the day when I cried at the theatre



 

I'm not one of life's weepers and wailers...in fact you will hardly see me cry. It's not that I'm cold hearted or unemotional...far from it. I just hate crying in public, preferring to hide behind closed doors and sob.

 

Crying in public makes me feel very vulnerable, and I'm not one of those women who can cry prettily. You know the type I mean....the ones whose eyes well up luminously and dab at their eyes gently with a freshly laundered handkerchief .

 

Because I cry so rarely, when I do....the floodgates open. I can't just shed a tear...oh no, they come streaming down my face ...my eyes become blood red like a daughter of Dracula, my nose runs...and I end up snotty nosed , blotchy skinned and looking a complete fright.

 

That's why I avoid sad stories at the cinema or the theatre.

 

I thought I would be safe on Tuesday night at the current production of the Hired man at Curve in Leicester. I knew the storyline well, the musical based on Melvyn Bragg's novel set in the tumultous years of the early twentieth century. I knew that certain characters die against the backdrop of the First World War....I knew that the story line was inspired by Melvyn's grandfather. I'd interviewed Melvyn Bragg the week before, and had a lovely long chat with him about his novel and the musical.

 

Originally he said "No"when first approached by Howard Goodall the composer who wanted to transform the novel into a musical. Thank goodness Melvyn changed his mind.

 

I didn't think I would cry....but I was swept away by this production, by Howard Goodall's heartbreaking lyrics and stirring music. so beautifully performed by the whole cast. I was lost in the worlds of Cumbrian hiring fairs, love and loss in a mining town and the horrors of the First World War.

 

 

 

 

 

Julie Atherton was superb as Emily Tallentire , the wife of hired man John. Young and flirty at the beginning...she caught  every nuance of passion and conflict , and yet she aged convincingly on stage .  David Hunter as her husband John was so credible.. and Kit Orton as Jackon Pennington sizzled in the love scenes with Julie Atherton, as well playing the violin. Just not at the same time you understand....



 

Julie Atherton and Kit Orton

 

 

I loved the way the cast all multi tasked ....with brio, with zest, with pathos ,playing a variety of roles and instruments. They were wonderful...even if at one point I wondered whether  Mumford and Sons would joining the ensemble .

Because I was so engaged with the whole cast, the storyline and the sheer emotion emanating from the stage ,I started to cry. A few tears at first...luckily I had a few tissues in my bag. I should have taken  more though...by the time the cast were taking their curtain call and the lights went up, I was
...yes you've guessed it, snotty nosed ,blotchy skinned with red rimmed eyes.

But I wouldn't have missed this production for the world, and as I drove home through the night singing the Song of the Hired Man loudly to myself in the car....I thought what a life affirming night it had been.

The Hired Man is showing at Curve in Leicester until April 27th.

Here's the trailer for the joint production with Colchester........

But for today's music track...it had to be this ...

 

Another Richard III day...and a new book

The discovery of the remains of King Richard III really is the gift which keeps on giving....for the city of Leicester and for lovers of mediaeval history.

Attendances at the exhibition about his discovery at Leicester's Guildhall have now passed the 50,000 mark, and every week there seems to be fresh developments on the story.

On Tuesday a new biography of Richard was launched at the University of Leicester. But this isn't any old book brought out to cash in on the King on the car park phenomenon.

It's a biography by David Baldwin,who lives in leicester and taught at the University of Leicester for many years.He also happens to be an expert on mediaeval history , on Richard III and the house of York.

More importantly, it was David Baldwin who made a startling prediction back in 1986....saying not only that Richard would be found in the 21st century...but also that his remains would be found in the northern part of Greyfriars.

After hearing that I simply had to go the launch of the book on Tuesday night and meet him. What  a lovely, quiet unassuming man he is  and what a part he's played to help solve the mystery of what happenened to Richard III.

 

+

 

 

After interviewing David, there was time to have a glass of wine and catch up with familiar faces in the audience.Richard Buckley, the archaeologist who led the dig for Richard III was there as was Professor Lin Foxhall, Head of the University of Leicester's School of Archaeology and Ancient History...both were singing David's praises ...

