I dreamed a dream Susan Boyle

A week has been experienced full of sunshine and tears of joy and it is now back to the reality of disciplined days in which I have much to cover in writing of what has been and preparations for a busy April with in the order of the activity the start of the cricket season, an important medical visit and a trip to London for Durham Cricket at Lords. I am not going to list all the events experienced or the tasks to be undertaken from the fear of being overwhelmed or taking the decision to summarise and move on which would be the sensible approach.

I begin with my second visit to a theatre to see a show in eight days, second for this year and for the past two years. The cause of the effort was a musical story about the life of Susan Boyle which world premiered at the Theatre Royal Newcastle on Thursday 22nd March 2012 at the start of a tour which travels to Aberdeen, Bradford, Liverpool, Dublin, Bristol, Southend, Cardiff, Birmingham, Inverness and Manchester, but not her home city or the East midlands or London.

The full house was not allowed to commence to take seats until well after 2pm which meant queues out into the street so it was just as well it was a warm sunny day. It was not surprising the performance did not being until 2.40 as a consequence and during the wait the audience of oldies remained expectant rather than restless. Unlike the namesake at Nottingham the theatre has dreadful seats with no space to allow people to pass by so everyone has to get up and leave a row to enable those sitting further along to take their seats if they are late. The seats slant forward and are not wide. The gentleman to my right had a hard time because his partner was at least twice my width which is saying something!

The story of Susan Boyle is well known throughout the world since her amazing performance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 when at the age of 47 a plain middle age woman stunned those who had come to mock, the judges and 100 million people who subsequently viewed the video on You Tube with at the last count 650 million viewings to-date. The reason for the reaction is that Susan has a powerful theatrical voice which electrifies an audience. It was only after the performance that we learned her life and what happened in the days immediately after the televised showing of an event which had taken place several weeks earlier.

Susan was born on April 1st 1961 in former mining community in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland the youngest of a Catholic family of four brothers and five sisters. She was deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth and was later diagnosed with a learning difficulty. Because of bullying at school where she was known as Susie Simple. He father had served in World War II, was a miner and led the family in singing. Her mother was a shorthand typist of Irish background.

Her parents, particularly her father were protective blocking the one relationship with a boy which developed when the became a teenager and the absence of a companion continues to haunt her life. Apart from attempting to become a cook at a college for further education she was cared for at home while her brothers and sisters left home and established lives for themselves. The death of her father was significant but that of her mother was devastating.

Susan had sung in the church choir and at local social clubs winning a talent competition in the area but had dreamed of being a professional singer. She participated in a the 1995 Michael Barrymore talent show My Kind of People, auditions and the tape of her experience shows that this awful man was more interested in mocking her than the potential. His failure then was everyone’ else’s gain and it is pleasing that that his life has become so disastrous a view which a line in the show echoed. It is also important to provide perspective the family arranged singing lessons and that she attended an acting school in Edinburgh. She made one CD to showed off her talents with1000 copies pressed and which again having been uploaded to the Internet has been viewed 100’s of million times. She pulled out of applying for the X Factor because she believed the lacked the looks to be accepted.

This is the official background context for her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. A lot more happened to Susan during the five decades of previous life and as the actress playing her role admits during the show some things she is keeping private and some things she shares she wished were not so.

This is something which scum journalists attempted to penetrate in those extraordinary days between her first appearance, the semi final and final. She was ill equipped for what happened and in truth no one could have equipped for what happened as interests swept world wide, especially in the USA and she was asked to give hundreds of interviews and was followed day and night with some taking rooms on the same floor of the same hotel where she stayed for the semi final and final of the competition just to try and photo her in unguarded moments.

The consequence was that at the semi final she froze and her voice cracked and her performance in the Final failed to ignite the public interest which coupled which bad publicity by some of the tabloids who sensed blood resulted in her becoming the runner up to the dance troop Diversity. There remains the suspicion that the result was orchestrated because it was judged Susan could not immediate cope with the realities on stage concerts and tours. She did not participate in the tour undertaken by the Finalists.
She needed a period of recuperation out of the limelight but feeling low she accepted advice on the appointment of a manager with all the qualities needed to help her move from being an overnight sensation to an international icon with staying power. She has produced three albums the first selling three million copies in the USA and second only to one by a local talent show winner while topping the charts in the UK and in Italy. I am listening to the first album now commencing with Wild Horses, I dreamed a dream, Cry me a River, How Great thou Art, You’ ill See, Day Dream Believer, Amazing Grace, Who I was born to be, Proud, The End of the World, and Silent Night.

In many respect the reliance on album sales is contra the recent trend because of the ability of people to listen without purchasing, legitimately as I am doing on line without downloading. Today the money is made through concert performances which creates a problem for Susan as she finds it difficult to cope with demands of stage appearances. It is therefore not surprising that she is not playing the role in her own story although this is what she did in a TV special, The Susan Boyle Story where she was able to control the involvement through filmed interviews over a period of time as well as film of her public appearances.

This included an expensive plate dinner organised by her USA fan club in which fans travelled from all over the USA to share a couple of hours in her presence. Feeling loved and secure she continued to chat for twice as long as scheduled leaving everyone happy that they had the experience to treasure for the rest of their lives.

The present show includes the statement that she would a personal appearance although not saying she would sing. The production is clever because the show appears to end without her presence thus causing a nearby member of the audience to openly express their disappointment. But the audience, especially those who had seen the local notices new better and with flashing spotlights lighting up the audience to indicate what it is like to appear live the curtain was raised again to reveal Susan standing in a glittering dress to receive a standing roar of ovation a from a crowd used to giving polite applause. Because of the knowledge imparted through the show and the knowledge of her life brought by the audience into the theatre it was one the most emotional shared experiences encountered in such a situation. She sung I dreamed a dream and who I was born to be and although one or more numbers would have been appreciated no one felt cheated and everyone left the theatre with smiles on their faces.

