Don't Rain On My Parade

 Wednesday 11th February. 5.50 a.m. I know it's too early, but I have changed all the bedding. It's most definitely not one of my favourite jobs, but my next slot on the washing machine rota is this afternoon. I keep putting it off, and my thinking is, 'don't put off doing what you could do today, or words to that effect. Putting on a duvet cover is my worst job, but it is done, and the old bedding is now in the laundry basket and in the hallway.

Thursday 12th February. 9.10 a.m. The digital thermometer currently reads 22ºc. It seems yet another soulless sort of day, slightly overcast, no sun.

Friday 13th. 6.20 p.m. Yesterday morning, I took the Zoomer puppet to the Thursday Life Group to introduce him to the members of the group. The idea is to use puppets at church for the children's ministry. I hope to find other people to work on this, because, basically, I can only operate one puppet at a time. It won't be just the performance, but the making of the puppets as well as the staging that will be needed.

An unsettled day. It's been raining. almost constantly. The weather forecast tells us that snow is on the way.

Sunday 15th February. 2.35 p.m. It rained really heavily when I left to drive to church this morning. As I write this, it has stopped raining, but it's now overcast.

Monday 16th February. 9.50 a.m. On this day in 1969, I began my first stage management job, as a Student A.S.M., at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham. The first production was an adaptation of 'Jane Eyre.' 

It is bright and sunny as I write this. It just shows how fickle the weather can be in this country. I hope it stays that way.

The digital thermometer reads 22ºc. 

Tuesday 17th February. 10.20 a.m. It's 'Pancake Day' or, to give it its proper name, 'Shrove Tuesday.' It's 40 days before Easter.

I have made batter for pancakes. I always got to make batter for pancakes and Yorkshire pudding when I lived at the farm. I think my mother must have shown me how to make it. It's not exactly difficult, but I make it several hours before I cook the pancakes, as it's important to let it stand and let it thicken. I put butter in it which makes the pancakes taste far better.

We live only a short distance from Olney, famed for it's pancake race. I'd love to go, except it would be extremely difficult to park, knowing that a lot of people would turn up to watch.

Life At Home- Part 3

 There was a piano in the house. I have an idea it was a Steinway, which is supposed to be one of the best makers of pianos. It was an upright. My brother, Robert, was a proficient player and had passed several grades at school. My grandmother, Ferriman, was also a good piano player. She used to play at the annual village Christmas parties, which were held in the parish rooms every December. I do remember that she also had a piano in the lounge at Mill Farm, and on the music stand she had music scores for several well-known musicals, such as 'My Fair Lady' and 'Salad Days', which is the only musical I ever worked on when I was an ASM at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham. 

I mentioned in an earlier post that my mother had a drawer full of such things as paper bags, string, elastic bands, and so on. She also had a button box, stuffed full of buttons. It was always referred to as the Queen and Prince Philip tin, because it had HM Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on the lid. I think it might have been full of biscuits at one time and probably a souvenir of the Queen's coronation in 1953 or even her marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. I often wondered where all those buttons came from. Perhaps from clothes that got worn out, and the buttons were removed. If we required a button, we always knew where to find one. Another hangover from the war was a 'make-do-and-mend' culture.

Christmas was shared between three families: my family, when we lived at Malting Farm, my uncle and aunt, Gemma and Michael Ferriman, at Mill Farm and then my Kendall aunt and uncle at Church Farm at Eyeworth, near Sandy. There was always a lot to eat. We used to go to each one in the afternoon of Christmas Day, after we had lunch. Whoever was hosting did the main 'eats' and the guests bought such things as trifles, puddings, mince pies and so on. My mother made a simply amazing trifle, using confectioners' custard, which in itself was quite difficult to make, using eggs and goodness knows what else and probably the base of the thing would be home-made Swiss roll or sponge, drenched in real sherry. 

My father could be a real snob regarding sherry. He always insisted on having Bristol Cream, which is one of the leading brands. But my mother bought in cooking sherry from the local shop and kept it in the Bristol Cream bottle for when she used it in trifle. One morning, my father had a visitor, Percy Brocklehurst, who used to do a lot of electrical work for my parents. They sat in the kitchen, drinking sherry. My mother was probably in the next room, most likely sewing or knitting. She could hear the conversation going on in the kitchen. My father said, 'This is probably the best sherry. You can't beat Bristol Cream!' My mother had a bit of a laugh to herself when she knew well that the 'Bristol Cream' they were drinking was actually cheap and cheerful cooking sherry!

Tea was at around 4 o'clock at home. My mother's cakes were very much regarded by visitors. She made a wide range, from the classic Victoria sponge to traditional shortbread, which I believe was made to a recipe handed down from one of my elderly aunts. This was made in a round tin and she used her fingers to imprint the design around the edge, and once cooked, it was taken out of the tin in triangles, with sugar sprinkled on the top.

People always seemed to turn up at the farmhouse just as tea was being served in the kitchen. Because it was a farm, there were a number of company reps who used to do business with my father, Banks of Sandy and Jordan's of Biggleswade for example. Also, family friends, such as Percy Brocklehurst (already mentioned above.) For some odd reason, he always said that 'I always have a boiled egg when I've been on a long journey!' No, don't ask me why. As a child, you tend to believe the odd things adults say. So it might well have been something he made up on the spur of the moment. But I don't remember him actually eating a boiled egg on such occasions! If there was an electrical job that needed doing, he was always able to do it, such as rewiring something, repairing anything or other job. He drove a Morris Minor and all his tools were kept in the boot, and it was easy to recognise the sound of his car arriving before he came into the house.

Happy Days Are Here Again! (Or Are They?)

Thursday. 8.25 a.m. 53 years ago today, I began my theatre career as a student A.S.M. at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham. I was thrown in at the deep end, as it were because that Monday was the technical rehearsal of a production of 'Jane Eyre.' It had Angela Richards playing Jane in it. I was very 'green' as they say. In those days, 'rep' or 'repertory' theatre, was in full operation. Most large towns throughout the United Kingdom had their own 'rep.' Plays ran throughout the year, except for a break of a fortnight during the summer for maintenance. Each play would run for two-three weeks, with the next play in rehearsal as a play was in performance. It meant that stage management had to search for props for the next play, beg, borrow or steal items to be used in the next play, so we would scour the town for these items. As the budget for each play was tiny, there wasn't money to buy these items. Most items would come from local businesses, and shops, mostly selling antiques in Cheltenham or quite valuable pieces of furniture. It's amazing. looking back, what we had on loan. These businesses who loaned items got a credit in the play's programme and got free tickets for the play as an acknowledgement. The theatre must have had insurance because some items were expensive antiques (at the time I am talking about, Cheltenham had plenty of antique shops, many quite keen to lend pieces of furniture and other items.) Without this sort of borrowing, the shows would never have been staged. 

It was fairly unrelenting work, because, with one show being performed during the evening, and the next play in rehearsals during the day, there was no let-up. I might be doing props for one show and then operating sound on the next, having to make up tapes of music and sound effects. I didn't get to do 'The Book' until I went to Colchester Rep in the following January as a fully-fledged A.S.M. The first 'Book' I did was 'Billy Liar.' It's quite a demanding job, being in rehearsals from the first read-through of the script, logging all the actors' moves and taking notes on such things as props, practical effects (i.e.: off-stage crases, door slams, gunshots.) and running the show when it goes into the theatre during production week, the technical, dress rehearsal and then opening night and then the actual run. Then, giving the actors their calls via the tannoy system, cueing lights, sound effects and so on and keeping a record of the show's timing, interval etc.

3.40 p.m. The day has been mild on the weather front, although it has been quite blustery. Not a lot else has happened. I have had problems with my Amazon Video connection. Attempting to watch the latest season of 'Clarkson's Farm and have reached the final episode, but it won't play. Technology is fine when it works, but when it decides not to work, then it's annoying and somewhat frustrating. I will leave it and have another attempt later.

6.55 p.m. I have at last managed to get the Firestick to work. I did the old trick which everyone does with anything electrical, and usually when there's a problem with a computer or anything vaguely connected with a computer, which a Fire Stick is. I turned the whole system off at the electrical point and after ten seconds, put it back on. This meant the Fire Stick rebooted itself and, hey presto! I managed to watch 'Clarkson's Farm'. 

I know Jeremy Clarkson is not someone to everyone's taste. He has come out with some controversial things, particularly regarding Megan Markle. But, having watched this show, he has at least had the guts to try something which he has actually got no experience of, that is, farming. He has made some stupid mistakes, but you have to admit, he has attempted to do some quite challenging things. It seems that West Oxfordshire District Council have made his life extremely difficult regarding planning permission, and it looks to me as if they are just being awkward and extremely petty in their actions. 

Saturday. 10.30 a.m. I had to buy some things at Sainsbury's, such as milk. So, having made out my obligatory shopping list, which I find is always best, as I don't want to forget anything I need and it saves time. This was my way of shopping during lockdown, particularly as there were so many restrictions, and it just made shopping faster. But when I went to start the car and back out of my parking space, the steering wheel would not turn, and I got a message on the digital screen saying 'power steering fault.' I also got a red light come on which told me to 'stop.,' which was exactly what I did. There was no way I was going to be able to drive it, so I left it in the parking space and walked to Sainsbury's, which is no more than a fifteen-minute walk. But I didn't buy everything on my carefully composed list, as I didn't want to have to carry heavy bags of shopping. Having now returned home and unloaded my shopping, I have been back to check the car and it seems alright and no problems with the steering. I'm not sure what caused the problem in the first place. Just makes me worry now that, if I drive anywhere, it will then decide to play up, making it impossible to drive.