Also there at the book lauch were Louise Carr and John Vorster. Louise studied and now works of the University....she's been a member of the Ricardian Society in Adelaide since she was seventeen. An old friend of hers from the society, John Vorster turned up too with his wife...an eleven thousand mile journey to Leicester. Now that's what I call having a passionate interest in something!

Click on the link below to listen to my interviews, both with David and the Antipodean members of the Ricardian Society....





I'm thoroughly enjoying  David's book about the King he called "an enigma". Brought out by  Amberley Publishing in paperback, it costs £9.99

Today's track is by the Beatles...what else could it be but this? "Paperback Writer" by the Beatles.........

Showing the way ...a day of cooking up a curry

Politicans are performers. They all are ...and over the years I watched them hold forth on stage like Shakespearan orators, pretend to enjoy kissing the ugliest, snotty faced babies as part of their election campaigns...and generally strut their stuff in front of audiences of all sizes and types.

But I've never seen a politican, the Deputy City Mayor of Leicester no less, give a live cookery demonstration.That's definitely a first!

But Rory Palmer wasn't auditioning for Masterchef, or for a job on the telly.He was cooking a curry in the middle of Leicester Market last Friday....

 He worked up quite an audience..and really seemed to be enjoying himself. He was, because I know he's passionate about food, both cooking it and growing it.

But why was he doing this? Well, it was  part of the city council’s ‘Have One on Us’ campaign which aims to help people make healthy lifestyle choices and keep well.

Market goers were given samples of the curry, a recipe card

 and a free bag of fresh vegetables to have a go at making the dish at home.

It was all to highlight the fact that responsibilities for a wide range of public health services transferred from the NHS to Leicester City Council at the beginning of April, as part of a national reorganisation of health services.

So what does areas does public health cover? Well,  it's all about  helping people to stay healthy and avoid getting ill - so it includes immunisation, nutrition, fitness, sexual health, tobacco and alcohol use and children's health.

So while market goers were eating the curry and picking up a swag bag, there was the chance to speak to lots of public health officials  about the benefits of plenty of cheap vegetables in a healthy diet.

So what did I do with my free veg?

I have to confess didn't make the curry....instead the cauliflower was smothered in a cheese sauce with some leeks I had knocking around , but the carrots and onions were used to make a low fat , healthy home made soup. But yes, I will be making some low fat curries in the future....

Any initiative which gets people cooking healthy, cheap food from scratch is a welcome one...and  I'm sure the Assistant City Mayor much preferred getting his message across in this way....by cooking up a curry,rather than having to kiss snotty faced babies.....

Today's track is an oldie...."Show me the Way" by Peter Frampton...

 

days of the living dead

I've been spending quite a long time with the living dead recently, and I've been having a whale of a time.

I've not become a zombie I hasten to add. No, I've been treating myself to hours and hours with some of the great minds, intellects, musicians, singers and comedians of the twentieth century. At the moment, I'm still having a ball back in the 1950's, where the dead are still very much alive.

It all started back in January here...
A New Year and a treat for 2013


So, I started off with morning coffee tea with  the actress and writer Naomi Jacob, lunch with Joan Sutherland, the opera singer, tea with film director Paddy Carstairs, wine with Alfred Hitchcock, and was washing my smalls as Benny Hill the comedian tried so hard to please.

Over the last few months I've been listening to the most amusing conversations , some stilted ones which just did'nt quite jell,and some which made me want to know so much more about that person..

Most of the people who I'm listening to have perfect diction....received pronunciation for some, their voices conjure up a different world. A different country, a post war world, where one keeps one 's innermost feelings to oneself, and one is oh so polite.

I'm listening to Desert Island Discs...not just a couple of programmes , but the complete archive of Desert Island Discs which is available on the BBC website, in chronological order from the very first broadcast presented by Roy Plomley.

Imagine you've washed up on a desert island. Alone. You can choose eight records to listen to, a book to read, and select one luxury while you're on the island. That's the premise of the programme since the 1940's  - so simple, yet still so entertaining.

As I said, I'm immersing myself in the fifties at the moment, and I've decided to ban myself from listening to current Desert Island Discs programmes for a while...because although the format of the programme is still the same, what you hear is so utterly different. These days there's a real warmth to presenter Kirsty Young's questioning, and the interviewees, as a whole ,are so much more open and candid about their lives.

