Travel to Merseyside for cricket

It is 21 44 Monday 27th June and I have been in the city of Liverpool for 24 hours. It has been a weird period of time.

I am going to work backwards.

18.25 The cricket game ends early because of bad light. I make my way from the entrance of the ground along the road for some fifty yards to the crossing over the dual carriage to the Travel Lodge where I am staying. Before doing so I visit the all day small we sell everything store for a can of cold Pepsi and a bottle of cold Volvic still water for £1.20. This is price paid for just one item in Bar of Toby Carvery or within the ground of Liverpool cricket club.

The crossing is pedestrian controlled in that the more regular pressings of the button the quicker the crossing light changes from red to green. I go first to the car and collect the packet soups, a tin of baked beans, pain au chocolate for the morning, indigestion tablets and liquorice sticks.

In the room I enjoy the can of Pepsi after changing from trousers to track suit bottoms and removing the sandals. I also drink about a third of the water. I prepare the soup using both cups and the have the beans and a pastry followed by some of the black grapes already in the cool bag.

I watch the local news which confirms that although the wicket has a green surface, and which someone sitting next to me, an umpire said is worse that the usual club pitch, it has been passed fit for play despite 20 wickets falling in in the day. The argument being the conditions were special which made the ball swing fiercely. More on the cricket later.

I turn on the computer after leaving it with the plus switched off at the socket so the battery ran out while I was away. I am tempted to watch Spartacus on the ITV player but I have indulged watching the first episode of Mildred Pierce with Kate Winslett. The book was published in 1941 and made into a success film in 1945 with six academy nominations with one win for the leading actress Joan Crawford and Mildred. This film which I remember but cannot recall had a changed story from the book. The present five part mini series is said to be more faithful to the book. I will write about the mini series another time.

9.30 am I leave the Travel Lodge having prepared three salami with olive rolls. These I eat at 11. Noon and 3pm. I do not eat the pastry. I buy a can of Pepsi soon after arriving at the ground for 75 pence and then a bottle of Pepsi for £1.20. Other expenditure is a score Card for 70 pence.

The ground reminds me of that at Hartlepool except the facilities for members are worse. There is an ancient pavilion on three floors with the players on the top floor When I asked if there was anywhere where I could get a drink I was told to go up the stairs by an steward and confronted a sign which just said players and officials. There appear to be an area with drinks in pouring jugs but no one serving. Others that had followed worked out that the bar was across from where we were. It was closed and the stairs to this also appeared closed. Because of the location of the wicket only half the outside seating was available and have been taken up by Lancs regulars who had got there where the ground opened borne of experience earlier in the season.

In front of the Pavilion at pitch side there was a media tent and then a sponsors tented pavilion. Most of the seating was in hard seats and benches located around the boundary fencing. There were three small erected stands. One side on to the wicket and the other two either side of the site screen. I elected to sit on the top row aisle seat of the second. To reach this one had to go through the tennis court behind the site screen. The ground has a pleasant aspect and there are plenty of trees with car parking. In one corner adjacent to the main pavilion there is a similar designed building but smaller which looks like a former players pavilion but the building is now a day nursery with a separate on street entrance. The ground filled as the morning progressed with no spare seats visible by the end of the day. There were good side temporary toilets. There was only one refreshment tent selling beer but with a small area of sandwiches, tea coffee and a chill drinks cabinet. In this respect facilities at grounds such as Stockton, Darlington, Gateshead Fell, Chester Le Street Cricket Club and Hartlepool were better. Only that at the University ground Durham City were as limited. The facilities are inadequate for playing all county games for one season.

I made two outings during the day. Immediately across from the Travel Lodge there is a vehicle MOT centre. There are four eating place . The first is a Chinese take away which offer fish and chips. This was doing a great trade at lunch time and was busy the night before when I arrived. The are two restaurants serving Indian/Asian food. The first is described as basic similar to those in Ocean Road but not offering any special deals. The second is a large up market building and up market prices. However in the midst there is a small British Restaurant with perhaps a dozen simple plain wooded tables and chairs. The starters are around £5 as I assume the puddings with the main courses from around £12 to £25. With drinks I would expect two people to pay £75 to eat a three course meal here. There is also a betting shop, pharmacy and female hairdressing.

At 9.30 as it had been earlier it was scorching hot so after putting on plenty of sun protection I wore just a short sleeved shirt and trousers taking the light summer jacket my had a small carry bag with the food and little else. At 2 the sea fret had arrived with a cold wind and I put on the jacket. At 4.15 during the yea interval I returned my room at the Travel Lodge and made a cup of tea to warm myself. I then replaced the summer jacket with my green lined coat. It remained in the 80’s everywhere else. To morrow it should be cooler and less humid everywhere but sunny after some over night showers.

I had left the Emirates Durham International around 17.30 on Sunday afternoon when the weather continued to scorching hot and sunny. I had travelled no more than a couple of miles when the skies darkened and on coming vehicle showed lights and traces of a rain storm. There was then heavy rain over the next 20 miles during which time I stopped to eat my sandwiches in the car at the Durham service area without going into the facilities. It then brightened up to the same weather conditions of the day. I stopped again for a comfort break at Wet herby and because I was feeling tired. I was not at best alertness for the rest of the journey but OK. The weather over the Pennines was glorious although the incoming low sun was blinding at times and added to driving difficulties. I was OK until reaching the service area above Manchester where I have stayed on previous visits to the city.

I was aware from previous experience that after this service area one has to concentrate even more than usual because of the filers and junctions off the motorway on either side of the carriage way. These go south to Chester and North Wales, to Warrington and Widnes or north to the Lancashire mill towns, to the county town of Preston or to the sandy beaches of Southport. I was OK until seeing signs for the 5080 to places which were not on my list so I kept going to the end of the motorway and sure enough the sign to 5080 was the first on list of three junctions. All was OK until I saw but did not register sufficiently the turning I had to take off the third and final roundabout and end along a road which appeared to be taking into central Liverpool and not the more countrified residential housing I had expected from the guide map. I should have stopped at a service area for a local map book.

I retraced by steps and took what I thought was the correct turning but the road was Aigburth Drive not Road and took along an area of Parkland which I assume borders the river. It seemed to go on for ages and eventually I found someone who correctly guided to Aigburth road from its end in the other direction which I had first intended. This was fine because it meant that the Travel Lodge was on my side of the dual carriage way. The accommodation is basic with not even a cold drinks machine. There is however plenty of free parking and I had passed the entrance to the cricket ground less that 50 yards on the other side of the road. There were some restaurants and a few other outlets across the road. After unpacking I went to the Toby for a cold Pepsi around 22.30. The TV has most of the free digital channels and I commenced to watch Beyonce before going for the drink who put on an hour and three quarters top pf the bill set from 22.00. She is the first female to head the bill on the Pyramid set for a quarter of a decade. I was impressed with her energy and clearly she regarded the event as one of the most important in her life, never having appeared to so many people in one go. I liked the message of her music.

Now to the main event and purpose of the visit, The cricket. On the Sunday afternoon Durham played second in the 20 20 League table Leicestershire. Durham battered first and made 187 runs which was 10-20 short of what I thought would be needed and should have been achieved given the great stated. Gordon Muchall made a solid 65 to anchor the innings. Leicestershire set a cracking pace and appeared to be cruising at 12 an over adding 95 runs for the third wicket after a shaky start. Then as three wickets fell at 113 and two at 125 they batting became more cautious and bowling and fielding tighter and it was evident we were heading for a photo finish with 22 runs required for the last two overs. With 3 runs required off the last ball I thought the radio commentator said that the Durham bowler had caught and bowled the player however this as not borne out by the scorecard.. However Durham bowled well enough to win the game in that last over just. An important result because this puts Durham firmly in the top four although it is still anyone one result except perhaps for Notts at the top with four points clear and 3 wins more than anyone else with 6 games left to play and for Northants at the bottom with only 4 points but with two games in hand and 16 points to play for even they cannot be ruled out from a place.

There were rumblings of discontent about the state of the proposed wicket before the game against Lancashire commenced yesterday morning. There was also surprise when Durham invited Lancashire to bass first after winning the toss. I explained that Durham had been successful by allowing opponents to bat first score up to 250 runs and then batting for the greater part of two days with totals in excess of 400 to gain maximum batting points and then either wining by an innings or having a good draw with having achieved more bonus points which all added up to the end of the season.

