Category: Other Culture (film, media, fine art, exhibitions, other people’s writing etc.)

Editing George And Edith Corke’s Honeymoon Diary With John Random, May/June 2020

Seymour Hicks & Ellaline Terriss – not George & Edith

In May 2020 John Burns (aka John Random) sent me an electronic transcript of his great-grandfather’s honeymoon diary, from June/July 1901. The picture above shows John with that anique artefact.

I suggested the idea of upping it as a guest piece on Ogblog and hence a fascinating mini-project was born. Here’s the thing:

Protected: George And Edith Corke’s Honeymoon Diary, 27 June To 11 July 1901

There are some truly charming touches in George’s diary. I absolutely love the fact that he couldn’t describe an escalator at Earls Court on July 3rd, presumably because he hadn’t seen one before. He refers to the thing as

Endless staircase lift. You stand still and it takes you to the top for 1d.

By 10 july in Paris, though, he’s mastered these things and merely describes:

Moving staircase.

Another interesting thing is slight changes in tone as the holiday goes on. Firstly there are increasing mentions of money, especially after 4 July when they:

Called at Paris Bank re more money. 

Perhaps the trip to Paris was an afterthought and/or perhaps they realised that they were spending more than they originally planned.

George’s notes get pithier as the trip goes on, especially when in France where the touring (I think with Thomas Cook) reads incredibly intense and therefore quite tiring I imagine. I know the feeeling from my own travel logs.

George & Edith’s wedding took place on 27 June 1901. That was the day after the original intended date for Edward VII’s coronation, which had to be postponed due to the King’s ill health. The coronation’s postponement was announced 24 June.

George and Edith’s wedding might have been arranged at fairly short notice, although their wedding party as described seems quite large and their subsequent honeymoon quite complex for a rush job.

One additional piece of evidence is the baptismal record for John’s grandmother, Dorris:

That date is just 36 weeks after the wedding day. Dorris apparently went to her grave believing herself to be a premature baby whereas John’s mother never bought in to that explanation.

The truth of that matter is lost in the mists of time.

What survives is a truly charming diary, written with great clarity and a lack of pomposity.

Below are some more detailed notes and thoughts about the content; some arising from conversations between me and John, others arising from subsequent research.

27 June 1901 – late in the day George & Edith arrive at “37 Bedford Place, Russell Square, which is kept by the Misses Dobson.” That place is now (in 2020) The Grange Clarendon, a boutique hotel. How boutiquey it was in 1901 I cannot tell, but I don’t think that Bloomsbury was anywhere near as up-market then as it is now.

28 June 1901 – Ellaline Terriss & Seymour Hicks were huge stars back then, so George & Edith’s evening at The Vaudeville Theatre seeing Sweet & Twenty was a big deal. I have managed to find a contemporaneous review from The Idler:

Coincidentally, while I was researching and writing up these notes, Janie popped in and, on seeing Ellaline Terriss’s name, told me that she had, many years ago, treated the daughter, Betty, at her home in Richmond. I believe that this linked photograph of Eamonn Andrews interviewing Terriss was taken in that very Richmond house. The Sweet And Twenty Playwright, Basil Hood, has a fascinating, sad story of his own and the most Edwardian moustache ever!

2 July 1901 – Called at Sharp Perrins. John’s mum added a note to her transcript when the couple returned to that establishment 6 July – “(wholesalers to the drapery trade. The bride and groom ran a draper’s shop in Victoria Rd. Widnes.)” – I have moved the note to this first mention of the firm. That evening the happy couple went to see HMS Irresponsible at the Strand Theatre. There is no west end listing of cast and creatives for that production but there is a record of it opening 27 May 1901 and there is a Theatricalia entry from its Bristol transfer in 1902 – click here. Arthur Roberts is still listed. The playwright, J F Cornish, is hard to find on-line. One or two name-drops/mentions, mostly as an actor. Cornish doesn’t make the index of Seymour Hicks’s 1910 autobiography. Arthur Roberts does…once.

3 July 1901 – Military Exhibition. The entire catalogue from that exhibition is ion the public domain. You can view it on-line at Hathi Trust through this link…or this pdf uploaded to Ogblog here. John’s mum inserted a ? at the mention of Canton river, but the map/catalogue confirms that one of the attractions was a boat ride on Canton river.

5 July 1901 – the happy couple saw Emma Calvé as Carmen. John extracted a chunk of the Wikipedia entry for Emma Calvé in that topic. I have simply placed a link to the wikipedia entry in the 1901 blog – here is John’s chosen extract.

Wikipedia Entry for Emma Calvé

Her next triumph was Bizet's Carmen. Before beginning the study of this part, she went to Spain, learned the Spanish dances, mingled with the people and patterned her characterization after the cigarette girls whom she watched at their work and at play. In 1894, she made her appearance in the role at the Opéra-Comique, Paris. The city's opera-goers immediately hailed her as the greatest Carmen that had ever appeared, a verdict other cities would later echo.[citation needed] She had had many famous predecessors in the role, including Adelina Patti, Minnie Hauk and Célestine Galli-Marié, but critics and musicians agreed that in Calvé they had found their ideal of Bizet's cigarette girl of Seville.

6 July 1901 – after spending the day in London, the happy couple travelled overnight to Paris via Newhaven & Dieppe, arriving the next morning. I have located their hotel, Rapp et Duphot in the 1900 Baedeker, a book which is available in its entirety on the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) – here.

