Tarrant revealed how he recruited Henry for the anarchic Saturday morning ITV children’s show Tiswas, and how he was on the verge of firing him.
Among many other anecdotes about his glittering career, Tarrant told the RTS: “I wanted someone to do a Muhammad Ali impression, and ‘that black kid who won New Faces’ was suggested.
Lenny was in Great Yarmouth doing The Black and White Minstrel Show as the only one without makeup.
“I got him in but we nearly got rid of him after a few episodes. I loved him but he was terribly nervous and kept forgetting his lines. He’s mega-confident now and can do everything – he’s so talented. But back then, he was nearly fired – until he brought in new characters of his spoof David Bellamy and Algernon Razzmatazz. Thank God we didn’t dump him.”
The nostalgia-filled RTS audience sang along with Tiswas’s The Bucket of Water Song, originally filmed with Paul McCartney and Wings. The song mainly involved the audience being pelted with buckets of water and reached No 26 in 1980. The Four Bucketeers – Tarrant, Sally James, John Gorman and Bob Carolgees – were invited on to Top of the Pops, to perform between the Nolans and Hot Chocolate.
Tarrant said: “The BBC didn’t like us – we were the enemy. This tosser said, ‘You can’t have any water’, so we had to put tinsel in the buckets. It was so naff.”
‘An evening with Chris Tarrant’ took place at Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham on 11 September. It was hosted by Al Booth and produced by Jayne Rae. Report by Roz Laws.