However while in fact the scenario worked no one anticipated that 20 wickets would fall during the day and the wicket would be declared a good one which a combination of heat and cloud causing the ball to swing violently on the green pitch. For a time it looked as the conditions would cancel out the dramatic closing of the Lancashire first innings for 84 with 20 of these runs from Harmison who had three of his wides go to the boundary. Thorp 6 for 20 and Onions 2 for 19 did the damage. However at one point Durham were also 60 for 6 and it was former championship winning Benkenstein who was 80 odd not out with support from Onions who took the visitors into a lead of 100 runs. Lancs were into bat again with 9 overs to play and in the day and 20 minutes but bad light led to only one over of more play. Lancashire need a total of 350 plus to give Durham a challenge and void the visitors taking a 25 point lead but with Lancs having a game in hand to play. It still would mean Durham had the championship to lose. Benkenstein with over 1000 runs this season is now the player who has scored the most runs for Durham in the history of first class cricket. The match was nicely poised despite thE Durham lead of 100 runs

Day's Oriental Buffet Brighton

My summer trip to London has got off to a bad start despite rising around 6am, I relaxed too much until 10am and then everything became a rush as i changed mind and left too much to do with too little time to do it.

The weather was kind with pleasant sunshine but it was touch and go whether I will arrive at Kings Cross before the torrential rain forecast. If so then a taxi will be essential for the short journey to the Royal Scot and additional expense. Already I have spent an unnecessary £3 having forgotten to take the metro pass from the suit after changing into the casual summer wear with the jacket fearing that the suit could be drenched on the trip from the station to the hotel.

These were my only notes made before commencing to write again while killing time in the temporary travellers lounge just outside the main concourse at Kings Cross station three days later. It is 3.20on Saturday afternoon. The reason for the gap is that I was able to connect online on the train an engage in an important conversation on Yahoo Instant messenger. Well it seemed important at the time Earlier today I had a potentially more significant conversation and the next few hours will reveal if this has been yet another false dawn among so many false dawns over the last two months. Now reviewing this on the following Tuesday I have report it was the false dawn of false dawns.

Because of this the highlight of the trip has been one of the great meal experiences of my lifetime. Many buffet meal restaurants have opened in the UK over the past decades offering a variety of foods within a range of prices. I have not previously heard of such an extraordinary eating extravaganza as that provided by Day’s of 75-79 East Street Brighton.

It scores the maximum number of stars for such eateries because of design, ambience, choices available, quality of foods, approach of staff and costs with the food for six coming to 83.94 for a priority weekend evening and a further 16.60 for drinks. I will later see if there is an internet site for the restaurant if it is part of a chain, so I can try and recreate the range of food available as well as more detail of the six plates I was able to experience concluding with a simple chocolate ice cream before which there had been a small of a mango tasting custard with a little , a small chocolate finger and a large blackberry, a charlotte ruse and a few large grapes. It is interesting that I remember the deserts I selected and those available. A range of fresh fruits including melons, a choice of ice creams, profiteroles with sauce and cream which I rejected on this occasion, plates of sweets for the children, various cakes and creams,

There where two areas of starters and main dishes. There were three central with prepared dishes but these were constantly replaced with fresh trays as the contents were consumed

From the starters I enjoyed two separate portions of spiced prawns with some crisp seaweed on the first plate, some olives, small sushi portions wrapped with rice. With the second there was crispy fried duck, some spiced beef, and chicken portions. For the main course I had some Thai Beef Curry, a large Papadum, small piece of Naan and rice. I then had a mixture of tasty meats, some green string beans, cooked warm celery. All in sufficient quantity to savour individually and the combination of flavours, but limiting the quantity to ensure I enjoyed the puddings. I drank the greater part of a large bottle of fizzy water. I was full by the end of a good two hour sitting. There is no web site but Trip adviser reviews which I joined some time ago and had to get a new email before it was published.

I was allocated a double bed room at the Royal Scot, small but with a chair at the desk and plenty of power points although I did not need more than one forgetting to bring battery charger and deciding against the camera. The windows were not double so I heard plenty of street noise which was moderate on the Wednesday but bad on the Thursday.

I was determined to control food intake during the trip. For the Wednesday I started with cereal and before leaving the house had a piece of steak with a good portion salad and a banana, finishing the salad at the hotel which included the remaining pieces of ham and pork followed by grapes and coffee. For Thursday there was pan au chocolat for breakfast with coffee. Lunch was a box of French fries, a piece of chicken breast and three spicy wings together with an icy can of diet coke for £2.99 from the Halal no alcohol here, cooked fresh, filling and exceptional value for money. I returned for another helping on the Saturday before travelling home. Earlier I had purchased a BLT sandwich which I enjoyed back in the room with coffee.

The journey homeward had its moments of interest. There was a couple of hours to kill between leaving the room at 2pm and selecting a good spot on the station to get to the train to find a table seat. At one point I spotted what appeared to be a scarf and a book abandoned on a chair and asked a couple nearby if they knew who had been sitting at the seat and they did not so I gathered the items and placed them on top of the unit close where I was sitting to hand them in next time the assistant who checked the toilets from time to arrived. The toilets had been used by all and sundry until the assistant had locked them. The two items were immediately claimed by a young woman who had gone into the far corner close to the toilets to recharge her mobile on a power point. When she left and then a man sitting on an adjacent seat, I moved over to use my laptop. While this was excellent I then found myself advising people that the toilets were locked and where the facilities were located in the main station with new temporary facilities for ladies on the far right hand side with men’s remaining were there had always been on the far end of the far platform, unless one was first class who have their own. Those were the days.

The plan worked and I was able to have a choice of seats electing for one of two by the disability toilets and designed for those with wheel chairs or mobility problems. It was a gamble of course so I stood to see what happened. During the wait I assisted a young Black mother with a child in a buggy, looking after the child while she sorted out seats with a friend and then looked after the buggy and luggage in the other area from where I hoped to sit. Alas shortly before train was to leave there arrived two very large Black women plus electric wheel chair. My presence was fortunate for them because I was able to assist in ensuring they were comfortable and as the other seat was vacant, using a case for the computer I was able to manage where I was although the system was temperamental as it tends to be, especially when the train is packed, as it was. I was able to return to the other seat at Peterborough when the two women alighted. The station staff were well prepared for the arrival. I needed more food having a Ploughman‘s sandwich and coffee before the final lap of the journey by Metro from Newcastle to South Shields with the early Saturday nighters going in both directions. I will do a sport and film catch up as the concentration on project work of one kind or another continues.

1892

One of the most memorable aspects of my visit to the Midlands has been food.

Early on in my journey I made a good discovery of a new coffee and toast, and English breakfast stop. I was in need of the toilet and a cup of coffee a stopped at the last service area on the A19 before it joins in the A1 A1M towards Leeds and Doncaster. My intention to was visit the service garage and make use of their facilities and well as enjoy a cup of coffee at the ubiquitous Coffee Nation machine which no longer provides a cheap hot brew. Alas the toilets were closed and the assistant suggested I went over to the Diner 168 for the coffee and use therefore of their toilets. This proved to be a bonus decision for I enjoyed the coffee pot which provided two medium size cups and two large slices of toast for £2.67.

Later I enjoyed my first of two meals at the same roadside restaurant, one the day of arrival and departure which offered two course meals for £8 and in both instances I settled for a piece of gammon with egg and an apple crumble with custard, followed by coffee with an apple and Mango J 20 to begin on one day and diet Pepsi or Cola on the other. This is exceptional value for well cooked basic food.

The surprise of the visit and which I will identify is the Pizza Hut near in the Leisure Park south of Mansfield. There is a giant multi screen cinema here, as well as Bingo Hall together with a supermarket and the usual range of out of town stores, but the on site provision for a meal is poor with the Pizza Hut a little distance away across the exceptionally busy A60 route into the town centre and only a KFC and a Mc D within the park and where the football stadium is also close by. Mansfield recently lost its League status and is now in the Conference fighting for a playoff place along with York, Oxford and Wimbledon all clubs especially the latter two which I wish better fortune.

The food is ubiquitous and I enjoyed some chicken wings covered with a spicy sauce followed by a small pepperoni pizza accompanied by a diet coke and an Americano with a side of milk. However what impressed me was the service on a full house evening with customers queuing beyond the door. There was an immediate welcome and taking of names to ensure an orderly flow with staff doing an amazing job serving and clearing tables but no one was rushed and I do not recall a situation where under such pressure the staff were so comfortable and attentive, and genuine. There were two birthday celebrations during the meal when the lights were lowered and everyone was encouraged to join in the singing of happy birthday. There was also a two for one meal voucher at the end of meal which others were already benefiting, purchasing larger than appetites could cope sized pizzas which were then boxed to take home for another day. The staff were also young and evidently working as a team which added to getting my vote for the customer service experience oft he year, in fact of many a year.

