Three connections to the great thesp. The one and only time I dined at a Michelin-starred restaurant that featured an after-dinner speaker must have been the Quatre Saisons, darlings, in Oxfordshire. During the speech he wondered:
'How was it that one moment I was treading the boards at the Bradford repertory, and the next, dining out in Hollywood?'
To which a heckler in this intimate gathering of just two dozen people suggested:
'Warp speed?'
...I wished it had been me, reader, although he looked not at all amused.
Then again I was six years operating out of Heathrow, the departure point of choice for celebs in and around London. I heard from a colleague at Virgin Atlantic how he had been invited onto the flight-deck. inbound to the UK ~ as could be done at the time. The captain calling for Flaps 1, the first officer turning to Patrick on the jump-seat with raised eyebrow, so from behind came:
'Make it so.'
Finally, I had recently to collect timber from a yard near the village of Mirfield where he was born, a little way outside of Leeds. If you visit, don't forget to drop into the Dewsbury Bus Museum a little way along the road.
Maybe we can do it together, and take a little flower?
