I went to see this production at the Almeida with Kate (previously and latterly Susan) Fricker. I rated it as very good and I’m pretty sure that Kate really enjoyed this production too.
It was an adaptation of a short Pushkin play about the interaction/rivalry between the two composers. This play inspired Peter Shaffer to write Amadeus on the same topic but the pieces are quite different other than the core topic. Here is the Wikipedia entry about the play.
The dates on these reviews imply that Kate and I attended a preview in March 1989.
The diary is silent about what Kate and I did before or after the show; I’m sure we will have eaten something or at least taken some refreshment and had a chat. Perhaps Kate remembers.
My memory isn’t brilliant on this one. I would have sworn that we saw Stella Gonet opposite Tilda Swinton in this, but all the evidence says we saw Lore Brunner. I can see no sign of ever having seen those two (Swinton and Gonet) on stage together, although both were prominent in the leading roles we were seeing at that time.
In any case, I believe this was only my second visit to the Almeida, the first having been some six months earlier, to see Hello And Goodbye. I do recall falling for the Almeida as a place itself on this second visit – whereas that first visit I was simply bowled over by the production and didn’t especially associate that visit with the Almeida. That was partly, I think, because Kate was especially taken with what they seemed to be doing at the Almeida in terms of restoring an old theatre for modern use.
I think the meal at Le Caprice was my parents’ idea – to celebrate my qualification as a Chartered Accountant along with Uncle Michael, Auntie Pam, Stanley Bloom and his good lady (Sharit?).
Le Caprice was a trendy place even then – I’m not quite sure what would have made mum and dad choose it. Perhaps to show off a bit. Perhaps because they had heard that it was a restaurant that was able to cope with fussy eaters…we had at least one in our party that day in Auntie Pam.
Roll the clock forward 30 years and I note that Kim likes that place, perhaps for similar “trendy but able to cope with a fussy eater” reasons.
I don’t believe any photos were taken that evening to mark the occasion – such meals were not seen to be the thing of photos necessarily back then. But it is just possible that I’ll stumble across some pictures when I delve into dad’s “late works” box of negatives and prints, which still awaits my trawl.
“Kates” means Kate (Susan) Fricker’s place. I’m pretty sure Kate was, at that time, living in a pied-à-terre flat in Hampstead, part of the house that had been the family home before her family moved to York.
Evenings with Kate were always pleasant. We both enjoyed cooking and eating good food. We both liked decent wine and we would always have interesting conversations. I’m sure that Saturday evening would have been such an evening.
I’m guessing that we would have both been in celebratory mode, work-wise, at that time – Kate was called to the bar around the time I qualified.
Monty Mendelson (forgive me if the surname is not spelt correctly) was a manager at Newman Harris who worked primarily for partner Lesley Cohen, whose office was in an office building in Wigmore Street, around the corner from the main Cavendish Square office. Monty at that time looked after one or two clients in Stanley Bloom’s portfolio too (Laurie Krieger’s “empire”, if I recall correctly), which might explain why I got to use his office in his absence.
The other possible reason is that the computer room was in the Wigmore Street office and I was the designated youngster who was supposed to try and sort out the problems that the departing “computer manager” had failed to sort out.
Monday 6 January 1986 – Work ok today – in office all day. Pretty uneventful day. Got to use Monty’s office which is cozy. Had a lazy evening at home reading mostly.
Tuesday 7 January 1986 – Uneventful day at work – still got Monty’s room – a cushy number. Spent the evening at home reading a book etc.
Clearly this role in Monty’s office felt cosier and cushier, to me, than real hard graft at clients’ sites doing actual accounting work. Who knew?
Wednesday 8 January 1986 – In office this morning (Monty’s) – met Kate [Fricker] for lunch – went to Cinecittà [see below]– pleasant enough lunch. Went to Laurence Corner in afternoon – ok. Lazy evening in – watched some TV + read etc.
