Author: Ian Louis Harris

The Day Charley The Gent And I Witnessed The Tied World Cup Cricket Semi Final At Edgbaston…On A Screen In Barcelona, 17 June 1999

Image “Diving For A Tie” produced in collaboration with Dall-E

The headline is a little deceptive, because Charles “Charley The Gent Malloy” Bartlett and I were not in Barcelona the City, but we were, along with a great many Z/Yen people and one or two other Children’s Society people, in Barcelona, the tapas and wine bar in The City.

Twenty years later, at the time of writing, Barcelona is still there – click the image for a link.

I had spent the whole day in the City. My diary says we had a PAYE inspection that day. I think it might have been that magnificent day that the inspector challenged us for claiming that we had an expenses procedure dispensation (which of course we did have) as he could find no record of us ever having been issued with such a dispensation. Linda Cook went to the archive files and dug out our dispensation letter which happened to have been issued by “Phil”, the very tax inspector who was before us that day. He almost apologised, claiming that files had been lost in an office move. He didn’t stay long after that.

But of course you don’t win tax inspections; the best you can hope for is an honourable draw or a tie.

Which brings me to the World Cup Semi Final.

But before that I need to explain why Charley The Gent was at our offices that day. You see, Teresa Bestard, who was one of Z/Yen’s first employees and who had done a great deal of work for The Children’s Society under Charley’s auspices, was leaving Z/Yen that day.

Teresa was (is) a Catalan with roots in Barcelona and Majorca. She chose the Barcelona tapas and wine bar as a suitable venue for her leaving do.

I arranged to meet Charley and Tony to go through some business stuff at Z/Yen around 16:00, so they could conveniently join the leaving do afterwards.

Nobody had been thinking about cricket at this juncture. Not even Teresa, who was good pals with Bob Willis, following a different wine bar incident (with me and others) in a different part of London – see relevant Ogblog piece by clicking here or below:

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

On arrival, Chas did ask me if I was aware of the Australia v South Africa semi-final score. I wasn’t. He told me. I said it sounded close, but edging towards South Africa. Chas said he fancied Australia for the match. He wanted to bet. I said I don’t like to bet. He suggested a one pound stake. I accepted, with the proviso that if the match was a tie, both pounds would go to The Children’s Society.

Chas doing his Children’s Society cricket captain bit, back in 1998

We were not expecting to follow the latter stages of the World Cup Semi-Final, but Barcelona had other ideas. They were pumping the match out on big screens throughout the bar.

Great…

…said the cricket tragics, e.g. me and Charley. Teresa did not seem well pleased. She was already vocally irritated with us for a supposed slight; we had invited Mary O’Callaghan along to the event. Teresa saw this as Z/Yen inviting Teresa’s replacement to Teresa’s own leaving do. Actually we had hired Mary before we even knew that Teresa was leaving and had asked Mary along to several events to meet the team before she joined; this was the one she could make.

Some neutrals, such as Jacqueline Goldberg, Michael Mainelli and Linda Cook, used the language of indifference towards the cricket, but in truth couldn’t help but become more and more interested in the final overs of the match, as it became clear that the result was on a knife edge and the match was a real thriller.

Here is a link to the scorecard and Cricinfo resources.

I hope The Children’s Society made good use of the £2 it scored from that bet. The charity benefited from our subsequent charity matches to a much greater extent than this wager.

Below is a video of the highlights/denouement of that match:

Teresa’s leaving do went on for hours after the cricket finished and everyone relaxed into the wine and tapas. It was a very good leaving do for a very special member of the team.

But I’m afraid the cricket tragics amongst us will remember the evening primarily for that astonishing tied World Cup Semi Final, as we lived every moment on those big screens in Barcelona.

Zimbabwe v Australia At Lord’s, World Cup Match, 9 June 1999

This was the first time that Janie (Daisy) ever visited Lord’s.

It was my second ever, and last, visit to Lord’s in the 20th century. It was also the only time I actually bought tickets for Lord’s that century, having been taken as a guest on my sole previous visit there:

My First Visit To Lord’s, England v Pakistan Day Two, 26 July 1996

Unaccustomed as I was to buying tickets for Lord’s back then…oh boy have I made up for it since…and probably a bit slow of the mark for the World Cup to boot, I ended up getting Lower Compton seats some rows back. All has changed since (he says, 25 years later), but back then the Lower Compton was a wind tunnel affair through which you got a somewhat restricted view and in particular had no clear view on a scoreboard.

