Pingu's Father (fanon biography)

Paul Henry Winters OA (born 26 February 1953) is an actor, postal worker, and retired musician. Born in London but raised in Iowa, Winters joined a multitude of bands throughout his early career, most notably in the Masked Marauders, before joining as a vocalist for British band Leather House in 1971 after the departure of Jean-Louis Lance. During this time, he began to take up acting, with his most notable role being Paul Hornsby in the prime-time television series Only One You (1977-1979). Uncomfortable with the growing business of fame, Winters retired from show business in 1979 to focus on raising his family and began to work as a postal worker. He returned to acting after his son, Pingu, began acting in Pingu; Winters played the role of Pingu's father. His role ended up granting him a BAFTA Award nomination. After the show ended, Winters continued to work as a postal worker before reprising his role in Pingu in the City. He was awarded the Order of Antarctica in the 2015 Honours.

Early life
Winters was born on 26 February 1953 in Westminster, London to retired weightlifter and musician Paul Winters, and his wife Joanne Winters (Castille; 1925-2013), a British librarian who was born in Guernsey and later raised in Jersey. His parents met at a library and began dating, later marrying in 1949. He has an older brother. During his father's weightlifting career, they moved around England, later moving the family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa when he was a toddler, and attended local schools. When Winters was 13, his parents divorced; both agreed to co-parent, and his mother eventually began to buy a house in Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa, where he majored in business, finance, and engineering. He signed up to be study abroad in the United Kingdom as he wanted to spend time with relatives and took up residency after graduating with a master's degree.

Early musical career (1968-1971)
While in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was interested in music and engineering, and decided to perform in clubs with a group called the Masked Marauders. They traditionally performed traditional pop, and the group frequently wrote lyrics together. The younger Henry has even stated that he used to listen to his father's Peggy Lee and Tony Bennett records. It was not until he went for a holiday in Haringey that he began to buy records from artists such as Badfinger and the Rolling Stones; his rock listening spree slowly began to overshadow his traditional pop records.

Leather House (1971-1979)
While in Liverpool, he entered a local pub to stop for a drink. He had just completed his studies and was examining lyrics in his personal notebook that he gathered from performing in the Masked Marauders. Just after ordering a drink from a bartender, another frequenter in the pub began to strike up a conversation with him; the frequenter turned out to be Pradis Vincent, a musician for several clubs around the U.S. and the British Isles. Winters and Vincent both shared a mutual interest in music, and talked about their favorite bands and genres for hours on end. Vincent introduced guitarist Phil Heindhoven and drummer Slevin Portheart to Winters and asked Winters to audition for their band Leather House. He did so at Heindhoven's house, where they were holding auditions for a new vocalist after Jean-Louis Lance left the band to continue his artistic career. All three members (Heindhoven, Vincent, and Portheart) chose Winters to be the new vocalist for the band after several auditions.

Before 1974
Winters began to pursue acting after encouragement from his father prompted him to do so. He began to take theatre and drama classes and later joined his school's drama club, which garnered his first acting role, playing Cassio in an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. After graduating from his high school, he continued to attend acting classes as he balanced his work life between acting school, university life, and rehearsing for musical band Leather House.

Personal life
Winters first

He has Swiss citizenship from his father, and British citizenship from both of his parents. He renewed his Swiss citizenship in 1975, and began to take up residency in Russikon with his wife in 1980 while she was pregnant with their first child. He did not serve in the Swiss Army because he lived abroad for his childhood and early adulthood, which he called "the one opportunity I regret not to take".