Variety was the spice of life

"YOU lucky people!" Comedian Tommy Trinder's catchphrase welcomed viewers to the launch of Sunday Night At The London Palladium.

- MARION MCMULLEN

The curtain raised on the ITV variety show 70 years ago on September 25, 1955, with the Cockney comic as the first host.

He had been one of the country's top entertainers during the Second World War and had helped to keep the country laughing. He once joked: "I was walking down Whitehall the other day and I asked this fellow, 'Excuse me, but which side is the War Office on?' He said, 'Ours I hope."