Sue's still indignant about how Benny's time at Thames came to an end. She thinks that John Howard Davies, the head of Thames who sacked Benny, did so either just so he could make his mark on the company, or possibly because "somebody got to him," as she put it. I said at this point, "But after Benny died, Thames lost their franchise and were swallowed up by Pearson. Maybe Benny got his own back in the end, after all." Sue responded that only a year after Benny died, of a heart attack, Howard Davies also died of a heart attack. Personally, I can't help but think there might have been a bit of karma there. ⁴

We also spoke, just a bit, of the circumstances of Benny's tragic death and its aftermath. Benny had intended to remember Sue, Louise, Henry McGee, and some others from the show in his will: a piece of paper stating this was found in his effects. But because the paper was unsigned and unwitnessed, it had no legal effect - although it clearly reflected his wishes. Sue was very saddened at his death, and the controversy with his will was a further disappointment to her.

Much of Benny's money, as we know, went to his relatives in Australia. ("They may have been his relatives," I said to Sue, "but you, Louise, and the rest were his family.") But Sue mentioned that much of his money was still in Spanish banks, and she thought it would stay there, earning interest indefinitely.

One thing's absolutely undeniable: Sue looks back on Benny with nothing but the greatest respect and affection. Her children ("the littlies," as Benny called them) were very fond of him, as was she herself. Sue described him as "the most wonderful, interesting person I've ever known," said of her work that she "wouldn't have changed working on Benny's show for all the tea in China," and that his death, together with her wish to devote more time to her family, was what made her decide to retire from show business. At first, she said, it was difficult for her to make the adjustment from showbiz to normal life - but it seems to me that she's now happy and satisfied with her life, as it now is. She also sends her regards and thanks to all the members of the group, for remembering Benny, herself, and the rest of the Angels.

At this point, Sue turned the tables and asked me a question. "Do you know what they'll ask you, Erik?" she said.

"No, what will they ask me?"

"They'll ask you: what is Sue Upton really like as a person?"

"Okay, what are you really like as a person?" (Not the most incisive line of questioning, I know, but I'm not a journalist. Besides, with the excitement of being in Sue's presence, it was all I could do to speak in coherent, complete sentences.)

"Tell them," she said, "I'm just an ordinary, nice girl, who likes to laugh, likes to please people and likes to make them laugh."

Sue's clearly very nice, and is very good at pleasing people and making them laugh, but I can't agree with her description of herself as "ordinary." Would an ordinary person have caught Benny's eye, out of what must have been many hundreds of incredibly beautiful girls who auditioned for his show? Would an ordinary person have stayed on the show for a dozen years, and become a personal friend of his? Would an ordinary person have gone so far out of her way to make me, a total stranger, feel so welcome? I don't think an ordinary person would have done any of that, and I trust you'll all agree with me.

⁴ As of the date of writing, the Internet Movie Database gives no date of death for John Howard Davies, and in fact lists a few credits for him in the mid-1990s.