0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains very strong language and adult humour.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07I just read, er, in a magazine
0:00:07 > 0:00:10the most incredible thing,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14that apparently, er, marmalade, in large doses -
0:00:14 > 0:00:18and when I say large doses, I mean, you know, small doses -
0:00:18 > 0:00:24can be fatal, cos they, er, seize up the, er, cardiac system
0:00:24 > 0:00:28and give influctions.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Yeah, well, there's a lot of truth in that
0:00:30 > 0:00:34cos too much vitamin C can diminish your sexual potency
0:00:34 > 0:00:38and I read that in the National Star.
0:00:38 > 0:00:46And what I think the professor was making the point of was that, um...
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Are you saying that food is dangerous?
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Well, let's put it this way. Not all food is dangerous
0:01:00 > 0:01:04but there are certain kinds of food that are dangerous.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Sugar, for example.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Especially combined with salt.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12If you have a cup of sugar and salt, I mean,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16you might as well kiss goodbye to tomorrow cos, um...
0:01:16 > 0:01:19But the point that Dr Slazenger says is that...
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Because anything you eat is deadly
0:01:27 > 0:01:29and the best thing to eat is nothing.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33And I think you have to reach a slight compromise.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39I mean, that makes sense, doesn't it?
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Peter Cook is widely regarded as the greatest figure
0:01:50 > 0:01:52in modern British comedy.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Writer, performer, proprietor of Private Eye magazine
0:01:55 > 0:01:58and The Establishment Club, he dominated British comedy for decades
0:01:58 > 0:02:00on television, radio, theatre, print and film.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Few have had a glimpse at Peter Cook's private world
0:02:03 > 0:02:06because, after his untimely death - he was just 57 -
0:02:06 > 0:02:10Peter's grief-stricken wife, Lin, closed up his Hampstead house,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14leaving it like a time capsule, full of comedic treasure.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21This front door has remained firmly locked for two decades.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Lin has resisted all offers to allow the cameras in, until now.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29And so it is that we go through the keyhole.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35Past the wall with Peter's Derek and Clive graffiti on it.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Past the EL Wisty-inspired hat stand.
0:02:38 > 0:02:39Through the dining room,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42where Peter and Dudley recorded their improvisations
0:02:42 > 0:02:44or stared blankly at the garden for inspiration.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Up the precarious stairs - well, occasionally precarious for Peter.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54To his study and his bookshelves,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56which reveal a very eclectic mind indeed.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03And scattered around the study, as they have been since he died,
0:03:03 > 0:03:11are such gems as home videos, diaries, family snapshots, letters,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14rehearsal tapes and much, much more.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16What follows isn't a biography of Peter Cook.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18We've all seen plenty of those before.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Instead, we're offering a glimpse of Peter's private world
0:03:21 > 0:03:23and clips from programmes that have not been broadcast
0:03:23 > 0:03:26since their original transmission.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Many of our best and funniest finds were domestic audio recordings
0:03:29 > 0:03:31made by Peter alone, or with Dudley
0:03:31 > 0:03:34and, as you've already seen, we've animated some of these.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37There's no stopping the man! He's doing ME now! This is...
0:03:47 > 0:03:49The first thing that we almost literally stumbled on
0:03:49 > 0:03:52was this suitcase which contains memories
0:03:52 > 0:03:54of Peter's childhood and adolescence.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59And most interesting is this ancient 16mm home movie, shot in the 1930s.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Peter was born on 17th November, 1937,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08into a middle-class civil service family.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11He never made any secret of his comfortable background,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15but these never before broadcast pictures show that his origins were
0:04:15 > 0:04:17very much at the upper end of the middle class.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19I come from an upper middle class background
0:04:19 > 0:04:22and I'm not ashamed of it.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25A better start in life. I had a better start in life.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32He was brought up in a big house with gardeners, nannies...
0:04:34 > 0:04:35..and social functions
0:04:35 > 0:04:38that would have impressed even Lord Peter Wimsey.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Peter was educated at public school, Radley College,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51and in this rare interview with his mother,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53we discover that the schoolboy Peter was a million miles
0:04:53 > 0:04:55from the man who created Derek and Clive.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58- Mrs Cook, Mrs Peter Cook.- Yes.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02As a little boy, you say your Peter was interested
0:05:02 > 0:05:04- in snakes and reptiles. - Yes, very much.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06And you don't know whether he's still interested or not.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09- Does that mean you don't see him at all?- Yes, of course I do,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12but I think he's still fond of them but more distantly.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16We have a picture of him coming up there. He looks very innocent there.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19He doesn't look like the little lad who later learnt to shock...
0:05:19 > 0:05:21- I mean, he shocks a lot of people, your Pete, doesn't he?- I know.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24He was rather shy and retiring when he was young.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28- When did all this change and why? - I don't know. I don't know at all.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30You didn't drop, did you, or something like that?
0:05:30 > 0:05:33- Of course not! - Where did he live as a child?
0:05:33 > 0:05:37Well, in Torquay and we were in West Africa half the time.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40- What were you doing there?- My husband was propping up the Empire.
0:05:40 > 0:05:41LAUGHTER
0:05:41 > 0:05:45- The bit that was left before it...? - Yes.- Did it fall over when he left?
0:05:45 > 0:05:47No! Nearly, not quite.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51No, he was a district officer there and we had to be away rather a lot.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53- Yes.- So he was with grannies.- Right.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Inside the same suitcase are school photos,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01a school yearbook that reveals Peter the academic,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03having won three scholarships in a single year,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06even though he later claimed to have done no work at all.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08I mean, my last year at Radley was incredible
0:06:08 > 0:06:10cos I passed my exams to Cambridge.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13I was just staying on there because there was nothing better to do.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17I used to have breakfast in bed, brought to me, shoes polished,
0:06:17 > 0:06:19study cleaned, everything like that.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22And you were allowed certain privileges.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24I used to go to the pictures a lot in Oxford.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26There was nothing for me to do academically.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28He then spent a year on the Continent,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31books about Germany and France reflecting the time he spent abroad,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34studying languages in preparation for Cambridge University.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39We also found this rather dapper monogrammed grooming case,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43revealing traces of Brylcreem stuck to letters to and from the BBC,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47like this one, where Peter attempts to get work on BBC television.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50"Dear Mr Titheradge, I wanted to know if it's possible
0:06:50 > 0:06:53"for a spare-time scriptwriter to write occasional sketches
0:06:53 > 0:06:54"for television comedy programmes.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57"I enclose a short sketch about shirts and this time,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01"I've carefully avoided writing with any particular comedian in mind."
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Also in the case is a hit of 1957, a record of Peggy Sue,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10a song Peter loved so much that some years later,
0:07:10 > 0:07:12he recorded his own version.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16We found two tapes of this - one with his vocal only...
0:07:16 > 0:07:20# Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. # That's a bit loud.
0:07:20 > 0:07:21# If you...
0:07:21 > 0:07:24# If you knew Peggy Sue
0:07:24 > 0:07:28# Then you'd know why I feel blue about... #
0:07:28 > 0:07:30And the other one with backtrack,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33painstakingly restored here together for the first time.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37# If you knew Peggy Sue
0:07:37 > 0:07:39# Then you'd know why I feel blue
0:07:39 > 0:07:41# About Peggy
0:07:41 > 0:07:44# My Peggy Sue
0:07:46 > 0:07:47# Well, I love you, girl
0:07:47 > 0:07:50# Yes, I love you, Peggy Sue.. #
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Frankly, we wondered why we bothered.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Ow, ooh, I'm out of breath. Christ!
