The American Issue 721 May 2013

May 2013

THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE

Est. 1976

®

£2.80 WHERE SOLD

www.theamerican.co.uk

EATING OUT • SPORT WHAT’S ON • POLITICS MUSIC • REVIEWS ARTS CHOICE Win: Buddy Greco tickets and sports goodies Interviewed:

CURTIS STIGERS From pop to jazz, Boise to Britain

Robert Sean Leonard chats to us about To Kill A Mockingbird Kaffe Fassett: “I found my way here in this quiet country” PLUS: OUR EXCLUSIVE US/UK ORGANIZATIONS GUIDE

NORMAL FOR NORFOLK (The Thelonious T. Bear Chronicles)

by Mitzi Szereto and Teddy Tedaloo

If you’ve heard of the bear from the hit film “Ted”, you’ll definitely want to meet Normal for Norfolk’s unlikely hero, Thelonious T. Bear, a Mini Cooperdriving teddy from ol’ Blighty!

Pub landlords are being murdered in Norfolk!

Thelonious T. Bear, ursine photojournalist, takes an assignment in the Norfolk countryside, where he hopes to find the real England. Instead he stumbles upon gastropubs, crazed Audi drivers and murder. In the wrong place at the wrong time, he attracts the attention of DCI Horatio Sidebottom of Norfolk Constabulary CID. Add a pair of East End hoods, a celebrity TV chef, and oddball local characters and it adds up to a madcap journey through England’s most quirky county, where everything is normal (...for Norfolk!)

“For anyone who’s ever wondered what Paddington at Large would have been like if it had been written by Raymond Chandler, Mitzi Szereto has the answer.

If you like your sleuths tough, cynical and cute as a button, Normal for Norfolk is the book for you.”

– STEVE HOCKENSMITH, AUTHOR OF HOLMES ON THE RANGE

Book website: http://mitziszereto.com/normalfornorfolk/

EXPAT NEED? CHECK ASSIGNEE SELECTED? CHECK TAX ADVISER? CHECK One of the less appealing things about sending your people overseas is that you, or they, suddenly have to become experts on the local tax system or risk falling foul of the law, incurring extra costs - or both. With BDO however, you and your people can benefit from coordinated tax advice. Advance planning will save you time and money and our specialist tax advisers are well equipped to ease the burden.

Through BDO, the world’s fifth largest accountancy network, our Expatriate teams can provide you with assistance all over the world. To find out more about the tax service that travels with you, please contact Andrew Bailey on +44 (0)20 7893 2946 or andrew.bailey@bdo.co.uk BDO’s Expatriate Tax service is run by our Human Capital team, which also provides a full range of expertise in employment tax, reward planning and pensions. www.bdo.co.uk BDO LLP and BDO Northern Ireland are both separately authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority to conduct investment business.

The American ®

Issue 721 – May 2013 PUBLISHED BY SP MEDIA FOR

Blue Edge Publishing Ltd.

Old Byre House, East Knoyle, Salisbury SP3 6AW, UK Tel: +44 (0)1747 830520 Publisher and Editor in Chief: Michael Burland michael@theamerican.co.uk Editor: Richard L Gale editor@theamerican.co.uk Advertising & Promotions: Sabrina Sully, Commercial Director advertising@theamerican.co.uk Subscriptions: theamerican@blueedge.co.uk Editorial contacts: Virginia E Schultz, Food & Drink (USA) virginia@theamerican.co.uk Michael M Sandwick, Food mms@theamerican.co.uk Mary Bailey, Social mary@theamerican.co.uk Richard L Gale, Arts richard@theamerican.co.uk Alison Holmes, Politics alison@theamerican.co.uk Jarlath O’Connell, Theater jarlath@theamerican.co.uk

Please contact us with your news or article ideas ©2013 Blue Edge Publishing Ltd. Printed by Advent Colour Ltd., Portway Ind. Estate, Andover SP10 3LU www.advent-colour.co.uk ISSN 2045-5968 Cover Main Image: Curtis Stigers (Photo: Andy Lawless); Circular Inset: Robert Sean Leonard; Square Inset: Kaffe Fassett (D Patterson © Kaffe Fassett Studio)

@TheAmericanMag

S

ummer’s on its way (I think we missed Spring this year) so in this issue we’re listing some fantastic things to see and do in Britain – check out our Diary Dates pages. But before you dash off to go walking on Exmoor, caber tossing in the Highlands, enjoying flowers in Chelsea or throwing a knob (!) in Dorset, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to enjoy reading The American. We’ve chatted with some great people this month including actor Robert Sean Leonard, musicians Scott Gorham and Curtis Stigers, textile designer Kaffe Fassett, and David Hersey the stage lighting genius, to bring you some fascinating interviews. We review the top shows including The Book of Mormon and The Audience. And if you’ve been missing Soul Food, take a look at our Southern Food feature and find out how to get your favorites over here.

As we went to press, news came through about the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Our thoughts are with the victims, especially the families and friends of those who died, among them 8 year old Martin Richard and restaurant manager Krystle Campbell. Whoever committed this appalling crime should know that Boston – Cradle of Liberty – and the rest of us will not be beaten by this cowardly act.

Enjoy your magazine,

Michael Burland, Publisher michael@theamerican.co.uk

Among this month’s contributors

Jeremy Lanaway is a Vancouver-based teacher, author of fiction and non-fiction books, and freelance writer, and we’re happy to say he’s The American’s hockey expert.

James Carroll Jordan is an American actor living and working in London who shares with us his amusing stories of what it’s like behind the scenes in the acting world.

Jarlath O’Connell is an Olivier Award judge and our theater reviewer. His pithy and witty reviews each month tell you what’s hot – and, just as importantly, what’s not.

Don’t forget The American online: www.theamerican.co.uk The entire contents of The American and www.theamerican.co.uk are protected by copyright and no part of it may be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information in The American is accurate, the editor and publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or any loss arising from reliance on it. The views and comments of contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers.

May 2013 1

The American • Issue 721 • May 2013

In This Issue...

Regular Sections 4 News 8 Diary Dates 18 Education 22 Wining & Dining 27 Arts Choice 32 Music

38 50 51 56 57 65

Theater Reviews DriveTime Sports Coffee Break American Organizations The A-List

30 Kaffe Fassett PHOTOS © KIRSTIN SINCLAIR

7 Margaret Thatcher A personal reminiscence from MORI founder and political analyst Sir Robert Worcester

12 The Campaigns of 1863 Peter Lockwood peers through the fog of war at the changing fortunes of the American Civil War’s commanders

14 Curtis Stigers Interview How one of the biggest selling pop singers of the ’90s became a happier jazz artist with the perfect work-life balance

16 Playing with Poirot Jim Jordan is on-set for the making of Poirot: The Big Four ...because he’s in it!

“ The male mind loves playing with pattern in knitting because it’s very architectural ” 18 The Best of Both Worlds There can be advantages for degree students spending a year in Europe before heading Stateside

23 Buddy Greco Competition Win tickets to see the last remaining member of the Rat Pack

24 America’s Gifts of Good Taste Southern fried sauces and a recipe for Sassy Slathered Grilled Salmon

We drop in for a chat as the textile design icon unleashes a career retrospective

36 Scott Gorham Interview A new band with an unbeatable lineage – Black Star Riders pick up Thin Lizzy’s baton, and we chat to their leader

44 David Hersey Interview The American merrily rolls back the years with the US-born Broadway and West End lighting design legend

© FSU

46 Robert Sean Leonard The House star shares his preparations for playing Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird

51 Eagle Eyed Darren Kilfara reacts to the ‘Tiger Drop’ and unruly rules at the US Masters

52 NHL Playoffs Qualification is anything but a sure thing, writes Jeremy Lanaway

53 MLB Competition Win a signed MLB baseball and T-shirt

18 Education: First Year Abroad

54 Sideline: NFL Free Agency Change, but nothing seismic so far...

©2007 FOX BROADCASTING CO. CR: ART STREIBER/FOX

38 Theater 12 The Campaigns of 1863

Robert Sean Leonard talks us to about his return to London theatre

PHOTO BELOW: MATTIA ZOPPELLARO

22 Wining & Dining

© DUKE PHOTOGRAPHY

36 Scott Gorham

“My whole Thin Lizzy life was with Phil on my right hand shoulder, the guiding light, the energy.”

– Scott Gorham on life with Phil Lynott

PHOTO: BUFFALO BILLS

54 Free Agency

16 Playing with Poirot

The American

Direct Express cards blocked As of April 10, ATM withdrawals outside the United States and US territories using a Direct Express card were being blocked by Direct Express operators Comerica Bank.

The reason for this is unclear, but is believed to be security-related.

Inevitably, some cardholders may find difficulties withdrawing cash, and cardholders have been advised to call Direct Express Customer Service (1-888-741-1115, or 1-765-778-6290 for international collect calls) for further information and to request re-authentication. In the meantime, it appears cardholders may continue using their card to make purchases and use ‘cash back’ facilities. Mastercard member institutions also offer counter teller withdrawals for Direct Express cardholders.

Transatlantic flights to get bumpier, suggests new study New research suggests that if climate change occurs as scientists expect, North Atlantic flights will become more turbulent.

The study by Reading University and published in Nature Climate Change, says that by the middle of this century there would be implications for both comfort and cost. Reading’s Dr Paul Williams suggested that a combination of a wider and stronger area of turbulence could lead to flights being diverted more often, leading to high fuel costs, and higher ticket prices. Supercomputer calculations modelling suggested turbulence could increase by 10-40%, and the amount of airspace affected by 40-170%.

4 May 2013

NEWS

Prince Harry meets participants at the 2012 Warrior Games PHOTO: HEADQUARTERS AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIR

Prince Harry to visit USA in May Prince Harry will represent the UK government and a number of his charities when he visits the US this month, with the central theme being the support of injured UK and US servicemen and women.

Amongst his engagements will be attending an exhibition about landmine clearance in Washington as well as visiting Arlington National Cemetery and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center; the Consul-General’s Reception in Denver; the 2013 Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, a community

baseball programme in New York involving a new partnership with the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, and a Hurricane Sandyhit area of New Jersey.

Prince Harry last made an official US visit last May, meeting British and American veteran athletes taking part in the 2012 Warrior Games, and has long supported charities that seek to rehabilitate injured servicemen and women, including Walking with the Wounded, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity and Help for Heroes.

Online Job Offers could lead to Money Laundering Financial Fraud Action UK have warned that entrants to the UK could become unwitting money launderers through a new online scam, putting themselves in line for up to 10 years in jail.

The scam job offers, which have been advertised online with titles such as ‘Money Transfer Agent’ or ‘Payment Processing Agent’, make ‘Money Mules’ of those caught out by the scam. The attractive job offer invites people to clear money through their own accounts, taking a cut for each transaction, but such practices often serve organized crime such as terrorism, drugs, and people trafficking. recent ICM research shows that while 15% of UK adults receive such offers, 25% of recent entrants to the UK have been targeted.

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The American

Obituaries Richard Griffiths OBE, Actor

The Old New Castle County Courthouse, Delaware

PHOTO: J STEPHEN CONN

New US Monuments President Obama has announced five new US national monuments, including the First State National Monument in Delaware. In so doing, Delaware, the first State to ratify the Constitution, becomes the final State to gain a National Park. The monument is comprised of the 1,100 acre Woodlawn property – former home of textile manufacturer and philanthropist William Bancroft, the Old Sheriff ’s house, Old New Castle Courthouse, New Castle Green, and Dover Green, site of the constitutional ratification. The historic areas are heavily connected with the history of English, Dutch, Swedish and Finnish settlers.

The other locations becoming US national monuments under the March 25 declaration include the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland, the Río Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico, and the San Juan Islands National Monument in Washington State.

It’s all a Conspiracy, I tell you!

Do you believe the Moon landings were faked? That a UFO crashed at Roswell? That Paul McCartney actually died in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike? Or simply that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11?

Just some of the questions in a recent US survey about beliefs and conspiracies published by Public Policy Polling. So who does believe the above? Well, a minority usually, but while only 6% think Paul McCartney is a ringer, and 7% think Neil Armstrong made one small step onto the studio floor, 21% subscribe to the idea that aliens pranged their saucer in New Mexico, and 28%

6 May 2013

still believe that Saddam attacked America (11% believe that the US government knowingly allowed the attacks). 37% of those questioned are of the opinion that global warming is just a hoax. Over half of those surveyed think that some larger conspiracy was at work when Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy, over twice as many as believe that Oswald acted alone. The PPP survey was conducted in late March with a sample of 1,247 registered voters. To find out how many of them believe shapeshifting lizards are taking control of the world, visit www.publicpolicypolling.com

Star of stage and screen Richard Griffiths has died at the age of 65. The portly British actor, famous as Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter series of films died on March 28 from complications following heart-surgery. Griffiths won numerous awards for his role in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, and will also be remembered by many as Uncle Monty in cult classic Withnail and I, with diverse supporting roles in films including Sleepy Hollow, The Naked Gun 2½, and Chariots of Fire. TV credits included the role of Inspector Henry Crabbe in BBC’s Pie in the Sky, and a 2012 appearance in Shakespearean mini-series The Hollow Crown.

Roger Ebert, Film Critic Roger Ebert was a giant among film reviewers, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death on April 4, aged 70. The first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, he became the first critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Hall of Fame. A journalist, screenwriter and film historian, he understood the power of syndication and the internet and was an early investor in Google. Since 2002, Ebert had battled cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands, requiring the removal of his lower jaw. In December of last year, he was hospitalized with a hip fracture that suggested cancer may again have exerted its influence. His passing prompted President Obama to declare that ‘Roger was the movies’.

The American

Margaret Thatcher 1925 - 2013 A personal reminiscence by Sir Robert Worcester

A

lthough I did not know Lady Thatcher well during her years as Prime Minister, after she stood down I got to know her very well when she became Chairman of the Institute of United States Studies at London University, where I was her Deputy. We also knew Lady Thatcher and Sir Dennis socially, both at dinners at their home and at ours. I learned to love the old gal, she was dominant on any occasion, always forthright, and never at any loss for words.

She was the least popular Prime Minister in polling history up to December 1981, with just 25% satisfied with her performance as Prime Minister. It seemed then that the outcome of the following election was sure to see the end of ’Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher‘, as crowds shouted at her when she ventured out to do a walk about, and even by students at the American School in London. The further North she went, the worse it was; during periods of industrial strife such as during the miners’ strike, she was vilified.

The Falklands War tested her, and revealed steel in her backbone which the voters rewarded with their support, first with 83% support for sending the task force to regain the Falklands, and by June 1982, her satisfaction rating more than doubling, to 59%. At the 1983 election she was given a 143 seat majority. She defined ‘conviction politics’. Bernard Ingham, her press secretary, told me she’d said “Bob’s asked a thousand people, I’ve got 12 million behind me!”

7 April 2013

Prime Minister Thatcher with President Ronald Reagan COURTESY OF THE RONALD REAGAN LIBRARY

She joined the Institute one meeting after I did, taking the chair as her right, slapping away the hand of the Director when he thought she’d lost her place on the agenda.

Then sharply responding to the American Minister’s attempt to raise a question, “Not now, not now” she said, and later seeing the small rise in the next year’s budget, proposed sending University Governors a demand for more money. “Agreed?” her eyes swept around the room.

One member said ”No”. Her sweep of the room halted. ”No?” she said, her eyes blazing towards him. ”Why not?“ “Lady Thatcher, I am the Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies, if your Institute gets more money, my Institute will get less.“ She retorted: “You see that door? When you come through that

door you have one responsibility and one responsibility only and that is to this Institute.” And the demand went forth.

As she raced through the agenda, having visions of her Cabinet in mind as portrayed on Spitting Image, I felt like one of the vegetables. When she brought down her gavel to close the meeting, she apologised for running late as the meeting was due to end at 6.

My watch said 18 seconds after 6.

As we got up from Sunday lunch one visit to us, Margaret on my right and her former Foreign Secretary Peter Carrington on her right, she said “Why, there’s more talent around this table than in the entire Shadow Cabinet!” Peter responded, “Tell you what Margaret, you be Prime Minister and I’ll be the Foreign Secretary.” I broke in timidly to ask ”Will you let me be the American Ambassador?“ Poking me in the chest with her finger, Margaret said “No we won’t, we’ll make you party chairman, and we’ll win the election!”

At her 80th birthday party, her former Cabinet colleagues John Gummer, now Lord Deben and Baron (Kenneth) Baker and I were talking, “Why, it’s the ’80s revisited”, said Ken; “Yes, it’s a shame to be at a party when you don’t know anybody”, responded John. We gathered at the door when the Queen was about to arrive. When Her Majesty entered, she firmly linked her arm into Margaret’s, and they toured the room, the best of friends. The Queen made Margaret the star of the evening.

May 2013 7

The American

David Mabb’s works combine slogans from recent and historical demonstrations to explore the history of political protest.

Your Guide To The Month Ahead

See our full events listing online at www.theamerican.co.uk

PHOTO: ANDY PARADISE © RHS

Get your event listed in The American – call us on +44 (0)1747 830520 or email details to editor@theamerican.co.uk

RHS Chelsea Flower Show Royal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3 4SL www.rhs.org.uk May 21 to 25 Celebrating its centenary this year, the annual show of horticulture and garden design wows visitors with a colorful and vivid variety of flowers, shrubs and trees. Designers from around the world compete for their plot to be awarded the gold medal for Best Show Garden. A highlight for 2013 is the Massachusetts Garden, designed by Susannah Hunter with Catherine MacDonald and sponsored by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. Inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson, the garden will include columbines, peonies, poppies and flowering dogwood trees, as well as a unique water feature and dry stone wall. The Chelsea Flower Show also offers a wide range of plants and accessories to buy, along with advice for your own gardens.

8 May 2013

Once Upon A Grimm…

The Story Museum, Rochester House, 42 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BP www.storymuseum.org.uk April 26 Jack Zipes talks to Michael Rosen on the 200th anniversary of the stories widely known as Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

US-based Professor Zipes is one of the leading experts on fairy tales, folklore and their place in society.

North Devon and Exmoor Walking Festival North Devon www.exmoorwalkingfestival.co.uk April 27 to May 6 Many walks to try across the beautiful North Devon countryside and coast.

MickRonsonFest Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH www.ica.org.uk April 27 An exhibition and events dedicated to the career of guitarist Mark Ronson.

Regime Change Begins at Home William Morris Gallery, Forest Road, London E17 4PP www.wmgallery.org.uk May 1 to June 30

A Conversation with Miriam Gross Dartmouth House, 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5ED www.esu.org peter.jarrold@esu.org May 1 Born in Jerusalem, Miriam Gross came to live in England at the age of ten. Join the English Speaking Union for a unique insight into Gross’ life of arts and literary journalism.

Badminton Horse Trials Badminton House, Badminton, Gloucestershire GL9 www.badminton-horse.co.uk May 2 to 6 After the washout of last year, the Badminton Horse trials return with international riders competing in a range of events.

Donington Historic Festival Donington Park, Derby, Leicestershire DE74 2RP www.doningtonhistoric.com May 3 to 5 World class historic racing cars and classic vehicles. This year’s festival pays homage to Ayrton Senna, the winner of the 1993 Formula One grand prix at Donington.

International Beach Kite Festival Weymouth Seafront, Dorset DT4 www.visitweymouth.co.uk May 4 to 6 The festival sees animal-themed kites take to the skies on the beach at Weymouth.

SoSkan – Fortress Wales Caldicot Castle, Monmouthshire NP26 4HU www.soskan.co.uk May 4 to 6 A living history re-enactment weekend from the American Civil War Re-enactment Society, the Southern Skirmish Association.

Brighton Festival www.brightonfestival.org May 4 to 26 Celebrating art, theater, literature, film, comedy and much more, the Brighton Festival offers a wide range of events throughout May.

Downton Cuckoo Festival Downton, Wiltshire SP5 www.cuckoofair.co.uk May 4 The annual festival brings the town of Downton to life, with Morris dancers, music, crafts and entertainment.

Ely’s Eel Day Ely, Cambridgeshire www.visitely.org.uk May 4 Every year the town of Ely celebrates eels with folk music, parades and other events.

Pucklechurch Scarecrow Trail Pucklechurch, near Bristol BS16 www.pucklechurch.org May 5 to 6 The village of Pucklechurch puts on its annual scarecrow competition.

Maldon Mud Race Promenade Park, Maldon, Essex CM9 www.maldonmudrace.com May 5

Watch as the entrants charge through the thick River Blackwater mud at low tide.

The Night of 1000 Stars Royal Albert Hall, London SW7 2AP www.royalalberthall.com May 5 This year’s event celebrates the work of Broadway producer and director Harold Prince. Performers from New York and London including Heather Headley, Kristen Beth Williams, Jason Robert Brown, Leon Cariou and many more grace the stage.

Dorset Knob Throwing Cattistock, Dorset DT2 0JJ www.dorsetknobthrowing.com May 5 A Dorset Knob is a piece of bread turned to a biscuit. In this local traditional event, contests from Knob Eating to Knob Throwing and even a Knob and Spoon race celebrate regional produce from Dorset.

Beaulieu Automotive Events: Simply Ford, Spring Autojumble, and Truckfest Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Hants, SO42 7ZN www.beaulieu.co.uk May 5, May 18 to 19, and May 26 to 27 May 5: Simply Ford – hundreds of Fords are on display in a celebration of Ford’s motoring heritage.

May 18-19: The Spring Autojumble has classic cars and a chance to buy and sell motoring parts, auto memorabilia, literature, tools and clothing.

May 26-27: The new Truckfest event at the National Motor Museum is a celebration of 100 years of trucking history, a jam packed day for the whole family.

Exhibition: Great English Furniture – Rare Pieces From Important American Private Collections Mallett, Ely House, 37 Dover Street, London W1S 4NJ +44 (0)20 7499 7411 www.mallettantiques.com May 20 to June 1 Great English Furniture, a major exhibition of English furniture from American private collections is to be held by Mallett, one of the world’s leading antique dealers. The exhibition also provides collectors with an opportunity to buy pieces which have not been on the market for at least a quarter of a century. Highlights include a magnificent George II Master’s Chair (above), probably made for the Anti-Gallican Society, founded in 1745 when Britain and France were at war, and bearing the society motto ‘For our Country’.

Also in the exhibition: an exceptional giltwood trophy attributed to Sefferin Nelson and made for the Prince Regent’s opulent London home; a rare William and Mary cocus wood cabinet; and an elaborately carved Chippendale period giltwood mirror.

May 2013 9

American Museum in Britain Claverton Manor, Bath BA2 7BD www.americanmuseum.org info@americanmuseum.org Telephone: 01225 460503 to December 18 The Museum is now reopened after its winter closure. Workshops, Quilting Bees every Tuesday, kids’ activities, music concerts and special events. A new exhibition is a must: Gangsters and Gunslingers, The Good, The Bad and The Memorabilia (to November 3), investigating how popular fiction affected perceptions of the Wild West and Prohibition/Depression eras in America. It brings together two defining chapters in the history of the USA that shaped America’s national identity: the Wild West (mid 1860s to late 1880s), and the Prohibition/Depression era (1920s to early 1930s) which produced legendary characters, both famous and infamous – Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane, and Bonnie and Clyde, to name but a few.

It includes the watch and vest worn by Clyde Barrow when he was gunned down with Bonnie Parker; a death mask of notorious bank robber John Dillinger; Native American weapons confiscated after the Battle of Little Big Horn, Doc Holliday’s medicine bag; mobster Al Capone’s silver cigarette case and memorabilia owned by Tom Mix, Humphrey Bogart, Tyrone Power and Elvis Presley. Housed in Georgian splendor at Claverton Manor, Bath, the American Museum in Britain remains the only museum outside the US to showcase the nation’s decorative arts.

10 May 2013

Helston Flora Day Helston, Cornwall www.helstonfloraday.org.uk May 8 Helston celebrates May Day, one of Britain’s oldest surviving customs, by decorating the town in greenery – the day becomes all about dancing.

Events at the British Library’s American study centre, the Eccles Centre: British Library, London NW1 2DB www.bl.uk/eccles May 10: A Friendly Word from a Foreigner... BBC presenter Justin Webb shares his view on America’s problems and how they may be fixed.

May 13: The 18th Annual Douglas W Bryant Lecture is presented by Canadian BBC journalist Lyse Doucet.

