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Mid-saurus Murders!

Exclusive Interview by Karen Shaw30 Mar 2012
Neil Dudgeon, the new DCI Barnaby, talks death, dirt and dinosaurs...

Everyone who knows me will no doubt be aware that I’m a massive Midsomer fan; so I was more than happy to interview the show’s new DCI Barnaby, played by actor Neil Dudgeon.
I immediately began preparing for the interview, researching and delving into everything Neil... and it was with great joy I discovered we had plenty in common. Like me, Neil is Yorkshire born and bred and we also share the same birthday New Year’s Day.
My claim to fame is that I was the first baby born in Keighley in 1971 and I was intrigued to find out if Neil was the first bairn born in Doncaster...
“Um, sorry to disappoint you but I was born on January 2nd – and I know I wasn’t the first baby born on the 2nd because a girl in my class was.”
Not an ideal start to an interview, Wikipedia has a lot to answer for, but I stumbled on regardless of my faux pas.
“So Neil, does that also mean that you don’t have four children as it states on Wiki..?”
“What! Father of four! No! Are you sure you’ve got the right person?”
Arggh! At this point I would gladly welcome the floor swallowing me up and spitting me out somewhere, anywhere, but right here and right now. I take a deep breath and continue!
I now cling desperately to the fact that I know he’s a Yorkshire lad and when I inform him that I’m from Haworth, he replies “I know Haworth – it’s where the tea towels come from and those Bronte’s. We used to go there on school trips.
I don’t live up North anymore I’m in West London now, but I do miss it and go back quite a lot.
“You’re right about one thing, I’m a Yorkshire lad through and through and no doubt after speaking to you Karen you will doubtless bring out more ‘Northerness’ in me.”
What I do know for sure is Neil plays Tom Barnaby’s cousin John – also a senior detective but with a degree in psychology, giving his character an extra edge when it comes to tackling the abnormally high number of murders afflicting Midsomer.
Tom, played by the lovely John Nettles, has gone after 13 years, 185 murders, 10 suicides, 12 accidental deaths and five more of natural causes.
My next tact is to keep it simple; I ask “How did you get into acting?”
“I got into acting thanks to my English teacher, who me to stop mucking around or face a terrible punishment.
“Of course I ignored him and carried on, so he said, ‘Right Dudgeon you are going read a piece at the school Christmas carol concert in front of the whole church and the school.’”
“It was a ‘Child’s Christmas in Wales’ by Dylan Thomas. So there I was at the church altar, eyes peeping over the top of the page looking at the sea of people, and read it out and rather liked it.
“So from there I went into the school play and another, then I joined the South Yorkshire youth theatre. I went to Bristol University and studied drama and then applied to RADA where I was spotted by an agent – and 25 years later here I am talking about Midsomer Murders!”
I wondered if Neil saw himself staying in the show as long as his predecessor did following in John’s footsteps? “I’m very happy in the show and I’m lucky it’s a marvellous job. I’ve been on the show two years now and time flies when you’re having fun.
“I spend most of my time in a muddy field in South Oxfordshire with Jason Hughes (DS Ben Jones) battling the elements. “So I would be very happy doing this for as long as it goes on. When I began Midsomer I already had a good idea of the tone of the show. John Nettles was a very modest person and didn’t offer me any tips, he’s far too shy for that.”
There’s no doubt that since his introduction to the show, the dynamics have changed. Joyce Barnaby used to drive me to distraction with her inane conversation and her endless poetry/painting classes!
However the latest wife, Sarah Barnaby played by Fiona Dolman is a completely different ‘kettle of fish’; she’s sassy and very career orientated - and I was keen to discover if the new ‘Barnabys’ on the block’ had any plans for the pitter patter of tiny feet... “Well, when John left I think the producers decided that if they had children they would have to accommodate them in scenes – and they’d done that for 13 years with John’s character.
“This was a chance to move on. Then they had the brilliant idea of bringing in Sykes the dog – the star of the set. I am convinced people are going to tune in and think they’ve replaced that John Nettles with a dog!”
So, how does your policing style differ from Tom’s?
“Well we are both equally ineffective with the number of murders going on,” he replies.
So Neil, any thoughts about uprooting from London and re-locating to Midsomer...
“There are lots of places like Midsomer some just literally ten minutes off the M40 from London, between junction three and seven. “There are these picture postcard villages with the village green, old Norman church, post office and pub. But to be honest; I think I would probably get bored.”
But from a viewers’ point of view Midsomer (despite the often gruesome murders) offers a certain level of comfort, it’s incredibly popular, so why oh why, are we never sure when it’s scheduled, it changes on a regular basis?
“Well, in my opinion Midsomer is a Sunday night show – and it should be going out on Sunday night. And why put it on one week and not the next. You need to make that point to ITV.
I think you should definitely make a point of that!”
On closing I tentatively ask Neil: “Wikipedia says that you have been signed to star in Jurassic Park 4 as a palaeontologist, to which Neil’s reply is: “Oh, has it been filmed yet?” I respond “Well, I was going to ask you the same question Neil...”
“I’m sure I would have remembered if I’d been in a film with dinosaurs. This Wikipedia – anyone can put anything on there...”
This just goes to show that you really shouldn’t believe everything you read... (Apart from Northern Life, of course).

Article from Northern Life issue 43 April/May 2012.
To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.

