The actress Sheila Sim died yesterday at the age of 93.
As long as there are awkwardly romantic Englishmen she will be remembered as the star of A Canterbury Tale.
The photograph above shows her wedding to Richard Attenborough in 1945.
Sheila Sim 1922-2016
The actress Sheila Sim died yesterday at the age of 93.
As long as there are awkwardly romantic Englishmen she will be remembered as the star of A Canterbury Tale.
The photograph above shows her wedding to Richard Attenborough in 1945.
Sir Peter Soulsby on Keith Vaz
In 2011 I quoted a Leicester Mercury article on the funding of Soulsby's first mayoral campaign:
Sir Peter's was funded by the three city constituency Labour parties. Leicester South and West branches gave £3,100 and £2,100 respectively. Leicester East's branch gave just £80.What I didn't know then is that the Vaz/Soulsby enmity had reached Westminster.
In February 2001 the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee investigated a number of allegations against Vaz. Some were upheld and some were not - you can find the committee's report on the investigation on the Parliament website.
One of the witnesses who gave evidence to the inquiry was Sir Peter Soulsby. Here are a few extracts from his evidence:
397 ... There have been a number of occasions when members of the community in Leicester, particularly members of the Asian community, have been critical of Keith and have made statements criticising Keith and subsequently changed the position they have taken in public. Indeed, there were a number of occasions around this time I am talking about when people changed their positions. How the trick is achieved, I do not know, but it has happened on a number of occasions.And:
406 ... I think there have been a number of occasions in the past when I have felt Keith's attitude to the truth is different from the attitude I feel appropriate for a person in public life. It ranges from a whole range of issues: from telling one group in the community that he is in support of a road scheme, while telling another that he is opposed to it; through to rather more national or even international issues, such us his message of support to Salman Rushdie followed by taking part in a march with a group of Muslims wanting to burn the Satanic Verses; through to the difficulties he is having with his attitude towards Kashmir, telling different communities different attitudes, which has caused a number of problems, not just in Leicester but at a national level.And:
449 ... I am sure he would suggest to you I have a vendetta against him. I think the reality is, as I described earlier, we have a very different view about what is proper in public life, and how one ought to behave, and a different attitude as to what is true and what is not. That has inevitably led to us falling out a number of times over the years. That is not a vendetta; that is a difference in personality and attitude.I cannot vouch for the truth of what Sir Peter said, but it is the evidence he gave to the committee.
Nottingham Castle and Gordon's Wharf in 1865
On New Year's Day I visited Nottingham and in particular Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, which sits beneath the rock surmounted by Nottingham Castle.
In 1831 the Castle, by then the residence of the Dukes of Newcastle, was burnt down in pro-Reform riots. In the 1870s it was rebuilt and became the city's art gallery.
When this photograph was taken around 1865 it was still derelict. Note too the long vanished canal basin, Gordon's Wharf, in the foreground.
Report on the handling of allegations against Greville Janner
The independent inquiry into the handling of allegations made against Greville Janner which was commissioned last year by the Director of Public Prosecutions issued its report today.
That inquiry was conducted by the retired High Court Judge Sir Richard Henriques.
You can download the full report from the Crown Prosecution Service website, and the Guardian has a summary of his its findings:
The report found:
- The decision not to charge Janner in 1991 was wrong because there was enough evidence against him to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for offences of indecent assault and buggery. In addition, the police investigation was inadequate and no charging decision should have been taken by the CPS until the police had undertaken further inquiries.
- In 2002, allegations against Janner were not supplied by the police to the CPS and so no prosecution was possible. This merits investigation by the IPCC.
The evidence of the first complainant against Janner, who gave evidence in the trial of Frank Beck in 1991, is particularly strong.
- There was sufficient evidence to prosecute Janner in 2007 for indecent assault and buggery. He should have been arrested and interviewed and his home searched.
The Guardian says:
These allegations related to 1975 when, it was alleged, the young boy from a children’s home met Janner after the then MP performed magic tricks.
The alleged victim, known as Complainant One, said he was quickly befriended by Janner and was sexually abused and raped repeatedly. The complainant went to a wedding with the peer’s family, it was alleged, and it was only two decades later in 2014 that a subsequent police investigation found there was film footage of Complainant One at the event.
According to the report, the prosecuting authorities discussed the possibility of arresting and interviewing the complainant in relation to charges of perverting the course of justice.ITV News interviewed Bernard Greaves, who was part of Beck's defence team, about the case this evening.
