ONLY FOOLS FALL IN LOVE WITH BOYCIE Challis’ wife fondly remembers life with actor husband
THE second time I met John Challis I knew, in what seemed like a flash of intuition, that he was the man for me.
Tall, brooding, darkly handsome, with an aura of mystery about him, softened by an infectious sense of humour and dark, sexy eyes, I was immediately attracted to him.
It was 1990, and I was staying with friends — the actor Peter Egan and his wife Myra Frances — while my little house in Chiswick had builders in. Myra was directing a play in which John was cast as a scruffy old, creepy murderer.
She introduced us in the Green Room before the show. I was captivated at once and loved his performance. This had been briefly interrupted by a comic moment when he’d made his first entrance and an old lady in the front row, nudging her friend, said loudly, “That’s him. That’s Boycie!”
I had met him once before, but fleetingly and now a few years on, Myra asked me what I thought of John.
“He’s lovely — just my type!” I answered. She reported back to John: “My friend likes you.” “Is she mad?” he’d answered.
Nevertheless, this prompted him to ask me out for dinner a couple of times, and at Christmas that year, I joi ned Peter and Myra who’d also invited John for turkey and pudding. It was one of t he great Christmasdinners.Johnwasinterrific form, bursting with anecdotes and brilliant mimicry — one of his great talents. Towards the end of a merry evening, I was feeding him walnuts, and hanging my string of pearls around his neck.
I knew a lot of people in showbusiness and understood what it was about. I was never an actress, but as a young fashion student, working in the lingerie department of Harrods, I was spotted by one of the Bluebel l Girls’ choreographers.
I had the advantage of a pair of very long legs, I knew how to dance, and within weeks I’d become a full- blown
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West End show girl. By the time I met John, I was working in the wardrobe department on The Phantom of the Opera.
Over the next year, John and I met up from time to time. I invited him for dinner at my flat a few times and he took me to Bill Wyman’s restaurant, Sticky Fingers.
Then John had to fly off to Florida with Sue Holderness, who played his onscreen wife Marlene in Only Fools and Horses, to make Miami Twice, one of the few episodes they filmed overseas.
Magic
When he came back, I plucked up the courage to ask him if he would like to come with me to Hawaii, my favourite place in the world. Though we didn’t know each other well, we felt, “What the hell! Let’s go for it and see where it leads.” The magic worked, and while we were there, he plucked up his courage. “When we get back to London,” he muttered, “You might as well move into Mortlake with me.”
I did move into the flat in Mortlake, but it was very small so we found an Edwardian semi nearer Richmond Park and I happily set about doing it up.
I loved living with John right from the start. We played tennis together, usually me and a gang of his male friends.
He had been spending too much time with his drinking buddies in the Coach & Horses, but I didn’t drink and he tried, generally successfully, to cut down, which I took as a significant commitment.
Soon after moving in, we set off on our first visit together to Africa. John was a well-respected trustee of the Tusk Trust and we were greeted enthusiastically in Zimbabwe where we set off with guides into the bush on horses to locate a gang of young male elephants.
It was an extraordinary expedition, and wonderful to sit out under the stars with John in the warm African nights. I took to it from the start, which made John very