Neither the hotel name, nor the road name, Richepense are still active, but that road, now renamed rue du Chevalier de Saint George, has the Hotel Richepense at No 14, which I suspect is an enlarged version of the same establishment.

8 July 1901 – the reference to “Cook’s four in hand coach as per programme ” tells us that the Paris leg of their honeymoon was arranged through Thomas Cook & Son. I have added the 1901 brochure cover at the end of the Wednesday 10th touring, which is when it seems the touring side of things ended. I don’t believe there was a Cook’s Guidebook for Paris for a further few years, which reinforces my view that George & Edith probably used the 1900 Baedeker if they used a guide book at all.

John sent me several pictures of Edith Corke in later life. He has none of George. I chose one to illustrate the end of the main honeymoon diary but thought the others would show nicely here.

I like the cheeky expression on Edith’s face in this last one. I imagine that someone has just asked her, “was Dorris really a premature baby?”

Youth Club, Charity Work, High Notes & More, A Surprisingly Diverse Week Of Activities, 3 to 9 May 2020

Wendy, Mark & David saying, “hello in there”, Nightingale, 1979

Youth Club & Director’s Cut, 3 May 2020

These last few weeks we have had regular youth club Zoom gatherings on a Sunday, which have surprising amounts in common with the gatherings more than 40 years ago.

Virtually Going Back To Our Roots, A Streatham BBYO Youth Club Reunion On Zoom, 29 March 2020

Sunday 3rd May was another such gathering. The soap opera that is the “social distancing rabbits” story (click link here or above if you are interested) took on yet another twist, as the buck appears to have broken the social distancing rules for a few moments; all that is required, apparently, potentially to initiate another brood.

Coincidentally, much of the discussion prior to the rabbit saga had focussed on offspring, be it children or grand-children, the latter being very recent or imminent in several cases.

Even more coincidentally, I was distracted for some of the Zoom on this occasion by virtue of having been invited to a Zoom Bris in Texas by another old BBYO friend, who became a doting grandfather a few days earlier. Having not experienced a bris since my own, I was intrigued and wanted to join the ceremony, which was timed to start at the same time as youth club. I followed the former surreptitiously on my mobile phone. It’s the sort of thing young folk do in face-to-face meetings, after all.

After the ceremony, I confessed to the specifics of my two-timing activity. One of our number, from the education sector, fretted about safeguarding issues arising from a Zoom bris. I felt bound to assure him and the others that all I could really see was doting parents, a blissfully unaware baby and a few other attendees. In short, I think the director/camera-dude said “cut!” at the vital moment.

I’ll give youth club my undivided next time. “Undivided what?”, I hear you cry.

Hitting The High Notes With Lydia White, 5 May 2020

Talking of hitting high notes, I have started taking some singing lessons with Lydia White via video conference. Actually this is something that John White and I had talked about some time ago, when I learnt that John’s daughter Lydia, as well as progressing her show business career in musicals…

Rags The Musical, Hope Mill Theatre, 13 March 2019

…was also giving singing lessons. Meanwhile, Lydia’s career had just taken an unexpected, fortuitous leap forward into a leading role, when lockdown came, bringing that opportunity to an end after just a few shows.

Anyway, it turns out that Lydia is a very good singing teacher and that, although she hadn’t tried giving lessons by VC before, that she can provide excellent coaching that way, much as Ian Pittaway helps me to progress my instrument playing, mostly through remote lessons.

A Renaissance In Baritone Ukulele Lessons, Stourbridge, 3 July 2017

Today was my second lesson with Lydia and I must say that I feel that I am making progress very rapidly. Not that I’ll ever be a great singer, but there are some basics of technique that are enabling me to get a lot more out of my voice for less effort. Most importantly, I am really enjoying the process of learning and practicing. Janie says she can hear a great deal of improvement, which is remarkable in such a short period of time…and given that Janie wears anti-noise earmuffs whenever I sing. OK I made up the bit about earmuffs.

Here is a link to Lydia’s singing lesson site.

Another Plug For Rohan Candappa’s Lockdown Theatre Company, 6 May 2020

I have previously plugged Rohan Candappa’s wonderful philanthropic yet artistically excellent project, the Lockdown Theatre Company.

This week’s production, Diff, is right up there as a piece of writing and performance:

Rohan, having funded season one himself, is trying to crowdfund season two. A link to the Kickstarter thingie can be found by clicking here or below:

You can help the project just by watching, enjoying and sharing the output with others who might appreciate it. But if, like me, you are also able to put your hand in your pocket a bit towards series two, that would be great for Rohan and the struggling artistes he is helping through this initiative.

Is It Lourdes Or Lord’s?, A FoodCycle Gig In Marylebone, 6 May 2020

Ged: You want us to deliver ALL these? Ali: (from a suitably social distance) Yup!

Daisy and I were asked to do another FoodCycle gig this week; in Marylebone this time. The church hall in which tireless volunteers such as Ali and Jenny assemble the food parcels is the Roman Catholic Church Of Our Lady, just around the corner from my own temple – Lord’s Cricket Ground – currently closed due to covid.

We met another volunteer, Connagh, who was taking the other batch of parcels that day. He was also a first-timer at this venue so we all three wandered around together (at a suitably social distance of course) until we found Ali & Jenny.

