Sir John Gielgud in the sixth of 11 programmes. talks to JOHN MILLER about his life in the theatre. 6: Time for Everything
' I think the English are so good at practical jokes. or they used to be - of course, the Edwardians were mad about practical jokes. My mother once told me that W. S. Gilbert , who was supposed to be such a funny man, took them on his yacht and tied all their pigtails to 'he chairs and then said, " Look at that shark ' and they all jumped up from their chairs and were nearly decapitated, which I don' think is funny at all, but it rather goes in the same mood of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra playing clumps and all those ridiculous things they did in those country houses in Edwardian times.'
Producer JOHN POWELL