As a former Brighton professional ice skater I was saddened by news of the death of Sir Norman Wisdom (The Argus, October 6), who starred in Sinbad The Sailor on ice at London’s Empress Hall in 1953.

The thing I remember about that production was the chaos surrounding the rehearsal period that started on day one, with half the company in London and the rest of us in Stockholm waiting for a plane to the capital.

The Sunday night was the British contingent final performance in the legendary Sonja Henie’s ice revue tour before returning to Empress Hall, which made us a day late, irritating the producer.

One afternoon while Norman Wisdom rehearsed with a stuntman as a gorilla, the stuntman lost his grip coming down a rope and fell 150 feet to his death. Those who saw the accident were distressed. We were told to leave the building for an hour, went through one number when we returned, then rehearsals were suspended for the rest of the day.

With all the problems the production had, most thought the show would be a flop, but it became one of Empress Hall’s most successful shows, attributed to the performance of the great comedian Sir Norman Wisdom.

Reg Wilson
Scale Farm Road, Lancaster