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unearths some literary gems.
From Terry-Thomas Tells Tales, by Terry-Thomas with Terry Daum:
***I once advertised myself in Variety as "Terry-Thomas, the man who said, 'A Thousand!' in 'Once in a Million.'" All I had had to do was shout out, "A Thousand!" in an auction scene.***Enough to make anyone grit the gap in their teeth!***[A precursor to my email address!]Terry hyphen Thomas had become plain Terri.***[I went to see a doctor] named Mutch in Harley Street.... Mutch said, "There's not much I can do for you."***[Parrot alert!]But Charles liked my work and he wasn't keen on Formby's. "What?" he said. "Put him last with all those bloody awful parrot stories?"[Then, a little later in the memoir, T-T relates one of his own standup jokes, and it also involves a parrot.]***[T-T quotes himself from an old newspaper piece]"I am a dandy--or rather, a dam-dy. I don't dress conventionally and I'm damned if I ever will."***[T-T to a fitter] "I told you I needed a size 11....Without trying those [shoes] on, I can tell you they're a size 8."[The fitter's reply, according to T-T] "Don't worry, I'll give them a bit of a polish."***[From a caption under a photo of Terry-Thomas drinking tea]Tea for two T's.
***
Dame Margaret Rutherford came up to me in a field at Pinewood while I was wearing a haystack. For my part in The Mouse on the Moon [1963] this had been fitted to my shoulders and I’m sure the effect of seeing a haystack nipping purposefully across a field towards the refreshment room was rather odd.
Dame Margaret poked her head into the stack and said, “I would like your advice.”
“Well, make hay while the sun shines.”
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