"Dennis Quilley, GOTCHA"

It's early morning on 3rd August 1994 and I have arrived at the unit base in a field near Chesham to be part of a "gotcha" on Noel's House Party.
A group of us had been rehearsing the previous day at the BBC rehearsal rooms in Acton, we are going to be dressed in Cowboy outfits and pretend to be part of an Operatic Society that is shortly to be performing "Oklahoma" and are advertising the show by being on a Carnival Float on its way to Amersham. Our float has broken down in a lay-by a few miles from the town and the road is on the route of the car that is taking Dennis Quilley to open the Carnival.  THERE IS NO CARNIVAL !
We have been told that he is a very keen fan of Musicals and that we are going to ask him to notify the organisors that we would be late but before he leaves us we must persuade him to join in with us and sing "Oklahoma".
When he has left us, the Chauffeur will pretend to get lost and drive around the area returning to the same site 10 minutes later. During that time our float will be replaced with a float containing characters from "Wind in the Willows". The car carrying Dennis is due to bring him into the same field also with the intention of taking a short cut.
The afternoon has arrived and we have taken up our positions on the float in the lay-by (these are the days before mobile phones) and staff are monitoring the progress of the car carrying Dennis via two way radios or "walkie talkies" as they were called in those days .He is not too far away, cameras are hidden in hedges around the lay-by ready to film the "gotcha" and as we hear the car approaching we begin singing halfway through the song pretending that we are having a final rehearsal.The car pulls up alongside the float  and Dennis alights from the car looking quite concerned. Barry Killerby (obviously dressed as a Cowboy, not in the Mr. Blobby costume) tells Dennis the sad tale about us breaking down on our way to the Carnival that he is under the impression he is on his way to open.Dennis agrees to inform the organisers that we are not too far away but Barry persuades him that it would be a privilege for us if he could  join in with us as we sing the song. He agreed and seemed to enjoy joining in.He then wished us all good luck and got back into the car. The car disappeared into the distance and we were taken to a nearby field where the second float had been placed and changed into our "Wind in the Willows" costumes. Eventually the car carrying Dennis came into the field and pulled up a few yards from our float. The driver told him that we had punctured a tyre trying to take a short cut through the field. At that moment there was a loud sound of aircraft overhead and a few moments later we could see parachutes descending onto the field. They were the "Red Devils" parachute team and they all landed within yards of each other. Then Noel Edmonds emerged from a hedge at the edge of the field and approached a bemused Dennis. Noel took off his flying helmet and said "Dennis Quilley, Gotcha". Noel then explained to him that there was no Carnival and this was all one huge hoax. The first thing that Dennis said was "Do the Operatic Society know that there is no Carnival?" At that point we removed the heads of our costumes and he then realised that we were the same people. He took the hoax in very good humour and it was a privilege to meet him and be a part of that very unusual day in my life that I will never forget.