30 Facts About Tommy Cooper

Thomas Frederick Cooper was a Welsh prop comedian and magician.

Tommy Cooper served in the British Army for seven years before developing his conjuring skills and becoming a member of The Magic Circle.

Tommy Cooper was delivered by the woman who owned the house in which the family were lodging.

Tommy Cooper's parents were Thomas H Cooper, a Welsh recruiting sergeant in the British Army and later coal miner, and Catherine Gertrude, Thomas's English wife from Crediton, Devon.

Tommy Cooper became a member of a Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes entertainment party, and developed an act around his magic tricks interspersed with comedy.

One evening in Cairo, during a sketch in which he was supposed to be in a costume that required a pith helmet, having forgotten the prop Tommy Cooper reached out and borrowed a fez from a passing waiter, which got huge laughs.

Tommy Cooper wore a fez when performing after that, the prop later being described as "an icon of 20th-century comedy".

Tommy Cooper was demobilised after seven years of military service and took up show business on Christmas Eve 1947.

Tommy Cooper later developed a popular monologue about his military experience as "Cooper the Trooper".

Tommy Cooper worked in variety theatres around the country and at many night spots in London, performing as many as 52 shows in one week.

Tommy Cooper developed his conjuring skills and became a member of The Magic Circle, but there are various stories about how and when he developed his delivery of "failed" magic tricks:.

Tommy Cooper was influenced by Laurel and Hardy, Will Hay, Max Miller, Bob Hope, and Robert Orben.

In 1947 Tommy Cooper was booked by Miff Ferrie, a musician, to appear in a show starring the sand dance act Marqueeze and the Dance of the Seven Veils.

Tommy Cooper rapidly became a top-liner in variety with his turn as the conjurer whose tricks never succeeded, but it was his television work that raised him to national prominence.

When Tommy Cooper realised the extent of his maladies he cut down on his drinking, and the energy and confidence returned to his act.

Tommy Cooper was a heavy cigar smoker as well as an excessive drinker.

Tommy Cooper suffered a heart attack on 22 April 1977 while performing a show in Rome.

Tommy Cooper did continue to appear as a guest on other television shows and worked with Eric Sykes on two Thames productions in 1982.

The laughter from the audience began to die down as they realised Tommy Cooper was unable to get back up.

Tommy Cooper replied that his father had a bad back, and would be unable to get back up if he fell on purpose.

Dustin Gee and Les Dennis were the act that had to follow Tommy Cooper and performed in the limited space in front of the curtains.

Two stools were positioned either side of the protrusion from behind the curtain where Tommy Cooper had collapsed, whilst efforts were being made to revive him.

Tommy Cooper's death was not officially reported until the next morning, although the incident was the leading item on the news programme that followed the show.

Tommy Cooper's funeral was held at Mortlake Crematorium in London, and his son scattered his ashes in the back garden, over his father's favourite daffodils.

From 1967 until his death, Cooper had a relationship with his personal assistant, Mary Fieldhouse, who wrote about it in her book, For the Love of Tommy.

Tommy Cooper was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats.

Tommy Cooper has been cited as an influence by Jason Manford and John Lydon.

Jerome Flynn has toured with his own tribute show to Tommy Cooper called Just Like That.

In 2012 the British Heart Foundation ran a series of advertisements featuring Tommy Cooper to raise awareness of heart conditions.

In May 2016, a blue plaque in memory of Tommy Cooper was unveiled at his former home in Barrowgate Road, Chiswick.