Authors: Christopher Biggins
Biggins (24 page)
So goodbye Cilla. Yes, she really had said those things about 75 being the perfect age to go. We all make jokes and say things like that, us oldies and crumblies. The thought of me living another 30 years fills me with horror sometimes. We want a break from the aches and pains sometimes. But 72 was too, too soon.
Cilla, I remind myself, will be in heaven now, reunited with Bobby and with a glass of champagne in her hand. So many other lovely people are there too. And Cilla, like so many of the others, lived life to the full while she was here. I had her friendship, I have my memories and I’ve learned her lesson. Grab every opportunity, take every chance and enjoy every moment. They won’t all work out the way you want them to. But if you don’t try you’ll never know. And
if you try and fail you should at least get a story out of it. You should get a memory and a fair few laughs before you dust yourself down, pick yourself up and start all over again. Make the most of every sunny day. That’s what Cilla taught me. So that’s what I’m doing today.
‘He won’t make old bones,’ said Grannie Biggins when I was born. I proved her wrong …
My mum and dad, Pam and Bill, on their wedding day. The honeymoon was interrupted by Dad’s call-up.
With my mother and grandfather.
Biggins beach babes. With my mum and dad, at the seaside. Whatever our circumstances, the three of us always made the most of what we had.
With Grannie Biggins and my dad. It was from Grannie Biggins that I learned how to be a straight-talker.
Proving that I had outgrown the ‘weak constitution’ with which I was born.
St Probus School for Boys – it was at the school’s theatre that I first fell in love with performing on the stage. My pal John Brown is pictured on the left of the left-hand picture.
An early triumph!
My small but perfectly formed role as Jenks in the RSC’s production of
London Assurance
.
With Bea Aston, the woman who became my wife. We are still great friends.
My role in
She Stoops to Conquer
was my first proper taste of acting – and after that I was completely addicted.
The wonderful Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
With Jeremy Irons and Julie Hallam before we all departed for our honeymoon!