The world-famous friendship between Mr Pastry and Cary Grant

Their names – Archie Leach and Richard Hearne better known as Cary Grant and Mr Pastry.

Today people are tuning into a new TV series called Archie following the life and times of a Hollywood superstar who made his first public appearance as a Nippy Nine at the old Hippodrome towards the end of the First World War.

The long-lost Norwich Hippodrome which once stood on St Giles (Image: Newsquest Archive)

A few years before baby Richard made his debut at the nearby Theatre Royal, aged just six weeks.

Their friendship seems to have been forged in England following the Second World War. By then Archie (Cary Grant) was a big-time movie star and Mr Pastry  one of the most-loved comedy acts in the land.

He would become a regular on the Ed Sullivan Show in the States and how the Americans loved him.” No British performance ever has scored the tremendous hit achieved by Richard Hearne,” said Ed.

Cary Grant who struck up a great friendship with “our” Mr Pastry (Image: PA/Newsquest Archive)Archibald Leach was born at Bristol in 1904. He didn’t have a happy childhood. His father was an alcoholic and his mother suffered from depression.

But he was taken to the theatre and became a fan of Bob Pender’s Nippy Nine troupe of acrobats.

So much so that when he was 14 he got in touch with Bob and was invited to join them…in Norwich.

An early appearance of the 'Nippy Nine' featuring a young Archibald Leach, later Hollywood star Cary Grant, advertised in the Eastern Evening News on May 14, 1918 (Image: Newsquest Archive)They sent him the money for the train fare and young Archie ran away from home, making his way from Bristol to Norwich. Quite an adventure for a lad of his age.

When he got to the city Bob and Margaret Pender welcomed this new Nippy Nine with open arms. His father took him back to Bristol but on leaving school he joined the troupe and went off to America to became a great actor and one of Hollywood’s sharpest operators.

Richard Hearne as Mr Pastry, February 18, 1961 (Image: Newsquest archive)

Meanwhile Richard Hearne was born in Norwich during 1908, and lived at Lady Lane, where The Forum now stands. His mother was an actress and his father an acrobat. They took him on the stage at the Theatre Royal when he was a few weeks old.

Richard went to Crooks Place School (now Bignold) before travelling the world with his parents and being educated at the “university of life.”

Norwich born comedian Richard Hearne as Mr Pastry, 11 October 1958 (Image: Newsquest Archive)

His career in showbusiness was quite extraordinary. By the 1930s he had worked out how to fall over more than 40 different ways. He was a star across the land and after the war Mr Pastry emerged to take the world by storm.

In France he was called Papa Gateau while in Germany he was known and loved as Mr Sugar Tart and a regular guest on the Ed Sullivan Show in the States where around 40 million people turned in to watch his antics.

Richard Hearne aka Mr Pastry opens Henry Mansfields of Aylsham in 1960 (Image: Newsquest Archive)His theme tune was Pop Goes the Weasel and, while he was a huge celebrity, the people of Norfolk and Suffolk got to meet him when he arrived, more often than not, to raise money for many different charities and good causes. He loved visiting schools and chatting with the children.

What a line up for the Grand Charity Cricket Match. Gary Sobers was a late arrival (Image: Philip Yaxley Collection)

Mr P did so much to help others. He raised huge amounts for the Norfolk & Norwich Spastics Society for example and, as a keen cricketer, was President of The Lord Taverners,’ playing across Norfolk in celebrity teams which people loved to watch.

Mr Pastry having a rest with the rest of the Lord Taverners team at Ingham back in 1963. Can you recognise Gary Sobers and Graham Hill? (Image: Philip Yaxley Collection)

Mr Pastry clowning around with Ernie Wise at a match in 1967. Can you spot Clement Freud, Leslie Crowther and David Frost? (Image: Philip Yaxley Collection)

Richard Hearne OBE died in 1979 while Cary Grant passed away in 1986. It was said they were kindred spirits who loved each other’s company. What lives they led.