From The Northern Echo, 2002


Stu Francis — known from Crackerjack on BBC One and the famous “I could crush a grape!” catchphrase on ITV — looks back.

Francis originally set out with the ambition of becoming a circus clown. His very first job, as a youngster, was with Robert Brothers Circus, working as a stable boy and looking after 12 Shetland ponies during the school holidays.

“Over the years, Charlie Cairoli became a great pal,” he recalled. “I actually did a huge show in the Tower Ballroom for thousands of kids. I did a slapstick sketch — red nose, cream pie, the full bit — with Charlie Cairoli. It was the time when Princess Diana was walking in. I had this big pie in my hand, and she walked onto the stage and the whole place erupted.
I looked at her, then at the pie, then at Cairoli. And she said, ‘Don’t even think about it.’ She smiled at me, and I put the pie down. I said to Charlie, ‘If I had done it, I’d have been in all the national newspapers — or in some cell surrounded by a task force!’”

“But it was a wonderful moment at the Tower Ballroom.”

(This was Charlie Junior — but I think Charlie Senior would have approved, don’t you?)