Apparently they had almost no rain at all in Newport for months, but the forecast had promised and indeed delivered two rainy days to greet our arrival.
I had told Freddy Adams in advance that we would not attend the morning session of the history conference, as we would need the time to catch up on sleep and orient ourselves. That was indeed a wise decision. We zombied around the apartment for a while and looked a lot of things up.
Then, late morning, we decided to walk the long way round to the conference despite the rain. Mr Google told me that the Newport Mansion Preservation Society offices would be open and that mansion was not too far from our place and then not too far from the Newport Casino.
Unfortunately the information was incorrect and the offices are no longer open. Of course it was possible to arrange mansion views on-line, but my hoped-for old-fashioned leaflet and building with friendly face-to-face advice was not to be.
Looking like drowned rats, we arrived at the International Tennis Hall of Fame‘s Newport Casino Theatre well ahead of the afternoon sessions, which were very interesting, despite the cold inside the heavily air-conditioned theatre itself. Note to self – bring jumper on Friday whatever the weather.
The rain had stopped by late afternoon, so rather than hang around we chose to return to our apartment and freshen up/change ahead of the evening’s art exhibition at the Newport Art Museum, about which we had learnt a fair bit in that afternoon conference session.
That evening turned out to be quite a highlight, especially for Janie who was hugely impressed by the show, as was I.
In particular Bill Sullivan’s cartoonish and Bauhaus-inspired works…
Bauhaus or Bau-mouse?More lookalikes – a pair of Micky Mouse tennis players
…plus some of Freddy’s own pictures, Beth Curren’s pieces, Charles Johnstone’s photographs and works by Robert Manice…and others.
Two of Beth Curren’s piecesTwo inspired pictures (photo art) by FreddyThree of Charles Johnstone’s picturesRobert Manice explaining his methods to JanieThe artists for these two classic works did not show up at the preview/launch event, for some reason.
Feeling very tired, we skipped the informal dinner gathering and went for a very casual quick bite at the Mountain Moose Noodle bar across the street from our apartment, then an early night.
Virgin notified us that our flight would be delayed before we even set off from home, but they also notified us that cyber attack issues meant that we might need to get to the airport a bit earlier to check in the old-fashioned way, even though we had already checked in!
In the end the flight almost caught up with the 50 minute delay, then we circled Boston Logan for ages and formalities in the US seemed to take an age blah blah…
…of course most of the drive from Boston to Newport RI ended up being driving in the dusk/dark, which I had hoped to avoid. At least I had the chance to get used to driving “Max The Mazda” before it got dark. And at least my e-SIM was a doddle to activate, giving me the Wi-Fi connectivity I would need for sat naving and the like.
Very tired on arrival, we sought out the convenience store three blocks away on Thames, as mentioned in advance correspondence by our Airbnb host Jay. Jay had seemed most amused that his English guests would assume that street to be pronounced “Tems” as opposed to the American way, “Thaymes”.
Daisy went into tizzy mode at the sight of convenience products that looked nothing like the ones she is used to in Waitrose, although the quality seemed reasonable enough to me…unlike the prices.
I’m normally the more intense of the two of us, but on this aspect I was totally relaxed about grabbing whatever basic milk, butter, juice, bread, jam, biscuits and cereal the place had to hand…just to get us started.
The only problem with that place was the lack of liquor licence, but Mr Google helped me to find a liquor store just two or three blocks further down Thaymes…I mean Tems…yes, Thames Street. “Werewolves of London” was playing in the store as we walked in and that song became my ear-worm for the rest of our stay in Newport.
This was a really interesting and enjoyable evening at the theatre. We saw the second preview, so you might be reading this ahead of formal press night.
Janie and I highly recommend this play/production.
We are big fans of the Hampstead Downstairs, which rarely disappoints us.
There seems to be something about Anna Ledwich’s work as a director (which we have seen several times), when she works with Allison McKenzie, that attracts quirky people to sit next to us:
Differently quirky people this time – no drink spillage but very interesting chat before the show…unfortunately they were a pair who like to chat to each other during a show as well, but never mind.
Meanwhile Allison McKenzie as Voice/Nicole opened the piece by talking at us, the audience…and then did so again a few times during the play. Be prepared to be challenged in more ways than one!