Her work has taken her to the Middle East, including Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan. This year’s lecture is entitled “From Acadie to Arab Spring: Reflections on America’s Place in the World”. Prior reservation is essential, contact dwbryant2013@bl.uk.

May 20: Kansas vs Darwin explores the Kansas state board hearings.

Documentary screening and talk with filmmaker Jeff Tamblyn.

May 24: The Obama Administration and its upcoming challenges. A one day conference. Speakers include experts Prof. George Edwards (Texas A&M/Oxford), Prof. Steve Pressman (Monmouth, NJ), Dr Alex Waddan (Leicester University), Dr Tim Hames (BVCA/DMU), Prof. John Dumbrell (Durham) and Ashlee Godwin (RUSI).

To reserve a place email ecclescentre@bl.uk.

National Doughnut Week www.nationaldoughnutweek.org May 11 to 18

Help raise money for The Children’s Trust whilst celebrating sweet treats with this week long nationwide event.

Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet Barbican Centre, Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS www.barbican.org.uk May 15 Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and his New York Quartet bring a mix of soulful ballads and jazz to the Barbican.

The Charleston Festival Charleston House, Lewes, East Sussex BN8 6LL www.charleston.org.uk May 17 to 26 Politicians, writers and performers discuss art, literature and life.

Scottish Highland Games www.shga.co.uk May 19 to December 31 The Highland Games season begins in May, with meetings across Scotland throughout the year. From the caber toss to Highland Dancing, the Games test skill, agility and strength.

Gefiltefest Ivy House, 94-96 North End Road, London NW11 7SX www.gefiltefest.org May 19 The fourth festival of Jewish food takes place in collaboration with the London Jewish Cultural Centre.

Gloucester Tall Ships Gloucester Historic Dockyard, GL1 www.thecityofgloucester.co.uk/tallships May 24 to 27 Starting at noon on May 24, watch

The American

the incredible sight of the Tall Ships sailing into Gloucester’s Historic Dockyard for a weekend festival.

Mind Body Spirit Festival Brompton Hall, Earls Court, Warwick Road, London SW5 9TA www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk May 24 to 27 The festival plays host to workshops and demonstrations using music, yoga and meditation.

Salisbury International Arts Festival Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 www.salisburyfestival.co.uk May 24 to June 8

Enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the legendary machines which powered the likes of Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss to victory.

The Spring Air Show Imperial War Museum, RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire CB22 4QR www.iwm.org.uk May 26 Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the US Army Air Force’s arrival to RAF Duxford in 1943, this year’s Spring Air Show features historic US Warbirds, and explores the cultural impact of American forces on East Anglia.

The festival offers an impressive range of free events celebrating film, music, dance, theater and all varieties of artistic expression.

MOPAR Muscle Day Brooklands Museum, Brooklands Road, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 0QN www.brooklandsmuseum.com May 26

Bath Fringe Festival 2013 Bath, Somerset, BA1 www.bathfringe.co.uk May 24 to June 9

Brooklands Museum displays American cars, with a paddock of Dodges, Chryslers and other US makes, Hot Rods and Customs.

150 events including all the art forms the organisers can find and some that don’t even have names yet.

Tetbury Woolsack Races Tetbury, Gloucestershire, GL8 www.tetburywoolsack.co.uk May 27

Forties Family Festival Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes MK3 6EB www.bletchleypark.org.uk May 25 to 26 Bletchley Park is where British and American cryptographers broke the German Enigma code during World War Two. The Forties Family Festival takes the Park back to those days of 1940 with re-enactors, costumes, vehicles and period artefacts. Listen to authentic 40s music from Luna Nightingale, learn the Lindy Hop and immerse yourself in a truly unique age.

The Model Boat Club will display its fleet, and events take place specially for young visitors. There will be guided tours of the Park, 1940s newsreels and even a disco.

Competitors race up and down a hill in Tetbury carrying a sack of wool, plus local fairs around the big day.

trade stands, local food and drink and family activities. Family fun and adventure events including canoeing and 4x4 experiences, art exhibitions and local produce shows, and even the National Cheese Awards.

Hever Castle visits the Edwardian age with a picnic recreating life as seen in Downton Abbey. The picnic along with the Upstairs, Downstairs exhibition offer a glimpse into life at Hever Castle before World War I.

Royal Bath and West Show Royal Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset BA4 6QN www.bathandwest.com May 29 to June 1

Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack 150th Anniversary Vincent Square, London SW1 2NN www.bloomsburyinstitute.com May 29

Motorsport at the Palace 2013 Crystal Palace, South London, SE19 motorsportatthepalace.co.uk May 26 to 27

One of the oldest surviving English agricultural shows (and the nearest thing to an American county show) celebrates 150 years, featuring livestock, agricultural machinery,

A special cricket match to celebrate the definitive cricketing publication.

The Wisden XI team will dress up in Victorian cricketing attire and play to the 1864 rules of the game.

The Big Edwardian Picnic Hever Castle, Nr Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7NP www.hevercastle.co.uk May 25 to 27

May 2013 11

The American

May Day M

odern May Day in the UK is a bank holiday held on the first Monday in the month, giving those able to take the time off a long weekend. The history of the original celebrations is rather different and now unclear; certainly pre-Christian and probably Pagan.

The Roman goddess Flora’s name is echoed in the name of the floral or furry dance in Helston. Basically, May Day is a celebration of survival. Imagine emerging from one’s cave to feel warmth from the sun, to see blossom, plants growing, young animals and birds... food available after the last few weeks of winter deprivation. So we danced, and still do. There are three main May dances: the Furry Dance, made much of in Helston, Cornwall – on May 8 this year thousands will line the streets to watch or join in dancing through the town, in and out of the houses, and residents are used to seeing their usually sane bank manager, farmer, or shopkeeper, in top hat and tails galloping around. Then there is Morris dancing, seen in many villages; in Broadway, in the Cotswolds it is beautifully done. It is a difficult dance and worth stopping to watch if you pass it being performed at any time. And then we have the May-pole, the Ribbon Dance where people, especially children, grab a ribbon attached to the pole and dance round, forming a plait, then reverse to undo it.

Lots of schools and colleges perform this. Finally there is the May Queen who reigns for a year. She is chosen and has to be a virtuous virgin, beautiful and kind (difficult, yes but they have a year to find the next one!) – Mary Bailey

12 May 2013

Culp’s Hill during the Battle of Gettysburg in an engraving of a drawing by AC Redwood

The Campaigns of 1863 1863 is considered by many to be the turning point of the American Civil War. Peter Lockwood peers through the fog of war at the changing fortunes of 1863’s commanders

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he year 1862 ended disastrously for President Abraham Lincoln’s political party. After the mid-term election defeats he desperately attempted to regain lost ground through the military. The resulting Union offensives over Christmas cost almost 30,000 Federal casualties.

Just as badly, the opening of the Mississippi River, which Winfield Scott called that “great line of communication,” still seemed out of reach. Strangely, only one field commander seemed to understand the president’s urgent political need to have the Mississippi run “unvexed to the sea.” So, in early 1863 while William Rosecrans hunkered down in Murfreesboro and while Joseph Hooker reorganized in Falmouth, Ulysses Grant labored in the Mississippi swamplands.

Despite four unsuccessful efforts to get behind the guns of Vicksburg – attempts which drew criticism from Rosecrans and the

press – Grant continued to lean forward. As a result, by the end of April he was across the Mississippi on the flank of Vicksburg. At virtually the same time in Virginia, Hooker had brilliantly out-flanked Robert E Lee. The succeeding days witnessed much-needed strategic victories for Grant and a disastrous tactical defeat for Hooker (see sidepanel, opposite page). Meanwhile Rosecrans, who had criticized Grant all winter, was virtually motionless. It was no small wonder that Grant soon became “Lincoln’s general.”

July 1863 proved a disastrous month for the Confederacy with major defeats at Vicksburg and Gettysburg. The shifting quality of the opposing forces began earlier that year, as illustrated by the rise of Federal cavalry capabilities. General Joseph Hooker’s organizational changes combined with War Department remount reforms produced a formidable Federal mounted force

The American

by spring 1863. The new, aggressive Army of the Potomac cavalry shocked its Confederate opponents at Brandy Station, fought well during the battles at Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville, and stymied Confederate cavalry initiatives at Gettysburg.

This shift in competence, quality, and confidence shows the erosion of Confederate capabilities by 1863.

Almost two weeks into his second invasion of the North, Confederate General Robert E Lee learned that Union General Joseph Hooker, in command of the Army of the Potomac, had been replaced by General George G Meade. Lee remarked that he knew Meade before the war and continued “General Meade will commit no blunder in my front, and if I make one he will haste to take advantage of it”. Since Gettysburg is an acknowledged Confederate defeat, it is interesting to search for possible Confederate “blunders” that might have contributed to failure and to judge whether Meade’s performance was as flawless as Lee predicted. The events in the weeks before Gettysburg and the two leader’s decisions during the battle can shed further light on key turning points.

In late June of 1863 William Starke Rosecrans finally began to move against Braxton Bragg. But, despite Rosecrans’ brilliant and Below: The aftermath of Gettysburg

almost bloodless maneuvers, he soon learned that Ulysses Grant had captured Vicksburg on 4 July.

Rosecrans’ lack of a sense of urgency had cost him the “carrot on a stick” promotion to the permanent rank of major general, which was awarded to Grant. Ironically, the very day that Vicksburg surrendered was the day that Rosecrans had forced Bragg to fall back across the Tennessee River into Chattanooga. But Bragg’s retrograde had come too easily, and Rosecrans underestimated his opponent in gray. In early September “Old Rosy” divided his army in an attempt to trap Bragg, who boldly turned upon his pursuer at Chickamauga and slapped him hard. But, despite the reinforcing troops sent to the Army of Tennessee, a decisive victory eluded Bragg due to the hostile command relationships he had fostered. As the hapless Federals stampeded back into Chattanooga, Bragg failed to pursue – a terrible mistake which would eventually lead to his undoing. As for Rosecrans, a month after Chickamauga he became the victim of the “dish best served cold.” After Vicksburg, Grant held the power, and Rosecrans was unceremoniously given the boot. H Peter Lockwood is a member of the American Civil War Round Table UK, whose conference on the 1863 campaigns is in Oxford, July 26th to 28. www.acwrt.org.uk

Lt. Gen. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson

Chancellorsville and the passing of Stonewall Jackson The battle of Chancellorsville (April 30 to May 6, 1863) set the Union’s Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s Army of the Potomac against Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Through bolder decision-making, Lee’s Confederates, outnumbered two to one, won an historic victory. However, after leading a crucial flank attack, outstanding commander Lt Gen. Thomas J ‘Stonewall’ Jackson was mortally wounded by friendly fire, dying eight days later, a terrible blow against Confederate morale.

Some historians have argued that under Jackson, key Gettysburg positions such as Culp’s Hill could have been won.

Help save Chancellorsville

In time for the battle’s 150th anniversary, the Civil War Trust is trying to preserve 37 further acres of the Chancellorsville battlefield. These two parcels will be added to the more than 115 acres of Jackson’s Flank Attack that the Trust and its partners have saved. Find out more at www.civilwar.org

May 2013 13

The American

All That Matters to How one of the biggest selling pop singers of the ’90s became a happier jazz artist with the perfect work-life balance

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with the kids and from the age of nine Boise was Curtis’ home.

A relocation to New York in 1987 when Curtis was 21 lasted sixteen years and when he became a father he moved back to Idaho. “It made more sense to raise a child here. If I was sensible I’d probably live in London as I work so much more on that side of the Atlantic, but Boise really is a place that draws people back. It’s a lovely place, quiet, yet there’s enough going on. My mother is here, and I ski or mountain-bike every day. Then I fly to London and Paris and Berlin, eat exotic food, and sing for people. I get to see the world – and get paid for it... it doesn’t seem fair.”

PHOTO: ANDY LAWLESS

o why isn’t Curtis Stigers still in chartsville, cranking out the hits?

Simply because he’d far rather sing and play the music he loves, and spend as much time as possible in the place he loves with the people he loves. He’s that rare beast – the musician who has the work/life balance thing all worked out.

He’s is in downtown Boise, Idaho, when we talk about his upcoming British tour. His Boise-born mother moved to California but came back

Curtis Stigers

14 May 2013

Curtis limits his time on the road to around 80 gigs a year nowadays, “I have a two-week rule. If I was away for more than that I would make sure my wife and daughter would come out to where I was. Now I’m divorced, it’s a little bit harder. Ruby’s thirteen, too young to fly to Europe on her own and of course my ex doesn’t travel to see me any more. I know so many people in the record business – and sometimes I feel guilty about not being like them – who are in the studio, on the road, working 95 percent of their life. They’re very successful but they never see their kids. I just think you’ve got one shot at that, and I have a wonderful daughter who I love to be with.”

He could play larger arenas, doing the kind of music he was known for in the 1990s, but in his forthcoming UK tour he’s chosen more intimate theaters. “I stopped trying to chase the kids. I realized I wasn’t going to outsell Justin Timberlake! In the world where I live as an artist, I put out an album and I tour behind it, playing those songs for a year or a year and a half. I find new ways to play them and explore the music and share it with a lot of people. That, to me, feels more like success than going into the studio for six months and hoping someone will play it on the radio. Also, the music I play is for smaller rooms, it’s not necessarily for arenas and stadiums. I did a lot of things as a kid and I hung on to that. When I made my first pop record, the one with all

PHOTO: ANDY LAWLESS

The American

the hits back in the ’90s, I assumed the record company would want me to continue to make jazz records as well but they really wanted me to just do one thing, over and over. I wanted to grow, so I had to dismantle that pop career.”

The massive success of his early albums let Curtis move away from that kind of music, as did his appearance on the soundtrack album to blockbuster movie The Bodyguard – up to a point. “If I had written the song on The Bodyguard it would have been a lot different. Nick Lowe [who wrote that song] and I are friends, thanks to that record. All you have to do to become friends with one of your heroes is make them a couple of million dollars,” Curtis laughs.

“Arista asked me to do a song for this soundtrack. It was a Whitney Houston thing so I thought it would get some attention but you never expect it to sell over 40 million copies.”

Soundtracks have featured in Curtis’ recent recording history too, not least for Dawson’s Creek and Sons of Anarchy, which features a much bluesier, rockier style. “My versatility

and my interest in so many different things has been my blessing and my curse. It can be a bit confusing, especially to the press, and to record companies and publicists. They’re used to putting artists in a box, and I’ve always got one foot kicking my way out of the box. That took me a long while to figure out,” he admits.

“For a while I tried to compartmentalize everything but I’ve decided it’s worth the risk of confusing people to do all the things that I want to do.

Luckily my voice is distinctive – a buzz-saw voice that cuts through”.

Fans will also remember the longhair look of his first albums. “That one photo session has haunted me for years!,” he groans. “I happened to have long hair when I signed to my record label. They took that cover photo for my first album and the yellowish lights made my hair look golden. People still say, ‘you’re not blonde any more’. I say, ‘what the hell are you talking about, I was never blonde!’ I only had long hair from 1989 to about 1993. I didn’t realize what an impact it would have on my career. The minute I finished touring that first album I chopped it off. And that’s the end of the hair story!”

Curtis Stigers tour dates

May 8th, Guildford, G Live; 9th Bury St. Edmunds Apex; 10th Eastleigh, Concorde Club; 11th Shrewsbury, Theatre Severn; 12th Stevenage, Gordon Craig Theatre; 13th Swansea, Grand Theatre; 14 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall; 15th Leamington Spa, Royal Spa Centre; 16th Milton Keynes, Wavendon, The Stables; 18th Aberdeen, Music Hall; 19th Gateshead, The Sage; 20th Tunbridge Wells, Assembly Hall Theatre; June 17th to 21st London, Ronnie Scott’s, residency.

Nowadays Curtis spends a surprising 90 percent of his stage life in Europe, just 10 percent in the States.

When he “checked out of the big pop world” and started driving himself on tours with just his guitar and sax rather than being “hermetically sealed in the back of a tour bus”, he started to see the countryside and towns and fell in love with the UK all over again. On tour he plans travel days around the best pub lunches – “there’s a lot of good food in England that needs to be eaten – I eat better in the UK than anywhere in the world, including France.”

Are audiences different here? “I think they’re different everywhere you go.” he says. “In Boise they’re boisterous, in Glasgow they’re insane, in London they’re a little bit more careful. It’s a bit of a stereotype but I think the further south you go in Britain, the more reserved audiences are.” You can see Curtis somewhere close to you soon (see above).

Go see him, make some noise, and make him feel at home. H Read the full length interview at www.theamerican.co.uk

May 2013 15

The American

PLAYING with

POIROT Poirot, Hastings, Miss Lemon, Inspector Japp... the gang is back in The Big Four. And so is our own James Carroll Jordan

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© ITV PLC

od’s Law always seems to keep me on my toes. Recently I was preparing to go on a wonderful cruise to Singapore and the Indian Ocean, ending at Sri Lanka where I would then fly home with Jan after eating copious amounts of Swan Hellenic’s food and drink and satiating myself in the wonders of the

16

East. Well, here is where the guy Sod stepped in with his silly Law. I got a call from my agents ten days before the cruise was to begin to go and read for a Poirot. A very good part, and I would be working again with my mate David Suchet.

I got the Poirot and had to pull out of the cruise. To say that my wife Jan was a bit unhappy with me would be to put it lightly. She blew up like the Fourth of July!

So Jan went off with her sister to exotic places in the Far East, and I stayed home to work and keep a weather eye on my teenage children. Charlie, my seventeen year old, was visibly depressed about this news.

God only knows what he had been planning.

Both he and Lacey were happy about me doing the job though, as they had something to brag about with their father again.

If they only knew what an easy job acting is.

But I’m not going to enlighten them.

My first day began with a very posh car picking me up at half past five in the morning. Luckily I was able to sleep for most of the hour and a half drive to the location. We were shooting in a beautiful old pile called Syon House. I say beautiful, because it was, but I have to add that it was cold… very cold. And we had four or five days there! Slap me silly and call me Judy, but it was cold. We all huddled around the portable fires in our down coats until just before the cameras rolled. Then we acted away until the director, Peter, yelled “cut!” and we rushed back into our coats.

Now don’t take it that I was unhappy. I was a pig in slops who had just heard the abattoir was closed. I was working in a big budget Poirot movie and had a lovely co-star in Patricia Hodge along with the rest of the Poirot regulars. After a while, even the cold didn’t matter as I had some real fun, juicy scenes to do, and got to work with David in most of them. Well, I shouldn’t say David, I should say Poirot. As soon as he put on his make-up and mustache in the trailer, he became Poirot. He talked like him when you spoke with him, walked like him, and seemed to scurry about at a very fast pace that somehow resembled the walk of a very busy and intense penguin. It was delightful.

Working with him was a dream.

He is so meticulous, and just a flat out top-drawer actor and star, and as he was one of the Executive Producers, he could and would stop shooting to fix anything that wasn’t how it should be. Mind you, he did it with the perfect manners and gentility of Hercule Poirot himself. However he didn’t need to do it very often as we had a very fine professional crew.

They also do the Miss Marple shows, another period show I would love to

The American

show and I am looking forward to relishing it to the full. I am being put up in a nice hotel, and bringing Jan, who is now returned from her cruise.

She is a huge fan of the show, and has known David since she did the musical of Edward and Mrs Simpson, Always, four or five years ago. He came by and loved everything about her and it. The problem is he is so suave and charming that a big old country boy from Texas like me feels decidedly inadequate and soon found the green monster of jealousy creeping in (this was only my deep insecurity here by the way). But that was before I worked with him at the Vic, and didn’t know that he was always like that with all women.

Charming, smooth and devastatingly attractive to them. Just like he is in Poirot. He is one of those men who just can’t help attracting women.

The show is titled The Big Four, so if you see it on the telly – possibly as soon as this September – tune in and check me out. To my amusement I was ‘Number 2’ of the Big Four. Like a sniggering kid, I pointed this out to my producer at the read through but received only a blank look. I didn’t know him enough to further the point by mentioning Austin Powers. H © ITV PLC

get into. It’s too During those bad there are frigid days so few parts of shooting, for an aging I made the American acquaintance of actor.

Detective Japp I can’t tell (Philip Jackson). you anything of Being an old hand, David Suchet and James the plot as it would he soon showed Carroll Jordan be giving things away me where there was and it probably won’t a nice warm room down be out until Fall or Christmas. in the basement where we could But I can say that David and I faced rest and gossip and keep warm while off as antagonists and dueled and we waited for lighting or whatever. fenced (verbally) our way through I just love my business. Especially the scenes with pleasure. I have a when you run across the Old Guard hunch that he approved of what I of it. Philip was one of those. He had did, as he didn’t say anything to the done and lived it all, and we spent contrary, and often nodded to me many happy hours over those five in an approving way after I finished days in that basement swapping lies some of my scenes. And let me tell and stories of our days in New York, you, I prepared and prepared for Los Angeles and London. I didn’t see this role. Knowing I was going to be much of Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) working with Suchet, and rememas she wasn’t in any of my scenes bering how meticulous and exacting or at any of my locations. I did meet he was when we worked together her at the script read-through, and on Complicit at the Old Vic, I wanted found her charming, beautiful and to be on my toes. And I was, if I do delightful. Hastings (Hugh Fraser) say so myself. But then that old cuss was hardly there at all, much to my Sod showed up to shoot me and my disappointment. confidence down in flames.

You see, doing a show where one After doing a very intricate and knows all the characters and situadifficult scene, we turned the camtion because you have seen it before eras around onto David and I lurked is a kind of other-worldly experience. off camera feeding him my lines.

Especially doing Poirot. It was a bit Well, I completely blanked on my odd and strange acting with David, lines while David waited patiently as in a large way, it seemed like I was for the correct and proper cues. He really with Poirot and it actually was finally suggested I read my lines so the early thirties of London. he could keep his rhythm. I wanted As I write this, I have four more to dig a hole and jump in and bury days of filming ahead. It is all going myself! I felt disgusted with myself to be done at the big Hackney and very miserable. However, we Theatre and should be a blast as it got the scene in the can after David is all the final wrap-up with all the had a calming talk with me during loose ends scenes. Luckily, most of a break and all ended well. Don’t my big scenes have been done, so ya just hate Sod’s Law? It always I can sit back and just enjoy being seems to enforce itself at the most there. It’s not often that my parts last inconvenient times. from the beginning to the end in a

May 2013 17

The American

PHOTO: COMEDY NOSE / PETE

EDUCATION

The Best of Both Worlds

© FSU

Kathleen Paul looks at the advantages for degree students spending their First Year Abroad in Europe before joining a Stateside campus

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Level or SAT? UCAS or Common App? Student Loan Company or FAFSA? If you are an American parent currently living in the UK and you have a Year 12 or high school junior hoping to attend university next year, is it better for your child to pursue undergraduate education in the UK where you are based, or should they attend college back ‘home’ in the US? The answer will of course vary according to circumstances, but what many families might not know is that there is a way to do both – in effect to have the best of both worlds. How so? Many American universities have campuses around the world, including a number right here in London. These campuses, initially designed for US students wishing to study abroad for a semester, are increasingly becoming home to significant numbers of freshmen completing their entire first year abroad. In some cases, the campus is

18 May 2013

home to both US and UK freshmen which means that students have the opportunity to graduate from some of America’s oldest universities while also studying with the locals.

These ‘First Year Abroad’ [FYA] programs have many advantages.

For example, at Florida State University completion carries with it the benefit of having to pay only in-state tuition for the remainder of the degree, saving tens of thousands of dollars.

First Year Abroad students generally take courses designed to meet Liberal Arts or General Education Requirements with the result that by the time they transfer to the home campus in the US, they are prepared for just about any major they wish to pursue. This ‘planned flexibility’ – the opportunity to spend the first year in a process of intellectual exploration and personal discovery - is of course a major plus of the US system. After all, how many high school

juniors really know what they want to do ‘when they grow up’ let alone what subject they want to study at university? Through courses, mentoring and research opportunities; by developing skills such as analytical thinking and communication; by enhancing students’ understanding of the wider world, a Liberal Arts education prepares students for a life outside the classroom.

At international campuses, there is a good chance students will find the class sizes a good deal smaller than those offered on the US campus. The benefits of small class sizes are well-known, and they are available to those participating in First Year Abroad programs.

For example, smaller numbers in a Public Speaking class, allows confidence to develop amongst friends while ensuring professors have time and opportunity to provide regular in-depth feedback. The effect is such that students graduating from the

The FSU Centre in Valencia

© FSU

Garnet & Gold Standard

Participating in a First Year Abroad program offers advantages not available on an American campus.