0:07:55 > 0:07:56PETER CLEARS HIS THROAT
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Peter and particularly Dudley railed against the BBC
0:08:01 > 0:08:05for having lost most of the episodes of Not Only... But Also.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07There's a whole lot of people who haven't seen those programmes.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11I think this is one thing Peter and I both feel badly about,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14that I think the BBC erased all of our tapes.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16- Thank you and goodnight! - LAUGHTER
0:08:16 > 0:08:19- Have they really?- Yeah, I think they erased the whole bloody lot.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21I can't imagine... I mean, some idiot...
0:08:21 > 0:08:23But we tracked down the audio from an obsessive fan
0:08:23 > 0:08:25who hotwired his TV set,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27electrocuting himself in the process,
0:08:27 > 0:08:29and recorded them as they aired in the 1960s.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33And we also tracked down some silent films from various sources,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36including old film cans from the trails department
0:08:36 > 0:08:40at ABC TV in Australia and we joined the bits together.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44Now, is this the sort of suit one can smoke marijuana in?
0:08:44 > 0:08:45You're planning to get...
0:08:45 > 0:08:48You're planning to be stoned out your mind, are you, sir?
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Well, Basil told me it was going to be a rave and I want something...
0:08:52 > 0:08:55LAUGHTER DROWNS OUT SPEECH
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Er, I wish you wouldn't do that.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00LAUGHTER
0:09:00 > 0:09:02- Er, I think that's rather nice, sir. - I like it.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06Er, the only thing that strikes me is that it is a trifle effeminate.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Effeminate? I wouldn't say it was effeminate.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- I would say it was effeminate, yes. - I wouldn't say it was effeminate.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15- I just said it IS effeminate. - LAUGHTER
0:09:15 > 0:09:16It is effeminate.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Well, you know, sir, we had Max Schmeling, the boxer, in here
0:09:19 > 0:09:22the other day, sir, and he went away with a replica of this very suit
0:09:22 > 0:09:24and I wouldn't call HIM effeminate, would you, sir?
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Max Schmeling. No, I wouldn't call him effeminate.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28I wouldn't call Max Schmeling effeminate.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30I wouldn't call him effeminate, no.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32He's not effeminate. He's never been near a woman in his life.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35LAUGHTER
0:09:35 > 0:09:36He wouldn't touch one, you know.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39It really worries me, this effeminate thing,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42because my wife is extremely effeminate, you know.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45A ghastly business. I don't know where she picks it up.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50She sort of goes flim-flamming about the place. It's most frustrating.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Yes, well, we don't want people having difficulty
0:09:52 > 0:09:55- trying to distinguish between the pair of you, do we?- Certainly not.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58- Would you like one bent at the back, sir?- If you have one, yes.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00LAUGHTER
0:10:00 > 0:10:02- Do you fancy the thin one?- Yeah.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05- Well, she can be yours in a matter of moments, Dud.- Yeah?
0:10:05 > 0:10:07If you just play your cards right. The thin one?
0:10:07 > 0:10:09All you have to do is go up to her,
0:10:09 > 0:10:13say something ironic to establish your amazing masculinity, you see.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15- Yeah?- Go up. She's fairly thin, isn't she?- Yeah.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Well, say something ironic, like, "Hello, fatty."
0:10:18 > 0:10:22- Being an ironic comment on the fact she's thin.- Yeah.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Then say to her in a rough, brutal way, like James Cagney used to do,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30go up to her and say, "How about a bit of passionate love with me?"
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Do you think that will work?
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Well, I should think so, yeah. Just be very masculine, aggressively so.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38- I'll try, shall I?- Go on.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Hello, fat face! How about... What?
0:10:45 > 0:10:47A bit of passionate love with me.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49LAUGHTER
0:10:49 > 0:10:52How about a bit of passionate love with me then?
0:10:54 > 0:10:56LAUGHTER
0:10:58 > 0:11:01- What happened, Dud? - She slapped my face, Pete.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03- Well, you're away, aren't you?- Am I?
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Physical contact after such a brief meeting, yes.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08That's the way to do it, Dud.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Now you've got to play it extremely cool.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Why don't we go upstairs and ignore them for about ten stops?
0:11:15 > 0:11:17- Play it cool?- Play it cool. That's the only way to do it, Dud.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19All right then.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23APPLAUSE
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Do you find in any way that you've been affected adversely
0:11:28 > 0:11:30by the credit squeeze?
0:11:30 > 0:11:32I know that businessmen up and down the country
0:11:32 > 0:11:35are being forced to take drastic slashes.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37LAUGHTER
0:11:39 > 0:11:42We also tracked down parts of this episode,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45featuring Peter Sellers, not seen since 1965,
0:11:45 > 0:11:47and was considered lost for 40 years,
0:11:47 > 0:11:49until being rediscovered in the USA
0:11:49 > 0:11:51in the Library of Congress's film stores
0:11:51 > 0:11:53and then returned to the BBC.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56It's never been rebroadcast on television.
0:11:56 > 0:11:57Good evening.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Here in the studio tonight, we have Mr Danny Gough,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02the boxer who has turned portrait painter,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06and who is having his first show in London in Regent Street.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Mr Gough... Mr Gough...
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Mr Gough, could I tear you away for a moment from your...
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Would you like to sit down for a while?
0:12:15 > 0:12:16- Robert.- Thank you very much.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Good.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Thank you.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23LAUGHTER
0:12:23 > 0:12:27Er, Mr Gough, I am particularly interested to know
0:12:27 > 0:12:29what led you to leave the ring
0:12:29 > 0:12:33and enter the highly competitive world of portrait painting.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Well, it was about two years ago,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I was, er, fighting Killer Cain
0:12:40 > 0:12:44and I'm afraid I wasn't altogether in trim, you see.
0:12:44 > 0:12:51Oh, I had a few pints before the night, didn't I?
0:12:51 > 0:12:54And he got in with a left in the third round.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Right on the button he got me, so I went down.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01As I was sort of lying there, wasn't I?
0:13:01 > 0:13:03- He was lying there.- Yeah. - LAUGHTER
0:13:03 > 0:13:06I was lying there and I saw this,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10this thin trickle of blood coming out of my left nostril
0:13:10 > 0:13:16onto the canvas and suddenly I become aware of what I had in me.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20- LAUGHTER - Er, blood, that is.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24- No, I mean, no, no...- No, not that.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27No, it opened up a window in my mind.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31- My vistas was enlarged.- I see. - LAUGHTER
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- I didn't know that. - Yes, very painful too.
0:13:34 > 0:13:35LAUGHTER
0:13:35 > 0:13:39And I saw a whole new world of creativity in front of me
0:13:39 > 0:13:43- and I've been on the canvas ever since, ain't I?- I see.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Mr Gough, this is your first show here in London,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48but I think I'm right in saying that you have had an exhibition
0:13:48 > 0:13:50- in the provinces before this. - Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54- You had an exhibition in the provinces?- Yeah, I have, yeah.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56I suppose you could say, you see,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00- that this show is in the nature of a sort of comeback for me.- I see.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04You don't agree, then, with critics of this kind of work,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06who say that your kind of painting can damage the brain?
0:14:06 > 0:14:09LAUGHTER
0:14:11 > 0:14:13No, I don't, I don't.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16- No, I definitely don't say that. - You wouldn't agree with that.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19I notice you're wearing these rather thick pebble glasses.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Is that in any way connected with your painting?
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Well, that's because I've got myoprics of the eyes.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27LAUGHTER
0:14:27 > 0:14:30I've got myoprics in the eyes here
0:14:30 > 0:14:32and they also help to...
0:14:32 > 0:14:38They also help, you see, to stop the paint coming in the eye.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Of course, I believe a lot of painters have, in fact, suffered
0:14:42 > 0:14:45from this similar disease, have they not?