1.55 p.m. No, I have no idea why I chose the title for this post. I sometimes choose song titles, but anyway, this one is actually not very appropriate at the moment, but I quite like it, regardless of it being totally not connected to anything. We just need some optimism at the moment, so leave it at that.

6.10 p.m. I was cooking my evening meal. Steak, chips, tomato, mushroom and a bit of onion. Well, you can't have steak without a bit of onion, I always say. I had the chips cooking in the oven, along with the tomato. It was time to sear the steak in a pan, which I did. But the oil got on the hot ring and produced smoke. I was annoyed as I knew what would happen next, which it did; it set the very sensitive fire alarm off. It is deafening, and Alfie doesn't like it. It continued to make it's noise, regardless of my waving a tea towel under it. No way of turning it off. I just sat in the lounge with the door shut. Then, around fifteen minutes later, I got a knock on the door and two firemen came in. They couldn't stop it, even with a glove held over the alarm. I was going to use the alarm system which each of the flats in Dexter House are equipped with, which can be set off by one of the red pull cords which are in all the rooms (although looking around the lounge where I am sitting and composing this, there isn't one. One of the firemen pressed the alarm button on the unit on the wall to speak to the operator, who knows who I am if I accidentally set off the alarm (which is reassuring if I had a genuine need for assistance, such as a fall or I had a medical need, such as a heart attack.) The fireman said that the mobile member of staff would turn off the alarm (which by now was giving me a headache, it was so loud.) About ten minutes later the alarm stopped, which was such a relief and I was able to complete preparing my meal and sit down and actually eat it!

I have already mentioned how I discussed having an extractor fan fitted, when the kitchen was refurbished back in July and how many times I have contacted Mears, the company who are responsible for maintenance at Dexter House. I am almost certain that when the extractor fan is eventually installed in my kitchen, then setting off the fire alarm should, in theory at least, be a thing of the past.

Flooded Milton Keynes and Bedford

 (Monday) I put BBC Breakfast on at around 6.20 and they were reporting 'live' from Bedford. The centre of the town is flooded and all along the Embankment and around Longholme lake the river has risen and engulfed the fields around the River Ouse, all places I know well.

Although I wasn't able to visit Chloe and family in Worcester over Christmas, I was able to chat with her via Skype, something I haven't done before. It was great to not only chat, but she gave me a guided tour of the extension to the house which is more or less completed. She didn't show me upstairs, because the children were asleep in bed (it was around 7 p.m.). There is a new utility room and the downstairs wet room off the kitchen as well as an office. I hope that probably next week we can have another chat and this time have the boys involved as I haven't seen any of them since last Christmas because of the pandemic.

It's a good deal colder this morning. I was out with Alfie at 7.45a.m and not only was it a good deal colder, but there was a fog hanging over the centre of Milton Keynes which I could see from Oldbrook Green. I am making sure that I wrap up to keep warm, with my Oddballs woolly hat on as well as gloves (which I managed to find.) My hands get really cold and can get so cold they become numb. Something to do with having had a heart attack. Your extremities, such as your toes and fingers, can be affected. I ought to explain that Oddballs is a brand of clothing, utilising brightly coloured and highly patterned clothing, particularly underwear for men and women. Originally set up to sell these items and the profits going to cancer charities, initially for research into men's cancer, particularly testicular and prostate cancer but now also women's cancers. A good cause and I have bought quite a few items, and because of Carol's cancer, I thought it highly personal to me.

I've been out again with Alfie and it was really quite foggy. Well, not too thick that you couldn't see a hand in front of your face, but a good deal thicker than it was earlier.

(Later) I've been watching a documentary on YouTube, called 'The Cult of Doomwatch,' which was an early 1970s drama series which had storylines about what happens when science goes wrong. I remember it quite clearly and it had some really frightening storylines. I have a connection to it as one of the leading actors, Simon Oates, was a guest director when I was at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham in 1969, working as a student A.S.M. I'm desperately trying to remember what he directed. I have an idea that it was 'A Day In The Death of Joe Egg,' written by Peter Nicols. I may be wrong and unfortunately I don't have any way of finding out. I used to have a whole box full of the programmes from plays I worked on. You always got given one on the opening night of the plays I worked on. Some were signed by the cast. It's a pity, as they would be great to look through. I even had production photographs, but they also went astray years ago. I expect they went missing along the way as I've moved quite a few times over the years.

(Tuesday) I've been doing on-line surveys for several years now. You sign up to various sites and give as much detail about yourself and then you get an email with a link to the survey. You have to do a quick survey to show if you are eligible and if you qualify you do the survey, which can take up to 20 minutes and you get rewarded points which accrue and can be turned into cash or vouchers for well-known brands. I usually get Amazon points which you can spend as you wish from their site or else turn the points into vouchers for 'bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Marks and Spencer, John Lewis or any other high street companies. Don't expect to be able to make a great deal from these surveys, but as the Tesco ads tell you 'Every Little Helps.' I am also on a site called Consumer Pulse (you have to be invited. You can't just sign up to this site.) You have to input to their site when you buy products such as clothing, shoes, books, CDs, DVDs etc and the points build up and can be turned into vouchers for such companies as Sainsbury's, Argos, B and Q etc etc. I had reached a good payout of around £100 so I decided to redeem them, turn them into Argos vouchers. You usually get your vouchers sent to you, as paper vouchers, but because of the pandemic, you get them as eVouchers which can be spent on-line. I was expecting them to come in a couple of weeks which is what normally happens, but I was surprised to find they were sent in an email, as a string of letters and numbers. So, I thought I'd spend them. I got to the Argos website and managed to select some items, a new toaster (the old one is beyond repair, frankly, and it took ages to toast a piece of bread.) I found a Breville toaster and decided on that. Then, a new electric kettle. The old one is a Russell Hobbs and it has a Brita filter in it. The one I chose is similar but made of glass. That's ordered, but won't be ready for collection until tomorrow, Wednesday. Also ordered a plate rack for the kitchen sink, bath mats and a 'Welcome' doormat, which might be helpful in preventing mud and other bits and pieces coming into the flat. I got the toaster on Sunday and I had to go to the Argos store in Milton Keynes to collect it. Click-and-collect only and you have to queue up and it took about 20 minutes to get to the check-in. They don't allow you inside the store. A member of staff takes your details, your order number and another code which identifies you as well and the item ordered and it's handed over. 

Appearing On Stage

I was never employed to be an actor when I worked in theatre. I was first a Student A.S.M. (Assistant Stage Manager), and then a fully-fledged A.S.M., and then moved up to become D.S.M. (Deputy Stage Manager). There were times when a production required a few more bodies on stage, not necessarily speaking parts (a bit like 'Walk-On's in television or Supporting Artistes.) usually to fill up the stage, to flesh out things in a similar way. I think the second play I worked on was a production of Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale" and myself and other members of stage management were expected to don costumes and become 'Gentlemen' and 'Ladies' of the court as well as 'Rustics' in the country scenes, meaning we had to wear tights. No, don't laugh. O.K. if you must. Classically, actors are always talked of as becoming 'Spear-Carriers,' generally in the background of Shakespeare productions, usually the first appearance they make on stage. As such you have to stand very till so as not to up-stage the actors who are acting 'down-stage.' You have to make sure you don't distract in any way. Towards the end of my time at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham they also did a farce called "They Don't Grow On Trees," which was about a family seeking to employ a nanny for their children, and one actress (Vivienne Ross in this case) playing a range of weird and wonderful characters throughout the course of the play. One of these women was supposed to have escaped from some sort of institution, I don't know, a mental unit or something, and she was chased by men in white suits (myself and another member of stage management.) We were supposed to rush in and attempt to catch this woman, and I think I even had a couple of lines (a rarity.) and we were supposed to chase this woman through a window. Unfortunately, the audience laughed so much during this scene that my lines were completely drowned out! Perhaps if I'd had more experience of timing I might have got a laugh myself, but never mind.

Generally in stage management when I was working in theatre, there were various levels of stage management. I was employed as what was termed a Technical A.S.M., meaning my job was doing things like the book (described in detail in earlier posts.), looking after props, sourcing them and setting them and generally making sure they were set correctly, operating sound (recorded or 'spot' sound effects, such as off-stage things like door slams or breaking glass.) Some members of stage management were termed 'Acting A.S.M's' meaning they were expected to do some stage management duties, but were often cast in minor roles, such as maids, gents, in small speaking parts, as a sort of first step into acting, possibly those who had left stage school and were breaking into the profession.

Later in the season at the Everyman Theatre they did a production of 'Romeo and Juliet' and myself and another member of stage management were used during the opening scene where we were involved in a stave fight, supposedly part of the feud between the Montegues and the Capulets (I don't honestly think it was very convincing) but yet another instance where we had to fill out the stage to make the scene more convincing than it might otherwise have been.

In an earlier post I talk about my time at Colchester Rep. I was involved in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which was a very budget-conscious production and consequently some characters, for example, the fairies, weren't cast as humans, but were created using torches which made 'spots' of light which stage management had to operate from the side of the stage. The voices were done by some of the cast speaking off-stage into microphones and the voices conveyed on stage via loudspeakers. I know, I wasn't  actually acting or performing but I was still part of the play. Two of us were in the 'Pyramus and Thisbe' 'play-within-a-play' at the end, as courtiers and guests. Definitely making an appearance, even though we didn't have lines.

