0:00:02 > 0:00:03BBC Four Collections -
0:00:03 > 0:00:06specially chosen programmes from the BBC Archive.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07For this Collection,
0:00:07 > 0:00:08Sir Michael Parkinson
0:00:08 > 0:00:10has selected BBC interviews
0:00:10 > 0:00:12with influential figures
0:00:12 > 0:00:13of the 20th century.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15More programmes on this theme
0:00:15 > 0:00:16and other BBC Four Collections
0:00:16 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25MUSIC: "Wogan Theme"
0:00:41 > 0:00:43APPLAUSE
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Heaven's benison on you for joining us this Saturday e'en.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02I'm going to make it worth your while, but I say that every week.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07My first guest, when a lad, he used to say to his peers,
0:01:07 > 0:01:12"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a star. I'm gonna star at the Palladium."
0:01:12 > 0:01:18And they'd say, "But you can't dance, sing, play a musical instrument,
0:01:18 > 0:01:20"you have no talent whatsoever!"
0:01:20 > 0:01:25He did become a star and he did do it at the Palladium.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27And he still can't dance, sing...
0:01:28 > 0:01:31..act, play a piano.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35What is the secret of the boy? Larry Grayson!
0:01:35 > 0:01:37APPLAUSE
0:01:40 > 0:01:42COMMENTS DROWNED OUT BY APPLAUSE
0:01:47 > 0:01:50- It's always a pleasure to see you. - And to see you, Terry.
0:01:50 > 0:01:51It's a joy for me,
0:01:51 > 0:01:55cos I'm not stuck in a box up there somewhere, with five other people.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57We never get to talk like this, do we?
0:01:57 > 0:01:58When I do Blankety Blank with you,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00I'm up there with Beryl Reid or somebody,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02and tonight, I can talk to you. What a joy it is.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Normally I have to share you with others. And, of course,
0:02:05 > 0:02:06I don't like doing that.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08No, ain't it the truth. LAUGHTER
0:02:08 > 0:02:11- You're looking ever so well. - Thank you.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12I could return the compliment.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14- Pardon? - Is it the Torquay air?
0:02:14 > 0:02:16I think it must be, yes. I have moved to glorious Devon.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20And I love it. I call it the Arthur Marshall country.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24But, Torquay, where you live now - it's rather hilly.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27How do you and Arthur negotiate the hills?
0:02:27 > 0:02:30- Well, you see, I've a tandem. - Ah!
0:02:30 > 0:02:33And I... LAUGHTER
0:02:33 > 0:02:35Why do you always bring such a common audience?
0:02:35 > 0:02:38- They're not with me! - Aren't they with you?
0:02:38 > 0:02:39- No. - Oh!
0:02:39 > 0:02:42Well, anyway, I've got this friend and we go out on this tandem.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45- So I manage the hills like that. - What about Arthur?
0:02:45 > 0:02:46- Arthur? - The dog.
0:02:46 > 0:02:47- My little dog? - Yeah.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51I've a basket at the front, like in The Wizard Of Oz.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Miss Gulch. And he sits in the front, you know, and we ride about.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Nobody knows, because I wear a fur hat.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01They think I'm Coral Browne. LAUGHTER
0:03:01 > 0:03:05- You love all those Coral Brownes... - Oh, yes! I love...
0:03:05 > 0:03:07Did you see that marvellous, marvellous thing she did?
0:03:07 > 0:03:10What was it called? An Englishman Abroad.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12It was a marvellous thing on television.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14The BBC did it so well, with Alan Bates.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16And I wear a fur hat the same.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18I went out the next morning, shopping, in Wellswood -
0:03:18 > 0:03:21it's where I go shopping. All the best people go to Wellswood.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23And an old lady, she'd very bad eyesight.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26She said, "Oh, look, there's Coral Browne!"
0:03:27 > 0:03:29But, in fact, in your early day...
0:03:29 > 0:03:31Well, luckily you weren't taken for Vincent Price.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33LAUGHTER No, you were.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37In your early days...you used to impersonate film stars, didn't you?
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Oh, yes, that was when I was at school.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43I used to impersonate Katharine Hepburn and people like that,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Bette Davis. I did it all the time.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And I used to get the cane more often than not for doing this.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51I wasn't interested in ANYTHING at school.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54All I wanted to do was for half past four to come around
0:03:54 > 0:03:58so I could get out and get off to the pictures, which I loved.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59- Do you still do... - No.
0:03:59 > 0:04:00- ..the female stars?
0:04:00 > 0:04:02Oh, yes, of course!
0:04:02 > 0:04:06But, you see, I loved the, er, the other channel...
0:04:06 > 0:04:07Daren't mention it.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09But the other channel that shows all the old movies.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12- What? BBC Two? - Er, no. The other one. I love...
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Because they have all the old films on, you know,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Smiling Through and The House Of Rothschild - George Arliss -
0:04:18 > 0:04:19and things like that
0:04:19 > 0:04:22which I loved. Don't keep laughing at me, Terry! I'm serious.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25It's those wonderful names - George Arliss...
0:04:25 > 0:04:27Mr George Arliss, if you don't mind.
0:04:27 > 0:04:28He was always billed as Mr George Arliss.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32And all those marvellous films. I remember them all very well.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Do you know, Terry, I could go into a cinema when I was a kid
0:04:36 > 0:04:39and you know they open the door and tear your ticket?
0:04:39 > 0:04:41And I could look at the screen and tell you who made the picture,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43whether it was Warner Bros, Metro Goldwyn Mayer,
0:04:43 > 0:04:4520th Century Fox,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Paramount, Monogram, GB - Gaumont British - I could tell you.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50How?
0:04:50 > 0:04:52By just the look, just the film. It's funny.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54And I could tell also with the music.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56I could tell Max Steiner's music from Warner Bros pictures.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59And Metro Goldwyn Mayer. I could tell right away.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Was it the female stars that particularly appealed to you?
0:05:01 > 0:05:02Oh, of course it was, yes.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05I mean, look at the Joan Crawford coat I'm wearing now.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09She always had shoulders like this, Joan Crawford. Don't stare.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16When you were in America last, you were confused with Myrna Loy.
0:05:16 > 0:05:17Oh, yeah, well, that's a lovely story
0:05:17 > 0:05:19because Jack Klugman, who's a great mate of mine,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22you know, Quincy, all those lovely things he does.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25And he was coming to take me out to his place at Malibu.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30So I was in the hotel and the door...knocked my door.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33And I went to the door and this bellboy's stood there, you see,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36with this basket of fruit and the ribbons and everything.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40And I said, "Do come in. Come in." I was in one of me moods.
0:05:40 > 0:05:41Well, he came in... LAUGHTER
0:05:41 > 0:05:43..and I said, "Put it down there."
0:05:43 > 0:05:45And I said, "Don't go, wait a minute."
0:05:45 > 0:05:47I was acting, you know. So I took...
0:05:47 > 0:05:48- It sounds very like you. - Does it really?
0:05:48 > 0:05:49You know me so well.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53And I got the card, you see, and I said to this boy,
0:05:53 > 0:05:59"Isn't this wonderful? All this and my picture hasn't been released yet."
0:05:59 > 0:06:01And he went...
0:06:03 > 0:06:05And I looked at him and I said, "You don't know me, do you?"
0:06:06 > 0:06:10He said, "No, sir." I said, "My name's Myrna Loy."
0:06:12 > 0:06:14And he just looked. I said, "You may go now."
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Of course, when I told Jack Klugman about this,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20he was in fits. And I have a picture in my home
0:06:20 > 0:06:23and it says on it, "To Larry, all my love, always.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26"To me, you'll always be Myrna Loy. Jack."
0:06:26 > 0:06:29That's the nicest thing he could've said to you.