In the 1970s and 1980s, London was home to a very famous, eccentric Italian restaurant called Cinecittà, located right behind the old Debenhams department store at 74 Welbeck Street, on the corner of Henrietta Place in Marylebone. It was highly memorable for its unique setup: The Concept: It was a theatrical, self-service Italian restaurant designed like a movie studio lot. The Decor: Diners could choose to sit and eat their meals inside various novelty “movie sets,” most famously including a full-sized vintage train carriage booth.
Google’s AI mode
Thursday 9 January 1986 – Spent the day at Laurence Corner – ok. Had a quiet evening in – watched some TV etc + read books.
Friday 10 January 1986 – Went to office today – did budget for CAA [Concert Artiste’s Association]. Had a drink with Mike [King], Sandra [soon to be or just became King]+ Terry [errand “boy”] after work. Went up to Keele – pretty tired etc. Had dinner + earlyish night.
Saturday 11 January 1986 – Got up reasonably early – had breakfast at [the] SU. Went out in afternoon – saw Ali [Dabbs], Pitty [Graham Pitt], L54 [Alan Gorman, Pete Wild, Hayward Burt] etc – went on to Hanley. Saw “Plenty” at cinema + then went for drink – decided impulsively to eat at Hanley Garden + get cab home.
Sunday 12 January 1986 – Rose quite late – after getting papers etc. Ben [Benita Wishart] came over for latke “lunch” etc – went for walk in woods in the dark. Lazed some more – had dinner watched a lot of TV + turned in.
Monday 13 January 1986 – Returned to London from Keele. Work OK – in office all day doing bits of this + that. Pretty tired though – had a quiet evening in + early night.
Tuesday 14 January 1986 – In office today – pretty uneventful day all told. Stayed in this evening – got a few odds & ends done.
Wednesday 15 January 1986 – Work OK – nothing very exciting happened. Stayed in evening.
Thursday 16 January 1986 – Went to Sam Phillip’s factory today – fairly hard work. Went on to Andrea [Dean]’s in evening – for booze, fondue etc. Very pleasant evening with that crowd. Stayed over there.
Friday 17 January 1986 – Set off to Finsbury Park (Sam Phillip’s) – worked in factory all day – pretty tiring – had a quiet evening at home + earlyish night.
Here is the typed up version, scanned from what I think must be carbon copies. Is there anyone else left on the planet who remembers what carbon copies were?
I guess I prepared these for our glorious return visit in January 1986 for the traditional UGM/AGM thingie.
Saturday 7 December 1985 – Met Petra in morning – breakfast etc. (Lost handbag). Stopped off at shop – stayed in the evening.
I remember the “Petra lost handbag” incident quite well, but with some gaps. I think Petra took an early train down from Keele, having arranged to meet me in the morning and then go on to see her folks down in Sussex. We went to quite a swish place in Piccadilly for “brunch”.
Petra and I got about five or ten minutes down the road when Petra realised that she didn’t have her handbag. We returned to Richoux to discover that the bag had gone.
Despair.
But wait!
A waiter said he thought he had seen another customer spot the left-behind handbag and thought that the gentleman had handed it in to the police. The waiter suggested that we visit the local cop shop.
In those days, that meant a short stroll to Savile Row. And in those days, only very limited questions were asked of Petra to prove that she was the owner of the bag.
And in those days, believe it or not, the copper handed over the contact details for the gentleman who had spared Petra no end of trouble, as we said we wanted to get him a gift to thank him.
Back to Richoux we went for some chocolates and then up to Albany Street to The White House Hotel. In those days, no questions asked, we simply strode to the appropriate floor and knocked on the door.
The gentleman, half-opening the room door, seemed a little taken aback to be confronted by two smiling, grateful youngsters and a box of chocolates, which he rather sheepishly accepted before closing the door.
I’m sure the “Do Not Disturb” sign had been invented by then, even though GDPR had not.
Sunday 8 December 1985 – stayed at home today – went to Grandma Jenny’s – did some work, etc.
