TOMMY COOPER Born: 1921 Died: 1984 Tommy Cooper was born in Caerphilly, Wales on March 19, 1921. He was born 2 months prematurely and the doctors warned he might not make it through infancy, but he did survive and grew to be a impressive presence of 6” 4 inches. At the age of 8 an aunt bought Tommy a magic set and he would spend hours perfecting all the tricks. By the age of 16 he got a job as magician on a boat. His first performance was a diasaster. Due to stage fright all his tricks went wrong, people started laughing and he ran away in tears. However on reflection he realised that if he concentrated on making people laugh he could develop a very good routine. Soon after the outbreak of world war two Tommy Cooper joined the army and served for 7 years until 1947. For much of this time his regiment was posted to the Middle East. When opportunity allowed he worked on his performances as a failed magician. It was during his time in Cairo that Tommy Cooper got his trademark hat. – a middle eastern Fez. He was about to perform but realised he had lost his hat. Therefore he swiped a hat of a passing waiter and performed with that. It got a big laugh so he stuck with it becoming a trademark of Tommy Cooper. On leaving the army he decided to pursue a career in show business. By 1948 he had made his debut on TV, performing in the BBC programme, New to You. This led to a very successful TV career mostly with Thames television. For many years he had his own show as a stand up comedian. Later in his career he also performed with other comedians such as Eric Sykes. |
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