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The Great British Holiday

by Sarah Rigg04 May 2012
All together now: ‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...’ It’s buckets n’ spades and watching your kids play... we’re talking about the Great British Holiday!
Whether you are sledging down sand dunes, taking long coastal strolls or cycling along country lanes – tourism are bosses asking Brits to holiday at home this year.
Big names including Stephen Fry and Julie Walters are behind a nationwide drive to put the UK back on the holiday map.
Channel 4’s hit hotelier Mark Jenkins says: “Brits have locked away their own wonderful memories of childhood holidays, and as a result they aren’t recreating them for their own kids.
“Our country has so much to offer - whatever kind of holiday you choose – and although the sun shines a lot more than we care to admit in the UK, the British break is about so much more than sleeping it away on a sunbed.”
Whether you are B & B’ing, caravanning, camping or visiting one of the nation’s thousands of hotels and holiday parks; VisitEngland believe it’s time to get back to basics.
Chief Executive James Berresford says: “We have joined forces with thousands of camps, hotels, restaurants, theatres and attractions throughout the country and have brilliant cash-saving offers.
“This year families can enjoy great deals on accommodation, meals and tickets to attractions at very affordable prices. Now is the time to holiday at home – there is no comparison anywhere else in the world with what’s on offer here in the UK this year.”
For hotelier, Mark Jenkins – the star of Channel 4’s surprise smash hit ‘The Hotel’ – holidaying as a child made memories unrivalled by expensive trips abroad.
He adds: “Don’t be put off by the weather – saying that we get a lot of sunshine in Torquay -which is why we have so many palm trees.
“We have wonderful coastlines across the UK and kids love to play in the sand, go rockpooling or crabbing, having a picnic or taking day trips. A great holiday is about making memories, not how hot the weather is.”
Mark has three hotels in Devon, the Inglewood, Kister and the Grosvenor, the latter of which featured in aTV fly-on-the-wall documentary about life in the busy three-star holiday spot.
His own holiday camp trips, entering the donkey derby and playing in the outdoor pools with other British children, inspired the mood of his own empire.
“You can travel alone or in a party of people, but when Brits get together in our hotels they leave as holiday friends. I really don’t believe that happens as much abroad.
“We have blow up dolphin racing in the pools which the kids love, party nights in the hotels, with karaoke, competitions, prizes and singalongs. And outside the hotels there are lots of other attractions to experience.
“And if the weather turns when we have our barbeques the guests still come out with their umbrellas and have a laugh about it over a beer and soggy hotdog! It’s what makes us British and Britain great.”
The £24million marketing campaign to encourage us to holiday at home will see a series of destination adverts being aired featuring Blackpool, Skegness, Yorkshire and Liverpool.
VisitEngland’s James Berresford adds: “This is the largest domestic tourism campaign ever undertaken and aims to inspire UK residents to take advantage of the fantastic events taking place in the country this year.”
The publicity push, led by VisitEngland, and supported by the home nation tourist boards of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; will showcase the country and highlight the key events taking place including the Torch Relay, the Cultural Festival and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The campaign includes 2.5m accommodation nights and has been supported by hundreds of tourism businesses up and down the country including national hotel chains: De Vere, Marriott, Travelodge, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels; Hoseasons Group, Bourne Leisure, and Accor to name a few. Attractions giant, Merlin is offering 25 per cent off on their Annual Pass and other attractions such as The Eden Project, Chatsworth House and The National Maritime Museum are on board offering fantastic experiences at 20.12 per cent off. Thomas Cook, is also participating with some great value offers for UK breaks.

Article from Northern Life issue 43 April/May 2012.
To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.
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Pendle Witches

by Sarah Rigg03 May 2012
Four hundred years ago ten Lancashire folk were hanged for crimes of witchcraft. In the first of a three part series Northern Life tells the extraordinary story of The Pendle Witches.

“The fearefull aboundinge at this time in this countrie, of these detestable slaves of the Devil, the Witches or enchaunters. Such assaults of Satan are most certainly practised, and that the instrument thereof merits most severely to be punished.” King James I of England

