Tributes in the British press have been pouring in over the last few days for actor George Baker – probably best known as the affable West Country sleuth Inspector Wexford in the long-running crime series – who died on October 7 aged 80.

Few of Baker's fans, however, will have realised that he was born in Varna in 1931 and that he actually lived in Bulgaria until he was eight years old. The Bulgarian press, however, has now latched onto that fact.

The Daily Mail cites some interesting passages in Baker's autobiography, The Way to Wexford, in which he recounts his childhood in Bulgaria.

"As the end of 1937 approached, my parents and I were still living in the country where I’d been born: Bulgaria.

My father, Frank, was a Yorkshire-born businessman who had been trading in the Balkans for years.

He now combined that with his official duties as British Vice-Consul in the coastal city of Varna, and his unofficial duties as a part-time spy, passing on information about the Russians to British Army Intelligence."

Baker's schooling in Bulgaria seems to have been a happy experience.
"I was much happier at my new Bulgarian-run school, not least because I was seated next to an enchanting blonde girl who wore a blue pleated skirt. I would put my right hand as near to the hem of her skirt as I decently could and sit in contentment, not listening to a word that was said. Mind you, I was only six years old."

The article continues with Baker's account of his departure from Sofia.