0:14:45 > 0:14:47- Tintoretto, wasn't it? - LAUGHTER
0:14:47 > 0:14:51- I believe Tintoretto was astigmatic. - Ah.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53LAUGHTER
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Well, we're going to look very shortly
0:14:55 > 0:14:57at one of Mr Gough's latest paintings.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00By the way, who is this person here you're painting?
0:15:00 > 0:15:03- What are you talking about, "Who is it?"- Who is this person?
0:15:03 > 0:15:06The Archbishop of Canterbury! "Who is it?"
0:15:06 > 0:15:08It's the Archbishop of Canterbury.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10It's the Archbishop of Canterbury, is it? Yes.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14- Of course it's the Archbishop of Canterbury.- Yes, of course it is.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19And this Late Night Line-Up from June, 1967,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22where Peter discovered that the then controller of BBC2,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25David Attenborough, was in the audience,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27and Peter acted accordingly.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29They must be out of their minds.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33But we must proffer our heartfelt congratulations
0:15:33 > 0:15:37- to Mr David Attenborough here... - Bless his heart.- Bless his heart.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39- APPLAUSE - Bless his cotton socks.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42..who moved on from the heady world
0:15:42 > 0:15:45of making wonderful documentary films
0:15:45 > 0:15:49about the mating habits of Armand and Michaela Denis...
0:15:49 > 0:15:51LAUGHTER
0:15:51 > 0:15:55And moving over here, we see David Attenborough.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00Now, David, I feel kind of bashful being confronted
0:16:00 > 0:16:05by a person who's surrounded by red tablecloths, like you are.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09But one thing I'd like to ask you, because I'm on a sort of percentage,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12is why you smoke Silk Cut Benson & Hedges cigarettes.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14LAUGHTER
0:16:14 > 0:16:16They're the only ones I could steal.
0:16:16 > 0:16:17They're the only ones he could steal.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21And that's a fact, ladies and gentlemen, and you can't deny it.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24BIRDSONG
0:16:28 > 0:16:31We always hoped to find some forgotten fragments
0:16:31 > 0:16:34of Peter's comedy during our visit to the house,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37but what we unearthed exceeded all expectations.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42Once we'd reassembled the tapes in these boxes, dated New York, 1964,
0:16:42 > 0:16:46and had painstakingly stuck the edited pieces back together again,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49we realised that we'd struck gold.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52This is an entire unknown album by Peter and Dudley,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56the Dead Sea Tapes, recorded in New York in late 1963
0:16:56 > 0:17:01and edited for release early in 1964, but long thought to be lost.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03The recordings were mentioned in the American press
0:17:03 > 0:17:05but Peter and Dudley were worried
0:17:05 > 0:17:07that they might be prosecuted for blasphemy,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11which was a serious criminal offence in those pre-Life Of Brian days.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13So, they decided not to release the tapes.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Peter Cook later recalled them in this never before aired interview.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21We once, in 1963, when we were in New York with Beyond The Fringe,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24we went into Capitol Studios
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and, on the very same basis as the Derek and Clive records,
0:17:27 > 0:17:33we did an adlib session which - I suppose about five hours of it -
0:17:33 > 0:17:35which I called the Dead Sea Tapes.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38The Dead Sea Scrolls had just been discovered
0:17:38 > 0:17:41and they are adlibbed things by people who knew Jesus.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44- TAPE:- As doctors, we think...
0:17:44 > 0:17:47- Yes, yes. - We think the whole thing...
0:17:47 > 0:17:49- Yes, yes.- Was...
0:17:49 > 0:17:51- PETER COUGHS - Excuse me.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55- PETER COUGHS - ..was a little unfair...- Yes, yes.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58- ..on the general practitioner. - Yes, yes.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02- To say the least, it was a little unorthodox.- Yes, yes, yes.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04- PETER COUGHS - Blast! I'm sorry.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07We were made to look absolute idiots.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11I mean, it's all very well, these gratuitous miracles,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14but it's all very well for the people who were cured, you see.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16- Yes, yes.- But it left the doctors
0:18:16 > 0:18:19with a considerable amount of scrambled eggs on their faces.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22- Yes, yes, yes.- You see, I went round, for instance,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25- to see Lazarus's mother...- Yes, yes.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27..and I explained to her, I said,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31- "Your son, madam, is absolutely incurable."- Yes, yes.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33And the next moment, this fellow was round,
0:18:33 > 0:18:38cured the boy in a flash and left me looking absolutely ridiculous.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42- Yes, yes.- I mean, I couldn't get another call for weeks, you see.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44- Yes, yes.- And very soon after that,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47I went down with an attack of the creeping habdabs,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49through getting nothing to eat...
0:18:49 > 0:18:53- PETER COUGHS - ..and, er, I...
0:18:53 > 0:18:55I tried to get hold of this fellow
0:18:55 > 0:19:00- and see if he could work one of his blasted miracles on me.- Yes, yes.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03- And, er, you know what he said to me?- Yes, yes.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08- He said, "Physician, heal thyself." - Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12I do wish you wouldn't keep on saying, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes."
0:19:12 > 0:19:18I'm sorry, it's an incurable disease I have.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Oh, I see. I'm sorry.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24- Yes.- Yes.- Yes.- Yes.- Yes.- Yes.- Yes.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26- PETER SNEEZES - Blast!
0:19:27 > 0:19:31For an agnostic and a sceptic, if not downright atheist,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Peter's bookshelves are surprisingly peppered
0:19:33 > 0:19:35with volumes on spirituality and religion,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38a subject which perplexed him throughout his life.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Religion is at the very core of his most successful film, Bedazzled,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45in which he plays an incarnation of the devil.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49What a dreary thing to do. I hope you're proud of yourself.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51It was pride that got me into this.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53I used to be an angel, you know,
0:19:53 > 0:19:54- up in heaven.- Oh, yeah.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57- You used to be God's favourite, didn't you?- That's right.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59"I love Lucifer", it was, in those days.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04With me in the studio is the devil himself, alias Peter Cook.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08- Evening, fans.- What sort of religious views do you have, if any?
0:20:08 > 0:20:12I have very muddled religious views. I was brought up Church of England,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16I went to a school where I went to a daily service in a surplice,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20and so I was fairly inundated with religion early on.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22And I'm very confused about it all.
0:20:22 > 0:20:28Um, how is it that on every count, in the 20th century,
0:20:28 > 0:20:30the devil is winning hands down?
0:20:30 > 0:20:32Is this just the weakness of the human race?
0:20:32 > 0:20:34And why are we created so ill-equipped
0:20:34 > 0:20:37to deal with the situation we're thrust into without being asked?
0:20:37 > 0:20:42And if there IS a God which I believe in or will believe in,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45he's a forgiving and understanding God
0:20:45 > 0:20:49and I shall be able to get away with what I do in this world.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Bedazzled in an hilarious retelling of the Faust myth,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59with the devilish Peter trying to tempt Dudley
0:20:59 > 0:21:03into selling his soul, while simultaneously playing
0:21:03 > 0:21:05pathetic and malicious pranks on humanity.
0:21:07 > 0:21:08THEY BOTH LAUGH
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Here, that's terrible.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15But, I mean, apart from the way he moves, what's God really like?
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- I mean, what colour is he?- He's all colours of the rainbow, many-hued.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21- But he IS English, isn't he? - Oh, yes, very upper-class.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Course his son had a lot of problems,
0:21:26 > 0:21:27having such a famous father.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Yeah, I always feel sorry for Jesus having his birthday
0:21:30 > 0:21:32on Christmas Day, you know, just one lot of presents.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39This interview, recorded on the set of Bedazzled,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42was only ever broadcast once, half a century ago,
0:21:42 > 0:21:43and only in the London area,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46so chances are you've never seen it before.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47For the filmmaker,
0:21:47 > 0:21:50heaven comes in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52For producer-director Stanley Donen,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55who is currently making his latest comedy, Bedazzled,
0:21:55 > 0:21:57in various parts of London,
0:21:57 > 0:22:02this is his idea of heaven - the gardens of Syon Park in Middlesex.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06As I said, these are the gardens and somewhere back there,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09for the purposes of the story, is God.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Well, now today, I've come to Stanley Donen's heaven
0:22:12 > 0:22:15to meet what must surely be the most unlikely visitor
0:22:15 > 0:22:18ever to come here and that is the devil himself.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Peter Cook, we've seen you playing the devil many times before
0:22:25 > 0:22:27on television and the cinema, but this, surely,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30is the first time you've ever PLAYED the devil, isn't it?