Understandably there has been much considered writing on both sides of the Atlantic about the phenomenon especially her success in the USA which is something the majority of British entertainers aspire but only a handful achieve and none to the same extent. In no order of significance there is empathy because her talent was not recognised outside her community for the greater part of her life and that she led such a normal life with the Christian background, singing in church looking after her mother and also volunteering in the community. She also was willing to expose her personal limitations and vulnerability, especially her reaction at coming second, because this meant there were more who voted for another act than for her,

There is also the aspect of American Dream and the fairy story but I suspect the most potent reason was the unexpected that someone as old and who looked and dressed plainly had such an amazing talent as good as any performer on the London music stage. Today, youth, looks and fashion dominate the culture together with the ability to project presences from Newsreader and weather forecaster, reality TV performer, footballer and politician it is about appearance and effective sound bite. Susan was negative in all the boxes although now she had all the same support of hairdressing and make up, and stage wardrobe as any other International performer and personality and the degree which she remain private and alone. I suspect she has achieved enough to stay the course and join the other UK female icons of Gracie Fields and Dame Vera Lynn.

On Saturday evening the 2012 series of Britain’s Got Talent with another individual getting the same level of attention as Susan, 17 year old large. shy and ungainly youth of few words Jonathan with an operatic voice which if trained could be as good as Pavarotti according to Simon Cowell was accompanied by 16 year old Catherine with a popular or theatrical suitable voice and the two complemented in their singing as well as providing support for the young man on stage. They were being interviewed across the TV networks during today.

The RAS Taming of the Shew at the Theare Royal Nottingham

I am impressed by the inside of Theatre Royal Nottingham which appeared to be to be better proportioned with more comfortable seating than its North East namesake although after the major refurbishment undertaken as part of the Newcastle Gateshead bid for the becoming a European City of Culture won by Liverpool the Newcastle Theatre has a rich feel interior. I have had a behind scenes tour of the theatre after the refurbishment. The outside of the Nottingham establishment is being renovated at the present time. The theatre is run joined with the adjacent music auditorium by the City Council.

I had a two course meal in the theatre restaurant beforehand which with a small glass of wine and coffee worked out at £21 a head another £4 for courses. You can have olives or baked breads as a prelim if you do not want to rush to the first course or are waiting for other members of the party to arrive which the situation was noted at one of the dozen tables providing for between two and eight diners. The Appetizers including Whitebait which was tempting although I like these small fishes such as sprats wrapped in unhealthy crunchy batter. These were served in a good heap with a tartar sauce. There was also soup and ciabatta bread, a Rillette of duck with a caramelized organises and a mozzarella cheese and tomato salad with pesto oil.

I chose a Lamb shank in rosemary and recurrent jus with Lyonnais potatoes and season vegetables with the veg too crunchy for my taste but there were two piece of chunky lamb which were greatly enjoyed. Also available was chicken supreme in a creamy tarragon sauce with crushed new potatoes and seasonal veg, a Nile perch in fresh tomato salsa with a timbale of pepper rice and a Risotto of the day. Additional veg or a salad were available as side orders.

While the apple pie was tempting served warm with crème anglais and Gourmet ice Cream or sherry trifle. I settled for a Chocolate tart served with a white chocolate covered half strawberry. As this level of food goes and prepared for those with a Theatre show start it was neither the best or the worst encountered and being able to stroll over to good aisle seats in the dress circle after listening to a woman pianist gently playing tunes was a bonus, especially as the heavens opened as had been forecast.

My knowledge of the plays of William Shakespeare is no longer what it was during the years in which I attended the seasons of the Royal Shakespeare productions to Newcastle and visited Stratford twice. I also only have a vague memory of the 1988 production of the Taming of the Shrew at the Theatre Royal Newcastle although I remembered more the subject matter of play and the criticism which boiled over into understandable hostility on the part of feminists because in this version of the battle of the sexes the intended outcome in the subjugation of women by men which makes the play a clarion call for the Taliban. I have also seen the play at Oxford. Richard Burton and Elisabeth Taylor did a film version as Kiss Me Kate.

This year’s Royal Shakespeare Touring company production is a bawdy version with the actors speaking in the original English rather than the kind of Laurence Oliver pronounced Oxford.

Christopher Sly is fat, fatter than me, although this is not saying a lot and a drunkard with sexual ambitions and at the start of the play is thrown out of the alehouse scorned by a woman described as Hostess who is not inclined to invite him into her bed.

In the present production the woman director has chosen to use the rest of those in the alehouse to become the pack of hounds of an unnamed Lord and his huntsman who then encounter Sly in his stupor and hit on the idea of making an entertainment of him by removing his clothing and dressing him as the Lord and pretending that he has been deranged for over a decade in his bed. These kinds of devices are common to the Comedies. They also dress up a page to be his wife and who is told to express delight at having her husband seemingly restored to her. The disguise is so effective and Sly so drunk that he seeks his conjugal rights leading to a merry chase under the huge covering of the entire steeply slanted stage out into the audience.

It is at this point the Lord finds that there is alternative entertainment available as travelling players offer to give a performance of a play, The Taming of the Shrew with Sly and his “wife“ watching from different vantages points during the first half observed by the Lord from a box at the side. They disappear from significance until the end when Sly reverts to his former life.

The action of the play takes place in Padua, Italy. Hortensio can be described as a gold digger, Gremio is old and rich and Lucentio is new in town. All three men want to marry Bianca who initially appears beautiful and graceful. Her father Baptista Minola won't let anyone marry Bianca until someone marries her elder sister Katherina or Kate. Known as a shrew Kate is moody, fiery and has no desire to marry. In fact Bianca becomes something of a wanton as the play develops while Kate’s gestures match the sexuality of the language untilt eh end when they kinda switch roles.

Petruchio arrives in town and visits his good friend Hortensio. Petruchio's father has died and he is determined to marry any woman who is rich. He doesn't care how old she is or what she looks like. He is told of Kate and her fortune. Petruchio vows that he will marry her despite her reputation for “her scolding tongue.” He wants her fortune and the challenge of catching and taming her appeals to him. At the Minolas' house Kate has tied her sister Bianca up and is making her cry with her vicious behaviour. Their father frees Bianca from Kate's bullying grasp. Kate accuses her father of loving Bianca more than he loves her. Kate is enraged that she will have to marry anyone who comes along just so that Bianca can have her dream wedding. She shouts at her father: 'I must dance bare-foot on her wedding day / And for your love to her lead apes in hell.'

Petruchio meets Baptista Minola who warns him that wooing his daughter Kate will be difficult. Petruchio assures him he is up to it. Meanwhile Hortensio poses as music tutor and goes in to teach both Kate and Bianca. The class does not last long, Kate swiftly smashes an instrument over Hortensio's head. Petruchio finds this encouraging: 'It is a lusty wench; / I love her ten times more than ever I did.'

