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 Leather House in 1971 after the departure of Jean-Louis Lance. During this time, he began to take up acting, his first role as magician Paul Hornsby in primetime television series Only One You. 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, also named Paul, began acting in Pingu; Winters played the role of Pingu's father. After the show ended, Winters continued to work as a postal worker until he reprised his role in Pingu in the City. He went on to garner him a BAFTA nomination for Pingu and was awarded the Order of Antarctica.

Early life
Winters was born on 26 February 1953 in Westminster, London to retired weightlifter and musician Paul and Joanne Winters (Castille; 1925-2013). His father was born in Russikon, Switzerland, but was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, while his mother was a Guernsey-born Jersey librarian and novelist. His parents met at a library and soon after started dating; they married 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; he majored in business, finance, and engineering. There, he signed up to be an exchange student in the United Kingdom, later applying for citizenship there 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 was writing and examining lyrics in his personal notebook that he gathered from his days 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 US and the UK. Winters and Vincent both confirmed that they met because they were one of the only non-British people in the pub. In the pub, Vincent introduced guitarist Phil Heindhoven and drummer Slevin Portheart to him. After asking Winters to audition, he did so at Heindhoven's house; after several auditions, all three members (Heindhoven, Vincent, and Portheart) chose Winters to be the new vocalist for the band, replacing Jean-Louis Lance in the process.

Before 1977
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, starring in several school plays. His first acting role was Cassio from 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
He has Swiss citizenship from his father, and British citizenship from both of his parents. He renewed his Swiss citizenship in 1970, 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.