Month: August 1997

Lunch With John Random And Jenny Mill In Greenwich, “The Day That Princess Diana Died”, 31 August 1997

I remember this day very clearly, although I am sure there are many details the others can add. It would be super if John and Jenny were to chime in with their recollections.

Janie and I had arranged to meet John Random (a fellow NewsRevue writer) and his partner, Jenny Mill, in the Trafalgar Tavern for lunch. I suspect that plan was hatched when we gathered at the Canal Cafe a few weeks earlier – click here.

Janie and I had planned to take public transport to the north side of the embankment on the Isle of Dogs and walk the Greenwich Foot Tunnel – I think it had recently reopened after refurbishment back then.

But while we were preparing to go out, the phone rang. It was my mum. My mum never used to ring on a Sunday morning – she would almost always wait for me to ring her.

Mum sounded distressed.

“It’s so awful, a tragedy,” mum said, through tears of anguish.

I thought something must have happened to my dad or some other close relative/friend.

“What’s happened, Mum?”, I asked. “Try to gather yourself and speak slowly.”

“What do you mean, ‘what’s happened’? You must know what’s happened. I know you don’t care much for the royal family…”

“…Mum, we’re going out shortly, we haven’t seen the papers or switched on the TV or radio this morning; just tell me what’s happened.”

Mum told me. Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed had died in a car crash overnight.

I told Janie.

Janie turned on the TV.

Time passed.

We set off for Greenwich much later than we’d intended – so the idea of using public transport and a stroll through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel went out of the window.

Plan B was to revert to the Janie norm – we got into the car and drove to Greenwich. By the time we found somewhere to park (we hadn’t thought about that bit)…eventually finding a place near the market but some way from the Trafalgar…then walked from the parking place to the Trafalgar…we were quite late.

John and Jenny were neither fazed nor surprised that we were a bit late in the circumstances.

I remember John and I bemoaning the fact that a rich seam of our topical comedy for NewsRevue had died in that car crash along with the victims of the tragedy. We also had one of those, “when, if ever, will we be able to make Princess Diana jokes again?” conversations.

We had a very good lunch and talked about much else besides the day’s news.

I recall the four of us having a bit of a stroll after lunch.

After we parted company with John and Jenny, Janie and I wandered around Greenwich market for a while, as the car was parked near there and we were in no rush to get home.

I remember buying a dozen or so CDs that afternoon, more or less doubling the size of my CD collection. I had only bought a CD player for the first time a year or so earlier. Being a reel-to-reel and records dude, I was wicked-late to CDs. I bought mostly sixties compilations that day, plus a few iconic albums; Pet Sounds (Beach Boys), Gift From A Flower To A Garden (Donovan) and The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff and others) to name but three.

I remember saying at the time (1997) that my previous visit to Greenwich was with my parents and must have been about 20 years earlier, but I was surprised and chuffed when I looked it up this morning (31 August 2017) and realised that my previous visit was exactly 20 years earlier; 31 August 1977. I have written up that mini break with my parents mostly as a photo piece – click here.

No pictures from the day that Princess Diana died, but here is one from the 1977 set. I couldn’t possibly have imagined what I’d be up to 20 years later, let alone 40 years later, when the following picture was taken.

Time Traveller. Me at the Greenwich meridian line 31 August 1977

Suzanna Andler by Marguerite Duras, Richmond Theatre, 28 August 1997

No holds barred it seems for my contemporaneous verdict on this one:

Interminable – I can’t imagine how we ever got round to returning for the second half – but we did.

To add to the interminable nature of the evening, it seems we had Pauline, The Dowager Duchess of Castlebar (Janie’s mum) with us that evening. We went to Don Fernando’s (25 years on, now late lamented) for a meal after the show.

Julie Christie will have been the draw for this show, but clearly she and the cast were not enough to rescue the thing. Here is the Theatricalia entry for it. Super cast, actually, when you see the names Robert Hickson, Aden Gillett and Julie Legrand alongside that of Christie.