Kate is brought to Petruchio. They have a fierce battle of words. He calls her a wasp. She replies: 'If I be waspish, best beware my sting.' Kate hits Petruchio who shouts: 'I swear I'll cuff you Katherina if you strike me again.'

Kate calls him 'one half lunatic'. He tells her they will marry on Sunday and she absolutely refuses and leaves. Both Hortensio and now Lucentio pretend to teach Bianca whilst they are really just desperate to spend time with her. Lucentio's servant Tranio pretends that he is Lucentio's master. The wedding day arrives. Kate waits for Petruchio but he is very late. Kate fears that he is going to stand her up on her wedding day. She feels abandoned and livid and hurt.

But when Petruchio arrives he is dressed like a tramp and rides an old horse and is everything that is the opposite of romantic. Kate is humiliated but he insists that love is not about clothes or image. They marry and then Kate tries to take Petruchio to the wedding feast but he refuses. He won't let her go to it either. Instead he drags her back to his home. Once they are in his house he starves her of food and sleep. He says she must become gentle and obedient before he will feed her.

He brings a tailor with a stylish dress but he finds fault and breaks into pieces. He gets her to say the sun is the moon and vice versa as a prelude to demanding complete obedience to his views and wishes

They travel to Padua to see her friends and family. Petruchio asks her for a kiss in the street and she does not object. Tranio persuades a visiting schoolteacher to pretend that he is Lucentio's father Vicentio. He will assure Bianca's father of Lucentio's wealth. Now the real Vicentio turns up. But Lucentio and Bianca still get married and are very happy. Hortensio marries a wealthy widow. Petruchio and Kate come back to town. Petruchio.

The play culminates in a bet between the husbands about their control of their wives. Hortensio and Lucentio have a bet on whose wife is the most obedient and wager a hundred crowns on it. Kate wins the contest and everyone sees that she is a changed woman. Kate lectures the other wives on obedience. And so the Shrew is tamed.

There is some humour in the work for those who like bawdiness and it can be argued that this is a work about the power of sexuality which both sexes uses to conquer and control each other. As a statement about the role of wives it is appalling and to be condemned. The acting as one expects by the RSC is of the highest standards

White Christmas at the Sunderland Empire

Winter has come early with over a foot of snow here on my hill at the mouth of the river Tyne, falling once overnight and the second time while watching the Irving Berlin musical White Christmas at the Sunderland Empire. According to the weather forecasters the snow which came to Northumbria as anticipated on Wednesday overnight is due to continue falling for the next two weeks with temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees already reported. It is treacherous on roads and pavements although the local council did make effort to keep the main roads gritted in South Tyneside but those in the City of Sunderland were in an appalling condition as I travelled from a roast turkey and gammon dinner at a Carvery in Cleadon Village to a car park close to the theatre on Saturday evening. It is one of the earliest recorded times that such snow fall has occurred as the last Autumn month ends and even back in the 1960’s it was not as heavy and prolonged as now.

I remember seeing the film White Christmas when it was first released in 1954, staring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye with Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen as the two sisters. The films was issued in the new wide screen process Vista Vision and marked the use of a mountain logo by Paramount which became their trade mark for the next three decades. The film has subsequently been shown regularly over the Christmas and New Year holidays on multi channel and I have viewed a few times during the last half century, but my memory of the story had become hazy. Not so several of the songs, particularly the title White Christmas, I’m dreaming of....and Blue Skies. Two other numbers gained a popularity beyond the film and subsequent stage musical, Sisters and Count your blessings Instead of Sheep. There is a number Its Cold Outside which can be confused with the well known Baby Its Cold Outside created by Frank Loesser in 1948.

I knew nothing of the history of the stage version of the musical which in fact was only created in 2004 for presentation in the USA and came first to the UK for the Christmas season in 2006. My impression is that stage production closely follows the film and certainly the song numbers are similar

Happy holiday
White Christmas White Christmas
Let Yourself go The Old man
Love and the Weather Heat Wave/ Let me Sing/
I’M Happy/Blue Skies
Sisters Sisters
The best things Happen The best things Happen While Your’re Dancing While Your’re Dancing
Snow Snow
What can we do with a Minstrel Number
General
Let me sing I’m Happy
Count Your Blessings Count Your Blessings
Blue Skies Choreography


I love Piano Best things happen when
Falling out of Love Abraham
Sisters
Love you Didn’t Do right By Me/ Love You didn’t do right
How deep is the Ocean
We follow the Old Man
Let Me Sing I’m Happy
How Deep is the Ocean What can you do
Well follow the Old Man Gee I wish I was back
In the army
White Christmas White Christmas
I’ve got my Love to keep me warm



The story of the film rendins fo the Christian basis of the season, the getting to gether of friends and families, the having a good time and the dangers of paying attention to heresay, not checking facts and to the harm well intentioned busy bodies can cause.

The story opens as the second World War draws to its close in Europe and two friends are part of an entertainment put on for their comrades in arms at Christmas. The commanding General speaks to the men of the task ahead and the hope that ten years later the men would have good and peaceful lives with families. The two friends in the Sunderland production are played by Tom Chambers, an actor in the TV series Holby City and Waterloo Road but who made his name by winning Strictly Come Dancing, and Adam Cooper, an established dancer cheorographer and theatre director, while the General is played by Ken Kercheval, now aged 75 and who made his name in the TV blockbuster series of Dallas as Cliff Barnes. Ken also played the role when the show first came to the UK in 2006 while Adam Cooper starred last season in Plymouth and Manchester.

Ten years later the two men have become successful in musical theatre, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show before going to Miami over the holiday season to prepare for their next production. Having received a letter from one of their war comrades one of the pair persuades the other to catch the man’s two younger sisters performing at a club and they are impressed as well as attracted to the women. They invited the girls to bring their act to Miami as part of the show, but they are already contacted to appear at a Winter ski holiday centre in Vermont. One of the men devises a plan which results in the other finding himself on the same train as the girls to Vermont and when they get to the resort, they find it being run at a loss by their former Commanding officer. Worse still there is a sudden heat wave instead of snow so bookings are cancelled and General faces ruin. The two men devise a plan to bring their company to rehearse their next show at the centre using the Barn as the theatre and then to invite all the members of the 151 battalion and their families to come to the resort over the holiday to show support and respect for the general. The General meanwhile had applied to rejoin the army but his application is treated by a former colleague as a joke.