The play is about OCDs and the voices/compulsive thoughts that some people have in their heads constantly. The character Nicole is the personification of that voice to Richie, Nathan Clarke’s character. He and Ashley Margolis, as Nicole’s son and the OCD-challenged young man’s hapless yet caring friend, riffed off each other extremely well. All three performers were excellent.
As is so often the case at the Hampstead Downstairs, the design team somehow manages to get a lot of theatre out of a small space through ingenuity and some pretty impressive choreographed movements by the performers.
Enough of me prattling on. If you haven’t booked it yet, Janie and I suggest that you book it before it sold out. Read all about it here.
And if you are one of the people who was lucky enough to be in the audience on Saturday and you work out who I am, you might, if superstitious, be relieved to know that I am writing this on the Monday after, so I didn’t die the day after we saw the show. No fictional voice in the head bullies me!
Oh boy was I excited ahead of this one. Janie and I don’t usually go to see plays when we have seen an excellent production before. But we are huge fans of Strindberg and this just seemed too good to miss.
Tom Littler, Director, pairing up again with Howard Brenton adapting a Strindberg play. We loved their version of The Dances of Death at The Gate
Despite the risk of over-expectation, Janie and I were wowed by this production of Creditors at the Orange Tree, which we saw on the day of the first preview.
Charles Dance, Nicholas Farrell and Geraldine James are such fine actors and professional folk all, we should not be surprised that their performances seemed as polished as one might expect deep into a run. Only the curtain call (if you can call it a curtain call in a curtain-free, in-the-round place like The Orange Tree) showed signs of under-preparation. At a first preview, that surely can be forgiven, or even awarded laughter and additional applause, which it was.
The evening started slightly oddly. We arrived at The Orange Tree early enough for a pre-show drink. The gentleman serving behind the bar, whom I did not recognise, looked up at us and said:
I’ve just been reading your blog.
When Janie expressed surprise, both at the fact that the gentleman recognised me and that he had been reading my blog, the gentleman said:
He’s got a very recognisable face. And there aren’t many people who blog about both The Orange Tree Theatre and Lord’s cricket.
We then all three had a brief chat about Middlesex cricket before parting company, in our case with our drinks.
I’d be less recognisable if someone stopped taking all those double-selfies
Returning to The Orange Tree’s production of Creditors, there is clearly something that really works when Howard Brenton adapts Strindberg plays and Tom Littler then directs them. Those two seem to “get” Strindberg, creating an atmosphere, setting the scenarios and pacing the text masterfully. In the hands of a fine acting trio such as Dance, Farrell and James, it is a gob-smackingly good 90 minutes or so of theatre.
Such a shame (for those without tickets) that the run has sold out, but there will be a filmed version of this production available for streaming in October and perhaps this production will get a transfer. This really is one of those productions that theatre lovers should have a chance to see. Janie and I feel hugely privileged to have got to see this production on its very first airing.
Clarification: The Headline Photo Is Lord’s. Not Radlett.
Readers of this piece might be deceived into thinking that I spent an entire fortnight at the end of August 2025 watching cricket. Nothing could be further from the truth.
However, the only photogenic and noteworthy events I attended, as it happens, were cricket. The rest is… [insert your choice of expletive here].
17 August: Middlesex v Yorkshire At Radlett
Much like the Middlesex batting, the camera at the Salter’s Field End couldn’t keep up
A long in the planning arrangement to meet up with Yorkshire Simon & Jilly Black at Radlett, where Middlesex & Yorkshire were to do battle in a One Day Cup match.
Also, it seemed that the weather would smile on us for the day, as it had done in 2023. That is one good thing about having the plethora of outground cricket in July and August – those are probably the most reliable months for dry weather, which really is a big help at outgrounds like Radlett.
We all turned up. Even some of Simon’s friends who we hadn’t been told to expect turned up, which added to the “informal gathering” vibe.
Jilly had never been to a cricket match before. Being someone who wouldn’t exactly describe herself as a sports lover, she showed some reluctance at having the LBW law explained to her in excruciating detail. Nor did Jilly seem keen to understand the difference between finger spin and wrist spin.
Jilly did, however, notice a women sitting in front of us, whose posture on the portable folding chair brought on a quite extreme “builder’s bum” appearance. I would never have noticed such a thing, but Jilly pointed it out to Janie and Janie then pointed it out to me. Once such a thing has been pointed out to you, it is hard to avoid taking the occasional glance, although I think I did better self-control job than Jilly:
Me, watching the cricket, Jilly, taking in the crack
Janie was too polite to photograph the costume malfunction woman, who, I hope, remained oblivious to the distraction she had unwittingly caused.
