Category: Eating Out

Several (Seven) Seasonal Events, December 2024

Family gathering at Buenasado in Bristol, 7 December 2024

Gosh it was a busy December of gatherings again this year. Also busy work-wise. Indeed Janie took the following picture early in the month, which should remind me of December 2024 just as much as the gatherings memoirs.

Looks like I’m concentrating on some serious shit

Family Gathering In Bristol, 7-8 December 2024

Janie and I took an Airbnb quite near to Hil and Chris’s place. We also visited them at home before the big bash at Buenasado, which was even closer to our Airbnb so we walked to the restaurant. The headline picture tells the main tale.

Tired after a hard week, a long drive and a steak supper? Moi??

Tennis Committee & Club Night At Lord’s, 11 December 2024

My first go at a committee meeting for real tennis, followed by Club Night, which Andrew Hinds kindly curated until I was able to escape the pavilion and trek across the way to the court. It was a fun evening. By the end of the evening, I had probably played a bit more than I should, but that’s Club Night for you.

No photos from that evening but my technique probably still looks like my 2016 shod.

Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner At Spaghetti House Goodge Street, During Which I Won The Hodd, 12 December 2024

What a bunch of quizzical clowns: Keith, Graham, Barry, John, Hugh, Mark & Sue

The Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner is traditionally, at this time of year, a gathering of the NewsRevue alumni clan with lots of quizzes. We have played for the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy for a great many years, but recently we also play for the Mike Hodd Trophy, as NewsRevue founder and mentor Mike Hodd also shed this mortal coil a few years ago.

Barry Grossman is probably our most consistent quiz winner, who once again won the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy, less confounded by Sue’s quiz than the rest of us.

Look how much it means to him…

I was delighted and astounded in equal measure to win “The Hodd” this year, based on John Random’s eminently suitable (for me) spoof police interrogation quiz questions based on song lyrics. I believe that makes me the third holder of The Mike Hodd Memorial Trophy:

  • 2022: Hugh Ryecroft
  • 2023: John Random
  • 2024: Me.
…and look how much it means to me.

As with the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy, it is not possible to win twice in a row, as tradition insists that the winner sets the quiz the following year. I need to put my thinking cap on now to design that 2025 quiz.

For the second year in a row, I road-tested the Z/Yen seasonal quiz on the NewsRevue crowd, with predictably hilarious results.

Hugh Ryecroft, who knows a thing or two about quizzes in a professional capacity, was very complimentary about the quiz while being suitably puzzled by it.

If any reader fancies having a go at the 2024 Z/Yen seasonal quiz, then by all means use the pdf linked here (or the image below). If you e-mail your answers to me – e.g. through the Contact Us link, and if you leave your contact details, I’ll mark your homework and send it back to you.

Z/Yen Seasonal Event At Watermen’s Hall, 13 December 2024

I’ve got no photos from the event, so an image of my quiz will have to do. And an image of the song.

I have also written up the event for Now & Z/Yen – click here. As always, it was a good fun afternoon which rendered the rest of the day a write-off.

Angela & John’s Golden Wedding Anniversary, Their Place, 15 December 2024

Fifty years on

We had a most enjoyable afternoon at cousin Angela & John Kessler’s place, to help them celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. I wasn’t at the wedding itself 50 years ago, which was a very grown-up affair at the Dorchester, but I did attend the pre-nuptial aufruf…

End Term At Alleyn’s, A Big Moka & An Aufruf, 8 to 14 December 1974

…which, Angela and John reminded me, was at Stanmore shule and then at John’s mother’s place. I did experience the aftermath of Angela and John’s wedding vicariously, by experiencing a very grumpy mum and hungover dad the morning after the wedding, ahead of my own “Marathon-Man-like-trauma” that day:

After Alleyn’s Advent Term: Comic Capers, Jolly Japes, Marathon Mania, Tempos & Timpos, 15 to 21 December 1974

Anyway, fifty years later, I am apparently grown-up enough to attend an anniversary gathering. I can faithfully report that I did not try to fool anyone with joke shop sweets, nor did I set off any “stinkeroos”, during the 50th anniversary party. Proof positive, if proof were needed, that I have grown up a bit in the last 50 years.

Our table.

Our table comprised an eclectic mix of interesting people, including, to my left, two branches of the Aarons family, cousins of Angela’s from the other side of her family, who used to live in Woodfield Avenue across the road from us. It was lovely to catch up with them. To my right, friends of Angela & John’s whom they had known for many years, all of whom were very friendly and interesting folk.

Youngsters table, with Ed, Vivian, Andrew and the kids

It was a very enjoyable afternoon. Not only was it a lively and friendly gathering, with refreshingly short yet moving speeches, but the catering was seriously good too, thanks to Adam and his catering team (see below).

Adam leading his team by example

In my December 1974 diary, when “reviewing” the grub after the aufruf, I wrote:

Meal was excellent

A heck of a lot has changed in 50 years, but the phrase works just as well for the anniversary meal at John and Angela’s place.

