has admitted to getting within an inch of being definitively given a huge role on before the opportunity was snatched away from him. The star explained the whole situation in depth to , finally lifting the lid on how the mishap played out. While he was still new to his acting career in the 60s, Sir David auditioned for the role of Lance Corporal Jones - and BBC bosses loved him.

The actor went home convinced he had the job, only to be told by his agent that it had slipped through his fingers. Sir David explained: "It's one of those strange stories that happened in the business.

"I was called to the BBC as hundreds of actors are all the time, constantly turned over. I was asked through my agent, who put me up for that part of Corporal Jones, to meet the producer and the director at the BBC, which I duly did.

"He asked me to read Corporal Jones. They told me he was 50 or 60 years old, and I was about 30 or whatever it was, so I adopted this voice. I did all that and they were so impressed... they said, 'You've got the job! Would you like to do it?' I thought, 'Would I like to do it? It's a role on television... yes!'"

However, at two in the afternoon, his agent had to phone him with some bad news. The Del Boy star added: "(My agent) said, 'You haven't got the job.' I said, 'What! I just went for an audition and he said I'd got the job.' He said, 'Yes, but the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing.'"

As it turned out, the BBC's head of entertainment Bill Cotton had personally asked to play the part. It took some convincing, as the English actor was working on a show called The World of Beachcomber with Irish comedian .

Clive wanted to carry on with that project, but when it ended up getting cancelled, he told Bill he was free for the job. This meant that by the time Bill was told the Dad's Army producers had hired Sir David for the role, he had already confirmed that Clive would play Lance Corporal Jones.

According to Sir David, Bill told the producers: "Who's David Jason? You don't know him, but we know Clive Dunn, and I've promised the show to go to Clive Dunn, and I can't be embarrassed. You wanted him and now you've got him!"

Thankfully Sir David had his own rise to fame when he was cast as Del Boy in beloved sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which he starred in intermittently for over two decades.