A year ago this week the actor and comedian Tony Slattery died. I wrote this piece about him the day we heard the news, recalling how he was a schoolfriend of my brother’s, and a family friend for many years after that. I have written many thousands of words about him since them, not finalized or posted yet. I have been trying to work out how best to gather my memories of him. I would like to group them by month rather than trying to create a chronology running from 1976 (when I first saw him on stage) to 2024 (my last, unsuccessful attempts to get messages to him). That’s how I have been drafting pieces: February memories of Tony, August memories of Tony and so on.

Before all that, shortly after Tony died, I finally opened the last bottle of champagne that he bought for us in the summer of 1993. As I noted in last year’s piece, “I kept one of the bottles, waiting for a time when we could drink it together. That was over 31 years ago. I had hoped that we would meet again, and open the bottle. It has not been kept on its side through all those decades, so maybe it has gone flat or turned to vinegar.” Unfortunately it had turned to vinegar. The bottle opened without a pop and the liquid dribbled out of it. I have kept the empty bottle for nearly a year but will put it out with the recycling for next Monday. Here’s a photograph of it, along with the words that Tony wrote on a postcard to my brother from Edinburgh in the summer of 1982.

Here’s a close-up of the text from the postcard.

As you can see, it reads:
“Ta for your letter – good to hear from you. The show is v. slick by now (mechanical) + Edin. is vibrant (crowded). Be glad to stop footlights nonsense + break into real world (sign on). Be in London 6th Sept – will get in touch. love to family etc. (?)
Tony”