Ali & Connagh demonstrate the socially distant high five, aka the “high five meters apart”
Ali, Jenny, Janie (Daisy) & Connagh. This could be a press picture or album cover for an early music a cappella quartet. I have named them “Pro Canteen Antiqua”

We then drove off. While we were waiting for the sat nav to get its bearings, Dumbo (who loves visiting Lord’s more than anything)…

Lord’s net practice report

…decided that Lodge Road and then back past Lord’s was the best route. It wasn’t the best route for the food deliveries but it did give us all a glimpse of what we are missing.

There it is, up ahead…
So near and yet so far; the gates are closed, even to us!
Lord’s denied; Ged cannot contain his emotions

Actually the whole experience of delivering for FoodCycle is quite an emotional experience at times. One elderly guest on the Lisson Green Estate, I believe one of the regulars when the arrangement is for the guests and volunteers to gather for a weekly meal, was waiting by the entrance to her block and started to cry when we announced ourselves. She thought we were late (we weren’t) and that she had been forgotten (she hadn’t).

The reality of our food deliveries during the pandemic is that the food parcels can only help to meet part of the FoodCycle mission, which is to alleviate both food poverty and social isolation. Of course we understand why we can only deliver a tiny part of the social agenda, by engaging as best we can within the constraints of social distancing. But it is chastening to see how isolated some of the guests must feel at the moment. Still, the food poverty agenda is also extremely important and we encountered some other guests who have clearly fallen on hard times of late and just desperately need the food.

We’re doing another gig on Sunday, around White City/East Acton. I’ll add photos from there if I get a chance to take some.

Hello In There by John Prine, 9 May 2020

I thought I’d sum up this strange week with this beautiful John Prine song, Hello In There, which I have been unable to get out of my head since I learnt that Prine was ill, about a week before he died of Covid-19 in early April.

This charming, beautiful song is so much for our times. I can only try to do it justice.

Postscript: FoodCycle Around White City, Old Oak & Wormholt & Acton, 10 May 2020

Collecting the parcels: Janie (Daisy) with Fr Richard Nesbitt, Alannah & Francesco

Janie’s first gig for Foodcycle had been the project known as East Acton, which is initiated at the Our Lady Of Fatima Church in White City.

As we are now billed as a double act, seasoned operators at that, we get to drop 20 parcels at 10 addresses on our run.

Actually, this proved the least onerous run so far, partly because Janie had been to three of the locations before but also because the several drops to houses on the Old Oak and Wormholt were easier to navigate than some of the more modern estates.

Again, lovely, attentive people producing the parcels and helping us to load up the car. Fr Richard even wandered around to make sure the first drop, which was a new guest very near the church, went according to plan. Again extremely grateful and friendly guests who seemed so pleased to see us when we turned up.

This really is necessary and worthwhile voluntary work at the moment.

Ged & Daisy Go South On A FoodCycle Made For Two, 2 May 2020

Keen to help at a time of national crisis, but frustrated at having received no calls for help yet through the NHS Responder scheme – although we both had our applications accepted several weeks ago, Daisy (Janie) took matters into her own hands. A friend recommended that she speak with FoodCycle.

Why FoodCycle?

Under normal circumstances, FoodCycle’s thing is to use surplus food to reduce waste and to bring people together around healthy meals. It is a superb, award-winning charitable idea.

But the current circumstances are not normal; the social gathering element of the idea has needed to be parked at this stage of the Covid pandemic.

Thus the charity has had to re-orient itself towards distributing food to the vulnerable and needy, which profoundly changes the supply, production and distribution aspects of the initiative.

In this maelstrom, volunteers like me and Daisy become surprisingly useful. We possess cars, smart phones and a willingness to be guinea pigs as delivery folk for new/temporary food distribution projects.

Daisy signed up and did a delivery round for our most local, East Acton, project last weekend. I then signed up this last week.

FoodCycle were clearly keen to use us. Could we help out this weekend with a new project in Clapham/Battersea to distribute frozen meals generously donated by COOK Clapham? 10 deliveries for this one rather than last week’s five. Of course we could, but we all agreed that this larger job would be better done as a Ged & Daisy two-hander.

Three hander if we count Dumbo, the Suzuki Jimny.

Armed with a very smart Circuit for Teams app for routing, delivery instructions and confirming “jobs done”, plus a letter from FoodCycle confirming that we were doing essential work and not out for a drive on a sunny day, off we set.

Dumbo was a little fearful that he might be stopped by the police, despite his legitimate purpose. This was the first time he’d been out and about in several weeks, of course… & Dumbo does have previous in the matter of being stopped by the fuzz:

Lord’s net practice – journey report

Anyway, Dumbo needn’t have worried; we saw quite a few cop cars out and about but didn’t get stopped.

We certainly knew where we were going in the matter of getting to COOK Clapham, as it is just across the road from 33 Abbeville Road, formerly Newton’s, where Ged & Daisy had previous:

Contrasting Care And Attention To Lower Limbs: An Afternoon & Evening With Mum At Woodfield Avenue And Newton’s, 1 February 2008

The COOK Clapham team were lovely and handed us bag upon bag upon bag of food:

After we had loaded all eight bags into the back of Dumbo (but mercifully before we set off), my lightening computational mind worked out that we must have the food for the other pair who were doing the distribution as well as the supplies for our own round.

The others turned up at more or less the same moment as we were getting out of the car to check the details with the COOK team, so that matter was easily put right.

