A ROYAL SNUB FOR TONY CURTIS’S VELVET JACKET

TONY CURTIS had a fixation about leather gloves. He felt his character in The Persuaders, Danny Wilde, should always wear them. In one episode, he even washed his hands while wearing them.

As much as I admired Tony (pictured with me in the show) and enjoyed working with him, I couldn’t deny he was eccentric. One year, we both received invitations to the Royal Film Performance.

Fortunately, Richard Burton didn’t go that year, as he and I shared a white-tie outfit. It was beautifully tailored and fitted us both perfectly, because we had exactly the same chest measurements (although Richard was shorter and used to have to turn the trousers up).

But this arrangement did mean that we couldn’t both go to the same premieres.

Tony announced that he’d never heard of ‘white tie’ and didn’t intend to learn.

‘ Dear sweet Roger,’ he addressed me, as he always did, ‘I haven’t got such a thing. I do have a very nice velvet jacket and a nice scarf, and with a nice shirt it will be lovely.’

I suggested he should stick to protocol, but no, on the night he turned up in his short velvet jacket with a long scarf and an open-necked shirt.

The Queen arrived. She made her way along the line-up in the Odeon foyer, and when she reached me she shook my hand, had a few words and moved on — straight on, right past Tony. Her eyes did not rest upon him. She bypassed him entirely.

The moral here is simple: Never mess around with Her Majesty.