It was a weird afternoon in more ways than just bum cleavage. When Janie and I went to the loo, we noticed a person, quite clearly an elderly man, entering the women’s portacabin toilet. Janie and another woman went in soon after. I waited outside until all had emerged, just in case. First the man, then the other woman, then Janie. The two women paused to have a chat about the experience, as Janie had challenged the man, gently, asking…
…are you in the right place?
Yes…
…said the man, incredulously.
I went through the appropriate door, did my small amount of business and then turned/returned to photograph the portacabin toilet doors, to see if there was any ambiguity in the signage:
Unambiguous“No ambiguity there. Perhaps the wrong-door-old-geezer was a little tired and emotional”.
None of this stopped us from having a very enjoyable afternoon at Radlett with Simon and Jilly.
20 August: The Hundred At Lord’s Plus The Night Tapes
Warner facing up to the Northern Superchargers
The weather was great. Janie and I got to Lord’s in good time and bagged one of Janie’s favourite spots on the sun deck. We enjoyed the women’s match pretty much in its entirety and then went to have a quick look at the tennis court, which turned into a longer look than intended such that we missed most of the gig, which is a shame because I quite liked the dreamy sound of IIris and her gang, The Night Tapes, when I researched the matter oh so thoroughly the night before the gig.
I especially liked this one, when researching:
As is often the case for us on these The Hundred days, we had enjoyed ourselves enough by about 65-70 balls into the first of the men’s match innings, so we grabbed some shawarmas from The Cedar stall on exit and followed the end of the match on TV while munching and drinking some wine.
Our day on finals day ended similarly, but before that day ended…
31 August: The Hundred Finals Day Including A Perrie Concert
Davina Perrin batting for the Northerns – remember where and when you first heard her name
Again we got to Lord’s in good time, although we were, for the first time in ages, to take in this match from the Warner stand, not the pavilion. I had prioritised a physiotherapy appointment over being able to log in first in the queue for The Hundred tickets on the day the tickets were released. 😇
Actually it was a nice perspective on finals day – not least because we could hear the hullabaloo better from the Warner than you can up top in the pavilion.
The women’s match was a good one.
During the interval between matches, Barry Nathan popped over for a chat.
After being elevated in front of the media centre, Perrie popped around to our stand, bringing her dance-and-pose troupe with her:
Or you might prefer the highlights that Janie (Daisy) videoed for herself which, obviously, are better…or at least, shorter and more to the point:
After all that commotion, even the fireworks at the start of the second match seemed tame:
After watching the end of the second match at home over shawarmas and wine, I did wonder whether the Oval franchise might be renamed The Oval Inevitables unless the authorities change the recruitment rules for future seasons.
Still, Janie and I always enjoy these days out at Lord’s, and this year’s finals day was no exception.
Tuesday 12 August: Goodbye Hydrotherapy At Riverstone, Hello Chelsea Arts Club
I had my last hydrotherapy session for my hip surgery rehab with Michael Lambert at Riverstone that afternoon – highly recommended if you are recovering from major surgery or injury, btw. My entire focus now will be on the more gruelling home and gym based physio.
Criss-crossing the Borough all day – later that afternoon, I ventured to the Chelsea Arts Club, where Tony Friend had kindly arranged to introduce me to Nigel à Brassard, a fellow avocational writer/historian who is also to speak at the Real Tennis Society history conference next month. A most pleasurable early evening with some very interesting note-swapping. I think Nigel’s notes to me will have helped me far more than my notes will have helped Nigel. I don’t suppose he minds.
Wednesday 13 August: A Sad Day At Stuart Morris’s Funeral
A few week’s ago Janie and I were shocked to learn that Stuart, Annalisa’s husband, had died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure. We resolved to keep the funeral day free and attended the moving and dignified ceremony at Bierton Crematorium.
In truth, we did not know Stuart well, having met him perhaps once or twice before attending Annalisa & Stuart’s wedding, all those years ago:
But of course we did know Annalisa well and wanted to be there for her. As it turned out, it was a very large gathering, as Stuart had been extremely popular and well -regarded by friends, police colleagues and even his latter-day colleagues from Whipsnade Zoo, whom Stuart had not known for long but the several who attended seemed much affected by their time with him, which had been so cruelly cut short.
