Flashback 2

1983 Brahms

1983-5 Freelancing

1985 Harp Beat

1985 Bradwell Village

1987 Competition Time

1987 Sir Ronald Millar

1987 Toronto

1987 Saalbach - Saudi Arabia

1987 M.D

1988 Tina’s Story

1988 Another Ronnie

1988 Los Angeles

1989 Bill Curbishley

1990 Harp Beat

1990 Royal Mail

1990 Status Quo Special

1991 Barbados

1991 Well‘ard

1991 Tickets

1992 Olympics

1993 Year End Accounts

1994 Castle Coombe

1994 Captain Roger Lewis

1995 Let's Talk

1983 - Brahms

One of the most memorable recordings I made was with Joaquin Achucarro, a concert pianist from Spain. He wanted to record the Brahms Piano Sonata No.3, with some accompanying pieces. He told me that RCA Spain would release the album, so I set it up to record at the Henry Wood Hall, in London.

Unfortunately Spain renegade on the deal and so it was never released I had left RCA by then There was only one other recording, by Julius Katchen from around 1972

It is a wonderfully performed and everyone I have played it to remarks on how good it is. The point of this story is that if I have played it to you, you are one of less than 30 people in the whole world that have had the privilege of listening to this recording.

1983 - 1985 Freelancing

I left RCA records to work for VTC in the sales area. VTC were based in Holborn and specialised in video tape sales The company closed down due to lack of funds so I freelanced for a while, set up a company and had an office in Wardour Street, Soho

Most of my work was related to designing sleeves for Videos I did a lot of work for Des Dolan who was the guy who released the much criticised Driller Killer.

A guy I worked with was Dave Kemp, he was the Soho champion at playing spoof. We drank in the Blue Posts regularly.

On one occasion we were having a promotional lunch with Peter Ustinov, about 16 people as far as I can remember. The person who organised the lunch, who Dave and I were helping, decided to play spoof to pay for the meal. Whoever won, pays the bill. A strange bet but the host wanted to pay the bill himself and the only way he could do it was to use Dave Kemp to fix it.

You each have three coins, you hold anything from 0 to 3 in your hand.

Then everyone puts their hand on the table. So with 16 players it could be anything from 0 to 48.

To show how good Dave was he won it first attempt!!!

1985 - Harp Beat

I got a call from a friend of mine, Sara-Jayne, who I used to drink with in the Blue Posts in Soho.

She was working for Keith Prowse, the ticket sales company They were looking for someone to run a big music sponsorship event called Harp Beat, part of the Guinness Group

So I made a few suggestions. The main one being that as a sponsor they receive maybe 10 free tickets for each gig.

These I would use as competition prizes via local press and radio. Two of the winners would then get the opportunity to go backstage, after the gig, and meet the band. It was so successful that in some instances the bands used me, instead of their PR companies, to promote the tours!

One of the first concerts I did was a bit embarrassing for me, although no one found out about it I arrived in Bradford for a gig the evening before the show I arrived at the Alhambra Theatre in the morning and set up the sponsorship display material Some guy came up to me and asked if I knew where there was a decent pub to go to nearby for lunch Naturally I had already sussed out where the pubs where, so I told him where it was and eventually we both, with the tour manager, went for a beer and a sandwich. Afterwards he says he had better get back to get ready for work.

It was not until he was on stage that I realised it was Andy McCluskie, OMD’s lead singer.

In 1983 I moved to a thatched cottage in Bradwell Village, now part Keynes.

Two great memories, other than living literally next door to two pubs, one was my cat Rover. He would sit in the middle of road making each car stop and the owner pick him up and gently place him on the pavement. Everyone knew Rover and the road was a cul de sac so not a problem. He was just seeking attention. He also loved going to the pub with me.

The other amusing time was when I received a call from a cavity wall insulation company. The guy said that they were doing several homes in the village and some friends has suggested he call me to see if I was interested. The more work the cheaper it became. I asked him who those friends were, he said he was not in the office so did not have that information to hand. I asked him if he know where my property was. “No 1 Vicarage Road” was the response

I kept him on the line for some considerable time asking lots of technical questions, before finally asking the guy how the hell could he cavity insulate 27 inch solid stone blocks.

Odd that he hung up on me.

1987 Competition Time

As I mentioned before one of the ways of promoting the Harp Beat Sponsorship was to give tickets to the local Press or radio stations. They run a competition and the winner gets to meet the band.

London’s Capital Radio DJ Graham Dene used to run one based on “7 D of the W “(Answer 7 days of the week) though much more difficult. I gave him one 3462 S in the HO. Which is 3462 seats in the Hammersmith Odeon. Graham thought that was too hard and it was going to be the last one he was going to do.

As it was the last one we wanted to make it something special. So I came up with 26 Y of SQ. “26 Years of Status Quo” .

The winner, and a friend would travel from London to Edinburgh on the Flying Scotsman, 1st Class. They would be met by the band limo at Waverly Station, and then to the Playhouse Theatre to meet the band.

The winner would then become a “Roadie” for the two concerts in Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Obviously there was little he could do but watch what went on behind the scenes.

At the Glasgow SECC concert before Quo went on stage, Fran Rossi said to me let’s give the winner a job. “Make him my microphone stand roadie”. “When we go on stage, make sure you keep him backstage until we start playing I will explain to the audience about the prize he won and you explain to him that if I knock my mic stand over, he then must come on stage and stand it up again”

This I duly did saying to the winner that the chances of it happening are so remote that just stand by the stage and enjoy the show. After a couple of numbers Fran deliberately knocked his stand over, the winner then ran on stage to stand it up again. The band stopped playing and the audience of 14,000 all stood and gave him a standing ovation.

Now methinks that’s a memory the winner will never forget.