Back in the1950's, the programmes were amusing half hour interludes, but without the depth of today. For example , the comedian Jimmy Edwards was interviewed for the first time in 1951. He'd attended the same school as Roy Plomley , who devised and presented the show for nearly 2,000 editions.There was a sort of gung ho humour and banter between them, but it wasn't until I googled Jimmy's life that I found out that during the war, serving in the Royal Air Force, he was shot down over Arnhem.

 I remember seeing Jimmy Edwards on TV as a child, and always wondered why he wore such a large handle bar moustache. Well, it was to hide the facial injuries he's sustained in the war, and he was actually a member of the Guinea Pig Club. The club consisted of patients of a surgeon called Archibald McIndoe who underwent experimental reconstructive plastic surgery generally after being burnt in aircraft during the Second World War.

There's so many aural treats here listening to the archive....listening to those who knew names that we are in awe of these days. At school, our choirmaster would always wax lyrically about Sir Malcom Sargent, the composer and conductor, who lived as a child so close by in Melton Mowbray and played at the deMontfort Hall. Thanks to Desert island Discs, I can hear him ...the man who got his big break from Sir Henry Wood...and who continued Wood's legacy of the Proms.

It's all such fascinating stuff. ..why don't you just dive in, and listen to a few programmes? Tex Ritter, Dave Brubeck, Sir Thomas Beecham, Paul Robeson, Count Basie , a very young David Attenborough,...the list is endless....and that's just from the 1950's.....

And you'll find some lovely people who you would really like to have known. I'd never heard of Naomi Jacob, before I began to access the archive, and there's sadly only a five minute clip available, which was recorded six years before she died. A writer and actress, she was such fun to listen to, with such interesting stories. Serving as a VAD in France during the First World War, she got trench foot...yet so jolly with a  wonderfully rich Yorkshire voice.

And there's so many more like her to discover over the coming months. These castaways are waiting for you, as well as me on that desert island.They'll be there with their favourite records ...you'll hear some wonderfully stirring, sad, funny songs and they'll share their luxuries with you too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs

Today's track is from David Gilmour..called On the Island. It's a brilliant, live performance of a beautiful song, performed at the Albert Hall . Apparently David wrote about it..."It's an atheistic song, you could say, about how people live on in your dreams and your memories. And that's the only place I can meet up with these people. It's a very sad thing, remembered with joy."

 

A day of remembering the bookshops in Bristol

I had a trip down Memory Lane last week. Or rather, up and down Park Street in Bristol.

 Visiting my Mum for a few days in North Somerset , I went into Bristol to see a close friend for an afternoon. We met on Whiteladies Road ...an old stomping ground of mine when I worked at the BBC there years ago. I'm not going to tell you how many years ago though...that's classified information.

In those days, I worked in the reference library at the BBC. It was the perfect job for me, my first after getting my degree...working on lots of interesting programmes, finding out lots of information, goingout filming occasionally and meeting the most unlikely and interesting people in the BBC canteen at lunchtime.

I loved it all....but if I did manage to tear myself away from the place,  I would leave the booklined  Reference library and push off down to Park Street.

It may be dominated by the imposing Wills Memorial Building which was opened in 1925...but the attractions that Park Street had to offer me were all the bookshops.


They were all branches of Georges. Art bookshops, two if I remember correctly, an academic bookshop, a second hand bookshop. Were there five or six altogether ? I adored my quiet interludes perusing the shelves, buying books ,inhaling the perky, fresh as paint perfume of the newly published books, and the pervading mustiness  and acidy tang of the old secondhandbooks.

Georges had been started by seventeen year old William George in 1847 and was sold to Blackwells in 1929 which kept the old business name on the front of the shops. They're not there anymore....but there's one branch of Blackwells on Park Street.

 

That stands next door to what was the main Georges shop on the corner

 

 

 

Here it is, back in 1936...today it looks very different...it's now a Jamie's Italian restaurant.

 

But further down Park Street I noticed the Last Bookshop....one of a chain of three small remainder shops. Seeing a huge sign saying that every book costs £2 , I dived in...and within five minutes found two paperbacks on my wanted list. Now that's what I call a result! On the way out though, I noticed the for sale sign attached to the shop sign. So is the shop for sale or one of the flats above?