0:06:29 > 0:06:30Well, of course, he could. Of course.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I went with him to tape the Vidal Sassoon show over there.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35And he's coming over very soon.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37I'm going to his birthday party. Have you been invited?
0:06:37 > 0:06:40- No. I'm asked nowhere. - Pardon? Haven't you been
0:06:40 > 0:06:42- invited to Vidal's party? - No. Vid.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Well, the BBC are doing it, it's being televised. Aren't you going?
0:06:45 > 0:06:46- No. - Fancy.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Well, you're everywhere else, aren't you?
0:06:51 > 0:06:53LAUGHTER
0:06:53 > 0:06:55APPLAUSE
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Would you like to have been a Hollywood star?
0:07:02 > 0:07:03Um...
0:07:03 > 0:07:06I mean, apart from being Myrna Loy,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09would you like to have been a Hollywood film star?
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Oh, in the old days, Terry, yes, of course I would.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Not now. I don't know.
0:07:13 > 0:07:14I suppose the films are very good today,
0:07:14 > 0:07:15but they're not like they used to be.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17But they are to other people growing up and everything.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19But, to me, I love the old movies. You see,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23I can't bear all this getting into bed with everybody. And, er...
0:07:23 > 0:07:25But you don't have to get into bed with EVERYBODY.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27No, but it frightens my dog. I mean...
0:07:27 > 0:07:30You see, when you have a television,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32it starts, you see, and they're almost in bed together,
0:07:32 > 0:07:33you know, and it's awful.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Um, er, and I don't... I'm a bit, um...
0:07:37 > 0:07:40- I'm very broad-minded. - You're not!
0:07:40 > 0:07:41Yes, I am!
0:07:41 > 0:07:44But I don't like things like that.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46- Perhaps it's cos I'm getting older. - Oh, nonsense!
0:07:46 > 0:07:49- I'm in the doctor's... No, listen! - No, no!
0:07:49 > 0:07:50- The doctor said to me... - Well, perhaps you're right.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52No, listen, the doctor...
0:07:52 > 0:07:54the doctor said to me, he said, "Larry," he said,
0:07:54 > 0:07:56"Laz..." - he calls me Laz.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58He said, "Laz..."
0:07:58 > 0:08:00He said...
0:08:00 > 0:08:02"When you're..." Listen!
0:08:03 > 0:08:07He said, "When you're 39, you'll find that you'll change."
0:08:08 > 0:08:10And I have. And, er...
0:08:10 > 0:08:13That's it, you see. And, of course, now I notice -
0:08:13 > 0:08:15I mean, I hate to mention my age to anyone.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17It's a secret, you see, like Mary Astor.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20And I find that I get this throbbing in the morning.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26And my ankle swells, you know, and I get...
0:08:26 > 0:08:28But I won't give in,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31you know, I, er...because I don't feel my age, you know.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34I know you do, because... LAUGHTER
0:08:34 > 0:08:37..I hear you in the morning on the radio and sometimes I feel for you.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40LAUGHTER But I'm not there.
0:08:40 > 0:08:41LAUGHTER
0:08:41 > 0:08:43You are there for me.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45LAUGHTER Look...
0:08:45 > 0:08:46What?
0:08:46 > 0:08:49What has this got to do with your dog throwing up
0:08:49 > 0:08:51whenever there is sex on the television?
0:08:52 > 0:08:54I don't know. I can't think what made me say that.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57You see, I wander a little bit now. Have you noticed?
0:08:57 > 0:08:59I do wander a little bit.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02You're very young to be wandering, because you're just 39, aren't you?
0:09:02 > 0:09:04That's the nicest thing you've said to me, Terry.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07That's why I always come on your shows, cos you say the nicest things
0:09:07 > 0:09:11and you have such a lovely smile as well...I was told to say.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15I'm sorry you're leaving Blankety Blank and all that.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17I'm ever so sorry about it, you know.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21Well, I think I've probably peaked now, Larry. It's downhill now.
0:09:21 > 0:09:22- Ooh, no, not you. - Oh, yes.
0:09:22 > 0:09:23- Oh, no! - Oh, yes!
0:09:23 > 0:09:25No, you'll go on till you're 90.
0:09:25 > 0:09:26I think.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28But I don't know.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Did I tell you that lovely story the other week?
0:09:32 > 0:09:33What my landlady said the other week.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35She said about going to the moon and all carryings on.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37She said, "I can't understand it."
0:09:37 > 0:09:41She said, "We're living now..." she said, "..in the 20th Century Fox."
0:09:41 > 0:09:44She said... LAUGHTER
0:09:44 > 0:09:47She didn't know. She thinks it's the 20th Century Fox we're living in.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49When you went to Hollywood, was it a disappointment for you
0:09:49 > 0:09:52or was it as you expected it to be, all glamour and excitement?
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Well, of course, all the great ones have gone, but, no, I loved it.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58I went to the Chinese Theatre, put my hands in those things, you know,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00where Nelson Eddy and Eleanor Powell...
0:10:00 > 0:10:02- He had small hands, Nelson Eddy. - ..Judy Garland.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04- Who? - Nelson Eddy.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06How do you know? LAUGHTER
0:10:06 > 0:10:08- What?! - He was known for his small hands.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Who told you that?! LAUGHTER
0:10:11 > 0:10:12Jeanette MacDonald.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15He was a very big mate. He had very big hands, did Nelson Eddy.
0:10:15 > 0:10:16Had he?
0:10:16 > 0:10:17Yes.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19It was Jeanette MacDonald had the small hands?
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Who told you?!
0:10:22 > 0:10:25I don't know where you get your information from.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29I'm... I'm riddled in Hollywood. What's he doing there?
0:10:29 > 0:10:31I'm riddled in Hollywood and all that.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33Nelson Eddy never had small hands.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36I'm surprised that you'd say a thing like that.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39I don't think he had small hands. LAUGHTER
0:10:39 > 0:10:42So that's what you did in Hollywood?! Just put your hands in the cement?
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Oh, no, no, no. No, I went everywhere, I loved it all.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49It was... It was super. I mean, to be there,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51to me - of course it's all gone -
0:10:51 > 0:10:53but to be there and walk down the streets...
0:10:53 > 0:10:56I suppose a man of your age, you see, that's what it'd be.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59You remember all the old silent movies.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02- Of course I do! - The black and white movies...
0:11:02 > 0:11:04- Yes. - ..that we don't. Do we?
0:11:04 > 0:11:06AUDIENCE: No.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09I remember, um... LAUGHTER
0:11:09 > 0:11:12I saw Trader Horn, the original,
0:11:12 > 0:11:14and Jekyll And Hyde.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17You see, I loved...I loved the movies. I loved the films,
0:11:17 > 0:11:18right from when I was a child.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22And the wonderful thing was when I used to go to the cinema, years ago,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26and see people like Anna Neagle in Nell Gwyn and Peg Of Old Drury.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30And Evelyn Laye with Ramon Novarro in The Night Is Young,
0:11:30 > 0:11:31things like that.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Well, you see, I used to sit there and look at the screen,
0:11:34 > 0:11:35thinking, "Oh, how marvellous."
0:11:35 > 0:11:38I'm still stage-struck and film-struck just the same.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40Is that not just in retrospect, as you look back on it?
0:11:40 > 0:11:41There must've been times,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43during the hard graft, when you thought,
0:11:43 > 0:11:44- "Why am I doing this?" - No.
0:11:44 > 0:11:45"I'm not getting anywhere."
0:11:45 > 0:11:47No. No, I didn't, honestly.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49I didn't. I never envied the stars at the top,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52because if the stars weren't up there, I wouldn't have been working.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54I was only that big on the bill.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56But I never... I never, you know, I never bothered about it, really.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00I used to think I'd be a star one day, but, as I got older,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03I thought, "Well, it's too late for me now. I won't be now."