In terms of good food prepared from the best of local ingredients and served with style I returned to a village based restaurant in a former public house whose identity and location remains secret as it is always fully booked sp I do not want to add to the task of gaining a table by widening its popularity. I enjoyed a succulent prawn cocktail, a chicken breast and stuffing with roast potatoes and other vegetables, and a home made bread and butter pudding, with Merlot and Americano.

For my birthday I over indulged with a day over eating and drinking including two bacon rolls for breakfast although on other days I enjoyed almond croissants and Danish pastries. There was a crunchy salad with mixed vegetables and coleslaw, olives, lettuce, cucumber and peppered mackerel, with separate side dishes of prawns in shell and a soft peppered cheese on crackers. The main course was a large port chop with carrots and corn of the cob, all washed down with a whole bottle of Asti and lots of coffee and tea earlier in the day. I also have good memories of open roles with slices of ham, coleslaw and touches of other salads and of chocolate cake and Cheesecake, scones with cream.

I also cannot end this chronicling without mentioning the Tesco supermarket south of Mansfield which is the largest I have encountered anywhere in my travels. I ahd ventured in for a note book and a coffee but became so interested in what was on offer including men’s suits for as little as £25. Yes I will repeat that a suit for £25. I was also successful in getting some blue lever arch files although oft he plastic variety but they will serve my immediate purpose. The extend of the choice in foods was matched by the areas on books, periodicals, stationery, lap tops where the screens and keyboards are getting bigger and bigger, televisions, phones and electrical goods, as well as clothing and household goods. I became so engaged that I lost the sense of time and had to curtail my eventual shop without the coffee. I did remember the notebook but there was no time to make the notes.

Since the return I am constantly hungry which I means I will have to lose even more shortly if I am to achieve the target for the year.

1891 Clumber Park

On Sunday March 7th 2010 I made my first visit to Clumber Park, the former estate of the Dukes of Newcastle Under Lyne. I have driven past the two gates, set back some distance from the A 614 Nottingham Road a mile down from the A1 interchange, but failed to find out about the estate and the lost treasure of one the great houses of England, demolished in 1938 after being allowed to become derelict.

The A1 interchange has a traumatic memory for me because in the days before the building of the underpass, this was a major roundabout with roads to Nottingham and Sheffield and it was here one Sunday afternoon that my car broke down about half way to my destination, the family flat in Wallington where I was to stay overnight before journeying to a country house, Bletchley Park the former Wartime Intelligence centre, or somewhere similar for an induction week arranged by the Government for persons appointed as Directors of Social Services for the first time, and where I found myself among some very experienced chief officers, former Children’s and Chief Welfare Officers in the main.

I had used the new AA relay service only to find that when I was collected on one transporter vehicle I was taken to a staging area to another collection which then left me at a roundabout in thick fog just outside of London for several hours between 8pm and midnight to 1 am without food or drink, access to a toilet or a telephone. Worse was to follow because instead of the vehicle taking across London home I was taken to the Depot in North East London about as far from my destination within London as I could make it. It was six am before I was then driven to a garage in Wallington before being dropped off at the flat of my birth and care mothers. I arranged for the vehicle to be repaired when the garage opened, had a brief sleep before hiring a car to drive to the venue where I arrived in time for the introductions and evening meal followed by opening session. I wrote long angry letters to the A A and my Member of Parliament about what would have been the position if I had been with children or elderly relatives. The A A were rightly apologetic and promised to review the new system and in fairness I have nothing but an efficient and thoughtful service since, including the provision of a hire vehicle for three days

Clumber Park was originally monastic property as were vast tracks of England until it was acquired, one way or another, by the Monarchy and its nobles, in this instance as a hunting estate by John Holles the 4th Earl of Clare, the 3rd Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle Under Lyne. Despite its size, some 3800 acres, just under six square miles, in the Northern part of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, south of Worksop.

Sherwood Forest was never one vast Forest, but a series of woodlands with villages, farming and open land, and which even today occupies an area of 423 kilometres some 165 square miles and was in the Middle Ages the favoured hunting grounds for the monarchs of England. The first duke to acquire the property only built a hunting lodge, and it was his son, the Lord Lincoln, who decided to build one of his principal mansions. Later Dukes created the magnificent serpentine lake which covers 87 acres, just over a third of a square kilometre and with a walk around of some 4 miles just under six and half kilometres. The estate features a double line of lime trees some three miles in length, the longest such avenue in Europe.

I arrived at the National Trust Property just before the gates to the enclosed riverside pleasure park gardens were opened and already the car parks around the estate were beginning to fill up on what was proving a week of sunlit albeit cold days which appear to have now ended on arriving home. By the time I had undertaken a short walk along the lakeside, enjoyed a cup of coffee in the large restaurant area and visited the two small exhibitions, one on the history of the estate and the other on how the estate was used during World War II, vehicles were streaming in and fighting for a place in the central car park near the former location of the mansion.

Entrance is free to National Trust members but it costs £5 for one car load to make a single visit so for those with easy access membership of the Trust is an economic venture, especially as there is a programme of events throughout the year, including popular music concerts and theatrical productions, organised walks ranging from £4 to £10 for a family and a free once a week activity from Fungi spotting to growing sweet peas and broad beans or a perfect pumpkin. Although the Park is official closed on Christmas Day, a service with carols will be held this year at 10a, in the Gothic Chapel.

From the National Trust site it is possible to down load a map and details of a 1.5 mile walk which goes Lake side through the designed pleasure gardens with many flowering shrubs and yet to appear spring bulbs and which continues to Ash Tree Hill Wood and then back to the Walled Kitchen garden, Conservation area, Chapel, entrance facilities and main car park. For those able to undertaken longer trek or hire a cycle, there is a five mile route around the lake which includes Hardwicke Village within the estate.

I looked up a site offering residential, agricultural and Forest land in Nottinghamshire. A woodland of some 17.5 acres is presently available for £130000 which would make the land of the estate presently worth around £30million. In its heyday more 100 people were employed on the estate and even to day I would not be surprised if there are a score employed for the Park, on the gate, in the restaurant, shop and exhibition as well as in the maintenance of the estate in addition to those employed at the regional office of the Trust which is also based in the available buildings.

The first Duke to acquire the property was in fact the nephew of the Duke of Newcastle and a man of property in his own right with land in Middlesex and Lincolnshire as well as Nottingham. When his father died, the Baron Pelham, he inherited more land so that by the time he acquired Clumber and built the hunting lodge he had property in 11 counties and controlled a number of Parliamentary constituencies. It was through his political support for the Whig party that be became Earl of Clare and then took over as Duke of Northumberland for the Tyne in addition to being the first of Lyne through his political manipulations. He then held office effectively running the country with his brother in the Commons as the first Lord of the Treasury and he as Foreign Minister and Chamberlain of the Royal Household.

It was then second son of Earl Lincoln brother to the Duke who inherited the title and the estate following the death of his father and elder brother. He was instrumental in establishing the park as more than a hunting ground. He became estranged from his third son who inherited the title although the wealth of his father had been significantly passed to his eldest grand son. Thomas was only the Duke for a year but he had married with four children his eldest son came to the title and estate, The 4th Duke who came to the title when he was only 10 and at Eton became a staunch conservative, opposed to Catholic emancipation and electoral reform. He did not have a happy life estranged from his mother and children, his wife dying from childbirth after their 11th child.

The 5th Duke 1811-1864 was a contemporary of Gladstone at Oxford and persuaded his father to allocate the Parliamentary seat of Newark to his friend. And he also had a friendship with Sir William Peel. As appears to have become a historical problem, eh had a strained relationship with his father and his marriage ended in divorce. His wife had a child by Sir Horace Walpole before marrying someone from Brussels.

The sixth Duke briefly was the Member of Parliament for Newark but otherwise his interest was in Freemasonry where he held the office of Grand Master of Nottinghamshire for twelve years.

He was a great gambler losing a fortune and for a time was forced to leave the country in disgrace because he failed to pay his gambling debts. His solution was to marry money and his father in law settled the debts and provide an annual income of several million pounds in today’s values. Although his father in law left a fortune in estates to his son in law he ensured that the man could not control their management or dispose them.

This meant that that the 7th Duke 1864 1928 who came to the title when he was 15 and at Eton was able to devote himself to rebuilding the house after it was destroyed by fire, to the building of the Church of St Mary the Virgin and the creation of the Clumber Choir School, despite suffering lifelong ill health from a fall in childhood. He was also a major figure in the Anglo Catholic Church of his day and this subject is said to be the only cause for him to attend the House of Lords and make a speech.