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Yes, I've been longing for the opportunity.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34My wife has always said that I AM the devil.
0:22:34 > 0:22:35She thinks I'm an emissary of the devil.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38At last I've got the opportunity to play myself. Very nice, too.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41- What's the devil doing in heaven? - Well, he always was in heaven.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Lucifer was God's favourite angel in the old days,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46sat around, adoring God.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48But after a while, he got fed up with it and wanted to be like God
0:22:48 > 0:22:52and was cast out, I thought rather harshly, for the sin of pride,
0:22:52 > 0:22:54which we all have, to a great extent - certainly I do.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57And now, after thousands and thousands of years of tempting,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59doing his job, making the world miserable,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02he's fed up with it and he wants to go back to heaven again
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and sit in the garden, have a nice time and praise the Lord again.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Who, specifically, do you tempt in this film?
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Oh, in this film, my main tempting activities
0:23:10 > 0:23:12are centred round Dudley Moore,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15who is not a difficult figure to tempt, as you can well imagine.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17Having already succumbed to every temptation
0:23:17 > 0:23:22in the history of mankind, he's well at home doing this.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25This sounds, to me, very much like the Faust theme.
0:23:25 > 0:23:26I'd have thought that by now,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30we'd had every conceivable variation on that particular theme.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34It's your 20th-century Faust we're doing. Well, I don't know.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37I think it's a fascinating theme. That's why it's been done so often.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Um, I've never seen it done funnily.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42They're all sort of rather serious things about scholars,
0:23:42 > 0:23:44you know, wishing to find the secret of life and so on.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47This is very much a comedy version.
0:23:47 > 0:23:48I don't think we've had a Faust theme
0:23:48 > 0:23:51with Raquel Welch in it before, playing Lust.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53I don't think we've had a Faust theme
0:23:53 > 0:23:55with a cast of a thousand nuns.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58And, in many ways, I think it's very different from any other.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00- Yes.- I certainly hope so. - I'd like to ask you about this
0:24:00 > 0:24:03because, in many of your TV sketches, heaven and, in fact, nuns,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05seem to feature pretty prominently.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08What is it about these two things that, you know,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10to you, make them good comedy material?
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Well, I'm hoping to get to heaven and find out as much about it.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16I think, um, religion is,
0:24:16 > 0:24:21for me, one of the most fascinating subjects. I explore it in...
0:24:21 > 0:24:26I'm not a very religious person but I'm very interested in it
0:24:26 > 0:24:30and I don't think it's ever been treated in a really funny way -
0:24:30 > 0:24:32not a disrespectful way, but just exploring the funny things
0:24:32 > 0:24:34that happen to people in a religious context...
0:24:34 > 0:24:37- PLANE FLIES OVERHEAD - ..such as this bleeding plane
0:24:37 > 0:24:39- going over now.- Yes. - Is that sent by the devil
0:24:39 > 0:24:42or is it part of God's plan to drown out the interview? Nobody knows.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49- Um, I think this sort of voice would be good, do you?- Yes.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53- God bless him.- What the bloody hell do we say at this point?
0:24:53 > 0:24:55- Um, improvise.- Improvise.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58- Improvise only is what you do. - Improvise.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Hello, this the Queen of England speaking.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04I'd like you all to go and see the new film Bedazzled,
0:25:04 > 0:25:06produced and directed by Stanley Donen,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09starring Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Raquel Welch as Lust.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Pete, that didn't sound very much like the Queen of England, you know.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15- I thought it was a very good imitation.- No, very poor.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Go and see Bedazzled, there's good subjects.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20Peter Cook and Dudley Moore can be blamed for everything else.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22- Including this commercial. - Oh, whoops.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28- PETER BLOWS HIS NOSE - Don't blow your nose on air.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32But Peter's projects didn't always meet with universal success,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35as this next tape we discovered in his desk drawer reminds us.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39- APPLAUSE - Thank you.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Thank you.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46In February, 1971, Peter briefly hosted a chat show
0:25:46 > 0:25:48for BBC television, entitled Where Do I Sit?
0:25:48 > 0:25:52It was anarchic and unpredictable and, while some viewers loved it,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55others hated it and BBC management soon became very nervous.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57APPLAUSE
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Thank you, ladies and gentlemen,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03and welcome to the most relaxed show on British television.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05After three editions, the show was axed
0:26:05 > 0:26:07and no tapes were thought to have survived,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10but we tracked down Peter's audio cassettes
0:26:10 > 0:26:12of some of the short-lived series.
0:26:12 > 0:26:13Here is the opening of the second show,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16with Peter happily reading out some of the no-nonsense abuse
0:26:16 > 0:26:18he'd received after the first show.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Last week, we did the first show and we had
0:26:21 > 0:26:25a record number of enquiries, as you could politely call it,
0:26:25 > 0:26:27to the duty officer of the BBC, including my own enquiry.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30I'd like to read a few of them.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34"I like his programmes, but not him. He is hopeless."
0:26:34 > 0:26:36LAUGHTER
0:26:36 > 0:26:39"This is the biggest load of organised crap I have ever seen.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41"Never mind my name."
0:26:41 > 0:26:43LAUGHTER
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Be in touch, never mind my name,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47because I never knew the crap was organised!
0:26:47 > 0:26:51And this is an especially good one. "I would love to get at him..."
0:26:51 > 0:26:55- Wahey!- "I would love to get at him. - LAUGHTER
0:26:55 > 0:26:57"It is so easy to mock and pick on people."
0:26:57 > 0:27:00We also found this from the first show -
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Peter's rendition of the Elvis Presley classic...
0:27:03 > 0:27:07- # Well, bless my soul, what's wrong with me? #- ..All Shook Up.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09# I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree
0:27:09 > 0:27:12# My friends say I'm actin' wild as a bug
0:27:12 > 0:27:15# I'm in love, I'm all shook up
0:27:15 > 0:27:17# Mm-hmm-hmm
0:27:17 > 0:27:18# Mmm
0:27:18 > 0:27:20# Yeah, yeah, yeah... #
0:27:20 > 0:27:25- You hosted a chat show once, many moons ago.- Yes, I did, yes.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29I was wondering if you got any public reaction to it at all.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Yes, the public reaction was that I should desist...
0:27:32 > 0:27:34LAUGHTER
0:27:34 > 0:27:36..from hosting a chat show.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41Um, one of the main problems I found, as an interviewer,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45was an inability to hear what the other person was saying.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49And if I did, no interest in it whatsoever either.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51This extract of him phoning a viewer live,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53who had complained about the show,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56suggests that it was simply years ahead of its time,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59with Peter's anarchic approach being far too dangerous and edgy
0:27:59 > 0:28:01for the BBC in the early 1970s.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04- You were watching last week, weren't you?- 'Yes.'
0:28:04 > 0:28:06And you disliked it very much.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08'Yeah, I thought you were a colossal bore.'
0:28:08 > 0:28:10- Yeah? - LAUGHTER
0:28:10 > 0:28:14- 'It's all right. I probably am myself.'- You probably are yourself?
0:28:14 > 0:28:17- 'Yeah, oh, definitely.' - It's nice to talk to you.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Somebody, in a letter to me the other week, said I was pissed.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21- You sound a bit gone yourself. - 'Yeah.'