1987 - Sir Ronald Millar

Whilst working for the Keith Prowse Agency I became involved in seeking sponsorship for some of the theatres in the West End, and someone I met and become friends with was Sir Ronald Miller He worked with Duncan Weldon at Triumph Theatre Productions

We regularly met at the oldest restaurant in London, Rules in Maiden Lane The staff got to know us quite well and were duly served with a cold glass of champagne whenever we arrived at our table.

It was at our first meeting that I found out that Ronnie was not just interested in the theatre but he was a well-known speech writer. He had also written a successful play “Robert and Elizabeth”. He wrote speeches for Edward Heath when he was Prime Minister. When Margaret Thatcher took over he was concerned he may no longer be required.

However, he received a call from Thatcher who asked him if he would consider writing her acceptance speech on becoming Prime Minister

Ronnie already had a speech in mind, one that Abraham Lincoln had used, not The Gettysburg Address but one he had written soon after.

He returned to Downing Street with some trepidation. He gave Thatcher the speech, who calmly sat at her desk and read it. When she had finished it she said that she had something interesting to show Sir Ronald.

She removed some papers from her handbag and gave him The same Abraham Lincoln speech!

Another sponsorship seeking trip was to Toronto and then into the USA.

A friend of mine from Chiltern Radio told me about a series of programmes, produced and broadcast by CHUM FM in Toronto. They were brilliant documentaries of all the great rock bands and were worth looking into. Ideally find a sponsor and get them broadcast in the UK.

There was also a contact from Buffalo, NY State, who wanted to promote music concerts at the Buffalo Bills stadium Then two guys from Montgomery, Alabama had some rare concert recordings they wanted sponsorship for

So a trip to Toronto to meet the boss of CHUM fm, who took me to see The Temptations in Lulu’s, reputed to have the longest bar in the world

I then flew to Buffalo, flew very low over Niagara Falls especially for us.

From Buffalo a trip to Atlanta and then driven to Montgomery for more sponsorship chat The best part of the trip?

Coming home, I was upgraded to first class, the plane was delayed, and so two glasses of champagne and two large gin and tonics just before the plane took off.

The next thing I remember was the plane touching down at Heathrow!

1987 - Saalbach and Saudi Arabia

I enjoyed one or two other memorable events whilst seeking other sponsorship opportunities. A major car engineering company in Ireland wanted a skiing holiday for its major clients. This was initially sorted out with their Managing Director and my boss. It was to take place in Saalbach, Austria

All was going really well until I was informed that the 24 or so guests were to be taken to the Spielberghaus restaurant up in the mountains I spoke to the hotel manager and he sorted things out. I needed to go to the restaurant to sort out the menu and wines before the meal. To get there you need to go on a Piste Basher, a tractor type vehicle. I visited the place and arranged everything including some live music.

Come the day we all boarded two Piste Bashers and arrived at the restaurant. A great evening was had by all. Well that was until I was told that only 4 people could return in the Piste Bashers, the rest would have to return down the steep slope on tin trays!!!

Embarrassing or what!! No one told me about this, and the guests where quite concerned. However, since there was no alternative, other than wait 3 months for the snow to disappear. We all finally got back to the hotel safely. I was rather concerned about how people felt about the incident, so kept out of the way. Until later I ventured into the bar, where they were having nightcaps to discover that they all thought it was one the best nights they had ever experienced! Phew, what a relief.

Next was a trip to Saudi Arabia to sort out putting events on at the new Saudi Stadium. Sadly we missed the public execution at the market place on Friday as there wasn’t one. We spent some considerable time going around the stadium, visiting the solid gold private rooms of the Crown Princes. Eventually we came up with a list of ideas, only to be told that none of them would work! No one had told us that women were not allowed to attend! However, we did succeeds in getting Saudi Arabia to play England at football there. A boring 1-1 draw apparently.

1987 - Muscular Dystrophy

I somehow became involved, whilst on tour with Marillion, with a find raising scheme for Muscular Dystrophy.

Bruce Dickinson was also part of the fund raising event and when I told him of an auction I was arranging he gave me one of his Gold Discs from Iron Maiden, since he lived in Richmond and that’s where the event was taking place.

As part organizer of the event I was given the task of helping with the security at Wembley and was finally rewarded with two tickets for the Royal Box

Not bad, since it was only the 4th gig Tina had ever been to!

After a very heavy drinking session with Lemme In a private music members club in Soho, I had a bit of a problem driving and consequently lost my license.

I managed to persuade Tina to drive for me on the Elkie Brooks tours. Meeting me in Preston. The next gig was Glasgow at the Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Since Tina was part of the tour I managed to get her AAA pass. Whilst backstage I got a message that Bryan Ferry, who was performing in the main concert hall wanted to see me. So two back stage passes for Bryan and Tina and I went off to see him. He wanted to know if I could get sponsorship for him for his remaining gigs on the tour. Upon leaving the backstage area people were asking how a young girl could have two back stage AAA passes!!

Eventually I needed to get to Wembley Arena to a gig my son was looking after on my behalf. Bon Jovi. When we arrived there I realised I had not done the usual local radio and press competition to get people back stage to meet the band. A quick bit of improvisation was need, so Tina, who was totally knackered because of all the driving, had to meet the band and get a kiss from Jon Bon Jovi himself.

Karl mentioned that the way Bon Jovi appeared on stage was quite spectacular, so I took Tina backstage to see how it was done There was only one other person there I got called away to do something, so this chap started talking to Tina She was really not in the mood and did her best to ignore him Eventually he gave up Upon returning to take Tina back to the front of house I asked her if she know who she was talking to. “Not a clue” was the response. When I told her it was Elton John she was quite surprised to say the least.

She says to this day, “Oh for that day back again”!