Who knew that it can be really cold in London at a cricket match in June? Who failed to learn from this 1999 experience?

Middlesex v Australians, Lord’s, 19 June 2010

Once I became better acquainted with Lord’s for a while I would book the Lower Compton front row, which avoided the wind tunnel and tended to have a decent view. But never again did I make the mistake of buying tickets in the middle or rear of that stand. The new Lower Compton is SO much better.

Returning to 1999, we nevertheless had a great day, despite the ordinary seats. It is so difficult not to have a good day at Lord’s. It was even, somewhat surprisingly, a good match, with Neil Johnson & Murray Goodwin keeping Zimbabwe in the hunt for most of the match. All the Cricinfo resources for this match can be found here.

The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca, Young Vic Theatre, 5 June 1999

Very good indeed…

…we both said. We’re both partial to a bit of Lorca in any case.

Wonderful play, excellent production.

This production had been doing and continued to do the rounds for some time, at regional theatres. A superb cast, including Sandra Duncan, Amanda Drew, Tanya Ronder & Carolyn Jones, directed by Polly Teale – here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Our friend, Michael Billington, was also impressed by the production, once it landed at the Young Vic.

Bernarda Guardian BillingtonBernarda Guardian Billington 22 May 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard was also mostly very impressed:

Bernarda, de Jomgh, StandardBernarda, de Jomgh, Standard 20 May 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Z/Yen & The Children’s Society Tennis Evening In Lammas Park, Ealing, 4 June 1999

Janie, with tennis racket but without step ladder, in Lammas Park, 2020

Following the success of a cricket evening the previous year…

The Very Second Z/Yen Charity Cricket Match – The First With The Children’s Society, 25 August 1998

…we decided to do that again in 1999 (late July), preceded by a tennis evening, which Janie and I organised, through Larry, at our then spiritual home of tennis, Lammas Park.

The Lammas Park “club” in the 1990s was a very informal place, under the auspices of Larry and his gang. Warm-hearted for sure, Larry was absolutely up for it when he heard that this was a charity event, allowing us a brace of courts for the evening and organising a barbeque for £200, according to Janie’s diary. We organised the drinks separately and naturally allowed Larry and his gang to join us in the libations.

Janie’s diary also suggests that we went to see Dick at the sports shop in Ealing, where we bought balls for the tournament and I am pretty sure I purchased the now-famous cricket scorebook on the same occasion, ahead of the July match.

I was pumped, ready for tournament play.

Me, still pumped, Lammas Park, 2020

I think we had eight to ten people from Z/Yen and a similar number from The Children’s Society that evening.

I am pretty sure the Mainelli family attended and that Linda and Geoff Cook were there. Teresa almost certainly came along. I think Mike Smith ducked out of this one – he usually did for these events. Other attendees – possibly the Rutlands (Geoffrey and Rupert), possibly The Hightons (David & Elisabeth) who live nearby.

For The Children’s Society, Charles “Charley the Gent Malloy” Bartlett was there for sure; perhaps with Nick as well. I am pretty sure that Harish “Harsha Goble” Gohil was also there; I think I had only met Harish a couple of times before this event. One or two from that IT team who were resistant to cricket were less resistant to the idea of tennis and barbeque. Michael and Jonathan I think.

I especially remember Charles Nall, who was new to The Children’s Society at that time, being there. I remember this, because I told Janie ahead of the event that she would meet the new Finance Director. When Janie asked me ahead of time what he was like, I replied, “very tall”.

On meeting Charles, Janie looked up at him and said:

Gosh, you are tall. I’m going to need a step ladder to look you in the eye and talk with you!

Charles Nall looked down at Janie with a puzzled expression on his face – possibly wondering whether or not he was supposed to be angry at this…then burst out laughing.

In truth I had no recollection of how the tournament went. I remember it more as an opportunity for people to eat, drink and make merry. Perhaps for that reason, it seems that Z/Yen, for once, prevailed in this tournament. How do I know? Because it was headline news in Now & Z/Yen June 1999, that’s how. Click here to read all about it…and more. That edition of Now & Z/Yen doesn’t read like one of mine – it has a Mainelli feel to it, either as author or editor. For those who don’t like to click, an extract below:

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills…but never, shall we surrender”


Stirring as this is, apparently Sir Winston was not talking about the fifth Z/Yen versus charities sports match. We fought Barnardo’s on the cricket pitch, twice – and they thrashed us. We fought The Children’s Society in the bowling alleys, twice – and they thrashed us. It was looking like the hills when Z/Yen won The Children’s Society challenge on the tennis courts! At our victory roast, the innocent victims were … forced to … watch us gloat. A good time was had by all the winners, and some of the victims who enjoyed some of our particularly sadistic IT trivia games. Sadly, the cricket season is soon upon us.