The 8th Duke 1866-1941 followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, incurring vast debts which led to the selling of the internationally known family heirloom, the Hope Diamond which now is held by the Smithsonian Institute and said to be worth £175 million. The infamous squandering of the Duke led to the selling off great parts of the family estate, including the contents of Clumber House which was left into disrepair. His first wife was a singer and a dancer and they divorced after 8 years with no children. He had three children by his second wife who died shortly after the birth of her third child.

The 9th Duke appears to have been a man of a different calibre who fought in second World War, becoming a Squadron Leader and retiring subsequently as a Wing Commander. During his war service Clumber Park became one of the biggest ammunition dumps in the UK with the estate filled with small storage constructions set apart from each other among the trees. The estate was also used for the building and testing of a monster trench digger intended to forge a path behind enemy lines, However Churchill who supported the project and saw the testing of the completed vehicle never put the machine into production because the nature of war had quickly changed from that of the first. The Duke was married three times, with two daughters by his second wife. The title therefore went to another relative. A cousin who also served with distinction in the second world war as a Captain in Royal Artillery. He remained unmarried and therefore the title became extinct.

The family which had originally held the title of Earl of Lincoln is represented among the British Aristocracy to this day by the 19th Earl, who is the grandson of an Australian manual worker after he had retired.

On one hand I regret the destruction of the great house and the selling of its many treasures which included a dining table capable of accommodating 150 seated guests filling the rooms and others with the work of Rubens, Gainsborough, Hogarth, Reynolds, Van Dyke, Poussin, Rembrandt, Titian, Brueghel and Holbein. Among the rare books was first folio of William Shakespeare, three Caxton Bibles and a Book of Hours together with a large collection of statues, busts and china. On the other hand the family had guarded their estate from public interest. However the contents appears to have fallen into private collections and they no longer have become objects to be look at, touched, read and enjoyed but locked in vaults to appear on balance sheets and insurance records. At least the ground remain with the nation be enjoyed for a modest individual contribution. I hope to return and so some good walking.

1884 London by train for £9

This is the ultimate travelling luxury. I am travelling from Newcastle to London, second class, for the princely sum of £9, sitting at a four seat able on my own, mains connected to the internet, listening to Lost FM, and some blues hussy, singing All Night Long. It was nearly very different as for the past week I was uncertain if I wanted to make the journey, even if getting to the station proved practical. The reason for the apprehension was the weather forecast of cold, snow and heavy rain sweeping the country. Heavy rain and snow was forecast for the North East so the first problem was getting from the house to South Shields station, about a quarter of a mile in driving rain, albeit down hill, which is not my idea of fun, having previously being caught out in driving although at the time I had my old luggage which me with meant juggling umbrella with case and a full and heavy haversack over the shoulder.
By Sunday I developed a plan which was to be ready packed by Tuesday bedtime and set off after 9.30 when my travel pass became valid, as soon as it was dry and if necessary ordering a taxi to South Shields station if I was still inclined to go. The plan was a good one but did not allow for not sleeping Monday night as first I stayed up finishing the EastEnders researching and writing and then I could not sleep, rising at six, enjoying bacon rolls and coffee and playing Luxor Mahjong. I then went back to bed around eight and slept uninterrupted until1.30 waking groggy and in need of a reviving coffee. Horror and disbelief, there was no water except what was left in the system. I washed and shaved and made myself presentable and had a cup of coffee, using water from the large litre containers which kept refreshed with tap water just for this purpose. I then went in search of neighbours to find out if the system failure was general or I had a problem. The first four door knocks failed to obtain a response, but the fifth yielded someone who had made a cup of tea half an hour before, but went away to check. Yes his taps were dripping empty, no there had been no advance warning, so we both went back in to make enquiries after checking the back lane and nearby roads for signs of pavement or other works of some kind, There were none and just before ringing, after finding the emergency call number, I made another check to find water spluttering back.
Grateful that it was not a problem which meant cancelling the trip there and then, I will leave what happened and why as one of the many unanswered questions.
The sun is now shining after Northern rain, gave way to wintry mist with areas of recent snow falls, through County Durham and North Yorkshire, all the way to York, as train gets closer to the metropolis. The journey has flown by after reading a collection of writings of John Peel, produced by his family as a tribute from his children and widow. This is civilized travelling and augers well for the rest of the three night, four day trip, arranged on impulse having been alerted to the £9 one way special offer trips to London and arranging travel lodge accommodation for a reasonable £19 a night.
John Peel died suddenly at the aged from a heart attack while on a trip to Peru fulfilling a lifelong ambition. John was as not a popular Disk Jockey and programme presenter as the likes of Terry Wogan, but was the most loved presenter of new contemporary music for close on forty years on Radio One BBC when it was established as the new music station. Over the decades John introduced over a thousand bans to the British Public through his live session in which the band came into the studios to play four numbers live and running through the full list on Wikipedia I notice Joan Armatrading had appeared six times, The Boomtown rats twice, David Bowie six times, Billy Bragg 11 times, Leonard Cohen 1 Elvis Costello 4, The Cure, deep Purple, Depeche Mode, Andy Fairweather Lowe, The Fall 25 times, Genesis 3, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, Jethrow Tull and Elton John 2, Led Zepelin, 4 Lindisfarne 5, Manfred Mann 4 Bob Marley 2, The Moody Blues, Motorhead and Morrissey, Pet Shop, Boys, Pink Flloyd 6, The Police and Prefab Sprout, Queen 3, Sandie Shaw, Simple Minds. Steeleye Sam 8, Cat Stevens, Supertramp 4 T Rex 2 Thin Lizzie 7, Ten Years after 3, Ultra Vox, UB 40. There important reminded is that the groups or individuals appeared before they had a record contract or a following in the UK and that some then came back time after time, reveals the debt they felt to John for first giving them airtime. Many were among the thousand who went to his funeral to show the respect and the love the music industry felt for him.
Once a year listeners of his programme would vote for their best 50 tracks heard over the year and this in turn became something of national event. Teenage Kicks by the Undertones was his favourite track of all time and was played as his coffin left the church for burial in his home village. 11 times he was voted New Musical Express Disc Jockey of the year and was an obvious choice for the Radio Hall of Fame. Glastonbury has names its stage for new bands, the John peel Stage. The BBC arranged its first John Peel Day on 11th October 2005 and some 500 bands participated in live concerts throughout the UK and as far away as Canada and New Zealand. Two other days have been subsequently held.
John also wrote what today we call Blogs and it is a collection of this writing which his family has published under the title the Olivetti Chronicles, after the old typewriter which he kept and did his writing on. I was an Olivetti salesman for six brief months in 1959, failing to sell machine after heading the Sales schools. I was struck my one line, “ I am beginning to face a powerful urge to return to some of the scenes of my early failures.
There has been a little development at Newcastle station with the opening of coffee kiosks within the Metro station concourse and then the railway station concourse. The barrier entry system is now in operation but it is not working smoothly and staff are in hand. There are also two coffee places on platform 3, one in the waiting room which was not used and another combined with a small Smith’s outlet, which had limited customers as where they were desperate to sell me sandwiches or cake as coffee or appeared to be the only choice of those at the other tables in addition to myself. People are so used to calling in at the Smiths on the main concourse that I speculate there is little trade from this as well.
The advantage of the 1.03 is that although it comes from Scotland there is only one stop at York thereafter which restricts comings and goings and makes for a fast journey arriving on time at twenty to four. It is also now possible to take an undercover walk way from within Kings Cross through to St Pancras station where a lift is need to bring one to within the concourse at the entrance close to M and S and then across the concourse for a ticket direct to East Croydon, single at £4.40 where the Brighton Route train was waiting for me as I arrived on the Platform. There are only stops at Farringdon, Holborn and Blackfriars before London Bridge and then it is non stop to East Croydon. There was a light drizzle on arrival which meant using the umbrella which I used with ease on the short journey from the station to the Travel Lodge.
Later, despite the rain I had a walk around the town centre popping in the recently developed super kart taken over by the Waitrose chain. The shop has been enlarged and gone up market full of deli foods although the prices have risen accordingly. I was given a token with my change which I must find out what it is for. I was after some pan au chocolate for breakfast and also bought a couple of custard tarts to accompany a mug noodles and some salami crackers and some tea and later some coffee. Chelsea lost 2.1 to Inter in Milan. The away goal could be important as 1.0 win at home will secure them the tie. Despite this it was a good day and I looked forward to several films and a couple of free concerts at the South Bank, one folk and one Jazz over the next three days. The films include The Hurt Locker and An Education as well as an Ordinary Man, all in for Baftas and Oscars as well at the Last Station.

