From The Daily Telegraph 13 January 1986, via my Newspapers.com subscription
Here’s the diary extract for that weekend starting with Friday:
Friday 3 January 1986 – Went in to the office this morning – finished Ashley’s files. Met Caroline for lunch – went to Effes [meaning Efes] – v pleasant. Had a lazy evening at home + a fairly early night.
I’d forgotten that I sometimes treated Efes in Great Titchfield Street as a lunch place in the Newman Harris Cavendish Square days. My recollection was as a “soak up the beer after work” place, as I said in my write up of the Z/Yen Seasonal Party there, many years after the 1986 visit:
Update: Caroline remembers Efes as a lunch place more comprehensively than I do – even recalling that her luncheon of choice was No 13- chicken shish. Extraordinary powers of recall, that.
Saturday 4 January 1986 – Lazyish day – went to the high road in afternoon to library etc after lazing for most of the morning. Petra came over late afternoon – went up to town – saw Noises Off – very funny evening, went for late Italian meal. Came back to stay + late night.
Despite having been going for best part of four years, Noises Off was still filling houses and still had an excellent cast: Christopher Godwin, Stephanie Cole, Hugh Paddick, Michael Cochrane, Colette Gleeson, Timothy Carlton, and others too numerous to make it onto the newspaper classifieds at the time. Probably my first sighting of those people and probably my first sight of a Michael Blakemore directed piece too.
I do recall finding the play very funny – especially the middle act. I am really glad to have seen the original production of Noises Off, albeit not the very first cast.
Sunday 5 January 1986 – Saw Petra off this morning – had a big Italian lunch with folks – watched an old movie in the afternoon and had a generally lazy time at home reading etc.
The old movie was The Four Feathers.