Thursday 14 August: Nat Oaks Concert At Lord’s, Before & After Which Was Some Tennis & Cricket
I love being able to combine tennis and cricket on visits to Lord’s. Not least when this combination of activity affords the opportunity to watch some cricket with a fellow tennis player or two. On this occasion, some relatively gentle doubles (playing entirely left-handed at the time having torn my bicep tendon in late July), followed by The Hundred matches between the London Spirit and Trent Rockets, with Nat Oaks performing in-between.
…was one of the four again. This time, we had the opportunity to watch some cricket and contemporary music together after our game. It was great to watch some cricket with Max, as we had never much discussed cricket before, given the highly focussed nature of our mind sets, and therefore conversation, when playing tennis.
Max had never watched women’s cricket live before and I think was quite taken with it when observed from the rarefied atmosphere of the Lord’s pavilion terrace. We are so privileged being able to use those facilities as “our cricket club-house”.
I’m not sure that Max was as sure about the music of Nat Oaks. I rather liked it, having extensively researched the subject ahead of the match (i.e. I had watched two on-line vids before setting off for Lord’s).
This is what she looked like performing live at Lord’s – thanks to BBC Music:
Max stuck around for almost half of the men’s match. I stuck around for the entire first half of it.
Friday 15 August: A Day Chatting & Eating With Ben Schwarz
It was a most pleasant way to spend a large chunk of the day. We nattered for so long over a pot of tea at Clanricarde Gardens, that by the time we got to The Orangery in Kensington Gardens, they’d stopped serving the lunch menu and had moved on to the high tea menu. A suitable venue for high tea, we shared one of those and then strolled in the gardens chatting some more.
This photo, in truth, from 1994, but the look of the place on a sunny day hasn’t changed
Naturally, we didn’t quite complete the list of topics we had been hoping to discuss, so we’ll chat some more in the autumn. It will be interesting to compare notes from our respective times in the USA when next we meet.
Tennis, Followed By London Spirit v Oval Invincibles Double-Header, Observed Mostly From Pelhams, 5 August 2025
Actually I’m not sure whether we are supposed to pronounce the Lord’s Warner Stand Restaurant, which is named Pelhams, “Plums” or “Pelhams”. These days, probably the latter.
Anyway, I was cordially invited to enjoy the first The Hundred day of the season, London Spirit v Oval Invincibles, from the giddy heights of that restaurant, courtesy of the committee, as a thank you for being on the tennis subcommittee.
Here’s me looking suitably giddy up there. I took this picture to alert Colin Stutt, aka Olaf The Buddhist Viking, to the fact that I was there. I reported Olaf’s baby steps into cricket thusly:
Since then, his enthusiasm for our sport has led him as far as Perth to watch a Women’s test match and back to Lord’s a couple of years later with a party of eight, including his daughter, Laura, for her 30th birthday treat – Laura’s idea! I conspired with Olaf to arrange a surprise personal tour around the pavilion for Laura during the interval between the two matches.
But before all of that, I had a good left-handed hit on the real tennis court with John Beatty & Giles Stogdon, ably assisted by Chris Bray who mopped up after my less penetrative shots. I thought I played quite well in the circumstances.
Then to Pelhams, where the tennis subcommittee was being entertained along with several other subcommittees, including the folk that organise the MCC cricket fixtures. The women’s fixtures committee included two people I know well: Leshia Hawkins from the ECB and Marilyn Smith from Middlesex.
Having done my homework a little earlier in the day, I surprised my fellow guests with my knowledge of the chanteuse who was to entertain us during the interval: Mimi Webb.
Just as well that no-one was able to challenge the depth of my knowledge there.
Leshia and I bonded further in the matter of music by both recognising one of the songs available for The Hundred app users to choose as the walk-on music for Danielle Gibson: Ride On Time, which, I am delighted to announce, was chosen by the majority and therefore played. A rare success for me – both recognising the song and being successful in choosing it.
Walking round to the Edrich Stand to collect Laura for her surprise tour reminded me why I normally choose any time other than the intervals for walking around. The ground was heaving.