0:12:03 > 0:12:05Why did it take you so long, do you think?
0:12:05 > 0:12:07I don't know.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09I mean, you must've shown the talent.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12People must've seen that you had this talent.
0:12:12 > 0:12:13People must've said, "You're gonna be a star."
0:12:13 > 0:12:15Well, only one person did, actually.
0:12:15 > 0:12:16I was at Chiswick Empire
0:12:16 > 0:12:19and I was on the bill with Dorothy Squires and she watched me one night.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21And when I finished my act, as I walked off,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24she said to me, "You're a very funny man. Why aren't you a star?"
0:12:24 > 0:12:27I said, "Well, I keep telling them, Miss Squires, but nobody listens."
0:12:27 > 0:12:28And she laughed.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32And when I did my first television show for Saturday Variety,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34she was topping the bill.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36And, as I walked...she cried and she put her arms round me.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39She said, "I told you years ago you'd make it."
0:12:39 > 0:12:41I'm writing a book at the moment, you know, my life story.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43I'm doing it right now.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Are you going to cut out all the unsavoury bits?
0:12:45 > 0:12:47No, you're in it. LAUGHTER
0:12:47 > 0:12:49APPLAUSE
0:12:55 > 0:12:57I'm a toucher as well, you know.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01I asked Matthew Kelly this in a previous programme...
0:13:01 > 0:13:02Who's that?
0:13:04 > 0:13:06- He's one of the newer fellows. - Oh, I see.
0:13:06 > 0:13:07- You wouldn't know him. - No, I don't.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09And...um... he tends to be
0:13:09 > 0:13:11- a bit like that sometimes. - Oh, does he?
0:13:11 > 0:13:13What a shame. He'll grow out of it.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16LAUGHTER Let's hope so.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19But I was asking him, and I wonder, can you answer?
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Why do you think a British audience
0:13:21 > 0:13:22reacts so well to
0:13:22 > 0:13:24- what's known as "camp"? - Yes.
0:13:24 > 0:13:25To that kind of... The limp wrist...
0:13:25 > 0:13:28Well, of course, the audiences are camp that come and see us.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30You see... LAUGHTER
0:13:30 > 0:13:33You see, it's very funny.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35There's that lovely story about two ladies sitting on a bench in a park
0:13:35 > 0:13:38and one lady said, "They say he's a camp comic."
0:13:38 > 0:13:41She went, "Well, I've seen him at Butlin's twice."
0:13:41 > 0:13:44You know, it's the... You can't define it.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Years and years ago, they had those marvellous revues in London
0:13:47 > 0:13:49with Hermione Gingold and Baddeley and Henry Kendall,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51Douglas Byng, wonderful Douglas Byng.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54And it was all that, um... It was all West End, you see.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59All very camp and everything. And I took it out to...to the masses.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01- Yes. - You know, they used to laugh at me.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03"Ooh, you must go and see Larry Grayson at the theatre."
0:14:03 > 0:14:04Well, you say that, they used to say,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06"Go and see that chap at the theatre
0:14:06 > 0:14:07"with the chair. He says, 'Shut that door.'
0:14:07 > 0:14:10"And he talks about aches and pains and his legs swelling."
0:14:10 > 0:14:11But you've played some very tough spots...
0:14:11 > 0:14:13- Very. - ..in that kind of...
0:14:13 > 0:14:16How does a sort of working, tough, say,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18a stevedore audience, a docker audience, react to that?
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Well, they've always been marvellous to me, Terry.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24They say, "All right, Larry, great. My mother loves you. All right."
0:14:24 > 0:14:28They laugh, you see. They go, "Oh, Larry, what a gay day," and all that.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30And it's done like... It's done for fun.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33I don't offend anybody.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38I don't... I hope not. Because I'm me, I say the things I feel.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Cos I'm a very loving person, as you know.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44I mean... LAUGHTER
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Because, you see, the...
0:14:46 > 0:14:48LAUGHTER CONTINUES
0:14:49 > 0:14:51It takes your breath away sometimes, but...
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Where was I? Oh, yes, I mean, it's, er...
0:14:56 > 0:14:57It's me.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00It's in here. You have to have warmth
0:15:00 > 0:15:01and be sincere in what you're doing, you see.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05And I believe...when I say I've got to lie down, I've gone all limp,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07I do go limp.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09- You feel like... - Pardon? You what?
0:15:09 > 0:15:11- I said you feel like lying down? - I do.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13Yes, sometimes, I do.
0:15:13 > 0:15:14As I say, I do - I go like that.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16And, er, you know...
0:15:16 > 0:15:18being 39.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20What has...?
0:15:22 > 0:15:23Why what?
0:15:23 > 0:15:25What has life to hold for you now?
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Well, I mean, I love...I love the people of audiences.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31That's why I loved doing The Generation Game,
0:15:31 > 0:15:32cos I met people all the time,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34like you do. I mean, you love people.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36- I don't. - Don't you?
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Oh, it's true then(!) Anyway,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41all this... I like meeting people.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44I love travelling, I love seeing people.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47I've always done it. I think...
0:15:47 > 0:15:50You're like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, aren't you?
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Oh, yes.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54I didn't know you'd remember her!
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Anne of...Green Gables.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Yes. Anne Shirley played the part. She was wonderful.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Fay Bainter in White Banners.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06You see, if I didn't know you better,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09I'd say that that was all artificial, but it isn't,
0:16:09 > 0:16:11because that is the kind of person you are.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14I'm delighted you could come and join me.
0:16:14 > 0:16:15Thank you, Terry.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17APPLAUSE
0:16:24 > 0:16:25Thank you, Larry.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29And, now, for a much-needed burst of culture in the programme.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31"High time, too!" you cry.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36So, let's meet, for the first time, on Wogan, a prima ballerina -
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Lesley Collier.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40APPLAUSE
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Lesley, Larry Grayson is a bit like me.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56We're rarely without pain.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58- Indeed... - Oh!
0:16:58 > 0:17:00That's true of ballet dancers as well, isn't it?
0:17:00 > 0:17:02It's a continuous ache.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04It's always an ache, yes.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06You've been in some pain yourself lately?
0:17:06 > 0:17:08Oh, I've had a little problem with a foot.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10What is it about the ballet that -
0:17:10 > 0:17:12well, apart from the prancing about -
0:17:12 > 0:17:15that causes so much pain and aches? After all,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17you're terrifically fit, all of you.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Yes, we are fit.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24But, unfortunately, when we get under pressure and dance a lot,
0:17:24 > 0:17:28bad habits creep in, which injure the body, before you realise it.
0:17:28 > 0:17:29Yeah?
0:17:29 > 0:17:35I'm afraid most injuries are caused by bad dancing, one way or another.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38What did you have wrong with you? What have you had wrong with you?
0:17:38 > 0:17:40I had a tendonitis, which is inflamed tendons.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42And how long would you have to rest for that,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44before you could leap onto the barre again?
0:17:44 > 0:17:47I leapt onto the barre this morning.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49I actually leapt into my pointe shoes this morning
0:17:49 > 0:17:50and I've been off for five weeks.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Did you put on weight while you had the lay-off?
0:17:53 > 0:17:56- Yes. It's normal. - It doesn't look it.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Um...thank you! That's nice. It's a good dress.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01How can you...? You'd have to...
0:18:01 > 0:18:03I wish this suit was like your dress!
0:18:04 > 0:18:07What...? No, we won't change now.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11What can you do, though, if you put on the weight,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13obviously that must be crucial for a ballet dancer?
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Um...