0:28:21 > 0:28:23- All right.- 'You're right, I do.'
0:28:23 > 0:28:27- OK, bye-bye. Nice to talk to you. - 'Yeah, nice to talk to you.'
0:28:27 > 0:28:30- What a hypocrite! - LAUGHTER
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Nice to talk to me?! Why does he say it's nice to talk to me?
0:28:33 > 0:28:35- He hates me! - LAUGHTER
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Two weeks after it began,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Peter's ground-breaking and anarchic show was unceremoniously axed
0:28:40 > 0:28:43and was replaced in the schedules by...
0:28:43 > 0:28:46MUSIC: Theme to Parkinson
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Some say that Peter Cook's greatest creation is EL Wistey.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Some say it was Pete and Dud.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54But for a generation of comedy writers and performers,
0:28:54 > 0:28:56Derek and Clive was the equivalent of punk rock -
0:28:56 > 0:29:01iconoclastic, deliberately offensive and very funny.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05For those of you who are offended by very, very bad language,
0:29:05 > 0:29:07you may wish to press the mute button
0:29:07 > 0:29:10or leave the house for the next couple of minutes
0:29:10 > 0:29:11or sing aloud an improving hymn.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14I wrote to whatever the fucking name is of the head of the fucking BBC.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17- "Dear Cunt." - Yeah, that's right.- That's it, yeah.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19I put, "Cunt, London" - I knew that would find him.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21"Cunt, London. TV Centre."
0:29:21 > 0:29:23Not even "TV Centre". I don't have to put TV...
0:29:23 > 0:29:26"Cunt, London" and it reaches the Director General of the BBC,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29- you can be certain of that.- Yeah. - So, I said to him, "Dear Cunt..."
0:29:29 > 0:29:33- Yeah.- "Your fucking crew came round my fucking place last night
0:29:33 > 0:29:35"and tried to film me fucking masturbating
0:29:35 > 0:29:38"and I did it perfectly well the first take
0:29:38 > 0:29:40"and they said they'd got a fucking hair in the gate
0:29:40 > 0:29:42"and I'm paying 25 quid a fucking year
0:29:42 > 0:29:44"to have a fucking colour licence
0:29:44 > 0:29:46"and this is the fucking service I get?"
0:29:46 > 0:29:48And I said, "If we have any more Joyce Grenfell repeats,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50"I'll come round to the TV Centre..."
0:29:50 > 0:29:53- "Beat you to death with a horn!" - "Beat you to death with my horn!"
0:29:53 > 0:29:54I'll get my fucking horn out
0:29:54 > 0:29:56and beat the whole fucking TV Centre down.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00- I'll fucking raze it with my knob. - And what reply did I get?
0:30:04 > 0:30:06- Cunts.- Oh!
0:30:13 > 0:30:17- See?- So, I sent round, "Bear it in mind" - get the sarcasm of that.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20- Yeah, what cunts.- The subtle sarcasm of it. "Bear it in mind."
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Bear it up your arse, mate.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24One of the boxes we discovered
0:30:24 > 0:30:26contained another cassette of a home recording made by Peter,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28seemingly post Pete and Dud,
0:30:28 > 0:30:31and more like a prototype version of Derek and Clive,
0:30:31 > 0:30:33cranking up the bad language and markedly far beyond
0:30:33 > 0:30:37what was acceptable by British broadcasters in the early '70s.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39And even today, it's still pretty close to the bone.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Well, anyway, have you got anything in the pipeline
0:30:42 > 0:30:44as regards a job at all?
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Well, as I said, I've been down the labour exchange.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49There's nothing much good going. I've had one offer.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52- Yeah, what's that? - One fucking offer. Eating shit.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56How does that appeal to you?
0:30:56 > 0:31:01- Well, you know, I think, at a pinch, I'll take it.- Yeah?
0:31:01 > 0:31:04- At least it's regular. - Yeah, yeah, you're right there.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06CHUCKLING
0:31:06 > 0:31:10After years of Pete and Dud being acceptable family entertainment,
0:31:10 > 0:31:12they finally broke free of those restrictions,
0:31:12 > 0:31:15revelling in their own transgressions.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20Here is a never released extract from Derek and Clive.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22Oh, I had a terrible time during the war, you know.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24Hold on. Ah!
0:31:24 > 0:31:25You all right there?
0:31:25 > 0:31:28HE CHUCKLES
0:31:29 > 0:31:34- Oh, yeah.- I had a dreadful time during the war, you know.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39- Yeah?- Yeah, I was in, I was in espionage.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41- Espininage?- No, espionage.
0:31:41 > 0:31:46- Oh, espionage. - I was an undercover agent
0:31:46 > 0:31:49- for the British government. - DUDLEY BELCHES:- Oh, yeah.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54And I had to infiltrate behind the German lines
0:31:54 > 0:31:57- and get into Hitler's household. - DUDLEY CLEARS HIS THROAT
0:31:57 > 0:32:00Yeah, oh, yeah. I had to get into his arsehole - that was worse!
0:32:00 > 0:32:02- No, did...?- Yeah.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06No, cos that is amazing I never met you,
0:32:06 > 0:32:10- cos my job was to pose as his toothbrush, you see.- Oh, really?
0:32:10 > 0:32:14- I was Hitler's toothbrush. - You were Hitler's toothbrush?
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Yes, throughout the war, you know, every morning, every night,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21I used to be put inside his mouth and I sort of spied...
0:32:21 > 0:32:24After these were filmed and the records released,
0:32:24 > 0:32:26the Home Secretary himself received calls
0:32:26 > 0:32:28for the pair to be prosecuted for obscenity.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31The mighty combination of the West Yorkshire and Wolverhampton
0:32:31 > 0:32:33obscene publication police squads
0:32:33 > 0:32:35called for Peter and Dudley to be arrested.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37Oh, and the BBC banned it too.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Oh, and so did Mary Whitehouse, in her own sweet way.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Not too long after the dust had settled over Derek and Clive,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48Peter met the woman who would be his wife for the rest of his life.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51Lin told us about her own background before she met Peter.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57My dad was a professional gambler. Is that a good start?
0:32:57 > 0:32:59- It's a good start.- Wonderful!
0:32:59 > 0:33:01Better than most interviews!
0:33:01 > 0:33:03I've never heard of one of them.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05LAUGHTER
0:33:06 > 0:33:08I'd love to tell the story of how I met.
0:33:08 > 0:33:13I happened to be a guest one weekend at a country house, Stocks in Tring.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16At Stocks, there's a games room and late one evening,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20I was playing backgammon with one of the other guests,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22when Peter stumbled in...
0:33:23 > 0:33:29..very drunk and came straight to where I was playing backgammon,
0:33:29 > 0:33:31moved the pieces about,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34asking at the same time, "Who's winning?"
0:33:37 > 0:33:40I bought my first home in Hampstead in the '70s,
0:33:40 > 0:33:42about four years before I met Peter.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44I'm quite proud to say that that was my home,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47that nobody can think that I was after Peter for his money.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51And Peter was walking right past the entrance with an armful of books.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57This time he talked to me as though I was an old friend,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01invited me to see his house, which was close to mine,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03and when I went in, I had such a shock.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09I have never seen a house like his.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14It was...unbelievable.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18I went, "Oh, a terrible mess,"
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Er...
0:34:20 > 0:34:26And, er, I had such a shock because the kitchen sink was full,
0:34:26 > 0:34:30the sideboards were all covered with things,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34you could not get into the utility room
0:34:34 > 0:34:37and upstairs, there were plates on the floor,
0:34:37 > 0:34:40the books were all this way and that way
0:34:40 > 0:34:45and when he showed me the upstairs, the cupboard doors were open,
0:34:45 > 0:34:49the drawers were pulled out, there were clothes on the floor...