I must have been going through a purple patch

Rose by Martin Sherman, Cottesloe Theatre, 29 May 1999

Janie and I remember being really impressed by Olympia Dukakis’s performance in this one woman play, while finding the play itself “a bit much”.

To be fair, we were a bit numb that weekend – we had attended Jenny Jamilly’s funeral the day before and were possibly not in the mood for high drama. Let alone uber-Jewish high drama, nach.

We saw a preview late May although the play didn’t receive its press night until some four weeks later.

The critics seem to have sided with us viz the performance and the play. Here’s Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard:

Rose de Jongh StandardRose de Jongh Standard 25 Jun 1999, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington similarly liked the performance but not the play:

Rose Billington GuardianRose Billington Guardian 26 Jun 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Only Charles Spencer in the telegraph, amongst the reviews I can find, lauded both the performance and the play:

Rose Spencer TelegraphRose Spencer Telegraph 28 Jun 1999, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The Late Middle Classes by Simon Gray, Richmond Theatre, 22 May 1999

Very good indeed. Thought provoking.

That’s what I wrote in my log at the time.

Janie booked this one, so I can report that we sat in seats D6, D7 & D8…and that she paid £20 a pop for this excellent evening at the theatre. I suppose £20 really was £20 back then. Still sounds like value.

The third ticket was for “The Duchess” (Janie’s mum).

Harold Pinter directed an excellent cast including Nicholas Woodeson, Harriet Walter & Angela Pleasence. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.

Our friend, Michael Billington, liked it in The Guardian:

Late Middle Guardian BillingtonLate Middle Guardian Billington 27 Mar 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in The Indy also thought highly of this production:

Late Middle Taylor IndyLate Middle Taylor Indy 27 Mar 1999, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We’ll have eaten at Don Fernando’s after theatre, because in those days, if we went to Richmond for theatre, that’s what we did afterwards. {Insert your own joke about “the late-dining middle classes” here].

Les Cris De Paris, Ensemble Clément Janequin, Wigmore Hall, 20 May 1999

Janie and I both loved this concert. We weren’t previously familiar with the works of this Renaissance composer, Clément Janequin, nor this eponymous Ensemble.

But by the end of the concert we were familiar with both and had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. All that despite it being a Thursday evening at the end of long working days for both of us and ahead of long working days to boot.

This was the Ensemble’s 20th anniversary programme:

  • Nous Sommes de l’Ordre de Saint Babouyn by Loyset Compere
  • Tant que Vivray / Au Joly Boys / Je ne Menge Point de Porc / Vien Tost by Claudin de Sermisy
  • N’As tu Poinct Mis ton Hault Bonnet / Mon Amy M’Avoit Promis by Ninot le Petit
  • Bransles d’Ecosse / La Romaine by Guillaume Morlaye
  • Mille Regretz / Faulte d’Argent / Douleur Me Bat / El Grillo / Nymphes des Boys / Scaramella by Josquin Desprez
  • Les Cris de Paris / Qu’est-ce d’Amour? / Il Estoit une Fillette / Au Verd Boys/Le Chant des Oyseaulx by Clement Janequin
  • Fantaisie by Albert de Rippe
  • Or Vien Ca / O Mal d’Aymer / Ung Jour Robin / L’Amour, la Mort et la Vie / My Levay Par Ung Matin / La Guerre by Clement Janequin

Twenty years after that, they looked and sounded a bit like this:

The above piece formed part of the concert we heard. The following one did not, but is lovely.

Here follows a video of a whole gig post 2020, which includes several of the works we heard in 1999. Renaissance music never goes out of fashion:

Jackson Pollock, Tate Gallery, 13 May 1999

As part of a “week off” that Janie and I took in London to see exhibitions and shows, the centrepiece of our Thursday was a trip to the Tate to see the Jackson Pollock exhibition.

The exhibition had been much hyped in the media, with previews and reviews.

Here’s a smattering from the papers.

