Happy Birthday, Peter O'Toole

Picture of Peter O'Toole at Listal

Peter O’Toole is 78. When I was a teenager, I had a picture on my bedroom wall which I'd taken from one of the Sunday paper magazines. The whole double page spread consisted of just O'Toole's blue eyes blazing through the headdress he wore in Lawrence of Arabia. To some people, that film is still 'four hours of sand' but, as Noël Coward said at the time, "if he'd been any more beautiful, they'd have had to call him Florence of Arabia."

So I went to see that film and, with similarly smitten friends, What's New, Pussycat?, Becket and Lord Jim. Over the years, his acting has been er, variable; I cherish the memory of a Martin Clunes impersonation of him in Civvies. But he's so beautiful, his former lifestyle makes it a wonder he's still with us, he's always good for a quote and he loves cricket. After all these years, I'd still pay just to sit and look at him. Happy Birthday, and thanks!