Here’s what the Leatherhead Advertiser said of it when it transferred on to Guildford:

04 Sep 1997, Thu Leatherhead Advertiser (Leatherhead, Surrey, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh had said similar stuff when it was at The Minerva:

Andler de Jongh StandardAndler de Jongh Standard 23 Jul 1997, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

John Voss in The Sunday Telegraph had also described it in similar terms:

Andler Voss Sunday TelegraphAndler Voss Sunday Telegraph 27 Jul 1997, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Not the most successful evening we’ve ever had at the theatre…or at Don Fernando’s…or even with Pauline.

Amy’s View by David Hare, Lyttelton Theatre, 23 August 1997

Superb.

That was my one word verdict on my log about this one.

Richard Eyre directing Samantha Bond, Eoin McCarthy, Ronald Pickup, Dame Judi and other excellent members of the cast – here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Our friend Michael Billington didn’t like it much:

Amy's Billington GuardianAmy’s Billington Guardian 23 Jun 1997, Mon The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Whereas Paul Taylor in the Indy quite liked it:

Amy's Taylor IndyAmy’s Taylor Indy 21 Jun 1997, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph found it anti-climactic…

Amy Spencer TelegraphAmy Spencer Telegraph 21 Jun 1997, Sat The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

…and Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard found it old-fashioned.

Amy's de Jongh StandardAmy’s de Jongh Standard 23 Jun 1997, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

So, only me and Janie rating it highly when it first came out then – but Amy’s View transferred to the West End and Broadway picking up Tony nominations and a New York Drama Critic’s award.

An Evening With Teresa Bestard, Bob Willis & Others, Albertine Wine Bar, 19 August 1997

I am writing this memory piece on 4 December 2019, having just learnt that the great fast bowler and latterly cricket pundit, Bob Willis, has died today.

I first met Bob Willis when I was but a boy, in 1977, at The Oval:

My First Ever Day At A Test Match, With Graham Majin, England v Australia Day 3, Oval, 27 August 1977

For those who cannot be bothered to click through, Graham and I really did meet Bob that day in 1977, down in the tube station, an hour or so after stumps, as we were all heading to different households in Streatham, in his case to visit friends on the test match rest day.

I doubt very much whether Bob recognised me 20 years later on our second encounter; on this occasion in the Albertine Wine Bar in Shepherd’s Bush.

Albertine was well trendy in 1997, picking up awards and being known as a place to celebrity spot – click here or image below for ES artcle/review:

Teresa Bestard was working with me on several projects with Broadcasting Support Services, who at that time were based in Shepherd’s Bush. I had arranged to meet Teresa and David Highton to go through stuff late afternoon/early evening and we agreed we’d have a drink after work together. Teresa chose Albertine because she wanted to celebrity spot.

The bar was not so crowded when we got there and Teresa was a little disappointed not to recognise any celebrities in the bar.

The only person I recognised, on the far side of the bar, was Bob Willis. He was with two other people; one turned out to be the cricket journalist Michael Henderson, the other a mustachioed Aussie, who looked like a superannuated version of Merv Hughes but who was in fact a wine producer.

I told Teresa that a former great England cricketer was in the bar, which was celebrity enough for me. It was celebrity enough for David Highton too, who is/was a keen follower of cricket and indeed was a decent player in his own right when he turned out for the charity matches.

Teresa let it be known that former cricketers did not meet her stringent criteria for celebrity.

David didn’t hang around for very long.

Teresa asked me a bit more about Bob Willis. In the absence of any celebrities who met her stringent criteria, she suddenly promoted Bob to the “worth asking about” level.

I told her a little and suggested that she approach Bob and chat with him.

Teresa was not at all keen on that idea…

…until she progressed to a second glass of wine…

…when she asked again about this cricket business and that cricketer and I suggested that she approach Bob Willis with a greeting along the lines of…

…aren’t you Bob Willis, the great fast bowler and former England cricket captain…

…and take it from there.

So imagine the scene. Teresa Bestard, a pint-sized young woman with a big smile and a heavy Catalan accent, wanders to the other side of the bar, looks up to the relative giant, Bob Willis, presumably saying the above short speech.

I couldn’t hear from my distance, but I did see the astonished expression on Bob Willis’s face and gales of laughter from the group.

Teresa was then chatting with them for a short while, before Michael Henderson came over to me.

You set that up, didn’t you?…

..said Henderson…

…that was really funny. Is she your girlfriend?