Cousin Bethany & Jesse Pop In From Australia For Dinner At The Marquis Cornwallis, 18 December 2024

Bethany, Jesse & Me in The Marquis Cornwallis

On the other side of the family and from the other side of the world, a message, seemingly from a young woman, through Facebook, about a week ahead of the visit:

Hi! My dad tells me we are related. Dad said you might be able to tell me the family tree connection.

My first thought was that this must be one of those scams, quite possibly written by an old Nigerian man with a fake young female identity. But the face did look a tad familial and a quick check on Facebook traced Bethany to be Frederick Krasey’s daughter and Debbi Krasey’s niece.

As luck would have it, I was free on the one evening that made sense for Bethany and husband Jesse before they whizz off around Europe for many weeks.

They were staying in Bloomsbury, very close to where Fred stayed when I met him on his visit 10+ years ago.

Short notice for the Wednesday before Christmas is not ideal timing ahead of booking a decent place, but The Marquis Cornwallis, which I know of old from hanging around that part of town, is a good cross between gastro pub and good honest pub grub. It was the first place I tried and they took my booking.

It’s always a little strange meeting such relatives for the first time. In cousinhood terms, Bethany is my second cousin once removed, which sounds very far removed, but it puts her into exactly the same category as people like Mark & Hilary Briegal and/or Adam & Michael Green, whom I have known pretty well for sixty years.

Adam, Mark, Hilary (torturing Mark), Michael (laughing) & me (perplexed). 1964

Different generational/age shift on the Krasey side, obvs.

Anyway, it was a super evening with Bethany and Jesse, except for one mysterious absence. You see, Bethany has started a blog for their travels, which I joined once I knew I was to meet them in London:

Saying goodbye to our home of 7 years, as we head off for 4 months of travel!

In that blog piece, Bethany introduces their travelling companion, Yoshi.

Naturally, ahead of booking The Marquis, I asked whether Yoshi would be joining us for dinner and Bethany said:

Jesse wouldn’t go anywhere without Yoshi! And so, Yoshi will indeed be joining us on our night about town. 

So where was Yoshi that evening? Bethany and Jesse were strangely silent on the topic and I was too timid to ask. But on reflection, I think this is a mystery that simply must be solved. Otherwise we might have to get Interpol involved.

But apart from the unexplained absence of Yoshi, we had a very pleasant evening and hopefully will be able to see each other again, when the Roaming Duo return to Blighty in March.

Dedanists’ Society Seasonal Lunch At Lemonia, 19 December 2024

Despite the fact that I was to a large extent “seasonal-evented-out” by the time this event came around…and despite the fact that I am not really the “long-wet-lunch” type, there is something so very heart-warming and enjoyable about the Dedanists’ Society annual lunch, that I cannot now resist putting my name down for it as a seasonal must.

It is a gathering of the real tennis enthusiasts clan – about 35 of us gathered this year in that private room at Lemonia that works so very well for this event.

I noticed Jonathan Ellis-Miller taking a gazillion photographs this year, and I am sure that photograph taking is quite a regular thing. Yet the Dedanists’ Society website is utterly devoid of pictures from Lemonia lunches passim.

I briefed DeepAI as politely as I possibly could and it mustered the following image which, I must say, is not a bad attempt based on a dozen or so words:

DeepAI imagines a gathering of Dedanists in a Greek Restaurant

If Jonathan Ellis-Miller would care to provide a genuine photo, I can add a real photo of real tennis enthusiasts. But in any case I genuinely had a great time and sense that most if not all attendees did similarly.

A Short Autumn Break In A 15th Century Cottage In An Old Market Town Part Two: Saffron Walden, 7 to 10 November 2024

John & Mandy suggested that we visit Saffron Walden for the dual purpose of seeing The Sixteen perform at Saffron Hall and to allow John to cook for us in his newly-extended kitchen…

…a kitchen so comprehensively extended that their home now appears to be a kitchen with some other rooms extended onto the kitchen, rather than a house with a kitchen extension:

Mandy & Me, with John (cooking) just visible in the distance

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

15th Going On 16th Century Cottage

Janie and I decided to make this a “proper short break”, arranging three nights in a properly old cottage, Drake’s Cottage, in the medieval part of town. The headline photo shows a picture of the outside of the cottage, inside the cottage. It dates back to 1461, making it even older than the 1480’s place we stayed in at Stratford a few weeks ago…

A Short Autumn Break In A 15th Century Cottage In An Old Market Town Part One: Stratford-Upon-Avon, 13 to 16 October 2024

…although in truth most of what remains appears to be a major rebuild from the 1530’s, around the time the bigger houses in the Myddlyton part of town were built. In any case, it is seriously wonky compared with proper mock Tudor such as our 1930’s Noddyland abode:

Proper mock Tudor with proper straight lines

We arrived later than intended on the Thursday afternoon. I was keen to get to the cottage before dark, as I am now really averse to driving on country roads when it is dark or even dusky. We didn’t quite make it, although you could argue that it was still dusky…just “well dusky” when we arrived rather than “proper dark”.

As we were self-catering, I was keen to do a bit of rudimentary cooking for a change, so knocked up a prawn and pea pappardelle dish with a large salad.