As I walked back up the hill there was one more bookshop though...

Obviously raising money for a very good cause, the shop was busy....but it's a pity that the only new bookshops I've seen opening recently are charity bookshops. Low rates for charities on the high street plus low prices of books on the internet make it very difficult for independent bookshops to survive these days

But it was a lovely afternoon on park Street, remembering happy times in bookshops gone by...

Today's track is one that I really like...Oh Saci by the Bookshop Band.

Now this band intrigues me....they write songs about books and play them in bookshops  sometimes with the author. How good is that? Breathing life and music into and attracting customers into bookshops. How good is that? I hope they can come to Leicestershire soon.....

Click on the link here to listen....

http://youtu.be/p1acNkqxvcM
 

A day out at the Edible Garden Show

Last weekend my friend Laura and I toddled off to a special show at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire.We moaned about the driving rain on the over there, but thank goodness it was only rain. Today there's snow outside, ice and a biting, gusty wind to freeze the nadgers off a badger....

We went to this

Neither of us had been before ....but we were well prepared, with bags, a big four by four (to take all our purchases home), comfortable shoes, boots and rainwear.

On our way in we pitied the poor stallholders outside, huddled up trying to escape the rain, but once inside, we tried to be methodical...working our way around the huge main hall row by row so we didn't leave any of the 160 plus stalls unvisited.

First things first.. a  few little practical necessities, such as plant supports and something for a broken hose for Laura , bamboo socks and angora socks  for both of us...

A wander into the smallholder marquee, where I fell in love. With these....

I've never thought about owning a goat, although my dog Boo was  friendly with a rather jolly old goat who used to live in our village....but after seeing these...oh they were gorgeous. Perhaps I could keep a couple? Giving myself a mental slap for even thinking about it, we moved swiftly on, where we admired the hens and pigs.

Moving through back to the main hall, we found , by sense of smell, the specialist food tent..burgers of every description....and water buffalo ice cream...

By now, feeling peckish, we wandered along the food stalls at the far end of the hall. Each stall attracting those wanting to try and buy....who were hoovering up the free samples of jams, cheeses, bacons, relishes,dressings, breads, oils and vinegars.

We spent a while at the Wolmersley Fruit and Herb Vinegars stand, where I was bowled over by their intense flavours and the banter from Rupert Parsons. Their raspberry vinegar is simply divine..I shall be using that alot.....and the apple and apache chilli jam tingled my tastebuds.

I caught sight of other bottles too...wine bottles..

Those who know me understand that I'm utterly incapable of walking past wine anywhere....and luckily Laura is of the same persuasion....we tried  a few wines including a beautiful prosecco from Bat and Bottle, a specialist wine importer  from Oakham. Now Ben and Emma are the sort of people I'd like to go on tour with . A wine tour around vineyards...quaffing and buying.They're very knowledgeable, full of fun...and they drink buckets of the stuff. Just like Laura and I....

There was just time to stuff a peppermint in my mouth before heading off to interview the lovely Alys Fowler...who was running herself ragged at the show, giving talks about edible flowers and herbs for salads and fruitful crops to big crowds at the experts theatre, and talking to lots of people. More about Alys in another blogpost...

Also strutting his stuff , and equally passionate, about growing your own more exotic edibles,  was James Wong . He was inspiring lots of people to buy his book " Homegrown Revolution"  and seeds from Suttons. When I say people, many of them were women of a certain age!

I though had my eyes on a number of other products that I liked the look of....I bought a couple of grow bag frames for growing some tomatoes in the courtyard here at home...they were light and portable...and then I saw these..

 I've had my eye on one of these after reading about them....but it was good to see them in the flesh as it were. I'd love one of these ...planted with cut and come again salads, plus some dwarf beans, strawberries and carrots that I can pick without breaking my back. On the wish list for when I save some more money though.

But that's what I enjoyed about this show....lots of really practical products to help us all who want to grow our own food, plus expert advice and demonstrationsfrom both enthusiasts, celebrity chefs, celebrity gardeners, plus knowledgeable helpful people from associations and societies.too
We 're a growing band of enthusiasts too - the number of us growing our own fruit and veg have gone up from 34 per cent in 2008, to 43 per cent today. And despite the rain last weekend, there were lots of us at the Edible Garden Show at Stoneleigh.