Ged helps Dumbo to shed his load

Doing this type of delivery round is a strange mixture of easy and difficult. Easy to get to the place where the sat. nav. tells you to stop (especially for me around Clapham/Battersea where I know the area well), but sometimes difficult to get the meals to the actual door for the actual person/people who need them.

The most comedic example of the difficulties was on one Battersea estate, where the recipient had asked us to phone on arrival, which I did, to which she said she’d be down in a minute or two. Janie took the goods to the front door of the large block of flats where she waited and waited. Meanwhile, I started to feel a little bit nervous of a man with a van, who had turned up next to me, who was rummaging in his van and talking on his mobile phone, but I sensed was also eying me up.

Eventually I phoned the woman again, who seemed aghast that her husband hadn’t yet found us; he’d gone down to get something from his van and collect the food.

So I asked the gentleman with the phone if he was collecting food for the guest in question, to which he answered “yes”. It hadn’t occurred to him that we might be the people delivering the food. The sharpest knives in the draw must have all been used to produce those yummy-looking COOK meals.

The mushroom spaghetti bolognese looked especially tempting and looked as though it could please vegans and regular carnivores alike.

Daisy and I resisted the temptation to try one of the meals ourselves, even though COOK had generously provided more than the required number of orders. We felt honour bound to distribute the additional dishes to those who said “yes please” when we told them that we had a few extras. Ged and Daisy’s halos will remain available for all to see for quite some time.

Driving around that area was a bit of a memory lane trip for me of course, especially when our route took us past dad’s shop on St John’s Hill:

Janie wondered whether I wanted to stop and take a picture of the location as it now looks, a rock bar named Project Orange, but I assured her there would be no need to try stopping on such a busy road just for a picture:

Borrowed from and linked to Zomato’s listing

On one occasion we did need to try and stop on a busy road, as we had one delivery to do on the Queenstown Road itself. As I indicated and slowed down to try and find a suitable & safe place to stop, a group of young cyclists took a dislike to what we were doing, to such an extent that the young woman of the pack shouted at me…

…what the hell are you doing?…

…I wanted to shout back…

…I’m delivering lunches to the needy for charity, while you lot are out having a fun bike ride on a sunny day. What the hell are YOU doing to help?…

…but I didn’t do that, I kept my wise words to myself, or rather I chose to share them solely with Daisy…and now with you, dear reader.

Returning the empties to COOK for next time

There’s nothing glamorous about this type of volunteering gig; it is pretty hard work. While repetition and experience might reduce the time and effort factors a little, it will remain time consuming hard work. But we both got a buzz from the gratitude we heard and saw from most of the recipients.

And we felt an enormous sense of satisfaction when we completed our round of deliveries and headed home.

Will we do it again when asked? You bet.

Laughter, Joy, Be Wakeful & Deep Thoughts On The Bus, Lockdown Videos Viewed Before Breakfast, 28 April 2020

I woke up this morning to find two video links in my e-mail inbox, which conjured up very different emotions.

Ian Pittaway, my early music teacher, having seen so many examples of video-conference-based music making in the past few weeks, was amused to find a seeming spoof of the genre…except that the following video was made years before Zoom and lockdown:

I laughed a lot.

In truth, some of the examples I have seen of lockdown music making have been very good indeed, while others have been unintentionally laughable.

Actually the best example of multi-part lockdown music-making I have seen so far came out quite early in the lockdown. Especially impressive because the supremely talented Peter Whelan, whom Janie and I saw at The Wig at the end of last year, really can play several instruments and sing in more than one register…

…so he performs this beautiful Bach Cantata all by himself, with his tongue only slightly in his cheek:

But the really thought-provoking video this morning came from Rohan Candappa. Rohan has now decided to vent his spleen at the UK Government’s mendacious attempt to claim success so far in the coronavirus pandemic, where all the evidence suggests that we have a great deal to learn in the UK if we are to emerge eventually from this crisis without additional self-inflicted damage. It includes a touching tribute to transport workers, who are among the forgotten heroes of the crisis.

Rohan’s short, beautifully-crafted monologue is entitled “Bus”:

This last piece won’t cheer you up, so you might want to go back to The Muppets and/or Peter Whelan after watching Rohan’s piece, to make yourself feel a bit better again.

That’s what I did.

Big Dog’s Big Question by Kay Scorah, Guest Piece From Virtual ThreadMash, 22 April 2020

Kay Scorah (top left in the above picture) was “head girl” for this evening’s Virtual ThreadMash. She chose the topic of soft furnishings, perhaps thinking that such a topic might lighten the mood in these unprecedented, lockdown times. If you were to judge by my Tale Of Beany & Baggy piece and Kay’s Big Dog’s Big Question (below), you might conclude that Kay’s choice had succeeded in generating lighthearted pieces…

…but you would be SO wrong. David, Julie and Flo produced pieces that were so dark, I’m thinking of sending them to the government’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, suggesting that he examine these ThreadMash pieces as evidence of mental health issues arising from lockdown.

But for now, dear Ogblog readers, you are spared the darkness and lockdown anxiety.

I am delighted that Kay has, once again, (click here to read The Gift from last year), submitted one of her pieces as a guest piece for Ogblog. So I am proud to present:

Big Dog’s Big Question by Kay Scorah

Big Dog was trying to sleep. It had been a rough night, with a great deal of tossing and turning and intermittent hugging. At one point he thought he was going to fall out of bed, but Seán, himself only half awake, had grabbed him just in time and held on to him tightly. Now, just before dawn, things had quietened down and the boy had released his grip as sleep took over. Lucky Seán.