I'm forgetting that I also appeared on stage during the performance of "Voyage Round My Father"  at Greenwich Theatre I when had to push on stage a large judge's chair. Although, saying that, as stage management, you were often seen pushing either chairs on stage, setting props, changing bits of scenery, or whatever. In this case I can categorically say I have been on stage when Royalty has be in the audience, and in this case it was Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden who were in the audience for one special performance. Stage management weren't supposed to be 'seen' as such, so we were often dressed in black. You went on, placed whatever item it was, a piece of furniture or a prop, and then disappear quickly. Also, during performances of the music hall which was staged at Greenwich when I had to set a stool by the piano for the incomparable Max Wall, and on one occasion I came on from the opposite side to which he was expecting and got a round of applause and some laughter! Also, during the pantomime at Greenwich, myself and another A.S.M. had to open and close the large doors which made up the set, and had to join in with the opening number. No use just standing stock still with your mouth shut. Also, performing a sequence which was done in U.V. light, when Dick Whittington and his cat get cast adrift on a raft at sea and we had to operate the model raft with puppet cat and Dick Whittington in it.

Living At Home- Part 3

My elder brothers were into music. James was (and still is, as far as I know) a very good trumpeter. He liked people such as Herb Alpert and had quite a few of his LPs. Robert, on the other hand, was (still probably is) a very proficient pianist. There was a good piano, an upright Steinway, in the house at Malting Farm. My grandmother Ferriman, who lived at Mill Farm, Cardington, was also a good pianist. She used to play at the annual children's Christmas party which was held each year at the Reading Room in the village. She had the scores of several musicals in the piano stool, including My Fair Lady and Salad Days. When I was a Student A.S.M. at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham in 1969 I was involved in a production of Salad Days. It may have been my grandmother's love of musicals which rubbed off on me and got me interested in not only musicals but theatre in general. Granny Ferriman as she was called was something to do with the W.I. I'm not sure in what capacity, but each year they had a drama competition, held in the Civic Theatre, Bedford. Over several years I was taken along to watch the one-act plays performed. I do remember going to London with her to see a play called "Mr Brown Comes Down The Hill", written by Peter Howard, which was put on at the Westminster Theatre. I'm not sure what reason we went to see this play, but it had a sort of Christian theme to it. I had the script of the play, which I had in my book collection for years, but, unfortunately, it got lost basically because I've moved house so many times over the years. After the show we went to a house in, I think, somewhere in Cavendish Square, for a rather elaborate meal. The house was once where Robert Clive, of India lived or someone like that. I remember it was quite a lavish meal. To this day I'm not sure what it was all about. I suppose I would have been about 15-16 at the time.

Every Christmas we always went to see a show of some sort in London. I remember going to see either Chipperfield's or Smart's circus which was put on at somewhere such as Olympia or Earl's Court. A circus came regularly to Bedford, usually in one of the fields along the road leading into Bedford. I remember going to see 'Peter Pan' which ran every year at the Scala Theatre and being taken by Sister Watson, who was a nurse at Bedford Hospital when my mother was a nurse before she married. It was a big, elaborate production which included flying, most likely done by Kirby's Flying Ballet. There was a spectacular scene on board Captain Hook's ship, I expect the sequence where Hook attempts to kill Peter Pan, and there were lots of cannons being fired, which, apparently, scared me. I don't expect I can have been much more than 8-9 at the time.

The Scala Theatre was one of those theatres which allowed you to have tea in the auditorium. You ordered before the show began and it was bought to you on a tray. I can't remember if you got sandwiches and cakes. You probably did. You just sat and drank your tea in the auditorium during the interval. I can't believe they did this, and it's not likely to be revived for a 21st-century play-goer as it would be against our old friends, health and safety.

Even More Viewing

There's been quite a few television programmes about musical theatre over the past few weeks. Sky Arts have a programme called 'Backstage With Disney On Broadway'. It's 20 years since Disney produced 'Beauty and The Beast' as a stage musical. The show tells the background story to not only 'Beauty and The Beast' but the other Disney animated films which have since been bought to the stage, such as 'The Lion King,' 'Aladdin', 'Mary Poppins' and 'The Newsies.' This last show is new to me. I had never heard of it. If you don't manage to catch this show when it's broadcast,  then you might be able to see it because Sky Arts shows a lot of it's programmes in a sort of cycle, which means if you don't see it the first time round, it is very likely to be shown at a later date, and time, or, if you have Sky+ or, as we do, Sky Q, then you should be able to find it on catch-up, so you can download it. With our Sky Q box we can at least record around 300 hours of programmes (not that we're likely to store that many at any one time.) we can at least watch things which have been record, particularly when there's so much on, as there was over Christmas.

Then, over Christmas there was another treat. It was called 'West Side Stories: The Making of A Classic", and tells the story of how the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical was conceived and bought to the stage in 1957. Loosely based on William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet,' but given a contemporary (well, 1950's) New York setting, the documentary concentrated more on the dance which was used in the show, which explains why Bruno Tonioli was one of the presenters (he is one of the judges on the popular BBC1 show, 'Strictly Come Dancing.') It has always been one of my favourite shows, basically because it has a very strong score, which has barely dated. I have the movie on DVD, which came out in 1961. As I say, the score hasn't dated, nor has the theme of tolerance and racial division, probably more relevant today than when it was first produced. The film looks as fresh as the first day it was released, although perhaps the costumes might look somewhat dated, but the style of the whole thing, the use of colour, graphics and the fact that it was filmed on the actual streets where it is set, makes it quite remarkable. It went on to win no less than 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director and Cinematography. 

Then, last Friday, BBC Four gave us the first of a three-part documentary series called "Sound of Musicals With Neil Brand." The first episode did a short history of the musical, from the early 20th Century. Neil Brand, who is someone I haven't heard of before, gave a very academic reading of some of the most iconic songs from musicals, how they were written as well as how they were constructed as well as the background study on several classic musicals. He touched briefly on 'West Side Story," "Annie Get Your Gun" which was being shown in rehearsal at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre. Another bit of history was the background to "My Fair Lady" and had rare footage of Julie Andrews, who was the original Eliza Doolittle in the Broadway production in 1956 and then came to London for the transfer when it played at the  Theatre Royal Theatre, Drury Lane.  The next two programmes are going to cover the story of more recent musicals and no doubt will cover those shows created and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, such as 'Phantom of The Opera."

I have mentioned this in an earlier post, but when I was at Rushmoor School we went to see the original London production of Oliver! It must have been my first experience of a West End musical. I can't think how the teacher, Mr Crutchley, managed to get tickets for such a top-rated show. It can't have been opened very long when we went. We didn't pay for the tickets, so, even to this day, I have no idea who paid for them. I suppose around 25 of us went, on a Saturday. Quite a challenge for one man to take a group like us to London. I think I would have been 10-11, because the show opened in 1960, and, as I say, we can't have gone to see it barely months after it opened. I remember quite vividly the set, designed by Sean Kenny. A year or so later we went to see another musical 'Pickwick' which was on at the Saville Theatre in Shaftsbury Avenue. Since converted into a cinema. The show starred Harry Secombe. 

I think I became interested in not just theatre, but also musicals, because my grandmother was a good pianist (something my elder brother, Robert seems to have inherited.) She had a piano in her sitting room at Mill Farm,  Cardington, where she lived. On the top of the piano were scores for a number of musicals which would have been running at the time (the late 1950's, early 1960's, which included "My Fair Lady" and "Salad Days.") The last I mention was a show which was produced when I was working as a Student A.S.M. at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham in 1969. It was an exceptionally hot summer that year, and, as part of the season of shows, the programmed show which was scheduled to be staged, "The Country Wife," a Restoration comedy by William Wycherley. Because of falling audiences, due to the heatwave, it was decided that it would be better to abandon the Wycherley play and instead do "Salad Days," which would have been cheaper to stage. The costumes and wigs for a Restoration Comedy would have been too great. It was therefore the first time I'd worked on a musical. It's probably a bit twee and simplistic for modern audiences, about a magical piano which makes people dance. It was originally staged in the early 1950's, and the music is pleasant but I don't think it would go down too well with a modern, early 21st century audience, more used to shows such as 'Les Miswerables' or even 'Wicked.' The Artistic Director of the Everyman Theatre at the time, Michael Ashton, who directed this production of "Salad Days," was responsible for writing a musical himself. It was called "The Young Visiters." It was based on a book written by a young girl called Daisy Ashford. The musical was given a West End run and starred Alfred Marks and an actress who was in the company at the Everyman, Vivienne Ross, was also in this show. She was the female lead in the production of "Salad Days" at Cheltenham. She was in  the ITV soap 'Coronation Street'  as Stella Rigby, a friend of Bet Lynch when she was landlady of the Rover's Return pub, as Stella Rigby, another landlady who ran The White Swan.            
(Incidentally, I have spelt 'Visiters' correctly. It is how Daisy Ashford spelt the word, as a child would, when the book was originally published.)

