My (Bobby) Crush!
Reader Irene Purslow shares her memory of a perfect birthday – when she met Bobby Crush!
I’ve loved the entertainer Bobby Crush since he won Opportunity Knocks five weeks in succession in 1972. Twenty years later, I was thrilled to discover he was due to appear at the Civic Hall, Stratford upon Avon in a one-man show – on my birthday!
I wasted no time in booking four seats, knowing that my sister Ann, my mother and my aunt would also enjoy the show. As a bonus, we were able to get front row seats.
It was a wonderful night of music, interspersed with chats about Bobby’s life and requests from the audience. Halfway through the show he looked over at us and said, “I think it’s someone’s birthday…” He left the stage and, to my delight, came down to where I was sitting and handed me a rose. The audience sang ‘Happy Birthday’ with Bobby serenading me. My sister, bless her, told me she had written to Bobby and this was how he knew about my birthday!
At the end of the show we hung around the auditorium and were delighted when Bobby came out and spent the rest of the evening chatting to us while we took photographs. I asked him where he was appearing next and he told us he was going to Exmouth, so we hatched a plan to go to that show, too. This would prove to be no problem for us as my sister drove; I booked us tickets and arranged an overnight stay in a B&B.
Over the next few years my sister and I travelled all over the country seeing Bobby perform and always spent time with him after his shows while making new friends with other fans.
One Saturday morning around Christmas I was tuned in to our local radio station and the penny dropped
‘After a long chat on air, Bobby played piano and I was persuaded to sing along!’
that the presenter was Ross King, who we’d actually met the night before at one of Bobby’s concerts. I called the studio to say how pleased I was to have met him. I was thrilled when the operator put me through to him, and Ross then phoned Bobby at home.
After a long chat on air between the three of us Ross asked Bobby to play White Christmas and then persuaded me to sing along while Bobby played…
In 2002 we received an invitation to go to the Grosvenor House Hotel in London to attend a celebration lunch in recognition of Bobby’s 30 years in showbusiness. When we arrived we were shown into the bar where we recognised so many famous faces, Claire Rayner, Christopher Biggins and the delightful Anita Harris to name but a few.
Sadly, shortly afterwards, my sister was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease so we were unable to travel as we had, but we have some very fond memories of the time as well as a huge collection of Christmas and birthday cards that Bobby sent to us over the years! Happy times.