During a recent family dinner a row broke between my cousin Nicola, a holistic therapist and a family friend; who had just retired from his long-standing post as the village GP.
Nic was arguing the case for alternative therapies which prompted much eye-rolling and retorts of “hocus pocus” from our doctor friend.
Had that row taken place 400 years earlier, the good doctor could well have marched my wretched wench of a cousin to Lancaster Castle to be hanged for crimes of witchcraft.
Even today many alternative treatments; aromatherapy, reiki, acupuncture and herbal healing, to name a few, are viewed suspiciously by sections of the medical profession; at best for being nonsense and at worst for being tricks of confidence on the most vulnerable.
To truly grip the case of the Pendle Witches though, and the misunderstanding between their ways and those of the local gentry/authorities, we need to paint a picture of the way things were back in the 17th century.
Under the reign of witch-culling fanatic King James I, medicine was in its infancy and the people of Pendle – as elsewhere in the UK – relied on old-fashioned beliefs, potions and charms to treat their sick family members.
The two main families in this historical case – the Chattox and Demdike clans – were most probably happy for locals to believe they held these supposed supernatural powers.
Their ‘gifts’ earned those much-needed coppers and food - and the warring rivals were in fierce competition for those rewards. However their potions and spells were less likely fashioned from eyes of newts or wings of bats, but from the herbs and plants growing in and around the forest of Pendle Hill.
As we will reveal later in our series – herbalists are still using these plants to treat many ailments today.
It was Good Friday – April 10th 1612 – when members of the two rival broods gathered at Malkin Tower in what has been described as a booze-fuelled and rowdy rendezvous.
Eight days earlier two elderly members of each family had been arrested on charges of witchcraft - Elizabeth Southern known as ‘Old Demdike’ - and Anne Whittle, nicknamed ‘Old Chattox’.
Their capture sparked the start of what is still today one the most mysterious, yet conversely, well-documented witch trials recorded anywhere in the world.
Christine Goodier is a former manager of Lancaster Castle, historian and tour guide.
She says: “Witchcraft is a term which is open to endless interpretation. What it means in any given society and at any given time is a key factor in how anyone accused of being a witch is treated.
“In some cultures the witch is revered and respected. In others they are vilified and outcast – even murdered – for their supposed powers.
“What is very clear is that by 1612 the perception of what constituted witchcraft had undergone a fairly recent and radical transformation. It was no longer ignored by the authorities as it had once been, which was extremely unfortunate for the accused.”
Many thoughtful and brilliant books have been written about the Pendle or Lancashire Witches – each with their varying theories and views.
However the starting point of most research is with Thomas Potts’s account in 1613 - ‘The Wonderful Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancashire’.
Potts was clerk to the court at Lancaster during the witch trials and most of what we know about the Pendle witches today, we know because of him.
What can be said with certainty is that in the spring and summer of 1612, twenty witches were imprisoned and committed for trial at Lancaster. Nineteen survived to be tried, mostly from the Pendle area but also from Padiham, Samlesbury and Windle, near St Helens. Of these nineteen, three were declared completely innocent, five were acquitted but bound over, and eleven were found guilty, ten of whom were hanged.
Elizabeth ‘Old Demdike’ Southern of Pendle, is added to the death toll, as she died in prison awaiting trial.
Potts’ work has been immortalised and modernised by historian Robert Poole, in his book of the same title -‘The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancashire’.
It is a fascinating read, retaining all of the original detail, but retold in a more accessible voice.
Moore tells how the affair of the Lancashire witches began on March 21st 1612 when Halifax cloth dyer Abraham Law received an unexpected letter urging him to ‘come to his father, John Law, who lay in Colne speechless, and had the left side lamed all save his eye’.
John Law was a peddler and on his way to Colne to trade when he claimed to have been struck down by Alizon Device after refusing to hand over some pins.
This is how Moore recounts the incident, given five months later in court.
‘About the eighteenth of March last past, he being a pedlar, went with his pack of wares at his back through Colne Field: where unluckily he met with Alizon Device, now prisoner at the bar, who was very earnest with him for pins, but he would give her none: whereupon she seemed to be very angry. And when he was past her, he fell down lame in great extremity; and afterwards by means got into an alehouse in Colne, near unto the place where he was first bewitched.
And as he lay there in great pain, not able to stir either hand or foot; he saw a great black dog stand by him, with very fearful fiery eyes, great teeth and a terrible countenance, looking him in the face; whereat he was very sore afraid: and immediately after came in Alizon Device, who stayed not long there, but looked on him and went away.
After which time he was tormented both day and night with Alizon Device, and so continued lame, not able to travel or take pains ever since that time.’
Moore believes that had John Law recovered from what was probably a stroke; the matter would have ended there.
But John Law did not recover and soon a dramatic domino effect of accusations and claims, counter claims and fantastic stories led to the unravelling of this Lancashire coven.
When questioned, Alizon blamed her grandmother Elizabeth ‘Old Demdike’ Southern for conjuring up the evil dog and persuading her in the ways of the devil. Elizabeth Southern, we know, was frail, blind and lame.
Witnesses say, when out begging, she regularly leant on the arm of one of her grandchildren, who were the offspring of her daughter Elizabeth Device, whose husband John died in 1600.
Elizabeth had three children (four including Henry 1595-1599) – a son James and two daughters, Alizon and Jennet, who was aged at least eleven, probably 12 at the time of the trials.
Southern had an illegitimate child as well – a son, Christopher Howgate – of whom very little is known.
Ann Whittle was also an old woman by the time the trials started, possibly in her late seventies.
She had two daughters – Anne, and Elizabeth, known as Bessie.
Anne was the wife of Thomas Redfearne and had one daughter, Mary.
It seems that they rented West Close, owned by the Gawthorpe estate in 1612 (not owned by the Nutters as reported elsewhere) – with whom they had an uneasy and acrimonious relationship – while Old Demdike lived at Malkin Tower, which we know now was probably in the area of Barley.
Pefectly summing up the the mood and conditions of the time is John Clayton, local historian and a leading authority on the subject of the Pendle Witches and the Pendle Forest landscape. John is also a researcher and broadcaster and a member of the Institute for Archaeologists.
In his latest book ‘The Pendle Witch Fourth Centenary Handbook’ he provides a detailed account of the witch story that is as accurate and up to date as possible.
John reveals that a number of factors affected the lives of the accused; the demonisation of the Catholics in favour of Protestants, poor crop yields causing high food prices and a population increase resulting in severe social pressures. The supply of land became an issue and, when coupled with the previous fifty years of religious upheaval - attitudes to the landless poor took a turn for the worse. Many of the allegations resulted from accusations that members of the Demdike and Chattox families made against each other, perhaps because they were in competition, both trying to make a living from healing, begging, and extortion.
After the fateful meeting between Alizon Device and the peddler John Law, her mother Elizabeth and brother James were summoned to appear before Roger Nowell on 30 March 1612. Nowell, of Read Hall, was the Justice of The Peace for Pendle.
Alizon, perhaps terrified and broken by interrogation, told him she’d sold her soul to the devil, then cursed John Law after he had called her a thief. 
Her brother, James, stated that his sister had also confessed to bewitching a local child. Elizabeth was more cautious, admitting only that her mother, Demdike, had a mark on her body that was commonly known as a witch mark.
From this Nowell provided written evidence that on Good Friday 1612, a “diabolical” meeting of witches had taken place at Malkin Tower – the main purpose of which was to plan blowing up Lancaster Castle and freeing their incarcerated relatives.
In his book The Pendle Witch Handbook, John Clayton explains: “Each year, on the fifth of November, we fill the skies with thousands of pounds worth of fireworks and a good time is had by all.
“However, it is fair to say that the majority of revellers on Bonfire Night will never have given a thought to the fact that, without the Gunpowder plot of 1605, the Pendle witch trials might never have taken place.
“The fanciful statements taken by Nowell do not reflect the reality of the situation. It is highly probable the Good Friday meeting at Malkin was no more than a gathering of friends, family and neighbours with the intention of discussing the worrying situation of the arrests.”
Nowell, then, was a member of the new Protestant gentry - offspring of former Catholic landowners and, like all reformers, had a chip on their shoulders.
They were constantly seeking new ways to impress their superiors and it is apparent that the lives of those less well off than themselves were considered to be nothing other than game-pieces to be played with as and when the opportunity arose.
“Nowell was not about to let the truth stand in the way of excellent propaganda,” adds John.
He concludes: “The Pendle witches were ordinary people who happened to belong to a sub-culture whose priorities were to stave off malnutrition and keep a fire burning in the hearth.
“They were not concerned with the niceties of society – the social machinations of the gentry did not concern them. These diverse sub-cultures had managed to avoid any meaningful interaction for a long time but they had now collided head-on. There was to be, of course, only one loser.
“Under the authority of Roger Nowell, the frail and the old; men, women and children, mothers and sons were rounded up from their cottages, manipulated into providing unbelievable testimony regarding a new Gunpowder plot, and thrown into the dungeons of Lancaster Jail.
“It was perfectly clear to the authorities that the unspeakable conditions within the jail often led to the deaths of prisoners long before their trials had even begun. And so it proved with Elizabeth Southern who died in her new dungeon home only a few weeks into her incarceration.”

The Pendle Witch Fourth Centenary Handbook, by John A Clayton - see the April/May edition of Northern Life to read our review and see how you can win a copy.

Article from Northern Life issue 43 April/May 2012.
To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.

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The Big Gag Theory

Exclusive Interview by Karen Shaw02 Apr 2012
Radio 4 regular Robin Ince, is a pioneer of the new comedy movement, creating shows that have mixed up variety, science, philosophy and music. Robin recently toured with Brian Cox and the Uncaged Monkeys show and is now touring with his new solo show, Happiness Through Science. Happiness Through Science is a stand up show that asks – Can you be happy and rational? In a frenetic 90 minutes, Robin discusses infinity, Schrodinger’s cat, the evolutionary disadvantage of cannibalism, Richard Feynman and as many things that exist in the known universe that he can fit into the time. It is a celebration of the human imagination and where it has got us. Here the cranially enhanced comic talks about every subject under the universe...

On vicars...
Yes it’s true Karen; I’m the son of a vicar. A lot of my family come from Richmond in Yorkshire; they were Yorkshire vicars, at Marrick Priory. It’s a fascinating thing really - 300 years of vicars and then it starts to go wrong. My grandfather was a lay preacher and my dad went into theatre for a while, so once that had happened that was the end of it all.

On losing the faith...
Apart from the stumbling block of the fact I don’t believe in God– I’d love to be a vicar and to be honest I’ve done a couple of things this week with members of the clergy and I think there’s no difference between Anglicans and Atheists.
It’s too late for repenting. What I try to do is, every now and then, do some good work – just in case – to build up my stance required for entry.

On science...
I’ve loved science as a kid I used to watch the astronomer Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and Tomorrow’s World. I was about ten when I watched Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I couldn’t believe how accurate it was and that phrases like ‘the horse head nebular’ and words like ‘Betelgeuse’ actually exist in science.