Further to what I mentioned about Oliver!, in around 1968, at about the time I was leaving school, I was attempting to get into theatre, stage management in particular. I had an interview at R.A.D.A. (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) with the intention of doing a Stage Management course there. I went with my mother and aunt to London for this interview. I remember we went by train. We went from Sandy railway station, because my aunt lived near Sandy, so I suppose it was the best station to go to London from. When I'd had the interview (I didn't get into R.A.D.A. if you're interested. Read my earlier posts on my stage management experience working in 'rep.') After the interview, my mum and aunt went off somewhere in London on their own. No doubt they went to do some shopping. I want to see the film of 'Oliver!' which had then recently just opened at the Odeon, Leicester Square. It's a good transfer of a stage musical to the big screen, the dances are good and the production design is good, but it does seem a bit tame when you think how they did the movie version of 'Les Miserables.' Far too bright and well lit and clean to be convincing as Victorian London. I have since learnt that the young lad who played Oliver, Mark Lester, had his voice dubbed by a girl, which must have been a bit of an insult.

Trip to Seizencote

Having spent the past two days indoors avoiding the roasting heat it was great to get in the car and go out for the day. We had planned to go out on Tuesday after Carol had been to Ashfield Medical Centre and had a blood test and a medication review with the doctor. She wanted a repeat prescription and was told by the receptionist that a doctor would ring to speak to her before writing her the required prescription. Actually, this doesn't happen. You don't now usually get a written prescription unless it's more urgent and you need your meds immediately. If that's the case you can take the paper prescription into Cox and Robinson, the chemists, who have a branch a few units along from the surgery in Beanhill and it might take them ten or fifteen minutes to make up the order if you wait. But other than that your prescription can be done electronically if you ring your pre-arranged pharmacy to order over the telephone (as I do. My pharmacy is at Sainsbury's.) and the order is usually made up within a week. Less paperwork or that's what they hope. Having said that I have an additional medication, Lyrinel.  I try to have all my medications ordered at the same time, which makes common sense, but because the Lyrinel doesn't seem to coincide with the rest of my order, I have to order it separately. The petty administration at Ashfield won't allow this, which is becoming annoying. It would surely make their life easier and save time and paperwork. So, as my stock of Lyrinel runs out, I will ring Sainsbury's pharmacy and order, but it means having to make another journey into town for this. No wonder the N.H.S. is in crisis with this sort of petty behaviour from the pen-pushers who run the organisation.

We drove away from Milton Keynes, having set the new SatNav to direct us to Seizencote, a house and garden we haven't visited before and as members of the H.H.A. (Historic Houses Association) allowing us free entry. It took some while to decide where to visit because not everywhere in their handbook is open all week or at least the days we want to visit. There were a number of places we selected but then found they were open on that specific day and then because it has been so hot over the past few days we decided we didn't fancy going out. It's quite nice being able to merely programme the SatNav (a Garmin model which I bought on Amazon.) and just following the nice lady's voice as she directs you along the road. Certainly a good deal less stressful than trying to follow a printed map in a road atlas.

We know the road out towards Buckingham fairly well. We use this road regularly, usually, when we're going to a National Trust property such as Stowe Landscape Garden, which is just outside Buckingham or going towards Bicester, which we visit regularly (as you would know if you read this blog on a regular basis.) The SatNav, interestingly, took us through the centre of Buckingham. Which was strange, as this town has a by-pass? This is the route the bus takes when we have used it when deciding to visit Oxford and leave the car at home.

We were making initially to Moreton-In-Marsh, which is the nearest town to Seizencote. The house and garden weren't due to open until 2 p.m., so it was no good arriving too early. We decided to park in the centre of Moreton and spend some time looking in the shops near the market square. Not an easy matter of finding a space, as the place was already busy with cars. It seems a very busy centre with traffic rumbling through the middle. I know this route well as I drove through it years ago on a very regular basis when I worked at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham. My parents used to visit me on occasions and we often went to such places as Moreton-In-Marsh and Bourton-On-The-Water to visit the attractions such as the model village there or go to a very nice pub. My mother had lots of friends in and around the area who we visited also.

Moreton-In-Marsh main street

There are plenty of really nice shops to browse, some selling toys, gifts, cards and similar. Just the sort of shops you'd expect to find in what I imagine being a tourist-trap. I'm sure it is, because it's slap-bang in the middle of traditional Cotswold territory, and sure enough we saw a coach turn up and disgorge a load of elderly folk who looked the sort of people who would make straight for the nearest tea shop and enjoy cream tea, scones, jam, and cream. We found a Tesco Express ( a pity in a way, they seem to be everywhere, even in a classic Cotswold town centre.) and purchased sandwiches and crisps and found a bench to sit on in a shady place under a tree on a grassy area and munched our sandwiches.

It was then time to move off towards our destination, although we had plenty of time to kill. I had to reset the SatNav for Sezincote and we arrived in the carpark at around 1 p.m., giving us a little under an hour before the house and garden opened. Carol suggested we drive to Broadway Tower to kill the hour before Sezincote opened. We were there in minutes. We have visited it before, a rather imposing folly, built for no real practical purpose, and standing on a hill which means you can see it for miles around. We visited it a few years ago when we'd visited a National Trust property near the village of Broadway, Snowshill Manor. It seems they have developed the site where it stands with a sort of shopping outlet as well as upgrading the parking facilities as well as the paths towards the tower as well as a decent toilet block in what was a shepherd's hut. A really practical use for a traditional item.

Broadway Tower

We drove back to Sezincote and found by the time we returned that it was opened. The carpark had filled up considerably in the time we'd been away.

This property turned out to be really interesting. Very different to any of the other properties we've visited, run and protected by either the National Trust, H.H.A. or English Heritage. The gardens are quite amazing. Lots of little rivers and streams as well as canals and pools. The place has an oriental feel to it and the house itself has an onion dome on its roof. The whole place is reminiscent of the Brighton Pavilion and it's no surprise to learn that the Prince Regent is supposed to have visited Sezincote and it inspired him to have the Pavilion at Brighton designed in a similar style.

Garden at Sezincote

Having meandered about the gardens for approximately an hour and a half we decided we needed a cup of tea or at least some sort of refreshment and so wandered into the Orangery which has been converted into a tea-room and ordered a pot of tea and some very tasty chocolate cake. We had meant to tour the interior of the house and the next guided tour was due at 3 p.m. But once we got inside and the rest of the party were gathered in the entrance hall we found it to be exceptionally hot and so decided to decline and left. We did a bit more wandering in the garden and then returned to the carpark and drove home. It's actually quite a walk from the house and garden to the car park. Most properties have some sort of transport which allows visitors to be taken on a vehicle of some sort, such as at Stowe which has a sort of train arrangement, but no such transport at Sezincote and it's quite a hill walking to the carpark.

The weather has been exceptionally hot and sunny, as I have already mentioned. The scenery through Oxfordshire is quite stunning. The villages throughout and through which we drove are of that beautiful golden-coloured stone and in some respects, they might be considered stereotypical of what you'd think of as 'English,' with many of them thatched. In the countryside, the fields of corn are ready  for harvesting and we saw a few combine harvesters hard at work, usually followed by a cloud of dust as they work. Also, the tractors and trailers which assist in taking the grain from the combines and delivering their loads of wheat, oats or barley to whichever place for storage and in some cases driving slowly and as a result causing long traffic queues which no doubt cause some drivers some frustration.

We arrived back in Milton Keynes at around 4.55.

Cars I've Owned- Part 1

Over the years I've owned many cars. Some I've loved, but many I have hated. You have a definite love/hate relationship with the car you own, basically because when they run smoothly, get you from point 'A' to point 'B' without any problems, when they decide not to behave, for example, refusing to start, or breaking down unexpectedly, they are more hated than loved. Most, if not all, the cars I've had have been second hand. I never seem to be in a position financially to afford a completely new vehicle, so the old cars I've had were prone to the usual faults such as refusing to start in cold or damp weather and one-hundred-and-one other problems. I suppose an older car is going to cause more problems than a brand new one because the bits and pieces, such as brakes, tyres, water pump, starter motor and so on are the bits that wear out fastest and so cause you the most problems.

Having been brought up on a farm does have it's advantages, particularly when you're starting to learn to drive. There is always space, or at least there was at Malting Farm in Cardington, I don't know whether all other farms are the same, allowing you to be able to drive a vehicle along farm tracks or across meadows and fields without encountering other vehicles. I was able to drive tractors which aren't exactly like driving a car as they have so many gears and sub-gears and far more levers to shift into these sub-gears. But at least I was able to drive such vehicles as Land Rovers which gave me a chance to do some driving, although off-road, before I was able to start driving lessons. 

The first car I owned was a Ford Anglia, the classic car from the 1950's- 1960's. I was working at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham in 1969 (see earlier post on here which gives a full  description.) Before I'd gone there I had been doing driving lessons and hadn't yet done my driving test. I don't know how many lessons I'd had, quite a few I seem to recall. My test was set to be during the summer break in the theatre's season so I went home to Bedfordshire. I probably took a few more lessons and then did the test. Unfortunately I failed miserably, on something quite trivial, like not turning right or left when told by the examiner, or keeping up with the traffic. I went back to Cheltenham and did a few more lessons there and did my test and this time I passed! As a result my parents bought me the Ford Anglia, which cost all of £75! I know, looking back, it doesn't seem possible that you could buy a car for so little! It was two-tone green, light on the top half and dark on the bottom half. It had quite a few quirks. One being the windscreen wipers. When you put them on, and you drove slowly, say, up a hill, in a rainstorm, they moved fast, but if you drove faster, for some strange reason they moved slowly. Why? Seems odd thinking about it now. On those old cars you had the headlight 'dip' control on the floor near the clutch pedal, unlike in a modern car where you control the 'dip' with a lever on the steering wheel column. I think it might even have had indicators which actually stuck out from the side of the car when you were going to turn either left or right and not just a flashing bulb on the four corners of the car. It's a wonder they never got knocked off when a bicycle or someone went past. Goodness, how cars have changed, but this is a good 45- or more years ago.

