Among the passengers enjoying Queen Elizabeth’s maiden voyage, broadcasting legend Sir David Frost is having to sing for his supper.
He and his wife Lady Carina flew out to join Cunard’s newest ship in Cadiz, Spain on Saturday – delaying the ship’s departure slightly because their plane was late. Bang on schedule on Monday, the Royal Court theatre (above) was packed for his talk, Interviews I Shall Never Forget.
Frost, who led the TV satire boom in the 1960s went on to become a giant of the medium – reaping a world record audience for his interview with disgraced US president Richard Nixon.
He has interviewed the seven most recent presidents, as well as world leaders like Nelson Mandela and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, not to mention giants from the world of entertainment like Orson Welles, Noel Coward, Woody Allen and The Beatles.
All that before his career took an unexpected turn with the TV panel show Through The Keyhole, and its persistent catchphrase, “Who would live in a house like this?”
Queen Elizabeth’s entertainments director, Alastair Greener, picks out the most memorable anecdote from Sir David’s amusing talk.
The much-maligned Denis Thatcher, accompanying wife Margaret to a presidential dinner at the White House, was invited by First Lady Barbara Bush to say a few words.
Sir Denis, who rarely spoke in public (and who famously once said “Better keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt.”) rose to his feet and replied “As Julius Caesar said to Cleopatra as he opened the entrance to her tent, ‘I haven’t come here to talk.'”
A week into the cruise, and the ship has also witnessed its first proposal of marriage, reports Alastair.
James McCracken, the Mayor of Fredon Township in New Jersey, went down on one knee and popped the question to girlfriend Lisa Lehman from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, after a dinner in the Verandah Grill restaurant and a performance of A Slice of Saturday Night by the ship’s theatre company.
The couple have now been invited to act as witnesses for a renewal of vows ceremony on the ship later this week.
Sounds like the Queen Elizabeth could become the next Love Boat.
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