The comedian Thomas Frederick Cooper (Tommy) was born in Llwyn Onn Street, Caerphilly, Wales on the 19th of March, 1921 to Tom and Gertrude Cooper.
Though technically Welsh, it was Devon that gave him his identity and his faint West Country burr. His father was from Caerphilly and his mother from Devonshire. Tommy inherited his determination from his mother and his unique sense of humour from his father.
The family later moved to Southampton but Tommy returned to Exeter to go to college.
After leaving school at fourteen, he had a brief career as an apprentice shipwright in
Hythe, Kent. He was sent home for a week whilst in this job. And why did he get sent
home? Because he was constantly honing his magic skills on the other apprentices
and so holding their work up.
It was on that ship that Tommy gave his first public performance. At the ripe old age
of 16. Cooper stood up in front of a lunchtime audience of riveters, platers and
boiler-makers. Up he got, just like that, and proceeded to dazzle them by producing a
series of fancy coloured hankerchiefs from a cylinder and, hey!, what's that behind my
ear? Why it's the ace of spades! Only thing was the hankies got stuck in the cylinder
and while he was trying to free them what fell out of his sleeve? The ace of spades!
The audience fell about and the young 16-year-old ran off with tears streaming down
his face. When the tears had dried and the embarrassment had faded, Tom sat down
in his quarters and started to practice again.
Interviewed later by Sylvia Duncan Tommy was asked,
"But how did you discover you could get a living by making mistakes?"
Tommy paused. "It was Auntie's fault. She gave me a conjuring set when I was eleven.
Then when I worked as an apprentice shipwright, I used to entertain the fellows instead
of getting on with the job. After that came the Army. That took me to the Middle East.
I got married in Cyprus and picked up a fez in Egypt. I still wear it. Now it's branded on me,
conjuring professionally.
That was when the trouble started. I was nervous, so nervous that tricks wouldn't go right. I couldn't
keep my hands still - so I waved at the audience, they waved back at me and we were buddies. Then I
produced an egg. Every magician has to have an egg, it proves his skill. Usually they come in for
breakfast next morning. Mine didn't. It broke. I nearly cried. The audience howled. So I went on
breaking eggs. Of course it's all simple humour. See this?" Tommy solemnly plucked a hair from his
head and put it in a large carrier bag. "Now I'll show you how that short hair becomes a long hair."
much weaving of hands over the bag and Tommy produced a very long hare, cut out of white paper!!
"Dear me this will never do." TC was busily plucking bits of hair from his jacket. "My bit of fluff" -
a suggestive giggle. Then out of his pocket came a toy angora rabbit. "The one that jumps out of my
hat. Always before I'm ready of course."
Photo © Pictorial Press
The polluted air of Caerphilly disagreed with the family and so, at the tender age of four, Tommy and family moved to Exeter, where he spent most of his childhood.
His parents ran a variety of small business'. They had an ice cream van and they used to go around all the fairgrounds. Tommy was looked after by other fairground people - often he was even looked after by a chimp!!
When Tommy was eleven he was given a magic set by his aunt Lucy.