Of course, having a car was made use of as part of my stage management job. Moving on to work at Greenwich Theatre a few years after working at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, as part of my work I had to return a lot of items which were used as props in a show we'd done. I had to load up the little Ford Anglia with no end of items and then drive into the centre of London and return the things to some of the prop hire companies around Covent Garden in particular. I had not been driving for very long and it was quite nerve wracking driving through Marble Arch, not knowing exactly where I was supposed to go and no sure which lane I was supposed to get into as well and looking at an A to Z Atlas of London which was open on the passenger seat beside me. It was quite hair-raising, to say the least. The best way to learn to do something that might be difficult is to just get on and do it, a good motto for life I always think. Spending to much time mulling it over is a good way of talking yourself out of it, so that incident driving through Central London certainly taught me a thing or two and came in handy a good deal later when I used to go in to London in my car when I used to do TV walk-on work and had to get to, say BBC Television Centre or any of the major television or film studios such as Pinewood or Shepperton.

On another occasion I had to drive a large van with a load of furniture into central London and was going to return it all to the various hire firms around the city and beyond. It was a rainy day, which didn't exactly help matters. I don't think I had ever driven such a large vehicle before and I think it must have been the largest vehicle you could drive on an ordinary driving licence. I soon found out that stopping the engine was no easy matter. You couldn't just use the key to turn it off when you wanted to park the vehicle. The only way to stop it was to stall it by shifting the gear stick and the clutch at the same time or something weird which made the lorry shudder horribly. I went with another stage management member to help me unload the furniture, which included a piano. Somewhere in Covent Garden (at a time when the fruit and vegetable market was still there.) it was a real knot of small alleyways and roads and I accidentally got into a one-way street- the wrong way, so I had to reverse the lorry quite a distance so as to get out and so get back into the correct flow of traffic. Not an easy manoeuvre at he best of times, but not helped by the fact that it was raining. My vehicle-driving experience was increased several times over that particular day.

I was always very keen to keep on the right side of the law. For some reason or other, one always gets somewhat edgy, almost guilty, for whatever reason, when you are out driving somewhere and you see a police car, when you're absolutely sure you've done nothing wrong. On one occasion, when I was working at Greenwich, when I'd gone home for the weekend and was driving back to work fairly early one Monday morning. The route required me to go through the Blackwall Tunnel. I never like driving through tunnels at the best of times, but I had to go and ignore an instruction on a reading or one of those overhead gantry things, which told me to move over into a different lane. I just drove on and didn't move over to a different lane and I got stopped by a Police car, pulled over to the side of the road. I didn't have my driving licence with me and was told I'd have to go into a Police station and show my licence. I was numb with fear. I don't know why. I don't think, up until then,  had ever set foot in a police station. So, I did as I was told and a few days later I did just that, produced my licence at the police station somewhere in or around the Greenwich area, was told to not do 'it' again, and went away, fully warned off. I don't think, after that, I ever ignored an instrucion as regards driving in the right lane ever again.

As for hating any cars I've owned one was a bright red Ford Escort estate. Bought from a neighbour. It was a real pain to get started, particularly when the weather was damp or cold. I tried to remedy it with such things as new spark plugs, battery leads and other bits and pieces that I replaced, but all to no avail. It was worse when it was damp, even when there was no rain. Those cold, misty mornings, a slight drizzle, you name it, the confounded thing refused to start. Even having a tow from someone else's vehicle and jump starting, it would not start. So much so I just lost my temper and gave the confounded thing a good kick. A bit like that famous scene in "Fawlty Towers" when Basil Fawlty can't get his car to start and hits it with a branch of a tree. It's almost always when you need to get somewhere in a hurry, early morning, have to get to work. The thing had an almighty dent in it's side for ever after. I'm not surprised I lost patience with it. Stupid thing.

Working In Theatre- Stage Management Duties-Part 12

I've discussed my time working in stage management in earlier posts on here. I have mentioned running 'The Book', where a member of the stage management team was in charge of rehearsals and then the prompt corner when the show eventually reaches performance on stage. We would begin the whole process with a read-through of the play, when the cast will no doubt meet the entire company for the first time, although in 'rep' (repertory) there would be a core team of actors, around 10-12, who would remain with the company for the entire length of the season (around 6-8 months) although guest actors might be cast in specific productions and not for the entire season of plays. The read through of the play would be the first time the stage management team would get to meet the whole cast as well as the director who might also guest direct or in the case of a rep season, the theatre's artistic director would direct or one of a team of assistant directors might take the helm. The show's designer would have made a model of the play's set, a scaled reproduction which would be made of card and in the simplest representation show how any scene changes would be done. Not only helpful to the actors but the stage management who would have to do the scene changes, although in some shows the actors would also help with scene changes, move furniture or carry on props.

When rehearsals began in earnest (and if it was a two, or three-weekly 'rep' season.) there would obviously be a limited time to rehearse the play as there would be another play running in the evening. Stage management would have market out the play's set with chalk or coloured tape on the floor of the stage or if not there, in a separate rehearsal space elsewhere, either within the theatre or in a hall elsewhere in the town. Many theatres have their own rehearsal space, such as at Liverpool Playhouse where there was an excellent rehearsal studio which I believe has since been converted into a theatre space for actual performances.

Wherever I worked in stage management the jobs were given to staff for  1) The Book 2) Props
3) Sound operation and sometimes (depending on which theatre company) 3) Lighting Board operation. There were also other duties including working on the Flyfloor, working 'practical' things like 'live' sound off-stage i.e. doorslams, gunshots, glass crashes as well as dresser, paging such things as microphone leads and looking after animals that were used on stage (i.e. dogs, cats etc.)

I have discussed 'The Book' on an earlier post, whereby whoever does this is responsible for keeping the 'Prompt Copy' of the play's script up to date with the actor's moves given in the early stages of blocking the play in the rehearsal room, so that actors can refer to this if there is any sort of dispute with the director or other actors. Another member of the stage management team will sit in all the early rehearsals and note any props that will be needed. If a play has been produced before elsewhere there is a good chance that the printed script will have a props list at the back and a setting list, which shows in details where the props should be set on the stage and off stage, as well as personal props which the actors themselves will need, such as cigarettes, glasses, umbrellas etc. which they bring on and use themselves. Once the play is at the performance stage whoever is in charge of props (and, if it is a particularly prop-heavy show.) there may be more than one stage management member running props. During rehearsals stage management will probably have to provide 'stand-in' props for the actors to use, such as teasers, kettles, wine bottles, which may well need water in if they are to pour out drinks as well as some stand-in furniture. I say 'stand-in' because at the early stage of rehearsals all the actual props may not have been acquired by stage management. Some props would be very difficult to find and would need to be hired from a prop company. Such things that you would never manage to find in the average antique shop, such as a stuffed bear, which we needed for a show at Liverpool Playhouse called 'What Every Woman Knows.' There again, if it's something like period grocer items which we needed for another show at Liverpool Playhouse called 'June Evening' which had a corner shop on stage and needed grocer items for the period it was set, 1920's-30's we had to contact a company which specialised in period grocery items and gave us a whole shop-load of things from bars of soap to tea packets. It was in that show that we needed a bulls heart which had to be cooked and eaten! So a specific number were ordered from a local butcher and then we had to cook it and have it ready for the actors to use and eat on stage! Not actually as bad as it sounds as it tasted very much like roast beef! In another show at Ipswich Theatre when we did 'Roots' which is one of the Arnold Wesker trilogy plays, the show called for a cake to be made and then cooked on stag so we had to provide a working oven on stage. The cake was never seen to come out of the oven but for one performance the actress who made the cake actually cooked it and we ate it! It wasn't brilliant, but it proved that she had actually made the whole cake during the action of the play, which can't have been that easy, concentrating on her lines as well as getting all the ingredients of the cake and then baking it!

For all the other props we would need we had to beg, borrow and very nearly steal, whatever items were needed on stage. Looking back some forty or so years it seems amazing that we would go to the various shops around the towns where the theatres were and ask shopkeepers if they would lend certain items. I had to find a samovar for a show at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, for a show called "The Farmer's Wife." I spent a good two weeks trekking around the antiques shops in the town and almost gave up but then found one in an antique centre and managed to persuade the owner of the shop to lend it. I can't imagine what would have happened if it had been stolen or lost and whether the theatre had all these items covered on some sort of insurance policy. In most cases the shows were produced on extremely tight budgets so I suppose the only way they could be staged was to borrow these items from the good people of the town. Some items which did cause problems were drinks bottles and in particular those for shows which were set in, for example, America, where you needed a specific brand of beer or some obscure bottle of spirit such as vodka or whiskey. We would have to traipse around all the bars, pubs and restaurants and ask the managers and bar personnel if they could keep any empty bottles of whatever drink it was and then we had to create the actual liquid part to go inside the bottle with food colouring, gravy browning or even cold tea! I sometimes wonder, looking back, how any actor could be expected to drink those awful mocked-up drinks, be it whiskey, gin and tonic or whatever, when the colouring in the water we used was so foul to taste! As for food on stage, well, that can cause some problems, particularly when you are on a very tight budget. I mentioned earlier the cake that was made and baked on stage, but when you have to create something that looks edible, and often is eaten by your actors, that can be a different matter. We did an Alan Aykbourne play when I worked at Century Theatre in Keswick in the early 1970's, "How The Other Half Loves". There is a dinner party scene where the hostess produces a fancy casserole. We couldn't use meat as it would be too expensive, and wouldn't be seen as such so the concoction was made using bread, gravy browning and water but it did look quit convincing when it was served up. At Watford Palace Theatre I worked on "The Three Sisters" and we had to produce something to look like caviar and we used blackberry jam which did convince and the dining table was set far enough up stage so the audience couldn't see precisely what the actors were spreading on their toast!