All goes well with the plan until the resort receptionist asked to communicate a message from a product producer on the Ed Sullivan show who also produced the wartime show in which the two men first men. She interprets the message as revealing that the men plan to buy the resort at a knock down price and make millions. She passes this misinterpretation on to one of the sisters at the same time as giving her a telegram offering her a major booking at a New York nightclub. She takes the assignment broken hearted at what she feels is the betrayal by the man she had come to admire as well as love. Without understanding why she has broken off the relationship the man follows her to New York and when she still rejects his interest he leaves to return to Vermont for the special performance show. He also leaves her with the Ed Sullivan producer friend he has invited to catch her act and she quickly realises that the man is not a real estate agent and that she has accepted a false story, also returning to Vermont to appear in the show.

The General is persuade to wear his uniform for the occasion still unaware that the support reunion has been planned and gets a second surprise when a letter is sent from the White House giving him a job with the USA army in Europe. He decides to decline the offer and make the most of the opportunity given to him by the former comrades. At the end of the show within a show, the doors behind the stage are opened to reveal that snow has arrived at the resort. And in true Hollywood style everyone lives happy ever after.

The musical is a faithful production of the style of show and song fashionable in the 1950’s and makes no allowance for social changes in the intervening years although the appal from brothers in arms to stick together and support each other when they return to civilian life is as strong now in the post Korean, Vietnam and Middle East conflicts as it was post World War II.

I have visited the Sunderland Empire Theatre several times over my decades living on Tyne and Wearsides usually for the Pantomime at Christmas/New Year. It is an ancient theatre built in 1007 with 2000 seats in an auditorium which has remained substantial the same over the century. However in 2004/5 £4.5 million was spent to raise the height of the above stage tower, lengthen and widen the stage to enable full West End and International theatre productions to be produced including Miss Saigon, one of my favourites, South Pacific, My Fare Lady, and Starlight Express. Mickey Rooney appeared in the 2007 Christmas Pantomime with his wife while Helen Mirren first performed on this stage and the Comedian Sydney James had a heart attack and died on his way to hospital.

I enjoyed the evening despite the horrendous conditions on the untreated Sunderland roads one the way to and from the Theatre. Mist of the audience wisely kept on their coats as it was none to warm inside. The seats remain comfortable, and West End prices were charged about double one would expect for a show at this time of the year and here were no concessions. I would be surprised if the gross box office is less than half a million pounds a week and one hopes the rates paid to the performers reflects this as for many this will be their substantial earning period for the year. I shall now look out for a showing of the film over Christmas.

1901 Blood Brothers in Richmond, Lunch in Kingston

After an excellent journey to the capital, an unexpectedly treat of a day on Monday visiting the town where my first purchased home is located, seeing Shutter Island at Kingston and La Boheme at Wimbledon, taking the tram for almost length of its track, a family meal and lots of chat, deciding what to do with my third full day and something which would add to the experience posed a problem. My pre journey intention had been to visit the new Renaissance exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum and /or the Henry Moore retrospective at the Tate but if the weather as good then I fancied a trip to Richmond, taking the bus from Kingston, and passing Ham and Petersham, alighting at the Thames riverside and going on to the Green, one of the most picturesque in all the British Islands, lunching, having a walk around, taking a river bus trip, assuming their continuing operation, perhaps then continuing on the sixty five to Ealing where I had worked between 1967 and 1970, not that I remembered the number of the bus when considering the options.

All this seemed unlikely when I opened the curtains of the room Croydon and looked towards the Nestle building and the main road passed the Fairfield Halls, towards the Local authority buildings where I had worked for the Finance department in late 950’s and noticed the grey skies which looked full of rain. I decided that I would nevertheless take the bus to Kingston and if weather had not improved take the train from there to Waterloo.

I arrived at the bus stop in good time and was able to take a raised seat midway in the bus, able to pay greater attention to the other passengers and the places passed, remembering previous associations. A retired couple behind me provided a running commentary and at the Fairfield Halls reminisced at a past era. Passing between Beddington and Park and Wallington Green and I remembered the where a Liberal parliamentary Candidate lived whose children attended the same school and church and where we had gone Carol singing one Christmas as teenagers. In those days he lost his deposit gaining only a few votes whereas today the Sutton Council has a Liberal Democrat majority and a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament. After Carshalton pond we passed the former music store, now selling clocks where another former pupil lived above with his family.

At the station stop in Kingston I alighted in front of a Wetherspoons pub offering their three sausages and chips with beans for £3.99. This was irresistible. This is a giant of a Wetherspoons with two large seating areas and a horde of young staff who appeared to be enjoying their working day. The meal came surprisingly quickly given the number of people in the pub restaurant and someone came to check that I was satisfied with the food soon after it had been delivered. It was noon and I realised that Prime Minister’s Question Time was showing with sub titles. I was too lazy to move. However on going to the gents before making my way, I noticed that the House remained full and Chancellor of the Exchequer William Darling was on his feet. It was budget day.

After making myself comfortable I found a table close to a screen and watched the rest of his speech. In total he said nothing other than remind of the Government‘s performance and previously stated policies and decisions to do nothing to lessen the impact of the recession, to protect jobs as much a possible and to stimulate the economy in the best possible of ways. He explained the plans to reduce the national deficit with the forecast reduced by some 11 billions from 178 to 167 because improvements in employment, reductions in benefit payments and other measures. The only new announcement was to double the price of a property to a quarter of a million before stamp duty has to be paid and this will be offset by charging an additional 5% on properties worth more than £1 million. The speech will have placed the Conservatives in a difficult situation because their only accurate from of criticism would be to criticise the failure to cut public expenditure and not raising more taxes, both of which would have been electorally disastrous alienating the centre and their own core supporters. They therefore concentrated on criticising the government leadership and its personalities

I then went in search of the bus station and the bus to Richmond having remembered, so I thought, the way through the town centre having passed the bus station earlier. I was wrong and soon found myself close to the Kingston College and a one way system back into the centre of town where in a side street were not one but two 65 buses to Richmond and Ealing parked on their turnaround and with a small queue of people waiting at the bus stop for the first of these buses to recommence their journey. This had been a great stroke of luck because the bus then filled with standing room only accommodation at the next two stops through the town centre

After leaving the town centre where the traffic is always heavy because of the Thames and the one bridge crossing we moved quickly into the pleasant suburbs and then to a stretch of still magical England with the green at Ham surrounded by fine houses and cottages. Ham is across the way from Teddington Lock at the end of the long Teddington High Street which I had walked its length on the Monday.

