No, Danny La Rue is on tonight.

Danny La Rue died this week.  .

For you yanks, Danny was the first British drag act (he preferred to be called A Comic in a Frock) ever to break through into popular culture.  Here in the 60’s he was one of the UK’s highest paid performers.

I did a cruise once with Danny (not to be confused with cruising with Danny) he was a lovely man.  On our second day, in the Bay of Biscay, we sailed into a force-ten storm.  I have never been in weather like this.  It was like being thrown off the top of a rollercoaster every four minutes.  Everyone on the ship was sick – including many of the crew.

During the worst of it, the cruise director called me in my cabin and said, “You’re on tonight.”

“Oh no I’m not,” I replied between retching into a trash can, “Danny La Rue is on tonight.  Is he sick?”

“No, the cruise director said, “but he can’t stand in his high-heels in this weather.”

I did the show to an audience made up mostly of elderly deaf passengers.  (Apparently if your middle ear is gone you don’t get sea-sick.)  After the storm Danny bought me a bottle of champagne.

RIP Danny