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| Copyright © Dennis Calow |
Havelock Street runs beside Leicester Royal Infirmary. This photograph was taken in 1969 just before the pub disappeared to allow the expansion of the hospital.
Vanished Leicester: Sir Colin Campbell Inn, Havelock Street
Havelock Street runs beside Leicester Royal Infirmary. This photograph was taken in 1969 just before the pub disappeared to allow the expansion of the hospital.
BBC Inside Out East Midlands on Lord Janner
The first segment of this evening's Inside Out for the East Midlands concerned the allegations against Lord Janner.
I don't think it told us anything new, but it did remind us how longstanding the concerns about him were and how many chances to prosecute him were missed.
Anyway, well done to the BBC for showing it.
The other segments include dirty food outlets in Leicester and the threat to the historic mills at Belper.
Alan Rickman's brother is a member of Harborough District Council
Alan Rickman's sad death last week revealed that his brother Michael is a member of Harborough District Council.
The Leicester Mercury has published a short article, quoting his tweets, where he thanks fans for their kind messages and says simply and movingly "I am broken."
Michael Rickman is the Conservative member for the Nevill ward, which includes the villages around Hallaton and Medbourne.
It is named after Nevill Holt, which most literary theorists now believe to be the inspiration for Bonkers Hall.
Back in the 1980s the SDP's only county councillor in Leicestershire was the brother of the film director Stephen Frears.
When the Jorvik Centre was a hole in the ground
This evening York Mix posted 12 vintage films of the city.
One caught my eye straight away, because it comes from August 1979 and so falls during my time as a student in the city.
Watching it today does confirm one memory of mine - and I don't mean the gruesomely distorted sound, which reminds me of film shows at primary school.
As I recall, there was no charge for going round and you were given a Viking oyster shell when you left.
The latest news from the Jorvik Centre is rather grim. It was badly affected by the recent floods and the government has rejected a plea for extra funds to allow a swift reopening.
A report in the Yorkshire Post quotes the former North Yorkshire councillor and Liberal Democrat peer Angie Harris:
"When I visited the Jorvik Viking Centre in York last week it was a scene of utter devastation.
"It's a world renowned tourist attraction and educational centre, provided by the excellent York Archaeological Trust, of which I am a member, and which depends largely on its funding from the viking centre. The Trust could be destroyed by this enormous loss of revenue."
Six of the Best 567
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| Are you sure about this? Ed. |
"Contemporary advocates of No-Platforming have so far failed to provide any convincing, rigorous definition of ‘harm’ to justify their practice." Monica Richter argues that only the most noxious of speakers should be banned from university campuses.
Robbie Simpson has been to Tbilisi to visit our liberal colleagues, the Republican Party of Georgia.
"Imagine if Neil Young needed Simon Cowell’s approval in order to get the label backing necessary to become a known musician." POWERevolution thinks many millenials are uncool and think it knows why.
Cal Flyn writes on afforestation and clearance in the Flow Country in the far North of Scotland.
Teenagerdom was a result of jobs and trades requiring training and education, which cast UK society into a bit of uncertainty. Hence the title; the first generation where this phase of ambiguity – no longer a child, yet not quite an adult – existed." Kyle Turner has been watching Absolute Beginners - an unsuccessful Eighties film about the Fifties with a Bowie theme song.
The Yardbirds: I'm a Man
When David Bowie died local newspapers scrambled to find a local angle on the story.
The Leicester Mercury did rather better, reprinting a rather sniffy review from 1973 of a concert he gave at De Montfort Hall:
He's become the figurehead of a new phase of rock sub-culture with its transvestitism and glitter trappings. There are those who have dubbed the Bowie-Roxy-Cooper glam-rock as the decadence preceding the demise of rock.
But I can't believe that Bowie or his followers really take the Gay Liberation bit seriously.
Certainly the man himself seemed to have his tongue firmly placed in cheek throughout last night's performance as he pouted and minced his way through all the best numbers from his exceptionally fine last four albums.
