Frank Sinatra, the Queen and me, by Christopher Biggins

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However, even after Porridge my career was still very up and down.I did, among other things, I, Claudius, which the critics initiallyslated; The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which flopped on itsrelease; and, in 1977, Poldark, in which I played a wickedsex-crazed vicar.
Poldark was a big hit and, to my delight, I was voted 'the mosthated man on TV'. But perhaps the Reverend Ossie Whitworth was toohard an act to follow.
I got a little lost as the Seventies came to a close. In the shopwindow world of prime-time television I was in danger of fading.
But then I presented a very successful children's show and in themid-Eighties I was asked to be Cilla Black's co-host on Surprise,Surprise. We were an instant hit with more than 15million Saturdaynight viewers.

On the show everything was lavish, and I was swept along in Cilla'swake. She had her own driver, so I had mine. She had to have a newdress every week, so I had to have a new suit. We were treated likemovie stars.
But as our fourth season approached there were some changes plannedin the format which I felt amounted to a demotion for me, so Iquit.
It was one of the worst decisions I've made in my whole career. Icould probably have become a multi-millionaire if I'd swallowed mypride and stayed with that show for the next four or five years.
Indeed, after Surprise, Surprise I hit a few lows. It has alwaysbeen feast or famine for me. You truly are only as good as yourlast performance.
However, I still had panto and theatre. The former saw me throughmany lean times; the latter saved my sanity, if not my finances.
While my TV career was not exactly flourishing, my social life was.This was how, through my friend Joan Collins, I ended up at GeorgeBurns's 97th birthday party in 1993 and met Sinatra.
'A few years ago I played Nathan Detroit in Guys And Dolls,' I saidto him. 'Christopher, so did I,' Sinatra replied, as if I reallyneeded to be told.
Then Frank asked me to be his bodyguard. The man infamous for mafialinks wanted an old fruit like me to protect him, although it wasfrom no ordinary enemy.
'Christopher, will you come out and guard me from my wife while Ihave a cigarette?' he drawled.
But while attending parties and mixing with the likes of Sinatrawas fabulous, my bank balance was beginning to look decidedlyshaky. My agent's phone wasn't exactly ringing off the hook andwhen I finally tried to sort out my finances I was brought sharplydown to earth.
My problem is that I've always loved being out of work - just aswell, my critics might say - but when I was unemployed I wouldcarry on spending as if I were working. Champagne doesn't drinkitself, as one friend often likes to point out.
To my horror, I realised that I needed