On being happy...
People think if you’re happy throughout your life, then there must be something wrong, because that is not being human is it? Being human is having doubts and worries and fears, and sadness and that is never going to go away and there is no cure for that.
But we should be happy when you think about the enormity of the universe – the likelihood of us being alive – and that there is no life as far as we can tell anywhere else in the solar system. Beyond that we are pretty uncertain, yet here we are. We sit, we drink tea, we eat cake, we sing songs, we have children; incredible achievements of a system that had no plan.

On being a brain-box...
My show isn’t high-brow - it really is for everyone. This month I’ve done my show to a bunch of 12-year-olds and to utilitarian religious conference. I do it to lots of different audiences with very slight changes. If I get too many scientists in they will know I am wrong about everything. The only thing I need to be is interesting.
The only thing you need to be to watch my show is ‘interested’ and not necessarily in science. Being interested is one of the main things that is really important in life. We’ve got television and information overload, but life has its own vibrant soundtrack. And every time you look out of a train window, you will see more life than there is in the rest of the known universe.

On life as we now know it...
Not that long ago - 1827 when the Stephenson Rocket came out, people thought we’d die if we travelled faster than 30 miles an hour.
Now we have this incredible medical science. Compare the anti-mortality rate to 50/60 years ago. If you ever read a Victorian biography you will get to the point where they lose this child, then another one and another. We don’t live in that world anymore – in the west we don’t. I don’t bang on a make it serious – but it actually isn’t boring when you discover how these men and women have made scientific discoveries.

On Yorkshire...
There are a couple of places on the tour that I haven’t been to before.
I’ve never been to Otley and I haven’t been to Richmond since I was 11-years old. Sheffield is one of my favourite places to play and I did a wonderful gig in Whitby. Except there was one man who so drunk he was staggering around the stage, you couldn’t communicate with him. His wife was so cross with him and came up and apologised to me afterwards.

On school...
I was never geeky enough to be part of the geek gang. And was a sarcastic class clown so I wasn’t the leading one. I stayed in the corner with occasional snippets. I was an isolated individual!

On Lancashire versus Yorkshire...
I did a tour with Brian Cox and we had to miss out Yorkshire, due to venues being booked up. People were accusing us of deliberately missing it out because Brian is from Lancashire! A scientific war of the roses.

On comedy heroes...
When I was very young my comedy heroes were people like Laurel and Hardy, Some Mothers Do Ave ‘Em, I still do love slapstick. One of my favourite people is Rik Mayall and his character ‘Kevin Turvy’. It is the character’s impotent idiotic fury when he walks in some dog muck and tries to get it off his shoe. He does it with aplomb.
I did couple of gigs with Alexei Sayle and it felt very odd watching him as a child and now I’ll go and have a cup of tea with him. You should never lose your awe, respect or excitement.
I love Mick Miller also watching early Roy Walker – the pair of them were so different from the others on The Comedians. Les Dawson; how can you not admire him?
Laurel and Hardy had that humanity, like Les Dawson, a real struggle of a human being to get through life.

On comedy groupies...
The lovely thing that happens to me is that get people coming up and asking for a reading list rather than propositioning me. The lurid tales of the road are limited; the most lurid thing that happens in my hotel room is the kettle lead in the B&B isn’t long enough. Nights of bondage in Chorley have never occurred.

On booze...
Some comedy clubs encourage the culture of drinking and they just want big beer sales. I say to my audience, have a drink in the interval but don’t have too many – we are getting on to Quantum Physics when you come back.

On heckling and booing...
At The Belfast Empire I was booed ON TO the stage. It was a Christmas week gig and people had been drinking since 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Six hundred people going ‘Oh God he’s come from London’. I walked out to boo’s and I thought, ‘well I better stand here for half an hour, that’s what I am being paid to do’.
People were throwing things at me. But when I got off the stage they came up to me after the show and bought me drinks. Because even though they hated, they were impressed I’d stayed there when most comedians walk off after five minutes.
Literally all I said in the half an hour was the occasional ‘ouch ‘and ‘that was close’. That was an intriguing experience.

On ‘corpsing’ (forgetting what to say)...
If my mind goes blank I just keep talking and then people don’t particularly notice. But I’m very flighty anyway and often don’t finish the story because I get distracted.

On Twitter...
I don’t test my material on anyone beforehand, but I can pick up my material from Twitter. When you first start on Twitter it’s like going in to the noisiest party where the people all talking loudly and at once. But once you get in to its brilliant and full of fascinating people.
Beware it can eat into your world, you find someone, follow them, and before you know it the day has gone.

On waffling...
You know me Karen; you know I can’t sum up my show in a sentence. I’ll give it a go for you though. My act is basically an irrational outpouring of hopefully ridiculous ideas, I don’t breathe very much, and someone said I don’t do much breathing on stage. I often have a glass of water on stage and pick it up and put it down again without having a sip.

On kids...
I’ve got one lad who is four, and being 43 I often get young mums asking if I’m his dad or granddad. Kids are full-on – as you well know with three of your own - and you do wonder if you will ever eat anything hot or drink anything warm again!
My niece has two kids and she is only 19. She had her first one at 16.
You see, the moment you lose the vicars in your family all morals go out of the window...

Robin’s Northern Tour Dates

April 18
Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre
Northern Ballet, Quarry Hill
Leeds LS2 7PA
Tickets: £14 / £12
Box Office: 0113 220 8008
www.theatreleeds.com

19 April
Little Theatre
Dole Lane, Chorley
Lancs PR7 2RL
Tickets: £12 / £10
Box Office: 01257 264362
www.chorleylittletheatre.com

23 May
The Studio Theatre
The Lowry, Pier 8
Salford Quays
M50 3AZ
Tickets: £14 / £12
Box Office: 0843 208 6000
www.thelowry.com

31 May
Otley Courthouse Arts Centre
Courthouse Street, Otley, LS21 3AN
Tickets: £12/10 door / £11 /£9 adv
Box Office: 01943 467466
www.otleycourthouse.org.uk

Images by Steve Ullathorne

Article from Northern Life issue 43 April/May 2012.
To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.

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Music Hall Memories

Duggie Chapman02 Mar 2012
A great opportunity to re-live the magic of the Music Hall with a brand new show of over 30 film clips of the stars of the 1940s - 50s presented by the charismatic Duggie Chapman.
At the Northern Life Centre, 2 Sun Street, Colne. BB8 0jj
Weds 25th April starting at 2pm

To buy tickets go to the Northern Life online store.

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Breakfast with Rosemary Shrager

Exclusive interview by Karen Shaw31 Jan 2012
Rosemary Shrager is one of Britain’s leading chefs renowned for her haute cuisine.
Her passion for food is obvious and this is evident from the abundance of cookery books she has published and the array of TV programmes she has appeared on, along with the highly successful Swinton Park Cookery School in North Yorkshire, which she runs. I met Rosemary to discuss her favourite meal of the day.

