BOUNCING BACK
CHRIS Tarrant thought he was going for a quiet meal with his close family to celebrate his 70th birthday.
When they got to the restaurant the inexplicably giggly waitress led their small party down an alleyway, threw open a door... and he realised he’d been had
Inside, there were 500 people, every one of them with a “ridiculous” cardboard Chris Tarrant mask on their face, shouting, “Happy Birthday”.
It was a great start to a fabulous night which saw Michael Aspel making Chris the subject of a private This Is Your Life.
Aspel, 84, had last been seen wielding the famous red book on television way back in 2003, but that didn’t stop him dusting it off for the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire star’s party in October.
The surprise bash at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London, was thanks to a conspiracy between Chris’s long-term partner Jane Bird, his four children, friends and old colleagues from shows such as Tiswas.
Speaking about the event for the first time, he said: “We had the most ridiculous night. I now do not trust my missus, my kids, my PAs – anyone in my life. They kept this ridiculous secret from me.
“I was supposed to be going out with Jane and my kids to a small restaurant in central London.
“A waitress sort of giggled at me and led me out to what seemed to be the back and I was thinking, ‘Where the hell are we going?’
“I wandered down this alleyway, getting more and more confused and suddenly she opened a door and there were 500 people inside.”
He had just got over the shock of that when Aspel appeared.
Chris said: “They did this massive spoof This Is Your Life with Michael doing the whole thing. He’s 84, he looks amazing and is as fit as butcher’s dog and sharp as a tack, bless him. “It was so funny.” His old Tiswas pals Lenny Henry, 58, and Sally James, 66, were called up to tell their stories, along with his friends, hypnotist Paul McKenna, 53, and chef James Martin, 44.
Chris said: “I thought, ‘These are all my mates’. Most of them I had spoken to in the last few weeks or days or whatever. And they had all kept this bloody great secret. How stupid am I?
“Once I’d got over the shock, it was a brilliant night.”
As well as being a huge celebration for Chris, the bash also raised thousands of pounds for charity.
He added: “I am sure if anyone had suggested it, I would have said, ‘Ah no, I don’t want that. I don’t want all the fuss’.
“But it was a great way to celebrate being