his wild days behind him, and the pair eventually had a rapprochement. In 2005, Ball took part in reality series I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and in 2009, he was cast as Frank, the father of Lee Mack’s character, in the BBC One sitcom Not Going Out, He also appeared in the 2019 comedy, The Cockfields. Ball died in Blackpool on October 28, 2020m at the aged of 76 from Covid complications.