Talking about schooldays just reminded me that I was in the same class at secondary school for 5 years with an actress whose equity or stage name is Frances Barber .
Some nice memories for you.
School was not a happy place for me as i was bullied a bit and my headmaster was a horrid man who became a politicion,
I left school and did a bit or dancing, get friendly with one of the bullies and we went
off to dance in Germanany.
Memories keep floating back…one of my favourite customers in W14 was J G Ballard the true Empire of the sun who always had a twinckle in his eye when it came to dessert. He loved Trockenbarenause a delightfully complex pudding wine. He was a pleasure to talk to.
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To stay on the subject of food and I suppose this doesn’t really count as I can’t remember him at all but I certainly shared a playground with Nigel Slater the food writer.He was at my primary school the same time as myself(haven’t worked out if he was same year as each year had 3 classes) When I read his semi autobiographical book Toast he was describing part of my childhood and indeed one of the characters in the book was an aquaintance in my late teens;
Shame I don’t have his talent for cooking !
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In the UK, I lived in the village where the chef Jamie Oliver had attended secondary school.
I was in the village shop one day, shortly after a new Jamie Oliver series had started on TV and overheard a retired schoolteacher talking to an acquaintance: “Oh yes,” she said. “I taught Jamie. He was one of my ‘naughty boys’.”
So Brian you are an Essex boy.
Jamie Oliver a great marketing product a commis chef with a pretty face who was
discovered in Fulham whilst working in a restaurant called The River Cafe
Billy Connolly, comedian
Gael García Bernal (Mexico), actor
The Pogues, folk-rock group
Paul Weller (of The Jam), singer
Slade, rock band
Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin), singer
Tito Puente, percussionist/band leader
Billy Bragg, singer/singwriter
Felipe VI, current King of Spain
Siouxsie and the Banshees, rock band
The Sex Pistols, Punk Rock group…
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No, I just happened to live there for a while.
Oh yes Andrew Lloyd Webber sat in Chinon for dinner and then brought out a rather large board game and he and his guests played.I asked no questions.I often engaged in conversation with the then head of sciene BBC , music and Nigel Finch who was leader of the team in a great documentry series. Nigel was a real animal lover,
All you oldies will remember Arena. I remember the team arriving at 12 30 lunchtime and leave the restaurant at 5 mainly creating and discussing.
Roger Moore and Roman Polanski in Gstaad and Lt Henry Wales at Middle Wallop when he was trying to learn to fly a Helicopter (which he never succeeded). Princess Anne and Duke of Edinburgh in Osnabrueck, Prince Andrew in Stanley.
Lucien Frued was a character and he had arrived at Naturally All Saints rd wearing overalls heavy splashed in paint of many shades and i did not know how to deal with him untill i noticed that he had arrived in a very exspensive car which he parked in my very dodgy area. He left his table dropping money notes from his pocket onto the floor by his side. We rushed out to return the money.
Lucien came to our next restaurant A Taste of Honey where he joined his family for meals.He was also fond of reading his newspaper whilst standing on Notting hill gate.
My mother was his dentist for a while, but he never paid his bills. Sadly she didn’t ask him for a sketch instead!! She had many ex-Berlin clients, as was part of that circle, and several gave her paintings, but mostly truly awful.
My best friend from then was Viv whos brother was in Cockney Rebel
and he was killed in the Lockerby bombing. Can not forget that ever,
Viv and I were invited to a party once by Eric Clapton Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page three of the best guitarist in UK and all handsome. We sai no thank you,
And Peter Cook. Ray Dalton. Mave Bintchy
Shelia 6 olives hancock and mrs Bouquet came to my restaurant.
Bob Hiller, England rugby captain, was my physics teacher. I remember him saying, “Shut up Curry, you’re too small to be cheeky.”
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Why don’t we all give up! Barbara Deane wins hands down. We can’t compete with her. She’ll probably be telling us the Pope came over for a cup of cocoa next.
I say that life is what you make it and being young is an asset. every thing I did was related to meeting people.
now in France things are a little different,
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I worked for a few months in Essex. Does that make me an Essex girl?
It’s not a competition, we’ve all had different experiences
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You sound as if you have led a very interesting life Barbara catering for and,running restaurants you can see people at their best and worst(for wear)
My ex husband was a manager of a couple of restaurants in Covent Garden in the seventies and had many a tale to tell of various media types ,One editor of some rag or other(who I won’t name) after drinking a tad too much, fell head first into his main course and stayed there He had to be hauled out of the plate by the staff .