1988 - Another Ronnie

The advantage of working for the Keith Prowse Agency was to be in a position to attend other events that they were responsible for as far a sponsorship was concerned.

One of my first visits was to the Guards Polo Club, where the Royal Family play, to meet Major Ronald Ferguson, the man in charge.

His daughter, Sarah, Duchess of York was the wife of the Duke of York and he was the maternal grandfather of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. The Polo Club was sponsored by PIMMS which until my visit there I had never experienced drinking.

Ronald soon put that to rights and I had a most enjoyable afternoon in his company getting happily pissed together and hearing his trials and tribulations with members of the royal family. Good job I was not driving. (At least I don’t think I was).

A neighbour of mine stopped me as I was going home from the pub one evening. He asked me if I could do him a favour and take the Master Film of The Avengers to the Warner Brothers Studio in Los Angeles. He specialised in secure deliveries and he was very busy and needed an extra pair of hands. All expenses paid and a nice fee for doing it. I was Avengers.

Upon arrival in L.A. I hailed a taxi and told him to take me the Warner Brothers studio. He asked me why I needed to go there, so I explained. It started to rain enroute and when we arrived he told me to stay where I was, whilst he went to security to find out where I needed to go Five minutes later, and rather wet, he came back and told me where to go When I got back into the cab I asked him if he knew of a reasonably priced hotel he could recommend.

After a few phone calls he managed to get me into a nice place in Chinatown, easy walking to the main parts of L.A. I also asked him if he could do a drive around the following day, to show me the sights, including Hollywood. He duly did and only charged me around fifty dollars.

Needless to say I gave him a big tip for all the help he had given.

The next day I went on the tramcar to Long Beach to see the Queen Mary after a 5 star breakfast in one of the big

A memorable trip, and all free for me!!!

1989 - Bill Curbishley

It was a strange phone call I received, Bill Curbishly, the music producer and manager, asked me if I had time to pop into his office for a chat. As it was not far away, I agreed, having no idea what he wanted. He obviously had found out I was responsible for promoting most of the major rock bands via the music sponsorship programme I was in charge of.

His main responsibilities were looking after Led Zeppelin and The Who. Two of my favourite bands of all time, so another no brainer.

On arrival at his office I was duly introduced and offered coffee We were sitting chatting when someone stuck their head around the door and said “Oh, that’s what you call businessmen working”! Robert Plant being sarcastic

Bill went on to say that he had received a phone call from Pete Townsend, who was very worried that, because The Who had not performed for a few years, and that he had been in the USA for a long time that the scheduled dates might not sell very well. Did I have any ideas on how to gain media coverage to promote the gigs and create some sales?

Well I simply could not believe what he was saying. I had recently done a major promotion with the Daily Mail via Neil Murray, the one who taught me the 5 bums on the rugby posts,. I asked Bill if I could make a phone call. Within half an hour the Neil arrived. I explained the problem hoping he would not say or do something silly

My suggestion was that maybe he get the story printed in tomorrow’s Daily Mail, telling the readers that The Who were worried they had lost their following of fans. Quoting Pete Townsend.

The next day the article appeared on the front page of the Mail.

The tickets sold out literally within minutes

1990 - Harp Beat

For five years I worked mostly with bands on tour in the UK. Hard work and little time off, but the experience, as you can imagine was incredible.

These are the bands I worked with and festivals we sponsored:-

1990 - Royal Mail

From Rock ‘N’ Roll to the Royal Mail, really?

When I finished the Harp Beat job I needed to find another job. A friend advised me to consider something government based, due to the benefits of getting a decent pension.

Eventually I applied for a job at the Royal Mail as an Employee Communications Manager, having no idea what that was all about? However, I was based in Epsom, so not far away. from home.

The job simply meant getting information to staff in a sense that they would understand. Senior management appreciating that they previously had no way of doing this effectively.

I can’t say that the job was interesting nor exciting, but the main thing was a decent pension and a company car!”

My area was the Kingston upon Thames post-code.

1990 - Status Quo Special

A good friend of ours, Dave Williams, was a devoted fan of Status Quo, though he had never been to see them They were playing at Wembley Arena so I thought I might contact Rick Parfitt to explain and see if I could get some tickets Four duly arrived

As I knew Wembley arena well and I thought I would take Dave and Ruth for a tour around the bars and merchandise areas, hoping I might bump into one of the crew who I might know Maybe get backstage to meet up with the guys Sadly they was no one about

I explained to Dave that as the tickets were complimentary they were right at the back of the arena He did not mind at all, all he was interested in was seeing them on stage for the first time

I managed to confuse them enough so that when we finally went to our seats they were most surprised to find that they were in the Friends and Family block, opposite the Royal Box.

What was even more entertaining was when the band came on they looked at the box where we were and duly bowed directly to us!!!!

1991 - Barbados

Tina and I had a great honeymoon in Antigua, friends of ours from Sunbury, Geoff and Glynis unexpectedly joined us!!

On the return journey to England we had to fly to Barbados, then change for the flight to London. Whilst at the airport both Geoff and I decided we needed the loo. A local, who was working at the airport, asked us if we needed any assistance, we asked him where the toilets where. He led the way, and asked us where did we come from.

When we told him England he then said where? We told him a small place south west of London on the River Thames. “Oh whereabouts?” he asked. Sunbury on Thames was the response. “Oh I know Sunbury very well, I would occasionally pop into the Three Fishes for a drink”. I told him that I used to help out behind the bar in the Three Fishes. He then went on to say, he should not really have been in there, but the route the 235 from Brentford, which he was the driver, finished at the pub.

1991 - Well’ard

Tina and I purchased Well’ard, we think, in 1991 but cannot be 100% sure. Certainly I slept on the boat the night I got married, after a drinking session with Bennyworth, the lock keeper, and Steve Langton a Thames Water Authority employee. Tina was at home!!