It was early morning when I caught up with TV celebrity chef Rosemary, and, as usual I’m running late and ironically enough I have completed skipped breakfast once again much to the disdain of Rosemary.
“I love breakfast, when I say at the beginning of the book ‘it’s my really favourite meal of all time.’ I mean it, I always eat breakfast. I’ve just had my poached eggs on toast in bed; I absolutely love my poached eggs on toast!”
Like Rosemary, I too love poached eggs, but I do tend to struggle with cooking an egg that doesn’t resemble something I’ve just blown out of my nose.
“If you struggle, use a frying style pan, get the water swirling, crack your egg into it, leave it for a minute or so, until the egg just begins to set slightly. The trick is to put your spatula right under the egg to loosen it off and stop it sticking because once you’ve loosened it, it won’t stick again.
“Spoon a little water over the top of the egg to give it a slightly opaque but still yellowy top, and you’ve got your poached egg.” says Rosemary.
She makes it sound effortless, but when you have three kids and limited time, what’s a girl to do? When I ask her if she fancies moving in with me to help out with my family’s culinary needs, I get the distinct impression she isn’t keen and answers with “Aah, well try fast poached eggs. If you’re in a hurry in the mornings, poach the eggs in the evening, put them in some cold water, then into the fridge. When you’re ready for your eggs, take them out of the water place them into a pan of simmering water for about a minute.
This lady has an answer for everything. Guess that means she won’t be moving to Colne any time soon! Well, who could blame her? Her past clients have included Royalty.
“I’ve always had the idea for a breakfast book and you know when you have a book inside your head. It was there, I didn’t have to even think about it. Writing the book was the just the best and easiest thing I’ve ever had to, well it’s not easy because you want to get it right, but they’re such simple recipes, it’s got big writing, big close up pictures that go ‘right into the food’ and make you go “Mmmmmm, I really fancy that!’” I wanted the book to be all about the food.”
Though born down in London and brought up in Buckinghamshire, her feet are now firmly back on Yorkshire soil. “I come from Yorkshire stock,” she booms. Her mother’s family were the Twentymen, who owned Kirby Misperton Hall, which they sold and would later become Flamingo Land.
“My great grandfather used to keep flamingos and monkeys,” she continues. “The family spent a lot of time in China and I think that’s where he got the love of animals from.”
“The north compares very differently to the south,” says Rosemary. “People are very friendly, more outspoken and down to earth. In the north ‘a spade is a spade’, they take no nonsense.
“When I first came up north, it was quite interesting, because I thought ‘I have my following, I have my school, I’m moving my school to Masham and I’ll just carry on’, but unfortunately it wasn’t like that at all. I had to prove to the people of Yorkshire that I was actually all right. It took about three years. It was a bit of a rude awakening. I had to work hard and then they started to trust me and now they really support me. It’s important to give back to the local area and support local people where possible. Using local and seasonal ingredients are essential if we are to keep food miles down and reduce carbon footprint. The taste and quality of fresh local food is reason enough to support our local producers, wherever we live in the country. My favourite recipe for this time of year is rhubarb with Panacotta and coconut.”
As a child, food played a big part in her life. Her mother adored cooking, so Rosemary was always interested in food and understood how to use it. The family grew all their own vegetables, so she feels very lucky to be brought up knowing how fresh vegetables taste and what you can do with them.
Rosemary cooked all the time with her children, so much so that at one point, she got a little cookery school going with the children on her day off. I ask her how important it is to cook with your children.
“It’s absolutely imperative to educate your children by cooking with them and encouraging them to enjoy it. That’s when they start to cook, when you start making cakes and scones which children love to do. That’s when it starts to happen. Get them to make breakfast with you. It’s fun. Once you get them to enjoy it when they’re young, they’ll always have that and want to keep on doing it.”
It’s plain to see that Rosemary has a real and honest love of food, but I was curious to find out what inspired her to become a chef. “Cooking is in my blood and it comes naturally without having to think about it. I love knowing how to work with the products. It’s the learning how to work with the products and learning the techniques in how to get the best out of the food. That’s what I love, understanding what to do with food.
“What I get really upset about is there’s so many people out there who just haven’t learnt how to cook and don’t know what to do with food. They could actually make their lives a little cheaper by learning to cook. It’s not their fault, they just haven’t had the opportunity. Does she ever get tempted to cheat and perhaps buy in ready-made Yorkshire puddings for ease?
“Oh come on, it takes no time to make a Yorkshire pudding. The trick is to get enough egg in there to make it rise and ensure that the oil is sizzling hot.” is her reply. Well, that’s told me!
Other than Yorkshire Puddings, what food depicts Yorkshire?
“Pies, sausage and bacon. Good solid local food.”
Now, on that we agree.
She adores cheese and champions Wensleydale Jervaulx Blue or good old Yorkshire Blue.
So, if she was on death row, what would she chose as her last meal?
“Boiled eggs with soldiers washed down with a banana smoothie. I would want to have something sweet to drink, no point in getting drunk as they wouldn’t be able to give you enough to numb the pain!”
Oh I’m not sure about that one Rosemary; alcohol must be worth a try...

Rosemary’s new book Yorkshire Breakfasts is available from all good book shops for just £16.99. To order a signed copy call Great Northern Books on 01274 735056.

Article from Northern Life issue 42 February/March 2012.
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That Titanic Tune

31 Jan 2012
Nearly 100 years after the Titanic sank in the Atlantic, it looks like one mystery will never be solved... just what tune did the band play as the ship went down?