It is possible to walk the whole stretch of the river thanes on this side of the River to Ham, Petersham and Richmond, whereas mention on the other side private housing and private roads restrict and discourage entry to the river bank. There is a pond to one side of the Common and a short walk on the other side of the road and one is in the vast acres of Richmond Park. Unless one is a good walker then a car is required for Richmond Park where there is an excellent refreshment facility at its centre in the former home of the first Earl Russell, Pembroke Lodge where I took my birth and care mothers and aunt to tea during their last years together having parked at the Richmond Green beforehand. I had also attended a Home Office Children’ s department arranged course at Strawberry Hill on the other side of the Park over three and half square miles and three times the size of New York’s Central Park. The Royal ballet school is within the park as is the Metropolitan police command centre for all the Royal parks.

A little further along this pleasant road of twists and turns is Petersham with its meadow land under Richmond Hill from which here are impressive view across this part of the Thames valley. There is a gatehouse road into the Park. The bus then continue on a road with the river to one side and the lower slopes of Richmond Hill on the other and this where I alighted rather than continue to the town centre. The sun was shining again and it was pleasantly warm. I unbuttoned my coat. I debated continue down a path to the river bank but thought I would do this later and enquire if there was a river bus back to Kingston. I have with the past five years taken the river boat from Hampton Court to Richmond. I was once interviewed for a senior post with the London Borough of Richmond but political background was not suited. I also recalled making a special journey to the Curzon Cinema and Water Lane to see a film about the Spanish Civil War.

Instead of going down to the river I walked up a steep bank into the Richmond Hill road of art galleries, antique shops and restaurants before retracing steps down to one of the two Odeon Cinema across from the Richmond Bridge which goes to Twickenham and Teddington. Someone has written that in 200 years the only things that have changed is the emergence of the International Rugby Union stadium at Twickenham and the constant flying of planes landing or taking off at Heathrow, although there was not much evidence of this on the day. I needed another visit to the loo and headed for John Lewis and had great difficulty in locating the toilets which are unmarked in the far corner of the second floor, obviously aimed at preventing steady stream of visitors like me. I was able to assist two middle aged women who were on a similar search.

Comfortable once more it was time to make for the wonderful Richmond Green and I thought I would look out the mansion which I had noted for sale in Saville’s. Later on line I learned that the asking price is £6.5 million for this four story property with its own pleasant gardens but overlooking the Green and with very spacious drawing rooms, many bedrooms rooms, and a guest flat or one for staff as garden flat, similar in fact to the situation at my former home in Teddington, There is a double garage and off street parking for five vehicles including access to Old Palace Yard. Located within walking of the Riverside and Parkland it is a dream location in a small town full of antique and art shops and good food restaurants. Oh to win the European Lottery for a win of £20million would be needed to look after the extended family, to purchase and adapted property for my project and arrange and endowment to secure its future from the tax man. I entered the Green by the famous Cricketers Pub and it is on this Green that the first Cricket match between Middlesex and Surrey was played in 1730 although here is reference to cricket being played here in 1666. Croydon also played Chertsey in 1736 thus combining links however loose ones which have drawn me to the town. Most of the benches around the Green were occupied but saw one on the far side and making my way I then stopped having noticed a lot of people outside the Richmond Theatre which is one side of an extension to the Green. Wednesday, Matinee time and it was 2.15.
Then the Gods looked down on me, beaming. There was a performance of the Willie Russell masterpiece Blood Brothers, undertaking its 25th anniversary tour. I could have a seat in the second row at the. I was able to sit with vacant seats on either side and a clear view between the pair of seats in front. I was in wonderland. The rest of the large theatre was full. I has a double chocolate ice cream at the Interval.

The Richmond Theatre on Little Green was built in 1899 and is the outstanding example of a Frank Matchem Theatre with a tradition interior of stalls, dress and upper circle full of gilt and plush red fabric. The Theatre has been used many film and TV productions such as Evita, Neverland and Jonathan Creek and remains capable of productions prior to the West end as well as professional Touring companies. It echoes back to the great era of the musical hall and pantomime

Blood Brothers is one of the longest running West end production in musical history with a tragic moving story, great music and a clever concept imaginatively presented. It features a Catholic Merseyside woman with five children whose husband runs off with a younger Marilyn Munroe lookalike, leaving her to fend on the dole, ordering more goods than she can ever afford from the catalogues. She gets a job cleaning for a middle class housewife with no children and finding herself having twins reluctantly agrees to give one of the two to the childless employer. The woman cannot cope with the situation and having agreed that the mother would be able to see her other so grow up through he continuing work, she persuades her husband to agree to their moving away after the two boys become close friend and make themselves into blood brothers.

When the mother and her six children are rehoused to a new estate on the outskirts of Liverpool they two boys, now young men encounter and re-establish their friendship together with a young girl who adores the working class half who is unable to express his affection while the middle class lad also adores the girl but recognises the prior claim of the other as well as the girl’s preference. When the middle class lad goes away to university, the couple are required to get wed and no sooner does the lad settle down living with their mother he is made redundant and then persuaded to participate in an armed robbery by his elder brother. in which someone is shot and the younger man is sent to prison for seven years, destroyed emotionally by the experience he returns to his family dependent on pills. In desperation his wife turns to his still unknown to them twin brother, now a councillor, for help to get a job and their own council home. The working class lad misinterprets the relationships and enter the Council premises with a gun. He is warmed by an armed police response team.

As a prologue we witness this last scene in which the brothers have been killed and we are told it was part of a curse a warning that should the two ever find out their relationship they would die. In order to prevent the middle class son killing the other, their mother reveals the truth and one shoots the other, with the police shooting the remaining twin.

The musical play demonstrates the strength of my dictum that what we do and say remains with us throughout our lives and with those involved. The main message of the play is one of class and when the two lads get into trouble with the police, one is given a final warning and other advice to keep away from the working class district. There are six principles in the cast. The Mother - Mrs Johnston and her twin son Mickey, Mrs Lyon and the other twin son Edward, the girl Linda and the narrator/chorus /conscience/prophet. Among those who have features as Mrs Johnston are Stephanie Lawrence, Clodagh Rogers, Kiki Dee and four of the Nolan Sisters, with Spice girl Mel among the latest. Russell Crow appeared as Mickey in the Australian production. Petula Clark made her Broadway debut in the work with the Cassidy brothers playing the twins. There has been a Japanese production and boot leg productions in many languages as well as official tours around the world.