We decided to do this so that we spent the night together after the church ceremony rather than the registry office affair.

We were member of the Middle Thames Yacht Club, which was fine, but had more fun with another club, The Sunbury Yobs Yacht Club. Set up basically to take the piss out of the MTYC.

On one occasion we were drinking at our local pub, The Phoenix, and the landlady decided to close early for some reason I had Well’ard moored at the pub mooring dock I said to the lads that we should take my boat for a cruise to another pub So we all boarded went at least 400 yards to the next pub, after a few drinks we decided a new yacht club had been formed and we decided to call it The Phoenix Really Interesting Cruising Club. The burgee below with the purple vein!

We seldom did conventional things, most memorable was the regular Christmas party on June 25th! Sailing from Sunbury to Kingston, Christmas decorations displayed!

We were always very fortunate with regard to obtaining tickets for most major things taking place in the UK.

Working for RCA then running Harp Beat meant music tickets were never going to be a problem, the hardest thing to remember was who we had seen! There were so many.

Twickenham for rugby was not a problem either. We had a neighbor and drinking friend, Roy Sharpe, who used to run Barclay’s Bank at Heathrow airport. When he retired he applied for a secretarial job at the Twickenham ticket office. The interviewers were surprised when he turned up, they expected lots of young women. However, because of his experience he got the job. So tickets for Twickenham were never a problem. Tina’s first visit was the Rugby World Cup Final in 1991, England v Australia. There were very few games over the next few years that we missed.

Peter Lewis’ father Roger Lewis become a senior steward at Wimbledon because of his naval background. We always had 4 tickets for the second Wednesday of the competition, usually Men’s quarter finals. Two tickets for Centre Court and two for No.1. Full price for No.1, but half price for Centre Court. Don’t ask me why! Always in a good position.

To make it a special day we would invite two friends, to come along. We would meet at our home for a champagne breakfast, then get the train from Sunbury to Wimbledon. Upon arrival we simply let them go to whichever court they wanted to, we would use the other tickets, if we wanted to watch the tennis, at the other court. The arrangement was to meet on the hour at the Pimm’s tent if necessary. Roger Lewis’s son Peter was also a steward there, through association with his Father. We would often meet up, sometimes go to the Steward’s bar and restaurant, or simply watch games on the outer courts. The end of the day, we would, often as not, be taken for a nice meal by our guests somewhere nearby as a thank you

Working for the Keith Prowse Agency, meant easy access to tickets for the theatre, and we were frequent visitors. Most memorable for me was Dustin Hoffman in the Merchant of Venice, free tickets courtesy of Sir Ronald Millar. Lovely as we sat right in front of film director Michael Winner and his latest bit of crumpet.

1992 - Olympics

My boss at Royal Mail told me that she had suggested to Bill Cockburn, the Managing Director, that I might be a useful asset in helping Royal Mail promote their sponsorship of the British Teams for the Olympics and the Paralympics. This due to my history of PR, marketing and promotion of some of the top bands and classical musicians in the world.

It was when I met Ian Hayden the soldier who was attacked on duty at Tidworth, Wiltshire. He became a famous British Paralympian. He worked for Royal Mail. We became good friends and enjoyed a drink or two after the promotion.

The story to tell here is when he was a shot put, javelin and discus thrower and won gold and silver medals when he represented Great Britain at the 1988 Paralympics. On one training occasion he collapsed and eventually was confined to a wheelchair Not one to be put off, he practiced the same sports throwing from the wheelchair and went on to win two Silver medals at the next Paralympics in Barcelona

All we had to do is travel around the country and help arrange fund raising activities and promoted the Royal Mail Sponsorship.

I received a phone call from Sir William Cockburn, after the Olympic and Paralympic work, asking if I would go in and see him.

He said that every year, as every other major organization does, they have to produce the year end accounts and how the business had operated. If you have seen one then you know they are excruciatingly boring to most people!

He asked if I would take a look at them to see if I could “Make then more interesting to read”. That was a hell of a challenge.

I met up with Steve Murray, Polly Productions, who, as I mentioned before, used to do my record sleeves. We went to a bar restaurant in Wardour Street for lunch. After about an hour and two bottles of wine, we managed to come up with a ‘light hearted’ version for each introduction, not much you can do with the main statistics. Another bottle of wine and things became rather most “off the wall” Some very funny, but not really useable.

I met with Sir William and showed him the draft we made, he liked it and said it certainly was an improvement I then showed him, just for a laugh, the second version He was over the moon and said, with a little adjustment it was perfect

Steve and I received a couple of grand for our troubles and so managed to drink lots of champagne.

1994 - Castle Coombe

Peter Lewis and I, whilst at RCA would socialise

We played squash at the “In and Out”, also known as the Naval & Military Club on Piccadilly. Where Peter’s father being a well-known naval captain was a member. I then discovered that Captain Bull-Dog Lewis, Peter’s father, was Commander of the Royal Navy College at Dartmouth, where I planned to go after I left school in the early 60’s. Sadly, due to my mother having heart problems, I was unable to attend, despite passing the exams and receiving official entry

In 1994 Peter’s father passed away, and I accompanied Peter to where Roger lived in the West Country, to assist in clearing out the cottage.

On the return journey, after a beer in Bath we decided to call into Castle Coombe, where Peter had grown up. He had not been back since he was a small child. I took the wrong road going into Castle Coombe having missed the turning so we ended up at the other end of the village. There was parking spot so we used it. Coincidence number one was when we got out of the car and I looked across the river and could not believe the scene I saw. It was a scene I had painted when I was at Art College. I was supposed to have painted a real landscape but had forgotten, so decided I would simply copy a picture that was on a box of chocolates belonging to my mother.

