In the late 1970s Alec McCowen gave his solo rendition of St Mark’s Gospel at the Royal Festival Hall, London. He came on to a stage bare but for a table and chair, and said to the audience: “Thank you for coming.” Quite spontaneously a woman replied: “Thank you for inviting us” – the perfect start to an unforgettable Sunday afternoon that showed all the “precision, irony and intelligence” that Michael Billington remembers.
