The first actor I ever knew…

….was Hugh Williams. I met him many years ago because I was going out with a properly posh girl called Lucy. She was born with a ready-made group of Sloaney chums and Hugh was one of them. Most of the other chaps worked in the City so he was regarded as a bit of an oddity. Though now, of course acting is the profession of choice for Old Etonians like Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddlestone and Damian Lewis. We used to troop off regularly to see Hugh in minor roles in fringe theatres. But when I split up with Lucy, I also split up with all her Sloaney friends, so I missed the moment when Hugh Williams became an international star. I heard him this morning on Desert Island Discs, going by his middle name of Bonneville. So to celebrate his deserved success, here’s a famous song written by another H. Williams.