"Forgiveness is the key to happiness" - A Course in Miracles

So, what do I have in common with Tony Jenner?

I think the first intersection of mutuality is based on our both being polymaths.  I might simply have said, we are both polymaths.  But what true polymath will use six words when he can use 16 to convey the same information?  How did I form that conclusion.  Simply from the fact that we are both keen quizzers, suggesting that we may not know a lot about one particular subject, but we are keen to know about as many different subjects, albeit more superficially, as possible.  Furthermore we only have to hear a new fact or a new word to be diving into Google and finding out all we can about it.

We also share a love for two wonderful women.  In my case it's my daughter and my grand-daughter.  In Tony's case it's his wife and his daughter.  If you have worked that out, you will realise that he is my son-in-law.

And now, before moving on to the real justification for putting him into this Cast of Characters, let me add him to my (happily fairly brief) list of people to whom I owe an apology.

I am delighted to go on public record to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Tony that is several decades overdue.

The logo for my publishing organisation, Author's Self-Publishing Enterprise (ASPEN), was designed by Tony, in response to my need for an imprint that I could use on my first self-published book An ABC of NLP.  His name, and an acknowledgement of his contribution, should have appeared inside the book.  It was overlooked.  Mea culpa!  It has since been overlooked in a total of eight printed books, the spines and frontispieces of which it has graced, and innumerable internet publications.  Mea maxima culpa!  If he ever produces an invoice covering all the "repeats", it will bankrupt me!

I am, however, happy to have this opportunity to "come clean".  He is aptly named.  His Jenner-osity is boundless.

The other apology due to him (although I have actually admitted to both verbally) has been covered in the Cast of Characters tribute to Fenella Fielding.

When he was Assistant Stage Manager of the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, Kent, he would invite me to "First Night" parties where I was able to socialise with names I had previously only seen "up in lights".  Some of them have their own entries in this Cast of Characters, but there are too many of them for me to do more than incorporate a few them in this tribute to Tony.  

Michael Dennison and Dulcie Grey in Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma.  I spoke to Dennison for some time.  A suave, sophisticated man.  I can't recall what we spoke about.  I just remember how pleasant it was.  Strange to think that he and his wife must then have been the age I am now.  I thought they were "so old"!   But I suppose that's how most people see me nowadays!

Emlyn Williams in The Doctor's Dilemma.  We had a brief conversation about his Welsh origins and his play The Corn is Green that had been regarded as semi-autobiographical, but he didn't respond to my question.  I also told him how much I had enjoyed his film performances in The Stars Look Down and Hatter's Castle.  He was very frail, being born in 1905.  His performance in the play was amazing.

Judy Geeson in Flare Path.  A beautiful woman.  I managed to get her to myself, stumbled over "I've loved you for years", and then found myself totally tongue-tied with her (now forgotten) reply, and drifted away.

Leonard Rossiter in Tartuffe.  My recollection is that he was a very "private" person, almost shy.  He put in an after-show appearance and disappeared after about ten minutes