Monday, 9 December 1985 – started FT [Financial Training] course today – okay. Stayed in and worked in evening.
I spent quite a lot of time at Financial Training in Bramley Road those years I was articled and studying for my ACA exams. That building is now an abandoned, graffiti-ridden wreck, visible from the Western Avenue flyover, reminding me how dilapidated I might look after all those years if I didn’t take care of myself or have someone to take care of me.
I asked Google Flow to produce an artist’s representation of what the place looked like in the mid 1980s and I must say it (via Nana Banana 2.1) has done a cracking job, albeit an architect-style artist’s impression.
I do recall finding the course work extremely dull, especially in that first year as I had to do a lot of modules that were merely repeating stuff I had studied before (e.g. statistics, basic law) or was familiar with from years of doing practical accounting (e.g. basic book-keeping).
I remember spending breaks writing imaginary skits and songs about my fellow “kids in college” to relieve the boredom, sending them by post to Petra at Keele. I’m not sure that this comedy worked particularly well but it was possibly useful training for my post-qualification avocation as a comedy writer.
Tuesday, 10 December 1985 – course ok – worked at home in evening.
Wednesday, 11 December 1985 – FT went okay (evening messed up by call etc) – early night.
Thursday, 12 December 1985 – course ok – finished. Went up to Keele this evening.
Friday, 13 December 1985 went to union – did exam etc – went to Ben’s [Benita Wishart] for dinner in the evening – ok.
Saturday, 14 December 1985 – went to kiddie’s party in the afternoon for awhile – had a nice meal in evening.
Sunday, 15 December 1985 – lazy day at Keele reading papers eating etc- very pleasant.
At that stage, I was still very much enjoying the weekend visits to Keele and didn’t seem to mind catching a very early train from Stoke to Euston and going straight into the office. The very thought fills me with dread now.
Monday, 16 December 1985.– Came down from Keele. Back to work today – computer etc. – work ok! Had an early night.
Computer etc. will be to do with the regular problems Newman Harris was having at that time with its computer set up. The main machine (which was used primarily for payroll services) had a tendency to glitch out. Payroll was a very time sensitive affair in those days. The service was offered to quite a few retail and hospitality sector clients who paid their staff weekly and mostly in cash.
I think the firm lost patience with the “manager” who was supposed to be looking after the computer services and asked me (purportedly bright and young) to help hold the fort while they decided what to do.
A bit of common sense and an obsessive compulsive approach to backing up data regularly…which I have never quite got over since…meant that I ended up holding that fort for rather a long time.
(I have just pressed the “save draft” button, just in case. Even though WordPress auto-backs-up very regularly. I just pressed “save draft” again. To be sure, to be sure). Let’s move on.
It looks as though I used that run up to Christmas to catch up with lots of my friends.
Tuesday, 17 December 1985 – at Setty today – popped in to office etc. Bobbie [Scully] in evening had Indonesian meal etc. Very nice.
Wednesday 18 December 1985 – work etc – at Setty – went over over to Kate’s [Fricker] in the evening – had meal etc.
Thursday, 19 December 1985 – went to Setty -> office – ok – met Petra in evening – had Chinese meal etc.
Friday, 20 December 1985 – work okay – very tired in evening – had an early night.
Saturday, 21 December 1985 – lazyish day – library etc. Went to Andrea’s [Dean] party in the evening – ok – stayed over.
Sunday 22 December 1985 – hung around for a while. Went to Jilly’s [Black] in the afternoon and evening. Very pleasant.
Monday 23 December 1985 – work ok – did nothing in the evening.
Tuesday 24 December 1985 – work in morning – finished at lunchtime – met Annalisa [de Mercur] for lunch – went home – had lazyish time.
Wednesday, 25 December 1985 – lazy day at home – went to [Doreen & Stanley] Benjamin’s for evening – quite pleasant.