The widely accepted story is that it was the hymn Nearer, My God, To Thee, which some survivors claimed to have heard, and that indeed is the tune engraved on the Colne grave of bandmaster Wallace Hartley, a Lancashire hero who is also claimed by Yorkshire, the county where he flourished as a professional musician.
But other theories have been put forward, centring on other tunes that Hartley and his band would have known, and historian and author Yvonne Speak revives the controversy in a new edition of her book A Hymn For Eternity – The Story of Wallace Hartley, Titanic Bandmaster.
Burnley-born Yvonne, who lives at Waterfoot, Rossendale, and writes under her maiden name Yvonne Carroll, first became fascinated by the Titanic story when she saw James Cameron’s 1997 multi-Oscar-winning movie Titanic, starring Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet. Its spectacular special effects, based on a two-thirds size replica of the ship and enhanced by computer generated images, recreated the tragedy in realistic detail.
“I thought the fictitious love story of Jack and Rose was just awful, but the rest of the film had mostly been very well researched,” says Yvonne. “Cameron had followed the time line exactly.”
Bitten by the Titanic bug, Yvonne combed the archives in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Kew, and sought out the homes where the Hartley family lived. Husband Chris Speak took the photographs, and the first edition of her book was published in 2002 for the 90th anniversary.
Yvonne’s own theory about the band’s last tune was that it was probably as reported by radio operator Harold Bride, who would have been nearer to the orchestra than other survivors as the ship slipped under the icy waters. He said he heard them play a tune called Autumn. Although there was a hymn tune called Autumn, it was used for God of Mercy and Compassion and also as an alternative tune for Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer. What Bride was more likely to be referring to, Yvonne believes, was Songe D’Autonne (meaning ‘Dream of Autumn’), a popular waltz which was often known as just Autumn because of its French title.
It was number 137 in the White Star Line Music Book – the musicians had to know every tune’s number by heart - while Nearer, My God, To Thee was not in the book. Some survivors also spoke of hearing a waltz.
Survivors in the lifeboats heard the orchestra playing, but their distance from the ship, plus the confusion of that fateful night, casts some doubt over what they heard. However, the reports of the orchestra heroically playing Nearer, My God, To Thee soon gained credence, widely reported in the newspapers and becoming the stuff of legend.
One of Wallace’s musician friends from Leeds, Ellwand Moody, once said he had been on the liner Mauretania when the conversation turned to what they might play if the ship was to sink. Wallace told him: “I don’t think I could do better than play O God Our Help In Ages Past or Nearer, My God, To Thee.” However, a journalist who once raised the subject with Wallace said he told him: “I know every one of the men would stick with me and play until the waters engulfed us... lively music, of course. None of your hymns, although I do love them dearly.” He added: “My favourite is Nearer, My God, To Thee but I’m keeping that one reserved for my funeral.”
Despite the uncertainty that still exists, there is no doubt that Wallace Hartley and his gallant musicians played on until they could play no more, earning their rightful place in history.
Revised and republished for the centenary of the disaster, A Hymn For Eternity traces the hero’s life story.
Wallace Henry Hartley was born on June 2, 1878, to Albion and Elizabeth Hartley – Hartley was and still is a common Colne surname – at Greenfield Hill, now Greenfield Road, a little enclave of mill cottages off Barrowford Road. The house is still there, as are other local homes where the family lived in Colne, at 1 Burnley Road off Primet Hill, in Albert Road next to the Crown Hotel, and in Carr Road, Nelson.
His Wesleyan Methodist parents sent him to George Street School, which still stands today as a business centre, and a schoolmate recalled in the 1950s that Wallace was “a very nice nice lad, a bit what you might call roughish... but he was very smart looking, a lad with a sense of fun.”
Albion Hartley’s business and financial ability had earned him promotion to manager at Greenfield Mill, but a disastrous fire that destroyed the mill sent him seeking other employment. He became an agent with Refuge Assurance in Manchester Road, Nelson. Subsequent promotions would necessitate the Hartley family moving to Somerset Road, in Huddersfield, homes in Milnsbridge and Storth, just outside Huddersfield, Hillcrest Avenue in Leeds and West Park Street in Dewsbury.
The Hartley family was a musical one. Albion Hartley was choirmaster at Bethel Chapel in Burnley Road, Colne - where the chapel has gone but the former Sunday School still survives for worship - and young Wallace sang in the choir. Elder sister Mary became a noted solo singer. Wallace’s parents paid for his violin lessons with private tutors, and he joined Colne Orchestral Society, an organisation which is still playing in 2012.
Young Wallace’s first job was at the Union Bank, 17 Albert Road, Colne, where he was said to be “steady, attentive and capable” but he harboured ambitions to make music his profession. He was 17 when the family moved to Huddersfield, and he joined the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra. By the time he was 21 and finding his clerk’s job ‘irksome’ he became a professional musician, and his first post was thought to be with the Moody-Manners opera company. In 1903 he became first violin with Bridlington Municipal Orchestra and later joined the orchestra at the fashionable Collinson’s Cafe in Leeds, where he met his future fiancée, Maria Robinson. He played for a while with the Carla Rosa touring opera company, then in 1909 joined the Cunard Line as a musician on the Lusitania, which was to be notoriously sunk by the German navy during the First World War.
In 1910 Wallace was appointed bandmaster on the Mauretania, Blue Riband holder as the fastest ship to cross the Atlantic, and it was a happy time on a popular ship.
By 1912, the musicians were not employed directly by the liner companies but by an agency, the brothers CW and FN Black, of Liverpool, reducing their status from crew to second-class passengers and slashing their wages from £6 to £4 a month.
After disembarking from the Mauretania in Liverpool in April 9, the agents told him their bandmaster for the Titanic’s maiden voyage the next day had just become a father and did not wish to sail, so they offered him the job. Wallace asked his friend Ellwand Moody to sail with him, but he had a strange presentiment about such a huge vessel and felt ‘something would happen.’ He returned home to Leeds, while Wallace hurried to Southampton.
The White Star Line’s Titanic was not meant to be the fastest transatlantic liner, but was 100 feet longer than the rival Cunarder Mauretania and was claimed to be the most luxurious ship afloat, as well as the largest man-made moving object.
Some of the richest and most influential people of the day were on board, and Wallace’s orchestra kept them entertained with a range of music ranging from operetta and marches to ragtime and cakewalks, all from the 352 tunes in the White Star book.
Just before midnight of April 14, the gaiety came to a dreadful halt when the Titanic, ignoring ice warnings and steaming at 22.5 knots through a glass-smooth ocean, encountered an iceberg dead ahead. Turning to port, the ship avoided a head-on collision but the iceberg buckled hull plates below the waterline for a length of 300 feet. The ship was divided into watertight compartments up to the level of E Deck, and could have survived with four of them flooded. Tragically, five were flooding, and the ship’s doom was inevitable. Ironically, the ship would have survived a head-on collision.
At a quarter past midnight, Wallace Hartley’s orchestra, wearing their blue uniforms, assembled in the first-class lounge and began to play a selection of music, intending to keep the passengers from panicking.
What happened next has been well recorded in contemporary news accounts and during the subsequent inquiry which sought to place responsibility for the tragedy. Controversy has raged over the lack of lifeboats, the competence of the crew, whether a nearby ship ignored distress flares, and the role of White Star boss Bruce Ismay, who survived while 1,500 perished.
There is certainly no argument over the hero status that Wallace Hartley earned. His body was recovered, with his violin case strapped to his body, and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and thence via Boston on the White Star ship, Arabic, to Liverpool, where a devastated but dignified Albion Hartley was waiting at the quayside on May 17.
The 60-mile journey to Colne by horse-drawn hearse took ten hours, arriving at Bethel chapel at 1am. Later that day, the main street of Colne was thronged with an estimated 30,000 people – more than the town’s entire population – as the funeral procession, half a mile long and including at least five bands and the Mayor’s carriage, made its way to the cemetery in Keighley Road, at the other end of town. Some survivors of the Titanic disaster were among the mourners.
As the coffin was lowered into the ground, the Bethel chapel choir sang Nearer, My God, To Thee.

