A great man, and a great singer. So much so that, without wishing to divert attention from his achievements in [what I might call] "our" field, I would point out that he is also a most accomplished actor. He started his career in Israel, where his Austrian family had emigrated after the Anschlüss. I first came across him in London in late 1940s, when my father was editor of the only Yiddish daily paper in England and, under the name of Meier Bikel, he was a Yiddish actor. He presented a season of plays of Jewish interest (in English) at the Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage, which of course my father reviwed and my mother & I accompanied him and met Mr Bikel -- and also another excellent, very young, actor in the company called David Kossoff! A few years later, early-1950s, when he was playing the Russian Colonel in Peter Ustinov's The Love of Three Colonels in the West End, Mr Bikel visited my mother's French restaurant in Kensington; between courses of his dinner (or perhaps over his coffee!) he took down a guitar that hung on the wall over his head, and played and sang to thunderous applause of the whole place ~~ the first time I became aware of this other so strong string to his bow.

He won't of course remember having once met a 22-y-o me all those years ago; but

Happy Birthday to him -- and Many Happy Returns!

~Michael (82)~