Big Dog had a busy day ahead, and knew he needed the shuteye, but his mind was too active. That same old question spinning around and around in his head.

He felt the softness of the pillow under his cheek, and, opening his eyes in the brightening pre-dawn light began to count the stars in the pattern on the pillowcase. He’d heard of counting sheep – perhaps counting decorative fabric stars would have the same effect.  But of course, thinking about the pillow only made things worse. Made That Question even louder.

Giving up, he opened his eyes wide and looked across the room to where Rabbidog and Blumberg seemed to be sound asleep on the chair. Rabbidog propped up on a cushion, Blumberg with his head on Rabbidog’s knee.

Rabbidog is called Rabbidog because no-one has ever worked out if he’s a dog or a rabbit. And Blumberg is called Blumberg because he was a gift from Jane Blumberg.

Not for the first time, Big Dog wished that he could move like the real dogs he had seen through the bedroom window. Or even like the small child now sound asleep next to him his head on the same pillow. He longed to jump down from the bed, run across the room to the others, jump up on the chair and ask them the Big Question. What are we, the fluffy toys? Are we toys, like the Playmobil and the Brio Train set? Or are we soft furnishings like the cushions and the blankets?

How could they sleep with this existential question unanswered?

The very next day, Big Dog was invited to dinner, and, at Seán’s insistence, given his own seat at the table. A couple of spare grownups were there, along with the mum and the dad. Their conversation turned to the question of gender and sexuality, to something called LGBTQ and the slow but welcome demise of the binary. And suddenly, although he didn’t quite understand everything that was being said, Big Dog realised that he was free! He need lose no more sleep over what he had thought was the Big Question. He could be soft furnishing AND toy. A place for Seán to rest his head, and a friend for him to play with and talk to.

Big Dog went to bed that night and fell sound asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. “Good night, big dog”, said the boy, resting his head on his friend’s furry back, “Sleep well.”

And You Are? by Rohan Candappa, Lockdown Theatre Company, 24 March 2020

I have known Rohan Candappa since Noah was a nipper…

…OK, not quite that long, but we did meet on the first day of our first year of secondary school. We were in the same class…

…but subsequently, Rohan has proved himself to be in a class of his own, with tremendous ideas such as The Lockdown Theatre Company.

Rohan will be livid that I am focussing my preamble on him, rather than the highly-talented actress, Katrina Kleve, who performs the first Lockdown Theatre Company piece.

But the reality is, Rohan has come up with this highly creative and generous idea to help acting folk who are currently pretty much all out of work and finding these difficult times especially challenging.

As I understand it, Lockdown Theatre will publish a short piece each week, normally on a Wednesday, for the next 10 weeks at least.

Here is the very first Lockdown Theatre piece:

As Rohan says on the YouTube blurb (you find that if you click the link to watch, rather than watch the embedded video), this is an abridged version of a longer live performance piece.

I was honoured to attend the preview of that longer piece in November 2018 …

One Starts in a Barber’s. One Starts in a Bar by Rohan Candappa, Preview, Gladstone Arms, 21 November 2018

…and once again found myself honoured with an opportunity to preview “And You Are?” on the Tuesday evening, a few hours before it went live to the world.

Janie joined me at the preview, which we streamed onto the living room telly. Perhaps not quite as dramatic as the Prime Minister’s lockdown address to the nation the night before…

…but frankly I prefer seeing Kat Kleve act and I prefer Rohan Candappa’s well-crafted and thought-provoking words.

So there you have it. Rohan was, at one time, an ad man, so I am sure he will want to extract the essence of what I have just said as a promotional quote:

Better than watching Boris Johnson telling you what to do and what not to do – Ian Harris, Ogblog.

Seriously, Janie and I both very much enjoyed the piece and are looking forward to the next one. It is “appointment to view” stuff. You can make your own appointment to view by subscribing to the YouTube channel here.

Virtually The New Normal: Lockdown Theatre Launch, Sri Lanka v England Day One Simulation On King Cricket, NewsRevue Web-Streamed, 19 March 2020

Until this week, Ogblog has been entirely free of Covid-19. Of course, the pandemic, which began in Wuhan in late 2019, has been well underway across the world for weeks now.

Increasing social distancing restrictions, some recommended, some enforced, have been rolled out in the UK in the past few days. I needed to do one or two things at the office yesterday; I doubt if I shall visit the City again for a while.

So, 19 March, I woke up to the new normal. Virtually normal.

The Lockdown Theatre Company

Want to know more? Click the redundancy bunny

My old mate Rohan Candappa has come up with a cracking idea to help his friends in the performing arts. The above picture link takes you to the Facebook site for the Lockdown Theatre – this link takes you to Rohan’s initiating statement.

Basically Rohan is going to produce a short performance piece each week, for several weeks, for which he is paying performers a modest but much-needed fee. initially at least this will be free to view.

Rohan does good stuff, so I commend this to Ogblog readers for artistic reasons but I also commend the communitarian and “new normal” thinking behind the idea.

So, I spent some time promoting the idea through my personal channels and writing to Rohan.

Where it will lead I don’t know. Rohan doesn’t know. None of us know where the Covid-19 pandemic will lead society either. We have to get used to “don’t know where this is going”. Don’t know but let’s give this a try is part of the new normal.

Good luck and good speed, Rohan. If I can help with this initiative, I shall.