Freshmen attending Florida State’s campus in Valencia, Spain, take all of their classes in English, but can improve their Spanish perhaps to the point of fluency – even as they remain a two-hour flight from parents in the UK. And while freshmen in London might not pick up another language, they learn to be sensitive to the difference between cultures while understanding why such differences exist. As Katie Scott, a former FYA student from FSU in London says ‘My freshman year brought me an understanding of the world and myself in a way no college town in the US could ever have done.’

In many universities, this intellectual growth can be harnessed within a particular aspect of the undergraduate degree. At Florida State students can work towards a Global Pathways Certificate and/or recognition as a Garnet and Gold Scholar. These are students who have made exceptional progress throughout their university career, students who have, for example, participated in a significant period of study and life abroad. While these specific programs apply only to Florida State, other US universities will each have their own way of recognising the virtue of choosing to study and live abroad, particularly at the Freshman level. http://international.fsu.edu

20 May 2013

course know that after standing on a soap box at Speakers’ Corner and facing the heckling of a Sunday morning crowd, whilst being supported by peers in the audience, nothing will ever hold any fear for them again.

Most US international campuses are not only housed in major cities but are generally located at the heart of the city. Central London campuses such as those belonging to FSU, Richmond, or Notre Dame enjoy a wealth of culture on their doorsteps. The same is true for overseas students elsewhere. Florida State University’s European campuses alone include a 15th century urban palace just a few blocks from the Duomo and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and state-of-the-art computer labs housed in the remains of fourth century buildings in Valencia.

As much as the fabric and location of the campus and the nature of the education matter, perhaps the greatest benefit offered by a First Year Abroad program is the chance to create a group of friends who may transfer to the US together. For those graduating from a UK secondary school but who want to reclaim their US heritage by studying in the US for college, the FYA programs

Florida State students visit the Houses of Parliament in London © FSU

provide the opportunity to ease into the US system and rejoin US culture whilst still living in the UK. Likewise, for students graduating from a US high school who want to continue in the US system, attending as an FYA offers a chance to make the personal friendships and connections so that if they leave family behind in the UK, they won’t be going alone.

While each university will have its own application process, many programs use a process whereby application for the FYA program follows after acceptance by the university, where it is best to apply as early as possible. In the end, students and families must do their research to find the right university (‘right’ meaning right for the student), not necessarily the most famous, nor the most exclusive, nor the best sports team, but the university which best meets the particular academic and personal needs of the student. For some that will be a university in the UK, for others it will be college in the USA but for a growing number of freshmen, it will be both, as they leave the family home and fly to the US – after a one-year stopover in Europe or elsewhere. H

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The American

WINING & DINING

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ertain occasions call for Champagne. Lunch at Brasserie Chavot is one of them. The place just screams for bubbles. The high ceiling dripping with chandeliers.

The lovely buzz that never becomes noise. The five star staff, obviously sourced as carefully as the food; welcoming, well informed, attentive without being overbearing. A glass of Moët just seemed natural.

The restaurant gets its name from executive chef Éric Chavot, who has a very impressive collection of Michelin stars, and rightly so. Just reading the menu gave me palpitations. Deciding what to eat was no easy feat. We started with a glorious basket of sourdough (£2.25) and went on to a deep fried soft shelled crab with whipped aїoli and home-cured salmon with gravlax dressing (£9). Gone are the days when I could buy soft shell crabs for a buck apiece in New York, but let’s not go down that slippery slope. This one will cost you £11 and worth every penny, fried to a satisfying crunch with an ultra light aїoli. The gravlax was smooth and delicate, melting in

22 May 2013

Brasserie Chavot Reviewed by Michael M Sandwick the mouth, served with a wafer of Scandinavian seeded rye and dilled potato salad. The Gaillac Blanc, one of the lightest wines I’ve ever tasted, was a wonderful accompaniment to both these starters. Worth noting is the selection of wines that can be ordered by the glass, pichet or carafe.

The chef also sent us some grilled sardines with sauce escabéche: saffron aїoli with carrots. My bouche was very amused indeed!

Next was sea bream with tapenade, fennel and a smoky pepper purée (£19). This dish was bursting with flavors, all very different but melding together beautifully, and the fish itself was sweet and succulent. The Gaillac was too delicate for this dish, which needed a bigger wine. The mini rack of lamb with

couscous and olive jus (£23) was brilliant. A glaze of olive and muscovado sugar was a stroke of genius and the lamb, from the Pyrenees, was tender and flavorsome. For this the sommelier recommended an organic, unfiltered Côtes Du Rhône. Very different from the usual, perhaps more interesting than delicious. The nose was pure alcohol – 14.5%! The taste of raisin and blackberry coupled with soft tannins and a very dry finish went very well with the lamb. A simple beetroot and blue cheese salad was a lovely accompaniment. Fresh and flavorful. A simple recipe that I will definitely steal. Éric Chavot has a wonderful flair for turning classic French cuisine into something new and exciting.

Unfortunately, this sense of adven-

The American

Enter by May 13th to Win a Pair of Tickets

An EveningWith

Buddy Greco & Lezlie Anders On Saturday May 18th Buddy Greco is making a rare appearance in London. The last surviving member of the Rat Pack, Buddy was a close friend to Frank Sinatra since the age of four. This month he celebrates his 50th year in show business debuting at London’s The Hippodrome Casino. Buddy’s performances are always warm, expressive and full of life. Be sure to catch Buddy and his wife Lezlie Anders for an intimate, jazzy, cabaret experience like no other. Éric Chavot in his kitchen

ture didn’t make it to the dessert menu which we found uninspired.

Both the floating island and profiteroles were lovely to look at, well prepared and tasty, but lacking his personality. Everything else about the place was like the man himself who we had the good fortune to meet when he came out to greet us. Charming, passionate, filled with that certain je ne sais quoi. Effervescent, I guess would be the word.

Yes. Champagne on legs.

The menu for dinner and lunch is the same. £125–150 for two. The extensive wine list is mostly moderate with one page devoted to highend wines. H

Brasserie Chavot, 1 Conduit Street, London W1S 2YF www.brasseriechavot.com

The Question: The American has two pairs of tickets for the winners of this month’s competition.

Just answer the following question: According to one of Buddy Greco’s signature songs, The Lady is a... what?

ANSWER A) Trollope

B) Tramp

C) Trip

HOW TO ENTER: Email your answer and your contact details (name, address and daytime telephone number) to theamerican@blueedge.co.uk with BUDDY GRECO COMPETITION in the subject line; or send a postcard to: BUDDY GRECO COMPETITION, The American, Old Byre House, Millbrook Lane, East Knoyle, Salisbury SP3 6AW, UK; to arrive by mid-day Monday May 13th. You must be 18 years old or over to enter this competition.

Only one entry per person per draw. The editor’s decision is final. No cash alternative. Tickets are for the May 18th, 2013 performance and are not transferable. You are responsible for any travel, accommodation and other expenses.

May 2013 23

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RECIPE Sassy Slathered Grilled Salmon, Tomatoes & Scallions over Creamy Grits Fresh fish, garden-fresh tomatoes and stone ground grits provide a gorgeous backdrop for a sauce prepared with equal parts Original and Spicy Slather Brand Slatherin’ Sauces. Step up or step down the heat with 100% of each in this easy to prepare 30-minute recipe.

For the grits: 1 cup stone ground yellow grits 4 cups skim milk ½ teaspoon kosher or sea salt Freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons butter For the fish and scallions: Six, 8 ounce fillets of salmon, skinned ¼ cup Original Slather Brand Slatherin’ Sauce to glaze Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season 2 large bunches of scallions, withered ends and roots removed Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to coat For the sauce: ½ cup Original Slather Brand Slatherin’ Sauce ½ cup Spicy Slather Brand Slatherin’ Sauce 1 cup halved, multi-color heirloom tomatoes (or substitute same quantity coarsely chopped fresh tomatoes) Place the grits, skim milk, salt, pepper and butter in a large saucepan over high heat. Whisk vigorously to combine. Once at a low simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking, whisking frequently, until the grits have absorbed the liquid and are thick and creamy.

24 May 2013

Serves 6

Meanwhile, light or heat your grill to medium high. Brush both sides of each fillet generously with the ¼ cup Original Slather Brand Slatherin’ Sauce. Season both sides generously with salt and pepper.

Toss the scallions in a small bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Arrange the glazed fish over the hottest part of the grill. Arrange the scallions off to the side on a slightly cooler part of the grill. Grill, covered, for about three minutes. Turn each fillet and toss the onions. Continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes or until the fish is just opaque in the center. Remove from the grill, cover lightly with aluminum foil and set aside, briefly. (Note: The fish and onions can also be broiled in the oven under a hot broiler).

Prepare the sauce by combining the two sauces with the tomatoes in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat and cook through for 5 minutes.

To plate, arrange a generous portion of the warm grits on a plate or a shallow bowl. Top with a few grilled onions and a fillet. Spoon a couple tablespoons of the warm sauce and tomatoes over the top.

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here’s no doubt, fine flavors from a particular region soon spread far and wide, bringing favorable recognition of the place and the people who discovered them. Of course, there has to be something unique and superior about the quality, tastes and textures, and it helps if they’re associated with an enviably relaxed and hedonistic culture.

So many influences shaped the cuisine of America’s Southern States, it’s not surprising it travels well, finding enthusiastic reception far overseas and bringing US travelers a taste to relieve homesickness.

Satisfying Southern-style dishes have universal appeal, demonstrated by restaurants in capital cities across Europe and beyond. Vitally, this transferability means Americans abroad can still hope to find soul food and other Southern specialties!

The imitative intention may be pure, but unusual ingredients can be hard to source overseas; they’re often substituted by local alternatives. And to produce food that evokes the genuine taste of the South’s home-cooking, traveling chefs need the authentic flavorfundamentals. Not that Southern cuisine always requires a kitchen-full of learning and labor…

From Charleston SC, Slather Brand Foods export a neat answer to bland condiments and boring food: a selection of intense cooking and finishing sauces, likely to put ketchup on the back-foot worldwide. A welcome relief for American travelers, who’ll also be helping solve Britain’s longreputed dull food issues.

The Slather Brand company isn’t old – established by Robin Rhea in May 2010 – but in her 1lb jars, these versatile sauces combine pineapple, tomato, peppers and garlic, giving

The American

America’s Gifts of Good Taste, Going Global the rich familiar flavors of home and adding a great, glistening indulgence to everything from cooked cheeses to barbecue.

British tastes favor ex-colonial dishes; anglicised versions of Indian and Chinese cuisine are crowning favorites. But the dream of serious barbecue thrives in spite of the rain, and is shared by thousands of US citizens in the UK. This appetite has led superlative soul food suppliers into Transatlantic export.

Barbecue pit-master Jimmy Hagood’s company, Food for the Southern Soul, is introducing South Carolina sauces and relishes that will gladden American expats and may alert Brits to much more exciting cooking than they’re used to.

Jimmy is never slow to present a curious crowd with the fabulous flavors of Southern barbecue. His attendance (in a thirty-foot cooking rig) at festivals has seen thousands of visitors enjoying literally tonnes of perfectly-prepared pork shoulder and hundreds of gallons of barbecue sauce.

From his range of Charleston Favorites, Blackjack Barbecue Dry Rub is an intense blend of chili, paprika, garlic and cayenne pepper, certain to enhance any British cookup in ways that’ll revive US users with a taste of home.

Also arriving in the UK courtesy of Jimmy Hagood, is his Tidewater Shrimp Sauce, perfect as

By Gary King

a marinade for grilled shrimp, or traditional shrimp and grits… and naturally, from the same company, yellow and white grits are coming to Britain too.

The excitement of American influence on food doesn’t only apply to hot stuff. Still from Food for the Southern Soul, Jerusalem Artichoke Relish raises the game of potato salad to another level, revolutionises chicken and rice, and creates an original, memorably delicious hors d’ouevre.

In the UK, Americans hankering for home may request jelly sandwiches, without knowing that US jelly is what the Brits only ever call jam. British jelly is jello to Americans; few Brits understand the fruit-content distinction, and possibly it’s best left in the hands of passionate experts, like Sallie Dent Porth of Cameron, SC. Her range, Sallie’s Greatest, are blends of fruits and herbs which mayn’t sound obvious flavor-companions; but the all-natural ingredients and resultant tastes such as Strawberry & Basil, or Blueberry & Lavender, made Oprah Winfrey’s list of Favorite Things in 2012.

This cottage-industry evokes a very pretty image of historic Carolina, which isn’t unrealistic. The jellies are fascinatingly versatile in

use, as hot-biscuit dips, turkey-glaze, or even as ‘muddling’ ingredients for cocktails; they’ve come a long way from peanut-butter jelly sandwiches.

Americans mystified or repelled

by British beer will really benefit from Willie Miller’s Original Bloody Mary Mix. Blended ingredients from his peerless Hog-Dust rub include peppers, beets, tomatoes and celery, creating a kick even before the vodka is added.

The history of Southern food has seen old-world ideas using New World produce, and no strict rules to obstruct fresh thinking. There’s no saying how the flavors and style might evolve during its ongoing migration; but supplied with the essential tastes of the South, soul food is sure of a welcome as hearty as the meals it makes. H

Finding the ingredients http://salliesgreatest.com http://willieshogdust.com http://slatheriton.com www.foodforthesouthernsoul.com All these Southern specialty ingredients are available from WishBoxUSA.com

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BOISDALE

Cabot Place, Canary Warf, E14 4QT www.boisdale.co.uk

Reviewed by Michael M Sandwick

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’ve never thought of Scotland as a place I would go to enjoy the cuisine. I have very fond memories of my first haggis and of course a wee dram or three. Still, I seem to recall countless plates of either mutton or trout. Not the stuff of foody fantasy.

Likewise, I’ve never thought, ‘Oh let’s go to Canary Warf for dinner.’ Marylebone, Mayfair, Soho, Shoreditch, yes, but Canary Warf?

Think again. Boisdale has changed my opinion on both counts.

The moment I entered, I thought ‘This is a club’. Noise, energy, music, lots of staff bustling around. The people in The City evidently know how to party. The centerpiece of the room is an enormous whisky bar, indeed, London’s biggest. Add live jazz, a cigar terrace and an oyster bar and you’re in feinschmecker paradise.

But it’s the food that shines through it all. Scotland boasts an amazing wealth of high-end ingredients – salmon, lobster, oysters, beef, game, fowl – the list goes on.

We started with seared scallops with apple purée and smoked black pudding (£19.50). An inspired combina-

26 May 2013

tion. Unfortunately, the apple left a bitter aftertaste that overpowered the sweetness of the scallop. A sip of petits chablis took care of that! The carpaccio of wild venison (£11) with pickled cranberries, wild mushrooms and parmesan was a wonderful variation on the classic. The meat was top quality as was a South African shiraz.

The Dover sole meunière (£35), another classic, was expertly filleted at the table but a tad overcooked, losing texture. We forgave them however when they poured a pitcher of melted butter, lemon and capers over it. This was accompanied by a glass of Sancerre which was exceptional. Big and full, perhaps even too big for the fish, but absolutely worth the £14.30 per glass.

I ordered the special steak of the day, ribeye, aged for 38 days (£35). I was offered a choice of bernaise or green peppercorn sauce or seared foie gras and black truffle. An aged ribeye with foie gras and black truffle? That’s like being on a culinary safari and bagging 3 of the big 5!

And it was. The steak was perfect, one of the best ever. A glass of

claret and Scotland was starting to look real good.

A white chocolate and amaretto parfait and a chocolate fondant were both delicious but I began to feel a slight strain on my digestive system.

This called for a whisky. I asked the waiter for a suggestion. Throughout the meal, he had been very well informed, almost passionate about the food and wine, so I trusted him. He brought me a 12 year old Tomatin (£8.50), velvety, smooth and warming. I thought it would go perfectly with the jazz that was about to begin.

Vocalist Joanna Eden and her quartet were performing Jazz at the Movies. Sadly, nothing was done to put focus on this very competent group. Service continued, the lights remained the same and therefore, diners kept dining… and talking… loudly. In other circumstances, I would have enjoyed them, but here, the food usurped the limelight. And quite frankly, Ella herself would have to come back from the dead to take my attention away from that ribeye with foie gras and truffles. H

The American

CHOICE

An iconic Uncle Sam poster, part of the Propaganda: Power and Persuasion exhibition at the British Library

Bellini, Botticelli, Titian – 500 Years of Italian Art

Propaganda

Compton Verney, Warwickshire CV35 9HZ www.comptonverney.org.uk To June 23

The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB www.bl.uk May 17 to September 17

If heading for Scotland represents more than a day trip from your location, you may be pleased to hear that Glasgow’s heralded collection of over 40 Italian masterpieces is presently enjoying a sojourn in Warwickshire, temporarily joining stately home Compton Verney’s own noteworthy art collection. As well as headline works such as Botticelli’s The Annunciation, Titian’s Head of a Man and Bellini’s Madonna and Child, Luiga da Rios’ Pre-Raphaelite-contemporaneous Overlooking a Canal, Andrea Casali’s mythological Rococo masterpiece Triumph of Galatea, and Francesco Guardi’s Venetian views of San Giorgio Maggiore are also reasons to hop on a train.

Whether combating an enemy threat, guarding against disease or supporting or fighting ideologies, propaganda has often been filled with iconic images and resonant messages. The first major exhibition to explore state propaganda – British, American, and more – of the 20th and 21st centuries begins next month at the British Library, investigating the messages, methods and media employed to influence the masses. As well as looking at the origins and evolution of propaganda, the exhibition examines themes such as images of the enemy and ideas of The Nation, using posters, films and cartoons from World Wars, Vietnam, the Falklands conflict and more.

Rijksmuseum Reopening

Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat 1, Amsterdam www.rijksmuseum.nl For those of you traveling to mainland Europe, it is worth noting that the magnificent Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has now reopened after a decade-long interior transformation. The gallery now uses 8,000 objects to cover 800 years of Dutch art, including Rembrandt’s masterpiece The Night Watch, plus new acquisitions such as The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter by Jan Steen, works by Vermeer and van Gogh, and a new Asian Pavilion. The museum is open 365 days a year.

Left: Luiga da Rios, Overlooking a Canal, 1886 © CSG CIC GLASGOW MUSEUMS COLLECTION

Above: The 17th Century Gallery at the reopened Rijksmuseum PHOTO: IWAN BAAN / COURTESY OF RIJKSMUSEUM

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Left: Beryl Korot, Text and Commentary, 1976-1977 (Installation: Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, 1977) COURTESY BITFORMS GALLERY NYC

American Artists Round-up

There’s no shortage of American sculptors and installation artists in the UK at the moment, so for fear of missed opportunities, here’s a potted guide to just some of what’s out there at the moment: The spring season at the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester (www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk) continues with artists including American Beryl Korot – whose Text and Commentary draws a relationship between loom weaving and punch card programming, and finds a logical home in both the birthplace of the British textile industry and arguably the first computer, Baby – as well as images of American terrain artist Nancy Holt’s Trail Markers together with English sculptor Richard Long in Land Art, and Scottish abstract painter Callum Innes. In London, the Pace Gallery (www.pacegallery.com) continues to present Calder After the War, an exhibit of PennsylvaniaMatthew Day Jackson, Always anyone, anywhere, anything, anytime and for any reason.

Southwood Garden, St. James’s Church, London © MATTHEW DAY JACKSON COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HAUSER & WIRTH PHOTO: GENEVIEVE HANSON

Far Right: Paul Pfeiffer, Vitruvian Figure, 2009

© COURTESY OF PAUL PFEIFFER

28 May 2013

born Alexander Calder’s Mondrianinfluenced sculpture and paintings, including twenty-five of Calder’s famous mobiles and stabiles featuring the iconic Blue Feather (c.1948).

Also in London, Paul Pfeiffer’s works are on show at the Thomas Dane Gallery (www.thomasdane.com) – of particular interest is his Vitruvian Figure, a construction (until May 25) that, viewed from the correct position, uses reflection to give the illusion of a panoramic stadium. Until May 4, LA artist Sterling Ruby represents concepts of social control and American domination and decline, in ceramics and large-scale urethane sculpture, at Hauser & Wirth London, (www.hauserwirth.com), who are also responsible for Matthew Day Jackson’s polished stainless outdoor sculpture (below, left) popping up at Southwood Garden, St James’s Church. Finally, you can catch art collective Bernadette Corporation at the Institute of Contemporary Arts on The Mall (www.ica.org.uk) all month.

Museums at Night 2013

Various venues www.culture24.org.uk/museumsatnight May 16 to 18 The annual late night(s) festival of art and culture is almost here, with some great opportunities for quieter contemplation of treasures during the evening hours at hundreds of UK venues. Amongst an exhaustive list (see weblink above), catch the Chapman Brothers at The Jerwood Gallery, Hastings; Turner-Prize winning Martin Creed at the Freud Museum, London; Mat Collishaw at Backlit, Nottingham; Egyptian History at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; David Bailey’s East End Faces at the William Morris Gallery, London; culture crawls in Newcastle and Liverpool; Kaffe Fassett: A Life in Colour at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London (see page 20) with designer Sue Timney giving a special museums night talk; storytelling for 7-13 year olds with Simon Mayo at the Royal Institute; and there’s sleepovers at Kensington Palace and Hampton Court! ‘And many, many more’, as they say.

The American

Above: Benedetto Gennari, Mary of Modena with Prince James Stuart © PRIVATE COLLECTION, PHILIP MOULD AND CO

Below: Mary of Modena’s Bed © HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES

Above: On the Beach, Swanage by Charles Conder © MANCHESTER CITY GALLERIES

Secrets of the Royal Bedchamber Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey Surrey KT8 9AU www.hrp.org.uk To November 3

Channel Crossings: English and French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Steet Manchester, Lancashire M2 3JL www.manchestergalleries.org To December 6

The hop across the English Channel doesn’t seem much compared to a jump across the Atlantic, so it’s easy to overlook that Impressionism arrived in the wake of hundreds of years of Anglo-French distrust. With Britain finally free to adore French art without reservation, Impressionism made its mark. This exhibition includes works by French artists such as Pissarro and Renoir alongside those by British artists Alfred Sisley (a Briton who worked much of his life in 19th century France), George Clausen, Philip Wilson Steer and Florence-born, Paris- and Londonbased American John Singer Sargent.

Studio Sittings

Leighton House Museum 12 Holland Park Road, Kensington, London W14 8LZ www.rbkc.gov.uk/museums To May 12 Anne Purkiss has been photographing Royal Academicians for over 25

Dame Elisabeth Frink. © ANNE PURKISS

Do you know the story of the Mary of Modena’s ‘Warming Pan’ and how it affected who sat upon the British throne? Just one of the things to be discovered at this exhibition of royal bedchambers and related portraits, featuring six stunning royal beds, together with dramatic court tales and details of the unusual rituals and sleeping arrangements of the Stuart and Hanoverian courts.

years. This appealing collection is now on show at the former home of painter and Royal Academy founder Frederic, Lord Leighton.

It’s a who’s who of artists including Antony Gormley, Barbara Rae, Dame Elisabeth Frink, David Hockney, David Nash, Elizabeth Blackadder (and cat), Grayson Perry (as ‘Claire’), Sir Anthony Caro, Sir Peter Blake, and more, together with Victorian photos of Alfred Waterhouse, Joseph Edgar Boehm, and Lord Leighton himself, most of them in their studios, drawing rooms, and places of creativity.

A treat for those who’d like to take a peek at artists in their natural habitat.

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Kaffe Fassett Richard L Gale takes tea with the American-born colorist

N

me thoughtful, more observant, confident in my work the way no other country ever has. I found my way here in this quiet country. It’s interesting because America is more my temperament, a circus, crazy and wacky, and the English are much more reserved. But it suited me, it was a very good grounding for me, and it made me start to refine what I was doing, rather than just being a wild character, a spoiled brat, doing my party piece all over the place.”

PHOTOS © KIRSTIN SINCLAIR

eedlepoint master, knitting maven, quilting legend, San Francisco-born Kaffe Fassett is above all a colorist, a virtuoso of contrast and pattern. He’s also lived over here a while. We sit in a small serene gallery room, surrounded by arts projects from his younger years, school drawings and college paintings, evidence of the portfolio that sent him to the Museum of Fine Arts School, Boston briefly, before he escaped to England. He balances a cup and saucer of tea. I ask him about California, New England, Old England and everything in between.

