We were very sad to hear of the passing of actor Tim Curry, born in Grappenhall (UK) in 1946. While most famous for his iconic role as Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", he had a brilliant career in theatre, TV, and cinema alike, spanning over five decades. We would like to remind him with the photograph, held at the University of Gloucestershire Special Collections and Archives, of him holding a birthday cake for The Queen Mother in 1982, after the Queen Mother watched him performing "The Pirates of Penzance" at the Theatre Royal.
While the photograph has not been made available online by the archive, we found this copy (or perhaps a different photograph of the event) on Tim Curry's fan page on Facebook by searching for the collection's title online - another example of digital connections on the web!
For those without access to Facebook, here is the text accompanying the social media pic, where Tim Curry not only remembers the event in details, but he considers one of his most embarassing moments.... as he dropped the cake!
"What was the most embarrassing thing your parents ever did to you?
Tim: Ooooo, well, in 1981, I think it was, I was in the "Pirates of Penzance" at Drury Lane in London, on-stage. And the Queen Mother came for her birthday treat. She came with Frederick Ashton, who was a choreographer, and a bunch of friends, and had a tiara on, the whole bit, and she would wave from the box. You know that her wave is light bulb? (In a Queen Mother voice) 'So glad. So very glad.' And it was sort of cool, because in the intermission the audience all stood up and sang 'Happy Birthday.' And at the end of the show, she came backstage to be presented to the cast. And we were all kind of lined up. And she said (Queen Mother voice) 'So glad. So very glad. Really.' She's actually a lot of fun. And she'd been throwing back gin backstage, she had a wonderful time. She said, (Queen Mother voice) 'I had such a good time.' And anyway I had to... My mother who loved this show because it's one of the few things that I've ever done which was 'PG' rated, used to come all the time, and it was a big hit. She insisted on coming that night because she heard the Queen Mother was coming. And I had to stagger on... she had come backstage... I had to stagger on with this huge birthday cake. And I was coming on with this great, big birthday cake, and all I can see is my mother in the wings going, 'I'm here. I'm here.'
And I dropped the cake.
- Oh, no. What did the Queen Mother say?
(Queen Mother's voice) 'Oh.' I think she was kind of thrilled, because you know, she's not short of calories. We picked it up, and we tried to kind of put it together, and you could see her thinking, (Queen Mother's voice) 'Oh, not another cake.' And we put it back onto the table, and then I couldn't find anything to cut it with. There was a sort of cake slice, it was one of those triangular things. So in the end I just used my sword from the stage.
: The Queen Mother celebrates her 82nd Birthday at The Pirates of Penzance, Drury Lane, 4th August 1982"