Still, we navigated the crowds and I was able to provide Laura with a fairly comprehensive, albeit slightly idiosyncratic tour of the pavilion. I don’t suppose many tours focus quite so much on the portraits of Spencer Ponsonby-Fane and Rachel Heyhoe Flint, but we had our reasons.
Laura was wearing a sash announcing that it was her 30th birthday, which encouraged many people to greet Laura warmly and wish her happy birthday. Laura surmised that I must know lots of people in the pavilion, which was slightly true, but a lot of the friendly greeters were not people I know – they were just friendly people. It is a genial collection of folk, young and old, in the pavilion on The Hundred days. I welcome it wholehearedly.
After Laura’s tour, I got back just in time to chow down eagerly, while watching the men’s match fizzle disappointingly. While the women’s match had been an excellent advertisement for women’s cricket, I thought the men’s Hundred match was a good advert for test match cricket, coming just a day after the end of a magnificent test series. Still, that second match gave me an opportunity to chat with some of my fellow tennis committee folk and also some of the other people in Pelhams that evening.
Without Leisha’s guidance, I made a foolish choice of walk-on music for the men’s match, not recognising the name Insomnia as the following track, which contains an infectious riff, which is very suitable (once you get 2/3rds of the way through the track) and was indeed chosen:
An exhilarating afternoon and evening: I got plenty of sleep that night.
Playing Tennis & Watching Cricket & Tennis On MCC Women’s Day, 8 August 2025
I had arranged to play tennis at 14:00, after the two-hour MCC Women’s Day gathering on the tennis court, to which I had not been invited as a player.
I arrived at Lord’s around 12:00, determined to watch some cricket and tennis before I played. I am very glad I did that.
The first match on the cricket pitch was between an MCC XI and Gunnersbuty WCC. This was in part a celebration of “The Gunns” centenary year.
Originally from “out our way” around Ealing/Gunnersbury (who knew), the club has actually moved around a lot, now in Barnet, but at one time (1960s) based at Boston Manor Park, where Janie and I play our “lawn”.
I must have been going through a purple patch in Boston Manor Park at that time
I watched with divided loyalties, as The Gunns turned what looked like a losing cause into an excellently-timed successful run chase.
After that, I watched the women at tennis for a while, chatting with those who were off the court.
Then it was my turn to play, with three great stalwarts: Michael Keane, Max McHardy and Barry Nathan. I worked out that, between the four of us, there were only three organic hips on the court, the other five, including Pinky, my new right hip, being prosthetic. Max boasted that both of his hips are originals, only then to confess that both of his knees are falsies.
I decided to name us The Bionic Quartet. I asked DeepAI to try to depict “The Bionic Quartet” based on a short description:
Not bad. I suggested fewer beards and tennis rackets rather than musical instruments:
Hmmm – AI seems determined to depict vast amounts of facial hair, even when asked not to. I didn’t dare try to get the software to depict real tennis rackets.
I stuck around briefly after tennis to see a bit of the second cricket match, but the thought of avoiding the rush hour on the tube and getting home in good time became a greater draw than the cricket quite quickly. I have seen a lot of the stuff over the past few weeks and will be seeing plenty more before the season is completely done.
154 New Cavendish Street (formerly 7 Upper Marylebone Street), 30 July 2025
An Open, Illustrated Letter To The Thomas Paine Historical Association & English Heritage
Synopsis: Previous research by the Thomas Paine Society in the UK identified 148 New Cavendish Street (Highwood House) as the site of the house 7 Upper Marylebone Street, occupied by Thomas Paine while he wrote large chunks of The Right of Man. (See Barb Jacobson’s otherwise excellent article in Fitzrovia News from November 2010). However, my subsequent research (2022 and 2025) has uncovered incontrovertible evidence that the numbering of Upper Marylebone Street in Horwood’s Plan, upon which the 148 New Cavendish Street theory is based, was in error. In fact, 7 Upper Marylebone Street is now 154 New Cavendish Street, one of the three original Georgian houses still standing on that block. That house should be eligible for an English Heritage Blue Plaque in honour of Thomas Paine. I urge The Thomas Paine Historical Association to liaise with English Heritage over this matter.
Half Of The Harris Family From Number 4. Dad, Grandma Anne & Uncle Michael, c1925.
My father’s family settled at 4 Upper Marylebone Street a few years after arriving in this country. My father was born in that house in 1919, as was his brother Michael a couple of years later. The “Harris” family moved south around 1930.