0:18:15 > 0:18:17No, it's normal. I mean,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21the thing that really makes you lose weight is being nervous.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23And I'm losing weight right this minute.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27Inches.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Well, it's always the same when you're doing something that...
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Are you nervous before a big night, a gala night, at the ballet?
0:18:32 > 0:18:33You must be!
0:18:33 > 0:18:36I'm nervous before I do anything.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38I mean, this morning, I did my first rehearsal and I was nervous.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40- Before a rehearsal? - Yes!
0:18:40 > 0:18:43- I know it sounds ridiculous but... - Is that because the corps de ballet
0:18:43 > 0:18:45stand there jeering you if you're not doing it right?
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Oh, no, they're a lovely company.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49Come on! There must be a bit of bitchiness goes on...
0:18:49 > 0:18:50Not at all, no, not at all.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Honestly. It's a lovely company.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54It's like a family.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57- We all went to school... - But families fight like mad!
0:18:57 > 0:18:58I know, that's very true.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02When it's attacked from the outside, it's a lovely company.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04I wasn't attacking it!
0:19:04 > 0:19:06But, no, I wouldn't expect you to tell me
0:19:06 > 0:19:08all the little bitchiness that goes on.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10- Talking on the matter of... - I would if there was some.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11- Yes, quite.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12Um...
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Talking of injuries and...
0:19:14 > 0:19:17I now have a mental picture of most ballet dancers
0:19:17 > 0:19:20going round swathed in bandages, quite often.
0:19:20 > 0:19:26Do people like Nureyev, do they... do they carry bad legs
0:19:26 > 0:19:27and...?
0:19:27 > 0:19:28Rudolf is...
0:19:28 > 0:19:32a prime example of somebody who will dance with injuries.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35He will never let his audience down.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38And I remember going to his dressing room one evening,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40cos he was going to have supper with us later,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43and he took off his tights and I went...
0:19:46 > 0:19:48So I believe!
0:19:48 > 0:19:49No!
0:19:49 > 0:19:51It was lower than that.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Foot to knee, completely taped up.
0:19:58 > 0:19:59- Yes. - Thank goodness for that!
0:19:59 > 0:20:02You had me... LAUGHTER
0:20:02 > 0:20:03It was fine.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05- Foot to knee...? - Foot to knee, taped up.
0:20:05 > 0:20:06- Really? - Yes.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08Wouldn't that show, 'neath the close-fitting tights?
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Um...probably would close...
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Cos nearly everything else does, doesn't it?
0:20:14 > 0:20:17- Is he...? - It's all right, though, isn't it?
0:20:20 > 0:20:22Whatever turns you on...!
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Is he difficult to work with, the great Nureyev?
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Is he a firebrand? Temperamental?
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Rudolf is...
0:20:30 > 0:20:33for me... I mean, I'm very biased, cos I'm madly in love with him.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35He's generous.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37You're probably sorry for him, cos he's bandaged.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40No, it's nothing to do with that! He's, um...
0:20:40 > 0:20:42generous.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43Um...
0:20:43 > 0:20:47By generous, I mean he will always help you
0:20:47 > 0:20:50if you're having technical problems with steps.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52He's always got an answer for them.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58He's very loving and he's also the most genuine person,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01which is why, when he throws chairs through mirrors,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03you know how he feels.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06LAUGHTER And it's over in a flash.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09And it's got it out of his system and he's fine.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11And he can afford to pay to compensate
0:21:11 > 0:21:12whoever's mirror he's smashed.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Of course, of course.
0:21:14 > 0:21:15When you dance with Nureyev,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19for whom you've admitted an undying passion...
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Like, the great dance teams, even the Torvill and Deans,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26between the pair of them, they seem to generate a kind of eroticism.
0:21:26 > 0:21:31Is it necessary to have that kind of...?
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Is it necessary to have an emotional relationship with
0:21:34 > 0:21:36whoever you dance?
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Um...
0:21:38 > 0:21:41it isn't necessary to have it off the stage.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44But it depends very much on the role you're doing.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47If it's a passionate and emotional role,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49then you are passionately
0:21:49 > 0:21:51and emotionally involved with that partner.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Yes, and when you're dancing, I mean, obviously male dancers,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57they get to touch you in places that, really, you wouldn't normally...
0:21:57 > 0:22:00LAUGHTER ..allow anybody else to...
0:22:00 > 0:22:02- That... - ..lay a finger on you.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Well, actually... I know it's silly to say this,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08but you don't really feel that.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13Cos you're so carried away with how you're feeling,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15you're not aware of hands grabbing.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17I mean, you're glad of those,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19to get you wherever you've got to go.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Do you...?
0:22:24 > 0:22:26To add... To add to the frisson,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30to help the moment, in, say, a pas de deux,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32do you whisper sweet nothings to each other?
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Or do you say things like, "Get off me foot!"?
0:22:36 > 0:22:38What... Do you actually say anything to each other?
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Anthony Dowell is the best whisperer in the world.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43- Anthony Dowell? - Yes. Fabulous.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46I mean, you've only got to stay on balance, and he'll go,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48"Gorgeous!" LAUGHTER
0:22:48 > 0:22:49He's wonderful.
0:22:49 > 0:22:50Have you ever had a partner
0:22:50 > 0:22:54who whispered less than sweet nothings in your ear?
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Who was almost offensive, or, indeed...suggestive?
0:22:58 > 0:22:59- Rudolf. - Rudolf?
0:22:59 > 0:23:01- Mm. - It's why you like him, isn't it?
0:23:01 > 0:23:03Yes. LAUGHTER
0:23:03 > 0:23:06I had a problem with him, once, in New York.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10In the lovely ballet - my favourite ballet, actually -
0:23:10 > 0:23:13probably because it's the first one I ever did the leading role in -
0:23:13 > 0:23:15La Fille Mal Gardee.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18And, at the end of the, um, the harvest scene,
0:23:18 > 0:23:22there's a wonderful lift, where the girl sits on his hand,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25and up it goes. And the girl's up there. It's wonderful.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27And there you are, smiling, like this.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Well, I went up, but I came down very quickly.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34And I...I couldn't really believe it was happening to me,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36so I kept going...
0:23:36 > 0:23:38And I was going...
0:23:38 > 0:23:41over the back, round the side
0:23:41 > 0:23:43and...
0:23:43 > 0:23:45in a fish, sort of upside-down fish,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47held by my legs, by Rudolf.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51And after a few scrambles, getting up, we took our bow.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54We went into the wings and I thought...
0:23:54 > 0:23:56"He's going to kill me.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59"I'll cry."
0:23:59 > 0:24:03So, I burst into tears, "I'm so sorry!"
0:24:03 > 0:24:06And then we had the usual abuse
0:24:06 > 0:24:08and we went on with the ballet and he was wonderful.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11How long does the abuse last for?
0:24:11 > 0:24:13In Russian.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18No... No, the boys in the company, when Rudolf came to England,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22they taught him the dirty words first. So he knows those in English.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24What's the dirtiest word in ballet?
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Good Lord, I'm not going to tell you!
0:24:29 > 0:24:33What do you think... What do you think makes a prima ballerina?
0:24:33 > 0:24:36What...what caused you to stand out from the corps de ballet?
0:24:36 > 0:24:38From the chorus?
0:24:38 > 0:24:41- Um... - In all modesty, of course,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43but what would you say it is? What's the quality that's needed?
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Well, I don't really know.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48I mean, I was a very lucky girl in the company.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51I mean, I always did a solo. Um...
0:24:51 > 0:24:56..quite early on, when I was still doing my corps de ballet work.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58I mean, I did the white cat in Sleeping Beauty.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00Um...
0:25:00 > 0:25:01very early on.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03I know I was behind a mask,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06obviously, the face wasn't quite right yet, but...
