Dennis Waterman to give eulogy at funeral of Minder star George Cole

His coffin entered Reading Crematorium yesterday to the upbeat song I Could Be So Good for You, which signalled the start of the popular programme that brought the criminal underworld of west London to millions of homes up and down the country from 1979 to 1994.

After an introduction and prayer by the Reverend Nigel Bennett, the guests sung the hymn “Morning has Broken”.

He is best remembered for playing Arthur Daley, a small-time wheeler dealer whose bodyguard or “minder” Terry McCann gave the show its name.

“I can’t understand or bear to think how the family feel because I know how we feel”. We met doing a thing called Minder, when I was told Arthur Daley was going to be played by George Cole.

During his eulogy, Waterman called Cole the “most liked man in the entire profession” and said he last saw the actor the day before he died.

McDonald’s has apologized for an incident in which workers in one of the US burger chain’s French franchises appeared to be threatened with the sack for feeding homeless people.

Following the service, Waterman and his wife Pam Flint posed for a photograph with Penny and Cole’s children Toby and Tara.

She said: “If he were here, George would be absolutely amazed at the amount of love and affection in this room”.

The couple remained married for the rest of his life.

Mourners left the chapel to Goodbye from White Horse Inn, Cole’s first theatre production.

Cole, who lived in Stoke Row near Henley, Oxfordshire, also played Flash Harry in four St Trinian’s films between 1954-66, starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Cleopatra, as well as gothic horror The Vampire Lovers. “There is a lot more to George than that”.