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My haven: Barry Cryer in the home he shares with wife Terry
THE SHOW GOES ON
Iâve been in showbiz since 1956, and Iâve worked on the Radio 4 show Iâm Sorry I Havenât A Clue since it began in 1972. This poster features what was the regular cast for many years â" myself, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and the late Willie Rushton and Humphrey Lyttelton. Last year we did a stage version and 2,000 people came to each show. If the audience were our age theyâd be dying off, but we attract all ages â" weâre like an old rock band!
FURRY FRIEND
I bought this doggie draught excluder in Pitlochry, Scotland, about three years ago after I did the Edinburgh Fringe. I call him George Draught after the film star George Raft. Iâm fond of George as we used to have four Labrador crossbreeds â" theyâre in the painting behind me â" and I miss them. We wonât have any more as Iâm out a lot and Terry â" who I proposed to on a dog-walk in Hyde Park â" would get lumbered with all the walking.
MUMâS THE WORD
In the 80s I used to pretend to be a Scottish stand-up when I appeared on shows like The Good Old Days, so I got a kilt and this Tam OâShanter. I was actually born in Leeds so Iâm a Yorkshireman like my Dad, John. He was an accountant, but died when I was five and I have very few memories of him, which is a big sadness. My mum Jean was wonderful bringing up my brother and I. She died in 1986 and spent her last years in our granny flat next door.
MY SUPERSTITION
Upstairs in my study I have the modern technology for emailing and the internet, but I have a strange superstition: whenever I do an after-dinner speech or a corporate event I write a special poem and I always type it on this Hermes 300 typewriter. I bought it in the 70s and itâs an old friend, tried and true. Itâll conk out one day â" itâs already lost its capitals so Iâm a bit like ee cummings in that everythingâs now in lower case.
GOLDEN GIRL
This 1962 brochure for a Danny La Rue show at Winstonâs Nightclub features me and my wife Terry, who was then a singer. I met her rehearsing for that show on the same day I first met Ronnie Corbett â" I tossed a coin and decided to marry her! Earlier this year we celebrated our Golden wedding. The key is weâve never understood each other; we donât row but we argue all the time. I once said to her, âWe disagree about everythingâ, and she replied, âNo, we donât!â
MEET MY CLAN
These two photos were taken 20 years apart of our four children in exactly the same poses at our 1900 corner house in Middlesex, which we bought for £10,400 in 1967. Of our sons, Tonyâs a university professor, Daveâs a computer wizard and Bobâs an actor and writer. Our daughter Jackie is a former singer who now conducts choirs. Weâve got seven grandchildren and I love being a grandad. Weâre a very close family and have regular get-togethers.
Mrs Hudson's Diaries: A View From The Landing At 221b by Barry Cryer and Bob Cryer is published by The Robson Press.
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue: The Best of Forty Years is released by Preface Publishing.
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