Meet the West End’s coolest Cat

Rarely is anyone in the right place at the right time when a stomach bug catches you unawares.

Of all the situations one can find themselves in when their gut gets giddy, dancing opposite Margot Fonteyn in a costume so tight it had to be sewn on might just be the worst setting of all. Fortunately for Gillian Lynne, she managed to rush off stage and the audience was none the wiser.

Lynne contributed in no small part to the sparkle of London’s West End. She toured the world as a part of the prestigious Sadler’s Wells company and choreographed two of the longest-running shows on Broadway – Cats and The Phantom of Opera.

Following her death in 2018, the New London Theatre was renamed in her honour, making her the first non-royal woman to have a West End theatre named after her.

Gillian Lynne’s Book of Particular Cats is available now 

Her high-kicks and hijinks were in no way confined to the stage, and in this posthumously published memoir, Lynne details some of her wildest moments.

There’s a chapter dedicated to her brief friendship with Sophia Loren after they met on the set of 1971’s Man Of La Mancha. Lynne shared that when dancing, she wears a G-string made for her by her stepmother. Loren was ‘fascinated’ and asked if she might make some for her too. Lynne cherished the image of ‘my stepmother intricately sewing G-strings for Sophia Loren at her sewing machine in Bromley’.

Amidst the starry anecdotes the less glitzy stand out much more. For instance, in 1948 she was set to marry her first husband Patrick St John Back, but his father disapproved – and organised a ‘health check’ for Lynne. It dawned on her what it was really about, so she said to the doctor, ‘Look I’m more of a virgin than most girls my age, but I’ve been able to do splits since I was 14 and I should think my hymen was broken years ago.’ Her-in laws did not attend the wedding.

There’s rather a wince-worthy chapter about the night when heartthrob, and friend, Errol Flynn invited her to his suite in the Savoy where Clark Gable was waiting.

They all start drinking and persuade her to take a drug. She passes out. After she wakes, she suspects ‘a little something has taken place’ so points her finger at them and merrily says, ‘You’re both very naughty’ and leaves. Not comfortable reading…

But, on the whole Lynne’s book is a treasure trove of stories from a life well-lived.