WC SEPTEMBER 17.
Tuesday was a rather hectic day – and I enjoyed every minute. I headed to Putney around 11-30am to meet up again with a remarkable Island-born young lady – Karen Reader – who I first knew as Karen Spurgeon. Her sad story was first seen in a recent issue of The Sun and then the CP. Despite now being confined to a wheelchair she has remarkable courage and still has a great zest for life. Karen’s moving story will be told in her own words on John Hannam Meets on Sunday September 30. It is her very first radio interview ever.
I left Karen, after recording a super interview, and headed to London’s West End to have a quick lunch with my daughter, Caroline, currently head of wardrobe on the national tour of Driving Miss Daisy, before heading to the Wise Buddah Studio to interivew Deacon Blue. Their front man, lead singer and songwriter Ricky Ross, is a great guy.
On Wednesday night I saw seven remarkable young Island actors in The History Boys at the Quay Arts Centre, produced by our Red Tie theatre group. A night to remember and names to take a note of.
On Thursday we nipped down to West Sussex for a nice day trip – and my first-ever visit to Arundel was most enjoyable. Around 6pm I had an interivew arranged with Ric Sanders, the violin player from bands like Soft Machine, The Albion Band and Fairport Convention. This was in the village of Westbourne, not far from Chichester. Ric actually played some live music at the Island funeral of Geoffrey Hughes. What a character!!!
The week ended with my first visit to an Island football match for many years. I visited St George’s Park to see the FA Cup match between Newport and Salisbury. I enjoyed the game and the company – and the result, a 3-0 defeat for Newport, was not a surprise. Salisbury are three leagues higher than Newport – and it showed.