STARS IN MY EYES

'I was in my twenties at the time, I was in Hollywood and had been invited by famous American comedian Jack Benny to his house in Beverly Hills for dinner. When I arrived at the house and sat down to eat, I shared the table with seven guests, apart from Jack and his wife Mary. There were famous film stars, Ronald Colman, the Marx brother Groucho, Broadway star Ethel Merman, George Burns with wife Gracie Allen, people I had only ever seen on the silver screen at a local cinema in London's Bermondsey...I sat in awe, wondering how I had been asked to take a chair among some of the entertainment world's biggest star names. It was the first of many similar star-studden evenings and now, in my 80th year, I reflect on so many wonderful moments, of friends and incidents...I would like to share these personal memories with you, moments that have truly left me with "stars in my eyes".' - Max Bygraves