Finally after a lunch Peter wanted to go to the local Post Office to get some memorabilia Whilst browsing the lady shop owner came up to him and asked him if he was Peter Lewis Truly amazing, but she then went on to say that Peter looked so much like his father that he was unmistakable

Spooky Times.

Another challenge for me was to look at a way of improving the communication for the team briefing that all front line staff had to suffer once a week.

What this meant was that they heard all the new ideas from Head Office, then from Middle Management and then their own area bosses Not much for the front line staff to say or add

I created ‘Let’s Talk’ which was a simple reversal of the direction information came. It started with the front line staff, saying what needed to be done locally to improve the operation, then information from area management and then the top management.

This way the information was sent from the bottom to the top. Any questions or suggestions the front line staff had, were then answered by senior management at the next team meeting. It worked really well, and as far as I know is still being used.

1995 - A Bar in the Making

A couple of friends we made whilst living in Sunbury on Thames were Bob and Maggie Stone.

Maggie was offered a top job, working for Reuters, but it meant moving to Chicago.

We had a final dinner with them at their house and Bob asked if we would like to have the bottles of alcohol they had, as they could not take them to Chicago.

They had a small drinks table with the usual, whiskey, brandy, port etc, so naturally I said yes. They were staying at our place before they left and said they would bring the bottles round when they came. Imagine my surprise when they asked if I could help carry it in!!

Apparently Maggie, who travelled all over the world for Reuters. would always buy a bottle of whatever, if she thought they did not have one!! 25 years later and we still have most of it on our bar at home.

When we lived in Sunbury Tina and I would run lots of Pub quizzes, mostly to raise money for a local Hospice, where several of our drinking buddies had ended up.

The quizzes lasted most of the evening and were very popular. We tried to make them friendly and competitive, giving everyone a fair chance.

The last round was based on True or False, and it was quite a leveller at times. The only problem most of the time was that I had to make up the questions.

I spent some time one lunchtime, with a few beers, and eventually came up with a few and one I thought pretty good.

It was “Hayley Mills one starred in a soft porn movie called College Capers”?

I was familiar with many agents in the music and film business and as luck would have it I knew Hayley Mills agent. So I checked to make sure that she had never appeared in anything remotely like that.

When I arrived in my local pub that evening, I told some mates that I had found a new True of False question and told them the Hayley Mills one. One of the guys said, “Oh definitely true, I have seen it”!

Some people eh?

1998 - Hampton Paintings

I have told you about the trip with Peter Lewis to sort out his Father’s belongings, well he had some paintings that Peter thought might be worth something. He sent some copies of them to Southerby’s Auction House who confirmed that they would certainly be worth selling at auction.

It turned out that after closer examination they were not by the artist they thought, but by his brother

Peter was a bit concerned. However, he need not have been as they fetched rather a lot of money.

We duly went to an Oyster restaurant nearby and had half a dozen oysters with Champagne for starters, a dozen oysters and Champagne for main course and six oysters and Champagne for dessert.

Perfect.

The painting above is a water colour copy of the original that I did. It is of Hampton Court Bridge.

1998 - Curry Vinaigrette

We met up with our friends Bob & Maggs in close to Central Park.

The schedule for the day was a visit to the Guggenheim Museum where there was an exhibit of the Terracotta Army. First of all we agreed in a typical American style breakfast at a local restaurant.

Eventually we arrived at the museum. A friend of mine had suggested starting from the top of the museum and work your way down. Thus avoiding most of the other people visiting the place. This worked a treat and by the time we got to the main exhibit is was pretty quiet.

We finished up at around noon and Bob suggested lunch at the Boat House in Central park, since it was very close by. I thought is a little early for lunch, but thought maybe a small salad and glass of wine would not go amiss.

The others went for the Full Monty. Bob had beetroot soup which was a perfect match for his polo shirt, I decided upon a Boathouse Salad, which I thought would be quite light and not too filling, forgetting this is New York. The salad was terrific, green leaf lettuce base with papaya, toasted spiced cashew nuts, grilled prawns, croutons and a curry vinaigrette sauce. .

On returning to the UK I was determined to replicate this wonderful salad. I did so until I got to the curry vinaigrette, that’s when I realised I had no idea how to make it. Several attempts on the internet to get a recipe failed, most people suggested simply adding curry powder to vinegar, ugh!!

Eventually I received a message saying that whenever I made a curry, to add some extra Ghee or butter to the mix. The lady said that if I did this then when the curry was cooked there would be an orangey coloured oil floating on the top of the curry.

This I had experienced on several occasions so I knew what she was talking about. She then went on to say, do not throw the liquid away, save it, add vinegar to it and there is your vinaigrette sauce. So simple and true.

I asked her where she got the recipe from and to my amazement the told me that she work in a restaurant in Central Park, New York!!

1998 - New Orleans

There is always one Christmas that stands out in one’s memory. This one would take some beating! We decided we would fly to Chicago and meet up with Bob & Maggs, then fly to New Orleans for a few days.

We stayed in the French Quarter, and after wandering around for a while were quite surprised to see signs saying “Minimum 2 Drinks Strictly Enforced”. We all thought this a great idea and should be encouraged elsewhere!

The other sign that I spotted speaks for itself. We explored New Orleans pretty well and stayed away from the areas we were advised about. Next stop was Biloxi, and the casinos. Not that we had any interest in gambling, just thought it would make a nice change.

We discover that you could sit at the slot machine and they would serve you a bottle of Budweiser, free of charge We spent quite a long time there, and as we were leaving Tina won enough money back to cover what we had lost.

After Biloxi we headed back to Chicago via St Louis. We arrived and were told that we had to get an earlier flight due to heavy snow forecast.