Working In Theatre- Stage Management Duties- Part 2

We had to find all manner of strange things for use as props in shows I worked on. Not only did me have to find, from whatever source, but sometimes we would have to make props. Particularly shows such as pantomimes, where you could let your imagination run riot and make things larger than life. Huge great clubs for hitting giants over the head with. Larger than life lollipops. Shopping trollies which had mocked-up petrol engines on them so that when the Dame appears on-stage it seems her shopping trolley is propelled by a lawnmower engine, complete with some  smoke coming out of the exhaust. You name it, we had to produce it.  I worked on a production of 'Macbeth' at Greenwich, and it was necessary to make a head of the actor who played Macbeth. If you know the play you must know that at the end he is killed by being beheaded and his head has to be brought on stage. We had to get the actor playing Macbeth, Alan Dobie, to agree to having his head cast in plaster. Not an easy thing, and not something that I would want as the thought of having my head covered in plaster of paris and straws put up my nose to allow me to breath wouldn't be pleasant. He did agree, and then, once the two halves of the mould were separated, the inside of the mould was filled with latex so a cast could be made. When it was finished the finished 'prop' head was very realistic, and it had stage blood applied, along with hair and it was extremely life-like.

In an earlier post on here I describe how, when I was working on a production of a play at the Century Theatre, Keswick, we had to create a dead chicken, which had to match exactly a live one which was on-stage and then is supposed to go off stage and be killed, and how we had to take some of the live chicken's tail feathers and put them into the 'prop' chicken (which, incidentally, has had its head chopped off, which made making the prop one easier!) Also, I mentioned in another post the production of a show called "Loot" by Joe Orton which I did at Colchester Rep where we had to build a set of coffins and caskets, one of which has to be built so that it can return to the stage burnt out and with a trap on the side which hinges down to reveal piles of burnt £5-notes inside, as well as the piles of Fivers as well as a convincing 'corpse' which is covered in a shroud and has to be articulated so when it is carried it appears as convincing as a del corpse, with articulated joints, limbs etc.

Food always caused a bit of a headache. Particularly when we were working with very little money. In a play we did at Liverpool Playhouse called "June Evening" (and which I did the book for, incidentally.) we had to produce an ox's heart. The play was by Bill Naughton, who wrote the plays "Alfie" which became the film starring Michael Caine as well as "Spring and Port Wine (which I was involved in at the Everyman at Cheltenham.) We did manage to find a butcher who could provide us with the real ox's heart, which we then had to cook before-hand and then put on stage. The set was a street, with two houses opposite one another, one being a home with kitchen and living room, and on a revolve, which turned round to show the interior at the correct time during the action of the play. The opposite house was a shop, rather like a corner shop, and probably a bit like one of the shops that are portrayed on "Coronation Street." As it was set during the 1930's we had to stock the shop with appropriate items and so had to contact various manufacturers who provided us with cans and packets, appropriate to the period of the play, in order to make the shop convincing. When this shop was fully stocked up and dressed, (again, on a revolved), it was quite heavy and to get it to revolve was quite an effort.

Alan Ayckbourne's plays nearly always have food in them somewhere. In "What The Other Half Love" at Keswick there was a meal at the end of one of the acts, we were supposed to produce avocados for the starter for one of the couples who are giving a dinner party. We couldn't afford to have avocados for every performance we did so we bought a real one and then cast it in a sort of papier mach material and then lined these halves with aluminium foil and then used mashed banana to fill these half 'shells' or 'skins' and it did simulate real avocado quite convincingly. In the same production the main part of that meal was supposed to be a casserole, but, again we were on a tight budget and had to use bread soaked in gravy to simulate the real thing. I don't think the actor's got to eat it, thankfully!

At Ipswich Theatre, the first show I worked on was 'Roots" (the second of the Wesker Trilogy of plays.) The whole play revolves around a character who doesn't actually appear. He is supposed to appear at the the end, and the mother produces an elaborate meal, which includes a trifle. As is wasn't eaten, we managed to construct it out out bread, cake and shaving foam. It was incredible to see how the glade cherries got bleached by the shaving foam, and made me wonder what on earth it was in shaving foam that could have that effect on glade cherries and what would it do to your skins if you used it to shave. We also had a large Victoria sponge on the stage, also never eaten, and it got so stale that it was like a piece of wood by the end of the play's run and it could almost have rolled across the floor like a wheel!

Working in Theatre- Stage Management Duties- Part 1

I will attempt to outline the various duties expected of a stage management crew, bearing in mind that this was during my time working in repertory theatre in the 1970's. I expect a lot of things have remained the same, but with such things as union agreements, financial factors and the fact that 'repertory' theatre no longer exists in the same way, there are bound to be a great deal of changes since I worked in this area.

A standard team of stage management would consist of a stage manager, and over all would inevitably be a production manager and over the whole lot would be an artistic director and general manager who would be responsible for the administration of the theatre. Stage management, going down the ranks as it were, would be made up of D.S.M. (Deputy Stage Manager) as well as A.S.M. There might be several D.S.M.s and A.S.M.s, depending on the size of the company. A.S.Ms could also be Technical and Acting, the Technical being responsible entirely for duties such as props, scene changes, generally looking after the actors on and off stage, whilst Acting A.S.Ms do a bit of both acting and stage management and would have been a route into an acting career. They would generally speaking get smaller parts,  (ie. butlers, maids, 'spear carrying' parts, herald, minor characters in Shakespeare productions etc etc.) doing minor stage management duties but they wouldn't have gone into theatre in order to focus on a stage management career. D.S.Ms generally used to be responsible for the 'Book' for shows, taking rehearsals and then, when the play goes into the theatre for a run, would be responsible for the running of the show from the prompt corner, giving cues for lighting, sound, and calling the actors on stage ready for their entrances etc. I did 'The Book' when I was A.S.M. at Colchester Rep, on a production of 'Billy Liar', my first shot at this particular job, but generally the more experienced D.S.Ms were responsible for 'The Book.' It was good to have been given the responsibility as you are totally in control of the show on stage. If there is a technical issue, an actor needs a prompt and he doesn't get one, a cue is late for something, such as sound or lighting, it is you, as being in charge of the prompt corner, who would take the responsibility.

When a play begins rehearsal, and it depended on how many weeks each play ran for, but generally they would run for two or three weeks, and the next play in the season was going into rehearsal, there would be a read-through of the play with all the actors present along with stage management, costume designer, set designer, lighting design, sound and so on. This gave everyone a chance to get a general 'feel' for the play. The director would discuss his approach to the text and then the company would see the set, given some sort of presentation by the designer, how the set worked, how scene changes are done, and generally, how the whole show will look and feel. The model is generally a full-scale replica and then there would be the ground-plans to look at.

Stage management would have 'marked up' the floor of the rehearsal room. Some theatres have their own rehearsal space within the main theatre building. At Liverpool Playhouse, for example, which could also be used for small-scale, studio performances, but generally most 'reps' had to make do with either rehearsing on the actual stage, that is, if the current show had space within it's acting area, but usually rehearsals would be held somewhere in the town such as a church hall or other convenient space where the floor-plan of the set could be marked out using coloured tape or even chalk. Doors, stairs and different levels of the set would be marked and then furniture placed in the position it would be on the set. This would most likely be stand-in furniture as most likely not all the furniture for the actual production would be ready for use in the rehearsal studio.

Then the 'blocking' of the play would begin. If actors were not required for a particular scene they wouldn't be 'called' until later, but whoever was responsible for running the rehearsals, generally the person doing 'The Book' would have to keep a tally of rehearsal 'calls' usually given by the director at the end of a day's rehearsal and then the D.S.M. would have to make up a call sheet giving calls for the actors for the next day or for the days ahead. The whole play would most likely be broken up into scenes or acts and the actors required for those scenes or sequences of the play would only then be needed for their scenes. You would most likely have to telephone those actors who were elsewhere to give them their calls.

'Blocking' is the initial direction given by the play's director, the moves the actors make around the stage. During this process the person on the book has to mark all these moves as precisely in the prompt copy so that, if needs be, the director or actors can be remind where a particular move is. At the same time, another member of stage management is plotting all props, what they are and where they are set on or off stage, if they come on from a particular entrance which is important so that at the beginning of the play stage management know where to set them. It is at this point, when there is a list of props, that stage management begin to find props. Some theatres have a properties department, a store-room which contains a fair amount of items which can be used in any particular play, be it a set of candle sticks, teapots, cups and saucers or smaller items of furniture, but if it's something more complicated, such as a stuffed bear (which is what we were supposed to find for a play I did in Liverpool.) or a samovar (which I had to find when working on a play in Cheltenham. Yes, I did manage to find one, in an antiques centre.) then you would be expected to walk the streets of the town in which the theatre was in and literally 'beg, borrow or steal' to get items to use on-stage. We seemed to have a regular selection of shops, mostly antique shops, who would be willing to lend items of furniture, and then we got on good terms with the display departments of certain department stores who used to provide all manner of items. On a production of 'Salad Days' at Cheltenham Everyman we needed to find a couple of hairdryers, the sort you would find in a hairdressing salon. I found out that Cavendish House, the large department store opposite the theatre, was modernising their hairdressing department and found that they were throwing out their old driers, so we managed to borrow them for the show. Perfect, and they even came on castors which made it easy during a scene change. They could then be simply wheeled on and off stage during the scene change.