Bel Littlejohn in The Guardian with tongue firmly in cheek, I shouldn’t wonder:

Pollock Littlejohn GuardianPollock Littlejohn Guardian 19 Mar 1999, Fri The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Laura Cumming in the Observer seemed more genuinely bowled over by the exhibition:

Pollock Cumming ObserverPollock Cumming Observer 14 Mar 1999, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The Weasel in the Indy used a strange mixture of reverence and irreverence to review this exhibition:

Pollock The Weasel IndyPollock The Weasel Indy 13 Mar 1999, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Brian Sewell gave it the usual “Sewage treatment” in the Standard, over two pages:

Pollock Sewell StandardPollock Sewell Standard 11 Mar 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com Pollock Sewell Standard 2 of 2Pollock Sewell Standard 2 of 2 11 Mar 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I gave it a one word review in my log:

Bollocks.

Janie remembers the exhibition more fondly than that and I have become reconciled with Pollock since, especially in the context of shirts and ties.

Three Exhibitions In One Day: Kandinsky Watercolours And Other Works On Paper, Birth Of The Cool, New Art – New Era, Royal Academy & Barbican, 12 May 1999

As part of a week off at home, we did a fair bit of cultural stuff. A rare visit to the theatre on the Monday did not work as well as the dinner afterwards…

The Cosmonaut’s Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union by David Greig, Lyric Studio, Followed By Dinner At Grano, 10 May 1999

…but this day going around galleries was memorably good.

We loved the Kandinsky watercolours, but the critics hadn’t been so keen on them, preferring Kandinsky for oils and criticising the way the exhibition had been curated. Richard Dorment in The Telegraph, for example.

Kandinsky Dorment TelegraphKandinsky Dorment Telegraph 21 Apr 1999, Wed The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Brian Sewell in The Standard was even more waspish.

Kandinsky Sewell StandardKandinsky Sewell Standard 22 Apr 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com Kandinsky Sewell Standard 2 of 2Kandinsky Sewell Standard 2 of 2 22 Apr 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Still, Ogblog is not about what those expert geezers think but it is about what we felt. I recall Janie and I really liking that exhibition, so much so that we set off later than intended for the Barbican, where we had chosen to see two exhibitions – in particular David Bailey’s The Birth Of Cool Photographic Exhibition.

We loved these pictures. Who cares what the critics said. Well, actually I think the critics lined up in favour of this one.

Adam Edwards in The Standard celebrated the cool:

Bailey Edwards Standard 1 of 2Bailey Edwards Standard 1 of 2 07 Apr 1999, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com Bailey Edwards Standard 2 of 2Bailey Edwards Standard 2 of 2 07 Apr 1999, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Whereas Jonathan Green in The Standard fretted that The Swinging Sixties weren’t so swinging for all. Who knew?

Bailey Green GuardianBailey Green Guardian 17 Apr 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We also popped in to see New Art, New Era in the other hall at the Barbican

We didn’t spend too long on this sweeping exhibition, little being to our taste, but we did enjoy some of the exhibits.

John McEwen in the Telegraph gave it a comprehensive review:

New Art McEwen TelegraphNew Art McEwen Telegraph 02 May 1999, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Brian Sewell in the Standard rubbished the exhibition even more comprehensively:

New Art Sewell Standard 1 of 2New Art Sewell Standard 1 of 2 13 May 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com New Art Sewell Standard 2 of 2New Art Sewell Standard 2 of 2 13 May 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Heck, but we’d had a great day. Yah boo.

The Cosmonaut’s Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union by David Greig, Lyric Studio, Followed By Dinner At Grano, 10 May 1999

A rare visit to the theatre by me and Janie on a Monday evening. We had chosen to take a week off work; partly for culture and partly, in Janie’s case, I think to spend time with Phillie and her medical stuff. We had little opportunity to go away properly around that time, so it made sense to take a bit of time.

But this play/production was a waste of time for us.

It was doing very little for us, so we left at half time to enjoy a longer session over a super meal at Grano.

One of Vicky Featherstone’s earlier efforts at directing.

Nicholas de Jongh did not rate it highly:

Cosmonaut Standard de JonghCosmonaut Standard de Jongh 14 May 1999, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I don’t think Susannah Clapp in The Observer was too impressed either:

Cosmonaut Clapp ObserverCosmonaut Clapp Observer 16 May 1999, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Like a spacecraft that has lost its bearings…I’m sue you get my drift.

Grano Restaurant in Chiswick was something special. New in 1998, award-winning “best Italian Restaurant in London” in 1999. We had a super meal there. Sadly, now gone.