0:34:51 > 0:34:55And I just said to him, "If a burglar broke in,
0:34:55 > 0:34:57"he would think your house has already been done."
0:34:57 > 0:34:59INTERVIEWER CHUCKLES
0:34:59 > 0:35:01So...
0:35:01 > 0:35:05If he wanted a snack, he would just open a can of baked beans
0:35:05 > 0:35:08with mash that he made - instant mash.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12They tasted good. I'm eating that now. My daughter loves it too.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16Our friendship gradually developed into a relationship
0:35:16 > 0:35:20and, some years later, led to us getting married.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23I never asked him to divorce his wife,
0:35:23 > 0:35:25although I left him several times.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29It was his choice when he decided that he loved me enough
0:35:29 > 0:35:32and cared for me enough to want to be married.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36We always kept our own houses.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Sometimes we lived at Peter's house, sometimes in mine
0:35:39 > 0:35:40and that seemed to work for us,
0:35:40 > 0:35:42because we were friends for a year and a half
0:35:42 > 0:35:44before we were a relationship.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Previous biographies of Peter have characterised him
0:35:54 > 0:35:56as a tortured genius
0:35:56 > 0:35:58and the latter part of his life as a massive decline.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01It's a cliche we all like to hear about comedians,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03but the reality is, of course, more nuanced.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07True, Peter was sometimes a distant and selfish drunk.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11And out of the blue, I asked him, "Why do you drink so much?"
0:36:12 > 0:36:16And his answer was the last thing I expected.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18He just said, "Despair, really."
0:36:18 > 0:36:22But what's not known is that he had long periods off the booze,
0:36:22 > 0:36:26once up to seven months, and he attended the local AA in Hampstead.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28During these bouts of sobriety,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31he showed Lin his tender and romantic side,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34as clearly demonstrated by these hand-written notes,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36which he regularly left for her.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41He was very romantic and tender,
0:36:41 > 0:36:44different from the cynical and shocking person.
0:36:44 > 0:36:49He used to leave notes for me all around the house, like these ones.
0:36:51 > 0:36:57He drew a picture with a bubble, "I love you."
0:36:57 > 0:37:00And below it, "Still courting you after all these years.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04"Husband who feels so much better when you are home."
0:37:06 > 0:37:09"Your loving husband." And then lots of crosses.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15"Darling, I love you so much, sorry I'm so miserable."
0:37:16 > 0:37:20And the other one which also means a lot to me was...
0:37:21 > 0:37:24"When you smile, my heart leaps. Please don't ever leave me.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26"I couldn't bear it."
0:37:26 > 0:37:30And now he's left me, I'm finding it hard to bear as well.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33And for a seemingly cynical man,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37he was capable of making grand romantic gestures.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40I was woken up by a call from Peter,
0:37:40 > 0:37:42asking me to look out of the hotel room.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47And, to my amazement, when I opened the window and looked out,
0:37:47 > 0:37:49he had scribbled...
0:37:51 > 0:37:55.."PC loves LC" in huge letters on the sand,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58huge letters on the sand. I couldn't believe my eyes.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02Unimaginable that Peter could do such a thing.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05And of course, the rest of the day, all I had were comments
0:38:05 > 0:38:09from the wives about how romantic Peter was and...
0:38:11 > 0:38:13Nearly all the women were saying
0:38:13 > 0:38:15they wished their husband was like that,
0:38:15 > 0:38:20boldly expressing love for the wife in large letters on the sand.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27John Cleese was one of Peter's closest friends. Probably...
0:38:27 > 0:38:31John was probably the friend who loved Peter the most
0:38:31 > 0:38:33out of all of Peter's friends, including Dudley.
0:38:34 > 0:38:41And one year, John invited a group of people to his house...
0:38:43 > 0:38:45..and surprised everybody by saying
0:38:45 > 0:38:49that he was inviting 40 friends to join him on a trip down the Nile.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56BACKGROUND HUBBUB AND CHATTER
0:38:56 > 0:38:58This trip was called, by John Cleese,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01the Fish Called Wanda royalties party cruise,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04a 15-day journey down the Nile on the Royal Rhapsody,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07given, amazingly generously, all expenses paid,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09by Cleese to 40 of his closest friends,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12many from the world of comedy, including, as seen here,
0:39:12 > 0:39:16a 32-year-old Stephen Fry who, somewhat typically,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20chose Billy Bunter On The Nile, which he read in daily instalments.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22"Billy Bunter turned his big spectacles
0:39:22 > 0:39:25"on the gesticulating Moustafa with an alarmed blink."
0:39:25 > 0:39:29Interspersed with a Nile-inspired fashion show...
0:39:29 > 0:39:31- Peter Cook. - LAUGHTER
0:39:31 > 0:39:35This is Peter as the Invisible Sphinx...
0:39:36 > 0:39:38..followed by a mock BBC interview
0:39:38 > 0:39:41that could never have made it to PM.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44Excuse me, could I just have a few words for the benefit...?
0:39:44 > 0:39:47We're from the BBC and we just wondered if you would...
0:39:47 > 0:39:48LAUGHTER
0:39:51 > 0:39:55Could you just outline the events leading up to the present situation?
0:39:57 > 0:39:59LAUGHTER
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Further Billy Bunter readings by Stephen Fry...
0:40:02 > 0:40:06"Goading, mocking thief, I beat with a stick, yes..."
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Some no-nonsense belly dancing, or in this case beer-belly dancing.
0:40:10 > 0:40:11During the trip,
0:40:11 > 0:40:16Peter invented a new ball game, which he took very seriously.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19- CHEERING - No! 1 point.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23The game is a game of skill, strength,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26cunning and not, not decisions.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30It's a question of making the balls - las balones or los bollocos -
0:40:30 > 0:40:35los bollocos have to go flying between the aluminium hoops.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37Should they traverse the aluminium hoops successfully,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40without touching said hoops, 3 points the score.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42Are you playing, John?
0:40:42 > 0:40:46This is known as a strike, this is known as a nothing.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48I am also known as a nothing, hence...
0:40:48 > 0:40:50- IN AMERICAN ACCENT: - NBC sportscaster.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52This broadcast has been brought to you
0:40:52 > 0:40:55by the Pepsidon Pepsi Cola company,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58in association with the Dallas Memorial Fund.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02And a championship between the waiting staff
0:41:02 > 0:41:03and the celebrity guests.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07- Yes, yes, yes, yes!- No!
0:41:07 > 0:41:10More Billy Bunter readings by Stephen Fry...
0:41:10 > 0:41:11"Hassan gave a cough."
0:41:11 > 0:41:13HE CLEARS THROAT
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Later, Peter found time to have some fun and games
0:41:16 > 0:41:19with a loaded gun belonging to a security guard.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21This, of course, was back in the day
0:41:21 > 0:41:23when you could still joke about such things.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27- Is it loaded?- Yes, it IS loaded.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37And, for a bribe, Peter persuaded the security guard to attempt
0:41:37 > 0:41:40a half-hearted arrest on an unruffled John Cleese.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46Earlier, we heard an interview
0:41:46 > 0:41:49acclaiming that Peter had an obsession with nuns.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52In many of your TV sketches, heaven and, in fact, nuns
0:41:52 > 0:41:55seem to feature pretty prominently.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57We were unsure if that were true,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00but swayed when we explored the house.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03From the garden can be seen the quasi-ecclesiastical windows
0:42:03 > 0:42:05and when we went up to the rooftop,
0:42:05 > 0:42:09we discovered that his house directly overlooks a convent.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14Looking through the archive,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16it's clear that Peter missed no opportunity
0:42:16 > 0:42:20to stick Dudley into a wimple and a habit, and himself, come to that.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27LAUGHTER
0:42:30 > 0:42:33LAUGHTER
0:42:33 > 0:42:37Well, it all began in the 14th or 15th century.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40It had its origins there, you know, when St Beryl,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43who was the daughter of St Vitus, the well-known dancer...