1378 Alfred Wainwright Day

This has been a good day, 18th May 2008, and for one moment, a strange day when a ghost returned to remind of dark days past, and overall I did not feel guilt or failure at the lack of time tabled progress in project work. Then this evening there was a fictional tale of recent reality horror which upset me greatly.

The day commenced early around 6 am having gone abed before midnight and a succession of gettings up when it seemed that no sooner did I return to bed that I was awake and needing to get up again, although a hour or so had passed by.

The good surprise of the day was to switch on the TV after an excellent evening meal to find a one hour programme on the life of Alfred Wainwright. I first came across his Cumbrian guides on visiting the Lakes for the first time after arriving in the North East in 1974, although I had stayed at the family home of a friend in 1963 which overlooked Ullswater and I had sat for hours watching the clouds pass over the lake from a large picture window. Later I acquired one of his photo books about Scotland but although I looked longingly at his detailed map guides I never have made the opportunity to follow his footsteps. Then there was the brilliant TV series when Eric Robson, from this region, who accompanied him on some of his favourite walks and outlooks. The evening's programme was a balanced mixture of interviews and reminiscences, (including the delicious Sue Lawley who once interviewed me back in 1981 or 1982 for a London evening TV magazine programme) and fictionalised representations of aspects of his earlier life. The programme explained his background as part of a poor Mill family and community where he was able to break out by being bright at school and getting a post as an office boy for the local council, progressing as part of a Treasurer's department by going to evening classes and taking accountancy exams, going on holiday with his cousin to the Lakes, after saving £5 and dreaming of being able to live and walk as often as he wished.

He married a local girl and had a son, and then jumped at the opportunity of a job at Kendal where he progressed to become the Borough Treasurer,. The programme revealed why Wainwright was something of a recluse and avoided publicity until later on life. The main reason appeared to be that he liked his own company better than most other humans, although he had a love of animals as well as of the Hills and their viewpoints. The for his negative attitude towards others is revealed in an unpublished manuscript after realising early in his marriage that he had made a mistake and that his wife and he did not share interests, his approach to life, marriage and the position of women in society. The programme was more sympathetic to him than his former partner than it should have been. His response to what was for him an unhappy marriage was to work hard during the day and at weekends go off by himself on to the Fells, having decided he would not only climb everyone but make and publish a record with maps and a handwritten diary full of little quips, asides and observations on life. He was a methodical map, primarily a completer finisher, someone who set or had set goals and the meticulously worked out how to achieve the in the way intended and then did so, almost to the exclusion of everything else. He also had a creative streak but not an overpowering one, but he was not an over shaper or leader although he was to become so, because half a century later walkers in the Lakes still rely or his guides and swear that there are none better.

His first publication was a financial gamble and although the subsequent books were critically praised and quickly built up their following he remained a quiet man, intent on his task of thirteen years and avoiding publicity. His marriage ended after more than thirty years and there is no account pf what happened by her or his estranged son who he is said to have disinherited. The Wikipedia entry differs significantly from the TV programme in that it claims he did not meet his second wife until years after the break up, whereas the film suggests otherwise. In fact he encountered Betty fort he first time several years before they commenced a relationship when she wrote a fan letter saying how much she appreciated his books and reminding of when they had met. He had summed her to his office after she had booked a room for a paid period of time and then significantly over stayed the hiring. She is reported to have had the meeting with her daughter. While both still married they had met and commenced a relationship despite the significant difference in ages. He was said to have given her his secret manuscript in which he had revealed the kind of woman he hoped to meet and challenged her only to respond if she felt she was that individual and could fulfil his dream. They were subsequently to spend the rest of his life together, and although he continued to walk on his own further and further affield, they shared a joint passion for animals and used much of his wealth to create an animal shelter for cats and dogs which now bears his name, and she also encouraged him to continue his writing long into retirement. In fact his original seven books became million sellers worldwide and he commenced a succession of new projects on the Pennine Way and then perhaps his most creative and significant walk The Coast to Coast. from St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay passing through the Lakes, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors to Robin Hood's Bay 190 miles and significantly longer than to the two coast to coast marches I undertook as a young man from Liverpool to Hull His walk was named the second best walks in the world in a survey of experts for Country Walking Magazine. He was a lucky man where hard work and dedication to the point of obsession brought financial and other rewards. He completed his original set task and the publication of his works brought him the kind of satisfying relationship he had dreamt off. He also found fame and recognition during his lifetime and his reputation is undiminished and is unlikely to do so.

There are 214 fells in the Lake District and getting to the top of everyone has become known as the Wainwrights with a register kept of those who wished to record the feat, some 459 people, doing so and some 40 completing more than once with one individual over a dozen times. The youngest recorded was aged under seven years. The Wainwright Society was formed in 2002.

It was while looking at internet references that I downloaded a BBC news feature that Michael Joseph who had published the Cumbrian guides had decided to discontinue because of falling demand. I then spotted the headline "Abuse claims win compensation" which in curiosity I also downloaded only to then realise the date was 14th January 2003, five days after my aunt had been admitted to hospital and when a had returned for a family event lasting 24 hours to find her at death's door. The article referred to the settlement of the Class Action involving 15 Test cases and some 60 former children in which I had provided the evidence of corporate negligence with the assistance of an International Law firm and an International Human Rights Lawyer. Earlier in the day I had written to the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman giving my response to the letter rejecting my request for their reports to the Health Minister to be amended or withdrawn and which also mapped out how I intended to proceed as a consequence, although I had not set out the time table of years which the task was likely to take and where from its outset I had not contemplated resolution or satisfactory outcome, but where I concluded it was in the public interest and a duty to my former care mother and aunt to do all that was possible within the system. Thus although there are similarities in the approach to a task and to life between me and My Wainwright there are significant differences. My lasting memory of is talking to Eric Robson about his wish to for his ashes to be taken to his favourite Fell something he had written about and where he had already learnt that other Fell walkers had also made it their mission, and indeed one had already done so. He loved love but did not fear death because he felt he would en in the company of friends. My mother had such faith. I wish I had.

During the day I watched two very different programmes which had engaged my attention. The first was an Antiques programme Flog It where the public had brought their items to Newcastle and then subsequently sold at Bolden. Instead of the usual visit to some country house or examination of a special antique, there was an interesting film about the Newcastle Quayside in the 1950's and the efforts to protect from a Council proposal to demolish the area and replace with modern buildings. I wish to watch again and broke off writing to download while I continued writing.

The other programme was the first round of the final of this year's Best of British Cooking in which seven chefs who won the regional finals competed to prepare one or more of four courses for an international gathering to be held at the Gherkin, All seven produced starters none of which I would select if given the choice. The judges agreed that only one was outstanding, a concoction involving a wild pigeon served on a piece of slate, gaining 29 marks out of 30, and where one aspect was healthy eating so there was no dairy content, sugar or artificial substances. The programme made me hungry so I went to my lamb stir fry with a red sweet pepper, a whole onion and a courgette with barbecued flavoured noodles masked by a chill sauce and followed by my first strawberries of the year with vanilla ice cream.

Early on in the day I decided would go for some additional compost to plant the surplus plants from the three for two trays from B and Q. However I wanted to complete correspondence which included an application to rejoin the Tyneside Cinema as a Friend. I therefore did not set off in the bright sunshine until midday and hungry took the car to Asda where I bought a three halves of prawn sandwich and then eat on the way to Wilkinson's having checked that the supermarket did not have any suitable containers. I was not disappointed at Wilkinson's for although the item was plastic it was the right size of oblong in stylish black. I debate if I would need more than one, and similarly when I resisted a two packs for £5 compost offer at the supermarket when I found I needed this later afternoon. I also bought the salad items required, some milk and bread and a frozen food offer of two ready made dishes of pasta with black olives for £2.50 and then 12 packs of 100 plastic pockets at 22 pence less than my office material supplier and of superior quality. On the way back from Wilkinson I had bought two good size cartons of strawberries and a large packet of grapes for under £2, I had also called in at the computer shop to ask about cables to connect the computer to the TV so I can watch the recorded on line programmes missed when they are first shown.

On return I quickly discovered that I should have doubled up the plant containers and then the compost which resulted in making two trips late afternoon. I decided to leave the clearing up until the morning. I will also left until tomorrow writing about this evening's first part of Waking the Dead, except to say that I suspect Boyd's son Like is not dead, as he ahd not been to the mortuary to collect and therefore identify the body. The programme distressed me greatly because of aspects of the main subject of the film and it was only by staying up and writing although tired that I worked through the pain and the sadness of the fictionalised experiences of others what I knew was a reality to many.

