Now regulars will know I am not one for competitive sports and find football (sorry Soccer!) incredibly dull but just of late find the Italian Television coverage really rather engaging . . . . . .
I am just no longer sure why? . . . . one for my dear pal and former colleague Phil . . . he’ll understand . . . . . . .
On 16 February 1963, the Beatles played at the Carfax Assembly Rooms, to the right of the present HSBC bank. The assembly rooms were reached via a side passage. The downstairs premises were small and used for meetings, while the upstairs room where dances were held was larger, presumably spreading over part of Bank House above the bank.
Afterwards Jeffrey Archer, future novelist, Conservative Party politician, and disgraced peer, but never a matriculated member of Oxford University, (behind Paul and George in the photo) invited the boys to the principal’s lodging at Brasenose. Also present was future theatre critic Sheridan Morley, then a student at Merton, who recalls: ‘I went to the toilet, and there beside me was Ringo Starr.
He asked if I knew this Jeffrey Archer bloke. I said everyone in Oxford was trying to work out who he was. Ringo said: “He strikes me as a nice enough fella, but he’s the kind of bloke who would bottle your p*ss and sell it.”’
A true story like this for every day of the year in "On this Day in Oxfordshire: vol 1", available at Abebooks
From a brilliant local historian and picture archive researcher I follow and have bought books by Julie Ann Godson
Not least because Julie Ann’s reference here is to the only time the Beatles ever played Oxford City I once worked with someone who claimed he had seen them play at the Carfax Assembly rooms. Now, then (and still!) a bit younger than me I would have been ten when they first played there! He would have been 9!!
Ahem!?
My old pal Phil might have some amusement at this one . . . . .you KNOW why Phil, eh?
. . . he enjoys a fuzzy warble!
Holly Up On Poppy - Andy Partridge ( Fuzzy Warbles Vol III )
The film debuts of both Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann, the wonderful 'Withnail and I' was released in the UK on this day in 1988. It remains one of my favourite comedy films of all time.“Get in The Back of THE VAN!"I have watched it over over 27 times (watched since but stopped counting!) and we even started a ‘club’ to celebrate it at work! I own several copies of it (VHS, DVD) the screenplay and books by its author Bruce Robinson ever since (possibly the last work of fiction I read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman - masterful!
“WE’VE GONE ON HOLIDAY BY MISTAKE!”
still my favourite version of Hamlet’s soliloquy . . . . .
I dedicate this to a fellow member of The Withnail Club my old colleague and friend Phil!
Live: Carfax Assembly Rooms, 62 Cornmarket Street, Oxford - Saturday 16 February 1963This was The Beatles’ only live appearance anywhere in the county of Oxfordshire. It was arranged by John Smith, a London-based promoter.Also on the bill were The Madisons. Tickets cost six shillings in advance.While in Oxford The Beatles met Jeffrey Archer, who was then a student at Brasenose College, but later became a novelist, Conservative Party politician, and disgraced peer.The group accepted Archer’s invitation to Brasenose’s senior common room, although they didn’t perform at the college. They did, however, agree to take part at a charity concert to be held on 12 June 1963 in Liverpool, in aid of the NSPCC.At the interval I went to the toilet, and there beside me was Ringo Starr. He asked if I knew this Jeffrey Archer bloke. I said everyone in Oxford was trying to work out who he was. Ringo said: ‘He strikes me as a nice enough fella, but he’s the kind of bloke who would bottle your piss and sell it.’
Sheridan Morley
