a black and white theatre still of Dennis Lotis as Jack Oakham (alias Paul Slickey) at the Palace Theatre

Osborne's musical the World of Paul Slickey opened in the West End at the Palace Theatre on 5th May 1959 and was his single biggest flop. Heilpern recounts how Slickey was intended as a social satire on venal gossip columnists and the ruling class; how the name of the lead character, Paul Slickey, was an amalgamation of Paul Tanfield, gossip columnist of the Daily Mail, and William Hickey, social diarist for the Daily Express; and how 'At the curtain call, the boos cascaded down the stage while the most spirited member of the cast, Adrienne Corri, gave the mob a "V" sign... "Never in all my theatrical experience have I seen anything so appalling, appalling from every point of view," [Noel] Coward seethed in his diaries' (Heilpern pp. 249-52). The show closed after a run of just a month on 13th June 1959.

The South African Dennis Lotis (1925-2023) started his career in entertainment in London as a vocalist with the Heath orchestra during the early 1950s. He often crooned ballads, which proved especially popular with female audiences, and straddled a range of genres, his repertoire encompassing jazz, pop and rock 'n' roll. As a solo act from the mid-'50s, Lotis recorded a number of albums for Decca, Pye Nixa and Columbia, was featured frequently on BBC radio, toured the variety circuit and performed at the London Palladium. His singing career peaked in the '60s when he became a regular guest on television popular music shows.