An Attractive Young Note In Janie’s Diary, But Not In Mine, 14 November 1999

In Janie’s diary, but not mine, the following reminder – presumably based on me saying to Janie, “let’s not forget to listen to…”

The Attractive Young Rabbi. Barry Grossman. 11:30 Radio 4.

Word must have reached me through the NewsRevue community that Barry Grossman’s radio series, The Attractive Young Rabbi, was about to broadcast.

What do you mean, you missed it at the time and now can’t get hold of it?

What do you mean, you heard it at the time but can’t remember it?

It’s there to be heard on the Internet Archive if you now where to look. Click this link, for example, and you’ll find the first series.

Tracy-Anne Oberman was also a NewsRevue (or more specifically, SportsRevue) alum, so this series was definitely a tribute to our NewsRevue “Class of ’92”.

There’s Barry in the Guinness World Record photo, with specs, holding the award.

I enjoyed listening to The Attractive Young Rabbi again. It is quintessentially BBC Radio Four comedy.

Three Days Of Rain by Richard Greenberg, Donmar Warehouse, 13 November 1999

After a hat trick of theatre visiting evenings during a short break period at the end of October

…nada for a couple of weeks. We went to Kim & Mickey for dinner on Saturday 30 October, but then seemed to lie low socially and culturally for a fortnight. Janie’s diary suggests that she was working full pelt. Mine suggests that I was on a major report writing deadline or two, as I saw few clients and blocked out several half days and whole days for writing.

Then we went to the Donmar Warehouse to see this beauty of a play/production, which we both rated as:

Very good.

Great cast: Colin Firth, Elizabeth McGovern & David Morrissey. Directed by Robin Lefevre.

It had enjoyed a short run at the Donmar earlier in the year; we caught its autumn return. Janie booked it, so her diary reports that we sat in seats A24 & A25 and that she parted company with £48 in total. Thems was the days!

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard shared our liking for this play/production:

Rain de Jongh StandardRain de Jongh Standard 03 Mar 1999, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

David Benedict in the Independent was less sure:

Rain Benedict IndependentRain Benedict Independent 03 Mar 1999, Wed The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph really liked it:

Rain Spencer TelegraphRain Spencer Telegraph 04 Mar 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Lynn Gardiner loved it in the Guardian:

Rain Gardiner GuardianRain Gardiner Guardian 06 Mar 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com