Seeking an opportunity to spend some hours talking about life, the universe and everything…
…but in particular our shared interests in theatre and early music…
…I suggested a “relaxed day” at Lord’s, when the cricket was to be a club day, the crowd was due to be very small and we could readily chat, It would also enable me to show Ben cricket in its more traditional, low key form.
The idea worked.
It seemed to me most peculiar that Benjamin Schwarz, who is a self-confessed huge fan of the writing of CLR James, had never before seen a cricket match.
Frankly, Ben still hasn’t seen much cricket, but he has seen the pavilion in all its glory, and watched a bit of cricket from the Long Room and the front of the lower terrace. He has supped in the Bowlers’ Bar and dined in the Long Room Bar.
Ben has also seen the library, including the CLR James treasures therein.
Most importantly, Ben has now experienced the gentle art of watching on, while chatting about every subject under the sun with the possible exception of cricket. Actually we talked quite a lot about cricket too, including my cricket “origins” story…
…but not The Heavy Rollers origin story, which is differently interesting, not least the link to Nigel’s story, which is so close to a creation story it has a genuinely Old Testament ring to it, but without the ultraviolence.
One very strange coincidence emerged from our conversations, which was the fact that Ben’s son had recently lived on the very block in New Cavendish Street, formerly Upper Marylebone Street, where my dad was born and where Thomas Paine wrote the second part of The Right Of Man.
I told Ben about my research and discovery about the misattribution of the address and scolded myself for not getting round to writing it up. Ben agreed. I have subsequently written it up:
Anyway, after giving Ben a tour of the campus…
…including the indoor school which was eerily quiet, we returned to the pavilion briefly before Ben realised that he needed to get to the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond, so we set off at pace for Edgware Road tube.
Ben said he had a most enjoyable day, as did I, so that’s good.
We didn’t cover half the topics we meant to chat through, so of course we’ll simply have to meet again very soon and spend a pleasant day covering those.
A perfect summer’s day *and* being memorialized in the most intricately intelligent and fascinating blog I’ve ever encountered. That is pure contentment.