The provided text is an extensive biography of the renowned comedian and magician, Tommy Cooper, detailing both his professional career and complex personal life. The source extensively documents Cooper's beginnings, including anecdotes about his childhood, his entry into show business through the military’s entertainment circuit, and the crucial role his wife, Gwen, played in shaping his act and managing his finances. It illuminates the paradox of his on-stage persona—a bumbling yet masterful comic—and traces the evolution of his career, from variety halls and the adoption of his signature fez, to his success on television and his working relationship with his agent, Miff Ferrie. Furthermore, the text candidly explores the comedian's struggles with his health, alcoholism, and declining performance quality toward the end of his life, culminating in a poignant account of his death live on television in 1984.