Portal:Wales/Selected biography/12

Tommy Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a British prop comedian and magician. He made an art form of getting magic tricks wrong. However, despite his purported inability to perform conjuring tricks, he was in reality an accomplished magician and member of The Magic Circle. Famed for his red fez, his appearance was large and lumbering at 6ft 3ins (1.91m) tall and over 15 stone in weight. He had a range of facial expressions and would also say things like, "I must say you've been a wonderful audience" or "Have we got time for more?" immediately after he walked on stage that would convulse audiences with laughter. He had a host of other catchphrases such as "Spoon, jar, jar, spoon!!" and "Whisky, sample, sample, whisky, sample...". His most often quoted catchphrase "Just like that" has never been heard on film. Famously he was once standing for several minutes behind the curtain at the start of a televised show, and the audience, knowing he was there, was in hysterics before he even appeared. "People were laughing, just standing in line, for the tickets to see him" has often been quoted. Born Thomas Frederick Cooper, in Caerphilly, Wales, he was delivered by the woman who owned the house in which the family was lodging. Cooper's parents were Welsh-born army recruiting sergeant father Tom, and his English-born mother Gertrude from Crediton, Devon.