This time he specifically ruled This Charming Man - best known for a gladioli-wielding Morrissey's louchely gyrating performance of it on Top of the Pops - off-limits.

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It's This Charming Man.

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Fellow crooner Tony Christie, who achieved chart success with Is This The Way To Amarillo, described Williams as "a very charming man" who had "perfect pitch".

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The language used is heightened for effect, but essentially it is an accurate report of a brief conversation that took place after the show between me, a charming man who was still recovering from being mistaken for Rupert Everett (this ginger-haired fellow is, I assume, the Artist-in-Residence of the British Library), and the aforementioned Times' Theatre Critic.

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