It’s difficult to come up with appropriate adjectives for someone like Kit Armstrong. He studied composition and started playing the piano at the age of five, enrolled on undergraduate courses in biology, physics, mathematics and music at the age of nine, graduated in music at age 16 and completed an MSc in mathematics age 20. Words like “prodigy” and “genius” seem insufficient.
…as I was keen to include some Byrd and Bull in the performance, which led me to Kim Armstrong’s magnificent album William Byrd & John Bull from 2021.
I was keen to see him live, so couldn’t resist the opportunity at The Wigmore Hall, despite Janie’s (and my) resistance to braving that area in the run up to Christmas.
By Sunday 22 December things should have simmered down around there…
…I said. I was right. Our journey and the parking was just fine.
To add to the charm of the evening, my tennis friend John Thirlwell was there with his companion. They made pleasant company before the concert and during the interval.
Mr Thirlwell relaxing after doing battle on the tennis court at Lord’s
Kit Armstrong had chosen a quirky selection of pieces. He explains his choice in the following promo vid:
We were especially taken by the Saint-Saëns (I have long loved that piece), the Leopold Godowsky (new to both of us as composer and piece alike) and the Arvo Pärt (we didn’t know the piece but tend to like Part’s charming minimalism.)
I have had trouble tracking down the encore, but I am pretty sure it was Baude Cordier – Belle, Bonne, Sage, as I cannot imagine that there are too many pieces from around 1400 which the composer set out in the shape of a heart. Cute.
In truth I don’t think the piece worked well as a piano transcript – it is more lovely to my ears as a vocal rondeau.
Still, it was a superb concert. Janie and I were enthralled by it and so glad we made the effort to go to The Wig just before Christmas!
In short, Ruairi Conaghan’s uncle Rory was brutally gunned down during the Northern Ireland troubles when Ruairi was a young lad. The trauma of that family tragedy manifested itself big time in Ruairi after he had played IRA bomber Patrick Magee and moved on to the role of The Player King in a major production of Hamlet.
Lies Where It Falls is Ruairi Conaghan’s before, during and after story of his near-breakdown some ten years ago – forty years after the tragedy.
Janie and I both got a great deal out of this piece and Ruari’s performance.
We stayed on for a panel discussion which included playwright Seamus Finnegan, director, teacher and writer Andy Hinds, plus multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker Corie McGowan.
In truth, the panel discussion did far less for us than the gripping piece. But it did give me the opportunity to ask Ruairi the question that had been burning in my mind through most of the play:
IAN: Was/is the process of writing and performing that piece cathartic for you?
RUAIRI: Writing it was cathartic for me, my performing it is cathartic for you, the audience.
Good answer. Good writer. Good performer.
Lies Where It Falls got deservedly rave reviews at Edinburgh this year and should progress to bigger audiences elsewhere than the short run at the Finborough Theatre allows.
Family gathering at Buenasadoin Bristol, 7 December 2024
Gosh it was a busy December of gatherings again this year. Also busy work-wise. Indeed Janie took the following picture early in the month, which should remind me of December 2024 just as much as the gatherings memoirs.
Looks like I’m concentrating on some serious shit
Family Gathering In Bristol, 7-8 December 2024
Janie and I took an Airbnb quite near to Hil and Chris’s place. We also visited them at home before the big bash at Buenasado, which was even closer to our Airbnb so we walked to the restaurant. The headline picture tells the main tale.
Tired after a hard week, a long drive and a steak supper? Moi??
Tennis Committee & Club Night At Lord’s, 11 December 2024
My first go at a committee meeting for real tennis, followed by Club Night, which Andrew Hinds kindly curated until I was able to escape the pavilion and trek across the way to the court. It was a fun evening. By the end of the evening, I had probably played a bit more than I should, but that’s Club Night for you.
No photos from that evening but my technique probably still looks like my 2016 shod.
Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner At Spaghetti House Goodge Street, During Which I Won The Hodd, 12 December 2024
What a bunch of quizzical clowns: Keith, Graham, Barry, John, Hugh, Mark & Sue
The Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner is traditionally, at this time of year, a gathering of the NewsRevue alumni clan with lots of quizzes. We have played for the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy for a great many years, but recently we also play for the Mike Hodd Trophy, as NewsRevue founder and mentor Mike Hodd also shed this mortal coil a few years ago.
Barry Grossman is probably our most consistent quiz winner, who once again won the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy, less confounded by Sue’s quiz than the rest of us.
Look how much it means to him…
I was delighted and astounded in equal measure to win “The Hodd” this year, based on John Random’s eminently suitable (for me) spoof police interrogation quiz questions based on song lyrics. I believe that makes me the third holder of The Mike Hodd Memorial Trophy:
2022: Hugh Ryecroft
2023: John Random
2024: Me.
…and look how much it means to me.
As with the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy, it is not possible to win twice in a row, as tradition insists that the winner sets the quiz the following year. I need to put my thinking cap on now to design that 2025 quiz.
For the second year in a row, I road-tested the Z/Yen seasonal quiz on the NewsRevue crowd, with predictably hilarious results.
Hugh Ryecroft, who knows a thing or two about quizzes in a professional capacity, was very complimentary about the quiz while being suitably puzzled by it.
