HIS FIRST COCAINE ... AT MY 21st PARTY

FOR my 21st birthday in 1973, my father announced a big bash. I was touched, but should have known better. It became apparent the party was to be a testimony to his ability to attract A-list celebrities. The guest list became the central focus of our lives. Princess Margaret would be out of town. Should we postpone the event until her return?

As the day approached, Sammy Davis Jr [pictured below] was in town and had offered to screen his personal copy of the porn film Deep Throat, then still banned in Britain. It was supposedly a present for me. To keep father happy I pretended to be keen. About 20 guests came to the plush red velvet screening room at a private club in Mayfair. Sammy dropped by to introduce the film and said he ‘hoped we’d have a good time’. I could only think how incredibly small he was and wonder what kind of a person travelled the world with a personal copy of Deep Throat.

The following night at the party itself – where celebrities included Liza Minnelli and Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore and Lauren Bacall – my father came up to me and asked if I knew anyone who had any cocaine. I barely touched drugs, but had bought some to help me through the night. We sneaked up to the balcony and snorted lines off a seat armrest. He told me it was the first time he’d tried it. I swelled with pride at introducing him to something new. Not exactly a traditional father-daughter moment, but that is about as good as it could get with my dad and me.