Prince Philip enjoys Tommy Cooper comedy act in 1964
Comedy legend Tommy Cooper died as he lived - making people laugh. The 6'4 funnyman had been a fixture in British entertainment since the late 1940s.
Although past his heyday he was still going strong and hugely popular at the age of 63 when he took to the stage at Her Majesty's Theatre (as it was then) on April 15 1984 to perform as part of the ITV variety show Live From Her Majesty's.
No one could have predicted it would be his final performance. For a star of his magnitude it was somewhat fitting that he died in the middle of his set as 12 million people watched on.
However, given his penchant for left of centre gags peole didn't immediately realise somethng was wrong as the segment was broadcast live.
Legenday funnyman Jimmy Tarbuck was the host of the show that night and he admits it took them a few minutes to realise something serious had happened to the star.
Indeed when he first swayed and fell down backwards on stage everyone assumed it was part of the act and people in the audience laughed.
Jimmy had been waiting in the wings as he was due to perofrm a gag with Tommy as part of the show.
Speaking on Channel 5's Tommy Cooper unseen Jimmy recalled enquiring what was going on to the producer.
"I said to David Bell, one of the great producers, this isn't it [part of the act]. 'Now', he said, 'you know how he is. He's put this in... And...I said, No... this is not him. I said, I'm telling you. I said, I'm going on David, this is live."
Even at that stage it was unknown Tommy was dying. When they asked his son Tommy Jr if it was part of the act he acknowledged it wasn't but said hs father had a bad back and wouldn't be able to get up from the fall.
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Tommy was pulled through the curtain away from audience view and the show cut to commercial break. He was such a big man it took four men to get him on a trolley and into an ambulance.
He was taken by ambulance to Westminster Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Despite this his death was not officially reported until the next morning.
Upon the show's return Jimmy was forced to fill in the additional time but no reference was made to Tommy or the fact he was later missing when all the acts who performed returned to the stage at the end of the show.
Actress and friend Shelia Hancock felt he had the perfect end. Speaking on the Channel 5 documatary she said: "I think the way he died was perfect, really. I think he was happy on the stage. So he died in his happy place."