0:25:06 > 0:25:09I clearly had the personality that would come through a mask.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14Um, often, I've had my chances through other people being injured.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Whether I would have had them or not, I don't know.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21It's a very competitive world, ballet, isn't it?
0:25:21 > 0:25:23- Yes. - People are trying very hard.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Apart from the physical strength which you need,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31do you have to be emotionally strong too?
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Do you have to be more ambitious?
0:25:34 > 0:25:37I... Well, ambition in the right way.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42Ambitious... You do have to be single-minded and very dedicated,
0:25:42 > 0:25:43which is a form of ambition,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46but you don't have to tread on people to get there,
0:25:46 > 0:25:51because if you work hard enough, and you've got something...
0:25:51 > 0:25:54that you really believe in and you really love doing it...
0:25:54 > 0:25:56It all sounds very idyllic.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Well, it's not, obviously.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01I mean, it's not idyllic for all people.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04I mean, I've just been exceptionally lucky.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06It tends to take over your life, though, ballet.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09It requires perhaps more dedication than anything else, doesn't it?
0:26:09 > 0:26:11- Yes. - Than any other pursuit.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Cos you've got to practise every day. Even when you have arrived.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Yes. And it's hell when you have a bad foot
0:26:18 > 0:26:20and you don't practise every day!
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Yeah. Does everything sort of bind up again?
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Well, no, it's a funny thing, because while you're working hard
0:26:26 > 0:26:28and you think, "I'd love to have a day off
0:26:28 > 0:26:30"and I could answer all my letters,"
0:26:30 > 0:26:32and then you get something like four weeks off
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and all you want to do is get better so you can dance again.
0:26:35 > 0:26:42It's a very strange sort of mental push one has, to want to dance.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Yes, that need to dance. Many great ballet stars,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50male and female, come from a working class
0:26:50 > 0:26:53- or a poorer class background. - Mm-hm.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Why do you think that is, when almost exclusively,
0:26:57 > 0:27:01and probably for reasons of pocket, or reasons of money,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03the audiences for ballet, or the interest in ballet,
0:27:03 > 0:27:07seems to come from the middle and upper classes, almost entirely?
0:27:08 > 0:27:09- Why do the dancers...? - Does it?
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Well, I think so, yeah.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14I mean, had your family a lively interest in ballet?
0:27:14 > 0:27:18Oh, none at all. None at all. It was my grandmother that set me going.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22I've... I'm not a great ballet fan,
0:27:22 > 0:27:23- I have to say. - No,
0:27:23 > 0:27:25- I don't think I've seen you there. - No.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28If you had, you would certainly have
0:27:28 > 0:27:29hurled a flower in my general direction.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Of course! Of course.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34I think it's slightly archaic.
0:27:34 > 0:27:35Oh, don't be silly.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39I mean, really. Pull yourself together!
0:27:39 > 0:27:40RAUCOUS LAUGHTER
0:27:40 > 0:27:43APPLAUSE
0:27:48 > 0:27:52It's wonderful - beautiful, young girls, dancing there,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54practically nothing on.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Modern ballets. It's not all old-fashioned ballets.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00And, anyway, old-fashioned ballets aren't archaic, really,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03cos they've got fresh youth brought to them,
0:28:03 > 0:28:05practically every week.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07It's all a bit old-fashioned.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Oh, come on!
0:28:09 > 0:28:12- Don't you think? - Well, some.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Somebody's agreeing with you.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18I know there's modern dance, of course.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20I never think of that as ballet.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22Ballet,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25I always think of in terms of Swan Lake or something like that,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27- which seems, to me, very dated. - Well, what about...
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Well... Well, because it's an old ballet.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32It's been around for a long time.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34What about something like Romeo And Juliet,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36which is beautifully classical?
0:28:36 > 0:28:40Um, it's not, sort of, people pretending to be swans.
0:28:40 > 0:28:41I agree, that's a bit strange.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43But do you think it'll ever reach
0:28:43 > 0:28:46a stage where it can become a popular art?
0:28:46 > 0:28:48- It is a popular art. - If it ever was.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51- It is a popular art! - It doesn't get many of the people.
0:28:51 > 0:28:52More... What are you talking about?!
0:28:52 > 0:28:57This Christmas... This Christmas, we had the Opera House full,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00we had the Festival Hall full, there was Wayne Sleep at the Dominion...
0:29:00 > 0:29:02- It just worries me... - ..Song And Dance at the Palace.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04Oh, I don't think of that as ballet.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06- Packed! - That's not ballet.
0:29:06 > 0:29:07That's musicals.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10- I... - They are dancing.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14That's true, but... Yes, they are, they're ballet-trained,
0:29:14 > 0:29:16I'll certainly give you that.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18But I often wonder if a lot of the people who go
0:29:18 > 0:29:21to the Royal Ballet, or the Sadler's,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24I often wonder if they go just to be seen there.
0:29:27 > 0:29:28Well, you don't, do you?
0:29:29 > 0:29:31APPLAUSE
0:29:35 > 0:29:38Which is why, naturally, I take the view that I do.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41But do you sometimes feel like you're out there dancing
0:29:41 > 0:29:44and they don't really understand what you're doing?
0:29:46 > 0:29:49No, we only feel like that about the critics.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52You're married to a critic, aren't you?
0:29:52 > 0:29:55I know. It's the only way I could get him not to write about me.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02Margot Fonteyn danced until she was... Ahem!
0:30:02 > 0:30:04Do you intend to dance that long?
0:30:05 > 0:30:07- Depends, doesn't it? - What does it depend on?
0:30:07 > 0:30:10It depends on, well... it depends on the body,
0:30:10 > 0:30:12how it holds up.
0:30:13 > 0:30:18Um, it depends on whether I still love it as much as I love it now.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22I think that's all it depends on, I think.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25We hope you'll continue dancing and delighting everybody.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27- Thank you very much. - Thank you, Lesley.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29Lesley Collier. APPLAUSE
0:30:40 > 0:30:43The lovely Lesley Collier. We must try and get some more ballerinas,
0:30:43 > 0:30:45or ballet dancers, on the programme.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48From the dance to the song.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Now, this particular group that I'm going to introduce to you
0:30:51 > 0:30:52haven't had an LP for some time,
0:30:52 > 0:30:56so it must be very gratifying for them to produce one
0:30:56 > 0:31:00and then find that the first track taken off it becomes a very big hit.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04They've flown over specially to be on Wogan, I'm delighted to welcome them,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07with their hit, The Spice Of Life - Manhattan Transfer!
0:31:07 > 0:31:10APPLAUSE
0:31:29 > 0:31:33# Down on the corner there's a reason to smile
0:31:33 > 0:31:37# When those evening shadows fall
0:31:38 > 0:31:41# Some kind of feeling that it's hard to deny
0:31:41 > 0:31:47# Once the neon lights start to call
0:31:47 > 0:31:51# People out there searching for action
0:31:51 > 0:31:55# Daytime distractions slipping right on by
0:31:55 > 0:31:56ALL: # Tonight
0:31:57 > 0:32:00# Let's taste the spice of life
0:32:01 > 0:32:05# Keep it sweet until the morning light
0:32:06 > 0:32:09# Watch fantasy unfold
0:32:10 > 0:32:13SOLO: # And let the lovin' flow
0:32:13 > 0:32:16# Caught in the madness of a summer romance
0:32:16 > 0:32:20# At a moonlight rendezvous
0:32:21 > 0:32:25# Lost in the spirit of a sensual dance
0:32:25 > 0:32:30# That can cast a spell over you
0:32:30 > 0:32:34# All you need's a night to remember
0:32:34 > 0:32:38# Flying together on the highest high
0:32:38 > 0:32:40ALL: # Tonight
0:32:41 > 0:32:44# Let's taste the spice of life
0:32:45 > 0:32:48# A little music and some candlelight
0:32:49 > 0:32:53# Put passion in control
0:32:53 > 0:32:55SOLO: # Oh-oh and let the lovin' flow
0:32:55 > 0:32:57# I want you to know
0:32:57 > 0:33:03# Could it be the start of a million dreams we share?