Thursday, 26 December 1985 – at home – worked most of the day. Watched some television also.
Friday 27 December 1985 – stayed at home and worked mostly – taped – went shops with dad in afternoon – worked in evening also.
Saturday 28 December 1985 – stayed in and work for most of the day and evening. Watched a film in evening also.
Sunday, 29 December 1985 – worked for most of the day – had Chinese lunch etc. Got quite a lot done.
Monday 30 December 1985 – Did home exam in morning – went to shops, taped etc in afternoon – lazy evening.
I was really into classical music by that stage of the autumn/winter and I have no doubt that the taping I talk about over those weeks will have been classical music.
But one track from the charts that late autumn does stick in my mind as having been a bit of an earworm:
“Artist’s Impression” of Keele Hall by Nano Banana 2 Lite
There’s something a bit “Hotel California” about Keele. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
On 15 July 1985 I wrote in my diary:
…left Keele forever at lunchtime…
…but of course that wasn’t true.
A sizeable piece of my heart never really left Keele – or possibly I should say that Keele never left a sizeable piece of my heart. Moreover, by October 1985, I was back again, albeit just for the first of many visits, especially in that first post-Keele year.
I had been at Keele for five years, which I have written up extensively in Ogblog, more than 200 articles, starting with…
…doing the Foundation Year 1980/81, Law & Economics 1981-1984, then an additional year as Education & Welfare (sabbatical) for the Students’ Union 1984/85.
During those first post Keele months – for most of the following year in fact – I visited Keele regularly. This October visit was the first of them, recorded in detail in my diary:
Friday, 18 October 1985 – rushed day at work – dashed off to Keele – had dinner at Petra [Wilson’s] – went over to Annalisa [de Mercur’s] and Kate [Fricker’s] flats – fairly late night.
Saturday, 19 October 1985 – got up late – did very little all day – went over to [Barnes] L49/L 54 – went to Pinocchio’s -> Ben’s [Benita Wishart’s] party / Union – another late night.
Sunday, 20 October 1985 – Got up very late again – left Keele. Got back to London tired and late.
From https://www.studentcrowd.com/hall-l1004515-s1043587-barnes-hall-keele_university-keele
In retrospect, I’m not convinced that those regular visits to Keele, at that time, were such a good idea. I wanted to maintain the relationship with Petra, although observation of others should have told me, and hindsight did tell me, that trying to keep that sort of Keele relationship going, with one of us being post-Keele in London, was not likely to last.
I also wanted to keep the many friendships going; in that regard I was far more successful. For many years, post Keele, most of the people I hung out with were my Keele friends. In several cases, the Keele friendships from 40-50 years ago are still the people I see socially today.
(He says, writing in Autumn 2026).
As I embark on writing up my diaries from those in-between years, late 1985 to late 1988, only a small number of the stories will have general appeal to Keele and former Keele folk.
I especially got into regular theatre and concert going during that late 1980s period. Some of my stories of that have appeal to the general public and the AI bots these days.
For example, the following article – a theatre visit with Annalisa in 1989 (I have already written up late 1988 through to late 2001), gets hits on Ogblog every day at the moment, and occasional real messages from real people with questions about it.
But the Keele / recently ex Keele angle of this story from autumn 1985 will only occasionally be central to my 85-88 postings. When it is central, I shall share the pieces on Keelie socials, but otherwise leave it to retro-blog addicts, ex-Keele addicts and search bots to trawl Ogblog for the stories.
I plan to post articles from this 1985 to 1988 series over the next two-and-a-half to three years. Coincidentally, that is roughly the duration of a typical Keele undergraduate’s time at Keele these days.
“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.” Bard Harris image by Nano Banana on my instruction.
Kate Fricker: “Would you like me to drive, Professor?” Watson Fuller: “No. Why do you ask?”AI actors images provided by DeepAI.
