WC August 7.
On Tuesday I managed to cope with the current problems at Waterloo Station to travel to Barnes to interview two of my very favourite actors, JULIAN WADHAM and CAROL ROYLE. Julian, who had a home on the Isle of Wight for many years, is in the exciting new movie, Victoria and Abdul, which goes on release on September 15. I went to his home and had a very enjoyable time. To ease my travel problems Carol Royle drove down to Barnes from Twickenham to do an interview with me at Julian’s home. Carol is about to tour the country in the first British tour of the West End hit Beautiful. Carol, like Julian, a long term friend, is playing Carole King’s mother Genie Klein. Both interviews will soon be available to listen to all around the world.
On the way back from my interviews I met three people on the train from Clapham Junction to Basingstoke, who work for Dorset’s Sixpenny Brewery. They were great company and the journey just flew by. They were great entertainers. I know they would love their beer to be sold on the Isle of Wight. I have one or two contacts in the real ale world. They are never far from the job – and spent a small fortune on buying three bottles of beer from the trolley on the train. They even bought me a Kit Kat. They were so nice I didn’t have the courage to tell them I was teetotal. They have promised to listen to some of my online podcasts. I’ll drop a few hints about their beer. They are at Cranborne in Dorset, not too far from Salisbury. They have a great website which is at www.sixpennybrewery.co.uk
Thursday lunchtime was most enjoyable. Bertie and I turned up at the Woodman’s at Wootton for lunch and discovered five former Island cricketers having a get together – and they were all brilliant players. There was Keith Mitchell, Roger Poynter, Mick Blackman, Keith Golding and, amazingly, the legendary Brian Exley, who had returned to Yorkshire a few years ago. They all played for Newport when they had one of the finest teams the Island had ever seen. It ended up a perfect day – in more ways than one.
Went to the Ventnor Fringe on Friday night to see Exit The King, written by a good friend, Felicity Fair Thompson. It was a one act play set in the last few hours before the death of King Charles I. It was hard to believe that the fantastic actor, Graham Pountney, once played the powerboat driver in Howards Way. This was such a lot more demanding than Mark Foster and he rose to it superbly. A masterful performance – and how does he remember all those words?
I finished the week off with a visit to Dave Cannon’s Elvis charity night at the Cygnet Hotel, Sandown. Dave’s Solent City Sound music show is such a gem and he had an Elvis video to accompany every song. I sold a few books, too, with a donation from each going to the Earl Mountbatten Hospice. In total, Dave raised a total of £165.