While trawling all the available information sources for Upper Marylebone Street, now the eastern end of New Cavendish Street, I uncovered electoral rolls from 1935 and 1939. These provided incontrovertible evidence of the renaming and renumbering, as that was done between those two electoral rolls, as almost every house in that block (ironically, the one my family had lived in was empty in 1939) had at least one or two occupants who spanned those electoral roll years.
From the 1935 electoral rollFrom the 1939 electoral roll
Mapping the two rolls:
1 Upper Marylebone Street became 168 New Cavendish Street – see Emma Chandler and Minnie Morris
2 Upper Marylebone Street became 166 New Cavendish Street – see John and Anna Bertha Sarah Wright
3 Upper Marylebone Street became 164 New Cavendish Street – see Charles & Clara Lohman and William Smith
4 Upper Marylebone Street became 162 New Cavendish Street – by inference, as empty in 1939
5 Upper Marylebone Street became 160 New Cavendish Street – by inference, as empty in 1935 and 1939
6a Upper Marylebone Street became 158 New Cavendish Street – see Dora Cante (Cawte) & Kathleen MacDonald
6 Upper Marylebone Street became 156 New Cavendish Street – see John William Hawkes & Pauline Hawkes
7 Upper Marylebone Street became 154 New Cavendish Street – see Hyman & Sara Gilbert, Charles & Florence Emily Jeanette Esser, George Henry & Elizabeth Emily Wheeler
8 Upper Marylebone Street became 152 New Cavendish Street – see Elizabeth Olwen & Ionwerth Lumley Jenkins
9 Upper Marylebone Street became 150 New Cavendish Street – see John Spenser & Annie Catherine Manning, and Frederick George Gransden.
Here are a couple of pictures I took in 2022 of the block of houses that was Upper Marylebone Street:
1 to 4 (plus the edge of 5) Upper Marylebone Street. Now 168 to 162 (plus the edge of 160) New Cavendish StreetEdge of 6, then 7 to 9 Upper Marylebone Street, then edge of Highwood House. Now edge of 156 to 150 New Cavendish Street, plus edge of 148 (Highwood House).
How could Horwood’s plan of 1792-1799 be in error? House numbering on Horwood’s plan is not 100% reliable and I believe this particular error is plain to see in the light of the other evidence I present:
Extract from Horwood’s Plan
Horwood leaves the three most easterly units on Upper Marylebone Street unnumbered, numbering the three most westerly units. Those three westerly units, together with an unnumbered unit from Ogle Court, subsequently became Highwood House.
It is clear from the renaming and renumbering in the 1930s that the three most easterly houses were numbered, 1, 2 & 3 Upper Marylebone Street. It is also more likely that unnumbered units were of lesser quality, more readily subsumed into a block of flats.
Barb Jacobson mentions evidence from tax records as well, which I have not seen, but it is quite possible that the three unnumbered units were part of the same demise as 9 Upper Marylebone Street – such detail would not be shown in tax records.
Still, I wanted more evidence from the Georgian period if I could find it. I turned to another great early trove of London street by street information: Lockie’s 1810 Topography of London.
Here is the relevant extract:
In other words, the small square behind No 10 Upper Marylebone Street could be found by passing three doors on the left after 9 Upper Marylebone Street. The three unnumbered doors were the three most westerly doors on the block, next to number 9.
I believe that all of this evidence is incontrovertible and points to the fact that the current house 154 New Cavendish Street is the house in which Thomas Paine wrote large chunks of Rights Of Man, as deliciously described in Barb Jacobson’s essay.
Sorry to be a Paine, but common sense suggests that we get this right…or even rights
I meant to write all of this up in 2022, but life intervened and other matters prevailed.
I told Ben the Thomas Paine story and he politely told me off for not having written it up. Actually, in truth, I told myself off while telling him the tale and he agreed with me that I deserved telling off and that the matter needed putting right.
As it happened, I found myself very near the scene with a bit of time on my hands on 30 July 2025.
The Harris place, now 162, no longer boarded up in July 2025 – instead an art gallery named Night Café. My artist/photographer dad would have approved.Two sides of 154 New Cavendish Street, now the Cracked Coffee Company
Thomas Paine would surely have approved of his former writing digs now being a coffee shop. It was in such places that his writings were most often disseminated in the late 18th century.