0:33:05 > 0:33:07# So, lay back in the feelin'
0:33:07 > 0:33:13ALL: # Let the evening take you there
0:33:16 > 0:33:19# Ba-ba-ba-da, ba-ba-ba-da
0:33:27 > 0:33:31# All we need is a night to remember
0:33:31 > 0:33:35# Flying together on the highest high
0:33:35 > 0:33:36ALL: # Tonight
0:33:36 > 0:33:40- # Tonight - # Let's taste the spice of life
0:33:40 > 0:33:41# I want to taste the spice of life
0:33:41 > 0:33:44# A little music and some candlelight
0:33:44 > 0:33:45# Ooh-hoo-hoo
0:33:45 > 0:33:49# Put passion in control
0:33:49 > 0:33:52# Oh, and let the lovin' flow
0:33:52 > 0:33:54- # All night - # All night
0:33:54 > 0:33:57# We'll taste the spice of life
0:33:57 > 0:33:59# Got to taste the spice of life
0:33:59 > 0:34:02# Keep it sweet until the morning light
0:34:02 > 0:34:04# Make it sweet for me, baby
0:34:04 > 0:34:06# Watch fantasy unfold
0:34:06 > 0:34:10# Ooh, that's the only way to go
0:34:10 > 0:34:12- # Tonight - # Tonight
0:34:12 > 0:34:17- # Let's taste the spice of life - # Mmmmmm
0:34:17 > 0:34:19# A little music and some candlelight
0:34:19 > 0:34:21# A little music, baby
0:34:21 > 0:34:24# Put passion in control
0:34:24 > 0:34:27# Ooh, you know that's the only way to go
0:34:27 > 0:34:28# All night... #
0:34:28 > 0:34:31CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:34:37 > 0:34:38MOUTHS
0:34:45 > 0:34:48That's the splendid, the splendid Manhattan Transfer
0:34:48 > 0:34:51and their current success, The Spice Of Life.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54Continuing the cultural thread that has been running,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58elusively, through the programme, I'd now like to introduce to you
0:34:58 > 0:35:03a gentleman who made flatulence acceptable on the big screen.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Mel Brooks.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07APPLAUSE
0:35:15 > 0:35:17A gold banana! How funny.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21- Very nice. Is it a paperweight? - It's a very BBC touch, isn't it?
0:35:21 > 0:35:23You keep this in your pocket, you'll be a rich man.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26Because a paperweight will keep your trousers neat.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28You'll always have a good crease.
0:35:28 > 0:35:29Watch this, look.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Think of this as a gun, right?
0:35:31 > 0:35:34You put it in your pocket - nobody's gonna hold you up, I promise you.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36- See how nice that is? Right there. - That is good!
0:35:36 > 0:35:38It does create a line of its own.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40Yes.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43- Shall I wear it during the show? - I wish you would.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45I've been trying to get it off the table for a long time.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Why do they have the two nuts there? I mean, what are these?
0:35:48 > 0:35:50They're bronze strawberries.
0:35:50 > 0:35:51No, they're not, they're walnuts.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53- Bronze walnuts, then. - Bronze walnuts.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55- It's the eyesight. - There was a man in the army...
0:35:55 > 0:35:58All right, let's talk. OK, OK.
0:35:58 > 0:35:59Right.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02You are known as the master of bad taste.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Yes, I am, I am. I'm, er...
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Is this justified, or are you sorry now?
0:36:08 > 0:36:10No, no, no, it's justified.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15I... I am known for my, er, exquisitely bad taste.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18In America, people say, "Mr Brooks,
0:36:18 > 0:36:22"you are in bad taste." I say, "Up yours."
0:36:23 > 0:36:25That's now we talk. It isn't nice, but...
0:36:25 > 0:36:28It's a sign of the entertainer, eh?
0:36:28 > 0:36:30You know I've been watching the show from the wings.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32I'm not going to criticise it, I love it.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39The cameras seem to have some problems knowing when...
0:36:39 > 0:36:42you are going to speak and when your guest is going to speak.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46So, it occurred to me to warn them,
0:36:46 > 0:36:49so that they don't come in on a second syllable or a second word.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54If you say, "Ba-ba," and then talk, on the "ba-ba" they will cut to you.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59If I am going to talk, I will say "Ba-ba," and they will cut to me.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02Now, it may sound like some African language,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04but the cameras will get it right,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07even if the audience gets it a little mish-mushed.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09This sounds very... Cos this is where you...
0:37:09 > 0:37:12That's why you're a director and producer
0:37:12 > 0:37:14- and I'm just a common or garden... - Ba-ba!
0:37:14 > 0:37:16I'll tell you...
0:37:17 > 0:37:21APPLAUSE
0:37:23 > 0:37:25Ba-ba!
0:37:25 > 0:37:26I hadn't finished.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33I like that! That was good.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35I didn't "ba-ba" - get the hell off!
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Stay on him! Wait for the "ba-ba"!
0:37:39 > 0:37:41Are there any subjects...
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Are there any subjects you wouldn't touch upon?
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Well, I mean, um, things of a papal nature, I never touch.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Why not? The Thorn Birds did.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53Oh, well, The Thorn Birds, The Thorn Birds. They had no right to do that.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56That was in execrable taste, I thought, don't you?
0:37:56 > 0:38:01I mean, a priest actually... making amorous advances
0:38:01 > 0:38:04to a virgin on a moor...
0:38:04 > 0:38:05in July.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08I mean... I mean, I wouldn't do that.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Not even in Blazing Saddles would I do a thing like that.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Ba-ba! I would turn...
0:38:15 > 0:38:18I would turn his collar around before I'd have him touch anybody.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22Just as a matter of good taste, good form, you know.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24I was just thinking about you and your sense of humour.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Obviously, it's very difficult, cos humour - we won't go into all that -
0:38:28 > 0:38:30- but it is a very subjective thing. - Hard to... Ba-ba!
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Hard to coalesce the vapour of humour.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36It is. Humour is that indefinable thing. I...
0:38:36 > 0:38:39There's a Greek person who shall be nameless -
0:38:39 > 0:38:41his name is Andreas Voutsinas.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44- No wonder he's nameless(!) - He was in...
0:38:44 > 0:38:47He was in... Ba-ba!
0:38:47 > 0:38:48He was in...
0:38:48 > 0:38:52He was in The Producers. He was in The Producers.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56He played the roommate of the gay director.
0:38:56 > 0:38:57I've forgotten it.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00And his name... Yes, Andreas Voutsinas. He's wonderful.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03And Andreas says... You know him?
0:39:04 > 0:39:09And Andreas Voutsinas says, off-camera, he says,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12"Or you got it or you ain't."
0:39:12 > 0:39:14And I know what he means. He means it's a gift.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16Comedy is a gift. It's a gift of timing.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18Has it a lot to do with being Jewish?
0:39:18 > 0:39:20I doubt it, I doubt it, because there are...
0:39:20 > 0:39:24I mean, Sean O'Casey and GBS began...
0:39:24 > 0:39:27founded great theatrical worlds of comedy.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29Yes, but it just struck me -
0:39:29 > 0:39:31would you be different, would your sense of humour be different,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34- if you were Irish? - No. I'd be taller.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37I would be taller, but it would be the same humour.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41The Irish and the Jews, I mean, they have the same sense of humour.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43They began... They feel deprived.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46And, because of their deprivation, they overcompensate
0:39:46 > 0:39:49by being extremely witty. Now... Ooh, ow!
