From Mike Harding...
His Official Site - ::Here::

Cappers...some thoughts...

I remember Jurgen Boch of British Forces Broadcasting Service telling me once in Cologne how Tony had arrived in Germany to do some folk stuff and was in a car with him being driven by a German BFBS driver. Germany had just beat England at football and the driver decided to make polite conversation in English.

'We just beat you at your national sport.'
'We beat you at yours twice.' Tony answered. He went on to tell the driver that his dad had been to Germany a lot.
'Oh yes?' said the driver.
'Aye. It was in a la Lancaster bomber.'

Tony and I were mates for years with a genuine appreciation of each others comedy. I thought he was a star, one of the greats. Unfortunately it never came across on TV or Radio. Live he could be one of the most edgy and dangerous comics on the planet. We shared a common bond too in that both our fathers had flown in Lancasters though Tony's came back. We also had a bond in that my adopted home of Dentdale was close to his grandparents' and uncles' places near Sedbergh a cockstride away. He loved his Yorkshire and particularly the Dales.

In another world I think Tony might well have ended up a writer. He was intelligent, well-read and had a real spark of creation burning within him. We'll never know what he might have done if Madaame Booze hadn't got such a grip on him. Like Jake Thakray he was an unsung national hero.
I miss him.

Mike Harding