We took our time before venturing out on the Friday, but did some strolling at our own pace and went to find the market square with a view to returning there the next day to see the market.

Ah, there it is

Selfie showing our smug “we can find a market square” faces

I offered to host John & Mandy for drinks and grub at our humble cottage before and after the concert at Saffron Hall, an offer which was gratefully accepted. A mixture of wild and posh farmed smoked salmon on mini bagels with a Pouilly-Vinzelles pre show.

Sixteen Going On 17th Century: Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610, The Sixteen, Saffron Hall, 8 November 2024

Part of this gargantuan piece, the Ave Maris Stella and the Magnificat, was probably the first Monteverdi music I ever heard, as it came as part of a collection of music records/subscription booklets that Uncle Michael gave me when I was a small child:

https://www.discogs.com/release/9437456-Claudio-Monteverdi-Monteverdi-Part-Two

I still have that record and booklet. You can hear that version of the Magnificat digitised here:

Magnificat

I have a feeling that my dad wasn’t overjoyed by my affinity with early 17th century sacred music, hence him seeking out and getting me into Monteverdi madrigals instead:

You Don’t Have To Be Madrigal To Learn About Music Here, But It Helps: Madrigals Of Love And War From The Radio, 4 June 1974, Plus The Top Five From That Week To Worm Their Ways Back Into Your Ears

But I digress. Let us return to November 2024 and the Saffron hall:

“Ian – what is that enormous instrument called?”

“It’s a theorbo, Mandy”

I proceeded to tell Mandy my favourite theorbo anecdotes:

William Carter, Theorbist Extraordinaire’s Mystery Punter Outed, 24 September 2010

Mandy must have been very keen to hear The Sixteen that evening, because she looked super-excited when the lights went down, I shut up and Harry Christophers strode onto the stage.

It was an excellent performance of Vespers 1610.

You can hear The Sixteen’s recorded performance of Monteverdi’s vespers on this link – do not be discouraged if it looks crossed out, the link works, but you might be interrupted by adverts if you don’t have a YouTube Music account.

Back at our cottage, I had prepared a supper of charcuterie and cheeses, with a rather jolly bottle of Chocolate Block.

Our luxury medieval cottage

A super evening.

Saffron Walden Market, Bridge End Gardens & Dinner At John & Mandy’s Place, 9 November

Mandy & John supplemented advice we had already received about what to do on a Saturday in Saffron Walden, before heading to their place for John’s cheffy dinner.

I’ll tell the story mostly in pictures, as I have written more than enough words already:

The condiment lady sold us two types of balsamic vinegar

St Mary the Virgin, the tallest spire and largest organ in all Essex apparently

Parish buildings

Strolling the old town

Then into the Bridge End Gardens…

We were getting quite cold, so we didn’t attempt the maze in Bridge End Gardens.

Probably just as well – as a few hours later – we even managed to get lost in the relatively simple maze of streets between our cottage and the John & Mandy residence. Eventually John came out to rescue us in the street.

Look closely and you can see all four of us in this picture

John hard at work preparing our amuse-bouche

Food Porn Photo One: the amuse-bouche

Food Porn Photo Two: sea bass starter

Food Porn Photo Three: beef fillet with celeriac & beans

Food Porn Photo Four: tiramisu that tasted far better than it looks

IAN: Cheese? Are you kidding? JOHN: You’ve no stamina these days, Ian

It was a really enjoyable evening. Indeed it was a really enjoyable and much needed short break for me and Janie.

If you want to see all 70+ photos from this trip, click the Flickr link below and scroll away:

Forty Years Of Celebrating Birthdays Together: Dinner With John White At Lita Marylebone, 27 August 2024

John is one day younger than me. We have often celebrated our joint birthdays together over the decades. It seemed fitting, 40 years after we first celebrated together…

“John White The Only One Dancing”, Learning How To Do The Keele SU Disco And Other Late August 1984 Happenings

…to meet around the time of our birthday.

It was my turn to choose and John’s turn to pay. I chose Lita Marylebone, which has received excellent reviews as a relatively recent opening.

Life took me to that Baker Street Quarter of Marylebone a little early on a glorious summer afternoon, so I took a short stroll around friends and family sites…

Annalisa’s place, back in the day

A house in Manchester Street which was, according to Portman Estate records, my Harris family’s place briefly in the late 1920s.

…took some tea outdoors in a cafe and sat reading in Paddington Street Gardens South until dinner time.

Then Lita.

The conceit of the place is sharing plates, which both John and I like. I sense that the maître d’ encouraged us to over-order, by suggesting that we order three plates from the small category, three from the medium and two from the large plates. Perhaps I should have asked him if those numbers were for rotund people like himself, or slim-jims like me and John.

Still, it was great to taste so many utterly delicious plates:

  • Wildfarmed sourdough, cultured butter
  • Kentish radishes, smoked cod’s roe
  • Smoked Basque sardines, ajo blanco, cherries
  • Salad of Romana courgettes, artichoke, ricotta, basil, mint
  • Strozzapreti, Aylesbury duck ragu, Parmesan 36 mth
  • Linguine, St Austell mussels, Cornish cockles, palourde clams, bottarga
  • Slow cooked Cull Yaw, celeriac, preserved winter truffle
  • Cornish monkfish, fennel, heirloom tomatoes, bouillbaisse

Plus some Ratte potatoes, which were surplus to our requirements but very interesting/different from your regular taters.