1867 Portillo's third journey. the 39 Steps and NCIS

The third series of Michael Portillo Train Travels commences at Swindon and continued through Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Yesterday in describing the second journey to Scotland I mentioned the 39 Steps in relation to the Firth of Forth Railway bridge and this afternoon as I commenced to write, first checking TV programmes for the day, I found that the 1959 Kenneth Moore version was commencing at the that very moment. I had time to check the post during the first advert break and eureka I was notified that my lawyers had been successful and obtained reimbursement of the insurance policy excess thus protecting my no claims bonus and premiums for the renewal later in the year. It was a great relief as the issue was not clear cut owing to my inability to be precise about what happened. This is a cause for celebration.

I have visited Swindon during visits to Calne in search of family heritage, staying at Travel Lodges on the M4 and going into the outskirts of the town to the Cineworld Cinema, the supermarket and for a couple of meals. Family ancestors did work for the railway after it was established in Swindon and also in Wales. The Railway that created work and provided accommodation for large numbers of families has significantly contracted but I believe that railway carriages continue to be constructed in the town.

I have not visited Bath the great Georgian town and where despite the medicinal qualities of the hot spa baths being disproved they have reopened to great success providing warm bathing throughout the year and with panoramic views over the city. It is now on my list for things to do before I die, combined with a visit to the cricket ground at Bristol.

I have stayed at Bristol, yes it was for a conference, at an excellent small hotel at a time when the town was in the process of reinventing itself. Bristol became a major port to the USA and Australia and Brunel’s Trains from Paddington going to the dockside. His SS Great Britain is now on show there. The steam powered ship was originally designed as a luxury first and second class vessel to the USA with only 240 passengers but did not pay was therefore adapted, trebling the number to Australia where use was also made of wind power from the six masts. After completing and publishing research on the history of my maternal family which lived in Calne since the 15th century I was contacted by descendents of a distant first cousin whose family went to Australia on the first voyage of the SS Great Britain.

I also have travelled from Oxford to Bristol on the same line when as a Child Care officer I had to collect two teenage runaways who had absconded from a remand home and had got as far as Cornwall before being apprehended by the police. The journey back proved to me the most challenging albeit entertaining of my professional social work experience as they regaled passengers with the intimate details of their recent experiences. Fortunately I was accompanied by a mature female companion who was of assistance when they attempted to run off again with two squadies on the train.

The second stretch of this journey is between Yatton and Weston Super Mare. I had no knowledge of Yatton before the programme. The area is famed for the growing of strawberries.

I first visited the South West in my Childhood when the family came to Ifracombe in North Devon and we had a coach trip to Cheddar Gorge which Michael visits, and where we explored the great cave. I have seen large and better lit caves in Gibraltar and France since but in the late 1940‘s and 1950‘s I found the cave and the gorge amazing. Cheddar is more well known for its cheese and what I did not know is that authentic Cheddar is matured in one of the caves.

I have not been to Weston Super Mare and after watching the programme I am not inclined to plan to do so.

Michael commenced his next stretch at Torquay. I had a family holiday at Paignton in my childhood which is the next resort with sands whereas Torquay is more of a fashionable harbour although in fact as Portillo records 20000 people passed through the railway station on one day in its heyday as a resort rivalling the South of France. The climate is milder than elsewhere and is in a sheltered position on the West Coast with Palm Trees and Mediterranean flowers but the temperatures are not significantly different and in fact only a few degrees above the average elsewhere. Decades later I was to holiday at Brixham Harbour and to return to Torquay and Paignton. During of these holidays I travelled on the steam railway to Dartmouth which Michael undertook during this episode. The river Dart is beautiful and the train journey is one of the most picturesque in the UK. Dartmouth is also where ten British Naval College for officers is located. It is also where the TV series the Onedin Line was filmed, plus Falmouth and Exeter.

Michael continued to Totness a town which is trying to become carbon neutral and an example environmentally, introducing rickshaw taxi’s, encouraging the use of local produce and a currency for exchange in the locality. I have no recollection of visiting the town.

I cannot remember where it was in Devon that my car broke down on the way to a family holiday at Mousehole, Cornwall, pronounced Mousal, I think. The gearbox went and I was to get to the car park where amazingly there was a coach going to Penzance and a taxi ride from our destination. I was able to contact the AA and left the keys so that the car could be collected and taken to a garage. I then travelled back by train to collect the car when the work was completed.

I was also unfamiliar with the third segment from Bugle to Megavissey. Bugle is a station in mid Cornwall from where. Close to St Austell, Michael visited the largest open Clay mine still in operation and using the latest equipment it produces an enormous output compared with that when the manufacture of China was in its heyday. The reason for the increase has been the use of clay to produce white paper and in other processes.

Michael the visited the Lost gardens of Heligan close to Megavissey and created by the Tremayne family in the 18th family, then fell into disuse and restored in the 1990’s about which there were several TV shows. The gardens have a collection of ancient large rhododendrons and camellias, lakes various flower gardens and sub tropical tree ferns attracting several hundred thousand visitors a year. The final subject was the fishing for pilchards which became and essential fish food during the Second World War. As a consequence the fish became unpopular and have been rebranded as sardines and which have become just as popular.

The last segment commences at the sand dunes of Perran and a lost church. I have stayed at Hayle close to St Ives where the holiday homes are among the dunes on stilts, similar to a place in the South of France. The first holiday had been a Mousehole on the south facing coast, an attractive fishing village of colourful cottages. I still remember a glorious meal at a French restaurant at St Ives with its Artists colony and where I acquired one of the famous oblong vases from the Troika pottery shop. I was attracted to most of the items on display but funds were limited otherwise I would have started a collection which would have been worth thousands to day as reselling prices have risen following the closure of the pottery. During the holiday visits were made to Newquay where I believe on a rain swept summer’s day the film Mary Poppins was seen and to Falmouth with its harbour as well as Land’s End, and the open air Minack Theatre on a rocky headland which has been performing plays throughout the summer for 75 years

In the programme Michael visited the last remaining tin mine which because of changes in production requirements is anticipating a demand for increased production because of the change in tin content for solder and other uses. His final visit on this journey was to the beautiful Helford river where oyster farming has been developing again since the last outbreak of disease decimated those farmed around the UK. In the programme the owner of a farm argued that most of the concern about eating oysters’ is unjustified. The best way to eat them is raw and alive from the opened half shell with lemon juice or perhaps chopped shallots, mixed peppercorn and white wine. They can also be smoked, baked, stewed, fried, boiled, roasted or pickled according to taste, but they must also have been alive at the time of preparation. There is health value but as an aphrodisiac questionable.

I have written about the 1939 Hitchcock film, the 39 Steps with Robert Donat, the 1979 production with Robert Powell and the latest version in 2008. Less familiar to me was the 1959 version with pipe smoking Kenneth Moore who first encounters the doomed spy catcher in a London Park. The film includes the scene where he escapes from the police on the Firth of Forth Railway Bridge. He gets a lift from Sid James as a lorry driver who has done his time and recognises Hannay, putting him in the caring hands of Brenda De Banzie who looked after him in every sense as he looked after her with husband’s permission when he too needed to lie low from the coppers. In this instance because of the time factor Hannay disguises himself among a cycling group to get past the police check point.

I was delighted that this film includes the Falls of Dochart at the western end of Loch Tay near Killin with Kenmore village at the other end, and which is over looked by Ben Lawers, a 4000 ft mountain which I have climbed. I have spent two summer holidays in accommodation along the Tay valley first in an isolated hillside cottage and then in a second cottage on the same estate. It was only during the second trip that the purchase of a local Sunday revealed why the cottages had become holiday lets. This involved a crime of passion during the second world war involving both dwellings, a revelation I withheld from everyone else until the end of the holiday.

In the film the political gathering is replaced by a residential school for girls, but all the other features remain true to the original John Buchan novel.

I have also been following N.C.I.S given the haphazard way the episodes are being shown. The Naval intelligence and Investigation homeland unit reached an interesting phase with confirmation that the father of the director was still alive after she had buried him over a decade beforehand. The man who killed her father, an international arms dealer who she has attempted to find ever since also reappears as the father of Tony’s new girlfriend who works at a local hospital. This has been a deep undercover operation but where the father arrives to take him and his daughter for breakfast and announces that he knows who the young man really is. Tony then appears to have been blown up in his car which only later they learn was being driven by the father’s assistant. This was not in fact an attempt to kill Tony but the daughter. The splendid Abbie works out that the bomb is the same as those used to murder arms dealers around the world. Someone is getting rid of their competitors. The father appears to have escaped but is seen floating in the river with a bullet in his head. The daughter is so shocked to learn the truth about Tony that he breaks off the relationship. Understanding what has happened her father arranges for her to go into hiding before his assassination takes places. Tony realises that he had fallen in love although it is evident that ‘Davied’ who resisted all his earlier advances has fallen for him since their near death experience together.

