So he said 'I'm going to chop off the bottom of one of your trouser legs and put it in a library.' I thought 'That's a turn-up for the books.'

Likewise the audience laughed as he fell until it became apparent he was seriously ill. He was survived by his wife Gwen (whom he called 'Dove') and two children Thomas and Vicky and a two-year-old grandchild Tam. His parents were Welsh-born army recruiting sergeant father Thomas H.

Famed for his red fez his appearance was large and lumbering at 6 feet 4 inches (1. His stage persona required that his act intentionally went wrong for comic purposes leading to some initial uncertainty about whether this collapse was real.