Angela & John’s Golden Wedding Anniversary, Their Place, 15 December 2024
Fifty years on
We had a most enjoyable afternoon at cousin Angela & John Kessler’s place, to help them celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. I wasn’t at the wedding itself 50 years ago, which was a very grown-up affair at the Dorchester, but I did attend the pre-nuptial aufruf…
…which, Angela and John reminded me, was at Stanmore shule and then at John’s mother’s place. I did experience the aftermath of Angela and John’s wedding vicariously, by experiencing a very grumpy mum and hungover dad the morning after the wedding, ahead of my own “Marathon-Man-like-trauma” that day:
Anyway, fifty years later, I am apparently grown-up enough to attend an anniversary gathering. I can faithfully report that I did not try to fool anyone with joke shop sweets, nor did I set off any “stinkeroos”, during the 50th anniversary party. Proof positive, if proof were needed, that I have grown up a bit in the last 50 years.
Our table.
Our table comprised an eclectic mix of interesting people, including, to my left, two branches of the Aarons family, cousins of Angela’s from the other side of her family, who used to live in Woodfield Avenue across the road from us. It was lovely to catch up with them. To my right, friends of Angela & John’s whom they had known for many years, all of whom were very friendly and interesting folk.
Youngsters table, with Ed, Vivian, Andrew and the kids
It was a very enjoyable afternoon. Not only was it a lively and friendly gathering, with refreshingly short yet moving speeches, but the catering was seriously good too, thanks to Adam and his catering team (see below).
Adam leading his team by example
In my December 1974 diary, when “reviewing” the grub after the aufruf, I wrote:
Meal was excellent
A heck of a lot has changed in 50 years, but the phrase works just as well for the anniversary meal at John and Angela’s place.
Cousin Bethany & Jesse Pop In From Australia For Dinner At The Marquis Cornwallis, 18 December 2024
Bethany, Jesse & Me in The Marquis Cornwallis
On the other side of the family and from the other side of the world, a message, seemingly from a young woman, through Facebook, about a week ahead of the visit:
Hi! My dad tells me we are related. Dad said you might be able to tell me the family tree connection.
My first thought was that this must be one of those scams, quite possibly written by an old Nigerian man with a fake young female identity. But the face did look a tad familial and a quick check on Facebook traced Bethany to be Frederick Krasey’s daughter and Debbi Krasey’s niece.
As luck would have it, I was free on the one evening that made sense for Bethany and husband Jesse before they whizz off around Europe for many weeks.
They were staying in Bloomsbury, very close to where Fred stayed when I met him on his visit 10+ years ago.
Short notice for the Wednesday before Christmas is not ideal timing ahead of booking a decent place, but The Marquis Cornwallis, which I know of old from hanging around that part of town, is a good cross between gastro pub and good honest pub grub. It was the first place I tried and they took my booking.
It’s always a little strange meeting such relatives for the first time. In cousinhood terms, Bethany is my second cousin once removed, which sounds very far removed, but it puts her into exactly the same category as people like Mark & Hilary Briegal and/or Adam & Michael Green, whom I have known pretty well for sixty years.
Adam, Mark, Hilary (torturing Mark), Michael (laughing) & me (perplexed). 1964
Different generational/age shift on the Krasey side, obvs.
Anyway, it was a super evening with Bethany and Jesse, except for one mysterious absence. You see, Bethany has started a blog for their travels, which I joined once I knew I was to meet them in London:
In that blog piece, Bethany introduces their travelling companion, Yoshi.
Naturally, ahead of booking The Marquis, I asked whether Yoshi would be joining us for dinner and Bethany said:
Jesse wouldn’t go anywhere without Yoshi! And so, Yoshi will indeed be joining us on our night about town.
So where was Yoshi that evening? Bethany and Jesse were strangely silent on the topic and I was too timid to ask. But on reflection, I think this is a mystery that simply must be solved. Otherwise we might have to get Interpol involved.
But apart from the unexplained absence of Yoshi, we had a very pleasant evening and hopefully will be able to see each other again, when the Roaming Duo return to Blighty in March.
Dedanists’ Society Seasonal Lunch At Lemonia, 19 December 2024
Despite the fact that I was to a large extent “seasonal-evented-out” by the time this event came around…and despite the fact that I am not really the “long-wet-lunch” type, there is something so very heart-warming and enjoyable about the Dedanists’ Society annual lunch, that I cannot now resist putting my name down for it as a seasonal must.
It is a gathering of the real tennis enthusiasts clan – about 35 of us gathered this year in that private room at Lemonia that works so very well for this event.
I noticed Jonathan Ellis-Miller taking a gazillion photographs this year, and I am sure that photograph taking is quite a regular thing. Yet the Dedanists’ Society website is utterly devoid of pictures from Lemonia lunches passim.
I briefed DeepAI as politely as I possibly could and it mustered the following image which, I must say, is not a bad attempt based on a dozen or so words:
DeepAI imagines a gathering of Dedanists in a Greek Restaurant
If Jonathan Ellis-Miller would care to provide a genuine photo, I can add a real photo of real tennis enthusiasts. But in any case I genuinely had a great time and sense that most if not all attendees did similarly.
