Tommy Cooper death location (19th March 1921 to 14th April 1984)

 

I watch comedians performing their routines on television shows and rarely find them funny. The audience seem amused - are they half drunk? Is laughing gas piped into the venue? Tommy Cooper was one of the funniest comedians and here I am outside theatre where he died in the middle of a show.

 

He was 63 years old but it’s surprising he lived so long (40 cigars a day didn't help.) He drank heavily to help him face the anxiety of going on stage. Towards the end of his life the booze eroded his professionalism. Club owners complained he turned up late, didn't go on stage on time, the acts were sometimes too short, he forgot some lines and repeated others. Once on stage his popularity and reputation usually sustained him. Along with alcoholism he suffered from lumbago, sciatica, bronchitis chronic indigestion and circulation problems in his legs. On top of traditional medicine he took slimming pills and insomnia tablets - all washed down with brandy.

 

On Sunday evening on 15th April 1984 he was partway through his act which was being broadcast to the nation from Her Majesty's Theatre in central London (my mum and dad were watching.) Despite criticism the footage of him dying remains on the internet. He's preparing a trick with his assistant. She puts a gown on him but he knows something is wrong and touches her shoulder. She smiles at him as he crumples to the floor thinking he was joking. The audience laugh too but the show's director knows something is wrong. He cues the orchestra to play music for an unscripted commercial break. In darkness Tommy was given CPR but for legal and medical reasons only paramedics or the police could move him from the stage. Other performers on the bill tried to pump Tommy's heart. He didn’t say a word, groan or regain consciousness. Only when the television adverts were broadcast did an ambulance crew get Tommy into the ambulance and sped him Westminster Hospital. Somewhere on route his heart gave a final beat and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

 

He left behind a wife, a mistress and two sons - one who died aged 32 from haemophilia compounded by liver failure. Tommy was cremated and his ashes put in the family grave at Ocklynge Cemetery in Eastbourne.

 

While sauntering around Covent Garden I thought I'd go and have a look at the theatre. It was built in 1897 for Herbert Tree who established RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - still going today.) All the great actors and comedians have performed here. There're 1,216 seats over four floors and it's now owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I found the stage door - did Tommy go through there? If so it was probably the last door he went through alive (beside the ambulance door.) I did a salute and left.

 

 

 

 

At the stage door...

 

 

Tommy was cremated and his ashes were interred here along with those of his his wife and son. The bigger stone relates to his in-laws family....