Syd Walker

{{short description|British actor and comedian}}

{{use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}

{{use British English|date=February 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Syd Walker

| image = Comedian_Syd_Walker.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Sydney Kirkman

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1886|03|22}}

| birth_place = Salford, Lancashire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1945|01|13|1886|03|22}}

| death_place = Hove, Sussex, England

| restingplace =

| othername =

| occupation = Comedian, actor

| yearsactive =

| spouse = Lily (Lydia) Louie Margaret Kirkman

| children = Pete Walker

| website =

| awards =

}}

Syd Walker (born Sydney Kirkman; 22 March 1886 – 13 January 1945) was a British actor and comedian.

Born in Salford, Lancashire, he started his career in music halls, both as a solo performer and in double acts. He was also a member of Fred Karno's comedy troupe.{{cite book |last=Busby |first=Roy |year=1976 |title=British Music Hall: An Illustrated Who's Who from 1850 to the Present Day |location=London |publisher=Paul Elek |page= 176-177 | isbn=0-236-40053-3}} After some years performing with Karno, and after losing his Lancashire accent, he became a regular on BBC radio's Band Waggon (1938–1939) as Mr. Walker, a philosophical rag-and-bone man with the popular catch phrase: "What would you do, chums?"{{cite web |title=Brighton and Hove people: W|url=http://www.brightonhistory.org.uk/people/people_w.html|website=Brighton History|accessdate=6 July 2020}}{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcWHAgAAQBAJ&q=syd+walker+comedian&pg=PA517 |title = A Dictionary of Catch Phrases|isbn = 9781134929993|last1 = Partridge|first1 = Eric|date = 2 September 2003| publisher=Routledge }} He later had his own show, Mr Walker Wants to Know.

He fell ill with appendicitis while playing in pantomime in Croydon, and died in Hove, Sussex, in 1945 at the age of 58.

His son is the film director Pete Walker.{{cite web |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/12377 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117135219/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/12377 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-01-17 |website=British Film Institute |title=Syd Walker }}