0:39:51 > 0:39:53Get off me, ba-ba on him for a while!
0:39:54 > 0:39:57That's the nicest thing that's happened all evening.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59- Get off me. - Like Mr Grayson,
0:39:59 > 0:40:02you were a late developer, weren't you?
0:40:02 > 0:40:03Yes.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05Do you wish that you'd developed a bit better and, indeed, earlier?
0:40:05 > 0:40:07In what manner?
0:40:08 > 0:40:11- Nearly every way. - Yes. Well, in that way, yes.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13In that way, I wish I'd developed better,
0:40:13 > 0:40:15because I would've attracted
0:40:15 > 0:40:17a lot more people of the opposite persuasion.
0:40:17 > 0:40:18Men.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22Now, that was fast. Half of you got that!
0:40:23 > 0:40:25- You didn't say ba-boom. - No, I didn't say ba-ba.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27Yeah, yeah, I missed that.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29Now that you've become a Hollywood mogul yourself,
0:40:29 > 0:40:32with the Brooks films and everything, has that changed you a lot?
0:40:32 > 0:40:36I mean, you were a sort of innocent, open-faced Jewish boy,
0:40:36 > 0:40:38writing comedy and all that.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Now, you're a mogul and it's different, isn't it?
0:40:40 > 0:40:42Now I'm a mogul, it's different, yes.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44SWEETLY: I used to be innocent and writing things.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47GRUFFLY: Now I'm a mogul. A fiend.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52I'm a mogul - fire them and hire them and hire them and fire them.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55Hire and fire and fire and hire.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58Show me a...and...
0:40:58 > 0:41:02SWEETLY: But I used to be innocent and quite wonderful and intransigent.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04No, the last bit was more like you. That's more...
0:41:04 > 0:41:05- Yes. - There, that was you.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07- This is closer? - That's you.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08- This is closer? - Yes. That's like...
0:41:08 > 0:41:12Dr Jekyll and Mr Goldberg, right? Have you got that? Have I got it?
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Yes, very... I don't know, I don't know.
0:41:15 > 0:41:20To tell you the truth, I miss... I miss the innocent lad that I was.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22Where does the director in you come into it?
0:41:22 > 0:41:25Do you like bossing people around? Do you like telling people what to do?
0:41:25 > 0:41:28Well, I mean, to be perfectly honest, yes.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31There's no sense... There's no fooling you.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33- Bright. - I knew you were power-crazed...
0:41:33 > 0:41:35- You're too damn bright. - ..the minute you walked in here.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37You know, in the beginning,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40in the dressing room, when they were making me up, I said,
0:41:40 > 0:41:41"Why the hell did Parkinson leave?
0:41:41 > 0:41:42"I've got to work with this stupid Irishman."
0:41:42 > 0:41:43But...!
0:41:45 > 0:41:46No, no, but...
0:41:46 > 0:41:48I said that in the dressing room as well.
0:41:48 > 0:41:54But, then, I thought. I thought on it. I thought hard on it.
0:41:54 > 0:41:55Steady.
0:41:57 > 0:41:58Two points!
0:41:58 > 0:42:03And what I came up with was I love your vocal ping-pong,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06I love your alacrity, I love your quickness of mind, I love your wit.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09And I love that most of your hair is your own.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14- Yes, yes. - Yes. Success, however...
0:42:14 > 0:42:15Mm.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17..has not unspoiled you, has it? I mean...
0:42:17 > 0:42:19I'm not crazy about your tie, I can tell you that.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23I shouldn't say that on the air.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25- Well, you're a guest. - Yes, it's true.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28You know, solid ties have been in for six years, now, you know that?
0:42:28 > 0:42:30- And out again. - And out.
0:42:30 > 0:42:31They probably will go out again.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33We're wearing something different in Britain, you know.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Underneath?
0:42:35 > 0:42:36All over.
0:42:36 > 0:42:37All over, yes!
0:42:37 > 0:42:40I understand you're a bit of a wine snob?
0:42:40 > 0:42:42- Well, no, no, no, no, no. - Come on!
0:42:42 > 0:42:44Come on. You bring your own bottle of wine to dinner!
0:42:44 > 0:42:47Yes, yes. I drank some of the swill that you had in the dressing room.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51What's this about bringing your own bottle to dinner?
0:42:51 > 0:42:53I do, I do. I bring my own bottle to dinner.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55Does this not offend your host or hostess?
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Who gives a...?!
0:42:58 > 0:43:00Who cares, rather...
0:43:00 > 0:43:03- Yeah. - But this does not tie in...
0:43:03 > 0:43:05Why take a chance on Muscadet or something?
0:43:05 > 0:43:06Who knows what they're gonna serve?!
0:43:06 > 0:43:10But a simple boy from the Jewish ghetto, bringing his own wine?
0:43:10 > 0:43:13Chateau Lafite, Chateau Lafite, made by the Jews, drunk by the Jews.
0:43:13 > 0:43:14What's the matter with it? Nothing wrong.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17Rothschild, Rothschild, old boy. Rothschild.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19Built the Suez Canal, helped the Empire out,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21Benjy, Disraeli, remember?
0:43:21 > 0:43:22Queen Victoria.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25You never knew when that knee would come up under the skirts, did you?
0:43:25 > 0:43:26She was tough as nails.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28Tough as nails! I loved her.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Best monarch that ever ruled England.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Queen Victoria, a thousand skirts, "Watch it, Benjy!"
0:43:35 > 0:43:38The greatest woman that ever lived - Queen Victoria.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40Do you admire the British system?
0:43:40 > 0:43:42You're not going to be one of those Americans...
0:43:42 > 0:43:44You're not going to say in a minute,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48"London is my second home. I love it over here?"
0:43:48 > 0:43:49- No, no, no. - You're not going to say that?
0:43:49 > 0:43:51But I am an Anglophile and I'm taking something for it.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Three times a day, you take it.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59And it takes away your love of the little postage stamp squares,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02the red brick, the white Victorian trim,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05the V&A, John Constable,
0:44:05 > 0:44:09the, er... Sheila, who lives in Chelsea.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11What a girl! Jesus.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13She'll do... She'll do anything, if you beg.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18You know what Jewish foreplay is?
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Let me tell you what Jewish foreplay is.
0:44:22 > 0:44:23- May I? - Please!
0:44:23 > 0:44:2620 minutes of begging.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32APPLAUSE
0:44:32 > 0:44:34INAUDIBLE
0:44:34 > 0:44:35Well...
0:44:35 > 0:44:37Do you know,
0:44:37 > 0:44:39Terry, you're a saucy devil.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42I watched your interview with Bob Fosse, who was very good,
0:44:42 > 0:44:47and you were wonderful, but you did ask questions that were really...
0:44:47 > 0:44:48- unseemly. - Saucy?
0:44:48 > 0:44:50Yes, saucy. You said...
0:44:50 > 0:44:52- You're a fine one to talk. - Well...
0:44:52 > 0:44:55I mean, I'm vulgar, so I can say anything.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59But you said, er, is there still a casting couch?
0:44:59 > 0:45:01Is there still it the practice of having a casting couch?
0:45:01 > 0:45:03- I was going to ask you that. - Yeah. And...
0:45:03 > 0:45:07And then you said, "Do you use...?" I mean, what could he say?!
0:45:07 > 0:45:08- Yes. - Yes...!
0:45:08 > 0:45:11Well, I mean, even if he did, would he admit it?
0:45:11 > 0:45:13- Would he admit it? - He nearly did!
0:45:13 > 0:45:15- He nearly did? - What about you?
