UK Edition
Tommy Cooper's fez finally goes on display at V&A, 32 years after it was left behind at a Wine Gums advert shoot
Tommy Cooper's famous red fez is to finally go on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, more than 30 years after it was loaned to the makers of a Wine Gums commercial.
The tasselled hat will join the remainder of Cooper's archive at the museum, after curators put out a plea to find the missing star item.
It is a gift from Hans van Rijs, an advertising executive who was given it by Cooper himself as the pair work on the animation for a Bassett's Wine Gums commercial in 1984.
Days after giving the fez away, Cooper died and the advert was never made, with the hat remaining in van Rijs' house.
The fez, said to be a little worn from the attentions of the owner's cat, will go on display at the V&A from Tuesday.
Other highlights on display will include a "gag file", a metal cabinet containing Cooper's hand-written jokes, filed alphabetically "with the meticulousness of an archivist", and contracts including those that went unfulfilled because of his sudden death following a heart attack on live TV in 1984.
The museum announced it had bought the late comic's archive, minus the fez, earlier this year.
Hans van Rijs said: "I travelled to London to meet Mr Cooper in the first week of April 1984 to discuss his script for a Dutch TV commercial for Bassett's Wine Gums.
"I arrived at his house around 10.30 and was offered something to drink. We finalised the script and he gave me his fez to take back home with me, so that the special effects team could begin animating it for the advert.
"He died a few days after we met, so sadly that advert was never made."
Cooper is believed to have first worn a fez after mislaying his army-issue helmet while performing in Cairo during the Second World War.
He is said to have taken a fez from a waiter to wear for the show and, as the hat looked comically small on Cooper's 6ft 3in frame, it became his trademark.
Simon Sladen, senior curator of modern and contemporary performance at the V&A, said: "It is wonderful news that we now have an authentic fez in addition to the Tommy Cooper Collection at the V&A.
"Cooper's fez is an icon of 20th century British comedy. It's thrilling that we can display it alongside his hand-written gags and unique examples of his comedy props to give visitors a fascinating insight into one the best-loved entertainers of the 20th century."
After an early career with the Army, Cooper went on to star in his own TV shows and become one of Britain's highest-paid and best-loved entertainers.
He died at the age of 63, shortly after collapsing during a live broadcast from Her Majesty's Theatre, London, in April 1984.
The Cooper archive is billed as the largest collection of its kind, tracing the life and legacy of the much-loved British comedian.
The fez, alongside a selection of objects from the collection, will go on public display for the first time in the museum's Theatre and Performance galleries on Tuesday.