"Pleased to meet you Mr Ironside"

There are some places that inadvertently feature as a key location in your life. The Steak & Kebab Restaurant. The name just screams prawn cocktail, steak & chips and the obligatory Black Forest Gateaux, or, as a friend of mine always calls it, 'Dark Forest' which I always think gives the desert an air of RR Tolkien. In fact, this time-warp restaurant situated in a leafy square in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury, managed to serve up a great European menu alongside the  steaks. 1981 - I climb the narrow curving staircase leading from the main restaurant to an upstairs room. Joyously crammed with a long trestle table. The white linen looking cream in the candle-light. I join the party for after-dinner  drinks. Marion, my house mate of only a few weeks is 21 and this is her celebration party. The other guests include Marion's parents and sister and a good number of young friends. An open Methusala of champagne helped me overcome...

It's a cliché to say that life is wasted on the young but, looking back I wasted some opportunities and, of theses this is the one I regret the most. When I was 18 I was working the pantomime season that the Palace Theatre Manchester which featured a great cast and a particular comedy hero, Eric Sykes who played Alderman Fitzwarren in his inimitable surreal style. Although a great comedy writer, I always thought of him as a wonderful physical comedian in the Buster Keaton / Stan Laurel style. Supported by now sadly missed Roy Kinnear, Andrew Sachs who was at that time best known for his role as Manuel in Fawlty Towers playing  Sarah the ship's cook and The Great Soprendo, the show was packed with comedy set pieces. It also featured my favourite corny gag ever when the hero's are all captured in Morocco and herded into the throne-room of the Sultan. The characters  fall to the feet of a grandly dressed courtier and the dame bows proclaiming "Salam, Salam!". Th...