We chatted about all manner of things and the evening flew by. I took several pictures of John (see also headline picture), but he didn’t take any pictures of me…

…but that was OK, because my earlier appointment had been all about pictures of me – about 300 of them.

John, still crazy after all these years

Me – still hip after all these years

A Few Days In Eastbourne, Mostly For The Tennis, 25 to 29 June 2024

Leylah, you’ve got me on my knees…

Janie and I had enjoyed our time at Eastbourne so much in 2023…

A Short Break In Eastbourne, Mostly For The International Tennis Tournament, 25 to 28 June 2023

…we decided to book three days of Eastbourne tennis for 2024: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Tuesday Evening

On the Tuesday evening we met Linda Wrobel (formerly Linda Phillips) for dinner. Linda lives in Bexhill, which, me being a died-in-the-wool Londoner, seemed to me to have no proximity whatsoever to Eastbourne. But last year, when I posted about our Eastbourne trip on Facebook, Linda messaged me wondering what the hell Janie and I were doing in Eastbourne without contacting and meeting Linda!

Linda first came to our Airbnb to have a look around, then we wandered round to the same Thai place that Janie and I had tried the previous year.

So deep in conversation were we, that we completely forgot top take pictures of each other or of the food. Here is a picture of Janie with the food from the previous year.

It was a very enjoyable evening with Linda.

After that, three days of tennis and picnics.

We took an infeasible number of photographs on those three days, which could do with some editing into a highlights album. If you like canonical, the 200 or so pictures are in the following album:

Wednesday

On the Wednesday we saw:

  • Sebastian Baez v Miomir Kecmanovic
  • Jelena Ostapenko v Katie Boulter;
  • Emma Raducanu v Jessica Pegula;
  • Taylor Fritz v Thiago Seyboth Wild (actually we just watched the first five games of that last one).

Here are some sample pictures from the Wednesday:

Baez serves

Kecmanovic serves

Barrista serves

It was a very hot day, that Wednesday, hence the iced coffees quite early in the day.

The Boulter bounce

The Pegula pose

The Raducanu Racket March

Fritz in the Frame

The Cyborg Wildebeest

Thursday

On the Thursday we saw:

  • Flavio Cobolli v Billy Harris,
  • Jasmine Paolini v Katie Boulter,
  • Daria Kasatkina v Emma Raducanu,
  • Taylor Fritz v Juncheng Shang (again we just watched the first five games of that last one).

Cooler and breezier, it was, on the Thursday and the Friday.

Colourful Flavio

“Cousin” Billy grey in contrast

Pocket-Rocket Paolini

Dashing Daria

Hark At these Two

We can’t wait to see Juncheng Shang (depicted) play Zhizhen Zhang (who we saw last year), if only to hear umpires and commentators trying to distinguish between the names.

Friday

On the way to the ground, Janie took some pictures along the front. She even made me park up so she could photograph the bandstand

On the Friday we saw:

  • Leylah Fernandez v Madison Keys,
  • Daria Kasatkina v Jasmine Paolini,
  • Max Purcell v Billy Harris,
Leylah…

…you’ve got me on my (Madison) Keys

Jasmine & Daria chat with Kader “Barry White” Nouni

Giving the serve Max

Eastbourne seagull – conspicuously indifferent to tennis and to being photographed.

In short, we had a really great time in Eastbourne.

You can see the results of all the matches we saw on the results centre page of the tournament website – click here.

A Social Whirl At The Start Of “The” Season: Three Dinners In Six Days – 1, 5 & 6 June 2024

The third event: Streatham BBYO alums gathering at Bill’s Covent Garden

Dinner At Claudia & Richard’s Place, 1 June 2024

Claudia & her pot

The weather didn’t smile on us for drinks & nibbles outdoors – Janie and I had a quick guided tour of Claudia’s lovely garden before dashing back inside to warm up – but the warmth of the hospitality made up for the chilly evening.

Jonathan does the wine waiter bit

Claudia likes to show off her culinary skills and thus chose to serve a coulibiac as the centrepiece of her superb meal.

With thanks to Anthea for taking this picture of the coulibiac on my phone – not all blogs have their food porn pictures snapped by world class fashion photographers, you know.

Anthea tries unsuccessfully to encourage these two “kids” away from their phones and towards their dinner.

Honestly, kids these days with their phones…

Janie’s attempt at food porn photography

My attempt at food porn photography

Janie’s pud

It wasn’t all about food. It was great to catch up with old friends again (Anthea, Claudia and Richard), plus meet some new (to us) folks in Jonathan and Joanne. Jonathan’s greyhound provided some additional entertainment, not least when it went missing in the house for a while and search parties scattered to find it.

A super evening – thanks Claudia.