We were all split up on the plane but did not mind as it meant we would have more chance of getting back to Chicago.

I sat next to a charming woman who got a little worried when the guy using the deicing machine run out and carried on using a spray can!

I could not but help notice that the woman had very dirty finger nails, but was smartly dressed. Eventually she noticed I had spotted them and explained. She had been working on her parent’s garden and not noticed the time, so had to rush to get to the airport on time. We chatted about Chicago and I mentioned that a friend of ours had opened an Indian Restaurant, near to Wrigley Field called the Marigold. She said she knew it and maybe would even join us there.

I asked her how she knew it and she told me that she worked in the Northwestern Hospital nearby I asked her what she did and she told me she was a Brain Surgeon You think she would have clean nails wouldn’t you!

1998 - New Orleans Cont’d

The snow eventually arrived, the second highest snowfall in Chicago history.

We walked some distance to find a bar that was open but did have some fun in the snow We celebrated the New Year at Iron Mike’s restaurant where Tina commandeered the balloons to try and get Bob the Duck to fly Impressed the manager enormously due to her determination

The first time we stayed with Bob he gave up his bathroom for us to use so we bought him a present hence Bob the Duck. Don’t ask us why? Bob the duck subsequently travelled with them wherever they went. Including our trip to New Orleans. He’s even seen the Grand Canyon with us.

Naturally our flight back to England was delayed and these two photo’s clearly explain how we felt and how Bob & Magg’s felt too!

1998 – A Bold Move

Once upon a time I was a millionaire.

When we decided to buy an apartment in Lagos everything went very quickly. In one day we signed the contract, got a fiscal number, a lawyer and opened a bank account. The latter being the most entertaining.

I opened the account explaining that we were buying a property. He asked if I needed an overdraft, I said no, I can transfer money to the account easily. He said I could have 2 million if I needed it.

Back in Sunbury I was telling my mates in the local pub The business guys sitting around us were amazed when I told them I didn't need a £2 million overdraft They did not realise that it was in escudos, worth around £5k

Tina and I purchased most of the furniture and items we would need, for our new property in Portugal, from IKEA. A good friend of ours Steve a.k.a “Fat Bloke” loaned me a large 6 wheel base Transit van to move the stuff from England to Portugal.

I had help from Jimmy Meade and Jeff Hinton, both locals in Sunbury Jim ran the local pub and used to run a scrap yard in the East End owned by the notorious gangsters, the Richardson's Jeff was a retired policeman!

As I was driving along towards Madrid I spotted a Norbert Dentressangle lorry in a layby, well into Spain. Naturally I shouted “Norbert” waking my two companions up. Naturally they were completely bewildered. I had then to explain, that due to cheap fuel prices in France, Norbert Dentressangle lorries we often seen on British roads, taking business away from the likes of Eddy Stobart!

BBC Radio 4 had a phone in, a bit tongue in cheek, whereby people would ring in to see how many Norbert’s they had seen, compared to Eddy’s on their way to work in the morning. As Tina and I knew of this whenever we saw either of those types of lorries we would shout their names out!

From then on there was a combined shout when we saw a Norbert. Also there were a lot of signs directing us to Leclerc, the supermarkets.

Soon we were shouting that out too, as in, “It is I, Leclerc” from ‘Allo ‘Allo.

On arriving back to Sunbury we all fell into the Phoenix and shouted out “It is I Norbert LeClerc” much to the confusion of everyone in the pub.

It turned out that the woman Jimmy was working for was a theatrical agent and guess what, one of her clients was Jack Haig who played Monsieur LeClerc, hence the photo.

It was our first visit to see Bob and Maggs in their 25 miles west of Chicago. We were taken to a bar in Wheaton, a few miles away, to meet their friends Alex & Dorne McCluckie.

Naturally a lot of social chit chat and eventually Dorne asked me where I used to live, before I moved to Sunbury, where we originally met Bob and Maggs. I told her Linslade, near to Leighton Buzzard. She was quite surprised, and asked me what I used to do there, being a small place in the country. I said, other than visiting the local pubs I set up and ran a local football league for the youngsters in the surrounding villages. Under 12 and under 10’s. We had around 16 teams.

One of the things I said I did to help improve the standards was to get at least one member of each club to do a referees course with the local F.A. also a “Treatment of Injuries” course, which was administered by Bertie Mee former Arsenal player and manager

She asked me who taught us to be referees, and I said I have no idea what his name was, too long ago, however he was around 60, and quite well built was from up north. She mentioned a name and I said, yes that’s him! How do you know? It turns out that it was her father!!

I refereed quite a few games at senior level and my most memorable was in the F.A. Amateur Cup Vauxhall Motors v Stotfold Town. There was a serious misdemeanour and when the player was asked for his name, after being cautioned before being sent off, he replied Mickey Mouse. “Is that with an “e”? He was rather rude in his response. He was subsequently suspended for 6 games and the club fined for playing an ineligible player as there was no Mickey Mouse on the team sheet!

2001- Structural Phycologist

Eventually after a few years of running local communications and several other projects that I have previously mentioned I became head of training for the South East region of the UK.

Another one of the responsibilities I was given at Royal Mail was to produce a training course for senior management who were moving from the private sector to Royal Mail as a career choice. (Probably due the pension benefits).

It was a course designed to explain how the business operated and part of the history. I was most surprised when I was introduced to the class of around 16 people as Ray Pocock who is a Structural Phycologist!

I didn’t even know what one of those was!!

In 2002 they were offering a lot of middle and senior management early retirement options. I put my name forward, but nothing happened. As budgets were cut none of the areas could afford staff training, so I would call Area Managers up and ask if there were any training session they wanted Obviously they said no there was no budget I simply said “Well, don’t tell anyone” set the class up and I will come long and do the training and tell no one about it. Passed the time nicely

After about a year, someone came to the office and asked if I still wanted early retirement, I told them yes of course. They said that as I had done 13 years they would offer me a 17 year pension.