“England finished me off – it took away my rough edges, it made

30 May 2013

Kaffe encourages people to be instinctive about color. Do Brits or Americans retreat to certain traditions when it comes to color?

“I used to think that England was very reticent about sex and passion and color and food. What I found was that if you look at British gardens you know that there is a soul that loves beauty and exquisite harmonies. They’re subtler and quieter than they would be in America, perhaps, but America learns quickly, and a lot of the beautiful gardens in America are so influenced by England. My partner just had a rose named after me. I haven’t even smelled it yet because it’s only being launched at the end of this year. But to go to the Chelsea Flower Show and see how expressive the soul of the British comes out in those gardens... so I knew there was a hidden love of color.”

And in America?

“Its been an extraordinary experience to get to know the ‘flyover States’, because for years you look down at Kansas, Oklahoma, you never go there. Now I go to all those places because I’m in the quilt world and America is a great center for quilting – that’s the one art we have perfected and made our own, and it has a rich history. It is beautifully respected and there’s great quilt festivals. If I write a book on quilting, it’s a sell out in America. I go to all of these little communities. There’s probably not one single little town in American that doesn’t have a quilt shop.”

I grew up with Kaffe’s books around me thanks to my mother, a quilter and knitter. I don’t fear color.

In acknowledgement, she’s my ‘plus one’ for Kaffe’s solo exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London.

The American

PHOTO: D PATTERSON © KAFFE FASSETT STUDIO

“Thank goodness for the mothers”, says Kaffe. “The Crafts Council put me on the road to talk to schools and groups, women’s institutes. The first place we went to was a big co-ed school. The teacher said, we’ve got several craftsmen here – the potter will take all the boys off to talk about pottery and Kaffe will take all the girls to talk about knitting – immediately making that split. and I thought ‘Wait a minute, I’m not a girl.’’”

Is that prejudice going away?

“Oh yeah. For one thing the male mind loves playing with pattern in knitting because it’s very architectural, very structured. Somehow a man’s mind just puts these bricks in place immediately, it’s like an instinctive thing, so they start to knit, and make these incredible kinds of structures and patterns. I think it’s very intriguing to a guy’s mind.”

I’d feel daft asking this question in any other interview, but... Kaffe, what’s your favorite color? Or at least color combination?

“If I’m playing with the rainbow, I like the whole rainbow. There are certain colors that are very difficult when it comes to playing with subtle colors, and one of the colors is white – it’s like headlights, very powerful, and people use it very easily. That’s one of the things I talk about a lot, about the use of white in people’s knitting or needlepoint. It can over-

PHOTO ABOVE AND THOSE BELOW ©KIRSTIN SINCLAIR

shadow very easily whatever else they’re trying to do with color. But basically all colors should be grist to the mill, and there’s a wonderful way of playing with white. I’ve had people come to my workshops and make their entire quilt out of whitebased fabrics with little bits of color on them and they’re fabulous.”

My mother is homing in on interior and textiles designer Sue Timney’s red felt beret. Sue, renowned for her love of contrasting black and white, seems an unlikely choice for curator, but the main hall is a beautifully judged firework display from Kaffe’s back catalog.

“Sue’s amazing. When you think Miss Graphic Black & White meets Mr Dance-on-the-tabletop-with-Color, it’s been incredible. We’ve had our moments [a mock grimace] but we also love each other. I totally respect her exhibition that she had here – she used this museum better than anyone else and that’s why I went to her straight away and said, I want you to design this because you know how to use this space.”

Sue knows how to use space. My goodness, Kaffe knows how to use color. Go, and be instinctive. H

Kaffe Fassett – A Life in Colour

The Fashion and Textile Museum 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF www.ftmlondon.org To June 29

The American

Depeche Mode

The gothish electronica maestros are racking up the miles on their massive Delta Machine tour.

Between May 4th and the end of February 2014 they are hitting stadiums, arenas and amphitheaters in Europe – Eastern (where they’re gods) and Western, plus North America. Dates booked for the British Isles (so far) are: May 28th & 29th London, O2 Arena; November 7th Belfast, Odyssey; 9th Dublin Arena, Ireland; 11th Glasgow, Hydro Arena; 13th Leeds Arena; 15th Manchester, MEN Arena; 19th London, O2 Arena; January 27th 2014 Birmingham, LG Arena.

An Evening With Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

The long-time friends (pictured below) play songs from their duets album Old Yellow Moon and from their vast catalogues.

They’re backed by a distinguished group of musicians including Steve Fishell, Jedd Hughes, Byron House, Gerry Roe and Chris Tuttle.

May 8th Manchester, Bridgewater Hall; 9th London, Hammersmith Apollo; 10th Birmingham, Symphony Hall; 12th Belfast, Waterfront; 15th Glasgow Royal Concert Hall; 16th Gateshead, The Sage.

MUSIC

LIVE AND KICKING The Rolling Stones – Glastonbury and Hyde Park Down at Worthy Farm they’ve been trying for years to tempt The Rolling Stones to headline the Glastonbury Festival. This year they’ve succeeded.

It’s at Pilton, Somerset from June 26th to 30th and if you haven’t already got tickets, you won’t get ‘em. But Michael Eavis’ big news was trumped by the Stone’s announcement that they are returning to London’s Hyde Park for an outdoor concert on July 6th. That’s almost 44 years to the day since the Stones first played Hyde Park, the famous gig that took place just two days after band founder Brian Jones died and which threw new guitarist Mick Taylor truly in at the deep end. A North American tour has also been announced. Support comes from young hotshots The Vaccines, The Temper Trap, Gary Clark Jr, King Charles, Palma Violets, Tribes, The Boxer Rebellion and more.

Steve Earle with The Dukes

The godfather of alt-country now looks like an Old Testament prophet and his songs still burn with that old-time fervor. Earle is no time-warp though, he’s partial to electric music

32 May 2013

as well as old-time acoustic, but he is always authentic, as his debut novel proved two years ago. He’s on a monolithic tour, and the UK dates are: May 20th Birmingham, Symphony Hall; 21st London, Royal Festival Hall; 23rd Gateshead, The Sage; 24th Bristol, Colston Hall; 30th Glasgow, Academy; 31st Liverpool, Philharmonic; June 1st Dublin, Ireland, Vicar Street; 2nd Belfast, Limelight 1.

Melvins

Melvins perform their albums Lysol and Houdini in full in London May 19th, then on the 20th Bullhead and Stoner Witch get the live treatment.

They defy categories but – despite limited commercial success – they are one of the most influential postpunk acts, cited as being formative influences on Nirvana, Soundgarden, Green River, Tool, Mastodon, Eyehategod and many more. Their covers album, Everybody Loves Sausages, (out now) pays homage to “the kind of things that influence us musically,” says Buzz Osborne. Songs include Queen’s Best Friend, Ram Jam’s Black Betty, David Bowie’s Station To Station, plus tunes by Venom, The Scientists, Tales of Terror, Throbbing Gristle, The Jam, Roxy Music, Divine, The Kinks, The Fugs, and Pop-O-Pies.

The American

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Alchemy Tour

Neil Young’s back together with Crazy Horse – his greatest live line-up and catalyst for some extraordinarily intense musical experiences over the years – who hadn’t toured together since their Greendale expedition in 2004. Last October they traversed the US, in March the Antipodes, and now it’s Europe’s turn – a must see for any rock and roll, folk or Americana aficionado. The UK dates are in the middle of the Euro-dates and have proved so popular two more have been added at the end: June 10th Newcastle Upon Tyne Arena; 11th Birmingham Arena; 13th Glasgow SECC; 17th London, O2 Arena; August 18th Liverpool Arena; 19th London, O2 Arena.

The Mavericks

After a triumphant appearance at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections show in January, Raul Malo and his Miami cowboys are heading across the Pond for a short series of high profile headline theater dates. After a break they’re back again for three summer festivals. Choose the kind of ambience you prefer, but choose quickly – this is a rare chance to see the Mavericks and after their previous sevenyear hiatus it might be a while before you get the opportunity again. May 15th Edinburgh, Usher Hall; 17th

Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Manchester, Bridgewater Hall; 18th Birmingham, Symphony Hall; 19th London, Royal Festival Hall; July 19th SummerTyne Americana Festival at Gateshead, The Sage; 20th Southern Fried Festival, Perth (Scotland); 27th Cambridge Folk Festival.

Springsteen, Crowes, Shakes at Hard Rock Calling’s new venue Hard Rock Calling has a new home, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, after its Hyde Park Neighbors complained about the noise. Headliners on the Saturday are Kasabian, suported by Paul Weller and Miles Kane. The American’s readers will more likely have their music bone tickled by Sunday’s line-up (June 30th): Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band with The Black Crowes and Alabama Shakes, it’ll be the first show at the park since the London 2012 Games, but The Boss’s third headline performance at the festival.

He may feel it’s unfinished business: last year, his crowd-pleasing encore with Paul McCartney was brutally cut short due to a ‘jobsworth’ [English slang for a deliberately unco-operative minion who delights in enforcing petty rules] pulling the plug.

June 29th & 30th, London, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

House Call – Hugh Laurie confirms June tour and May album After the success of his debut blues album Let Them Talk, Hugh Laurie releases his second, Didn’t It Rain May 6th. Widening the New Orleans influences of the first record, it includes numbers by W C Handy (St Louis Blues), Jelly Roll Morton (I Hate A Man Like You), Alan Price of The Animals (Changes) and Little Brother Montgomery’s Vicksburg Blues (featuring Taj Mahal). The Big Easy is still represented by Dr. John’s Wild Honey. “I have resolved to forge on, deeper into the forest of American music that has enchanted me since I was a small boy,” explains Laurie.

“And the further I go, the more bewitched I become both by the songs and by the people I have been lucky enough to play them with.” An ITV Perspectives documentary, Copper Bottom Blues, will be broadcast on May 5th, following Laurie as he travels across America delving into the history of blues and roots music.

UK tour dates are: June 13th Bristol, Colston Hall; 14th London, Hammersmith Apollo; 15th Oxford, New Theatre; 17th Brighton, Dome; 18th Birmingham, Symphony Hall; 20th Manchester Apollo; 22nd Edinburgh Playhouse; 23rd Gateshead, Sage.

The Mavericks

May 2013 33

The American

ALBUMS THEOF MONTH Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt Night Sony Music

Take one Brooklynite, Juilliard-trained classical pianist (Dinnerstein) and one self-taught folky/country singersongwriter from North Carolina. Add songs and music by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, Franz Schubert (in which Simone’s piano piece is completed by Tift’s lonesomecowboy harmonica), Henry Purcell, Brad Mehldau, Siloti/JS Bach, Daniel Felsenfeld (Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne deconstructed), Patty Griffin, Johnny Nash and Merritt herself. Mix gently in a studio – shake, don’t stir. Garnish with simple instrumentation, just Dinnerstein’s piano and Merritt’s guitar.

The result is not, as it might have been, a clashing mish-mash, but a delectable cocktail of complimentary flavors. Pour over your ears and enjoy.

Stand-out tracks: any and all, depending on mood! – Michael Burland

Depeche Mode Delta Machine Columbia

Dark moody stadium gods, archaic keyboardbotherers, or ’80s nostalgia icons – like quantum electronica, Mode are all these things at once. Having long ago sloughed their pop infancy, the crown princes of electro-goth return with their 13th studio outing, adding mixer Flood (Violator, Songs of Faith & Devotion) to producer Ben Hillier’s trilogy-concluding album and are consequently caught peeking at their

34 May 2013

critically-adored early ’90s output as well as more recent fare. Dave Gahan gets soulful, Martin Gore supplies words and warbling, and Andy Fletcher does ...well, whatever it is he does, which one suspects is gently holding things together. Harmonies, synthetic vibrations and a nice opening salvo including Welcome to My World, electronically groaning Angel, lead single Heaven, and Secret to the End, it meanders in the midriff, Dismal Dave outgrumbling even his usual depths on Broken. Fortunately, Delta Machine finds new wind for its second half, Soft Touch/Raw Nerve and Should Be Higher unleashing an analogue drive it maintains until the bleepy blues descend again for Goodbye. DM’s latest slice of throbbing synth-backed siren songs is more cohesive than 2009’s Sounds of the Universe and a very satisfying addition, nonetheless evading landmark progress. – Richard L Gale

Eric Church

Caught in the Act Wrasse Records / EMI Nashville Eric Church was a ‘who-he?’ just a few years ago. Instead of working up through the ‘erm-yeah’ and ‘oh-him’ stages, he’s leapt straight to the ‘Alright!’ level. To prove it, and explain why, he’s released this 17-track live album, recorded in Chattanooga, Tennessee on his Blood, Sweat, and Beers tour. The ‘why’ is simple: Church is the rockiest of the current crop of country stars. Not mainstream, homogenised, TV-friendly ‘rock ‘n’ country’ but genuine, enthusiastic, ballsy, goodtime, raucous blue-collar music, much heavier than most from the guitar feedback at the beginning of How ‘Bout You to the Black Sabbath

Eric Church –caught in the act!

Sweet Leaf riff inserted cheekily into Smoke A Little Smoke, among the Hank and Haggard references.

It’s an unusual strategy, live albums often being retrospectives from an established career, in Church’s case it works. His shows are where he and his music truly come alive, and the interaction between him and his audience translates extraordinarily on this live set, from the crowd chant of “Eric, Eric” (scarily reminiscent of the “Lizzy” cries at Thin Lizzy concerts) through the massed waving of their cowboy boots in the air during These Boots, his exhortations to join in the choruses of Drink In My Hand, Jack Daniels and even an acoustic Sinners Like Me, to the dying strains of his signature song, Springsteen. Church may not fit radio scheduler’s e-z-fit boxes, but he’s a country singer who really knows how to entertain. Stand-out tracks: Before She Does, Drink In My Hand, Springsteen. – Michael Burland

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Scott Go The American

Scott Gorham

A new band with an unbeatable lineage – Black Star Riders pick up Thin Lizzy’s baton

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PHOTO: MATTIA ZOPPELLARO

n every line-up of Thin Lizzy’s long and illustrious history, barring the very early days, you’ll have seen Californian guitar hero Scott Gorham cranking out crunching riffs and melodic harmony guitar lines, long hair flowing. The Lizzy name has ended, but the music’s still alive as Gorham, three recent Lizzy bandmates and a new drummer emerge,

Top: Black Star Riders, ready for takeoff. From left: Marco Mendoza, Jimmy DeGrasso, Scott Gorham, Ricky Warwick and Damon Johnson Above: Thin Lizzy, the classic line-up, Brian R, Scott, Brian D, and Phil

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phoenix-like, with a new name and a great new album. The Black Star Riders are here.

BSR comprise Gorham, singer Ricky Warwick (formerly of New Model Army and The Almighty), guitarist Damon Johnson, bassist Marco Mendoza and new boy Jimmy DeGrasso, who previously played with Alice Cooper and Megadeth. At his home in London – he’s a permanent resident in the UK – Gorham ran The American through the ‘why’s and the ‘wherefore’s of the band’s legacy and its future.

The UK was always important to Thin Lizzy and it was in London that Scott met them. “The first guy I met was Phil Lynott – this big, tall, lanky black guy. In actual fact I thought he was one of the waiters – nobody told me that Phil was black, they just told me it was an Irish band, and when I heard this Irish accent come out I thought, what the hell’s going on here? But you could tell he was the go-to guy. When we got on the stage both the Brians [Downey, drums and Robertson, guitar] deferred to him on everything, so he was obviously the main man. Of us guitar players Brian [R] was the veteran... he was there two weeks before me.“ The new twin-guitar line-up was innovative. “Eric Bell, the previous guitarist, had quit right in the middle of a gig and left Phil and Brian [D] there – they just carried on with the rest of the set. This was before drum ‘n’ bass became popular!

With two guitars I think Phil thought, if that ever happens again at least

we’ll have one guitar player to keep going.”

Lynott gave his post-Lizzy band, Grand Slam, a new name because it had a new line-up, without his old friend from Dublin, Brian Downey, or Scott. After Phil’s death, Scott carried on with various reunion line-ups of Thin Lizzy but despite a similarity of recent members he has chosen to name his new band Black Star Riders.

Why so?

“We’d been talking about doing an album for a couple of years. About a year ago I gave it the green light and we started writing. We were still thinking we might do it as a new Lizzy album, but I became more and more uncomfortable about doing it when Phil’s not there. My whole Thin Lizzy life was with him on my right hand shoulder, in the middle of the stage, the guiding light, the energy.

Brian [D] said he was feeling the exact same way. Unbeknownst to us both Ricky and Damon were uncomfortable too. All of us were feeling that way but none of us wanted to be the first guy to say anything. We had one last tour in Australia, the last date was in Brisbane and that was the last Thin Lizzy show. That’s when we started the new band. Brian realized what it would mean to get it all up and running, all the promotion work, the months out on the road. We’d just been on the road for three solid years and he really missed his daughter, and opening his own refrigerator instead of the mini bar at the hotel... He said ‘I love the music, I love you guys, but I want to step

orham Black Star Riders Live

Black Star Riders have arranged four festival dates in 2013: June 1st Max-Aicher-Arena, Chiemgau Inzell, Germany; 2nd Loreley, St. Goarshausen, Germany; 8th Sweden Rock Festival, Solvesborg, Sweden; November 29th Hard Rock Hell, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, North Wales. A UK tour in October is promised, then dates in Europe, the United States and Japan. The American will bring you details when they’re announced.

PHOTO: MATTIA ZOPPELLARO

aside and be at home for a while’. The same thing happened with Darren [Wharton – recent Lizzy keyboard player]. He has a couple of projects he’s not been able to finish so he asked if he could step aside.”

A new name could imply a totally new beginning, but there’s no doubting the lineage of new album, All Hell Breaks Loose (see below). In the best way, it sounds like a classic Lizzy record. “A few people have said that... and I guess they’re right. I’ve had forty years of doing this so I’ll bring a little of that to whatever I do. And Ricky [Warwick] has been in Lizzy for years so that’s crept into his DNA. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.” Ricky does sound extraordinarily like Phil, with a similar timbre to his voice. He’s also from Ireland (albeit Northern Ireland, Newtownards, County Down, to be precise). Is that Celtic connection important to Scott?

“I played on Ricky’s first solo album and he wowed me. Not just his voice – I was blown away by his lyrics too. I never thought I would work with another Phil Lynott kinda guy after Philip died, but here’s this big Irish guy with a huge personality, and he’s writing stories that he can put into this four minute format, and writing melodies that you’re singing right afterwards. He’s one of the most prolific lyricists that I’ve ever worked with. And I’m half Irish myself – my mother’s grandfather moved from Enniskillen to Saginaw, Michigan, to a giant Irish enclave. I’ve always had an affinity with the Irish – if you go to Dublin or Belfast they’re some of the greatest people on the planet. How do you not like the Irish?”

The new album, All Hell Breaks Loose is out on a German label, Nuclear Blast that specializes in heavy metal. Is that the direction Scott sees Black Star Riders going? “No, no, no.

The American

The owner of Nuclear Blast came to one of our shows and asked if we had any concerns about the label’s name or the other groups on it. It doesn’t concern me at all.

I said, ‘Monty, the reason we’re going with you guys is because of – you guys’. They wanted to sign us as soon as they heard the demos. We had two majors and another couple of labels looking at us but Nuclear Blast showed the commitment and wanted to work with us. It was an easy decision to make.” H All Hell Breaks Loose has that classic Lizzy twin-guitar sound, but with a modern edge. Kingdom of the Lost has the Irish rock sound of Emerald, or even Whiskey in the Jar. Maybe it’s Scott’s and Ricky’s backgrounds, perhaps a subliminal tribute to Phil Lynott; it is a powerful song.

The album’s production, by Kevin Shirley, is punchy and live-sounding too, perhaps helped by recording twelve songs in just twelve days.

The first single, Bound for Glory, is out now and the album is released on May 27th.

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THEATER REVIEWS Reviewed by Jarlath O’Connell he question is ‘does it live up to the hype?’ and the answer, most assuredly, is yes. Parker and Stone, the wittily scatological creators of the hit animated sitcom South Park have joined up with Lopez, creator of the equally irreverent, but less funny Avenue Q, to create a show which is indecently funny.

What is great about this tale of two naive young Mormon missionaries sent to a violent and remote village in Uganda, is how it totally embraces the Broadway musical form while at the same time mercilessly sending up its more florid excesses. What takes it beyond smart-ass college review satire, however, is that the piece actually has heart. You won’t get a hatchet job on religion here (and the Church of Latter-Day Saints even advertises in the programme!), but what you do get is a lampooning of the deluded egocentrism of evangelisation. They also parody western stereotypes of Africa and the pomposity of right-on pop stars who drone on about it.

“Is anything missing in your life?” the chirpy Elder Price demands of a Ugandan woman emerging from her crumbling shack. In the end it says religion gets people through the day but that’s no reason why we can’t comically interrogate its more absolutist parables.

Anyone who has seen the South Park movie will know that Parker and Stone really understand how musical theater songs work and the show is packed with tongue in cheek references to everything from The Lion King to The King and I. They may not know or care, but they’re continuing

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something Sondheim did in a section of Follies when he lovingly sent up song styles from the first half of the 20th century. Here the raw material may be much less polished but it’s the same process. We get the overblown power ballad, the bombastic rock opera, the pumped up soul numbers, familiar from recent shows and all executed with that supreme finesse which is typical of Broadway.

The songs may not have the brittle eloquence of Lorenz Hart but it doesn’t mean they’re not intelligent.

Casey Nicholaw’s deceptively lowkey direction is also perfectly judged and he packs the piece with witty surprises. The school-play sets also add to its charm. His choreography is totally winning and in numbers like Turn It Off, where the Mormon boys sing a hymn to self-denial, he generates explosions of showbiz joy which would bring a twinkle to Jerry Herman’s eye. This is a show that knows about transcendence, albeit of the merely theatrical kind.

Looking like a cross between Val Kilmer and a Ken Doll, Gavin Creel is perfect as Elder Price. His number You and Me (But Mostly Me) sums him up and Creel’s stunning voice brings the house down on I Believe.

Book music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone Prince of Wales Theatre, Coventry St, London W1D 6AS www.bookofmormonlondon.com As his unwanted sidekick, Jared Gertner (the other US cast import) combines puppy dog energy and nebbishness in equal measure, as the dumpy and irritating Elder Cunningham. Both undergo journeys of self-discovery (of course) but it’s Cunningham’s propensity for telling yarns that lands them in serious trouble. Bored with the real text, he soups up The Book of Mormon with input from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Alexia Khadime, too, has a killer soul voice and steals every scene she is in as the village girl, love-interest, Nabulungi.

Some older or more conservative audiences might recoil from the more profane aspects but the show is an equal opportunities offender. The new young crowd it will pull in are generally more ambivalent about the antique charms of musical theater, but what they will be getting here is actually something very old fashioned indeed. Now THAT is radical.

The American

Written by Peter Morgan • Gielgud Theatre, 35 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6AR www.theaudienceplay.com

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eter Morgan’s new play The Audience is a supremely crafted entertainment, crowned with a pitch-perfect portrayal of HMQ by Dame Helen Mirren. The run is nearly sold out and the clamor for tickets is such that the plan is to relay it live to cinemas worldwide on June 13th.

The Audience is An Event.

At 6.30 every Tuesday evening for the past 60 years, British prime ministers have trooped off to Buckingham Palace for a one-to-one with the Queen, safe in the knowledge that no minutes are taken and no staff from either side is allowed to be present. As a constitutional monarch, The Queen has no power, but lots of influence: the right to be consulted, the right to advise and the right to warn. After recovering from being initially star-struck, prime ministers soon settle into their rhythm and embrace a rare opportunity to unburden themselves, safe in the knowledge it won’t end up in some memoir. For most PMs, Margaret Thatcher excepted, these were like trips to the shrink.

Morgan knows how to make an audience chuckle, and Mirren delivers his perfectly crafted lines with great aplomb, but the evidence for the portrayals of the PMs is pretty non-existent – the piece lazily panders to received ideas about these figures.

Was John Major (Paul Ritter), a cultured and

intelligent man, really such a ninny?

Was Harold Wilson (Richard McCabe), an Oxford Don and a wily old fox, really so gauche? And can we buy him as such a cuddly bear? Was Gordon Brown (Nathaniel Parker) ever likely to unbutton himself to this extent? Was Anthony Eden (Michael Elwyn), mired in the Suez Crisis that finished him off, really likely to have been twitching like some errant school kid before this young and inexperienced woman? In the end it’s mere posh tittle-tattle.

