Name	William Roache
Height
Naionality	English
Date of Birth	25-April-1932
Place of Birth	Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England
Famous for	Acting

William Patrick Harry Roache MBE is an English actor, best known for his role as Ken Barlow in the soap opera Coronation Street. He is the longest serving cast member and was the only remaining member of the original Coronation Street cast, having appeared since the first episode on 9 December 1960, until Philip Lowrie returned to his role as Dennis Tanner after a 43-year absence
Roache's Freemason grandfather was interested in such things as hypnotism, theosophy, spiritualism, homoeopathy and esotericism, and the teachings of philosopher and educationalist Rudolf Steiner. Roache for a time attended a Steiner school set up by his grandfather in the garden of the family home in Ilkeston Derbyshire. Roache was later educated at the independent Rydal School in Colwyn Bay, North Wales.
In 1953, he was commissioned into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1954 and left the Army three years later. Because of a mortar round explosion that he witnessed while on National Service with the British Army during this time, Roache suffers from tinnitus.