I didn’t know Tommy intimately but met him on many occasions in Davenports and Harry Stanley’s studio and once played Spoof with him and a group of journalists on  a plane flying all the way from Gibraltar to London.

It is good that one of our greatest stars, ackowledged as the “comedians comedian”, is honoured in this way but on looking at the photographs of the statue am I alone in thinking if the pose chosen is the one most remembered by his public?

 He is shown wearing evening dress with tails  and waving a magic wand over a top hat. I saw him scores of times in performance and nearly always he wore a dinner jacket or a lounge suit and I can never remember him wearing tails for his comedy magic act. He did in some of the later  comedy sketches that he did on TV but his most identifying feature was of course his fez.

And whilst the artist probably featured the top hat and wand to signify that he was a magician, I think most people will remember him by the fez and his two hands lifted chest high as he emitted his famous trademark laugh – “ha- ha- ha”

His fame was so widespread that I am sure that this singular pose would have rendered him instantly recognizable. Much as the bronze statue of Eric Morecambe with one hand behind his head and skipping on one leg instantly identifies that other great comedian of the last century. 

I purportedly do a comedy patter magic act but twenty minutes is about my limit but Ians’ accountancy trained needle-sharp brain can catch every audience nuance and humour opportunity brilliantly. This  allows for much off the cuff inter- action with the Surrey retired stockbrokers, golf club secretaries and others  in his audience who often are a hard group to crack. Dressed in a Threadneedle Street styled striped City suit he explained his transition from accountancy to conjuring and presented many classics of magic like the Die box, Chinese sticks,  Candle tube, Vanishing Silk in Glass, Electric Chair Routine as well as many of the known items from his standard act – Watch Routine, Dictionary Test, Cards Across and others.

Because of my prime interest in comedy and theatre I was delighted to see him succeed in laying down this excellent piece of theatre  on which to present his magic effects which all added up to two hours of sheer entertainment. Plus his awareness that there is nothing wrong with many of the magic effects of yesteryear which he uses rather than resorting to the latest from Blackpool. Conjuring is conjuring,

I understand his tour continues around the country but if you#re interested in seeing how to capture, hold and entertain a group of TV jaded elder folk, a trip to “Conjuring up Comedy” with Ian Keable would pay you handsome dividends, if you’re intent on becoming a better performer. It’s called professionalism.