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this business. Don’t want to give anything away.’
    â€˜You don’t give much away by answering to your name. Anyway, never mind that. Did Dickie Peck get through to you?’
    â€˜Yes, Charles. Sounds very good, this musical. I think it’s about time you got into that sort of show. I mean, haven’t I been saying for years that you ought to be doing shows that are more . . . more important?’
    â€˜No. You’ve been saying for years that I ought to be doing shows that are better paid.’
    â€˜Ah, now that’s not fair, Charles. Okay, I’ve always said you should keep out of these fringe capers, this experimental stuff, but I’ve always been thinking primarily of your career, of your artistic development.’
    â€˜That’s very generous of you.’
    â€˜I do my best.’
    â€˜So what am I getting for the current artistic development?’
    â€˜Well, Charles, Dickie Peck was offering, on behalf of the management, twenty-five for rehearsal, forty on tour end sixty for the run and I said you wouldn’t consider it for under forty for rehearsal, eighty on tour and a hundred for the run and I wouldn’t budge from that and that was my final word on the subject.’
    â€˜So?’
    â€˜You’re getting thirty for rehearsal, fifty on tour and eighty for the run.’
    â€˜Oh well, could be worse. Christopher Milton’s in this show. Got any form on him?’ While Maurice Skellern was pretty useless as an agent, he was an invaluable source of theatrical gossip.
    â€˜Nothing much, no. He doesn’t do a lot of work, really.’
    â€˜It’s just that everything he does is massively successful.’
    â€˜Yes, if you look back on his career it’s all award-winning shows. Not a lot, but it’s all been chosen just right.’
    â€˜That’s what having a good agent is about.’
    Maurice didn’t seem to notice the edge in the remark. ‘He’s a talented boy, Charles.’
    â€˜Where did he start?’
    â€˜I’m fairly sure he came out of one of the stage schools, but I don’t know which one. Think he may have been a child star in films. Not sure, though.’
    â€˜Know anything of his working reputation?’
    â€˜A bit temperamental, I’ve heard. But that’s third hand. I mean stories like that go around about every big name in the business.’
    â€˜Yes. Is he gay or anything?’
    â€˜No, I don’t think so. Sure not, actually. He married that girl who was in that film . . . you know.’
    â€˜I’m afraid I don’t.’
    â€˜Oh, the one who played opposite Nigel Thingummy in that . . . Oh, you know. Name like Elsa or Virginia or – Charlotte Fable, that’s it!’
    â€˜I’ve heard of her. Still together?’
    â€˜No, I think they split up eighteen months or so ago.’
    â€˜Divorce?’
    â€˜Haven’t seen anything about it. No, I shouldn’t think he’d like the publicity. Rather lets down the image of lovability, and that’s what the public expects of him.’
    â€˜Hmm. Oh well, thanks.’
    â€˜If you really want form, ask Johnny Wilson. He worked with him on the telly show.’
    â€˜Oh yes. What’s that called?’
    â€˜ Straight Up, Guv . Surely you must have seen it.’
    â€˜No, I haven’t.’
    â€˜Oh, it’s a very funny show, Charles. I never miss it. It’s on tonight at seven-thirty. These are repeats, actually, second time round, or is it third? Think of the money on a show like that. Probably sells round the world. That’s what you need, Charles, a big, long-running television series.’
    â€˜As part of my artistic development?’
    â€˜Of course.’
    That evening Charles watched television. He went round to see Jim Waldeman, a fellow actor who lived in Queen’s Gardens with his wife Susie and a fairly new baby. He took a bottle of Bell’s to