0:42:43 > 0:42:45LAUGHTER
0:42:45 > 0:42:47I'm not aware that he's obsessed with nuns.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51- How can you ask me that question? - Only in a comedic way.- I don't know.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53- LAUGHTER - # Leap, leap, leap, leap,
0:42:53 > 0:42:54# Leap, leap
0:42:54 > 0:42:58- # Leap in the morning... # - LAUGHTER
0:42:58 > 0:43:02It could be that they inspired him, I don't know,
0:43:02 > 0:43:03but it's not me to say.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05Do you leap at all yourself, madam?
0:43:05 > 0:43:07Well, I love to leap, as indeed who doesn't?
0:43:07 > 0:43:09LAUGHTER
0:43:09 > 0:43:11When was that sketch done?
0:43:11 > 0:43:14He moved here in about 1970.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17So that was before he moved here.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Yeah, but he may have moved here because he was obsessed by nuns.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24LAUGHTER
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Peter was obsessed by sport throughout his life.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35He later codified the rules for that Nile trip ball game he invented,
0:43:35 > 0:43:40which he called los bollocos, into a very formal detailed document
0:43:40 > 0:43:43and on days when he didn't feel like walking to the golf course,
0:43:43 > 0:43:44he invented his own version,
0:43:44 > 0:43:47which he played outside his own front door,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50roping in bemused neighbours, friends and passers-by,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54and making use of any items in the street that came to hand.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57Once again, our mystery camera operator - possibly a neighbour -
0:43:57 > 0:44:00seemingly suffering from Meniere's disease,
0:44:00 > 0:44:02was instructed to capture the vital moments
0:44:02 > 0:44:04of this impromptu tournament.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06There's the par 3,
0:44:06 > 0:44:0818 Perrins Walk.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12Winds left to right and right to left.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14CAMERA OPERATOR LAUGHS
0:44:22 > 0:44:24I told you a 2-putter.
0:44:27 > 0:44:28He's mad!
0:44:30 > 0:44:33CAMERA OPERATOR LAUGHS
0:44:33 > 0:44:35- Did it go in?- Ooh... Wow!
0:44:43 > 0:44:45Peter's early brilliance and youthful good looks
0:44:45 > 0:44:48entranced even the most famous woman in the world
0:44:48 > 0:44:50in that fateful year of 1963.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54A note from Jackie Kennedy to Adlai Stevenson has been discovered,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56thanking him for her Beyond The Fringe tickets.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00In it, she praises the show, saying that it "ran the gamut - comedy,
0:45:00 > 0:45:02"drama and, for me, abandoned delight.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05"The gayest, happiest evening imaginable."
0:45:05 > 0:45:07The story wasn't known at the time,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10but Jackie Kennedy allegedly joined a long list of Peter's lovers
0:45:10 > 0:45:12during his twenties.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16When we weren't filming Lin, but running an audio recording,
0:45:16 > 0:45:20we asked her if she could confirm if Peter had had the rumoured affair.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23Our question reduced Lin to an uncharacteristic whisper.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31I know they met when Peter was performing in New York with Dudley.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35At one time when I went to listen to Alan Bennett at the Southbank,
0:45:35 > 0:45:39I was amazed, as probably was the rest of the audience,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42when Alan said he was sure there was something
0:45:42 > 0:45:44between Jackie Kennedy and Peter
0:45:44 > 0:45:47because he saw Jackie tenderly stroking Peter's hand
0:45:47 > 0:45:50at some event or other.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53And I remember being told that...
0:45:54 > 0:45:58..President had wanted them to go to the White House to perform,
0:45:58 > 0:46:02but the agent and the other three were very excited and happy
0:46:02 > 0:46:03and went and told Peter that
0:46:03 > 0:46:06"President wants us to go to the White House."
0:46:08 > 0:46:13To their dismay, what Peter said was, "I'm not an effing cabaret,"
0:46:13 > 0:46:16and he refused to go.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18So the President had to go to the theatre
0:46:18 > 0:46:20to see the show like everybody else.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26Apart from that, Mrs President, how did you enjoy the show?
0:46:30 > 0:46:34Throughout the decades, Peter's house was a regular drop-in
0:46:34 > 0:46:36for a wide range of celebrities,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39including the occasional Rolling Stone.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42I know he was close to the Stones, I mean,
0:46:42 > 0:46:46particularly Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards
0:46:46 > 0:46:49and I think they were very fond of him too,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52because I remember Keith telling me
0:46:52 > 0:46:55that when they were fed up or unhappy on tour,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58they would always play Derek and Clive.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00We're doing reactions now, very close.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03- Lovely map of Nigeria. - Isn't that good?
0:47:03 > 0:47:07- Some of it's very accurate, actually.- I never knew that river.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09Bizarrely, the Stones were particularly interested
0:47:09 > 0:47:12in cartography, in particular Peter's map of Nigeria,
0:47:12 > 0:47:14that's still on the wall to this day.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Use of my freeze-frame button even reveals Ian Dury,
0:47:23 > 0:47:25who was a huge Peter Cook fan.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34Send in the next auditioner, would you?
0:47:34 > 0:47:36As this programme is called The Undiscovered Peter Cook,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39we were reluctant to show Peter's most famous sketch,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42written when he was still a student, about a one-legged man
0:47:42 > 0:47:44auditioning for Tarzan, but here it is,
0:47:44 > 0:47:45though as you've never seen it before.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49HE SPEAKS IN HUNGARIAN
0:47:56 > 0:47:58HE SPEAKS IN HUNGARIAN
0:47:58 > 0:48:00LAUGHTER
0:48:00 > 0:48:03As you can see from this tape sent to Peter
0:48:03 > 0:48:05by a producer from Hungarian television
0:48:05 > 0:48:08the actor wearing the wooden leg, seemingly taken from a table,
0:48:08 > 0:48:10has missed the entire point of the sketch.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14So, sadly, the famous line, "I've nothing against your right leg.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17"Unfortunately, neither have you," makes no sense whatsoever.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19But with typical generosity,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21Peter encouraged his Hungarian proteges
0:48:21 > 0:48:23and was personally presented with a video of the show,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25autographed by the entire cast,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28and he even took the producer out for lunch in London.
0:48:33 > 0:48:38The comedian and satirist Peter Cook has died in hospital. He was 57.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49Peter died early in the morning and when I left the hospital...
0:48:50 > 0:48:52..the whole world seemed very strange.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55I got a cab and I came home...
0:48:58 > 0:49:05..pulled all the blinds down at his house and went back to my own home.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11I was in such a state of shock. I probably was like a zombie.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18You know, after Peter died, I just did not know what to do,
0:49:18 > 0:49:24how to arrange a funeral or memorial services or anything.
