What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Do you wanna take a risk to do something really crazy in your whole life?
And what’s it?
Moving to France.
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Jane I was going to say the same thing....
But I have done a lot of crazy things…without the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Read my poems at Speakers Coner" hyde Park,Intervied David Bowie and Eric Clapton
for my column “young Chelsea”, Watched Jimi Hendrix play base guitar when he stood in with
my group at a London night club.
I spent the evening in the kitchen of the Borscht N Tears in the hope that I would be scared stiff of what I saw and that I would be put off from taking the chef as day chef at The Borscht and Cheers. Got the job and Benny eventually offered to back me in a restaurant venture. I declined and
then went on to open Naturally in Kings Road where we served Vivien Westwood and crew often…and we are sure Lord Lucan on the night he disappeared.We shared the premises with 606 club…long story.
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Mistake
Wow that brings back memories Barbara. When I was a student we used to go to Borscht N Cheers or Borscht N Tears for special occasions like birthdays and end of exams and stuff. We went there the first time because one of our housemates was Russian and she wanted to try it, and we loved the buzz and it turned into our ‘go-to’ places (when we could afford it). This was late 70s. I used to love London back then, seems like a different lifetime.
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Yes Anna it was a different life time…great them.
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Abseiled into a crevasse on a glacier once, just so others could practice their rescue techniques
I’d forgotten skiing. I once skied the Vallée Blanche at Chamonix. It’s funny how much more important your friends become when you’re tied together and having to negotiate a narrow icy ledge in ski boots while carrying your skis and sticks with a somewhat significant drop on both sides. After that few minutes of concentration and care the actual skiing part, including glaciers and crevasses, was a piece of cake. I probably wouldn’t have attempted it if they’d told me that my reward would be having to walk up over 300 steps, still wearing ski boots and carrying skis and sticks to be able to catch the train down to the town.
I remember that, the “exit” from the Aiguille du Midi down the arête, then down to the vallée blanche and mer de glace. I was climbing then, but couldn’t be arsed to queue for the station (no one actually queued in those days, just pushed) and walked down. Had a treat at the pool in Chamonix later 
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Barbara, you remind me of many happy meals at Borscht and Cheers.
It was a happy place…but the food was really not very good.
It was the early days of my cheffing adventures and I cooked whatever I wanted to cook for lunches and for Benny ( the very eccentric owner) when had had parties.
There is a story to be told about how Benny lured customers from another restaurant during first Aug month when the other restaurant was closed for holidays.He was a maverick of marketing and a filled to the brim with determination.
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Those were before my cheffy days, when I was still working in the theatre. We would dash down to Borscht and Cheers after the show. I remember that it was fun. I remember that one of our other haunts was The Gasworks in Kings Road, which looked like a cross between an antique shop and a restaurant. It was fun! Then, there was MIke’s Diner, which, like The Gasworks is long gone and was open all the sort of weird hours that thrilled theatre performers.
Funnily enough, becoming a dancer was one of the craziest things that I ever did, as it was to avoid going to public school. However, it treated me well and I finally stopped when I was 32 and my second child was due to be born.
As you will understand Barbara, the absolutely craziest thing that I ever did was to become a chef. Never, ever, have I worked such long hours. I’m semi-retired now and only cater a few things that I can’t afford to turn down like fashion shows (only 2 times a year) and big parties and the occasional wedding. Fortunately I am now in a position where I can say, “Thanks, but no thanks” 
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Never went to the Gassworks…but owned the Perfumed Conservatory which was in the Wandsworth Bridge Rd…Fulham…bought it from Max Baden-Semper.
I did my share of dancing too…loved it.
Wrote a musical …well the production side of it…getting together some amazing people …but could not raise the money.But we would have been the very earliest of video in a production. I rented a massive warehouse near the Roundhouse to get everyone together.
Did 2/3 jobs a day to pay for everything.
Worked at Mc Kreedies equity members club near Shaftesbury Ave London.
My whole life has been crazy…has not stopped.
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I was a professional dancer since March '68 and was a member of Macready’s, as well as The Buxton and the Arts Theatre club. We often stayed in The Buxton until it closed in the wee hours, then, went to Mike’s Diner for an early breakfast. In those days I was young and could play all night 
Lauren Bacall used to come to The Buxton and sit and chat with the actors dancers and singers. Ron, the manager used to take your car keys when you arrived and call a taxi for the people who were too drunk to drive. If I remember well, the food was not perfect in any of them, however Macreadys was far, far, smarter than The Buxton. I used to go there, if a girlfriend was with me.
It sounds like we have lived similar lives. My life is now slowing down, since I decided to stop working all of the time. I want to spend more time our home in Burgundy, although I’m in Paris at the moment getting ready for Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.
I wish you every happiness in your crazy life. Let’s be honest, we wouldn’t have had it any other way 
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NO certainly would not have had it any other way!!!
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55 years ago I fell, with a mate, whilst we were a bit drunk, into one of the smaller canals, in Venice. It was July and the water was putrid! We staggered back to our ship, The Mauritania, took off all our clothes and threw them out of the porthole!
My mother fell in at Venice as well. The water was foul and the boatman had only a few minutes earlier told her to throw her ice lolly ‘stick’ into the water because ‘all the rubbish goes in there’. The worst bit of the incident was that she had my parents favourite SLR around her neck at the time and it never worked properly again.
Well… it all sounds wonderful… made me check my memories… ooops, seems I have led a sadly sedate life… the craziest thing I have done recently is buy a pair of white linen trousers for OH to wear during a Classic Car rally… I’m taking before and after photos and the family are placing bets on the state of his attire at the end of that weekend…
(we all have to wear white, but I do not seem to attract oil and grease quite so much as he does… )