One of my most memorable Keele days, right at the end of my time there. Kate (now Susan) Fricker and I were invited to join the University guest pack at the Lichfield Festival, courtesy of Peter Held of industrial textiles behemoth Marling Industries plc.
Ironically, Marling Industries was best known for seatbelt materials. Ironically, because Kate and I were treated to a rollercoaster ride from Keele to Lichfield with Professor Watson Fuller and Mrs Fuller.
I was very fond of Professor Fuller. And I think he was also fond of us. He’d certainly heaped praise on one of my least challenging pieces of research a few month’s earlier, in his capacity as Chair of Foundation Year Committee:
Professor Fuller was Professor of Physics, so he really should have had a profound grasp of the potential physical effects, were a large object travelling at speed – e.g. a car with four passengers doing 60 mph on a duel carriageway – go out of control and hit something. Yet, he did not seem to have a profound grasp of the steering wheel most of the time, nor did he seem to be paying much attention to the road when, frequently, he turned around to us, waxing lyrical about this, that, or the other.
I suppose, as Fuller was a biophysicist, credited with vital supporting work on X-Ray diffraction with Watson & Crick, that his head was always in far loftier thoughts than mere road safety. Or should I say that driving without paying fuller attention to the road was in Professor Fuller’s DNA.
Mrs Fuller did not look terrified. Perhaps she was used to it. But apparently, on arrival, Kate and I looked a little ruffled. I remember Professor Philip Boden and his good lady taking us aside before the lunchtime concert.
Has Watson offered to take you home after the evening concert? Thought so. Not many people want a second lift from Watson, bless him. Reputation precedes him. Would you like us to rescue you? Thought so. I’ll tell him we’ve invited you back to our place for coffee after the concert. Easiest that we take you back.
We were grateful. And Professor Boden was good to his word, not only giving us a lift home but also providing us with some warm hospitality and enjoyable chat at Chez Boden before taking us home.
To the concerts. First up was a lunchtime concert at St Chad’s Church, Lichfield.
Joseph Haydn – String Quartet No 3, Op 33 (“The Birds”)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – String Quartet in G (K 387)
Very charming it was too. The setting. The fine quartet and the non-challenging nature of the music.
After plenty of hospitality in the afternoon and a migration to the Cathedral, we enjoyed a bigger deal concert in the evening. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, under George Malcolm, supported by András Schiff, Yuuko Shiokawa and Heinz Holliger.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Wind Serenade in C Minor
Alban Berg – Chamber Concerto for Violin, Piano and Winds
George Frideric Handel – Concerto Grosso, Op 3 No 2 in B flat
George Frideric Handel – Music for the Royal Fireworks
I must confess to have struggled with the Alban Berg. Always have, probably always will. The rest was easy listening by serious music standards.
With thanks to Mark Ellicott, who captured the historic moment at which I symbolically handed the keys to the Education & Welfare Office to Hayward Burt.
10 June 1985 was the day of the last UGM of the academic year and the official end of my sabbatical year of office as Education & Welfare officer. Not that the official ending seemed to reduce the number of meetings and things I attended for the next few weeks. We sabbaticals in particular undertook quite a substantial “handover”, which we hadn’t received with such gusto from our predecessors but which we felt we should do for our successors.
My appointments diary tells a slightly maudlin tale, with the entry “UGM, The End” on that day:
My personal diary sort-of covered the day…
Monday 10 June 1985 – last day officially in office – did little – “union committee meeting” for awhile – then somewhat chaotic last UG M – drink after etc. Very late night.
…although it failed to mention that I was awarded life membership of the Keele Students’ Union at that UGM. I was given a card the following day to prove it. Very proud of that card I am, such that I carried it around with me at all times for years. It now looks like this:
Like my face, my life membership card has seen better days. 40 years is a long time.
I always knew I had something in common with Nelson Mandela, but in truth had forgotten, until I found this article in the Sentinel while looking for something else, that Nelson & I both had life membership of UKSU conferred upon us that night:
Here’s the text from my personal diary for the next week or so:
Tuesday, 11 June 1985 – Rose late – residential services in afternoon etc – had dinner with Petra.