No, I said, Teresa’s a work colleague.

Well, anyway, she’s perfectly safe with those two.

Henderson and I chatted a while, which is how I found out, amongst other things, that “Merv Senior” was a wine producer.

Soon enough, Bob, “Merv Senior” and Teresa came over to our table – I think the Bob Willis party had been on the verge of leaving when Teresa intervened with them, so all three of them made to leave.

Is this your girlfriend?…

…Bob Willis asked me, pointing to Teresa.

Oh no, blushed Teresa, you should meet his girlfriend Janie, she’s lovely!

Bob Willis turned to me, saluted me and said…

…mon capitaine…

…before all three of Bob’s party left us, with warm farewells.

Bob Willis.

Devolution, NewsRevue Quickie Lyric, 2 August 1997

Scottish devolution, eh? A bit like Euroscepticism; a gift that keeps on giving for satirists and a pain in the butt for politicians. 

I’m not sure if this quickie was ever used. 

DEVOLUTION QUICKIE
(To the Tune of “The Bonnie Bonnie banks of Loch Lomand”)

 

INTRO

And now, a referendum broadcast on behalf of the Scottish Nationalist Party.

CHORUS 1

You take the Welsh poll,
But we’ll take the Scots poll,
And get devolution before ye;
Then we in West Lothian,
Will never vote again,
For that bloody Tony Banks,
And Mo Mowlem.

 

Below is a nice video recording of The Bonnie Banks, with the lyrics on the screen:

Othello by William Shakespeare, Cottesloe Theatre, 2 August 1997

I don’t think Othello & I get on.

I was underwhelmed when I saw this play for the first time, with Bobbie, in 1989.

Again, this time with Janie, we saw a stellar cast and the work of a fine director (Sam Mendes rather than Trevor Nunn).

My log says:

Sadly, Janie hated it and I had pulled my neck, so we bowed out gracefully at half time. (Well, Janie bowed, I couldn’t bow of course).

My neck condition was doubtless not improved by Janie’s manifest disquiet and the length of the play. Perhaps I had overdone it the previous weekend at Andrea’s BBQ party on the Saturday and Kim & Micky’s evening do the next day.

Apologies to the fine cast who had to do without us for the second half of that evening; Simon Russell Beale, David Harewood & Claire Skinner leading the pack. Trevor Peacock, Colin Tierney, Indira Varma and others supporting well no doubt. It’s either me, or the play, or me & the play…it’s not you, loves. The Theatricalia entry gives you chapter and verse on the cast and crew.

There was a hoo-ha in the press that summer about whether or not Othello could or should be played by a white actor. Having seen Willard White in 1989 and David Harewood in 1997, I was not really party to the phenomenon that Othello is usually played by a white actor and that the play is increasingly rarely performed because some people are uncomfortable about skin colour with regard to that part.

Janie and I saw a preview long before the press night of this production – indeed before most of that press hoo-ha kicked off, which made the hoo-ha seem even more weird to us.

Anyway, Charles Spencer seemed very impressed with the production once press night came around:

Othello Spencer TelegraphOthello Spencer Telegraph 18 Sep 1997, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh seemed to quite like it in The Standard

Othello de Jongh StandardOthello de Jongh Standard 17 Sep 1997, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington found it “brilliant” in the Guardian:

Othello Billington GuardianOthello Billington Guardian 18 Sep 1997, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I am happy to concede that the critics were right and/but this simply isn’t a play for Janie and probably (even though i am far more partial to Shakespeare than she) not for me either. A pain in the neck is how I remember it.

A Visit To NewsRevue With Janie, John Random and Friends, 1 August 1997

I went to NewsRevue so often in the 1990s, I’d rarely even note it in my diary.

Thursday night was “writers meeting and see NewsRevue night” most weeks.

But on this particular week things must have been different, as John Random has recently (July 2017) sent me a note from his own diary, as follows:

IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY – SORT OF

John is such a nice chap, his note doesn’t actually ask me to upload the lyric so he can read it.

But I’m a nice chap too and I realise that a revisit to the lyric will please John, me and perhaps other Ogblog readers too, so “up it goes”…as Bill Clinton no doubt frequently used to put it.