0:45:15 > 0:45:17I admit it.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20- I admit it. - But, look,
0:45:20 > 0:45:21you don't need a casting couch.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24With your attraction, you could have got the girls without it.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27- And, yet, why... - You'll pay for that!
0:45:29 > 0:45:31That hasn't gone unnoticed, old boy.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34I like you, Wogan, I do, I swear to God.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Yet you married an Italian?
0:45:38 > 0:45:39Wogan, there's a little green thing
0:45:39 > 0:45:40on this side of your nose. Get it before...
0:45:43 > 0:45:45APPLAUSE
0:45:45 > 0:45:48DROWNED OUT BY APPLAUSE
0:45:48 > 0:45:50Don't try and evade the issue.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52Ba-boom.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55And yet you married an Italian.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59Yes, I did. Well, she's an American, born in the United States of America,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03of Italian ancestry, Italian parentage.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06- That's easy for you to say. - Yes.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Her mother and father were born in the US,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12but her grandparents were born in good old Italy.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14- Is she taller than you? - Ba-ba. Yes.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18When she wears her spiked Cuban heels,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22which I demand that she wear on Sunday nights...
0:46:22 > 0:46:23Please.
0:46:23 > 0:46:24You can drive the audience insane
0:46:24 > 0:46:26- with this kind of talk. - Yes.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28All she wears is spiked Cuban heels...
0:46:28 > 0:46:30- Enough! - ..a large feather...
0:46:30 > 0:46:32Oh!
0:46:32 > 0:46:34..and an Indian bathrobe.
0:46:34 > 0:46:35Aagh!
0:46:35 > 0:46:38No, my wife is actually a very conservative lady.
0:46:38 > 0:46:39She's a dramatic actress.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41She adores me because I'm the other side of her life.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44I'm merriment, I'm fun. I'm silly.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47When are we going to see that side of you?
0:46:48 > 0:46:51APPLAUSE
0:46:55 > 0:46:56But you've actually worked together.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58Is it the first time you've worked together on your new movie?
0:46:58 > 0:47:00I don't like it when you're really funny.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04I like it when you're... when you're nearly funny, I like.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Because then the audience at home says,
0:47:06 > 0:47:10"The Irishman thinks he's funny,
0:47:10 > 0:47:13"but the little Jew, he's the one. He's funny.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16"But the other...the other one thinks he's funny.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18"The little J...he's really funny.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21"The Irishman is nearly funny,
0:47:21 > 0:47:23"but the little Jew, he's hysterical."
0:47:23 > 0:47:27But then sometimes, you're really funny and it's very disappointing.
0:47:29 > 0:47:30When you really get funny sometimes,
0:47:30 > 0:47:31it takes the heart out of one, I'll tell you the truth.
0:47:31 > 0:47:32Ba-boom.
0:47:33 > 0:47:34I'm sorry.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38Now, you've just worked together with Anne.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41How did you lure this fine dramatic actress into this kind of dross?
0:47:41 > 0:47:44With a giant Jew magnet. I said, "Come this way!
0:47:44 > 0:47:48"You're mine, you're mine!" Ba-ba, schmuck! "You're mine!"
0:47:49 > 0:47:51You call your wife schmuck?!
0:47:51 > 0:47:53- No, no, no, the cameraman! - Oh, I see.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57- Do you mind if I put my feet up? - Not at all.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59- Are those your own feet? - No.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01They're my own shoes.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03- Oh! - Yes.
0:48:03 > 0:48:04So, the straight actress.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06I lured her with a modicum of wit...
0:48:07 > 0:48:10..some grace, some poetry, some charm...
0:48:10 > 0:48:13- a taste of wine. - Can't have been easy.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16You'll pay for that.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22Er, bonhomie, some cultural aspects,
0:48:22 > 0:48:24a love of life,
0:48:24 > 0:48:25and a million dollars.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28- I paid for my wife. - She can be bought?
0:48:28 > 0:48:34Yes. I paid 17 camels, 14 goats, 40 rubies,
0:48:34 > 0:48:35and a Buick.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39What are you going to do next?
0:48:39 > 0:48:41I'm going to be a tailor. I'm gonna get pins and needles,
0:48:41 > 0:48:46I'm gonna get cloth and I'm gonna cut suits to fit the perfect man.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48I'm ready.
0:48:51 > 0:48:52I like that.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54Are you gonna get rid of those ridiculous turn-ups on your trousers?
0:48:54 > 0:48:55Yeah. I am, yeah.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00Do you mean the vegetable - turnips? I mean,
0:49:00 > 0:49:02what are you referring to?
0:49:02 > 0:49:03I don't quite understand.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07No, we don't wear those any more over here.
0:49:07 > 0:49:08- Oh, you don't? - No, they're out of date now.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11Well, let me... Can I...?
0:49:11 > 0:49:14APPLAUSE
0:49:18 > 0:49:20You'll all pay for that...
0:49:22 > 0:49:24We call them cuffs in America.
0:49:24 > 0:49:29Cuffs, you see. C-U-F-F-S, cuffs. We don't call them turn-ups.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33Or carrots, or celery, or anything like that.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36You've never really grasped the language, have you?
0:49:36 > 0:49:37Well, if truth... Well...
0:49:37 > 0:49:41We don't say "cent-ree", we say "cent-er".
0:49:41 > 0:49:42C-E-N-T-E-R.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46You say "cent-ree" - C-E-N-T-R-E.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48What about... What about lever?
0:49:48 > 0:49:49"Lev-ah!"
0:49:51 > 0:49:54All right, what about "composite", schmuck?!
0:49:54 > 0:49:56It's "com-poh-sit."
0:49:56 > 0:49:58What about "aluminium"?
0:49:59 > 0:50:00What about it?!
0:50:02 > 0:50:05APPLAUSE
0:50:09 > 0:50:10Mel Brooks, I could sit here all night...
0:50:10 > 0:50:13You could, you could, but you're not, are you?
0:50:13 > 0:50:14No, cos I'm bored.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16Yes.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19The old clock on the wall has beaten us, I'm afraid.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22In my house, it's a sundial.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28This has been, I swear to you, this has been almost a pleasure.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32Even with Johnny Carson, and I'm very good on that show,
0:50:32 > 0:50:34- I'm very good. - I don't believe it.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38I'm wonderful on the show, in America, really. I sing.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40I didn't sing on this show.
0:50:40 > 0:50:41We were lucky.
0:50:43 > 0:50:45Why do I like you? I shouldn't like you.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47I could listen to that kind of talk for ever.
0:50:47 > 0:50:48Yes, yes, it's easy, isn't it? Yes.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50- But can you be quiet now? - Yes, I'll try.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52- I'll do my best. - Mel Brooks.
0:50:52 > 0:50:53Thank you, Terry.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55APPLAUSE
0:51:04 > 0:51:06- Want to try ba-ba? - Ba-ba.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08My thanks to Mel Brooks and Manhattan Transfer
0:51:08 > 0:51:12and Lesley Collier and Larry Grayson. Thank you for joining us.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14I hope you'll make it a date next week at the same time,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17when my guests will be Noel Edmonds, John Mortimer QC,
0:51:17 > 0:51:21- Victoria Principal... - Victoria Principal's coming on?!
0:51:21 > 0:51:23- Little Pammy from Ewing. - Ooh, I'm coming too.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26You'll just have to take your turn.
0:51:30 > 0:51:31APPLAUSE
0:51:36 > 0:51:38Little Pammy Ewing from Dallas.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42So, join us if you can, about ten to ten, next Saturday, BBC One,
0:51:42 > 0:51:44for another Wogan. Have a nice weekend. Bye-bye.
0:51:44 > 0:51:45APPLAUSE
0:51:45 > 0:51:49MUSIC: "Wogan Theme Tune"