Wednesday, 12 June 1985 – busy day – meetings etc – celebrated after Senate – had dinner with Petra.
Thursday, 13 June 1985 – meetings – in office most of the day – had an easy evening [Strangely, the appointments diary says that I did the Bust Fund Disco that night. I expect the appointments diary is right and the memory at the time I wrote up that week was wrong.
Friday, 14 June 1985 – meetings, office etc. Cooked dinner for Petra, Ruth and [Graham] Pitt.
Saturday, 15 June 1985 – lazyish day – shopped etc – popped over to Pitt’s – went to Jackie Wong’s for dinner.
Sunday, 16 June 1985 – Rose late/lazy day –brekker etc. Cooked Petra dinner later.
Monday, 17 June 1985 – went to Derbyshire for day with June – peak/picnic etc. dinner. Got back late – Petra came round after.
I have very happy memories of the day June Aitken (the Keele Student’s Union administrator extraordinaire) took us outgoing sabbaticals (me, Kate, John & Pady) to the Peak District, for a day of picnicking and walking.
It was a truly special and memorable day – I am so irritated that I didn’t take a camera and a roll of film that day. I fell in love with the Peak District that day and visited it many times since – especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s – the following photo from 1990:
Tuesday, 18 June 1985 – meetings etc – Ringroad rehearsal – Petra cooked dinner later.
The next day…something significant happened. I’ll write up that story and its aftermath next time.
On top of my Hackgrass reveal antics on our last morning in office, it seems we held some sort of bogus committee meeting later in the afternoon. More a symposium than a mere meeting, by the looks of it.
It looks as though I completed the minutes that December, ahead of our January 1986 appearance at the UGM I shouldn’t wonder, so I’ll publish the typed version at that date. The hand-written version that follows must have been part-written on the day and then concluded later.
Experts at handwriting analysis forensics might be able to work out exactly what went on. John White – I suggest you might choose not to apply for this role, if your attempt at the Hackgrass cypher is anything to go by.
I have extracted a few good pages from the May 1985 edition of Concourse. By that time, my Education and Welfare sabbatical year was coming to an end, so the paper was interested in ushering in the new and ushering out the old. Hold the front page…
Superb picture of John White on the front page, the main (nay only) reason I have uploaded this page
There had been some sort of hoo-ha about the FY exams that Easter, so it seems that I got busy and Margaret Gordon (a lovely lass, I wonder what became of her?) interviewed me about it:
FY stands for Foundation Year, the late lamented “try a bit of everything” course, sadly no longer taught at Keele. Gresham College is perhaps the closest thing to it.
I like the next two pages – a double page spread on the new sabbaticals. Nice to still have pictures of faces I remember. Hayward Burt’s comments on my style raised a smile with me.
I don’t think the term “stress head” had been invented back then, not least because, if it had existed, I think that is exactly the term Hayward would have used to describe me.
I love this little article about John White, Kate Fricker and the Students’ Union cleaners. John looks like a rabbit startled by headlights in the picture. Little did he know that he would subsequently become seasoned for photo shoots, such as his gig as the poster boy for Food Retailer Monthly magazine (or whatever it was called, why can’t I remember?)
Top tank top, John.
Finally the following review of the UGM. These days, the (anonymous) author of this piece would surely not get away with the ethno-physiognomy remark made about me, especially in that context. Where was editor Krista Cowman’s red pen when I needed it? Surely the UGM and Concourse should have been safe space from such comments for people like me? Is it too late for me to seek redress?
Strangely, I have no recollection whatsoever of reading that comment before, although I must have read it, so it must have seemed like water of a duck’s par for the course back then.
Billington on Mozart Salieri Mon, Apr 10, 1989 – 37 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
Ratcliffe on Mozart Salieri Sun, Apr 16, 1989 – 43 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
