I was talking to Johnny Carson, bob Hope and Lorne Green at the recording of the Tonight Show on Sunset Boulevard about three years ago (if your going to name-drop kid, do it right) and no less than five senior executives of the American television business interrupted me to ask me about Hal Roach. He had been in LA the year before and they caught his act. I took it as a great compliment to a fellow countryman that such hardened pros should enquire after him with such obvious sincerity. They thought he was marvellous and they could not get over the fact that a comedian playing to American audiences could be really funny without being blue.

So sit back and enjoy some samples of the product. Waterford gave us cut glass and Hal Roach. An awful lot of people around the world have just cause to be grateful for both.