Now let me think about that!!!!

2002 - The Dog

We had planned to do the cliff top walk across to Praia de Luz. The weather was perfect for it. We got about as far as the turn off for Praia Dona Ana when this dog latched on to us It was a crossbreed part Labrador and part strange looking alien thing. The dog proceeded to lead the way into Porto Do Mos about 4 kilometers!

Every now and then it would turn around to make sure we were still keeping up. If there were other dogs around it would certainly made sure that they never bothered us.

Tina and I stopped for a cold drink for about twenty minutes. No sign of the dog. Setting off again for the second half of the journey, only to find the dog waiting for us once more on the path up to the cliff top.

Again it led us all the way to Luz. It even knew the easy way down from the monolith at the end of the cliff top part of the journey. At the bottom of the hill it disappeared, we assumed it has either gone for some water, as it would certainly have needed it, or perhaps had gone home

We made it to Fred's pub. Kelly's, he was not working and there was a World Cup match on, with Ireland playing, the pub was packed so we drank outside. After about 15 minutes who turned up? The dog. It took a drink of water at the pub, looked at us as if to say -You might have bloody waited", and then buggered off.

We surmised that it was going to Sagres and the Cape, We mentioned about this to some other people but no one had ever encountered the dog on their walks before .

2006 - Vindaloo

I mentioned Alex McLuckie, in an earlier story, about becoming involved in opening an Indian restaurant in Chicago, near to Wrigley Field.

He invited Bob, Mike and Charlotte, Tina and myself to join them for dinner one evening. Alex knew that I had a background in catering and duly invited me to be shown around the kitchen by the head chef.

It was pretty amazing, as it is a large restaurant, but quite a small compact kitchen. Everything was so well organised. He then asked how we enjoyed the meal, I told him that everyone was very impressed and had enjoyed it, however, I thought the lamb shank Vindaloo was too hot. He was quite taken aback but I asked him if he know the real origins of Vindaloo, to which he said it was a traditional Indian curry, but was supposed to be hot I did say that it was what most people thought, but in fact originally it was developed by the Portuguese! He was somewhat taken aback until I explained

The Portuguese were big traders with India, and would take certain goods from Portugal and their African colonies. Vinegar and Garlic being two of the main items - Vin and Aloo. These were delivered to Goa, in India. It was the Goanese who created the dish, originally with pork. The sauce being predominantly Vinegar and Garlic, with local herbs, it was not meant to be hot as the population of Goa consisted of a good number of Portuguese.

When I arrived back in the UK I did some research on the Internet, looking for an authentic recipe for Goanese Vindaloo. I finally got one that was convincing as the lady also mentioned the Portuguese origins and how the Portuguese would bring some of the ingredients from Mozambique, one of their colonies. Some years later I was chatting to a friend of ours who works in one of our local drinking establishments and Vindaloo came up in conversation, I told her my story and amazingly she said that the woman that sent the recipe could possibly have been her mother, as they were both originally from Mozambique and whilst she had come to Portugal her mother ended up in Goa!!

Food for Thought.

2008 - Oleander and Phil

After we sold out apartment in Sunbury on Thames, as a precursor to moving to the Algarve, we rented a lovely old cottage in the Surrey hills in a village named Gomshall.

Two really good memories were the surrounding wildlife, including deer, foxes and a great variety of wild birds. However, our favourite visitor was Phil the Pheasant. He almost became tame, shame he was too old to eat! He would come each morning to the kitchen door and scream at me That was the message for me to get off my arse and get some food for him Which I did regularly! This is Phil almost dining with us

Another amusing incident was receiving a postcard from a friend of ours who was in Spain. The last line of the message was “The Oleander is in Bloom”. We thought it sounded as if it was a message in code. The pub we frequented early evening after work was The Compasses, there were around half a dozen of us most evenings. The landlady, who was a “White Witch” was a miserable sod at that time of the day but insisted on working whilst we drank there as we were “valued customers” There was no Happy Hour so was decided we would name ourselves the Grumpy Club instead.

I told them about the postcard and we decided to use it as a code message. When we were fed up and ready to leave we would say “The Oleander is in Bloom” which meant that we would leave a few minutes apart to go to the village club for more drinks

Oleander is the wild flowers you see on the central reservations of the major highways in Portugal and Spain, hence the interest

2009 - The Big Move

We arranged for the transportation of all of our possessions with a transport company who specialized in moving furniture, etc., to Spain and Portugal. Loading the furniture was no problem, as we managed to get all of our friends from the village to come along and help In return for bacon and sausage rolls, beers and a few bob

We did exactly the same in Lagos, invited a few friends and acquaintances to unload everything for a few Euros

2009 - Hobbies and Interests

Over the years I have always had an interest in art, especially simple sketching and design I was top of both Grammar schools when it came down to art.

Here are a some sketches, done over the last few years

2010 - Vision Graphics

As a result of my interest in sketching one of the things I have been doing since retiring in the Algarve is graphic designs for local bars and restaurants. Often I would try to add an element of humour to them, but discretely just to see if anyone ever notices what’s, been done.

Two examples, Gil Eanes, Where’s Wally and O Artista’s main menu. The odd thing with Artista’s is the most of the Bon Appetite languages can be recognised, but no one has ever asked what language vlSop is from.

Klingon of course!

2010 - Vision Graphics

I produced a flyer once and was going to get someone to distribute them around Lagos and the neighbouring areas. We could not agree over a price for doing the job. So I thought I would test the market, I delivered six flyers and got four jobs. So glad I did not send the rest out!