Mrs Thatcher (Hadyn Gwynne in fine form) probably comes out the best, but only because, when we meet her seven years into her reign, power had transformed her into a caricature of herself already.

Gwynne, with the help of choreographer Arthur Pita, has her insistent gait down to a tee. In this version, she storms in, accusing the Palace of spinning against her and, rather sensibly, The Queen backs down.

Morgan leaves Tony Blair out,

PHOTO: JOHAN PERSSON

TheAudience

presumably because he did him in the movie The Queen, but surely theirs would have been the most interesting relationship. He, after all, saved her skin on the weekend of Diana’s funeral, when the rabble was baying for emotionalism the Windsors couldn’t deliver. The decision to drop Blair might fit neatly with the zeitgeist (we’re supposed to hate him now) but Morgan should have taken the long view.

Director Stephen Daldry beautifully shapes this material, and Morgan’s decisions to break the chronology and have The Queen’s younger self appear to her between scenes are clever choices.

The prime ministers are perfectly etched, with Edward Fox gamely stepping in as Churchill, replacing an ill Robert Hardy, but it is Mirren’s show. She inhabits the role like a glove and beautifully calibrates the maturing woman: from the clipped tones of her youth, to the dry as dust matriarch of today. Mirren barely leaves the stage and the lightning fast costume and wig changes are a tribute to both her energy and the art of the Dresser. Bob Crowley’s designs, too, perfectly convey Buck House in all its gloomy majesty.

This House

Written by James Graham • Olivier Theatre, Southbank, London SE1 9PX www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

eremy Herrin’s production of James Graham’s new play for the National Theatre takes a potentially dry, wordy subject, and through a whirligig of movement creates theatrical magic. Despite this frenetic pace, it loses none of its seriousness. Think of The West Wing, but in polyester suits.

In 1974 the country endured two General Elections in one year.

The second election brought Labour back into power under Jim Callaghan, but with a paper thin majority, and the government staggered through industrial strife and economic chaos until Mrs Thatcher’s new broom descended in 1979.

With a dwindling majority as some of the older and more infirm Labour MPs fell ill or died, the Whips’ Offices [party policy enforcers] came into their own. You might be just out of surgery or clinging to an oxygen tank for each breath, but the Whips made sure they dragged you through those lobbies in case a lost vote triggered a ‘No Confidence’ motion and another General Election.

This is where Scott Ambler’s witty and fluid direction comes into its

40 May 2013

Tory counterpart Humphrey Atkins (gloriously incarnated by Julian Wadham) is a joy. Charles Edwards too provides solid support as the dapper deputy Jack Weatherill. In those days, before New Labour was overrun by bright young things from Oxbridge, the class divisions were much more pronounced.

If you’re familiar with British politics the piece has untold riches but if not, don’t be put off, as this parliament’s greatest exports, horse trading and filibustering, will be familiar to anyone with an interest in house politics. Graham cleverly elucidates how a two party system really is in the DNA of most British politicians, and it explains too why so many still recoil in horror at coalitions.

Old divisions can take a long time to die out however; David (now Lord) Steel’s quip that “Tories ultimately fail because they feel entitled to power; Labour fails because they don’t”, still has a ring of truth.

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own. The government was totally dependent on which side could woo the small parties and independents, or the “the odds and sods” as they were so wonderfully termed.

Rae Smith’s clever design puts the familiar green benches of the House of Commons on stage and fills them with audience members, leaving some room for the cast. In front are the two Whips’ Offices. As governments came and went the two sides exchanged rooms, like football teams swapping sides. The PM or Cabinet Members are unseen, as this is the domain of the foot soldiers doing the dirty work.

A superbly versatile ensemble cast of 16 portray a vast panoply of real life politicians. Phil Daniels (pictured above) shines as the uber-cockney geezer Bob Mellish who wasn’t averse to throwing a punch. His verbal sparring with his

The American

wo great stars, the legendary Judi Dench and the legend-to-be Ben Whishaw, are reason enough to see this undernourished piece about a meeting between the real life models for two much loved characters from children’s literature. A gentle rumination on unwanted childhood celebrity and the tribulations of letting go of one’s youth, at only 82 minutes it is somewhat of an amuse bouche.

Logan, a great talent, is on a high; a Tony for Red, his excellent play about Rothko, and three Oscar nominations under his belt, he’s about to open a new play on Broadway with Bette Midler playing the super agent Sue Mengers. He also found time to write Skyfall, the latest Bond smash, and this re-unites two of its stars.

Taking place in the decaying store room of a book shop, the play imagines the conversation between the then 80 year old Alice LiddellHargreaves, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and the 35 year old Peter LlewelynDavies, the inspiration for J M Barrie’s Peter Pan, on the one occasion in 1932 when they met, at the opening

of an exhibition to mark Carroll’s centenary.

From this, Logan widens the frame and in Christopher Oram’s splendid design the shop falls away to reveal a Pollock’s style toy theater with proscenium arch and brightly painted backdrops, where the real and the imagined characters can coexist. We meet the real Carroll (Rev. Dodgson), played by an underused Nicholas Farrell, Alice’s young husband, and J M Barrie himself as well as Peter’s father and brother. Director Michael Grandage deftly orchestrates all this but without time to develop this cast of characters the focus is dissipated. Certainly with these two leads one wonders whether the piece would have been more effective simply as a two-hander.

Dench brings a wonderful steeliness to the old woman and also an aching poignancy to the inquisitive and precocious 10-year-old Alice, whom she impersonates, recounting how Dodgson first told her the story of Alice, one scorching summer day. Whishaw (right) is also perfectly cast as the troubled

soul who survived the trenches but couldn’t escape his own personal ghost. One of the few moments when the play really catches fire is when Peter Pan accuses Davies of being a drunk and an adulterer and Alice accuses Liddell of over indulging in laudanum and we see the nasty downside of heartless youth.

Logan doesn’t go as far as totally ascribing the troubles they both encountered later in life to their childhood predicaments, and this is admirable, but it leaves the piece falling short as drama. Both youngsters were unwittingly caught up on the

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Written by John Logan Noël Coward Theatre, London www.michaelgrandagecompany.com

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creation of these icons of children’s literature but that in itself isn’t dramatic. Audiences desire to enrich their experience of their beloved characters by latching onto the two sources of their inspiration, while the play says more about a biography obsessed age than anything meaningful about the works themselves.

He also steers clear of any suggestions of impropriety in the relationships that both men had with these children. Dodgson was an introverted dreamer who only really connected with children and had an unsettling fear of grown up women. Barrie became the guardian of Peter and his four brothers after both their parents died tragically of cancer. His platonic love for Peter’s brother, Michael, and indeed his obsession with all the boys, is explored with some delicacy. It was a different time.

For those who hold these two books dear, the piece will be a comforting wallow.

Dame Judi Dench as Alice Liddell PHOTOS: JOHAN PERSSON

Charles Castronovo in Concert C

harles Castronovo is a dashing young tenor (think of a young José Cura) who performs at all the world’s leading opera houses and has developed a neat sideline in revisiting his Italian heritage by singing traditional Neapolitan favorites.

He is not to be missed.

Currently performing in The Magic Flute at Covent Garden, he’s been moonlighting at the intimate King’s Head Theatre where he’s put together a great five-piece band under musical director Tom Penn to perform his debut album Dolce Napoli.

Born in New York, of SicilianEcuadorian parentage, he was raised in LA where he began his opera career. He says of these songs “they’re the first things I heard” and luckily for us, he simply wants to share them. These simple, direct, immortal folk songs were brought over to America and popularised by all the great Italian opera stars and indeed they have now become a rite of passage for all tenors. While a trained opera voice can reveal layers of richness in this music, the danger of course is that it ends up sounding bland or crossover if they’ve no feel for the vernacular. No need to worry here, however, as from the opening bars it’s quite obvious this music is in his blood. His ease with the material is a delight.

When he tried out this show at 54 Below (the cabaret space below the famed Studio 54) in New York,

King’s Head Theatre, Islington, London Final performance 29 April

he said they were wary at first but “then they heard the mandolin and accordion and everyone was happy”.

Here these clean, exquisite arrangements for guitar, mandolin, drums, bass and piano-accordion draw out the magic in these songs, and in Anema ‘e core (you might know it as Heart and Soul), for example, the mandolin provides almost a separate vocal line. This set combines the odd up-tempo happy number such as Comme facette màmmeta (How did your mother make you?) but at its core are heart-wrenching tales of lovesick youths serenading at windows or betrayed lovers bemoaning their fate. What else is there?

As well as a warm voice Castronovo also has an engaging way with an audience, revealing just enough detail to make the song understandable but not too much to bore us. He respects and loves this

© PIA CLODI

The American

THEATER PREVIEWS The Hothouse Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, Westminster, SW1A 2DY www.thehothousewestend.com May 4 to August 3

© DAVID ELOFER

material so he can gently poke fun at its more dramatic extremes such as the song Pecchè? where the lothario grumbles “Carmela, why did I leave my Mamma for you”. You can’t get more Italian than that.

He cleverly blends more familiar songs such as Luna Rossa with lesser-known material including a wonderfully full-blooded Malafemmena about a deceitful woman.

Nothing worse! That song is from 1952 whereas the rest date from 1880-1930. So many of the songs have a strong tango flavour, which makes you realise the musical debt which the Argentine tango owes to Naples and some, like Scetate!, are also clearly infused with Arabic harmonies.

His encore was a heart wrenching Core ‘ngrato, the cherry on the top of the Neapolitan pie, and it left everyone in tears. They’d soon recovered though and on the way out I heard the distinct sound of humming. If you like a good tune, this is an evening to treasure. H Charles Castronovo returns to the Royal Opera House in July for Puccini’s La Rondine. www.roh.org.uk www.charlescastronovo.com www.kingsheadtheatre.org

West End regular Simon Russell Beale (Privates on Parade, Timon of Athens) and John Simm (Elling at the Bush Theatre, and Exile, Life on Mars on TV) play Roote and Gibbs in the Trafalgar Transformed staging of Harold Pinter’s witty yet oppressive tragicomedy set in a mental institution and commenting on the dangers of totalitarian power. Director Jamie Lloyd’s previous Pinter’s include The Caretaker and The Lover & The Collection.

Passion Play Duke of York’s Theatre 104 St Martin’s Lane, London, Greater London WC2N 4BG www.passionplaylondon.com From May 1

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Privates on Parade). Stars Zoë Wanamaker (All My Sons, and an Olivier award winner in Elektra, directed by David Leveaux, who again directs here), with Owen Teale (a Tony award winner for A Doll’s House) as James, Annabel Scholey as Kate, and Samantha Bond (Arcadia at the Duke of York’s, and Lady Rosamund in TV’s Downton Abbey) as Nell.

Life and Times

James has been married to Eleanor for 25 years, but is about to embark on an affair with Kate, recently widowed. Revealing the passions and frustrations of marriage, with the humorous edges you would expect from the pen of Peter Nichols (A Day in the Life of Joe Egg, PH

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Norwich Playhouse, 42-58 St George’s Street, Norwich NR3 1AB www.oktheater.org May 21 to 25 The Nature Theater of Oklahoma (pictured below) present the highly anticipated first UK performance of Life and Times, an episodic answer to the simple question; “Tell me your life story?”, and is an epic celebration of the greatest of stories: normal life.

Each episode of the 10-hour whole can be watched individually, or as a marathon. Fresh from a performance at the Public Theater, New York in February, the UK premiere – including the world premiere of a fifth section – is part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. (www.nnfestival.org. uk/festival)

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Left: Felicity Kendal in Relatively Speaking

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Relatively Speaking Wyndham’s Theatre, London WC2H 0DA www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk May 14 to August 31 Directed by award-winning director Lindsay Posner, Alan Ayckbourn’s breakout comedy hit of misunderstandings returns to the West End for the first time since 1967, starring Felicity Kendal (TV’s Rosemary & Thyme), Jonathan Coy (Much Ado About Nothing), and Kara Tointon (Pygmalion, Absent Friends).

American Season Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath BA1 1ET www.theatreroyal.org.uk To June 15 With Relatively Speaking now in the West End, the Theatre Royal Bath is in the midst of it’s American Season, with two plays yet to come including Obie Award winner for Best New American Play 4000 Miles and Academy Award nominated writer Michael Weller’s Fifty Words.

These Shining Lives Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, London N4 3JP http://parktheatre.co.uk May 8 to June 9 American actress Melli Bond is the Creative Director of the new Park Theatre whose inaugural play, These Shining Lives, is by American playwright Melanie Marnich. More on the Park Theatre next issue.

44 May 2013

Shakespeare’s Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT and on tour (see below) www.shakespearesglobe.com The Globe Theatre has launched its 2013 season with The Tempest starring Roger Allam (Olivier winner as Falstaff in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, as well as appearing in TV’s The Thick of It) as Prospero, with Colin Morgan (Merlin) as Ariel and Jessie Buckley as Miranda. The 2013 ‘Season of Plenty’ includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream starring Olivier award winner Michelle Terry as Titania; Macbeth (the directorial debut of Eve Best, Wallis Simpson in The King’s Speech); Shakespeare’s three plays about Henry VI (which will open in York in June and also tour historic Wars of the Roses battle sites); three new plays – Samuel Adamson’s Gabriel, Jessica Swale‘s Blue Stockings, and The Lightning Child by Ché Walker, two small-scale tours of King Lear and The Taming of the Shrew (the latter with an all-female cast), and ‘Globe to Globe’ shows Venus and Adonis from South Africa, As You Like It from Georgia, King Lear from Belarus, and Footsbarn’s Indian Tempest.

Graham Butler as Henry VI PHOTO BY ELLIE KURTTZ

DAVID HERSEY

The American merrily rolls back the years, chatting with US-born Broadway and West End lighting design legend

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here were periods in the ’80s and ’90s when every big show in London or New York enjoyed David’s inspirational lighting design – Evita, Cats, Oliver, Starlight Express, Les Miserables, Chess, Miss Saigon, Equus – netting him three Tony Awards, and an Olivier. His first encounter with Merrily We Roll Along was not a success, however. Its 1981 debut at the Alvin Theatre, New York was a critical disaster, confusing audiences... actors infamously wore character names on their sweatshirts. I ask him the difference between Merrily in 1981 and the critically lauded production now transferring from the Menier to the Pinter Theatre, London.

“One of the big differences is the casting. In the New York production, they wanted to do a show for the kids, so they cast it with 21 people mostly in their late teens, early twenties – 19 of them were Broadway debuts and I think that was possibly a mistake because they didn’t have the gravitas to carry the mature side of it [Merrily requires actors to play young and older versions of their characters]. Maria [Friedman] has cast it with grown ups who can get younger

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David Hersey yachting in Polynesia

without it being a problem at all.

“Hal had asked the set designer to stage the opening number in a high school gymnasium with pullout bleachers. That was cut for later productions, when the book was worked on, and in fact, Hal had only wanted that image for the first three minutes or however long it was, didn’t ever want to see it again, and Eugene [Lee, Set Designer] had gone off to do a film, so I had to try to cobble something together with projections on a set that wasn’t designed to be projected on. It wasn’t an approach to lighting, it was just a matter of survival.

Guerrilla warfare really!”

I ask how things have changed over his career in terms of lighting.

“In the ‘old days’, if I can use an expression like that, you had a blank canvas, but there were a lot of built in limitations, because you were doing a lot of your plotting in the middle of the night, and waiting several minutes while the electrician wrote down painstakingly the settings of all the dimmers. It was a long, slow process, and then when you came back to doing the show you’d argue whether you had done the cues correctly, because human error was

possible. Nowadays you’re plotting in milliseconds, just push a button and it’s there. You can light on top of rehearsal in a way you could never do – you used to have two ASMs trying to impersonate 50 people.”

Does he get to enjoy his shows without always having a critical eye?

“When we get an opening night, I actually sit back and try to forget about everything else and enjoy the production. Sometimes you go back and see something months later and things that are wrong are things that were wrong when you left it last time and you think ‘Why did I do that?’, and rush in and try to change it.”

In his spare time, David enjoys time on his yacht. “When you spend your life locked up in a dark theater on your own, getting out on a yacht is pretty good. I’ve probably done ten or eleven [Atlantic] crossings and probably another this autumn. I’ve been to Antarctica, landed at Cape Horn, and up the Chilean canals which are just astonishing...” [a wry pause] ...”Its all research for lighting, because the light is extraordinary.”

Is there anything he’d still like to be offered? “I feel pretty complete to be honest. There’s always the idea that there’s one more musical, but it would have to be the right show.”

When somebody came to him and said ‘We’re doing Merrily, and it’s at the Menier’ (180 seats) did he think ‘Thats quite small’?

“Yeah, but I didn’t mind, I’ve done things at the King’s Head. There’s quite a discipline to getting in there and working with a limited resource.

Actually it’s quite healthy.”

After rave reviews, Maria Friedman’s production of Merrily We Roll Along has just transferred to the West End’s much larger Pinter Theatre.

“Maria’s done a wonderful job,” says David, “Maybe because she’s a performer herself, she’s got things out of the other actors which I don’t think anybody else would have done. And it’s very well cast and that makes a huge difference.” H Show site: www.merrilywestend.com A longer version of this interview can be found at www.theamerican.co.uk

Damian Humbley, Mark Umbers and Jenna Russell in the Menier production of Merrily We Roll Along, now transferring to the Pinter Theatre ©TRISTRAM KENTON

May 2013 45

© TOUCHSTONE PICTURES

The American

Robert Sean Leonard

Left: Robert as Wilson in House; and above as Neil Perry in Dead Poet’s Society, just before his last performance in the UK

– back in the UK for the first time in 22 years

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obert Sean Leonard is...

Wilson from House to millions, Neil Perry from Dead Poets Society to many, a great stage actor to New York’s theater-goers – and a guilt-filled Dad to his four-year old daughter, who he’s just dropped unwillingly off at school. To London audiences he’s soon to become Atticus Finch in a new production of To Kill a Mockingbird in the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

Back in Los Angeles he has been collecting clothes in preparation for his new role. “I don’t want to be all Daniel Day-Lewis about it, but I just can’t walk into that rehearsal room wearing a J Crew T-shirt and

46 May 2013

say to the little girl who’s going to play Scout, ‘Hi, I’m your father...’. So I went down to Fox and got some suits from the Thirties. I don’t always do it, but if you’re doing a Shaw play for example, it helps to not be in Reeboks. You walk differently...

It’s about avoiding the shock of rehearsing something for three weeks then trying on your costume and finding out, oh dear, you can’t bend over!” he laughs.

“In this case, with To Kill a Mockingbird, I couldn’t be more terrified.

There are many ghosts I wouldn’t mind wrestling in front of 1200 people, but Gregory Peck’s is not one of them. I have every confidence in

© 2007 FOX BROADCASTING CO. CR: ART STREIBER/FOX

The American Interview:

the world in Tim [Timothy Sheader, Artistic Director of the new production], and I’m excited to try and mount this. My sister and my friends say I’m a great choice for it... but God, I wish I felt that way. I’m going to do the best I can. I think there are qualities I have that are right for this guy, but I just look at the picture of Eleanor Worthington-Cox [one of the girls who will share the role of Scout, and the youngest recipient of an Olivier Award for Matilda The Musical] and think, I can’t meet that girl wearing jeans! The presence this man has in the book is so powerful. I said to Tim, ‘I have no interest in exploring the dark underbelly of Atticus Finch’. Peck got it right.

What you see is what you get, he’s what Harper Lee describes. A man, at that time, raising two kids alone wouldn’t show the cracks, even if there were any... And that’s a longwinded way of explaining why I’ve been at Fox raiding their wardrobe.”

So Robert doesn’t feel the need – as many modern actors and directors do – to deconstruct an iconic character, turn stones and find the darkness in the soul? “No, and there’s something else. The story is a bit of a trick. You’re seeing Atticus through the eyes of an eight

The American

year old girl, in one sense, even though she’s writing the book as an older woman. I don’t think she’s saying, ‘When I was eight I thought my father was a shining example of truth and principles, but now I realize he was nipping gin in the back room and having an affair with Calpurnia!’ That’s not what this book is about. It’s about the best you can do in this world. The town looks to him to fight the battle.”

Sometimes it’s OK to have a hero? “Yes – there’s a reason Luke Skywalker wears white and Darth Vader black. It’s storytelling. Atticus is conflicted and worries about his worthiness to raise children, and he hears his sister’s complaints about his parenting. He has doubts about some things, but not about the big ones – not about Tom Robinson.”

It’s been 22 years since Robert’s last appearance on the London stage, in another American classic play, Our Town. A simple question: why, and why now?

“Why is always a tricky question. The answer’s almost always, because they asked! I had done theater since I was fourteen in New York, then Dead Poets Society came up when I was nineteen and I became internationally known on some level – a pretty low one, but a level. Kevin Wallace, who was producing Our Town in the West End with Jemma Redgrave, thought I’d be right for it. It was one of the first slam-down offers I had without meeting anyone or auditioning. It’s so familiar in America, but it hadn’t been done in England since the Forties. I thought, what an experience.

I see a lot of similarities between it and Mockingbird. One is set in the North-East, the other very much in the South, but they’re both, rightly, warm American classics.

“There are many ghosts I wouldn’t mind wrestling in front of 1200 people, but Gregory Peck’s is not one of them” “And why now? I’d been doing a lot of theater and a few years ago my wife and I knew we were going to have kids soon, so I decided to do a TV show because we had no money. I got very lucky in walking slam-bang into Hugh Laurie and having eight years of financial success with House. But then I told my agent I didn’t want to get up at 3.30 in the morning and drive through Malibu Canyon to sit in the make up room at 5.30. I wanted to do some plays. I did Pygmalion at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.” He pauses. “Actually I don’t know how this came up! I’ve only had one conversation with Tim – I must ask him.

I tried hard to get into his production of Into The Woods in New York last year but I didn’t get that... So, why? Why not! I’m terrified, that’s another good reason.

“It’s an interesting book, people feel strongly about it and take it very personally. I so enjoyed revisiting it when this came up: the gentle presence of Boo Radley, the phantasm that floats over the book and runs on this parallel track of free judgements... ‘nigger-lover’, ‘trash’, all these words that float through the book. And it all comes back to this little girl wondering about this phantom in a house she never sees. It’s about how we treat each other. He gives her a soap carving of herself, and sticks

of gum, and he puts a blanket over her as she watches a neighbor’s house burn down, so gently she doesn’t feel it, and eventually saves her life – probably. As Atticus says at the end, ‘Thank you for my children’.

My God, of all the residents in that town to say that to. It’s so beautiful, so moving, it resonates on so many levels, that’s reason enough to try to create a theatrical experience from it. I’m looking forward to even failing – and certainly to trying.” H

You can discover more of our interview with Robert online, as we discuss his time on House: www.theamerican.co.uk

Below: The Regents Park Open Air Theatre, site of the new production of To Kill a Mockingbird, running from May 16 to June 15. For more details, visit http://openairtheatre.com

PHOTO: DAVID JENSEN

May 2013 47

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BOOK REVIEWS Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966-2012 Collected and Expanded by Carol J Loomis Portfolio Penguin, Hardcover, 368 pages, £20 ISBN 978-0670922369 Carol Loomis is recognized as one of the business world’s foremost journalists, working at Fortune magazine since 1954 and still its EditorAt-Large. As such she has kept a watching and writing brief on Warren Buffett, probably the world’s greatest investor, for five decades. She is the writer with the closest relationship with him and for 35 years has edited Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders of his Berkshire-Hathaway group. This collection of articles first published in Fortune, some written by Loomis, some by Fortune’s top-notch contributors and several

by Buffett himself, could have been a hagiography explaining why the great man is so, well, great. Instead its clever selection, chronological layout, and thoughtful new introductions to longer pieces make it a thought-provoking look back at how America and the business world has progressed through times of wars cold and hot, peace, technological revolution and political change. What is most important about Buffett is not who he is, but what he does and why he does it. For that reason this view of his life is more interesting than many other Buffett biographies. Bill Gates, who knows Buffett well, commented “I wrote in 1996 that I’d never met anyone who thought about business in such a clear way. That is certainly still the case.” This book gives insights as to why it is true.

