Peter Coke, who died on 30 July, 2008, aged 95, was a refined British actor with Hollywood good looks but who was best known for his work on the radio.

He did in fact turn down a Hollywood contract at the age of 24, believing that a few more years' experience would help him become a star in America.

In the event his greatest acting success came playing the radio detective Paul Temple over the course of 14 years.

He also appeared frequently on the stage and in British films.

He also enjoyed a moderately successful sideline career as a playwright and in later life he produced intricate shell sculptures which were sold and exhibited nationwide.

Peter John Coke was born on 3 April, 1913 in Southsea. His father was a commander in the Navy but retired from military service to run linen and coffee plantations in Kenya for several years.

Peter returned to England for his education but found himself somewhat stranded when it came to finding work, so moved to France where his grandmother lived and worked for a while in the British Embassy.

Eventually he decided he wanted to be an actor and returned to England to attend RADA. At 24 his stage performances saw him named as one of the Daily Mail's 'Stars of the Future' and it was around this time that he spurned the chance to move to Hollywood.

He made his film debut in the 1937 comedy Missing, Believed Married and was kept busy with further screen roles until the war interrupted his career in 1940. He served with the Royal Artillery on the Italian front and reached the rank of major.

After being demobbed in 1944 he found that his time away from cameras and audiences had put back his progress as an actor. Ever resourceful he turned to one of his hobbies, antique collecting, to sustain a living, opening a shop on New King's Road.

By the end of the decade he was back in full swing and received widespread praise for his role in The Chiltern Hundreds (1947), one of the great hits of the era.

In the 1950s he split his time between occasional films and television series, various theatrical projects and writing his first plays which were performed to modest success. But it was his voice - one with the diction and cadence of a classical actor - that became his most lucrative asset, earning him several leading roles on the radio.

In 1954 he became the seventh actor to play Francis Durbridge's crime fiction writer turned private detective Paul Temple in the series of novel adaptations. He made the role his own and his performances as the wry and articulate sleuth had enduring popularity - after a re-run of the old shows in 2003 he began receiving fan mail again.

Between 1958 and 1988 he wrote 10 plays, the most successful of which was Breath Of Spring which ran for a year in Cambridge in 1958 and was later performed on Broadway. His work was mainly comic and was particularly successful on the amateur dramatics circuit, thanks to his use of middle-aged and elderly characters, such being the primary demographic of such groups.

After retiring from acting in the 1960s, he returned to his passion for antiques and became captivated by 'Sailor Valentines', detailed sculptures made from shells by seamen in the 18th century. He moved to Norfolk where he found the materials for him to begin making his own which he sold in his new shop.

His creations were remarkably delicate affairs, being constructed from tiny fragments of shell put into position by tweezers to form lavish floral arrangements. His work was praised for its sophistication and exhibited in several UK galleries, including the Peter Coke Shell Gallery in Sheringham, Norfolk, which was opened in 2006.

Mr Coke lived for many years with his partner Fred Webb who died in 2003.