Then I spent several hours doing actual work from home, much as I have done, remotely, most of the time in the past 25+ years. Just more video conferences and Skypes than previously. New normal.

King Cricket’s Sim Series: Sri Lanka v England Day One

King Cricket is using a rather more recent version of the International Cricket captain simulation game – click the above pic. to see the Day One report

At lunchtime, I took a break from work and checked in eagerly to King Cricket.

King Cricket’s response to the new normal, which in part means that there is no actual live cricket when there should have been, has been to try something a bit silly. He has picked an “all time greats” Sri Lanka side to play an “all time greats” England side in a simulation of the cancelled test matches in Sri Lanka.

He is going to run his simulation of each day of the two cancelled tests on the requisite day and write some humorous end of day reports for each day. The King Cricket community chime in with comments.

I showed Janie the Day Three report (a few hours before writing this Ogblog piece). I had to explain cricket simulation games to her…

…did Janie not know that I had the 1999 version? She and I were long since together back then, although I suppose the game never travelled from my place to hers during my brief infatuation with it…

…and I also had to explain King Cricket’s match reporting idea and the fact that many readers seemed to be enjoying the idea.

You have all gone completely mad, she said.

Then I did some more work (including those extra Skypes and video conferences) until I was done with work.

Then I had some dinner before hunkering down to a virtual show.

NewsRevue Last Performance Before Covid-19 Closure, Web-Streamed

Just in case anyone doesn’t know about my past involvement with and long-standing love for the 40-year-old comedy show NewsRevue…

NewsRevue 40th Anniversary Party, Show & Smoker, Canal Cafe Theatre, 18 August 2019

…I suggest you click one or both of the above links.

Anyway, social distancing means no live shows and stuff for the foreseeable future, as well as no live sport, so the NewsRevue team decided to perform the last show before closure behind closed doors and upload the video for people to watch, from scheduled show time onwards.

I watched the show around about showtime – actually about 22:00 – sat in bed after eating a supersized plate of yummy pasta left over from earlier in the week – thank you Janie.

If you want to see the show, it is embedded below.

Highlights for me were the toilet roll song, “I Love Toilet Roll” at 8:15 and also a wonderful Nicola Sturgeon song at 11:45; a very impressive singing impersonation I thought.

Perhaps not the strongest run ever, but it is quintessentially NewsRevue.

Note to self – do not make a habit of sitting in bed watching a streamed video on the TV while you are digesting your food – the food does not digest well in that posture – especially if you nod off in said posture before straightening yourself out. No need to explain in detail to the readers what can go wrong in these circumstances.

Yes, the end of such a novel day, the virtual new normal, is a time for reflection…and in my case, refluxion.

An Exceptionally Long AGM & Dinner, The Gresham Society, National Liberal Club, 17 February 2020

I’m not one to whinge.

So I am not describing this year’s Gresham Society annual bash as “long” because the formalities took longer than promised.

But in truth, deploying the sort of barefaced nerve that might even make our current Prime Minister blush at the missed timescale, Tim Connell’s perennial boast that he would keep the AGM to within five minutes (or die in a ditch attempting it?) was blown once again this year by more-than-doubling the time to 11-and-a-half minutes.

No, the reason this evening should be remembered by all Gresham Society folk as The Long AGM & Dinner is because Ray Long CB was the guest speaker.

I am certainly not suggesting that the formal elements of the dinner were too long. The grace, toasts and Ray Long’s address were all delightfully short and well-directed. Ray, who is currently Master of the Information Technologists’ Company and a Past-President of BCS, spoke in part about artificial intelligence (AI), outlining the potential risks but also the monumental benefits that such technologies might bring.

Did Ray use AI to help compose and edit his charming address? We can only guess. Perhaps Ray himself doesn’t even know for sure; that would be spooky.

Yes, most of the evening was spent eating, drinking and enjoying conviviality, as always.

The Gresham Society crowd and their guests are such a warm and friendly bunch; this event is a great opportunity to catch up with Gresham friends. I always go home from such evenings feeling happy and uplifted.

As last year, Iain Sutherland again brought Bobbie Scully with him, which added some 1980s reminiscing to the 2020 conviviality. Bobbie admitted remembering little about a fight breaking out in the theatre when we were watching Long Day’s Journey Into Night several decades ago, but apparently such minor theatrical spats are small beer these days; the Royal Opera House is a better place to see bare-knuckle fighting.

Meanwhile, Basil was keen to introduce me to visiting music professor, Jeremy Summerly, as he thought that the good professor might appreciate knowing more about my Gresham Society soirée antics, e.g. the bash a couple of months ago:

Gresham Society Soirée, Barnard’s Inn Hall, 16 December 2019

As it turns out, fortunately, Jeremy Summerly is an early music expert with a sense of humour and a sense that there is no such thing as poor performance – in common with my early music teacher, Ian Pittaway:

A Renaissance In Baritone Ukulele Lessons, Stourbridge, 3 July 2017

Anyway, the point is, Jeremy Summerly and I had enough time chatting to realise that there should be some early music fun to be had at the next soirée, not least with a little “piece” I already have up my sleeve in readiness.

Basil also, very kindly, tipped me off to Jeremy Summerly’s superb guest lectures, the first two of which I missed but both of which are now available on YouTube (copyright issues having been overcome, it seems), so I passed a couple of very enjoyable and informative hours the next evening watching those:

I have also made a diary note to attend the next one on 2 April.