Dinner At Maurizio Barca With Simon Jacobs & Graham Greenglass, 5 June 2024

A few weeks before this dinner, I saw Graham Greenglass in person for the first time in decades at the sad occasion of Fran Erdunast’s funeral evening prayers. Graham and I had re-engaged by e-mail and I had even put Graham back together again with Fran, who was a cousin of his, back in 2021. We had every intention of meeting up back then, but I let that ball drop at that time. My bad.

Coincidentally, Graham’s name had come up again a few weeks before the sad Fran news, when I attended and spoke at the Gresham Society annual dinner:

Singing…Or In This Case Speaking… For My Supper, Gresham Society AGM & Dinner, Guildhall, 11 March 2024

As a small token of thanks for my speech, Professor Tim Connell presented me with the canonical book about The Guildhall – Guildhall: City of London: History Guide Companion: A History and a Guide:

I had meant to get in touch with Graham about that happy coincidence, but in the end it was Fran’s sad demise that triggered the reunion.

While pondering how best to set up a proper meeting, I recalled that Graham and Simon were also good friends back in the day…

Graham and Simon in 1979

…so I e-mailed the two of them to suggest that we three meet again. The idea found favour.

Simon somehow found time to fit us in, despite his sixth album having just been released ‘n’ all:

Graham’s book you may only sample for free, whereas Simon’s album can be heard in full

Compared with the others, I felt a little bereft of relatively recent published materials…apart from the 3000 or so pieces here on Ogblog.

The Scarsdale Tavern was my initial choice of venue, but that place is especially picky about arrival times, which they felt sure we would understand. We did understand that their proposed timings suited the Scarsdale rather than us, so we chose instead to eat when we wanted to at Maurizio Barca, which was a quiet, friendly, local Italian place on the North End Road. Little did I know that Graham’s mum’s family hailed from that part of London, so it was a bit of a spiritual reunion with his family’s ancestors, as well as a reunion with a couple of relics from Graham’s own past.

We had a very enjoyable evening, despite signally failing to put all of the world’s problems to rights by talking them through. Perhaps it will need another get together or two to complete the solving of those.

Streatham BBYO “Annual” Gathering, Bill’s Restaurant, 6 June 2024

David, Linda, Sandra, Wendy, Liza, Andrea (and me behind the lens).

In a break with tradition, we gathered the week after half term holiday this time, but then Sandra is now the last of our clan still working in the education sector and was able to make this date.

Unfortunately Mark was unable to make it in the end for health reasons, but still seven of us gathered, which isn’t bad at all.

Andrea and Wendy were fashionably late, as always. Except that both announced well in advance that they would be late and ended up arriving earlier than we anticipated given that they had said that they’d be late. Does that mean that they were early?

No matter, we all had a good chat over palatable food and a few drinks.

The stuff I have been writing up from my 1974 diaries proved strangely pertinent to much of the chat.

Sandra seems to have forgiven me for needing to be reminded that she suffered along with me and others at the hands of Miss Aaron at Brixton cheder…

“Freed At Last, Freed At Last…”: Brixton Cheder In Early 1974

…I even seem to be forgiven for bringing back Sandra’s nightmares about those unpleasant experiences.

Andrea and Wendy keenly anticipate me reintroducing them to Stuart (no relation) Harris, through whom all three of us met before the BBYO days and with whom I have recently re-engaged after finding my earliest tennis memories in that 1974 diary.

I Didn’t Just Learn Tennis In The School Easter Holidays Of 1974, I Smashed It

I didn’t realise that David Heller and Liza Abrahams also know/knew Stuart and the “Naff Harris” family.

Like the club nights of old, it was all over so very quickly. As always, it was such a pleasure to meet up with the old gang again.

But What Of The Third Dumpling?: Consternation In Carnaby, Dining At Donia With John White, 30 April 2024

“Get over it? How could I possibly get over it?”

It’s been a while, what with one thing and another, since John White and I have had a dinner and catch up…just the two of us.

It was time to put that matter right and through the trusty services of this Ogblog, which some consider to be a fifth emergency service, we ascertained that it was John’s turn to choose the restaurant and my turn to burst into tears when the bill is presented.

Looking a little shot to pieces – in truth at the Yoko One last week

John chose Donia – a modern Filipino place in Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street.

Great choice, it was. We both really enjoyed our meal.

Donia is an up-market take on street food, with an ample opportunity to share many dishes.

We tried, from the menu linked here:

  • Chicken Offal Skewers
  • Adobo Mushroom Croquetas
  • Sea Bream Kinilaw
  • Prawn & Pork Dumplings, White Crab
  • Black Tiger Prawns, Fermented Plum Broth
  • Lamb Shoulder Caldereta Pie
  • Jasmine Rice
  • Corn Tart (dessert)

We washed that down with a bottle of Austrian Riesling (absent from the on-line wine menu, I notice).

We nearly chose the oysters, but as we were just one day away from the months with no Rs in them, we thought better of it.

All was going swimmingly well, until the portion of dumplings arrived.

Three dumplings to be precise.

Three absolutely succulent, delicious and tempting-looking dumplings.