– Michael Burland

48 May April2013 2013

Masterpieces of American Modernism from the Vilcek Collection

Soul Music – The Pulse of Race and Music

By Lewis Kachur and William C Agee Merrell Publishers, Hardback, 284 pages, £50 ISBN 978-1-8589-4595-8

By Candace Allen Gibson Square, Hardcover, 192 pages, £11.99 ISBN 978-1908096210

A luxuriantly spacious journey through one of America’s most important private collections under the guidance of art historian Lewis Kachur, this book is both a 284-page gallery of note and a satisfying snapshot of American art’s diverse approaches to capturing a fast-shifting society of progress, consumerism, and the continental contrast of urban terrain, natural landscapes and native American influences.

It includes rarely seen works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Andrew Dasburg and Manierre Dawson, significant collections of the paintings of Oscar Bluemner, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, Max Weber, the totem-like carvings of José de Creeft, singular revelations from Morton Livingstone Schamberg, Alexander Archipenko, and Howard N Cook, and a preoccupation with Stuart Davis. An introduction by William C Agee, a 10-page Modernism timeline, and an appendix of artist biographies provide welcome context. While readers may have only passing familiarity with some of these artists, each turn of the page confirms that scientist Ján Vilček and his art historian wife Marica certainly have an eye for the good stuff. – Richard L Gale

“I am neither musician nor musicologist. I am a reasonably educated wanderer of mongrel roots, and magpie tendencies...” yet music has always provided a backdrop to the work of Allen – novelist, film-maker, activist and cultural commentator. Here she uses music to explore the causes of, and possible exits from, cultural imperialism. Her parents were successful middle class ‘Negroes’, her father a friend of Miles Davis. The only black girl in her high school class, she clearly found identity through ’60s soul. Later she married conductor Simon Rattle. Her ‘magpie tendencies’ do not preclude certain prejudices: “The Beatles could barely carry a tune [...] their most sophisticated movements [...] involved flipping their hair from side to side.” She believes the Fab Four were a threat to the black musical culture, ignoring their debt to black soul and R&B. She explores ‘experimental orchestras’ around the globe, like Gustavo Dudamel’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, which aim to show that music exists without borders. Should classical music be taught to all, to eliminate cultural distinctions? Allen provides no firm answer, but her book raises interesting questions. – MB

The American

The Beatles – On The Road 1964-1966

By Harry Benson Taschen ISBN 978-3836533225 Photographer Harry Benson worked his way up from local news stories in Scottish villages to a good job in Fleet Street, London’s newspaper heartland. A self-confessed ‘mean son of a bitch’ who wanted to ‘kill’ his rivals by getting a better picture, he was a serious news guy with no particular interest in showbiz. On January 14, 1964 Benson was unwillingly called off a news assignment in Africa by his Daily Express editor to go to Paris with The Beatles. It was the beginning of a period in which Benson traveled and lived with the band as he documented the worldwide sperad of Beatlemania, including their first visit to the United States.

Benson’s intimate black and white photographs, many previously unpublished, show the Fab Four behind the scenes and on stage, writing hit songs, meeting fans and relaxing as their world changes around them. Previously available in two limited art editions at £2,250, and a limited, signed

(by the author) hardcover at £650, it is now on general release in a 272 page slightly smaller hardcover format, at £44.99.

Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll

By Alfred Wertheimer Taschen, Hardcover in clamshell box, 418 pages: Two Art Editions with signed print in portfolio, limited to 125 copies, £1,000; Limited edition of 1,706 copies, £450.

ISBN 978-3836534284 In a similar vein to the Beatles book, RCA hired photographer Alfred Wertheimer to shoot “a newly signed singer by the name of Elvis Presley. I remarked, ‘Elvis who?’”

There are many previously unpublished shots of Elvis at work and play. The cringe-making appearance when he was persuaded to sing Hound Dog to a dog wearing a hat on The Steve Allen Show is here, as are candid images with girlfriends. His performing personality is spectacularly portrayed – wiggling his hips and curling his lip for the girls, sneering and guitar-slamming for the boys - but the images that stick are the fly-on-the-wall moments in which the young man, a solo performer don’t forget, seems so very alone. – MB © HARRY BENSON

Free to read – in print or on screen Every issue of the magazine now available online...

IN PRINT: Pick a copy up from

(among other places): H The US Embassy in London and US Consulates H The United/Continental and Virgin clubhouses at Heathrow H Hotels around the UK H The American Museum in Britain (near Bath) H Automat American Brasserie, Dover Street, Mayfair, London H Sports Bar & Grill Marylebone and Victoria H All the organizations listed in the back of the magazine, and USAFE bases H Get a copy delivered to your home or workplace. The only thing we’ll ask you to pay for is the post and packing – call us on +44 (0)1747 830520.

ON SCREEN:

Read The American on your mobile device or computer at www. theamerican.co.uk – Click on the front cover image for the current issue, or on the MAGAZINE tab where you can read back issues too.

May 2013 49

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DRIVE TIME

Detroit Electric SP:01

Eco-friendly needn’t mean slow.

From its HQ in the Fisher Building, downtown Detroit, Detroit Electric has unleashed the SP:01, which should show rivals a clean pair of heels. The car’s strong but lightweight carbon-fiber body is powered by a 201 bhp electric motor offering 155 mph and 0-62 mph in just 3.7 seconds. But can it get where you want to go – and home again? The range from a single charge exceeds 180 miles, they say. Production starts in August and only 999 will be built at Detroit Electric’s new production facility in Wayne County, Michigan.

Prices start at $135,000. Detroit Electric began life in 1906 and was making 13,000 electric vehicles a year by 1939.

No-Compromise Stingray Convertible With 450 horsepower and 450 lb.ft. of torque the 2014 Stingray drop-top is the most powerful standard Corvette in history.

Direct injection and continuously variable valve timing should increase efficiency. The coupe and convertible were designed simultaneously so the open-top should have no compromises in performance. The only structural changes are space for the folding top (which can be be opened or closed on the go) and repositioned safety belt mounts, so both models have almost identical power-to-weight ratios.

50 May 2013

F-TYPE Bags World Car Design of the Year

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he new Jaguar F-TYPE has been awarded the prestigious World Car Design of the Year for 2013 at the New York International Auto Show. After collecting the award Adrian Hallmark, the company’s Global Brand Director, said, “The F-TYPE is the first full-blooded Jaguar sports car to be launched for more than 50 years. Its architecture and technology are world class, wrapped in an evocative and progressive design that could only be a Jaguar – ‘Callum unfiltered’, as we call it in-house,” referring to Ian Callum, Jaguar’s Director of Design. 43 cars were considered for the award. The F-TYPE is a ‘proper’ Jaguar sports car, a front-engined, rear-wheel drive convertible, strictly a two-seater, that looks certain to deliver great driving dynamics and performance from two versions of a 3 liter V6 petrol engine and a 5 liter, 495 horsepower V8, all supercharged.

UK prices start at £58,500.

Wonder Woman Kia Aids Heroes Fundraiser

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ports cars not your thing? How about this special Sportage. Just the thing for Penny (or Raj?) from The Big Bang Theory. Kia Motors America (KMA) have got together with DC Entertainment and Super Street magazine to build it, “inspired by Wonder Woman’s power, inspiration and sense of equality”. Unveiled at the 2013 New York International Auto

Show, it’s part of an ongoing project to build eight cars based on the Justice League – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg (the last will be an amalgamation of all seven super heroes). They aim to “serve as a force for good in the world by raising awareness for DC Entertainment’s ‘We Can Be Heroes’ giving campaign, which helps people affected by the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa.

The American

Eagle Eyed Tiger could have added to his legacy, but dropped the ball argues Darren Kilfara as he reacts to unruly rules at the US Masters

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hen you play golf, do you play by the rules?

Exhibit A: Several years ago, while addressing my ball in the first fairway of a medal competition, I accidentally nudged it very slightly – no more than an inch, and not into a better lie. My playing partner could not have seen what I’d done; nevertheless, I immediately notified him that I’d moved my ball and called a one-shot penalty on myself (under Rule 18-2b).

Exhibit B: Several weeks ago, during the second hole of another competition, I discovered that my five-year-old son’s 9-iron and putter were in my golf bag. As I possessed 16 clubs, I should have incurred a four-shot penalty (under Rule 4-4a). However, insofar as I would never use such tiny clubs, this time I decided not to ruin my round over a technicality; I kept my mistake to myself.

In the first situation, was I too harsh on myself? In the second, did I blatantly cheat? Would your answers be different if I were playing not in a medal at my home club, but in a major at Augusta National?

I could write a doctoral thesis on Tiger Woods’ nowinfamous ball drop during the PHOTO: TOM FOCUS

second round at the 2013 Masters, a thoroughly disorienting tournament even before the golfing blogosphere detonated on Saturday morning. The greens almost looked slow – I’ve never seen so many Masters putts left short of the hole. An entire day passed in which only a handful of golfers tried to reach the 13th or 15th greens in two. A 14-year-old (really?!?) was assessed a penalty stroke for slow play (what?!?) but still made the cut (how!?!). And then Tiger hit a brilliant wedge shot which could have netted an eagle, deserved a birdie, led to a bogey which became a triple-bogey, and probably should have resulted in his disqualification.

Here’s the thing: the Rules of

Golf are supposed to be sacred texts applied with Levitical rigor.

The PGA Tour’s threat of schism with the USGA and the R&A over the proposed ban on “anchoring” putters matters precisely because everyone is supposed to play golf by the same rules. But even disregarding intentional cheaters, we don’t all play by the same rules. I routinely see golfers in medal competitions accidentally tee up inches ahead of the tee markers, fail to declare second balls as “provisional”, and yes, mess up their drops after hitting into water hazards. I could point out these errors more often than I do, but who wants to become a social leper over a few inches or forgotten words? So I keep quiet and let the rules be bent or broken; occasionally, I even play God and take the law into my own hands.

At first, I was outraged by the Tiger Drop. Ignorance of the rules is not bliss: professionals are held to the highest standards, and many before Tiger have been expelled from events for lesser offenses.

I don’t for a moment think Tiger was trying to gain an unfair advantage by his actions – but by his own admission, he thinks he did gain one. And golf isn’t soccer: golfers don’t try to con the referee to win corner kicks and penalties. Tiger isn’t just supposed to know the rules, but

May 2013 51

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also follow them to the letter.

But most of us – including the Masters rules committee, apparently – draw our own lines between “strict rules of golf” and “common sense should prevail”.

Is that right? I’m not sure. I do think most of us, myself included, should try to draw those lines closer to the letter of the law than we currently do; the rules are as they are for a reason, and ignoring them because we think we know best – even if one can reasonably argue that the punishment of disqualification is always disproportionate to the crime of procedural inaccuracy – violates the spirit of the law as much as the letter. Still, my outrage yielded to guilt when I realized my own hypocrisy; can I really hate the Tiger Drop verdict when I fall short of rules perfection myself?

I do know that Tiger whiffed on a glorious chance to burnish his legacy by withdrawing from the tournament voluntarily and testifying that no golfer is bigger than the rules of the game. If Jack Nicklaus had been in Tiger’s shoes, I’m certain he would have withdrawn. Because Tiger Woods is not Jack Nicklaus, I’m really glad that Adam Scott and Angel Cabrera both birdied the 18th in regulation on Sunday instead of bogeying it, to make Tiger’s final deficit more than two shots. But perhaps that says more about me than it says about Tiger. H Darren Kilfara formerly worked for Golf Digest magazine and is the author of A Golfer’s Education, a memoir of his junior year abroad as a student-golfer at the University of St. Andrews.

52 May 2013

NHL PLAYOFFS:

Chris Letang’s Penguins are definitely in, but Claude Giroux and the Flyers are still the wrong side of .500 IMAGE COURTESY OF THE PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

ANYTHING BUT A SURE THING

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he NHL’s red-letter day, April 30 is fast-approaching, offering the annual hope to sixteen teams currently seeded within the playoff bubble, and leaving the remaining fourteen clubs with another season of what-ifs and could-have-beens.

In the Eastern Conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins sit atop the standings with 62 points at press time, many of which were amassed during the team’s incredible fifteengame win streak, which carried the club through March and made them the league’s second playoff guarantee. Despite losing team captain Sidney Crosby to a broken jaw in early April, an injury that will side-line the superstar until the start of the playoffs, the Penguins have managed eight wins in their last ten games, and thanks to their pickup of veteran power forward Jarome Iginla at the trade deadline, the team looks set to make a long run at the Cup.

By Jeremy Lanaway

After finishing dead last in the East in 2011-2012, the Montreal Canadiens have managed to turn things around, becoming another team to grab a playoff berth. The turnaround was achieved in large part by the club’s reinstatement – after a tenyear absence – of bench-boss Michel Therrien. ‘It’s a good accomplishment, but that’s only a first step,’ said Therrien of the playoffs after defeating the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-1 romp.

‘That’s the way we see it. And this is the way those guys see it too.’

The Sabres, who look destined to miss the postseason for a second straight year, aren’t the only disappointments in the East. The New Jersey Devils are also looking skyward at the playoff bar with a meagre 40 points at press time, three more than the floundering Philadelphia Flyers, whose long playoff marches in recent seasons have suddenly become

The American

things of the past. Not even the Flyers’ superstars, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek, who are maintaining a point-per-game output, will be able to turn things around for the Flyers.

The Western Conference is topped by the high-flying Chicago Blackhawks, who look fated for another long playoff run. Thanks to a history-setting start to the season, which saw the team earn points in its first 24 games (21-3), a run that is second only to the 35-game unbeaten streak achieved by the 1979-80 Flyers, the Blackhawks have scored a whopping 129 goals and allowed only 83 – the Conference best in both categories – giving them an incredible +46 goal differential.

Winger Patrick Kane leads the Blackhawks in goals and assists, flying high on the points ladder, and Blackhawks goaltenders Corey Crawford and Ray Emery are at positions 12 and 13 in the wins category at press time, with 15 apiece, a remarkable feat that could earn them the Jennings Trophy for the league’s best goaltending tandem.

Number two in the West has come as a surprise to many hockey insiders who didn’t recognise the Anaheim Ducks’ potential to be contenders, at least not for another few seasons, but that is exactly what the team’s 59 points has made them.

Centreman Ryan Getzlaf has rediscovered his game, earning eighth spot in the NHL scoring race, and like the Blackhawks, the Ducks have split their victories between two goalies, Jonas Hiller and Viktor Fasth, who have 13 and 14 wins respectively.

The Western Conference’s top-five is rounded out by the Vancouver Canucks, the defending Stanley Cup champions Los Angeles Kings, and the San Jose Sharks. The Canucks faltered mid-season, barely maintain-

ing a .500 win percentage, but they isn’t usually associated with the have since found their game, giving franchise. The Oilers, having had the themselves a six-point cushion on top pick for the past four seasons, are their closest rival in the Northwest loaded with offence, but their subpar Division, the Minnesota Wild, who goaltending and spotty defensive are likely to return to the playoffs for corps have earned the team a the first time in several years. meagre 39 points, leaving them on The Kings will need to continue the outside looking in – yet again – fighting off the dreaded Cup hangoproving that the best roster on paper ver to give themselves a shot at doesn’t always translate into the best making it out of the first round, a feat team on the ice. But that’s the thing that’s always difficult for a team that with hockey – with any professional went all the way the season before, sport: there are too many intangibles and the Sharks will need to shed the to make anything a sure thing. Last heavy cross that they bear of excelseason’s rope-a-dope by the Kings – ling in the regular season only to flop finishing eighth in the West and then in the playoffs if they are to have any knocking off the President’s Trophychance of returning to the Conferwinning Canucks in five games – is ence Finals as they did in 2011. only one example of the unexpected It could be argued that the only beating out the expected. And that’s real surprises in the West – in terms why the NHL playoffs are such an of failing to meet expectations – exciting time for the sport. Anything are the Detroit Red Wings and the can happen – and always does. H Edmonton Oilers. After closing the chapter on the Nicklas Lidström era last summer, the Red Wings have struggled with inconsistency, a word that Win a baseball and T-shirt signed by former Yankee Chris Dickerson, now part of the Baltimore Orioles organization, and

Win signed MLB Ball and T-shirt

former Marlin and Oriole Rick VandenHurk, courtesy of ESPN and The American.

To enter our competition to win one, simply answer the question on the right and then email your answer, contact details (name, address, and daytime phone number) to theamerican@blueedge.co.uk with ORIOLES QUESTION: COMPETITION in the subject line; or send a postcard Which of these to: ORIOLES COMPETITION, The American, names is not a previous Old Byre House, Millbrook Lane, East Knoyle, incarnation of the Salisbury SP3 6AW, UK; to arrive by mid-day Baltimore Orioles?

June 1. You must be 18 years old or over to a) Milwaukee Brewers enter this competition. Only one entry b) Cleveland Browns per person per draw. The editor’s c) St Louis Browns decision is final. No cash alternative.

May 2013 53

The American

Richard L Gale finds change, but nothing seismic so far in NFL free agency

I

n politics, they have “bellwether” states, wards and constituencies: the ones that give the early indication of which way the wind is blowing, whether the balance of power is shifting long before the results are in. It’s what allows you, me and everybody except Karl Rove the opportunity to call it early and head to bed.

Sometimes it happens in sports too. In 1997, Denver stormed free agency, adding former KC linebacker Neil Smith, amongst others, catapulting them to back-to-back Super Bowl championships. Last year, the Broncos used the signing

I MA

GE

of Peyton Manning as a catalyst for another step forward, from 8-8 in 2011 to 13-3 in 2012. This offseason’s splash for the Broncos was signing Wes Welker from the New England Patriots, both adding a seasoned 100-catch/year target and taking away Tom Brady’s favorite receiver.

It was a big move, perhaps one of those momentum-shifters that has sportwriters and free agents charging to be aboard the Broncos Super Bowl bandwagon. Deflatingly, the Broncos were quickly victims of a deadline gaff, as key linebacker Elvis Dumervil’s agent failed to fax over (what’s a fax, Grandad?) a new contract agreement. For the difference of a few minutes, Dumervil ended up on the open market.

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SEAT TLE SEAHAWKS

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Kevin Kolb (left) may have a starting shot in Buffalo, BI albiet briefly, while LL Michael Bennett (below) and Cliff Avril are added to the Seattle’s pass-rushing rotation

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54 May 2013

Conversely, last year’s Super Bowl champs Baltimore were leaking defensive players every whichway in free agency. While they resigned passer Joe Flacco, DBs Ed Reed and Cary Williams became a Texan and Eagle respectively and from the linebacking corps, Paul Kruger made a divisional jump to Cleveland, Dannell Ellerbe to Miami, Ray Lewis retired, and Brandon Ayanbadejo was surprisingly cut (prompting discussion about whether this was connected with his support for the LGBT community). The opportune snatching of Dumervil away from Denver was a welcome halt to oneway traffic that called any championship repeat into question. It will be interesting to see whether LB Rolando McClain, a bust in Oakland, emerges as a first-round talent in the grisly environs of Baltimore. The linebacking market remained open and well-stocked at press time, and the destinations of veterans Karlos Dansby, Dwight Freeney, Brian Urlacher (shocking cut by the Bears), Shaun Phillips, and ex-Steeler James Harrison (reportedly connected to the rival Cincinnati Bengals at press time), will do much to shape a draft notable for its linebackers.

For the most part, free agency is a hit-and-miss mating ritual.

Teams try to look desirable instead of like giddy chameleons pursuing new schemes with one eye on the salary cap and another on the draft.

The Dolphins were pleased to land Ellerbe, field-stretching wideout

The American

Harlem Globetrotters

The little receiver with big numbers Wes Welker had 672 catches in 6 seasons as a Patriot. Now he swaps Tom Brady for Peyton Manning

Mike Wallace from Pittsburgh, and took solace in losing CB Sean Smith (to KC) by signing Brent Grimes from Atlanta (who in turn signed RB Steven Jackson from St Louis). But the merrygo-round went full circle as Fins left tackle Jake Long became a Ram. All part of the plan? If Long can show some durability, he may prove to be the closest thing to a differencemaker from the first wave of free agency, and the Rams an unlikely rival to the 49ers and Seahawks in the NFC West.

Quarterback Moves

However, there’s been no Peyton Manning-sized move. The headline quarterback changes included: Kevin Kolb succeeding cost-cut Ryan Fitzpatrick (now a Titan) as possible next starter in Buffalo; Carson Palmer leaving the Oakland Raiders to become a Cardinal; and Ex-49er Alex Smith being traded to Kansas City, who ceded Matt Cassel to the Vikings and Brady Quinn to the Seahawks ...and so on. We’ll spare you the latest of Caleb Hanie, but let’s just say it wasn’t a quarterback carousel to rock the world.

If there’s a game-changer amongst those, its likely Smith, who should fit the Chiefs well – the Chiefs’ roster was a lot better than their 2-14 record, and Smith’s acquisition leaves their top-of-the-draft options wide open.

Still, identifying a ‘team of destiny’ hasn’t been easy. Perennial

(Live in London, reviewed April 6)

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favorite veteran destination New England, which reportedly offered Welker more money to stay than Denver offered has been shuffling the deck on their receiving corps, cutting Brandon Lloyd and leaving Deion Branch and Donté Stallworth on the open market while adding Danny Amendola, Michael Jenkins and Donald Jones. The Steelers matched their offer on restricted free agent Emmanual Sanders. Shifting tides, but not a sea-change.

With the addition of DEs Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett, and corner Antoine Winfield, Seattle may have made the biggest splash. A very good team got even better.

But maybe this is the offseason of the non-move. Top FA tackles Ryan Clady (Broncos), Sebastian Vollmer (Patriots) Branden Albert (Chiefs), Will Beatty (Giants), Sam Baker (Falcons) all re-signed with their teams.

Eschewing most of free agency has been Jacksonville, declaring an intention to build afresh through the draft. If they can bear Blaine Gabbert for one more season, and avoid overpaying for either big-name free agents or one of this year’s ho-hum crop of rookie quarterbacks, the long game may pay dividends ...albeit by the next presidential election. H

he Globetrotters might include new tricks, new jokes and innovations like the ‘new rule for each quarter’ voted for by the local audience, but the package still consists of corny humor and spectacular basketball prowess in about equal measure. The audience participation rose to new heights – the ‘pretty lady’ whose purse the guys stole, the guys dragged onto court for magic tricks, and especially the little kid who had to shoot for a basket – and (after a few near misses) got it, to massive cheers. As a veteran of seeing the great Meadowlark Lemon I can verify that the Globetrotters can still do it. The kids getting autographs after the show – the team all signed for an hour – would agree, and my 14-year-old was still on a high as we drove home. A high-five to Flight Time, Ant, Cheese, Stretch and the rest of the team.

– Michael Burland

The American

Coffee Break QUIZ May start easy, but...

1 Which superhero lives (or

lived) with his Aunt May?

2 Shakespeare’s Sonnet

18 includes the line ‘Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May’.

But what is that sonnet’s famous opening line?

3 Which of these is a world

renowned guitarist?

A) James May B) Brian May C) Theresa May

4 The Mayday distress call

was invented in 1923 at

One of the lighthouses to be found on the Isle of May. But at the head of which British estuary is it to be found? © JEREMY ATHERTON 2000

Croydon Airfield by Frederick Mockford.

In which 1935 Agatha Christie novel is a murder discovered upon arrival there?

5 At the head of which

British estuary would you find the Isle of May?

6 Maggie May was Rod

Stewart’s first US No.1.

What was his second?

A) Tonight’s The Night B) Sailing C) Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?

7 By which names is a

‘billy witch’ or Melolontha melolontha known?

2

6 2 4 1

5

3

8

6 1 8

7 2 5 3 4 1

9 7 8

5

1

6 7 8 4 56 May 2013

It happened 100 years ago...

8 May 3: The Alien Land Act was

passed by the California State Senate, specifically targeting whom to prevent them from owning land in California?

9 May 26: Born this day, an English actor

who would play Baron Frankenstein, and much later Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars. What was his name?

10 May 30: The First Balkan War formally

ended with the signing of the Treaty of London between the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro) and which Empire?

It happened 50 years ago...

11 May 6: ‘The most dangerous man in

America’ was dismissed from his post at Harvard University. Name him.

12 May 12: Bob Dylan was due to appear

on The Ed Sullivan Show, but network censors wouldn’t clear him to sing which song?

13 May 18: Ernie Davis, 1961 Heisman

Trophy winner, died of leukemia.

Which NFL team did he play for?