Another noteworthy element of the evening was the wine. I tried the white, a Bacchus from New Hall Vineyards in Essex, more in hope than in expectation, but I thought it really very good; as did Bobbie, who spent quite some time trying to persuade Iain to try it. The La Linda Malbec was also excellent – we should consider it for Z/Yen events, especially when our Linda (Cook) is organising them.

I’m rambling – and in danger of making this piece the only exceptionally long aspect of the event.

It was a lovely evening, as always with Gresham Society.

Blood On The Cobbles (And Other Stories) by David Wellbrook, E-Book Review, 29 December 2019

Last time I tried to review one of David Wellbrook’s e-books on Amazon, my attempt there was thwarted…

My Good Friend by David Wellbrook, Starting My New Year With A Rejection, An Appeal And A Kurt Denial, 1 January 2019

…the subsequent chain of, what can only be described as a Wellbrookian, events, led to me, in effect, self-publishing that review (above).

Never one to duck a challenge, me. Having just finished reading David Wellbrook’s latest e-book, Blood On the Cobbles (And Other Stories), I thought long and hard about how best to punish Amazon for its ludicrous semi-automated, semi-jobsworth response last time.

Then it dawned on me.

I’ll ignore them completely and just self-publish my review. That’ll show them who’s boss.

So take that, Amazon, you twats. I said that I wouldn’t post reviews on your site any more and I’m still sticking it to you. So there.

Now, where was I? Ah, yes. David Wellbrook’s latest e-book, Blood On the Cobbles (And Other Stories):

It’s rather good.

If you liked the previous book,  My Good Friend, then I can thoroughly recommend it as a continuation and progression from that book, with a couple of actual My Good Friend stories (i.e. stories about the self-same friend); Day Tipper and Xenon. Also there are a few My Good Friend-like stories, about other friends…

…cripes, Wellbrook has more than one friend?…

…such as Edinburgh Fringe (hello John), Fancy Dress (hello Leigh) and Fashion Fail (hello chaps).

Actually, you can read a sample of the new book on this very site, as David kindly granted me permission to publish an earlier version of Fashion Fail, on this very site earlier this year – click here or below:

David Wellbrook’s Performance Piece At Rohan Candappa’s Inaugural Threadmash, Gladstone Arms, 5 February 2019

That earlier version of Fashion Fail was the first of several pieces that David piloted at Rohan Candappa’s Threadmash, which is described in the foreword to the above piece.

It is at this juncture that I can promise those who didn’t much like My Good Friend, that many of the stories in Blood On the Cobbles (And Other Stories) are very different in style and tone from the first e-book.

There are several autobiographical pieces in this new book, ranging in tone from the gently touching Metempsychosis through the black comedy of Blood On The Cobbles (both about the aftermath of David’s father dying) to the profoundly heartfelt and moving God I Owe You One, which David bravely recited with terrific effect at the second Threadmash.

A personal favourite of mine in this new collection is Crèche; far less momentous and dramatic than the other autobiographical stories, but I thought it beautifully written and very charming.

In addition, David is broadening his scope in this collection with some pure fiction, playing with genres away from his comfort zone. To my taste the best of those is The Gift, which I had the honour to recite at Threadmash Four in November (if you click that link you’ll find my The Gift, not David’s).

David’s story, The Gift, is more Dahlian than Wellbrookian; a sort-of horror story with twists.

In the two-part story The Visitor, David again plays with twists and weirdness, while ultimately (in my view) reprising some of the themes from his personal stories when he returns to conclude the Visitor story and also the book, right at the end of the collection.

I also very much enjoyed Ennui, which is a spoof absurdist play by a spoof obscure absurdist playwright within a story about going to the theatre with his wife. I’m not sure what the Trafalgar Studios ever did to upset David as I’m sure that place does not deserve to be the only genuine thing named in the story. Perhaps Trafalgar Studios refused to publish one of David’s on-line reviews…

…which brings me neatly back to Amazon, the place I am still boycotting in publishing reviews terms but of course am not boycotting from the point of view of them selling David’s (nor my, nor anyone else’s) books.

Go to Amazon through the following links to buy David Wellbrook’s latest e-book, Blood On the Cobbles (And Other Stories):

Amazon is THE place to buy the book; indeed it is the only place. £2.99. You know you can afford it.

Gresham Society Soirée, Barnard’s Inn Hall, 16 December 2019

Is it really two years since the last Gresham Society Soirée? Yes. I wrote up the previous soirée thusly:

Gresham Society Soirée, Barnard’s Inn Hall, 14 December 2017

This time around, 2019, the programme looked like this:

Unfortunately, my magnum opus for 2019, which marks Sir Thomas Gresham’s 500th birthday, hence The Sir Thomas Gresham 500th Anniversary Song And Dance, was accidentally misnamed as the Sir Richard Gresham themed performance I gave in 2017. But I was able to put people right on that point pretty easily.

But before all of that, Michael Mainelli made a brief appearance to leave soiréeistas in no doubt that the show was about to begin, when he blasted our lug-holes with the sound of his bagpipes.

Michael Mainelli on bagpipes? Well I’ll be blowed!

Mercifully, Part 1 of the soirée was a highly professional and entertaining set by David Jones and Sian Millett, which gave us all plenty of time to recover from the lug-hole blasting and listen to the superb talents of this pair, who are very much becoming Gresham Society soirée favourites.