Adults play the children and then the adolescents with considerable insight and naturalness and it is this aspect which has made the musical an essential introduction to the theatre for many young people, often brought to schools by the groups of actors. On Wednesday there was a party of fifth or sixth formers who enjoyed the show immensely , some moved to tears at the end. especially the girls who reacted to the jokes and aside about adolescent sexual and emotional fumblings of the boys. Despite knowing from the outset what the end will be there was still a strong emotional outburst from the audience followed by prolonged applause and a standing ovation, something which the show has experienced over the past 25 years everywhere everytime.

I made my way, joyously, back by bus to Kingston, then by train to Wimbledon and Tram to Croydon getting in after seven. I made by way from the Theatre and to where I thought there might be a bus stop in the one way system discovering a mini bus station down a side street and where a 65 bus arrived within seconds.

There was just time for the lady waiting on the seat next tome to hand me a tract from the Bible. She must have been clairvoyant for I was having a brief erotic memory Over forty years ago I was without my car and I had taken the 65 at Ealing to Kingston and then got a bus to my home in Teddington. This was in the late 1960‘s when girls were wearing the shortest of skirts for the first time. Unable to get a seat I had to go upstairs and look up had been startled by the rear of an attractive girl who had turned round and look back at me smiling. She went further inside the bus and I took a seat at the front for the different form of view.

I then made a mess of using the Oyster card for the first time. Again I arrived at Kingston station to find a train being announced so I rushed hoping that I had correct used the Oyster Card to gain entry, but I think I had the card in the holder the wrong way round. At Wimbledon I went straight to the Platform for the tram but the card did not register and I was told to seek help. Being rush hour the attendant was very busy but he eventually helped taking the correct amount from the card for the journey from Kingston. However I was not sure the card registered for tram trip. I thought the card had an initial deposit of £3 showing plus the £5, When I checked the following day there was only £1.10 in credit so a great mystery. However it had been another great day.

1404 Riot at the Customs House South Shields

With a need to purchase fruit and to post the income tax return for the financial year 2007 2008 I went out mid morning and decided to purchase a ticket for the performance of Riot at the Customs House. On arrival I discovered a matinee and opted for that. I bought some cherries, strawberries and grapes on the way.

Over 100 tear ago the thriving port of South Shields invited seamen from Somalia, India, Malaysia and Africa and especially from the Yemen to undertake jobs on ships such as stokers and firemen. The ship owners could pay them inferior wages must as a whole range of employers today are delighted to employ labour from the poorer countries of Europe because of their willingness to reliably work long hours without complaint, During the first world war the seamen became invaluable as British born men were drafted into the Royal Navy. It is estimated that approximately 2000 were living around the docks at Mill Dam at this time, forming the fist significant Muslin community to settle in Britain.

South Shields was a coal mining town as well as dockyards and where ships were built a little further up the river at Jarrow., at Hebburn and across the river where a pedestrian tunnel connected the banks as well a passenger ferries. South Shields was hard working class town where the middle class lived in small areas, where I live was one, and in the neighbouring countryside. The nature of the life and the rigid class distinctions have been accurate portrayed in the novels of Catherine Cookson and The TV films and serials which followed publication and the international success of the writer. It was inevitable that British born seamen were demobilised and the economic depression developed there was resentment against those from other lands, skin colours, cultures and religion. As with what happened to the Town of Jarrow with the decline in shipping, the Labour Party, some Trade Unions, the established Churches, and town's administrators did not cover themselves with glory, with some individuals being more concerned about the protection and advancement of their personal position than the welfare of the people in general.
The local newspaper, one of the oldest in the land published letters and editorials which if they did so to-day would lead to the prosecution and imprisonment of the owners and editorial staff for the blatant fuelling of racial tensions.

My understanding that there is evidence for the impression given in the play by Peter Mortimer the principal culprits was the local leader of the seaman's union who caved in too readily to the positions taken up by the shop owners especially then a rota system was slanted against the migrant workers. The Communists Party and other socialist interests stepped in to create the Minority Movement, left wing challenge to the National Union of Seamen and the Shipping Federation and which comprised migrant workers and white Seamen. This was not a sort lived situation as it lasted throughout the 1920's coming to ahead first in April 1930 when 13 Somalis were taken to North Tyneside from South Shields to work on ships leaving from there. The situation exploded into rioting on August 2nd 1930 when fuelled by baseless rumour a large mob of white seamen roamed the waterfront hunting for Arabs and foreigners, There was a counter demonstration arranged by the Minority Movement and eventually the two sides clashed. The police then attempted to keep the peace drawing truncheons and charging and several Arabs drew knives and four policemen were stabbed. 26 men were arrested 20 Arabs and six white. The Arabs were subsequently convicted and given sentences from three to sixteen months with hard labour after which they were deported. The white organisers were given eight months. However the real scandal was the behaviour of the civic authorities towards the rest of the Muslim seamen when over 100 who had nothing to do with the riots were also deported as a consequence of seeking assistance through the workhouse.

In this respect one has to place the situation in the wider perspective of local authority control over Workhouses, Asylums and the activities of the police. I have studied some of the local poor law records and right up until the 1948 National Assistance Act one could find decisions which would rightly be condemned to day including local up single parents mothers and taking away their children. I have seen orders signed by leading trade unionists and labour Councillors.

During the Second World War a significant number of non white seamen were among the 3000 who died but little recognition was given to them When there was the development of local business often opening cafes and restaurants in the 1950's the police were used in various ways to inhibit trade with false accusations of drugs and prostitution. In the sixties South Shields did become a centre for Heroin after addicts were driven out of London and settled in the town. At one stage half those in the regional rehabilitation until came from the town. There were all British born white, as were the prostitutes who frequented the pubs and clubs close to the docklands.

The Play was first produced at the Custom's House in 2005 and this new production has been created with the help of the Trade Union Unison with performance in Liverpool as part of the Arabic Arts Festival and the European Capital of Culture Celebrations. The performance company comes from Tyneside and the Director of the work lives in South Shields.