2 3

Answers to Coffee Break Quiz & Sudoku on page 65

The American

American ORGANIZATIONS

www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/support_us/ american_friends.aspx

An index of useful resources in the UK

ESSENTIAL CONTACTS Here are some crucial telephone numbers to know while you are in the UK. EMERGENCIES Fire, Police, Ambulance

999 or 112 (NOT 911)

TRANSPORTATION London Underground 020 7222 1234 www.tfl.gov.uk National Rail Enquiries 08457 4849 50

www.nationalrail.co.uk National Bus Service 0990 808080 www.nationalexpress.com TELEPHONES Direct Dial Code, US & Canada Operator Assistance, UK Operator Assistance, Int. International Directory Assistance Telephone Repair

American Friends of the Donmar Inc. Stephanie Dittmer, Deputy Director of Development 020 7845 5810 sdittmer@donmarwarehouse.com www.donmarwarehouse.com/p46.html

American Citizens Abroad (ACA) The Voice of Americans Overseas, 5 Rue Liotard, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland +41.22.340.02.33 info.aca@gmail.com www.americansabroad.org

American Friends of the Jewish Museum London Stephen Goldman Tel. 020 7284 7363 stephen.goldman@jewishmuseum.org.uk www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/american-friends

American Friends of Chickenshed Theatre U.S. Office: c/o Chapel & York PMB293, 601 Penn Ave NW, Suite 900 S Bldg, Washington, DC 20004 UK Office: Chickenshed, Chase Side, Southgate, London N14 4PE 0208 351 6161 ext 240 AdamG@Chickenshed.org.uk www.chickenshed.org.uk/659/individual/ american-friends.html

For more details go to

www.theamerican.co.uk and click on Life In The UK

American Church in London Senior Pastor: Rev. John D’Elia.

Music Director: Anthony Baldwin.

Sunday School 9.45am Sunday Worship 11am, child care provided.

79a Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4TD (Goodge St. tube station) Tel: 020 7580 2791/07771 642875 churchsecretary@amchurch.co.uk www.amchurch.co.uk

American Institute of Architects Benjamin Franklin House, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX. Tel: 0203 318 5722 chapterexecutive@aiauk.org www.aiauk.org

American Friends of the Lyric Theatre Ireland Crannóg House, 44 Stranmillis Embankment, Belfast, BT9 5FL, Northern Ireland Angela McCloskey info@americanfriendsofthelyric.com www.americanfriendsofthelyric.com/

American Friends of the Almeida Theatre, Inc. Kenneth David Burrows, 950 Third Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, USA or Lizzie Stallybrass, Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, London N1 1TA, UK www.almeida.co.uk/supportus/individual-support/ american-friends

MEDICAL ADVICE LINE NHS Direct delivers 24-hour telephone and e-health information services, direct to the public. www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk 0845 4647 and being phased in for non-emergencies: 111

CIVIC & SERVICES

American Friends of the British Museum Mollie Norwich. The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. 020 7323 8590 www.britishmuseum.org

American Red Cross RAF Mildenhall Tel: 01638 542107, After Hours 07031 15 2334 red.crossv3@mildenhall.af.mil

001 100 155 153 151

American Friends of ENO – English National Opera Denise Kaplan, American Friends Coordinator London Coliseum, St. Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4ES 0207 845 9331 Americanfriends@eno.org www.eno.org/support-us/individual-giving/ american-friends/american-friends.php

American Friends of Contemporary Dance & Sadler’s Wells U.S. Office: Celia Rodrigues, Chair 222 Park Avenue South, 10A, New York, NY 10003 +1.917.539.9021 americanfriends@sadlerswells.com www.sadlerswells.com/page/american-friends UK Office: 020 7863 8134 development@sadlerswells.com American Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery Kathleen Bice, Development Officer, Members and Patrons 020 8299 8726

American Friends of the National Portrait Gallery Stacey Ogg and Charlotte Savery, Individual Giving Managers 020 7312 2444 individualgiving@npg.org.uk www.npg.org.uk/support/individual/ americanfriends.php

American Friends of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Inc. Jennifer Davies, Development Director jennifer.davies@philharmonia.co.uk www.philharmonia.co.uk/support/friends/afpo/ American Friends of the Royal Court Theatre U.S.: Laurie Beckelman, Beckelman and Capalino +1.212.616.5822 laurie@beckcap.com UK: Gaby Styles, Head of Development, Royal Court Theatre 020 7565 5060 gabystyles@royalcourttheatre.com or info@afrct.org

American Friends of the Royal Institution of Great Britain U.S.: c/o Chapel & York Limited, PMB #293, South Building Washington, DC 20004 UK: The Development Office, Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS 020 7670 2991 kdodd@ri.ac.uk www.rigb.org

May 2013 57

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American Friends of the Royal Society http://royalsociety.org/Overseas-Donations American Friends of St. Bartholomew the Great U.S.: John Eagleson 2925 Briarpark, Suite 600, Houston, TX 77042 UK: 20 7606 5171 admin@greatstbarts.com

American Friends of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust U.S.: John Chwat, President 625 Slaters Lane, Suite 103, Alexandria, VA 22314 +1. 703.684.7703 info@americanfriendsofsbt.org www.americanfriendsofsbt.org

American Friends of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Inc. U.S.: Diana Seaton, Executive Director 61 Londonderry Drive, Greenwich, CT 06830 +1.203.536.4328 diana.seaton@afvam.org www.afvam.org UK: 020 7942 2149 American Friends of Wigmore Hall U.S.: c/o Chapel and York, 1000 N West Street Suite 1200, Wilmington DE 19801 UK: 020 7258 8220 mhosterweil@wigmore-hall.org.uk American Museum in Britain Director: Dr Richard Wendorf Claverton Manor, Bath BA2 7BD. 01225 460503. Fax 01225 469160 info@americanmuseum.org www.americanmuseum.org American Women Lawyers in London www.awll.org.uk info@awll.org.uk American Women’s Health Centre 214 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5QN. Obstetric, gynecological & infertility service.

020 7390 8433 www.awhc.co.uk Anglo American Medical Society Hon. Sec.: Dr. Edward Henderson, The Mill House, Whatlington, E. Sussex, TN33 0ND. 01424 775130. ed@themillhouse.eclipse.co.uk Association for Rescue at Sea The UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Association does not have an American Branch but if you wish to make a tax-efficient gift to the RNLI, contact AFRAS. Secretary: Mrs. Anne C. Kifer P.O. Box 565 Fish Creek, WI 54212, U.S.A. 00-1-920-743-5434 fax 00-1-920-743-5434 email: ackafras@aol.com Atlantic Council Director: Alan Lee Williams.

185 Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UF 0207 403 0640 or 0207 403 0740.

Fax: 0207 403 0901

58 May 2013

acuk@atlantic-council.org.uk

Bethesda Baptist Church Kensington Place, London W8.

020 7221 7039 office@bethesdabaptist.org.uk Boy Scouts of America Mayflower District Field Executive: Wayne Wilcox 26 Shortlands Road, Kingston, Surrey KT2 6HD 020 8274 1429, 07788 702328 wpwilcox@gmail.com BritishAmerican Business Inc. 75 Brook Street, London, W1K 4AD. 020 7290 9888 www.babinc.org ukinfo@babinc.org British American-Canadian Associates Contact via The English Speaking Union esu@esu.org CARE International UK 10-13 Rushworth Street, London, SE1 0RB 020 7934 9334 www.careinternational.org info@careinternational.org Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 66-68 Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2PA 020 7584 7553 adcockmp@ldschurch.org https://lds.org.uk http://mormon.org Church of St. John the Evangelist Vicar: Reverend Stephen Mason.

Assistant Priest: Reverend Mark Pudge.

Assistant Curate: Reverend Deiniol Heywood.

Hyde Park Crescent, London W2 2QD Tel: 020 7262 1732 www.stjohns-hydepark.com parishadmin@stjohns-hydepark.com Commonwealth Church Rev. Rod Anderson, PO Box 15027, London SE5 0YS www.savestmarks.com Democrats Abroad (UK) Box 65, 22 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JE Regular updates on events, chapters throughout the UK (and specific email addresses), and DAUK newsletters: www.democratsabroad.org.uk Register to vote and request an Absentee Ballot: www.votefromabroad.org Tel: 020 7724 9796 www.democratsabroad.org/group/united-kingdom Farm Street Church 114 Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1K 3AH Tel: 020 7493 7811 www.farmstreet.org.uk Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) Department of Defense, 1155 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301-1155.

Director: Ms. Polli K. Brunelli

UK Toll Free Tel: 0800 028 8056 US Toll Free Tel:1-800-438- VOTE (8683). www.fvap.gov vote@fvap.ncr.gov

Friends of St Jude London Debbie Berger 07738 628126 debbie.berger@stjude.org www.friendsofstjude.org/london Grampian Houston Association Secretary: Bill Neish 5 Cairncry Avenue, Aberdeen, AB16 5DS 01224-484720 wineish@sky.com International Community Church (Interdenominational) Our Vision: “Everyone Mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28) Pastor: Rev. Dr. Barry K. Gaeddert Worship on Sundays: 10.30 am at Chertsey Hall, Heriot Road, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 9DR Active Youth programme.

Church Office: 1st floor, Devonshire House, 60 Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 2AF. 01932 830295. churchoffice@icc-uk.org www.icc-uk.org Junior League of London President: Jennifer Crowl 9 Fitzmaurice Place, London W1J 5JD. Tel: 020 7499 8159 Fax: 020 7629 1996 jrleague@jll.org.uk www.jll.org.uk Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation 19 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT. Tel: 020 7713 2030. Fax: 020 7713 2031 info@jdrf.org.uk www.jdrf.org.uk Liberal Jewish Synagogue 28 St John’s Wood Road, London NW8 7HA Services 6.45pm Fridays and 11am on Saturdays except for first Friday each month when service is held at 7pm with a Chavurah Supper.

Please bring non-meat food dish to share.

020 7286 5181 ljs@ljs.org Lions Club International Lakenheath & District 105EA, 15 Highfields Drive, Lakenheath, Suffolk IP27 9EH. Tel 01842 860752 www.lionsclubs.org Lutheran Services, St Anne’s Rev. Timothy Dearhamer.

Lutheran Church, Gresham St, London EC2.

Sun 11am-7pm.

Tel. 020 7606 4986 Fax. 020 7600 8984 info@StAnnesLutheranChurch.org www.StAnnesLutheranChurch.org Methodist Central Hall Westminster, London SW1H 9NH Services every Sunday at 11am and 6.30pm.

Bible study groups & Monday guilds also held.

Tel: 020 7222 8010

The American

www.methodist-central-hall.org.uk church@mchw.org.uk

North American Friends of Chawton House Library U.S. Office: 824 Roosevelt Trail, #130, Windham, ME 04062 +1.207 892 4358 UK Office: Chawton House Library, Chawton, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1SJ 01420 541010 www.chawton.org/support/nafchl5.html Republicans Abroad (UK) Chairman Dr. Thomas Grant chairman@republicansabroad-uk.org www.republicansabroad-uk.org Rotary Club of London 6 York Gate, London NW1 4QG. Tel. 020 7487 5429 Royal National Lifeboat Institution Head Office, West Quay Road, Poole BH15 1HZ 0845 045 6999 www.rnli.org.uk The Royal Oak Foundation Sean Sawyer, 35 West 35th Street #1200, New York NY 10001-2205, USA Tel 212- 480-2889 or (800) 913-6565 Fax (212)785-7234 ssawyer@royal-oak.org www.royal-oak.org St Andrew’s Lutheran Church Serving Americans since 1960. Whitby Road & Queens Walk, Ruislip, West London.

(South Ruislip Tube Station). Services: 11 am 020 8845 4242 pastorvan43@hotmail.com www.standrewslutheran.co.uk Other Lutheran Churches in the UK www.lutheran.co.uk T.R.A.C.E. P.W. (The ‘original’ Transatlantic Children’s’ Enterprise reuniting children with G.I. father’s and their families) Membership Secretary: Norma Jean Clarke-McCloud 29 Connaught Avenue, Enfield EN1 3BE www.tracepw.org normajean78@hotmail.com

United Nations Association, Westminster branch Chairman: David Wardrop 61 Sedlescombe Road, London SW6 1RE 0207 385 6738 info@unawestminster.org.uk www.unawestminster.org.uk www.wethepeoples.org.uk USA Girl Scouts Overseas – North Atlantic Stem Kaserne Bldg 1002, Postfach 610212 D-68232, Mannheim, Germany. +49 621 487 7025. girlscouts@cmtymail.26asg.army.mil www.norags.com

SOCIAL American Club of Hertfordshire President: Lauryn Awbrey 63-65 New Road, Welwyn, Herts AL6 0AL 01582 624823 amclubherts@aol.com American Expats of the Northwest of England The Ruskin Rooms, Drury Lane, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6HA. expatsnw@gmail.com American Friends of English Heritage 1307 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. Washington DC 20036.

202-452-0928. c/o English Heritage, Attn: Simon Bergin, Keysign House, 429 Oxford Street, London W1R 2HD. 020 7973 3423 www.english-heritage.org.uk American Professional Women in London Rebecca Lammers 58 Shacklewell Road, London, N16 7TU 075 3393 5064 abwinlondon@gmail.com www.meetup.com/American-Business-Womenin-London www.facebook.com/groups/293890040710041 Twitter: @USAProWomenLDN American Society in London c/o The English Speaking Union 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5ED info@americansocietyuk.com 020 7539 3400 American Stamp Club of Great Britain Chapter 67 of the American Philatelic Society.

Hon. Publicity Secretary: Stephen T. Taylor 5 Glenbuck Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6BS. 020 8390 9357 American Womens Association of Bristol awabristol_membership@fawco.org American Women of Berkshire & Surrey P. O. Box 10, Virginia Water, Surrey GU25 4YP. www.awbs.org.uk awbscommonground@yahoo.co.uk American Women of Surrey PO Box 185, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3YJ. www.awsurrey.org American Women’s Association of Yorkshire The Chalet, Scarcroft Grange, Wetherby Road, Scarcroft, Leeds LS14 3HJ. 01224 744 224 Contact: Carol Di Peri The American Women’s Club of Dublin P.O. Box 2545, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 IRELAND www.awcd.net info@awcd.net American Women’s Club of London 68 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3LQ. 020 7589 8292 awc@awclondon.org www.awclondon.org

American Women’s Club of Central Scotland P.O. Box 231, 44-46 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4BF info@awccs.org www.awccs.org American Women of South Wales 07866 190838 awsouthwales@fawco.org The Anglo-American Charity Limited Jeffrey Hedges, Director.

07968 513 631 info@anglo-americancharity.org Association of American Women in Ireland aawireland@fawco.org Association of American Women of Aberdeen PO Box 11952, Westhill, Aberdeen, AB13 0BW email via website www.awaaberdeen.org British Association of American Square Dance Clubs Patricia Connett-Woodcock 87 Brabazon Road, Heston, Middlesex TW5 9LL 020 8897 0723 tricia_baasdc@btinternet.com www.squaredancing.co.uk Canadians & Americans in Southern England 023 9241 3881 contactcase@casecommunity.com Canadian Womens Club 1 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 4AB Tues – Thurs 10.30-3.30 0207 258 6344 info@canadianwomenlondon.org www.canadianwomenlondon.org Chilterns American Women’s Club PO Box 445, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 8YU membership@cawc.co.uk www.cawc.co.uk Colonial Dames of America Chapter XI London.

President Anne K Brewster: AnneBrewster@hotmail.com Daughters of the American Revolution – St James’s Chapter Mrs Natalie Ward, 01379 871422 nattyward@aol.com or UKDARStJames@aol.com http://mysite.verizon.net/jean.sutton/main.htm Daughters of the American Revolution – Walter Hines Page Chapter Diana Frances Diggines, Regent dardiana@hotmail.co.uk www.dar.org Daughters of the American Revolution – Washington Old Hall Chapter, North Yorkshire Mrs. Gloria Hassall, 01845 523-830 Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Great Britain President: Mrs. Sheila Roberts, Morvan House, Shoreham Lane, St. Michaels, Tenterden, Kent TN30 6EG email: saroberts123@aol.com www.deltakappagamma.net

May 2013 59

The American

Delta Zeta International Sorority Alumna Club Mrs Sunny Eades, The Old Hall, Mavesyn Ridware, Nr. Rugeley, Staffordshire, WSI5 3QE. 01543 490 312 SunnyEades@aol.com The East Anglia American Club 49 Horsham Close Haverhill, Suffolk CB9 7HN Tel: 01440 766 967 Email: eaacexpats@karej.co.uk English-Speaking Union Director-General Peter Kyle Dartmouth House, 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5ED. Tel: 020 7529 1550 Fax: 0207 495 6108 esu@esu.org Friends of Benjamin Franklin House Director: Dr. Márcia Balisciano Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven St, London WC2N 5NF 0207 839 2006 www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org info@benjaminfranklinhouse.org Hampstead Women’s Club President - Betsy Lynch. Tel: 020 7435 2226 email president@hwcinlondon.co.uk www.hwcinlondon.co.uk High Twelve International, Inc. Local Club Contact – Arnold Page High Twelve Club 298 Secretary, Darrell C. Russell, 1 Wellington Close, West Row, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 8PJ Tel. 01638 715764 email: russelld130@btinternet.com.

International American Duplicate Bridge Club Contact: Mary Marshall, 18 Palace Gardens Terrace, London W8 4RP. 020 7221 3708 www.ycbc.co.uk/american.htm Kensington & Chelsea Men’s Club Contact: John Rickus 70 Flood Street, Chelsea, London SW3 5TE. (home): 020 7349 0680 (office): 020 7753 2253 johnrickus@aol.com Kensington & Chelsea Women’s Club President: Susan Lenora. Tel. 0207 581 8261 president@kcwc.org.uk Membership: 0207 863 7562 (ans service). membership@kcwc.org.uk New Neighbors Diana Parker, Rosemary Cottage, Rookshill, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 4HZ. 01923 772185 North American Connection (West Midlands) PO Box 10543, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands. B93 8ZY T: 0870 720 0663 info@naconnect.com www.naconnect.com

60 May 2013

MILITARY

Northwood Area Women’s Club c/o St John’s UR Church, Hallowell Road, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 1DN 01932-830295 info@northwoodareawomensclub.co.uk www.northwoodareawomensclub.co.uk

AFJROTC 073 Lakenheath High School. Tel: 01638 525603 Air Force Sergeants Association European Division Timothy W. Litherland CMSgt, USAF (ret).

Chapters at RAFs Alconbury, Croughton, Lakenheath, Menwith Hill and Mildenhall. tim_lith@msn.com www.afsadiv16.org

Stars of Great Britain Chapter #45 Washington Jurisdiction Lakenheath, England sogb45@yahoo.com http://starsofgreatbritainchapter45.com

American Legion London Post 1 Adjutant: Jim Pickett PO Box 5017, BATH, BA1 OPP Tel: 01225-426245 www.amlegionpost1london.org.uk info@amlegionpost1london.org.uk

Petroleum Women’s Club Contact: Nancy Ayres.

Tel: 01923 711720 nanayrs@btopenworld.com Petroleum Women’s Club of Scotland pwcscotland@yahoo.co.uk www.pwcos.com

Pilgrims of Great Britain Allington Castle, Maidstone, Kent M16 0NB. Tel. 01622 606404 Fax. 01622 606402 sec@pilgrimsociety.org

Bentwaters/Woodbridge Retirees’ Association President: Wylie Moore. 2 Coldfair Close, Knodishall, Saxmundham, Suffolk, IP17 1UN. 01728 830281

Propeller Club of the United States – London, England propellerclubhq.com St John’s Wood Women’s Club Box 185, 176 Finchley Road, London NW3 6BT membership@sjwwc.org www.sjwwc.org

British Patton Historical Society Kenn Oultram 01606 891303 Brookwood American Cemetery (WW1) Brookwood, Woking, Surrey GU24 0BL 01483 473237 www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/bk.php

Thames Valley American Women’s Club Contact: Miriam Brewster PO Box 1687, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 8XT. 0208 751 8941 www.tvawc.com membership@tvawc.com

Cambridge American Cemetery (WWII Cemetary) Superintendent: Mr. Bobby Bell.

Asst. Superintendent: Mr. Tony Barclay.

Coton, Cambridge CB23 7PH. 01954 210350

UK Panhellenic Association Contact Susan Woolf, 10 Coniston Court, High St. Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex HA1 3LP. 020 8864 0294 susanrwoolf@hotmail.com

Commander in Chief, US Naval Forces Europe Naval Reserve Detachment 130, Recruiting Officer: LCDR Thomas D. Hardin, USNR-R. 020 7409 4259 (days) 020 8960 7395 (evenings).

United Kingdom Shrine OASIS Anglian Shrine Club Secretary: Charles A. Aldrich, 11 Burrow Drive, Lakenheath, Suffolk IP27 9EY 01842 860 650 mailto:caaldrich@btinterner.com

Eighth Air Force Historical Society UK Representative: Mr. Gordon Richards and Mrs Connie Richards 14 Pavenham Road, Oakley, Bedford MK43 7SY. 01234 823357.

W.E.B. DuBois Consistory #116 Northern Jurisdiction Valley of London, England, Orient of Europe Cell: 0776-873-8030 mjack36480@aol.com Women’s Writers Network Cathy Smith, 23 Prospect Rd, London, NW2 2JU. 020 7794 5861 www.womenwriters.org.uk info@womenwriters.org.uk

Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association London Chapter Secretary: CW04, A.H. Cox, USN, Navcommunit Box 44, 7 North Audley Street, London W1Y 1WJ. 020 7409 4519/4184 www.afcea.org.uk london.sec@afcea.org.uk

Friends of the Eighth Newsletter (FOTE News) Chairman: Mr. Ron Mackay. 39b Thorley Hill, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 3NE. 01279 658619.

Joint RAF Mildenhall/Lakenheath Retiree Affairs Office Director: Col. John J. Valentine, USAF (Ret) Unit 8965, Box 30

The American

RAF Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, IP28 8NF Tel. (01638) 542039 rao@mildenhall.af.mil

Marine Corps League Detachment 1088, London, England Commandant Mike Allen Creek Cottage, 2 Pednormead End, Old Chesham, Buckinghamshire HP5 2JS detachment1088@mcl-london-uk.org www.mcl-london-uk.org Mildenhall Retirees Association President: Jack Kramer 6 Nunsgate, Thetford, Norfolk 1P24 3EL Navy League of the United States, United Kingdom Council Council President: Steven G. Franck steven.franck@googlemail.com www.navyleague.org Non-Commissioned Officers’ Association (NCOA) – The Heart of England Chapter Chairman: Ronald D.Welper.

Pine Farm, Sharpe’s Corner, Lakenheath, Brandon, Suffolk 1P27 9LB. Thetford 861643.

The Chapter Address: 513 MSSQ/SS, RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk.

Society of American Military Engineers (UK) UK address: Box 763, USAFE Construction Directorate.

86 Blenheim Crescent, West Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 7HL London Post. President: W. Allan Clarke.

Secretary: Capt. Gary Chesley.

Membership Chairman, Mr. Jim Bizier.

US Army Reserve 2nd Hospital Center 7 Lynton Close, Ely, Cambs, CB6 1DJ. Tel: 01353 2168 Commander: Major Glenda Day. US Air Force Recruiting Office RAF Mildenhall, 100 MSS/MSPRS, RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, 1P28 8NF. 01638 542290

Retired Affairs Office, RAF Alconbury Serving Central England POC: Rex Keegan Alt. POC: Mike Depasquale UK Postal Address: 423 SVS/RAO, Unit 5585, Box 100, RAF Alconbury, Huntingdon, Cambs PE28 4DA Office Hours: Tuesday and Friday, 10:30am–2:30pm 01480 84 3364/3557 Emergency Contact: 07986 887 905 RAO@Alconbury.af.mil 2nd Air Division Memorial Library The Forum, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1AW 01603 774747 www.2ndair.org.uk 2admemorial.lib@norfolk.gov.uk USAF Retiree Activities Office Director: Paul G Gumbert, CMSgt (USAF), Ret

American School of Aberdeen Craigton Road, Cults, Aberdeen.

01224 861068 / 868927.