David & Sian as seen in 2017

David demonstrated his vocal versality with material ranging from lieder to Lehrer. David’s rendering of Hochländisches Wiegenlied by Robert Schumann was a particular delight, not least David’s rendering of the non-Germanic word, “Carlisle” mid song, as was David’s perennial Tom Lehrer favourite The Elements Song, which David can peform better than anyone else I have ever seen attempt it.

Sian’s talents range from grand opera to musicals. Her rendition of Mon Coeur S’ouvre A Ta Voix, with David accompanying on piano rather than the more traditional orchestra backing, brought out the beauty of the melody and the words to my ears, enabling me to enjoy hearing that aria afresh. No recording of Sian and David’s performance, sadly, but those who want now to hear the aria might enjoy the 1961 Callas recording below.

Returning to Sian’s performances, her flirty rendition of I Cain’t Say No was great fun and went down very well with the audience.

Sitting in front of me was Bobbie Scully, with whom I had, in 1984, suffered an unfortunate fit of the giggles, when we accidentally attended a stilted Rodgers and Hammerstein recital, learn more by clicking here or the block below.

Rodgers & Hammerstein, For One Half Only, With Bobbie Scully, Theatre Royal Hanley, 2 September 1984

For the avoidance of doubt, Sian Millett’s soirée performance was absolutely nothing like the stilted recital of the mid 1980s; the audience laughter during Sian’s I Cain’t Say No was very much WITH Sian rather than AT Sian.

The tone changes for Part 2 of the soirée, which brings amateur talent and enthusiasm from within the Gresham Society to the fore. As if to lull us all into a false sense of security, the first couple of items – Robin Wilson on the recorder, followed by a recitation from Under Milk Wood by Martin Perkins – were suitably talent-filled and dignified.

Then it was my turn.

Actually, despite appearances, a fair bit of scholarship went into my piece. I discovered, quite by chance, while researching “Ding Dong Merrily On High” last year for the Z/Yen seasonal function, that Jehan Tabourot, aka Thoinot Arbeau, was a contemporary of Sir Thomas Gresham, the former being listed as either 1519 or 1520 in all sources I could find. Tabourot (under the pseudonym Arbeau) wrote, in the late 16th century, a book, Orchésographie, comprising dance tunes and dance moves he recalled from his youth.

Branle de L’Official, the tune that subsequently was used for Ding Dong Merrily On High, is one such dance from Arbeau’s Orchésographie.

The really strange coincidence about this, is that when I discovered the temporal connection between “Arbeau” and Sir Thomas Gresham, my Googling led me immediately to Ian Pittaway’s website and this superb article:

The pavan, the priest and the pseudonym: ‘Belle qui tiens ma vie’ and Arbeau’s ‘Orchésographie’ (1589)

Ian is my early music teacher. We had been talking in late 2017 about me possibly using Coventry Carol for the 2019 Gresham Society bash, but the Arbeau song and dance possibilities seemed to good an idea to miss.

Fans of Coventry Carol might like to hear Soul Music on BBC Radio 4, which was broadcast on Christmas Day 2019, but is still available through this link, which features Coventry Carol and includes Ian Pittaway talking about the history of the piece and the effect it had on him, with a bit of Ian’s rendition playing in the background.

Anyway, I did test out the song and dance idea with the Z/Yen team in 2018 with predictably hilarious results…

Z/Yen Seasonal Lunch And Brawl, Guildhall, 14 December 2018

…and just over a year later I inflicted same on the Gresham Society – except this time I had tailored the words to suit Thomas Gresham’s 500th birthday.

It would probably be to the benefit of all mankind if the Gresham Society soirée performance of this piece were lost in the mists of time, but unfortunately Basil Bezuidenhout had an accident with his mobile phone and inadvertently video recorded the darned thing.

I must say, the singing from the assembled throng sounds rather good, which is more than can be said for my singing that evening.

For the dance, I ever so slightly simplified the dance moves from this actual facsimile of the 1589 book:

Again, Basil had a mishap with his phone and the dance is recorded for all posterity:

Not much can go wrong in a dance like that, although I notice a couple of us ended up the wrong way round with our partners at the end of the first movement. Many thanks to David Jones for accompanying us on “virginals” and to Sian Millett for her delightful rendering of my silly words while we danced.

Anthony Hodson and David Jones then briefly brought a sense of decorum back to the proceedings with a rendition of the Elgar Romance for Bassoon & Piano, but then Robin Wilson and Tim Connell led the soirée past the point of no return in the matter of decorum. Song sheets that cover some of the residual malarky can be seen by clicking this link.

No such nonsense as the above 2017 rendition of Tinniat Tintinnabulum, dear me no. This year, instead, Robin Wilson lead us in a more ballad-like latin canticle, Reno Erat Rudolphus Nasum Rubrum Habebat

In the tradition of topical comedy, Tim Connell, Mike Dudgeon & Martin Perkins rendered a French Brexit Lament – click here for the text of that pièce de résistance.

After all that, the assembled Gresham Society stalwarts needed reviving with a great deal of food and wine…

…so it was just as well that there were indeed plentiful supplies of both, enabling the remainder of the evening to become a highly convivial party. There was eating, drinking, chatting, laughing and general merriment, without, by that stage, the fear of imminent music, song or dance from over-enthusiastic soiréeistas.

As ever in the company of Gresham Society folk, a thoroughly warm-hearted and enjoyable time was had by all.