This man was very special to me and also was a huge fan of the singer Shirley Bassey, as was I, although not to the same degree as he was. He had a beautiful singing voice and sang Bassey songs a lot. He had an etching of Shirley above our bed and every night just before we went to sleep we would toast the etching with a gin and tonic, which I hated but drank to try to impress him, being the chameleon I am. We raised our glasses to the etching and said ‘Cheers Shirley’ as Goldfinger or another of Shirley’s hits played in the background. We even had a beagle we called ‘Shirley Basset’, even though it was a beagle! Luckily, he - not the dog - was a fan or converted into a fan of Debbie Reynolds, so we flew to Melbourne together to catch her show at The Swagman restaurant. At Debbie’s behest I took off to Los Angeles to catch up with her after her Australian tour (see my earlier book). When I went to her dance studio to organise where we would catch up I met her company manager, who was a Chicano - a person of Mexican descent born in the USA.
What do You think about Filling In The Gaps (2015)?