I still do some work but nowhere near as much as I used to At one time, just locally, I had over 100 clients for various things, from business cards and flyers to poster and menus

2012 - Up and Down Dale

Some friends started to go walking, and although I missed the first one I have managed most of them for the last eight years. When one of the founder members left I took over running the club, then managed to pass it on to Tina who has managed it for the past few years.

We used or adapted our walks from existing walking guides but created several ourselves We currently have 23 walks and are looking at a few more,

One of the major changes was to change the walking club name to The Beery Hiker’s, The Drinking Club with a walking problem. This sums up was the attitude of the club. Enjoy the walking, for the fitness benefits, but also enjoy the fun afterwards and on other special occasions.

The members range from early 50 ‘s to mid 70’s so the idea is keep fit but have fun. As you might ascertain from the club rules!

RULES AND REGULATIONS PRIMARY RULES

1. You must like Chicken Piri Piri

2. You must like Cristal Lager

3. You must like silly jokes

4 You must not mind having the piss taken out of you

TEMPORARY MEMBERSHIP May be awarded in the event of-

1 Suspension of an existing member (see separate list*)

2 Unexpected pregnancy of an existing member

3 Imprisonment of an existing member

4 Physical incapacity of an existing member - (includes inability to walk in a straight line)

5. Loss of an existing member due to straggling on the previous walk.

GRANTING OF FULL MEMBERSHIP

1. Ownership of a brewery (NOT Super Bock)

2. Blackmailing of a member of the group's management

3. Bribing of a member of the group's management (encouraged)

4. Death or permanent disability of an existing member (unless as a result of the actions of the proposed new member)

5. SUSPENSION of an existing member

MEMBERSHIP APPROVAL - New members must be vetted and examined thoroughly by the Head of Members (Kathy ((May or May Not)) May) before acceptance is granted.

2013 – Lagos365

I became good friends, Peter and Margaret, who used to run pubs in the UK and now worked in Lagos in various bars or restaurants.

Peter set up an online magazine named Lagos 365 and I wrote several articles for Peter under the name “Believe it or Not? The stories were based on local history, some true some completely made up It was fun to do and got some interesting responses from the readers

Here are some examples, up to you to decide on their validity.

Dr. Joaquim do Sacramento Pagrete (1905-2001) was senior government member in Portugal and it is believed that he was instrumental in the renovation and re-construction of the old windmill at the top of Rua De Joaquim do Sacremento Pagrete

This is a very strange place and seldom is anyone seen at these premises. It is alleged to be a disguised missile site from which an attack could be mounted on any point in Europe!

Naturally there is little evidence of this on the internet because of the secret nature of the installation, however, some people know some of the facts behind this as it is a well know Geocache site for enthusiasts of this pastime. Strangely enough the cache is known as the Enigma Experience

Throughout European history there are many tales of the public humiliation of petty criminals. Two main devices were used, either stocks or the pillory. Lagos had its own pillory which consists of metal bars with hooked ends where the petty criminal’s arms could be secured.

These were always set up in areas where the majority of people often congregated, such as market squares, dockyards or other public places. They were raised up to ensure the public could easily see the villain receiving his or her punishment. Notification of the crime was placed next to the pillory so people could judge the severity of the crime and act accordingly. Petty crimes, such as stealing for food where treated more leniently, whereas criminals stealing goods to sell and make profit were treated far more severely, and sometimes lasted for several hours.

Once people discovered that the pillory was occupied they would gather to taunt them, usually laughing at the lesser criminals but would throw items at people who had behaved more badly

The Lagos pillory (Pelourinho) was situated in the main square of Igreja de Santa Maria and was mostly used to humiliate to people who tried to steal from the many warehouses that used to frequent that part of Lagos, being close to the original port.

The warehouse owners often provided ammunition for the crowd, who would then show their displeasure at the criminal by throwing rotten olives or oranges, the main exports of Lagos, at the miscreants. The Lagos Pelourinho is currently in a courtyard of the Municipal Museum of Lagos.

2015 - Beery Hikers

One of the other benefits for me was the opportunity to do some creative artwork, most of it tongue in cheek

2020 – Book Summary

One thing over the time I have lived in Portugal is compile and create some publications that are published on ISSUU. Nothing too exciting basically, apart from perhaps my wine book, they are collections of fun and memories or design work that I have done, in a scrap book format.

https://issuu.com/visiongraphics4

2021 – Famous People I have met

I am sometimes asked how many famous people have I met. Obviously quite a lot more than most will have done, certainly over 150 and that does not include many famous band members. The great thing is that some of them no one has ever heard of, but in their relevant field very famous indeed. Such as Roger Lewis, Ronald Miller and Ian Hayden, already mentioned in other articles

Here are some examples:-

I have already mentioned not recognizing Andy McCluskey on the OMD tour well here are a couple of others. I was on tour in 1986 and we did a gig at Whitley Bay ice-rink. I went to the private bar for a beer after the band came on . There was a guy at the bar, typical Geordie with flat cap and accent. We chatted for around 20 minutes until some of the crew came in and needed to ask me something

First of all they asked how I knew the guy at the bar, I said “I don’t”, they then asked if I know who it was I said “No idea I assume he is a local”. It’s Brian Johnson from AC/DC they said. One of my favourite bands at the time!!!

There is another occurrence at the end of the Olympic Sponsorship assignment when I was a guest at the Dorchester Hotel where Royal Mail were holding a dinner, with lots of celebrities.

I was talking to this guy before the event started and he was asking what we had done to help raise the sponsorship profile. I vaguely recognized him so naturally though he was a senior manager at Royal Mail. It was not until he started to compere the event that I realised it was David Coleman.

1. Head of MI5, 2. Only women to row around the world, 3. Basil Brush

4. Only women to appear in Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

2.Roz Savage

1.Stella Rimington