The following dialogue ensued:

JOHN: Oh dear! Typical! A portion of three for two people to share.

WAITER: You’ll just have to fight over the third one.

ME: Do you have any boxing gloves?

WAITER: I think so, I’ll check at the back and bring them with the rest of your dishes.

Matters took a darker turn when the portion of three Black Tiger Prawns arrived -[did you see what I did there?]

WAITER: A portion of three prawns.

ME: Have you found the boxing gloves?

WAITER: No, can’t find them.

John and I were then briefly and thankfully distracted by the need to sing “Happy Birthday To You” to the nice Filipino gentleman at the next table to us, having been set up for the performance by the Irish partner of the birthday-nik.

This is exactly the sort of thing for which I have been taking singing lessons with John’s daughter, Lydia, for the last four years:

Hitting The High Notes With Lydia White, 5 May 2020

John & I talked about many things, not least our very different experiences of revising for our finals 40 years ago…or in my case finding extraordinary ways to avoid doing so. John basically put his head down for 12 weeks after being elected as a sabbatical, whereas I…didn’t. I only mentioned two of the three pieces linked below over dinner, as this first of them – relevant to John and other friends for many other reasons, was un-writ until the next day:

Hitsville USA: The Story Of Motown, An Appointment To Listen At Keele January to March 1984
How Not To Revise For Your Finals At Keele, Part One: The Start Of The Easter Holidays, Early April 1984
A Tale Of Procrastination In Two Cities (And A Campus): How Not To Revise For Your Finals At Keele Part Two, Late April 1984

All too soon it was time to pay. It was at this juncture that matters took a potentially violent turn. While reaching into my pocket to get out my gadget…

…the smart phone which doubles as a payment card for goodness sake. What did you think I meant? And stop sniggering at the back…

…I dropped John’s new business card (or should I say card for his new business) on the floor. These days, contact details are mostly exchanged through QR codes and links like this one, but never mind.

John was apoplectic with faux rage and challenged me to a duel in Hanover Square.

I had visions that I needed to say yes in order to prevent the beautifully appointed Dania restaurant ending up looking like the scene below.

I realised afterwards that John’s Hanover Square challenge was merely a device to encourage me to walk in that direction with John, after dinner, where he could pick up the Elizabeth Line and I could pick up the Central Line.

In any case, surely John knew that there is a clear sign on the boundary of Hanover Square that reads, “no duelling, unless it is the first day of the month, with an R in it”.

Health and safety gone mad, but don’t get us old gits started.

John sometimes struggles with multi-clause rules, so I am reliably informed that he turned up at Hanover Square the next morning, 1st May, with his second, expecting me to do likewise and duel with him.

Naturally, I’ll now live in dread of 1st September for the next four months. Still, hopefully we’ll get together before that. If our next get together includes Mandy and Janie, I expect that the duelling challenge will be long forgotten by 1st September.

Last year all four of us at peace in Pahli Hill

Joking apart, it was a really enjoyable (and peaceful) evening, as always, with John.

Ivan Shakespeare Dinner At Spaghetti House, Holborn, 4 April 2024

Totally genuine picture taken on the night in question

I needed to get one more Ogblog piece in before the end of the 2023/24 tax year, obviously, so have chosen briefly to write up the Ivan Shakespeare Dinner which took place on 4 April 2024.

These gatherings of former NewsRevue writers (most of us relics from the 1990s) are a source of great joy. As Graham said at the end of the dinner,

I laugh far more at one of these evenings than I would if I paid to see almost any comedy show in town.

We’ve been enjoying these events for decades now – a couple of examples below:

Class Of ’92 Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner, Café Rouge Holborn, 5 October 2017

Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner, Café Rouge Maida Vale, 5 March 2009

John Random is our ringleader for these get togethers. In real life John might not be the most organised person I know, but oh boy is he better than all the rest of us put together in the matter of organising these gatherings.

As the years have gone on, it’s not just been Ivan we have been memorialising but several other “fallen” from our ranks. On this occasion, Barry brought a little memorial photograph tribute, which was lacking a picture of at least one of the fallen and which lacks room for any additional pictures. Either hope way in excess of expectation, or Barry plans to cram in some smaller pictures when the time comes.

John deferred on the quizzing this time, allowing Colin and Graham to confound us with some good quizzy offerings. Graham’s revolved around hit song lyrics, which he (and Sue) expected me to smash [did you see what I did there?] but I came up well short on that game, failing similarly on Colin’s quiz. I don’t think I am much of a solo quizzer to be honest. I work better as part of a team…

A Gloriously Quizzical Evening In The City, 27 September 2022

Anyway, Ivan Shakespeare dinners are not primarily about the quizzing, they are about mirth and convivial dining. I think I’m reasonably good at that.

Colin commented that we don’t often take pictures at these events, which I realised is true. The six of us who gathered this evening: Barry, Colin, Graham, John, Mark, and me – might never again comprise the exact group of an actual Ivan Shakespeare dinner. So obviously the event needed to be commemorated with a picture – see headline and below.

Proof…not that proof should be needed…that we are all absolutely fine.