The former Attorney General gives evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry on Wednesday and the former Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday. The following week it is the turn of Clare Short.

1866 Brave New World of Shanghai and Portillo's Journeys

Michael Portillo and Piers Morgan are two very different media personalities. I like Michael who impresses with what he says and retains vulnerability and the sadness of regret at what might have been. Piers Morgan has never been my cup of tea but some of his recent travel programmes have been enlightening. On Saturday night I watched half a dozen episodes of Michael’s programmes in which he followed the advice of Bradshaw’s Victorian railway travel guide, following four routes of interest, staying at the hotels or Inns mentioned and making brief visits to places of interest along the way, although never being too far away from his love of railways, trains and steam engines in particular. His regards his finest political contribution persuading Margaret Thatcher to save the Settle to Carlisle railway line. That is sad, for a politician.

According to Wikipedia Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister. Portillo who was first elected to the House of Commons in a by-election in 1984; a strong admirer of Margaret Thatcher and a Eurosceptic, Portillo served as a junior minister under both Thatcher and John Major, before entering the cabinet in 1992. Seen as a likely challenger to Major during the 1995 Conservative leadership election, Portillo ultimately stayed loyal. As Defence Secretary, Portillo pressed for a purist Thatcherite course of "clear blue water" separating the policies of the Conservatives from Labour.

Portillo unexpectedly lost his Enfield Southgate seat at the 1997 General Election; political commentators widely believe that he would have been elected Conservative leader had he retained it. Subsequent to the loss, Portillo embarked on both a broader career in the media, and a revision of his previous beliefs, arguing for a more socially liberal and tolerant Conservative Party. Returning to the Commons in a 1999 by-election, Portillo rejoined the front bench as Shadow Chancellor, however his relationship with Conservative Leader William Hague was strained. Standing for the leadership of the party in 2001, Portillo came a narrow third place behind Iain Duncan Smith and Kenneth Clarke. Disaffected with politics, Portillo retired from the Commons at the 2005 general election, since which he has pursued his media interests, presenting a wide range of television and radio programmes.”

That is the semi official presentation of someone who nearly became leader of the Conservative Party and British Prime Minister and therefore a figured standing out in British history. I can only speculate why someone who became the golden boy of the right wing of Conservative Party along with John Redwood decided to give up professional politics at the comparatively young age of his late 40’s.

I believe his surname may only have influenced some voters against him, including some members of the traditional little England Conservative Party. Michael’s father came to the UK as a Spanish Republican refugee. He married into a middle class Scottish family which from one of the programmes appears to have had as much influence if not more influence on his outlook than his Spanish background which he was only able to fully discover first hand after the death of General Franco and the establishment of democracy.

What appears to have damaged him within the Conservative Party was the intervention of Norman Tebbit at the time of the 2001 leadership election when following disclosure of his bi sexual background, Lord Tebbit accused him of not being as frank as he could have been. A factor may have been that Michael had moved away from several of his former right wing positions into the centre, paving the way for David Cameron, to follow the approach of Tony Blair and concentrate on the middle ground even if this resulted in alienating some of the traditional core vote within the Party. In the event it was his decision to leave Westminster, which he announced in 2003, my traumatic year of all traumatic years, turning down the offer of a Ministerial post in the Michael Howard Shadow Cabinet. Maybe he foresaw the Conservatives would not win the next General Elections and he has expressed doubts about the ability of the Party to win an overall majority at the next although this was prior to the backlash over Iraq and Members Expenses Scandal and the near collapse of capitalism, together with other government failures which changed the political climate. I usually find myself in agreement with the assessment he makes with Diane Abbot on the Thursday night political review held when Parliament is Sitting. His popularity and public recognition has changed for the better since he commenced a series of TV programmes which he fronts with old fashioned gentlemanly charm and unaffected curiosity.

I am unable to immediately follow the four train journey’s in their original curiosity because not all are available on the BBC iplayer. It is also note worthy that of the three series presently available there is only one journey among my top four. This is the Settle to Carlisle line over the Ribblehead viaduct. Those not included in his travels are the journey from Fort William to Mallaig for the Island of Sky Ferry, the journey from Fort William to Glasgow across the Rannoch Moor, both in Scotland and the Little railway from Ffestiniog to Porthmadog in South Wales.

Since the Settle to Carlisle line was reprieved it has gone from strength to strength with three quarters of a million passengers a year from the 300000 originally required and with a constant movement of goods trains 24 hours a day. It has brought new life to the many small communities along route associated with the isolated stations. There are a number of charter steam trains which operate along the line in summer and where bookings are essential and the full list of steam train trips in the British Isle is available online. Trains on the Settle Carlisle route pass over 21 viaducts with the most beautiful that at Ribblehead 440 yards long 104 ft high and 24 arches. That at Smardale is 131 ft high but is half the length.

I have had the good fortune to admire a steam train passing overhead having stopped the car on the way between Durham and the Lakes just in time. This prompted me to find out the when and wherefore of a future steam train journey which involved driving to Settle to catch a train which came from Leeds, and returning by the standard and less expensive two coach train.

His travels on this route had commenced at Preston which I did visit by train although I cannot remember the route, but may have a note somewhere and I stayed overnight prior to being interviewed for the post of Director of Social Services, Lancashire. The post went to former colleague at Cheshire County Council who had become a Director in the Manchester conurbation. Michael then visited Blackpool where I have also stayed overnight in a hotel, having been invited to speak at a meeting on mental at a Labour Party annual conference and where I then shared a platform with Dr David Owen, then Foreign Secretary, but also a former Minister of Health, the then present Minister of Health David Ennals, whose brother was Secretary of Ruskin College, and the great Barbara Castle, who demonstrated just how to address a Labour Party audience. I had prepared the right speech for the wrong occasion.

The next section was Windermere to Kendall and covered some of my favourite areas in the Lake District, I have stayed a week in a cottage close to Lake Windermere as well as doing a spontaneous over night bed and breakfast stop and a weekend stay at a Hotel a little away along the lakeside outside the town. I have not travelled on the particular line but have driven to Haverthwaite where there is a one station stop to Lakeside at Windermere. An extension of this line in the opposite direction is presently proposed.

Windermere, the town, is a little way away from the Lake on a hill and has a population of 7500 with Bowness being the lakeside community of close to 4000 with its own town centre and impossible to park so a walk down hill is advisable, with the walk back after a day out something of a challenge. Both towns owe their existence to the railway and tourism, with an estimated 10 million visitors to the Lake a year which means it is swamped with cars and boats of all kinds moored at every possible area. However the road on the west bank is minor and there has been no development which makes a good car ride but without places to stop except at approved sites. The best way to see the lake is by a steamer trip from Bowness. The lake is 18 km 11 miles in length and up to 1.5 km or a mile wide. There are islands including the famous location for Swallows and Amazons. Although the week’s stay was at Easter, there was snow!

Michael also took a trip to Grasmere where Wordsworth and is sister are buried. I have visited Dove Cottage, their former home in which he wrote Daffodils and many of his famous poems -I wondered lonely as a cloud; Imitations Immortality; Ode to Duty and My Heart Leaps up.

In the programme Portillo also paid a visit to Kendal and asked after a Kendall Mint Cake which he alleges he did not know is not a traditional form of cake and but a slab of mint sweet covered in chocolate. Pull the other one. Kendall is a market town on the way to the Southern Lakeland via County Durham. It is possible to visit the lakes this way in a day but the journey is slow and tiring.

Michael then took the Journey from Carlisle through to Glasgow via Gretna Green. I have stayed a long weekend at a Hotel in Carlisle with an indoor Swimming pool.. Carlisle is a days trip from Newcastle with a good road passing close to the Northumberland town of Hexham as well as a train service. It is possible to visit the Northern lakes via this route although the more direct way is over the mountainous hills to Alston, Penrith and Keswick. More on this another day.

Carlisle was a rugged stone built community on the Borders between England and Scotland or Scotland England depending on viewpoint, and until the 20th century a lawless place full of feuding bandit families who gave their allegiance as did Carlisle to which ever army occupied the town.

Michael visited Gretna Green, a curious border town which has became world wide famous because it was possible for English young men and women to marry when sixteen of years of age without parental permission and where the service was performed at the village Blacksmiths. All that couples had to do was to comply with the residency qualification of three weeks which meant the growth of low cost bed and breakfast accommodation, caravans and camping sites. There is also the remains of the biggest ammunitions manufacturing site in the UK where during World War I up to 30000 women were employed. I have stopped for a meal or break at Gretna Green several times on the way to Scottish sea and land lochs holidays on average one every other year for two decades from the mid 1970’s.