0:49:26 > 0:49:27A few months after his death,
0:49:27 > 0:49:30Lin Cook arranged a memorial service for Peter
0:49:30 > 0:49:32at his local church in Hampstead.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34The BBC suggested a somewhat grander venue.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37I did speak to the person - I forget his name - at the BBC,
0:49:37 > 0:49:42who told me Peter could have the memorial service
0:49:42 > 0:49:45at Westminster Abbey, and I said, "No, no, no,"
0:49:45 > 0:49:47because that wouldn't be Peter,
0:49:47 > 0:49:52because Hampstead was like his beloved territory.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56So it was, that on May 1, 1995,
0:49:56 > 0:49:59mostly everyone involved in British comedy at the time
0:49:59 > 0:50:01turned up to show their respects.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03And seemingly, everyone from British sport too.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05Oh, and Dave Allen.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11Lin insisted that only her stills photographer could cover the events
0:50:11 > 0:50:13from inside the church but, thankfully for us,
0:50:13 > 0:50:18the photographer failed to follow orders and so it is that we have
0:50:18 > 0:50:21a somewhat nervously shot video of the memorial.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23To my dismay and annoyance,
0:50:23 > 0:50:28they later told me that they had also made a video of the guests,
0:50:28 > 0:50:33so for years, I've kept both the recording and the video
0:50:33 > 0:50:38put away somewhere in the house and this video has never been seen ever.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40I don't think I've ever seen it myself too.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43There were moving tributes from Eleanor Bron,
0:50:43 > 0:50:47Richard Ingrams, John Cleese and, of course, Dudley.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50Dudley was, of course, a central figure
0:50:50 > 0:50:52and he told some very funny stories about Peter.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55"I met my wife during the war.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00"She blew in through the window on a piece of shrapnel and became..."
0:51:00 > 0:51:03LAUGHTER
0:51:08 > 0:51:10"..became buried in the sofa."
0:51:10 > 0:51:13LAUGHTER
0:51:13 > 0:51:15"One thing led to my mother..."
0:51:15 > 0:51:19LAUGHTER
0:51:20 > 0:51:22"..and we were married within the hour."
0:51:22 > 0:51:26LAUGHTER
0:51:26 > 0:51:29I laughed for a week when he spontaneously came out with that.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Peter Cook was tone deaf.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35LAUGHTER
0:51:35 > 0:51:39He didn't display an overt sympathy for things musical,
0:51:39 > 0:51:41except for Elvis Presley...
0:51:43 > 0:51:47..he might have mentioned, whom he would imitate at the drop of a hat.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51I, therefore, agonised over what to play
0:51:51 > 0:51:54until the mists were cleared by one of my confreres
0:51:54 > 0:51:58who, during a phone call, mentioned the fact that I had to call it.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00It seems as appropriate as anything,
0:52:00 > 0:52:03since the title comes from one of Peter's concepts -
0:52:03 > 0:52:08that of a blind man reading on the TV from Braille.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11LAUGHTER
0:52:12 > 0:52:17"Good evening" - one of his favourite utterances -
0:52:17 > 0:52:19"I am blond."
0:52:19 > 0:52:22LAUGHTER
0:52:24 > 0:52:27"And I'm reading to you through the miracle of broil."
0:52:27 > 0:52:30LAUGHTER
0:52:33 > 0:52:35"I'm sorry, I'll feel that again."
0:52:35 > 0:52:38LAUGHTER
0:52:39 > 0:52:40Three Blond Mice.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Dudley didn't yet know it, but he was already in the early stages
0:52:43 > 0:52:45of the progressive supranuclear palsy
0:52:45 > 0:52:47that would eventually kill him.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51DUDLEY PLAYS PIANO
0:53:08 > 0:53:11I think this might be the last photograph
0:53:11 > 0:53:14that was ever taken of Peter and Dudley together.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21I took it. So much that's in the press is wrong.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25People make assumptions about Peter, about me,
0:53:25 > 0:53:30and Dudley too, of course, but they do not know us at all.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34And it's totally untrue that Peter didn't get on.
0:53:34 > 0:53:36They were good friends.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38They always had a special friendship,
0:53:38 > 0:53:41so they were close towards the end and they often met up.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44He was always in touch with Peter.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Even Peter's memorial service was not free from religious controversy,
0:53:53 > 0:53:55Lin wanted a choir from Radley
0:53:55 > 0:53:58to sing Peter's favourite Elvis Presley hit, Love Me Tender,
0:53:58 > 0:54:01but the vicar was having none of it.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03I went to see the local vicar.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06After I'd found out about how a memorial service should be
0:54:06 > 0:54:10and what's what, and seen a couple of order of service,
0:54:10 > 0:54:12I then had some idea.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15So, off I went to the vicar and said,
0:54:15 > 0:54:17"I would like the Radley boys choir
0:54:17 > 0:54:20"to sing at Peter's memorial service
0:54:20 > 0:54:24"and it's an Elvis song, Love Me tender."
0:54:24 > 0:54:28Vicar said, "No, no, no, couldn't have that,
0:54:28 > 0:54:30"and it has to be the church choir."
0:54:30 > 0:54:34To which I promptly said, "Well, if I can't have that,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37"I'll have to hold the memorial service elsewhere,
0:54:37 > 0:54:39"because I've set my heart on that."
0:54:39 > 0:54:43And the result? Lin Cook 1, the Church of England 0.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47So, he then agreed.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51# ..Belong, and we'll never...
0:54:51 > 0:54:55And the boys sang it so beautifully.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57# Love me tender
0:54:57 > 0:55:00# Love me true
0:55:00 > 0:55:06# All my dreams fulfilled...#
0:55:08 > 0:55:11CHURCH ORGAN MUSIC
0:55:14 > 0:55:17After the service, one of Peter's oldest friends, David Frost,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20explained how important Lin had been to Peter's life
0:55:20 > 0:55:23and further confirmed that there was never any enmity
0:55:23 > 0:55:24between the two men.
0:55:24 > 0:55:29- Who are we talking for?- This is for Lin.- This is for Lin?- Yeah.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35Lin, that was a wonderful service you organised.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39You were so wonderful for Peter
0:55:39 > 0:55:43and we were celebrating today, weren't we, as well as grieving?
0:55:43 > 0:55:47Celebrating... People talk about "His life's work" about people
0:55:47 > 0:55:51and in Peter's case, it was his life's work and his life's play too,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54cos of that laughter he brought to us all and...
0:55:55 > 0:55:56He was the first time in my life
0:55:56 > 0:55:59that I was conscious of meeting a genius. That was up at Cambridge.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01And he stayed that way - of course he did.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05Once you're a genius, always a genius. So original.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07We'll miss his originality and...
0:56:08 > 0:56:11..you'll miss so much more, of course,
0:56:11 > 0:56:15but join us in the celebrations as well, if you can,
0:56:15 > 0:56:19because all the people here today love him
0:56:19 > 0:56:23and they love you and they love what you did for him.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30One other thing, David. A last word to Peter, you know.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35A last thing you would say to Peter.
0:56:36 > 0:56:41- That's looking at me.- What would be my last words to Peter?
0:56:41 > 0:56:45Well, I guess, thank you for saving me from drowning.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49- Why do you say that?- It's...
0:56:49 > 0:56:53Well, it was part of the service today and it really did happen.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55And, of course, you're grateful.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57Grateful to him for a lot else too.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00And Dame Edna turned up in drag.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05Er, I've got lots of memories of Peter.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08He was such a help to me in my early days
0:57:08 > 0:57:14and though I saw little of him in the last years,
0:57:14 > 0:57:17we always met as old friends.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20And, um, his...
0:57:20 > 0:57:24It's quite impossible for me to think of him as dead
0:57:24 > 0:57:27because he's a perpetual spirit.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35# Now's the time to say goodbye
0:57:40 > 0:57:42# Now's the time to yield a sigh
0:57:44 > 0:57:47# Now's the time to wend our wa-a-a-y
0:57:48 > 0:57:50# Until we meet again
0:57:53 > 0:57:55# Some sunny day
0:57:59 > 0:58:02# Goodbye, goodbye... #
0:58:02 > 0:58:04I do not think anyone can understand
0:58:04 > 0:58:08what made Peter the comedy genius that he was.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12For me, he was someone special, who I got to understand and love.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16He turned my life upside down when he came into it...
0:58:18 > 0:58:20..shattered it when he left.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27I still miss his energy, his warmth, his company and his love.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30# We're leaving you with goodbye
0:58:30 > 0:58:32# Goodbye
0:58:32 > 0:58:37# We wish you all goodbye. #