Hi-de-Hi! star rocked by WW2 bomb in his home that 'fell 10ft through ceiling'

One sitcom legend was left startled when an unexploded World War II bomb was discovered in his flat.

Hi-de-Hi! actor Barry Howard, who shot to fame as ballroom dancer Barry Stuart-Hargreaves in the classic comedy before his death in 2016, was having his Poole home renovated back in 2007 when a bomb dropped through the ceiling of his bedroom.

His flat on Hayden Road in Branksome Park was having the bedroom ceiling stripped off, and the bomb fell 10 feet to the floor.

Thankfully Barry was safely in the kitchen at the time – but rushed into the bedroom to find a rusted bomb where his bed would have been.

Emergency services were called and an Army bomb disposal team arrived to take the mortar bomb away. Barry had been living with the then-65 year-old explosive above him for 20 years. It had been stored under the floorboards of the flat above his by its former tenant.

At the time, Barry told the Bournemouth Echo: “I was in the kitchen when I heard lots of noise coming from my room so I went to have a look. My builder Tim pointed to something on the floor and said it was a bomb that dropped from the ceiling.

“My first reaction was one of shock because my bed is normally in the spot where it was lying. It's unbelievable to think I have been lying with my head under a bomb for 20 years.”

The builders helped to carefully carry the bomb into the garden on a plank of wood, while a bucket was placed over it “just to be safe”. A police cordon was soon erected around the ground floor flat until bomb disposal experts could make it to the scene.

Thankfully they discovered the explosive was dormant. Dating back to 1942, it was believed to have been a jointly made British and US device.

Barry explained: “The bomb was about the size of a milk bottle and had a tail on the end but it had fallen off when it landed on the floor. It was all very exciting really. Fancy a bomb sitting above my head for all that time."