A Hymn For Eternity – The Story of Wallace Hartley, Titanic Bandmaster, by Yvonne Carroll, £8.99 paperback, www.thehistorypress.co.uk

Article from Northern Life issue 42 February/March 2012.
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Failure, Fantasist, Killer!

by Edward Rawlinson31 Jan 2012
In December 2011, the multiple murderer Donald Neilson died in prison. An insignificant man and a failure in life, he gained notoriety in the 1970s as ‘The Black Panther’, killing three sub-postmasters and a teenage girl he had kidnapped.
Photographer Eddy Rawlinson, who was one of the Press corps at Neilson’s trial, recalls the crime trail that shocked and revolted the whole country.

When Police Constable Stuart McKenzie and his team-mate PC Tony White started their night duty, they never envisaged it would end the fear every post office sub-postmaster throughout Britain had felt for nearly five years.
The two PCs were parked in a side road leading into a posh residential district of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, when they saw a man walking into the estate. A copper’s instinct made them think there was something strange about this man carrying a haversack. He just didn’t fit in with the type of resident who would be walking into that sort of district at 10.30pm. There had been a spate of robberies in the area and they wanted to know more about him so he was stopped for questioning.
PC Tony White, who was in the passenger seat of the panda car, lowered down the window to ask the man where he was going. He told them he was John Moxon, a lorry driver, and was walking home. PC White wrote down the details and as he lifted his head both he and PC McKenzie were staring straight into both barrels of a sawn-off shotgun.
PC White was told to get into the back seat and the stranger took his place then told PC McKenzie to drive. His words were “Take it easy, drive slowly, any tricks and you are dead.”
With the shotgun pointing in the driver’s ribs they tried to make conversation with the gunman to calm down the situation by talking about their families. As the panda car came towards a fork in a road PC McKenzie saw the gunman had slightly lowered his shotgun. He swerved the car and shouted to his colleague “Get him!” Then he heard a loud bang by the side of his face with a burning feeling and realised the gun had gone off. PC White grabbed the gunman as PC McKenzie went to his aid and the panda car screeched to a halt.
The car stopped alongside a chip shop where waiting customers heard the shotgun go off and rushed to the aid of the two policemen. One customer, Keith Wood, a karate expert, pulled the gunman, who was still struggling with the two policemen, out of the car. He gave the man a karate chop to the side of his neck and saw the shotgun fall to the ground. A crowd of people had now gathered around the scene as the two policemen handcuffed their now prisoner to some railings. Then they had to protect him from the angry crowd who believed he was an IRA terrorist.
On that night in December 1975 the story of the murderous years of Donald Neilson, a Yorkshire odd-job man, started to unfold. It was to end 35 years later on December 18th 2011 when he died in Norwich prison aged 75 after spending half his life in jail.
The summer of 1976 was our hottest in 350 years and I was on my way to Oxford Crown Court for my newspaper to cover the trial of Donald Neilson, known as the Black Panther. Oxford, described as a city of dreaming spires, was chosen to give Neilson a fair trial. It was well away from the areas where he had committed the horrific murders of 17-year-old Lesley Whittle and three sub-postmasters. My job was to photograph witnesses, which gave me plenty of time to sit throughout the whole three weeks listening to the case for the prosecution and defence. On the first morning Judge William Mars-Jones posed for pictures outside the court then went inside to start the three week trial.
It was made clear on the opening day by a burly police sergeant who had gathered together the small group of photographers representing the world’s press. “Right lads don’t go beyond this small wall to take your pictures as you are within the precinct. Across the road is Oxford Conservative Club which opens at eleven o clock” and with a wink he added “where you can get a cup of tea”. And so the trial began of Donald Neilson who was born Donald Nappey on August 1st 1936.
From his first days at school his class-mates ragged him about his name and he hated it. That ribbing continued in the army where he served in Cyprus, Aden and Kenya with the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. It was while he was in the army Nappey learned to live the Spartan life from fighting against terrorists. On leave from the army he married a local girl and on return to “civvie street “set up a business in making garden sheds at his home in Bradford. Still embarrassed with his birth name he changed it to Neilson by deed poll on seeing it plastered over an ice cream van passing his house and discarded the surname Nappey.
Mr Justice Mars-Jones entered Oxford Crown Court with five feet seven inches tall Neilson standing before the judge as though he was still on an army parade ground. He was nothing like the picture of a bruised and battered prisoner who was handcuffed to railings by the two policemen who had arrested him some seven months previously. His hair was brushed, he was wearing a well-pressed suit and it was hard for me to believe on seeing Neilson’s appearance that here was a ruthless killer standing before the court.
His solicitor was snappy dresser Barrington Black from Leeds, who made a good picture outside the court standing beside his magnificent Jensen Interceptor car. Neilson’s counsel was Gilbert Gray QC, who was a rising star in his profession with chambers in York, and a magnificent orator.
The two men leading Neilson’s defence lived worlds apart from the prisoner standing before the court. Barrington Black was educated at Roundhay School, Leeds, and had been president of Leeds University union in 1952. Gilbert Gray had also been to Leeds University where initially he was reading theology before switching to law. Neilson had left school at 15 years of age to work as an apprentice joiner and didn’t finish his apprenticeship when he came out of the forces. He was described as a failure by those who knew him.
They were to defend a fellow Yorkshireman who had shot dead three post-masters and brutally murdered a 17-year-old girl. During the case, Scarborough-born Gilbert Gray told the jury: “You have heard much about Mr Neilson and the Black Panther but you may when you have heard of this man’s pathetic attempts to make it big, think rather of the Pink Panther and Mr Peter Sellers”. He went on to describe Neilson as a Walter Mitty character with fantasies of military supremacy. The name “Black Panther” had been given to Neilson by a Daily Mirror reporter, Gordon Hughes, after he killed Baxenden sub-postmaster Derek Astin and was described as being dressed all in black.
The court heard how Neilson shot dead Harrogate sub-postmaster Donald Skepper in February 1974. Seven months later he killed again, shooting sub-postmaster Derek Astin at Higher Baxenden, Accrington, Lancashire. Seven weeks after the second killing in November 1974, Neilson’s third victim, sub post-master Sidney Grayland, suffered the same fate when he was shot and killed in the West Midlands. On the 14th January 1975 Neilson staged his most audacious and brutal crime, kidnapping 17-year-old Lesley Whittle from her bed while her mother slept in an adjoining room at their home in Shropshire.
Neilson had read about a family dispute in which the young girl had been left an £82,000 fortune by her late father. He broke into her house, bound and gagged the young girl who was of a similar age to that of his own teenage daughter, and held her captive in a ventilation shaft at Bathpool Park, Kidsgrove. Neilson all that time was living in Grangefield Avenue, Thornbury, Bradford, with his wife and daughter. On the 7th of March 1975 Lesley Whittle was found hanging from a wire at the bottom of the sixty foot shaft. She had either fallen or was pushed from the platform where she had been held prisoner after several botched attempts to deliver Neilson the £50,000 ransom he was demanding.
I sat in Oxford Crown Court to hear the prosecution put forward their case and I could not comprehend how a father of a girl who was of similar age as Lesley Whittle could be so outrageous and cruel. While on remand Neilson had been interviewed by a forensic psychiatrist who found no evidence of insanity. The court was told of the ordeal the young girl must have gone through when she was held captive with a wire around her neck on a small platform in a cold, dark and damp ventilation shaft. My own daughter, Gillian, was of the same age as the girl Neilson was accused of murdering, and the defence were asking for manslaughter to be considered in the young heiress’s case. My thoughts were otherwise.
What turned this petty thief into a life of murderous crime will never be known. In November 1970 he broke into a house in Dewsbury and stole two shotguns and a quantity of ammunition. After that he took £3,000 from a sub-post office in Barnsley and in the same month stole £3,700 in a similar raid from a sub-postmaster in Rotherham. The same month he raided a house in Cheshire and stole two automatic pistols and three rifles with ammunition then went on to steal £2,900 from a Mansfield sub-post office. In three months he had stolen over £9,000 at gunpoint and crime started to pay then turned into a killing spree for this little man standing before Justice Mars-Jones.
Neilson was given four life sentences for the murders of Lesley Whittle and the three sub-postmasters and was told by the judge he would never be released from jail. A charge of killing another man, security guard Gerald Smith, was left on file as his victim died from gunshot injuries after one year and a day, and it could not be termed as murder.
I watched Neilson’s face as the sentences were read out and there was no sign of emotion as he left for a lifetime to be spent in jail. That life sentence for Neilson, born Donald Nappey on 1st August 1936 in Morley, Yorkshire, ended last year in December. His death was announced by the prison authority which read: “HMP Norwich prisoner Donald Neilson was taken to outside hospital in the early hours of Saturday December 17 with breathing difficulties. He was pronounced dead there at approximately 6.45pm on Sunday December 18th 2011.”
Neilson had spent nearly half of his 75 years in jail, starting after two brave policemen apprehended a stranger “who didn’t look right” walking into a residential estate late at night. Scotland Yard and police forces throughout Britain had been looking for an unidentified murderer for nine months.
It was a case of good old fashioned “bobbying” that nearly ended up with the two policemen themselves being victims of Bradford’s Black Panther, who at the time was Britain’s most wanted man.