Before the actual props are available (and some can be hired from a range of prop hire companies) we also had to provide 'stand-in' props, so the actors had something to handle during rehearsals. It's a bit difficult, for example, if a scene is set during a meal and the actors don't have plates and cutlery, or drinking in a bar and don't have something to drink out of. Once they have got their lines learnt and aren't carrying their scripts then they will want to have something to work with as regards props. The same goes with furniture. They need chairs to sit on and if there is a sofa, a group of chairs pushed together to stand in for a sofa which may not have been sourced.

My Mum and Dad- Part 2

My father was a good engineer. I think he had to become a farmer because he was an only child, and a son, and his father had been a farmer. I don't remember my paternal grandfather. He died sometime in the early 1950's when I would have been far too young to remember him. The same for my maternal grandmother. My dad was forever working on something or other for the farm in his workshop. He was good with anything mechanical, car engines, boat engines, constructing the most peculiar gadgets in order to lift grain in one of the sheds during harvest-time. He constructed a sort of four-wheeled bicycle (if that makes sense. It doesn't, I know, but just let me explain.) It was for us four youngest brothers to ride and pedal, a sort of four-wheeled car with proper steering and with a sort of framework. Quite difficult to steer for what I remember. It was a bit like a tandem but with four wheels. I don't remember it being much of a success. I think it went out on the road around Cardington and then landed up in a ditch or something and then spent a couple of decades in the back of the garage and never went out again because it was damaged. I don't know what became of it or whether it was broken up for scrap but it must have taken a great deal of time and effort to build. He was extremely good at welding and finding ways to solve problems mechanically. If you had a way of solving a problem with your car he always knew how to fix it. If you were going to buy a car he was the best person to take with you when you were looking at what to buy and could always haggle and get a good bargain, not just with cars, but virtually anything. I don't think he ever bought anything without managing to get something off the price.

He was somewhat accident-prone. He would fiddle about with machinery on the farm, particularly during harvest when some machine or other would break down. He managed to get a finger cut quite seriously on the sharp knives in the bailer.  I think today he would have got into trouble with the Health and Safety Executive, but this would have been long before all the business you hear today about 'Health and Safety.' I reckon he would have had the book thrown at him, the number of  accidents he was involved in on the farm. On another occasion he was working on the horse box out in the yard somewhere. I think it was near enough Sunday lunch-time. He had to repair one of the tyres or a wheel on this horse-box and had the wheel off and the whole thing sitting on a few bricks or blocks of wood. The thing collapsed and so injured one of his fingers he had to have it amputated and always ever-after had one or two joints on this finger missing. He was profoundly deaf. This was caused during a time, most likely during the winter months when they used gas-guns on the farm to scare off pigeons from the crops. He would go to a field and take the entire gas-gun away in the back of the Land Rover and on this occasion presumably he hadn't put the safety catch on the timer and the thing exploded in the back of the Land Rover and the explosion damaged his inner-ear. He never recovered from this and was really deaf for the rest of his life. It must have completely damaged his inner-ear. He did wear a hearing aid, when he could remember to wear it, which was not very often, but he had real problems setting the thing so it wouldn't pick up extraneous sounds, such as background noise.

My mother was an excellent cook. Her shortbread was the best ever. I believe she had the recipe passed on by an elderly aunt on my father's side of the family. Scottish, of course. My own cooking abilities are due to her teaching and I think I can produce a good roast dinner, thanks mainly to my mother. In particular, the making of Yorkshire pudding. Her teas at around 4-5 every day were a real feature and people would drop in to sample her Victoria sponges, shortbread and a wide range of other cakes and pies. She was passionate about horses and was an excellent rider. In her later years she was involved with Riding For The Disabled and was very much instrumental in establishing this organisation in Bedfordshire. We had various horses and ponies around the farm from quite a young age. My brothers went to local gymkhanas and show jumping events and also, when my parents had mares from which they bred foals, these mares and foals were shown at local agricultural shows, such as the East of England Show in Peterborough over most years. She took a great deal of interest in all her children and went with me on several occasions when I had interviews when I was starting off in theatre. She went with me to the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham for example, when I had my very first interview for a job in 1969 and she would never need much encouraging to go with me to the theatre or to see a film that was on in the cinema locally.

Even More School Memories

Not only did we have those trips to London to see those shows I mentioned in the last post, but I seem to remember being taken on several other trips. One being to St Alban's, to view the Roman remains. Why we went there specifically I have no idea as we weren't studying the Romans during history lessons. In fact, I don't remember ever studying that period in all my school career. As it was a Saturday, the teacher who took us must have given up his own time to take us. We used to have school on Saturday mornings, for a few hours. As Rushmoor had boarders I suppose it made some sort of sense to have classes if there were pupils already there. I was threatened with being boarded out by my mother, but it never happened. It would have seemed a bit pointless when you think we lived only five or so miles out of Bedford. We used to be taken to school in the morning in a sort of system set up between my mother, the family who lived next door to us in Cardington, the Porters, and my aunty Chris who lived in Ickwell, a village around ten miles towards Biggleswade. Ann and Alec Papworth  went to schools in Bedford, Ann to St Andrews, which I've mentioned being virtually opposite Walmsley House School in Kimbolton Road, and Alec to Bedford School. Some days we were collected by one or other of the team, Uncle Ralph Porter (not actually an uncle, but you always seemed to call people 'Uncle' or 'Aunty' out of respect.) Nancy Porter went to the Bedford Girls High School in Bromham Road and Charles to Bedford School. The Porters had a farm in Cople, the next village to Cardington, but lived at Pleasant Place, a large house next door to Malting Farm. Some days we were taken by Geoff, their pig man, in an ancient car which always seemed to smell of gone-off milk, no doubt because they used to carry vast quantities of milk to various places and some would no doubt spill, hence the unpleasant milky smell. Then Aunty Chris would come and collect us in her ancient Morris Minor estate. I can always remember we used to eat imperial mint sweets in that car as there was always a bag of these in the front glove compartment and we ate them on the journey home. The sound of a Morris Minor is quite distinctive. I doubt that you can get even old models now as they must have gone out of production years ago, but this model was the one with the wooden panels on the side.

When my father was detailed to collect me on a Saturday morning there was always the chance that he would actually forget to come and collect me. He did this on several occasions, and I would be left standing outside the school for an hour or two, no doubt because he had stopped off on the way to have a chat with one of his friends and had just forgotten to come and collect me. It's not like today when we have mobile phones and you can just phone up whoever and they come and collect you. I think on this particular day it rained and I must have got soaked to the skin.

Later on, I got the bus home and the first time I was helped by Nancy Porter who was going home from school at the same time as me on the bus from Bedford Bus Station. It was quite a long walk down Warwick Avenue and into Bromham Road and the bus I caught went from bay 8 and the cost of the journey was around 3 old pence. Amazing how you remember all these tiny little details. I imagine that this was the only time I ever caught a bus as I don't ever remember going anywhere with my mother or father on a bus. I just don't think busses were ever considered an option when I was growing up, as my parents had cars and it was probably simpler to get in and out of Bedford by car. Not like today when there is so much being talked on such subjects as 'The Environment', 'Sustainability', and no such thing as 'Park and Ride' etc.

Those were the days when there was a fairly strict form of discipline in place. I don't exactly support any form of punishment, but if you did anything wrong at school you knew that if you were caught you would get caned. I never got to being caned. I was a bit of a goody goody I suppose. There was one incident I remember when I was a Rushmoor. In one of the classrooms, there was a large cupboard which contained all the art materials. Somebody had been found to have meddled with the lock and put a screw in the keyhole and this prevented anyone opening it with a key. The teacher, Mr Crutchley I believe, wanted the culprit to come forward, but nobody did. So he made the whole class stay in after school (it may have been during school time. It was a long time ago, so I can't remember the exact details.) As nobody was brave enough to come forward we all got punished, each of us going forward to the front of the class and being hit on our open palms with a ruler. If you flinched he did it again. It really hurt and even thinking about it now, it brings back the memory and I can almost feel the sting that was left after he hit our hands. I don't suppose you would dare do that sort of thing today. It would be in contravention of your 'Human Rights' or something, but as any form of corporal punishment in schools has been outlawed you certainly wouldn't get away with it.  Well, whether it was right or wrong you did, at least, know what would happen if you did something wrong. I think today children appear to have no boundaries (perhaps most do, but when there is a behaviour problem it is usually because the parents give their children any boundaries.) When I was about eleven or twelve I was supposed to be in and getting ready for bed. We didn't have all the gadgetry that we have today such as mobile phones, the internet, gaming consoles and all the other electrical gadgetry you can get. I can't say I'm any the worse for not having all those things. If we had a mobile phone I'm sure we wouldn't have been able to take it to school with us as they do over at the Milton Keynes Academy. I think people spoke to one another more in those days. You see people walking about with iPods plugged into their ears, so they can't hear what's going on around them. Rather dangerous if you can't hear traffic that is coming when you cross the road. Or else have you face permanently turned towards a mobile and texting all the time. It's a wonder some people don't get killed because they walk out in front of a moving car because they're concentrating on texting someone instead of taking notice of the traffic.