Bowie has brought show-biz back to rock with a vengeance, and judging from last night's hysterical response, the younger fans are only too eager to accept the theatrical trappings that their elder brothers and sisters once rejected.
But the Larry Grayson aspect is just a pose - albeit a highly successful one. Bowie has become Ziggy Stardust - the focal character of one of his songs.
'The music' I can hear some of you saying. What about the music? Good point. Well to be frank, there's nothing new about that. It's mostly rough and raucous rock, power-pop as Pete Townsend calls it. The sound is based on Mick Ronson's strident rasping chord work with bass Trev Bolder and drummer Woody Woodmansey providing perfect support for Bowie's strong Anthony Newleyish vocals.
Bowie's biggest recent hit for example, "Jean Genie" is a straight rip-off of the Yardbirds' 'I'm a Man', and last night Bowie performed the song with even more of an R and B flavour, swapping harmonica with Ronson's lead work just like Keith Relf and Becky used to do.
But the music's not important. Presentation is what today's rock is all about, and no-one could complain about that last night.I'm not sure you would get such an opinionated review in a local paper today, and that is a shame.
There was also a good letter published in the paper yesterday from someone who attended this concert as a 15-year-old:
I am sure if you talk to anyone present on that night they will have the same opinion: it was the gig of a lifetime. Those of us who loved Bowie are gutted at his passing in a way that non-believers can never understand. He, for me, was the man that opened my eyes to all art in a way my teachers never could.
It is true to say that every book I have chosen to read, every painting admired, every play, show, ballet and gig that I have attended since that June evening in 1973 owe something to it for the beautiful spark it ignited.
Thank you, David, your show was life-changing and life-enhancing and it took place in the city I love.Anyway, thanks to that 1973 reviewer, here are The Yardbirds with "I'm a Man".
There is an earlier, live version with Eric Clapton, but I can't find it online, so here is Becky (as I have never heard Jeff Beck called before). The link with "Jean Genie" is obvious.
Barbara Windsor and Murray Melvin talk about Sparrows Can't Sing
Joan Littlewood was a renowned theatre director but made only one feature film. Sparrows Can’t Sing was released in 1962.
Here two of the film's stars, Barbara Windsor and Murray Melvin, talk about the experience of making it.
Among the subjects they touch on are working with Littlewood, the Kray twins, Stephen Lewis (Blakey from On the Buses, who wrote the play on which the film was based) and Queenie Watts.
Keith Vaz changes his mind on Trident. Again
Eager to support his new leader, Keith Vaz tells the Leicester Mercury that Jeremy Corbyn has persuaded him it is right to scrap Britain's nuclear deterrent:
"He's made it very clear when he's prime minister he's not going to be able to use these weapons so what's the point of having them.
"I've known Jeremy Corbyn, all the years I've been in Parliament. I'm sure he will use his persuasive skill in order to put these views forward.
"I've changed my mind on Trident and I've been persuaded by the things that he's said."I find this puzzling. The first time I came across Vaz was when he was the Labour candidate for Richmond and Barnes in the 1983 general election.
During the campaign (or perhaps shortly before the election was called) I attended a debate on nuclear weapons organised by the local churches.
All three candidates took part - as well as Vaz there was Jeremy Hanley (Conservative) and Alan Watson (Liberal Alliance).
And Keith Vaz proposed that Britain should unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons.
I suspect that Vaz's always has the same beliefs on Britain's nuclear deterrent as his leader - whether that view is for it or against.
Note that today agreeing with Jeremy Corbyn is not the same thing as agreeing with Labour policy.
Later. Thanks to Troy for tweeting this old advertisement. It confirms my memory of Vaz's views on defence in those days...
Trevor Eve remembers Shoestring and Robert Banks Stewart
Robert Banks Stewart, creator of Shoestring and much else, died yesterday.
By chance I found this interview a few days ago. In it Trevor Eve remembers Banks Stewart and making the series.
