Ramsay Leonard Clegg was the illegitimate child of Eunice Cole, born in 1935. But due to her being unmarried, she gave Ramsay up and he was sent to Australia, which happened to a lot of children back then. He then spent his life in Australia. Once he grew up and wanted to meet his mother, he got a private detective to track her down, and began sending letters (and a present to her other son, Norris Cole). In 1960, he turned up to visit her, which caused her embarrassment as she never wanted to see him. In January 1961, she passed away and Ramsay's half-brother Norris grew to despise Ramsay and they fought at her funeral. Ramsay then left for Australia again, not to return for nearly fifty years.
In 2009, Ramsay discovered he had a brain tumour and not long to live, and decided to attempt to make up with Norris. In May that year, he turned up at The Kabin looking for a 'Mr Norris Cole', and as Rita Sullivan asked for him to leave a message, he walked away without speaking any more. He later arrived in the Rovers, whereby Norris told him to go away. Both Rita and Emily Bishop were very surprised, but they didn't know what had happened in the past. Norris accused Ramsay of killing their mother, saying that he still "had blood on his hands". Later it transpired Ramsay was the older illegitimate brother of Norris, who was sent to Australia as a child.
Norris's friend and landlady Emily Bishop took a shine to Ramsay, and the pair grew closer. He attempted to become friends with Norris by taking on a newspaper round at The Kabin. Despite his best efforts, Norris remained hostile. Clutching at straws, Ramsay showed his brother around a vacant apartment at Victoria Court and revealed that he wanted them both to live there. Norris immediately rejected the idea and shamed Emily for her closeness to Ramsay. Not wanting to cause Emily any pain, a disappointed Ramsay decided to return to Australia.
He departed on 25th August, after sharing a tender moment with Emily. A cold Norris refused to forgive him and a disappointed Ramsay left in the back of a taxi. Norris and Emily were later shocked when they discovered that Ramsay had died on the flight to Australia, and even more when finding out about his brain tumour.
Soon after Ramsay's death, a trunk of his possessions arrived for Norris. Reluctantly, Norris looked through the trunk, finding, among other things, a boomerang Ramsay had intended to give to him as a child, and a large number of letters Ramsay had written to their mother, asking to see her. Finally Norris found a letter from their mother, asking Ramsay to leave her alone. Finally realising that Ramsay had never been the villain, Norris went to his grave, crying over the brother he had never let himself get to know.
Norris received a telescope from Ramsay in November 2014, although the package had been redirected several times and took a while to finally reach him. Norris deduced that his late half-brother must have liked astronomy. Emily also spoke of her closeness to Ramsay.
- Although Ramsay's off-screen death reveal aired on 31st August 2009, supplementary material such as the books Fifty Years of Coronation Street and 60 Years of Coronation Street list his death as the 26th August 2009. This is because Ramsay's final appearance (27th August 2009) takes place a day following the episode 24th August 2009.
List of appearances[]
2009