Chit chat - Bonding over a lift

Published Tuesday 13 May 2008 at 13:10 by Tabard

Music hall chairman, actor and writer Michael Kilgarriff leads a colourful life. The six-foot seven performer recently went to meet his tailor for a suit fitting at the Sheraton Tower in Knightsbridge.

Says Michael: “I was told to go to room 919, and to press 9 on the keyboards outside the lifts. A door opens and I am whisked up to the 16th floor - there are no buttons inside the lift, so I can’t stop my ascent. At the 16th, a friendly foreigner shows me that when you press the keypad you have to watch the display to see which of the three lifts you should enter.

“Anyway, I have my fitting, go back to the lifts. I push 0 for the ground floor and a door opens. I mumble jocosely about the confusing system to the two men who are in the lift, one of whom was none other than Roger Moore. On reaching the ground floor, Sir Rog very kindly gave me a quick lesson on how to work the lift system.”

Sure you didn’t push 007, Michael?