There were quite a few quite strict school rules you were expected to keep to. You were supposed to wear your school uniform at all times in school. None of the modern 'thing' about wearing your 'everyday clothes.' The uniform consisted of grey flannel trousers, grey shirt and blazer in dark blue with a cap, both of which had a badge of a red 'R' in a sort of shield. The cap was the same colour as the blazer and had a red section in the top. You were supposed to wear this at all times outside the school, or if you were in school uniform. I think there was also a tie which was striped red and dark blue, again to match the rest of the uniform. You also had to wear black shoes, which were expected to be cleaned for daily use. There was a winter and summer version of the uniform. The summer one I think had a light short-sleeved shirt (I think the brand was Airtex, but I'm not sure.) For games, we had to wear light brown shoes with a crepe sole for cricket and the usual football strip for games and no doubt shorts and t-shirt for gym. As I detested games anyway, any excuse to get out of it and into 'normal' clothes meant I was never in games clothing for long.

There were other rules, one being you weren't supposed to go to the cinema during term-time. I don't think this was adhered to very much as I remember going to the Granada cinema in St Peter's Street in Bedford to see the Disney animated film "Jungle Book" with one of my brothers, no doubt Sandy, as he went to Bedford School, and their rules about where you could or couldn't go during term-time were even stricter than Rushmoor's. We were also not supposed to go into what were called 'chain-stores.' To this day, I don't know why. I think this referred to such stores as Marks and Spencer and Woolworth's, but I cannot think of a good reason why this was so. I don't know what would have happened if you were caught in Woolworths or wherever, or in a cinema. Were you taken out and shot at dawn?  Taken out and caned in public? To this day, I don't know and know of no one who ever fell foul of this school rule. Oh well, as I say, rules are to be broken and it all remains a complete mystery.

Seems amazing that you always referred to everyone as 'Murdoch', 'Smith' or whatever a pupil's surname was. It seems amazing that you never got to know anyone's Christian name. What was the point? I can't think of any situation where you would be known by your surname alone. You never work anywhere (at least I haven't.) where you would be referred to by just your surname.I just hope if I was they would, at least, call me 'Mr.' Otherwise, it sounds so deferential and out of date, rather stuck in the Victorian or Edwardian period.

I remember when I first went to Rushmoor I was intrigued by several things. What was all that mesh, netting and suchlike over the windows? Was it to keep the pupils in, or prevent them getting out? The fact is, it looked quite sinister. Thinking about it now, as a 9 or 10-year-old at the time, it must have made the place seem like a prison or a zoo. Even at Whipsnade Zoo, today they don't have so many cages and enclosures for the animals that have old fashioned bars or cages with netting, or else they use some modern alternative to keep the animals in. I expect this netting and chicken wire was to prevent balls from breaking the windows. I was further intrigued by the green corrugated construction in one of the playgrounds. It resembled a somewhat ramshackle chicken house, made to seem more so bay the fact that it had chicken wire over the windows. I may have confused if for a chicken house because there was a similar construction on my grandfather's farm. Whether that was to house chickens I rather doubt, but the two constructions were very similar. Anyway, I soon found out that the one at Rushmoor was used as a gymnasium and also used for school assemblies which we had each morning. It smelt horribly of sweat and horrible rubber shoes, the type we wore for games and P.E. i think there was a cupboard in there which contained a load of such shoes, and you have an idea perhaps that the pong came from sweaty, unwashed feet that lingered in these disgusting old shoes. Not pleasant. Also, the smell of that chalky stuff they use in gymnasiums, the stuff ballet dancers use, is it rosin or something?

One incident comes into my mind. We used to go into that tin shack (for want of a better way to describe that shed or  gym.) and have morning assembly. The owner of the school, Mrs Richardson (I believe she owned the school when I was there.) a strict woman of indeterminate age, used to come in and play the piano for hymns. The words of the hymns were put up on a sort of song-sheet arrangement, rather like a massive book, perhaps six feet by four, which was suspended by a length of sash cord that was hauled up and then tied off on a cleat (all this quite familiar to me now, having worked in stage management, with song sheets used in pantomime and cleats and ropes on a fly floor. I have operated many in my time so a cleat is very familiar and I know very well how to use them.) Anyway, I digress. One morning someone hadn't cleated off the hymn sheet or else the sash cord was wearing dangerously thin, because on this particular morning, as Mrs Richardson was plonking and plunking on the piano, a rendition of something like "We Plough The Fields and Scatter" or some other hymn, and we were in fine, full voice, the whole contraption came crashing down, causing the assembled masses to laugh out loud. Whether we were supposed to or not, I don't know, but it certainly caused a great deal of amusement.

I recall a gym display was put on by pupils of Rushmoor. It wasn't put on in the 'tin shack' as I like to call it, or the so-called gymnasium. It could never be put on there as there was barely room for the 'performers' (or whatever you want to call them.) as well as the audience of parents and teachers. Instead, it was staged at the drill hall just off Ashburnham Road in Bedford. There was a great deal of showing off, jumping over wooden vaulting horses, marching around, all set to music. I can't think what the purpose of this display was about, who was supposed to be impressed, what it ever lead to. But it seemed to take up a great deal of time and effort. I don't think that drill hall is still used for such events. I'm not even sure that it's still there, but if it is I suspect it's for a different use. There used to be another similar building somewhere in Ashburnham Road, I think where now there are blocks of flats and where once the Job Centre used to be. Anyway, I can't even remember my role in this gym display, even if I was involved at all. Such are memories.

I have not made a great deal of effort to keep in contact with Rushmoor School. Well, to be honest, with my rather bad memories of the place, I didn't entirely want to. My younger brother, Andrew, spent a few years as a pupil at the school, but I'm surprised my parents sent him there after my experiences of the place. I do recall going to a sports day when he was at Rushmoor, when the sports field was somewhere along Clapham Road. I think, perhaps, on the ground where Sainsbury's now have a superstore. I can't say I remember now much about it and I don't think I met any former pupils or staff from my time at the school. As regards meeting any former pupils, I did bump into one, working in  a camera shop on Bedford Bus station when I used to use it on my way home, but that was a good 40- or more years ago. His name was Peter Sutton and I think he used to live in Sandy. Also, I had a friend called Andrew Allen who I used to have home for tea (as you did in those days.) and I think I went to his home in Biggleswade. He visited me some years ago and we had a chat about our time at Rushmoor and then I went to stay with him in Norfork when I was working on the television show "Allo, Allo."  I believe he was managing a garage or something in the Norwich area, but I'm not sure where exactly. A rather unpleasant individual, whom I recall was probably called Ward, and I believe came from around the Northampton area, who's family were in the shoe industry, used to be on holiday at the same time as we used to go to Frinton-On-Sea, was something of a nasty little pip-squeak. I used to spend a lot of time on the beach at Frinton, building really complex structures out of sand, roadways and rivers with water which rand along these dug-out channels from rock pools. He went and distroyed the hard work I had put in by jumping on it and breaking it up. Shows how spilt and unpleasant he was. I don't know where he is now, but I hope he doesn't continue with the sort of behaviour that he got away with then into his adult life.

I left Rushmoor in around 1965. You were supposed to go on to a 'big school', presumably one of the Harpur Trust schools or a grammar school. There were several in Bedford at the time. One being Pilgrim School, which is no more. It merged I believe with another, I think one at Biddenham if I'm correct. Can't be sure. The building, in Brickhill Drive, was taken over by various Bedford County Council departments in the 1970's and the Registry Office moved there and it's where you go to register a birth or get married. I did go for an interview at the old Pilgrim School, presumably to complete my education and do my G.C.E. exams, but I didn't get in. I eventually went to Abbey Secondary Modern School in Elstow and completed the final two years of my education there. I didn't actually do G.C.E.'s but instead did the then fairly new C.S.E.'s. I did five subjects, English, Biology, Art, Geography and History. The biggest culture-shock going there was that there were GIRLS! I think I actually benefitted from going there, after going to Rushmoor. Looking back  think I actually learnt far more. In fact, I don't remember actually learning much at all at Rushmoor.

From Abbey, I went to Mander College in Bedford (now Bedford College. I never knew why they changed the name.) I began an 'A' Level course, doing English and History, with the intention of eventually going to Bristol University to do a drama degree, as I had wanted to get into television production. I suppose in those days a degree in drama would have been a good path to getting into television production. As it turned out I didn't do particularly well in my mock 'As' at the end of nearly two years. I applied to several 'rep' (repertory) theatre companies to find out if I could get into stage management as I had been told by the BBC that in order to get into floor management I would need to have several years of professional stage management behind me before I could apply for any floor management jobs. I wrote to as many reps as I could find in a directory called 'Contacts' and got an interview at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, and was interviewed by the then Artistic Director of the theatre, Michael Ashton. I had also gone for an interview at the Royal Theatre, in Northampton, which would be the closest professional theatre to Bedford, and which I knew relatively well as I'd been to see several plays there over the years. I didn't get the Northampton job, but I was accepted at Cheltenham and worked for around a year as a Student A.S.M. (Assistant Stage Manager), and it was how I learned the various functions expected of an A.S.M. I think I might have got the Northampton job, except the Cheltenham offer came up first. The job began on the 16th of February, 1969. How well that date is permanently etched on my memory!