Bio[]
Gaston LeClerc is an eight-year old French Catholic student who appears on Meeting People with Henry McGee. LeClerc has won a poetry competition, and McGee listens with delight as he tells about his first trip to England and its landmark, getting into long stories and anecdotes with his uncle acting as his chaperone. Unfortunately, McGee soon struggles to follow and comprehend his accent with LeClerc ("German" means "chairman" and "to stay" with "Tuesday") growing irritated and more frustrated with his strained attempts to translate. At one point, LeClerc even mocks McGee's attempt to translate his story:
McGee - "Writing paper? Newspaper? Note paper?"
LeClerc - "Try toilet paper."
McGee - "Toilet paper?"
LeClerc - "No."
LeClerc eventually reunites with McGee on Friends To Tea with Henry McGee. McGee claims thousands of letters wanted him back as a guest, but he gestures that it was just one letter. This time, Gaston is louder and more obnoxious than before and has brought his sister, Louise LeClerc (Louise English) along with him. She sits around and licks her lollipop while fussing with her dress as Gaston talks about their mother's factory. Henry soon steers the talk to the song and dance contest through which they won and received a book about Ancient Greece. Louise talks glowingly about the goddess Aphrodite, but Gaston says Pythagoras was a man who invented algebra, arithmetic and geometry because he hated children. McGee soon sends the children off to perform their song and dance act, but Gaston soon gets distracted by strange activity around Louise. Eventually, the two of them are causing weird imagery by distorting reality around them. When Gaston starts jumping seven feet high, Louise joins him, and the two of them crash through the studio roof; they are last seen drifting through outer space.
Trivia[]
- Gaston LeClerc is played by Benny Hill in the close-ups and by David Barham in the long-shots. His sister was played similarly with Louise English close-up and Claudine Sinclaire in the long-shots. In Benny and Louise's scenes, the chairs are over-sized to make them look like kids.
- Gaston's Greek discussion is a remake of Dickie Dido's tall tales from December 23, 1970.
- According to William Brown at "Benny's Place," the music Gaston and Louise dance to the same melody Benny and Jackie Wright performed as Luke and Tinker on February 18, 1976.
