Oh god, I now have to tell you my Heath Robinson story…
It was just after the McCartney book had come out, and I was mooching around their London office one day, looking at fan letters that had come in. One was from Norman Hunter, not the footballer, but the author of the extraordinarily successful
Professor Branestawm series of books that I and my mates had worshipped as kids.
“Can I reply to this one?” I asked.
Certainly. One less letter for them to send a form reply to.
I replied. We met. We had an unforgettable day.
He had converted the entire top floor of his house into a scale model of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
He gave us a command performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s
Pirates of Penzance. All of it.
I left blissed out.
And, yes,
Heath Robinson* illustrated them.
* US = "Rube Goldberg machines"