It was near to closing time and I was interrupting a deep conversation between that manager (who turned out to be Romanian) and a rather excitable Russian mathematician named Yuri. They both seemed fascinated by the Thomas Paine connection.
We all three tried to debate matters of great social, moral and geopolitical import in the 30 minutes before closing time. We thought it was what Thomas Paine would have wanted. We even made some progress, or at least came to the conclusion that some social progress has been made since Thomas Paine’s time there in the 1790s and since my family’s time there 100 years ago.
I’m rambling.
To summarise, I believe I have uncovered incontrovertible evidence that the site of Thomas ‘Clio’ Rickman’s house, 7 Upper Marylebone Street, where Thomas Paine stayed and wrote the second part of The Rights Of Man in the early 1790s, is now 154 New Cavendish Street, which is the original Georgian building in which those important events occurred.
I believe that 154 New Cavendish Street should be eligible for an English Heritage Blue Plaque based on the evidence I have presented in this paper. I urge the Thomas Paine Historical Association formally to request such a plaque for that building. If I can provide any further assistance in this matter, please let me know. I’d love to attend the unveiling of the Blue Plaque, if the timing permits.
Postscript: Hair Today & Gone Tomorrow In 7 Upper Marylebone Street
When conducting my 2022 research, my cousin Angela, whose memory can stretch back to the 1950s and 1960s, reminded me that the Gilbert family, who lived at 7 Upper Marylebone Street, were great friends of our family and remained friends for many decades after my family moved on.
Angela remembers visiting the Gilbert family (or, as my father would affectionately call them, “The Giblets”), at 154 New Cavendish Street and believes that at least some of the Gilbert family remained there into the late 1950s or even the 1960s. Theirs was a barbershop, so it is very likely indeed that my dad’s haircut in the picture above, and that of Michael, were from that very shop.
That dad haircut would have been about 100 years before I sat in the same shop, drinking coffee and trying to put the world to rights through lively discussion.
Thomas Paine might have had a thing or two to say about forcing a kid to have his hair cut against his will.
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” Thomas Paine. Don’t tell me he wasn’t talking about involuntary hair cutting.
Photos by Janie – talk about “focus on the food, not the people”
Actually that headline photo is an aberration. The focus of planning this get together was very much about the people, not so much the food. A long in the planning date to meet up with Pady Jalali on her long-delayed visit to London. Her previous visit had been planned for June 2023…
…but those plans went awry because Pady suffered an injury just prior to her planned trip.
This time, even more sadly, Pady had to cancel her trip due to the demise of her beloved father. As with the June 2023 gathering, we considered cancelling the whole event, then decided that we were in any case overdue for a John, Mandy, Janie and Ian gathering, so went ahead nonetheless.
After much debate, having been assigned “choose the restaurant” duties, Janie and I settled on Tatar Bunar, a new Ukrainian Restaurant in Shoreditch, which had been very well received in the gastro-press-and-media-world in the spring, e.g.:
Not all that many high-quality and trendy restaurants open on a Sunday evening, but Tatar Bunar does. Those criteria, together with the helpful (meet part way) location helped get that place the gig.
There we are, the people. Above, me and Mandy tucking in. Below, John listening intently, learning all about the food and wine from the charming, knowledgeable and helpful waitress.
It was lovely to see John and Mandy again – first meal out together for some while. We did some catching up and we raised a glass to Pady and her family. It was such a shame that Pady couldn’t be with us again this time.
And then there was the food:
Oh wow! Yes, dumplings can be subtle, even if super-sized.
We enjoyed trying the Ukrainian wines, which matched extremely well with the Ukrainian foods. The foodie reviews linked above will give you far more detail and precision about the food than we could, other than to say that we found every dish we tried interesting and delicious. And we tried plenty, given the sharing plates concept.
Unlike some sharing plates places, we found the guidance from our waitress helpful in terms of sizing the meal as well as in recommending things to try when we explained our tastes, preferences and limitations.
John was wowed, Mandy was lulled into a state of tranquillity. Legal notice: most if not all of those empty and near empty wine glasses had been drained by others of us, not Mandy; the appearance is just a camera angle thing.
We’d had a lovely evening. Hopefully we’ll do something similar again soon and hopefully we’ll get to see Pady again soon.
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:
…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.