422 ABG/CVR Unit 5855, PSC 50, Box 3 RAF Croughton, Northants NN13 5XP Phone: 01280 708182 e-mail: 422abg.rao@croughton.af.mil

US Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) UK Chapter President: Allison Bennett bennett.ac@gmail.com Facebook: Kings Point Alumni - London/United Kingdom USNA Alumni Association UK Chapter Pres: LCDR Tim Fox ’97, timfox97@hotmail.com Vice Pres: Miguel Sierra ’90, mrsierra@chevron.com Treas/Membership Coord: Bart O’Brien ’98, bartonobrien2@yahoo.com Secretary: Matt Horan ’87, matthoran@btinternet.com Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Commander: Ernest Paolucci 24, rue Gerbert, 75015 Paris, France 00 33 (0)1.42.50.96.34 Western UK Retiree Association President: R. Jim Barber, MSgt (USAF), Ret Phone: 01280 708182

EDUCATIONAL ACS International Schools ACS Cobham International School, Heywood, Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1BL 01932 867251 ACS Egham International School, Woodlee, London Road (A30), Egham, Surrey TW20 0HS. 01784 430800 ACS Hillingdon International School Hillingdon Court, 108 Vine Line, Hillingdon, Middlesex UB10 0BE. 01895 259771 www.acs-england.co.uk

AIU/London (formerly American College in London) 110 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4RY. Tel 020 7467 5640 Fax 020 7935 8144 www.aiulondon.ac.ukadmissions@aiulondon.ac.uk Alconbury Middle/High School RAF Alconbury, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE17 1PJ, UK. www.alco-hs.eu.dodea.edu AlconburyHS.Principal@eu.dodea.edu American Institute for Foreign Study 37 Queensgate, London SW7 5HR 020 7581 7300 www.aifs.co.uk info@aifs.co.uk American School in London 1 Waverley Place, London NW8 0NP Tel: 020 7449 1200 Fax: 020 7449 1350 www.asl.org admissions@asl.org

Benjamin Franklin House 36 Craven Street, London WC2N 5NF. Tel 020 7839 2006 Fax 020 7930 9124 info@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Boston University – London Graduate Programs Office 43 Harrington Gardens, London SW7 4JU. 020 7244 6255 www.bu.edu/london British American Educational Foundation Mrs. Carlton Colcord, 1 More’s Garden, 90 Cheyne Walk, London SW3.

020 7352 8288 www.baef.org anncolcord@compuserve.com BUNAC Student Exchange Employment Program Director: Callum Kennedy, 16 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0QH. 020 7251 3472 www.bunac.org enquiries@bunac.org.uk Center Academy School Development Centre 92 St. John’s Hill, Battersea, London SW11 1SH. Tel 020 7738 2344 Fax 020 7738 9862 ukadmin@centeracademy.com Central Bureau for Educational Visits The British Council Director: Peter Upton 10 Spring Gardens, London SW1A 2BN 020 7389 4004 Wales 029 2039 7346, Scotland 0131 447 8024 centralbureau@britishcouncil.org Council on International Educational Exchange Dr. Michael Woolf, 52 Portland Street, London WIV 1JQ Tel 020 7478 2000 Fax 020 7734 7322 www.ciee.org contact@ciee.org Ditchley Foundation Ditchley Park, Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxon OX7 4ER. Tel 01608 677346 Fax 1608 677399 www.ditchley.co.uk info@ditchley.co.uk European Council of International Schools Executive Director: Jean K Vahey Fourth Floor, 146 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9TR Tel 020 7824 7040 www.ecis.org ecis@ecis.org European-Atlantic Group PO Box 37431, London N3 2XP 020 8632 9253 justinglass@btinternet.com www.eag.org.uk Florida State University London Study Centre Administrative Director: Kathleen Paul

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99 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3LH. Tel 020 7813 3233 Fax 020 7813 3270 www.international.fsu.edu/london/ intprog1@admin.fsu.edu

Fordham University London Centre Academic Coordinator: Sabina Antal 23 Kensington Square, London W8 5HQ 020 7937 5023 londoncentre@fordham.edu www.fordham.edu Harlaxton College UK Campus, University of Evansville Harlaxton Manor, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG32 1AG. Grantham 4541 4761.

Tel 01476 403000 Fax 01476 403030 harlaxton.ac.uk.

Huron University USA in London 46-47 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 4JP Tel +44 (0) 20 7636 5667 Fax+44 (0) 20 7299 3297 folu@huron.ac.uk www.huron.ac.uk Institute for Study Abroad Butler University, 21 Pembridge Gardens, London W2 4EB 020 7792 8751 http://www.ifsa-butler.org/england-overview.html Institute for the Study of the Americas Director: Professor James Dunkerley.

Tel 020 7862 8879 Fax 020 7862 8886 americas@sas.ac.uk www.americas.sas.ac.uk International School of Aberdeen 296 North Deeside Road, Milltimber, Aberdeen, AB13 0AB 01224 732267 www.isa.aberdeen.sch.uk admin@isa.aberdeen.sch.uk International School of London 139 Gunnersbury Avenue, London W3 8LG. 020 8992 5823. www.islondon.com mail@ISLondon.com International School of London in Surrey Old Woking Road, Woking GU22 8HY Tel +44 (0)1483 750409 Fax +44 (0)1483 730962 www.islsurrey.com mail@islsurrey.com Ithaca College London Centre 35 Harrington Gardens, London SW7.

Tel. 020 7370 1166 www.ithaca.edu/london bsheasgreen@ithacalondon.co.uk Marymount International School, London Headmistress: Ms Sarah Gallagher George Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT2 7PE Tel: 020 8949 0571 info@marymountlondon.com www.marymountlondon.com Missouri London Study Abroad Program 32 Harrington Gardens, London SW7 4JU.

62 May 2013

020 7373 7953. www.umsl.edu/services/abroad/universities/ molondon.html web_office@umsl.edu

Regents American College Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NS. 020 7486 9605. www.regents.ac.uk exrel@regents.ac.uk

Richmond, The American International University in London Richmond Hill Campus,Queen’s Road Richmond-upon Thames TW10 6JP Tel: +44 20 8332 9000 Fax: +44 20 8332 1596 enroll@richmond.ac.uk www.richmond.ac.uk Schiller International University Royal Waterloo House, 51-55 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8TX. Tel. 020 7928 1372 www.schillerlondon.ac.uk admissions@schillerlondon.ac.uk Sotheby’s Institute of Art Postgraduate Art studies, plus day /evening courses 30 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3EE Tel: 0207 462 3232 www.sothebysinstitute.com info@sothebysinstitute.com Southbank International Schools Kensington and Hampstead campuses for 3-11 year olds; Westminster campuses for 11-18 year olds.

Director of Admissions: MargaretAnne Khoury Tel: 020 7243 3803 Fax: 020 7727 3290 admissions@southbank.org www.southbank.org TASIS England, American School Coldharbour Lane, Thorpe, Nr. Egham, Surrey TW20 8TE. Tel: 01932 565252 Fax: 01932 564644 http://england.tasis.com ukadmissions@tasisengland.org University of Notre Dame London Program 1 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG 020 7484 7811 london@nd.edu http://www.nd.edu/~ndlondon/lup/future/ introduction.htm US-UK Fulbright Commission Dir. of Advisory Service: Lauren Welch 020 7498 4010 Dir. of Awards: Michael Scott-Kline, 020 7498 4014 Battersea Power Station, 188 Kirtling Street, London SW8 5BN www.fulbright.co.uk Warnborough University International Office, Friars House, London SE1 8HB. Tel 020 7922 1200 Fax: 020 7922 1201 www.warnborough.edu admin@warnborough.edu Webster Graduate Studies Center Regent’s College, Regent’s Park, Inner Circle, London NW1 4NS, UK. Tel: 020 7487 7505 Fax: 020 7487 7425 www.webster.ac.uk webster@regents.ac.uk

Wickham Court School, Schiller International Layhams Road, West Wickham, Kent BR4 9HW. Tel 0208 777 2942 Fax 0208 777 4276 Wickham@schillerintschool.com www.wickhamcourt.org.uk Wroxton College Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.,Wroxton, Nr. Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 6PX. Tel. 01295 730551 http://view.fdu.edu/default.aspx?id=326 admin@wroxton-college.ac.uk

ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS Alliant International University (formerly United States International University) England Chapter Alumni Association Chapter President: Eric CK Chan c/o Regents College London, Inner Circle, Regents Park, London, UK University: www.alliant.edu chane@regents.ac.uk Amherst College Bob Reichert RAreichert26b@aol.com Andover/Abbot Association of London Jeffrey Hedges ‘71, President 07968 513 631 hedgeslon@hotmail.com Association of MBAs Leo Stemp, Events Administrator Tel 020 7837 3375 (ext. 223) Fax 020-7278-3634 l.stemp@mba.org.uk Babson College Frank de Jongh Swemer, Correspondence W 020 7932 7514 babson.alumni@btinternet.com Barnard College Club Hiromi Stone, President.

Tel. 0207 935 3981 barnardclubgb@yahoo.co.uk Berkeley Club of London Geoff Kertesz Email: berkeleyclublondon@gmail.com http://international.berkeley.edu/LondonClub Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ groups/223876564344656/ Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/BerkeleyClub-London-4186104 Boston College Alumni Club UK Craig Zematis, President +44 7717 878968 BCalumniclub@gmail.com www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/BTN/cpages/ chapters/home.jsp?chapter=41&org=BTN Boston University Alumni Association of the UK Will Straughn, Snr International Development Officer, University Development and Alumni Relations,

The American

43 Harrington Gardens, Kensington, London SW7 4JU 020 7244 2908 020 7373 7411 bstraugh@bu.edu

Brandeis Alumni Club of Great Britain Joan Bovarnick, President http://alumni.brandeis.edu office@alumni.brandeis.edu Brown University Club of the United Kingdom President: Tugba Erem Vice President: Caroline Cook Secretary: Pinar Emirdag Treasurer: Mikus Kins Events: Ramya Moothathu Communication: Patrick Attie Alumni Club & Liaison: Vanessa Van Hoof Former President: Ed Giberti edgibertiwgcuk@aol.com.

Brown Club UK, Box 57100, London, EC1P 1RB contact@brownuk.org www.brownuk.org Bryn Mawr Club President: Lady Quinton. c/o Wendy Tiffin, 52 Lansdowne Gardens, London SW8 2EF. Wendy Tiffin, Secretary/Treasurer wendytif@ukgateway.net Claremont Colleges Alumni in London Hadley Beeman hadley_beeman@alumni.cmc.edu Colgate Club of London Stephen W Solomon ‘76, President 0207 349 0738 swsolomon@hotmail.com Columbia University Club of London Stephen Jansen, President london@alumniclubs.columbia.edu www.alumniclubs.columbia.edu/london Cornell Club of London Natalie Teich, President nmt4@cornell.edu www.alumni.cornell.edu/orgs/int/London Dartmouth College Club of London Sanjay Gupta, Officer Andrew Rotenberg, Officer sanjay.gupta.96@ alum.dartmouth.org andrew.l.rotenberg.92@alum.dartmouth.org www.dartmouth.org Delta Kappa Gamma Society International For information about the Society in Great Britain go to our website www.deltakappagamma.org/GB. There are links to all the USA and other international members’ sites.

Delta Sigma Pi Business Fraternity London Alumni Chapter. Ashok Arora, P O Box 1110, London W3 7ZB. 020 8423 8231 bertela@yahoo.com www.dspnet.org

Duke University Club of England Ms Robin Buck buckrobin@yahoo.com Tim Warmath timwarmath@yahoo.com Kate Bennett jkbennett@btinternet.com www.dukealumni.com/england

NYU STERN UK Alumni Club Matthieu Gervis, President sternukalumniclub@hotmail.com Ohio University UK & Ireland Frank Madden, 1 Riverway, Barry Avenue, Windsor, Berks. SL4 5JA. Tel 01753 855 360 Fax 01753 868 855 frank@madant.demon.co.uk

Emory University Alumni Chapter of the UK Matthew Williams, Chapter Leader 079 8451 4119 matthew.eric.williams@gmail.com www.alumni.emory.edu/chapters-and-groups/ chapters/international.html

Penn Alumni Club of the UK David Lapter Tel. 07957 146 470 david.lapter@alumni.upenn.edu

Georgetown Alumni Club Alexa Fernandez, President GeorgetownLondon@Yahoo.com

Penn State Alumni Association Penn State Alumni Association Ron Nowicki 0207 226 7681 pennstatelondon@yahoo.co.uk www.alumni.psu.edu

Gettysburg College Britt-Karin Oliver brittkarin@aol.com Harvard Business School Club of London www.hbsa.org.uk

Princeton Association (UK) Carol Rahn, President Jon Reades, Young Alumni carol.rahn@orange-ftgroup.com jon@reades.com www.alumni.princeton.edu

Harvard Club of Great Britain Brandon Bradkin, President president@hcuk.org www.hcuk.org Indiana University Alumni club of England Anastasia Tonello, President 020 7253 4855 iuinlondon@yahoo.com www.alumni.indiana.edu/clubs/england

Rice Alumni of London Kathy Wang Tel. 07912 560 177 kathyw@alumni.rice.edu

KKG London Alumnae Association emilymerrell@gmail.com

Skidmore College Alumni Club, London Peggy Holden Briggs ‘84, co-ordinator 07817 203611 peggyhbriggs@gmail.com

LMU Alumni Club London (Loyola Marymount University) Kent Jancarik 07795 358 681 kent@jancarik.com

Smith College Club of London Kathleen Merrill, President smithclubgb@googlemail.com http://alumnae.smith.edu

Marymount University Alumni UK Chapter President: Mrs Suzanne Tapley, 35 Park Mansions, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7QT. Tel 020 7581 3742 MIT Club of Great Britain Yiting Shen Flat 8a, 36 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6PB Tel: 0789 179 3823 yshen@alum.mit.edu http://alumweb.mit.edu/clubs/uk/ Mount Holyoke Club of Britain Rachel L. Elwes, President rlelwes@yahoo.com Karen K. Bullivant Vice-President kkbullivant@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu www.mtholyoke.co.uk Notre Dame Club of London Hannah Gornik , Secretary ND_Club_London@yahoo.co.uk NYU Alumni Club in London Jodi Ekelchik, President alumni.london@nyu.edu

Stanford Business School Alumni Association (UK Chapter) Robby Arnold, President Lesley Anne Hunt, Events robby@blueyonder.co.uk lesley.hunt@blueyonder.co.uk www.stanfordalumni.org.uk Texas Tech Alumni Association – London Chapter David Mirmelli, Ferhat Guven, Bobby Brents president@texastechalumni.org.uk www.TexasTechAlumni.org.uk Texas Exes UK (UKTE) President: Carra Kane 7 Edith Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 8TW 0778 660 7534 carrakane@alumni.utexas.net www.fornogoodreason.com/UKTEMain.htm Texas A&M Club London Ashley Lilly, Co-President Devin Howard, Co-President london@aggienetwork.com http://clubs.aggienetwork.com/londonamc/

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The John Adams Society Contact: Muddassar Ahmed c/o Unitas Communications, Palmerston House, 80-86 Old Street, London EC1V 9AZ 0203 308 2358 johnadamssociety@unitascommunications.com www.johnadamssociety.co.uk Tufts - London Tufts Alliance Vikki Garth Londontuftsalliance@yahoo.com UK Dawgs of the University of Georgia Rangana Abdulla ukdawgs@hotmail.com UMass Alumni Club UK Julie Encarnacao, President (0)20 7007 3869 julesje32@gmail.com University of California Matthew Daines (Program Director) 17 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JA 020 7079 0567 matthewdaines@californiahouse.org.uk University of Chicago UK Alumni Association President c/o Alumni Affairs and Development – Europe University of Chicago Booth School of Business Woolgate Exchange, 25 Basinghall Street, London EC2V 5HA Tel +44(0)20 7070 2245 Fax +44(0)20 7070 2250 www.ChicagoBooth.edu University of Illinois Alumni Club of the UK Amy Barklam, President 07796 193 466 amybarklam@msn.com

US Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) UK Chapter President: Allison Bennett bennett.ac@gmail.com Facebook: Kings Point Alumni - London/United Kingdom USNA Alumni Association, UK Chapter President: LCDR Greta Densham ‘00 (gretaj@mac.com) Vice President/Treasurer: Tim Fox ‘97 (timfox97@ hotmail.com) Secretary: Mike Smith ‘84 (Mike.Smith@polycom.com) Facebook Group - USNA Alumni Association, UK Chapter Vassar College Club Sara Hebblethwaite, President 18 Redgrave Road, London, SW15 1PX +44 020 8788 6910 sara.hebblethwaite@virgin.net Warnborough Worldwide Alumni Association c/o International Office, Friars House, London SE1 8HB Tel. 020 7922 1200 Fax. 020 7922 1201 http://www.wwaa.info/ admin@warnborough.edu Wellesley College Club Ana Ericksen, President. ana@ericksenuk.com Wharton Business School Club of the UK Yoav Kurtzbard, President Claire Watkins, Administrator 020-7447-8800 ykurtzbard@youngassoc.com cwatkins@youngassoc.com Williams Club of Great Britain Ethan Kline: ethankline@gmail.com

University of North Carolina Alumni Club Brad Matthews, Club Leader 2 The Orchards, Hill View Road, Woking GU22 7LS brad.matthews@alumni.unc.edu http://alumni.unc.edu

Yale Club of London Joe Vittoria, President president@yale.org.uk Scott Fletcher, Events events@yale.org.uk Nick Baskey, Secretary secretary@yale.org.uk www.yale.org.uk

University of Michigan Alumni Association Regional Contact: Jessica Cobb, BA ’97 +44 (0) 788-784-0941 jesscobb@yahoo.com http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/umich_uk_alumni/

Zeta Tau Alpha Alumnae Kristin Morgan. Tel: 07812 580949 kristinamorgan@gmail.com www.zetataualpha.org

University of Rochester/Simon School UK Alumni Association Ms. Julie Bonne, Co-President 0118-956-5052 julie_bonne@yahoo.com

ARTS North American Actors Association Chief Executive: Ms. Laurence Bouvard Americanactors@aol.com 07873 371 891

CIVIL WAR SOCIETIES

University of Southern California, Alumni Club of London Jennifer Ladwig, President Chuck Cramer, Treasurer usclondon@gmail.com www.usclondonalumni.org

American Civil War Round Table (UK) Sandra Bishop, 5 Southdale, Chigwell, Essex IG7 5NN sandra-bishop@hotmail.com www.americancivilwar.org.uk

University of Virginia Alumni Club of London Kirsten Jellard, 020 7368 8473 londonuvaclub@yahoo.com http://members.aol.com/UKUVACLUB/UVA-london.htm

Southern Skirmish Association (SoSkan) Membership Secretary, Bob Isaac, 3 Hilliards Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3TA email membership@soskan.co.uk

64 May 2013

SPORTS Eagles Golf Society Sharon Croley c/o Eventful Services, 49 Hastings Road, Croydon, Surrey CRO 6PH sharoncroley@blueyonder.co.uk English Lacrosse PO Box 116, Manchester M11 0AX 0843 658 5006 info@englishlacrosse.co.uk www.englishlacrosse.co.uk British Baseball Federation/ BaseballSoftballUK 5th Floor, Ariel House, 74a Charlotte Street, London W1T 4QJ. 020 7453 7055 British Morgan Horse Society 01942 886141 www.morganhorse.org.uk admin@morganhorse.org.uk Ice Hockey UK 19 Heather Avenue, Rise Park, Romford RM1 4SL Tel. 07917 194 264 Fax. 1708 725241 www.icehockeyuk.co.uk ihukoffice@yahoo.co.uk Infinity Elite Cheerleading (founded by C.A.C) Mondays 4.30-8.30 – Maiden Lane Comm. Centre, 156 St. Paul’s Crescent, London NW1 9XZ. Tumble: Thursdays 6-8 – Paget Centre,18-28 Randells Rd, Islington, London N1 0DH. Tel. 077 9132 0115 http://londoninfinityelite.clubbz.com www.facebook.com/InfinityAllstars Herts Baseball Club Adult & Little League Baseball www.hertsbaseball.com LondonSports Instruction & competitive play in baseball, basketball and soccer, boys/girls aged 4-15, newcomers or experienced players. Sports in a safe, fun environment.

We welcome children of all nationalities. www.londonsports.com vll@me.com London Warriors American Football Club Contact: Kevin LoPrimo info@londonwarriorsafc.co.uk www.londonwarriorsafc.co.uk Mildenhall EELS Swim Team International and local competitions for ages 6-19.

Contact Coach Robin flv4@hotmail.com

Every effort is made to ensure that listings in the information guide are correct and current. If your entry requires amendments please notify us immediately.

We rely on you to keep us informed. Telephone 01747 830520, Fax 01747 830691 or email us at orgs@ theamerican.co.uk. We would be pleased to receive news or short articles about your organisation for possible publication in The American.

The American

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Suppliers of quality products and services hand-picked for you ACCOUNTANCY & TAX BDO LLP The UK member firm of the world’s fifth largest accountancy organisation.

55 Baker Street, London W1U 7EU 020 7486 5888 info@bdo.co.uk www.bdo.uk.com Jaffe & Co., incorp. American Tax International Comprehensive tax preparation and compliance service for US expatriates in the UK and Europe.

America House, 54 Hendon Lane, London N3 1TT 020 8346 5237 www.jaffeandco.com Xerxes Associates LLP Fixed Fee US & UK Individual Tax Compliance, Consulting & Planning.

Tel: +44(0)207 411 9026 Fax: +44(0)207 411 9051 www.xerxesllp.com

ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES Stephen T Taylor Your American stamp dealer in Britain since 1995.

5 Glenbuck Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6BS 020 8390 9357 info@stephentaylor.co.uk www.stephentaylor.co.uk

CHEERLEADING Infinity Elite (founded by C.A.C.) Recreational and competitive Allstar Squads: from Mini to Senior, tumbling, stunting, dance and cheer.

Mondays 4.30-8.30 – Maiden Lane Comm. Centre, 156 St. Paul’s Crescent, London NW1 9XZ. Tumble: Thursdays 6-8 – Paget Centre,18-28 Randells Rd, Islington, London N1 0DH. Tel. 077 9132 0115 http://londoninfinityelite.clubbz.com www.facebook.com/InfinityAllstars

DRIVING INSTRUCTION Alison Driving School A well established, well known International Driving Instructor covering the area south and west of London, ideal for new drivers and for Americans who want to drive in the UK.

The American Women’s Health Centre (AWHC) OB GYN Based in the West End of London, at the heart of medical excellence in Britain.

Third Floor, 214 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5QN 020 7390 8433 info@AWHC.co.uk www.awhc.co.uk

www.alison-driving-school.co.uk alisondrivingschool@yahoo.co.uk 01784 456 037, cell 07956 220389

EDUCATION

VIDEO / TELEVISION

Florida State University in UK Over 50 years of experience in international education.

99 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LA 020 7813 3223 www.international.fsu.edu

GROCERY Lidgate Butchers Organic meats from a 150 year old business now run by the the fifth generation of the same family.

110 Holland Park Avenue, London W11 4UA Tel. 0207 727 8243 www.lidgates.com

LEGAL Kingsley Napley LLP Family lawyers with particular experience in dealing with cases involving Americans living here and abroad.

020 7814 1200 www.kingsleynapley.co.uk

Jim Garnett - Cameraman 27 years’ experience in television, magazines and newspapers – Full professional gear in both NTSC [USA/Canada] and PAL formats. Used by ‘Entertainment Tonight’, CBC, CTV National, CTV Toronto, CTV Sports, Global TV and Channel Zero.

Tel. 07930-100909 http://jimgarnettphotography.blogspot.co.uk

COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY Transitions Therapy Psychotherapy & Counselling for Expatriate Individuals, Couples, Families & Adolescents in the West End. London, England, United Kingdom 07557 261432 in the UK or 0044 7557 261432 from another country.

Skype sessions available around the world. transitions_therapy@hotmail.com www.transitionstherapy.co.uk

To find out whether you’re eligible to advertise your products and services here, and for rates, call Sabrina Sully on +44 (0)1747 830520. You’ll reach Americans living in and visiting the UK as well as Britons who like American culture and products.

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1. Spider-man; 2. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’; 3. (B) Brian May – James May is a TV presenter, Theresa May is the British Home Secretary; 4. Death in the Clouds, known in the USA as Death in the Air; 5. The Firth of Forth, Scotland; 6. (A) Tonight’s The Night; 7. A May bug or Common Cockchafer; 8. The Japanese; 9. Peter Cushing; 10. The Ottoman Empire; 11. Timothy Leary (it was President Richard Nixon who dubbed him ‘the most dangerous man in America’); 12. Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues; 13. Sadly, none. He was drafted by Washington and traded to Cleveland, before being diagnosed.

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