It is all about introducing children

to the delight of theatre,

thrill them with a funny

but beautiful tale at Christmas

when they are young, and in hope,

you will have them for life.

I was seven before I first saw my first panto,

played out for some reason

on my birthday and with Jimmy Edwards

and Arthur Askey on stage,

Hello playmates and bushy moustached Whacko

transferred from my bedside radio

to the grandness of the Birmingham Hippodrome,

my birthday, I needed to visit the toilet