Article from Northern Life issue 42 February/March 2012.
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'The Voice' - Connie Fisher

Exclusive Interview by Karen Shaw 30 Jan 2012
Five months ago, ‘Sound Of Music’ star Connie Fisher announced she would never play Maria again after a vocal condition left her unable to hit the high notes. But the 28-year-old is back on stage after undergoing career-saving throat surgery. I had the good fortune to catch up with Connie when she recently headed up North.

In 2006 Connie, from Pembrokeshire, shot from obscurity working at a call centre and was propelled onto the West End stage when she won the lead role as Maria Von Trapp in ‘The Sound of Music’.
It was then she discovered she was born with a rare vocal condition, congenital sulcus vocalis, which meant she had holes in each of her vocal cords.
“This is the first opportunity I’ve had to sing in a year since the operation, she says, “after the treatment I had to keep quiet for a month which was very difficult for me.
“Being back on stage feels natural but it is frustrating because I would love to reach high the notes that I used to hit. But I’m happy to accept my new voice which is definitely a character voice - it’s changed from a high soprano to an alto and it’s quite an exciting sound.”
So imagine how wonderful it was to watch Connie back on form again when she sang in public for the first time in preparation for playing the lead role Ruth Sherwood in Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Wonderful Town’ at The Lowry recently. She exudes star quality slightly reminiscent of a young Doris Day. Connie and her on-stage sister Eileen, played by Lucy van Gasse, sang a seemingly effortless duet ‘Ohio’. It was pure magic, pure Broadway, pure class.
Connie plays an aspiring writer who arrives in New York with her beautiful younger sister Eileen. The indomitable pair meet an array of colourful characters along the way, creating chaos at every turn in their search for romance, success and a free meal from Walgreen’s deli.
Connie says: “Wonderful Town, despite it being 50s based, it still feels very ‘now’. It has a modern twist; I’m really excited about it. It’s fundamentally a love story and that’s something that everyone can relate to, and when I get the man, it makes it even better! “I’ve always enjoyed playing comedy and the part of Ruth is such a great comic role. As if that opportunity wasn’t great enough, I also get to sing with the Hallé and work at The Lowry. Awesome!”
Bob Baker (played by Michael Xavier), plays the role of an editor in the show, asks his love interest Ruth “Why are you here?” to which she replies “Because I think I have talent.” Connie goes on to say: “It’s just like life, if you think you have talent and ambition, then what’s stopping you? You’ve just got to go and get what you want.”
The role of Ruth was previously played by Maureen Lipman on Broadway. Maureen is Connie’s comedy idol, and she recalls a time when she had dinner with Maureen and her daughter Amy after a performance at the Palladium of ‘The Sound of Music.’
“Amy was the absolute double of me,” Connie says, “it was strange, she looked just like my twin, and hopefully they’ll both come along to see me at The Lowry.”
“To be chosen to play Ruth, is fate. It’s such a great opportunity where I get to play a comedic role whilst following in the footsteps of Maureen. Comparing the roles of Maria and Ruth vocally they are completely different. This is a great opportunity for me to show people my new voice. At one point in my life I had two options - to give up or to carry on. But you can’t kill the passion for being on stage. I just love it.”
‘Wonderful Town’ first premiered in New York in 1953 where it won five Tony Awards including Best Musical. The 2003 revival also won further Tony and Drama Desk Awards. The show was last performed in London’s West End in 1986.
‘Wonderful Town’ will be directed by Braham Murray, who said: “To direct a great musical with a fabulous orchestra and world renowned conductor is a dream come true. There is only one word to describe it – wonderful!”
So what does the future hold for Connie? “Well, I’ve just finished playing a casualty in the TV series ‘Casualty’ and I also went on ‘Total Wipeout’ and if you want to see me fall off those big red balls, both the programmes will be aired in March.
“Tonight I have to be back in Wales to film a new TV series ‘Connie’s Wales.’ It sounds like I own it,” she laughs. Welsh-born Connie travels the length and breadth of Wales talking to the Welsh folk while discovering new places of interest, “then I’ll be returning to Manchester for a few weeks of intensive rehearsals. I can’t wait...” and neither can we Connie!

Bernstein’s ‘Wonderful Town’ which opens at The Lowry, Salford Quays, on Saturday 31 March. Due to unprecedented demand, the show will now play an extra week at The Lowry and run until Saturday 21 April, prior to a UK tour.

For details of Wonderful Town at The Lowry: Information & Box Office 0843 2086005, After The Lowry run, the show tours the UK for 11 weeks. www.wonderfultown.co.uk

Photographs by Mark Davis

Article from Northern Life issue 42 February/March 2012.
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