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FOR once, the little chap in the tight grey suit is trying to stifle his smiles. It's not the time for sniggers.
He doesn't want to seem flippant. Or ungrateful.
But in the hospitality suite of a TV station he can bear it no longer.
The cries of "Sir Norman" have been following him around for two weeks. Now they're reaching a hilarious crescendo.
"Cup of tea, Sir Norman?" "Sugar, Sir Norman?" "Bourbon cream, Sir Norman?" "Autograph please, Sir Norman." "We love you, Sir Norman."
Norman Wisdom looks bemused and fiddles with his tie. The corners of his mouth twitch.
"Listen to them," he says, between bites of Jammy Dodger. "Sir this, Sir that. It's not Sir, it's just Norman. Have you ever heard anything as funny?"
But Sir Norman it is. And he'd better get used to the fawning. After more than half a century in show business, cloth-capped lovable clown Norman Wisdom, all 5ft of him, is finally joining the great and the good, the industry leaders and the thespian giants as a Knight of the British Empire.
He was on a Caribbean cruise when he heard about his inclusion in the honours list, and came home full of his trade-mark "Me? Me? Gosh. Golly. I'm a lucky little chap" stuff.
Behind the bewildered bluster, though, he is as pleased as Punch. And you can be (almost) sure that when he troops off to the Palace he'll be on his best behaviour.
On previous visits to the royal residences, when he has given private performances, Norman has sneaked on to the throne and popped out at Princess Margaret from behind a pot plant.
But, come investiture day, he'll be a picture of decorum.
"Well, it's a great honour, isn't it?" he says. "Some things, you have to be serious about."
Today, however, isn't a day for seriousness. Wisdom, who has lived in the Isle of Man since 1980, is in London to meet the fans, which means he's in performance mode, throwing himself around in his inimitable style.
Physically, thanks to a rigorous exercise regime and a two-days-a- week food combining diet, he's in tremendous shape for a man who will be 85 next month.
HE'S wearing shiny black shoes and a...