There is no reason for anyone to question the veracity of this picture. My plea, should the gutter press start to delve deeply where they are not wanted, is to scream, “leave us alone FFS”.

A Black & White Evening With Jilly, John & Mandy (But Not Annalisa) At The Punch Room & Pahli Hill Bandra Bhai, 16 February 2024

Jilly, Mandy, John, Janie & Me, in The Punch Room

Long in the planning, unfortunately Annalisa got her weeks mixed up, but the rest of us found our way to the appointed places at the appointed time.

John is keen on cocktail bars these days and was keen to try the Punch Room in the Edition Hotel, which is suitably close to our chosen restaurant, Pahli Hill Bandra Bhai. Ogblog fanatics might recall that John, Mandy, Janie and I went to Pahli Hill relatively recently…

Dinner At Pahli Hill Bandra Bhai With John & Mandy White, 23 June 2023

…and so taken with it were we, that we all agreed it would be a suitable venue for this slightly larger gathering. Which it was.

But first the Punch Room, which had a really good early evening ambiance – good music but not too loud – other trendy people, but not too many and not too loud. Interesting cocktails list. Nice waiting staff.

“Cheers!“, says Janie

A cheery smile from Jilly, who said that she hadn’t seen John & Mandy for some decades

Strangely, I realised a week or so ago that this weekend is the fortieth anniversary of Jilly’s visit to Keele in February 1984:

An Action-Packed Week At Keele In Mid-February 1984

Mandy also looks cheery, while John is seriously choosing cocktails

Did somebody say British Gas?

The waiter took a lot of pictures of us (see headline example). We realised that the gathering included two whites, a black and (in maiden name terms) a browning. I thought we should go for a sepia version of the group photo in recognition of this colour palette.

We all go back so many years…

Then a five or six minute stroll through Fitzrovia to the restaurant, Pahli Hill . When you book, they say that you cannot dictate where you would like to sit, but I requested downstairs, where we had previously enjoyed the ambiance before and they e-mailed back to say that they would be able to comply with that request as ours was an early evening booking. John has been back there himself upstairs since our previous visit and concurs that upstairs has less atmosphere to his taste, so I’m especially glad I did that.

No pictures of Janie in the restaurant, sadly, as she took the following photos, while the rest of us focussed on eating and drinking.

As with our previous visit to Pahli Hill, by the time we’d finished with small plates and grills, we had no space for big plates, although we did find space for desserts.

It was a really lovely evening. Great food and drink, but most importantly very enjoyable company.

Book Club Evening At Lord’s, Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth, With Mark Peel, 13 February 2024

It’s only partly about the food. Also the company and that evening’s book too.

Janie and I very much enjoyed a book club evening the previous year, when Jon Hotten talked about his book on Geoffrey Boycott:

Book Club Evening At Lord’s: Being Geoffrey Boycott With Jon Hotten, 28 February 2023

I should imagine that the library book club occasionally has evenings about books that don’t revolve around gritty Yorkshire cricketers whom I once met. But Ray Illingworth, like Geoffrey Boycott, had the joy of my company once. In Illingworth’s case, for considerably longer than my one-minute exchange with Geoffrey in 1969.

A Short Holiday In Brighton, During Which I Met Geoffrey Boycott & The Yorkshire Cricket Team, 3 September 1969

Indeed, I spent a couple of hours hours chatting with Ray Illingworth at Headingley in 2015:

A Visit To Leeds For Yorkshire v Middlesex, Headingley, 8 to 10 June 2015

Janie’s interest in cricket tends to revolve around the people, so these talks about biographies please her, as does the charming, relaxed atmosphere of a light meal and talk on a winter’s evening.

We were seated next to Alan Rees, who runs the library and who introduced the speaker, Mark Peel, who was seated to Alan’s right. It was fortuitous sitting near to Alan, as he can help me find some rare real tennis history books in the MCC’s extensive collection to help with my research. A really pleasant, friendly and helpful chap.

Alan looks remarkably calm in the above picture, although he confessed to Janie that he feels nervous introducing such evenings. Alan’s calm look in such a photo reminds me of the deceptively calm look on my face when I am doing something that makes me very nervous, such as riding an elephant.

I don’t look terrified, but…

The pachyderm image leads us nicely to the subject of Ray Illingworth, who must have been one of the thickest-skinned cricketers ever to play for Yorkshire and England…which is a cohort of especially hardened characters.

Of course I met Ray in his dotage, by which time he had softened in the way that legends often do. I told him, as I am now telling you, dear reader, that I started taking an interest in cricket in the early 1970s, when he was the England Captain. I couldn’t really imagine anyone else being the England Captain until, all of a sudden, in 1974, someone else was.

Mark Peel’s book, “Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth” covers all of Ray’s life and career.

Image from and link to Amazon. Other sources of this book are available.

Mark’s talk was excellent. Lots of detail, lots of interesting anecdotes, all delivered with aplomb. Mark also answered all of our questions thoughtfully and in depth.

Undeterred by the “strangely reflected” pictures Janie took last time, she couldn’t resist taking some pictures pointing away from the Writing Room, where the meal takes place. Again, she obtained a rather weird effect but I rather like this one.

