Editing Tommy Cooper (section)

==Career==
Cooper was influenced by [[Laurel and Hardy]],<ref name="Fish">John Fisher, ''Tommy Cooper: Always Leave Them Laughing'', Harper Collins, 2006, p. 137</ref> [[Will Hay]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.com/2015/05/25/feature_will_hay_british_comedy_legend/|title=Will Hay: Britain's bumbling star of the screen and skies|first=Phil|date=25 May 2015|last=Strongman|website=[[The Register]]|access-date=27 December 2018}}</ref> [[Max Miller (comedian)|Max Miller]],<ref name="Fish"/> [[Bob Hope]],<ref name="Fish"/> and [[Robert Orben]].<ref>Fisher, ''Tommy Cooper'', pp. 157–158</ref>

In 1947 Cooper was booked by Miff Ferrie, a musician, to appear in a show starring the [[Sanding (dance)|sand dance]] act Marqueeze and the Dance of the Seven Veils. This was followed by a European tour and work in [[pantomime]], and concluded with a season at the [[Windmill Theatre]]. Ferrie remained Cooper's sole agent for 37 years, until Cooper's death in 1984.

Cooper rapidly became a top-liner in variety with his turn as the conjurer whose tricks never succeeded, but it was his television work that raised him to national prominence. After his debut on the [[BBC]] talent show ''New to You'' in March 1948 he began starring in his own shows, and was popular with audiences for nearly 40 years, notably through his work with [[London Weekend Television]] from 1968 to 1972 and with [[Thames Television]] from 1973 to 1980. Thanks to his many television shows during the mid-1970s he was one of the most recognisable comedians in the world.

John Fisher writes in his biography of Cooper: "Everyone agrees that he was mean. Quite simply he was acknowledged as the [[Miser|tightest]] man in show business, with a pathological dread of reaching into his pocket." One of Cooper's stunts was to pay the exact taxi fare and when leaving the cab slip something into the taxi driver's pocket, saying, "Have a drink on me." That something would turn out to be a tea bag.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007hzl2 |title=BBC Two - The Art of Tommy Cooper |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=20 April 2014 |access-date=18 February 2015}}</ref>

By the mid-1970s alcohol had started to erode Cooper's professionalism and club owners complained that he turned up late or rushed through his show in five minutes. In addition he suffered from chronic [[indigestion]], [[lumbago]], [[sciatica]], [[bronchitis]] and severe circulation problems in his legs. When Cooper realised the extent of his maladies he cut down on his drinking, and the energy and confidence returned to his act. However, he never stopped drinking and could be fallible: on an otherwise triumphant appearance with [[Michael Parkinson]] he forgot to set the safety catch on the [[Guillotine (magic trick)#The traditional Guillotine illusion|guillotine illusion]] into which he had cajoled Parkinson, and only a last-minute intervention by the [[floor manager]] saved Parkinson from serious injury or worse.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-secret-life-of-tommy-cooper-417272.html |title=The secret life of Tommy Cooper |last=Randall |first=David |newspaper=The Independent |date=24 September 2006 |access-date=18 February 2015}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=January 2021}}

Cooper was a heavy cigar smoker (up to 40 a day) as well as an excessive drinker.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.beyondthejoke.co.uk/content/762/tommy-cooper-%E2%80%93-flawed-genius/page/0/2|title = Tags: 762}}</ref> Cooper suffered a heart attack on 22 April 1977 while performing a show in Rome.<ref>The Guardian
25 Apr 1977 - Page 5.</ref> Three months later he was back on television in ''Night Out at the [[Prince Edward Theatre|London Casino]]''.

By 1980 his drinking meant that [[Thames Television]] would not give him another starring series, and ''Cooper's Half Hour'' was his last. He did continue to appear as a guest on other television shows, however, and worked with [[Eric Sykes]] on two Thames productions in 1982.