Please send silk pyjamas at once!
THE ACTOR Michael Redgrave arrived in Moscow when touring Russia with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company (precursor of today’s RSC) in 1958 and received a message: ‘Guy Burgess wants to know if you would meet him.’ Redgrave, who had been at Cambridge with Burgess but not seen him since, agreed. ‘I had a general recollection that he was amusing. He had a very lively mind.’ He was in his dressing room after the first night of Hamlet when Burgess swept in, extending both arms in greeting: ‘Oh, Michael! Those words! You can imagine how they carry me back. Magic!’ He was then sick in a basin. It was an encounter that was to inspire one of the most memorable dramas about Burgess — Alan Bennett’s An Englishman Abroad (in which actress Coral Browne — another of the Shakespearean thespians — played herself and Alan Bates portrayed Guy Burgess). In fact, Burgess had complained to Coral Browne about his Russian false teeth and clothes and asked if she would buy him some new attire in London. He wanted some suits from his old tailor in Savile Row, plus two Homburg hats from Lock & Co — one green and one blue — with a turned-up brim. Subsequently he sent his measurements together with a cheque for £6 for her to treat herself to lunch. Browne arranged the purchases through Turnbull & Asser in Jermyn Street, which were paid for through Burgess’s London account. He was thrilled when they arrived and added a request for silk pyjamas. ‘Russian ones can’t be slept in — are not in fact made for that purpose.’ The visit had been a poignant reminder of what Burgess had left behind. He told Redgrave’s wife Rachel Kempson how wonderful it was to hear an English voice. When the British actors left Moscow, Redgrave noticed Burgess was almost in tears. ‘Write to me,’ he said, ‘it’s bloody lonely here, you know.’