The Heart of Show Business

On October 21, 1966, tragedy struck the South Wales mining village of Aberfan when “a coal tip slid down the hillside engulfing a number of buildings, including a primary school”, killing 144 people, 116 of them children. The Burtons were then in Rome, where Elizabeth was at work on Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), when they learned of the disaster in the country of Richard’s birth the following day. He recorded their reactions in his diary:

“We read today in the Rome Daily American that there’s been a terrible tragedy in Aberfan. 200 small children 5-12 years old were feared buried under a moving slag-heap that torrential rains had turned into sludge. Christ how many blows have those thin valleys taken. Neither E nor I can get the thing out of our minds. The details are heart rending and I found them so pitiful that I had to stop reading about them. Elizabeth wept.”

The following month, the Burtons flew from Rome to London to appear in The Heart of Show Business, a two-hour variety show benefitting the Aberfan Disaster Fund. The show, which aired in colour, was organized by three Welshmen: Richard’s friend, the actor Stanley Baker, comedian Harry Secombe, and actor Donald Houston.

In addition to Elizabeth and Richard, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Sellers, Peter O’Toole, Shirley Bassey, and Tom Jones also lent their talents to the program. Information about the show is scarce, but a clip, featuring Elizabeth introducing the Goons, later resurfaced in a documentary. “And now, ladies and gentlemen,” she says, “it gives me great pleasure to present the most original acrobatic act in the world. They are related to Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, and Harry Secombe: Les Trois Charlies!”

Although filmed in November, the show wouldn’t air until March 26, 1967.