Michael mentions Lockerbie where a full aeroplane was blown out of the Sky and also a railway accident involving three colliding trains during World War 1 which also killed several hundred people. By a quirk of fate I had nearly become the Director of Social Work Services for the governing local authority having been invited to apply by the Department of Health when it was discovered that the successful applicant for the post did not posses an appropriate professional qualification. I have been on holiday in the area for a week, where it also snowed and the car had difficult getting in and out of the site of Lodges.

Michael then continued by train to Glasgow, a city where I lived for a month in 1961 and have stayed a few days at a conference since, as well as passing through or around on the way to other parts of Scotland for holidays. Glasgow until recent times was a grim City with much poverty at its centre and on outlying estates. The best description of what it was like in the Gorbals is in the novel No Mean City. Since becoming the city of European Culture there has been considerable expenditure on making the city a place to visit rather than pass through with 4 million visitors a year.

I have made the journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh by train but more often by the motorway link and always crossed the Firth of Forth by car. I have visited Edinburgh, the start of his next stretch, several times but again mostly passing through on the way to holidays in central and east Scotland. The Railway Bridge is iconic and featured in the film the 39 Steps. I have three memorable visits to Edinburgh, with two in I961, when I first went over by car to address the Scottish CND Committee about the forthcoming Direct Action/Committee 100 demonstration at Holy Loch when I had been temporarily employed as a field organiser, and then made the trip by car with a cheque to pay the fines for Pat Arrowsmith and the other marchers who had walked down Princess Street against the instructions of the police, only to find these had been paid by the Scottish Miner‘s Union and the group were being entertained in the boardroom at the union HQ in Fife by the Moffat Brothers where they were all made Honorary Members of the Union. The third occasion was to sit a few rows behind the Queen at the Commonwealth games. Subjects for further comment at another time. Michael continued to Kirkcaldy, the home of his maternal grandparents.

I have missed the first two episodes of his earlier journey from Liverpool to Hull and onto Scarborough on the North Yorkshire Coast.

I commenced with the third stretch from Todmorden in Lancashire a town which I do not know, although I have travelled from Leeds to Liverpool by train when on my way to a training conference for the National Lotteries Charities Board and my car broke down just outside Leeds station. I also travelled from Newcastle to Liverpool for a visit of the Local Authority Forum on Drug Misuse and I believe this was the occasion that I stayed at the Railway Hotel, Michael loves Railway Hotels with the one at Hull having its entry directly from the old main concourse. On his third stage travel Michael went on to Skipton where I spent a week nearby during a Drug Advisory Service visit to the area, going into this quiet West Yorkshire market town surrounded by glorious countryside for meals in the evening.

During this trip Michael took to the skies in a railway helicopter which examines the track, monitoring points and other potential hazard and where he showed the section of railway from Redcar to Whitby which follows a precarious route at the top of tall cliffs. This is now only used a fright line. I have travelled to Whitby by train as well as by car. The train used to be taken from Seaburn Station via Sunderland and onward to Middlesbrough to meet another train which originates in Newcastle via Darlington. The route from there passes through the picturesque Esk Valley arriving at Whitby 90 mins later. One can arrive by lunchtime on the cheap day returns but with trains back limited it is best to stay on until seven otherwise in term time the earlier train at 4 is filled by school children who are put on the train by teachers but are then left free to create mayhem until collected by parents and local transport services from the many stations along the route. It is also possible to continue to Scarborough by a separate service.

On his trip Michael made a stop at Bolton Abbey which I have visited by car. The Picturesque ruins of the former Abbey are located on the banks of the River Wharfe in the grounds of an estate of the Duke of Devonshire and now owned by the Chatsworth settlement Trustees. He ended this stretch at York one of the great cities of the UK, much visited, especially by travellers from the United States. I have frequently visited York since moving to the North East, at least once a year although recently it has been passed through on the way to London by coach. The city became important as a Roman settlement and at one time briefly controlled the Roman Empire. The brilliance of Roman building is shown in the straightness of the city walls. The continuation of the walls and narrow winding streets, the Shambles does mean horrendous bottlenecks all the time and even travelling around the outskirts to Beverley and Hull can be a pain adding half an or more to the journey. Therefore the mainline train journey from Newcastle is preferable, especially on a cheap day return. The city is fames for its glorious Minster as well as the Shambles and its range of restaurants. The centre is also prone to flooding! However the city is also a Mecca for those who love trains with the National Railway Museum. I have stayed at the Railway Hotel here, also at a conference, also at the Midland Manchester for the same reason.

Michael then travelled the penultimate leg of this journey visiting the seaside town and former fishing town of Bridlington which I have only visited once on a day trip. It has a large and wide Sandy beach and one of the best looking station forecourts in the UK. He then continued to Hull which I have visited by train from Newcastle in the early 1970’s, from Beverley, from Leeds and York and from London as well as several visits by car. The city has changed beyond recognition, especially after the creation of M 62 motorway from Liverpool via Manchester, the development of higher education with two universities, and radical changes to the docks which have been modernised into a developing container port. The Fishing industry collapsed all along the Yorkshire coast after the cod wars although is being revised as Red Mullet and Bass and other fish migrate further north from the warmer Mediterranean waters.

The final stretch is from Filey to Scarborough. I do not think I have been to Filey made known for the Butlin’s Holiday camp and nearby Flamborough Head which has several hundred thousands birds nesting throughout the season.

I have stayed a few days holiday at Scarborough as well as for a conference and several long day trips. I missed one opportunity to attend the annual Cricket festival at which Yorkshire has played Durham some years and I once turned down an invitation to be short listed as the Chief Executive. Scarborough became as fashionable as Torquay, the Riviera of the North vis-à-vis that of the south west. Scarborough is very hilly and the use of a cable lift is merited to get from the sea front up to the town centre. I had planned to stay at the Grand Hotel which has 365 rooms all different, 12 floors and four corners, but so far have not made it. I once attended an evening variety show and then travelled over the moors home arriving in the early hours. I also got up at dawn and travelled back to the office after an overnight stay in one of the most invigorating car journeys of my life. The sun shone and it was glorious.
with the intimate details of their exploits.

As I said Piers Morgan has seemed to me too clever and brash by more than a half. He has a wannabe high life style, something which appears to come more naturally to Michael Portillo. His full name is Piers Stefan O’Meara (Pughe-Morgan).

He was born in 1965 the youngest of four children to the artist Gabrielle O’Meara whose husband Vincent died when Piers was only one year of age. His mother subsequently married Glynne Pughe-Morgan. Piers started in journalism in South London but his style attracted interest from Fleet Street and was recruited to the Sun newspaper group and became the youngest Editor of the scandal Sunday, the News of the World at the age of 28, the youngest appointed editor for several decades. He then became the editor of the Daily Mirror.

All appeared to be going to well until he became involved in an Insider share dealing scandal from which he was cleared but two financial journalists on the paper were sacked. As the circulation of all the major popular dailies fell he became the subject of an elaborate hoax in which photographs appeared to show British Army soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners leading to his being sacked. He then became involved in several newspaper publishing ventures including a weekly newspaper for children.

It was only in 2006 that Piers re-established himself as a major media figure when joining the American show America’s Got Talent said to have been chosen by Simon Cowell to replace himself when he launched he British version. In 2008 Piers joined the Britain’s Got Talent team. Last year he commenced three programmes on the world’s high maintenance high lifers visiting Dubai, Monte Carlo and Hollywood and this year has seen him in Las Vegas, Marbella and Shanghai.
It is the programme on Shanghai which has interested me most as it brought me up to date with what has become the greatest and most powerful city conurbation in the world and the shop window for the capitalist dictatorship of the People’s Republic of China Empire. It will hold a business and commercial international exhibition this year which will outclass the holding of the Olympic games. The city is said to be the home of over ten thousand multi millionaires, many of them female as interviewed by Piers Morgan in the programme. The city has a skyline to rival New York and Dubai including the tallest hotel. Because the country is a one party dictatorship there are no problems about planning permissions, or moving populations to make way for developments or to create new cities and towns. The city state has a population approaching 20 million and is richer than the UK economy and has been growing exponentially in contrast to the UK decline. It is the busiest cargo port in the world, compare that to the disappearance of London as a port and the contrasts become even more evident.

I am enjoying the Portillo journey’s full of nostalgia for me and representing the attempt by communities to overcome the loss of an empire and the consequential trading power, control of the high seas and financial capital. I do not enjoy the Piers Morgan programmes although they are an accurate picture of our Brave New Commercial and Cultural World. I fear what I see, not for me, but for the future of the United Kingdom and its people.