The obituary writer condescendingly remarked that the deceased, “though never a great actor, had been invaluable in small parts.” Overall, the recovering patient took it as a compliment.

Another actor, also invaluable in small parts, was in my mind last week. The Scotsman, the late Fulton McKay, is perhaps best known as McKay, the prison warder in Ronnie Barker’s sit-com ‘Porridge’.

McKay was quoted with approval in a radio interview last week by Brian Cox, who stated that the best piece of advice he had ever received was given him by McKay, who had told him “Forget about fame, and concentrate on being a good actor.”

The controversial artist Andy Wharhol had spoken of a time when everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes; echoing perhaps the poet who protested that “one crowded hour of glorious life, is worth an age without a name.”

Nowadays, there are celebrities who have no achievements to their name, and little noticeable talent; people who are famous just for being famous.

Fame is such a fleeting thing. To mention the sportsmen and politicians who were household names in one’s youth, simply draws a look of bewilderment when mentioned to a younger generation. “Who”, they ask, “was he?”

To spend one’s life in pursuit of fame, or notoriety, is folly. It is much better to concentrate on the work at hand. The man whose eyes wander to the ends of the earth, is described in the Bible as a ‘fool’ (Proverbs 17: 24).

What McKay underlined was the importance of professionalism. To do one’s best work, not looking for praise, but solely as an effort to attain perfection in any realm, was the attitude he encouraged. If fame should follow, so be it; if it did not, then the quiet inner satisfaction of having done one’s best still remained.

An American bishop once wrote, “You pay your bills, you keep your word, you wash your front porch, you take care of a dependent aunt, you do these things year by year, and finally you have a reputation for worth.” It could have been Fulton McKay speaking!

Someone remarked that the truest test of character involved those decisions and actions of which the angels are the only spectators and where conscience is the only applause. To be true in those contests is more precious that any transient fame.