I was therefore very interested to see what kind of audience there was for a June Matinee afternoon when the town is thronged with shoppers for the greater part of the day and then going home to tea and in preparation for the evening entertainment. At least three quarters of the auditorium was filled with a wide range of ages although many young people created a responsive atmosphere to the humour as well as seriousness of the work. As far as I could see there was only one person present who was not evidently white.

Later at home I watched a remarkable "extra" on the Bobby DVD where five people who were present at the Ambassador Hotel spoke at some length about their experience, including one who suffered superficial wounds in the head, one who was a civil right worker with the campaign who had been on voter registration in the deep South and who had then become involved in monitoring White Supremacist organisations, and one remarkable lady who been the key figure in organising the Latino struggle of basic rights in the sixties which Bobby had also taken up and had been responsible for the voter registration of some 140000 into the campaign. I saw the best hearts of that generation broken that night to misquote and misuse the opening words of Howl

1207 The Tube programme and all that All this and Heaven too

This writing marks the completion of the second series of 101 Myspace writing, or as I now wish the work to be known as 101.75, a total of 1074 pieces if added to those on AOL, within 2 years. It commenced on May 24 2006, with 19 pieces that month, and then in June 151, July 76, August 76, September 99, October 96, November 76 December 87, January 2007 62, February 69, March 61. My objective is to complete a further set of 100.75 by the anniversary of my first year on Myspace on February 17th.

I commenced to write this piece while listening to a commentary of Newcastle at home to Portsmouth. Within nine minutes the score was Newcastle 0 Portsmouth 1, a minute later it was Newcastle 0. Portsmouth 2 and then Newcastle 0 Portsmouth after 10 minutes, with two mistakes. A scrambled own goal via Michael Owen made it 1-3 and from horror disaster the fifty thousand crowd sensed all was not lost.

There are many advantages to living in the North East and one of these the absence of traffic jams. When I travelled, usually by car, once a month to London, for a decade, I dreaded the last fifty odd miles where the choice was the M 25 stuck in a slow moving end less four and three lane chain of cars for miles from the area approaching London Airport through to Purley, or into central London, past Lords, across Oxford Street, to Victoria, with an option of routes through South London, with slow moving traffic and dozen upon dozen of traffic lights. Such was the nightmare of this apart of the journey that after several years I commenced to break up the journey, with a leisurely start, a visit to the cinema or to a country house, an overnight stay at a Travel Lodge paying as little as £5 a night, £10 or £15 and never more than around £25. And then after breakfast facing a morning drive in traffic, traffic, traffic.

Several years before this I learnt the reality of London traffic when serving on a sub committee of a committee organised by the Home Office which offered a car parking space for meetings which commenced at 10.30 am. I remember the first occasion well in that unsure of what the traffic would be like I set off after 8 am probably nearer 8.30 thinking the ten to twelve miles would take a hour to an hour and half which would give me timer to go through the papers once more and get ready any contribution, or chat with other colleagues as they arrived. I had anticipated some traffic congestion as I approached inner London, having in the later 1960's travelled for three years from Teddington to Ealing in West London a journey of a similar distance. I just had not anticipated the growth in traffic out into the suburbs in a decade and a half and arrived just as the meeting commenced. The alternative was a walk to the station, a forty minute train ride usually standing, and a crushed underground ride of one station from Victoria to St James, on a walk. I thought of these experiences as for the first time in years I encountered major congestion last night in the City of Newcastle.

For the second time in a week I miscalculated the time required to journey from my home, on this occasion to the Sage Concert Halls for a curious event to celebrate 25 years since the birth of The Tube, the Iconic contemporary music show produced by Tyne Tees Television for Channel Four in Newcastle from 1982 to 1987, 121 episodes and 10 specials. Given the previous experience I should have set off at 6.30 but it was after seven. I had planned to travel by car to Hewarth, then take the Metro to Gateshead and a special bus service to the entrance of the Sage. I decided not to risk a late arrival and took a taxi although I could have kept to the original plan as it was well after eight before the evening commenced. It was after 11pm when I I decided to take the first special bus which first went to the Baltic, then to the Quayside in central Newcastle and the City station, rather than wait the nine minutes for a bus which would have taken the short distance from the Sage to Gateshead interchange station.

From the moment the bus crossed over the swing bridge onto the Newcastle Quayside the traffic was solid and slow moving, from those leaving after a night out at the theatre, cinema, or concert hall or music gig and those arriving for the night clubs. The streets were pulsating with mainly young people, mostly in single sex groups, although as previously observed there was an age range down by the Quayside. One of the venues, a bar, which might also serve food, has been renamed Rumpole's, after the fictitious barrister created by John Mortimer who frequented a bar called Pomeroy's, popular with members of the legal profession. One group of young men, whop engaged in conversation with a single young man with the appearance of a bouncer, explained that they had stayed in Newcastle after work, doing the pubs and bars looking for lasses, and without success were heading for the night clubs in Shields, where they also had lodgings. I was right about the bouncer as he explained that he guarded the entrance to the restricted area of one of the clubs.

And the event? Was a little disappointing. There were six individuals on the platform but no presenter although Jules Holland did a good interview in which he described how he was appointed and the significance of the show as the creator of a culture in which musicians and comedians would come up to Newcastle, often staying over for the party atmosphere although BA reorganised its Friday flight schedule to bring up those who wished to travel from London for the day or return after the evening performance.

The most rewarding aspect of the evening was the account as to how the show got off the ground, including a meeting in a Newcastle fish and chip restaurant in which Sir Jeremy Isaacs, the founder and chief executive of Chanel allegedly told the commissioning director and programme directors, Don't' f…k up. The use of descriptive expletives was a feature of the Tube, with Jules Holland having to resign after he unintentionally swore on a live programme which went out early evening tea time and was watched by school age children. The programme also gained notoriety because of the outlandish appearance and behaviour of its main presenter with Jools Holland, the later Paula Yates, the former wife of Sir Bob Geldorf. Paul had responsibility for the first 45 mins of the programme which concentrated on interviews, fashion items and comedy, with Paula conducting her interviews on a bed and one on occasion persuading Sting to remove his trousers.

It was the second 45 minutes of live music performances which made the show essential viewing for popular music promoters, managers and record producers and who in some instances snapped up a new artist to make them instant successes, with the Liverpool band Frankie Goes to Hollywood giving their raunchy performance of Relax. They immediately appeared on Top of the Tops and Relax shot to number 1 although he video was banned by the BBC and MTV which had just started.
For young people to day there are over 20 music dedicated stations providing 24 hour entertainment as well a similar number of radio stations with the number exponentially increasing through the use of the internet, there are hundred of music live music gigs and an area such as Tyne and Wear but back in in the early ages, when I was middle aged, until MTV there was only Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test was coming to an end and the Tube was a significant break through with its midsummer special programmes lasting five hours.

