Something, I’ll tell you what later, triggered this memory. About twenty years ago Sarah asked me to go with her to see her godson act in his house play at Eton.
He was in Charles Milne’s house, known in Eton argot as CWM (the houses are called by the initials of the house master). The play was performed not in the main school theatre but in the School of Mechanics, known as the school of maniacs in my day, a telling comment on attitudes to engineers. The play was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It was better than I expected and one actor stood out in both stature and ability; Tom playing “Chief” Bromden.
There was an after-party at Milne’s house but no sign of the Chief. I asked Sarah’s godson where he was and he pointed to a boy at least three feet smaller than the character on stage and not looking remotely like an Indian. I was incredulous, especially when he sounded nothing like the part he had just played. He modestly shrugged off my praise saying that it was all clever lighting that made him look so tall – omitting his considerable acting skills. Sarah came to his rescue by asking me about the Eton house play I’d been in – Wind in the Willows. I was Chief Weasel, a typical bit of type-casting.
I haven’t met Tom again but Sarah and I showed good judgement that evening at Eton. I have chosen an interview that brings out how charming and modest Tom Hiddleston is still. (It is The Night Manager on the BBC that triggered the memory.)