On the eve of battle the 6ft 4inch-15 stone Cooper joined the Horse Guards for seven years, before making his showbusiness debut with ENSA during the Second World War.
According to Tommy the day he joined the army he was interviewed by a Colour-Sergeant
in the Guards. He asked him if he could ride or if he knew anything about horses.
Tommy said he didn't. The CS said, 'You seem to be a little hoarse,' so he put him
in the Horse Guards.
He was sent to the cavalry barracks at Aldershot.
Horse Guards are called Troopers so, obviously, Tommy the Horse Guard was known as
Trooper Cooper!!
Tommy's unit had a hundred Guards in it.
Tommy became an army heavyweight boxing champion, so good that he was offered a
contract to turn professional.
The unit was sent to the Middle East, to a camp near Suez, he found himself as near as
to a real war as anyone would want to get. He served with an armoured car
reconnaissance unit until he was wounded in the right arm.
He then joined the concert party and started to entertain the troops.
Before he could join he had to have an audition. At this stage he had flirted with the idea of
an act based on ineptitude but hadn't yet embraced it. He still thought he'd be a top
magician in his own right. At the audition Tommy did his milk bottle trick. The one where
he turns the milk bottle upside down, takes the top off and the milk stays in the bottle.
The audience roared, the audition was passed.
While serving he travelled to Egypt and began to develop his act incorporating the now
iconic trademark fez.
Whilst on a boat travelling from Port Said to Alexandria he first saw his future wife,
Gwendoline Henty. She was 26, an accomplished pianist. They met while doing the same
show in Alexandria. Tommy sat next to her on the bus going back to the headquarters.
Two weeks later he asked Gwen, who he now affectionately calls Dove, 'I suppose you
wouldn't marry me, would you?'
There was a complication. When Dove got on that boat to Alexandria, she was alone but
not exactly single. She had been engaged to a pilot who was killed on a mission to
Cologne. Her heart was still broken - or so she thought.
Asked later what she would have done if her pilot had survived she said, 'I'd have broken
off the engagement. I really fell for Tommy.'
Two months later they were married in Nicosia, Cyprus. They went on to have two children Tommy Junior and Vicky.
Click here for a horse guards story care of Tommy
Sources - Tommy Cooper Just Like That - Jeremy Novick and Tommy Cooper's Just Like That! - Jokes and Tricks
Photo © Pictorial Press
Photo © Mirror Newspapers