Next year the show moves to Alexandra Palace...where the organisers hope to increase both exhibitor and visitor numbers. I wish them well, but.....and it's a fairly big but. What's wrong with Stoneleigh? It's accessible, has a central location, there's space for the show to expand...and I heard both exhibitors and visitors  questioning the move. Of course, I'm biased, Stoneleigh is close to home.....but will the Edible Garden Show attract us down to  Ally Pally next year ? Hey ho...watch this space.....

 Today's track is from the Lumineers  ....Ho Hey....a real sing along song ..and I do like their energy! Could do with some of that during the growing season!

 

seedy and snowy days

The holiday at home continues....the snow that was promised over the weekend arrived yesterday...

and there was more last night and this morning.

The weather is in a capricious mood today. One minute snow is falling with a sideways swipe, there's a biting wind. Five minutes later the sun is out...making everywhere look fresh and clean....

and then rewind....the snow is back.

All the gardening both at home and on the allotment I'd planned has had to take a back seat.  With so much to be done, it's frustrating.

I can still sow seeds though. Broad beans and Alderman  peas were already sown a few weeks back and are tucked up in the cold frame and plastic greenhouse outside.

But there's lots more to sow....these I got from Seedy Sunday at the beginning of the month.


An annual event, it's held in a nearby village....we all take a few packets of seed....and you get vouchers for each packet to swap with what else is there. It's very busy, with lots of jostling to get close to the seeds on offer..there's lots of people talking plants, the composting gurus from leicestershire County Council are there along with my favourite stallholders, volunteers from the Heritage Seed Library.

They're so knowledgeable, so enthusiastic ..I could talk to them for ages...but in the end come away with two lots of peas.

Peas are in the top three of my favourite crops to grow. Eyewateringly expensive to buy in the shops when fresh, I just love their sweetness, and crunchiness when eaten raw.

Clarke's Beltony Blue - which is a wrinkled heirloom variety of pea and was donated by Mrs Anderson. It was grown on her great grandfather’s farm in Co. Tyrone since at least 1850 (but possibly as far back as 1815). Apparently it's tall, with beautiful pale pink and rich maroon flowers followed by purple pods .Can't wait to see these grow.

As for the purple flowering russian peas ....they were brought back from Russia by a lady called Valerie Fordham -they're tall with pink and purple flowers.

I'm also growing again this year peas I've been saving each year for a while...they're yellow mange tout peas, ...yes, yellow mange tout! They're described as being incredibly rare...I got them from the Real Seed Company about four years ago...and with the exception of last year, they've done me proud.


There's some interesting varieties of beans I'm going to sow this year too.
I've bought some of Sarah Raven's organic Speedy Dwarf French beans ..which I've not grown before , but only take sixty days to mature.

From Seedy Sunday , I managed to get some of Mr fearn's Purple Flowering climbing beans..
I got these just for the name really, but have since found out that “They grow very well in a cold greenhouse – avoid hot sun or outside growing". That's from the donor Bernard Fearne who's been growing them since the war. ...but unfortunately I haven't got a cold greenhouse . I'll give them a whirl though....

But perhaps I'll do better with the "Sarah's Old fashioned black". I couldn't resist trying these too as although they come from Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, it's said that these beans seem to thrive in the British climate.

My seed stash this year seems to be larger than usual....so lots more sowing to do..but I'm also planning to visit the Edible Garden Show at Stoneleigh this weekend,  the only national event dedicated to growing your own fruit, vegetables and home produce.  Will I see you there?
http://www.theediblegardenshow.co.uk/


So the stash will no doubt get bigger....as Oscar Wilde wrote "I can avoid everything except temptation." And with so many exhibitors there, I know I won't come home empty handed.

Today's track is from New Zealanders The Black Seeds.....I kept humming this song as I wrote about Sarah's Old fashioned Black seeds...

I love this band, especially after seeing them last year here... http://thinkingofthedays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/summer-sundae-days.html

This song is called fire...recorded live in Denver...