A very enjoyable and interesting evening.

After The Lord Mayor’s Show Comes…The Lord Mayor’s Banquet, Guildhall, 13 November 2023

And there was me, into my 7th decade, thinking, until now, that something else comes after The Lord Mayor’s Show.

But then, in early October, I was “perfectly astounded”, to quote Charles Pooter, to receive the following invitation:

Unaccustomed as I am to attending white tie events, this meant a trip to the costume hire shop, Buckleigh Of London in my case, together with Daisy who acted as my sartorial advisor.

“Yup, that’ll do for the do“

A month later, off I trotted to the Z/Yen office, with my whistle and flute in a specially designed suiter, where I changed out of mufti. No I am not a natural in the matter of costume changes.

The last time I had dined at the Guildhall I had initiated a brawl there.

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

Fortunately, it seems that nobody minded.

The Lord Mayor’s Banquet is far more formal than that – no singing, no dancing, just food, drink and speeches.

The reception ahead of dinner was a great opportunity for me to catch up with several old friends and also to speak with Michael’s family, not least his mum, Katherine, whom I missed at The Lord Mayor’s Show. I also spoke with a few new people (new to me, that is).

Then the dinner. I was sitting with an interesting collection of people – opposite me and to my right Tim and Sandi, who had been at school with Michael. Tim I had met before, at Michael and Elisabeth’s wedding. Also on that “to my right” side was Father Bill (Michael’s former maths teacher), Robert Pay and Susan Steele. To my left, people I hadn’t met before but all charming: Judith Pleasance, Philip Palumbo, Philip Woodhouse and Clare Felton. We found many and varied interesting topics to discuss over dinner, only some of which are on the unwritten “safe to discuss at formal dinners” list. Edgy.

This is what we ate and drank.

The cast list of speech makers comprised The Lord Mayor & The Prime Minister (between Course Two and Course Three), then The Archbishop Of Canterbury and The Lord Chancellor after dinner.

You can watch a vid of the speechifying if you wish:

Michael mostly laid out his agenda for his mayoral year, which you can read/skim about here. He included a joke, which, while I paraphrase, goes a bit like this:

Into a bar walks an American economist, an Irish writer, an English accountant and an Italian scientist. The barman says, “good evening Michael, what are you having?”

Rishi Sunak, as is the custom for The Lord Mayor’s Banquet, spoke about foreign affairs, the crises in Gaza and Ukraine being his main focus. Rishi understandably didn’t crack any jokes. I’m not sure jokes would be Rishi’s strongest suit even in more jovial times.

After the two “afters” courses, The Archbishop of Canterbury was entertaining, with an interesting mixture of a serious, pious, skittish and downright malcontented points.

I have actually met Archbishop Justin several times, including an audience 10 years ago…

An Audience With Justin Welby, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace, 20 August 2013

…which is far more than I can say about the other speakers…apart from Michael, of course, with whom I have worked for nearly 35 years.

Last but not least was The Lord Chancellor, Alex Chalk, who was also in somewhat skittish mood. He picked up on Michael’s joke, and pondered about a bloke who had so many different things on his CV. Again I paraphrase:

Economist, scientist, accountant, writer…I thought, “this fellow doesn’t seem able to hold down a job”.

My first thought was to heckle:

…but that’s the whole point of Z/Yen – it’s a place where you can work while you decide what you want to be when you grow up…

…but I thought better of it. A brawl one visit, a heckle the next…I might gain an unwanted, though perhaps warranted, reputation at The Guildhall as a bit of a subversive.

Then it occurred to me that The Lord Chancellor, with all due respect to him, was hardly one to talk about holding on to a job. He has already “Chalked up” his fifth job since the start of the pandemic – indeed he seemed relieved that he wasn’t moved to a sixth job in three years in the cabinet reshuffle that had taken up much of Rishi’s day earlier.

In truth, I think the best joke of the evening was my own, albeit an inadvertent one. Immediately after the formalities ended, I chatted again with the Mainelli clan. Michael’s sister, Molly, asked me what I thought of the evening. I paraphrase our chat.

MOLLY: So what did you think of it all.

ME: A lovely evening, lovely.

MOLLY: What did you think about the fruitcake at the end?

ME: Do you mean the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Lord Chancellor?

MOLLY: You’re so naughty. You know I meant the cheese and fruitcake…

The thing is, I hadn’t experienced that cheese course, as it was walnut-based and I had reported ahead of time my nut allergy. For the final course, the caterers had kindly provided me with a “mushrooms on toast” savoury. So I hadn’t registered that the cheese savoury had been served with fruitcake and really imagined that Molly had found one of the closing speeches a bit left-field.

Mercifully, I don’t think anyone other than Molly heard my faux pas. Equally mercifully, I didn’t burst into song when the savoury was served…

…although that John Shuttleworth classic always pops into my head on the rare occasions I attend a dinner that reverts to savoury at the end.

After enjoying a few minutes catching up with friends and (Michael’s) family in the Old Library, I returned to the office to change back into mufti and get home before I risked causing any more trouble.