Looking at the footage of the first programmes in black and white I was struck by the audience, unsophisticated , also church like in their wonderment at the experience unfolding around them and how different from the lively crowds in the Quayside and Bigg Market after the show, many looking as if they had come from on were going to appear on Top of the Pops during its sexual hey day of up short skirt close ups and Pans People. Some of those young original young people were in the audience at the Sage from a hand sup request. There was also a gathering of insiders with many of the crew and production team. My taxi driver said that there had been a feature on the show on regional news before he came out to work for the evening.

The disappointing aspect was the absence of an appearance on the night or a film tribute collation from a major performer. Heaven 17 was a Sheffield based band which appeared on the first show and lead singer was part of the platform team and because he had agreed to participate whereas I suspect many others invited had not, an inordinate amount of attention was given to his work with two numbers from the original show and then a ten minute film, which was out of proportion to what the Tube came to stand for. I very much enjoyed the first part of the show but the second was something of anti climax, rushed because of over running with some clips cuts.

This was an interesting project something of an experiment for the Sage and there was no doubting the enthusiasm of its organiser who acted as chair of the panel and the best were the reminisces of panel members who I thought they were less convincing when they attempted to evaluate the show or comment on whether a similar kind of rough at the edges spontaneous show was required as an antidote to the polished scripted professional music channels and videos and orchestrated live music and dance performances of today.

This is an appropriate moment to mention that New astle eventually lost 1-4 at home indicating what I anticipated as a failure of Sam Alladyce I only know how to play one way with also ran players. Sunderland are at Man City who lost heavily at Chelsea last week so theatre is no expectation of a match which is live on Monday night TV. The following week it is Sunderland laying Newcastle at home with both teams wish to give their loyal fans something to shout about for the rest of the season, or at least the return Derby game.

Earlier in the day I saw the beginning and the end of a melodrama with a young Bette Davis showing the talent which made her I to one of the finest Actors of Hollywood. There were sugary children and one sided characterisations and dodgy script. All this and Heaven too. In past years when it came to a choice between the X Factor singing and the dancing with celebrities there was no context, and last year was exceptional with the amazing Leone and several others destined for a career in 'the business.' This year there are several weak finalists and no one world class uniquely outstanding, and the youngest was booted out when it emerged she had put on phone record a violent outburst involving a former friend. However there is a former school teacher from Luton who has a great voice and the right kind of image and personality. The programme also manufactured two groups one of five, originally six young men and one of six young women, who have talent and are learning presentational skills quickly. There is also one odd looking young man with a powerful stage voice and polished entertaining presentation. But the dancers took the honours.

My chess playing skills matches by lack of concentration and application since the monster work effort a week ago and having reached 50 and 40 runs of wins on level 2 I have not failed to progress into double figures several time in succession but suffered several checkmates. I know what the problem is but the mood and inclination is against making the required changes. So I shall watch the first 15 mins of the Newcastle horror show, the masochist that I am and then start the final episodes of the Great War to mark the third series of 101.75 writing.

1201 Casanova a play

Last night, as I was saying, I left the theatre at the interval. The work was called Casanova although if this is a male name the play ought to have been called Casanove although traditionally the converse would have been batter. I was attracted to a play about the life of Casanova. I have seen nothing better since the 1971 BBC TV series written by Dennis Potter with Frank Finlay in the starring role, but I also liked the 1976 Fellini Film with Donald Sutherland and I have a Men of Destiny volume on his life, a work by Chevalier de Seingalt, translated by Bonamy Debree. I ought to have known that this was an experimental concept work for two three reasons. Casanova in this work is played by a young female actress whereas in most other works it is about an old man reflecting back, now where I have heard that approach before? Secondly it was billed as a comedy, and I usually avoid anything which sets out to attract an audience as a comedy. Thirdly the company attempted to get bums on seats by displaying the part of the naked bum of the lead actress although she admitted on local radio that this was a stand in. The radio show was about he fact that it was alleged people had been stealing posters of the play, no doubt to put on their student room walls, and certainly the theatre was more than a quarter full of students, mainly young women, given that it was about half full overall. Anyway I sat there for the first half saying I am not enjoying this, I am not amused, intellectually challenged or emotionally engaged. This is adding nothing to my life and I could be making better use of my time. I blamed myself for not taking more care before making the investment.

I was unsure that I had made the right decision when I attempted to book a ticket for a performances at the Sage next month, w eek Friday in fact. This a celebration of the Tube, a Newcastle music programme twenty five years ago presented by Jools Holland, Paula Yates and Murial Gray for Channel 4. The show" will include a production commentary on the first show, plus exclusively screenings special guest When I appeared to fail to complete a booking twice on the internet I gave up only to receive two tickets in the posy, one of which has been returned. The indications are that the performance is not well supported as the tickets were for rows two and three. Among the long list of performers who emerged through the five years of the show were , the Boomtown Rats, Big Country, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Elvis Costello, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Human League, Iggy Pop, Madonna, Meat Loaf, Paul Young, REM, Simply Red, Siouxie and the Banshees, the Jam, The Pretenders, Thin Lizzy, U2, Ultravox, the Smiths and on and on and on.

However while tempted to get a half season at Newcastle, given the progress being made in results, but not in the quality of the football, and at Durham given their progress, the latter at a fraction of the costs of the football, there is the question of allocated the time if I am to undertake a major work project which could move me into a new dimension for the last phase of my life, winning the lottery or a major premium bond prize being unlikely. Such a win will be necessary to buy a home in the new Ocean Village complex built out of a former industrial shipyard area which was already underway when I last visited in 2004. This is an upmarket residential and leisure development for those with lots of dosh. The Gibraltar radio news hour featured the development today together with the extraordinary development that GB airlines, operated by BA at Gatwick and been sold to Easy Jet for over £100. What this means in terms of flights from other airports and on price remains to be seen. It is such commercial enterprises that has driven the political changes between Gibraltar GB and Spain, and will in due course alter the sovereignty question and the composition of resident voting population changes. The thought of all this is very dissatisfying so I wills top and do something else.