Spiffing
Glue (7th January 2004)
Music fans can check out a huge range of bands at ‘Gluefest’,
a two-day festival being held at the Railway Inn, St Paul’s
Hill, Winchester, on Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th of January
2004 (2pm till close both days).
The festival intends to present as many different and unique-sounding
bands from Winchester and the surrounding area (along with outfits
from as far afield as Scotland and Wales) in one place at one time.
"Hopefully, people will come to support one or two bands that
they have previously seen, and end up catching some sorts of music
that they wouldn’t usually either get a chance to, or bother
to watch," said Glufest promoter, Izaak Bullen.
The bill for the event is split into two sections, firstly ‘Electronica’,
which encompasses everything from Drum ‘n’ Bass to 80s-styled
synth-pop. The second section is ‘Rock and/or Roll’ which
covers all points between grungy power-pop and atmospheric post-rock.
The Gluefest bill includes: Edinburgh’s Stick Finlays, a John
Peel-approved three-piece sounding like Nirvana with more imagination.
From Cardiff, Mountain Men Anonymous regular visitors to Winchester,
MMA make sometimes tender, sometimes terrifying, landslide-like
soundscapes.
From Oxford, Trademark are a science-fixated electro-pop trio with
songs that Duran Duran would have sold their mothers for. ‘Faetal’
from Southampton take the best parts of industrial metal and mix
them with an out and out pop sensibility. Benny Woo and rude_NHS
play techno-styled bastard-pop sounds, created from electronic glitches,
occasional guitar and mutated synthesisers.
Other bands from both days include Mister Kite a soon-to-be-noticed
indie five-piece from Salisbury, specialising in the same sort of
hooks and tunes that made The Strokes and BRMC household names.
Kung Phu Finga Pik and the Love Stik break all kinds of moulds with
a unique blend of folk, funk and hip-hop. Judas Kisses and Mines
of Solomon contain ex-members of sadly defunct local outfits Geisha
and Drowning by Numbers. Both bands create poetic and intricate
sounds along the lines of Canadian post-rock collective Godspeed,YouBlackEmperor!
with a little Joy Division and Sonic Youth thrown in for good measure.
Dais Corporation (Mogwai in heated discussion with Aphex Twin),
Piano (Glassjaw being ghostwritten by John Coltrane), Freezerburn
(Sylvia Plath reading bedtime stories to the Pixies), Steve The
Model (The spark for the electro-britpop-punk-disco revolution),
Daughters Courageous (Coldplay if they could rock like the Foo Fighters)
and Tom Farley (some of the most vital and imaginative drum ‘n’
bass stylings you will hear) round off a line-up that will kick
off 2004 brilliantly.
Tickets are available from the Railway Inn, members of any of the
bands featured and Hayward Guitars, Stockbridge road. They are priced
at £9 for the whole weekend and £5.50 per day. Doors
open at 2pm each day.
Top of page
Get Your Kegs Off (7th
January 2004)
Taking their lead from the film Calendar Girls, staff at the Slug
and Lettuce have produced a calendar. They are selling the work
to raise money for their chosen charity, the Magpie Cancer Research
Campaign. By Max Jones.
The staff all donated their modelling, photography and artistic
skills for nothing. They were helped by one of the locals in the
pub, Fiona Pike. Fiona is a graphic designer, so her skills came
in handy. I would just like to point out that through my work with
The Observer, I am a dab hand at photography, so if the girls need
any help next year I am available!
Michelob Ultra, the beer, gave some money towards production costs
as well. Louise Akers, who is bar manager at the Slug and lettuce,
said "we have had great fun putting this calender together,
and we are very grateful to those who have helped us. We have had
a fantastic response from our customers, and, if you haven’t
already, we hope you will come and support us in raising funds for
this very worthy charity."
The calendar is on sale at the bar at the moment.
Top of page
Homage To Catalonia (and
RyanAir) (7th January 2004)
Annoying things that happen No. 367: You’re meeting friends
for a quiet drink when somebody says loudly "I’m flying
to Berlin next weekend." How wonderful you think, that must
have cost an arm and a leg. "Actually", the voice says,
"the flight was only 17p".
How did they do that? I hear about these cheap flight all the time
but I can never find them. Or at least I couldn’t. These days
it’s all changed. These days I am that person in the pub. The
one you all hate.
My sudden change of fortune was based on nothing but faith. The
faith that these flights did exist and if you got them when they
were advertised then they were yours. It also helps if you travel
from an airport that most people forget about, and couple that with
an airline that are the epitome of ‘no frills’. Ladies
and Gentlemen, I give you Bournemouth and RyanAir.
Last month, in the space of ten days, I went to both Spain and Ireland.
And my flights were 1p each way plus tax. Bringing the whole thing
in at a whopping £15 return for each destination. You can’t
get from Winchester to Waterloo for that. Unless you have a travel
card. And don’t mind arriving cold, late and dirty.
So, Bournemouth Airport I hear you cry? Is it anywhere near Bournemouth?
Well, yes and no. We drove down the first time and had no problems
finding the place. The check-in desk is right in front of the main
entrance so when you get there it’s very easy to deal with.
No walking around for hours trying to find the right counter, just
in the door, join the queue and away you go.
If you find yourself getting there by public transport, Christchurch
is, in fact, the nearest station. From there it’s about a tenner
in a cab.
RyanAir don’t allocate seat numbers. So it’s first come
first served, based on the passenger number you’re given at
check-in. We were there so early that my number was 001. Not many
in front of me, I can tell you.
The rest of the airport is just as airports should be: it’s
small, clean, easy to navigate and comes complete with a Bureau
de Change, a WH Smiths and plenty of places to buy food, drink and
cheap aftershave.
We were flying to Girona. A small town in Spain which (on RyanAir’s
website) exists in brackets after the word ‘Barcelona’.
After I bought our tickets I became slightly worried about our destination.
Visions of a grim, industrial, Catalonian backwater loomed large,
but my subsequent research turned up quite the opposite. About 60
miles from Barcelona, Girona is a charming Medieval city, cut in
half by the river Onyar.
The flight itself was a piece of cake. Unless, like me, you hate
flying, but we won’t go into that now. Sure, you don’t
get any free food or drinks with RyanAir but who cares? You’re
only in the air for an hour an a half and everything else is tip
top standard. The cabin crew are friendly and the pilot knows how
to drive a Boeing 737. What more do you want for £15?
At Girona there was a long queue for the Barcelona Bus, we had already
made the decision to go against the grain and stay in Girona itself,
deciding on a more relaxed few days than Barca would probably allow.
The taxi into town was about €25, which didn’t seem bad
as it was quite a distance and there were six of us to split the
cost. The hotel we had booked was the Hotel Penninsular, right by
the river. Now, I love hotels. Don’t ask me why, I just do.
It must be the Howard Hughes in me. And this hotel was great. For
what we got it was a bargain to rival the flights, €55 a night
(this is sensible Europe remember, so that’s for the room and
not per person) for which you got a huge bed, remote controlled
blinds, a big old bathroom and sattelite TV that showed The Simpsons
in German. Hmmmm, Teutonic...
Anyway, Girona. A great place - what can I say? We spent three nights
there and it was superb. The old part of town is a maze of streets
and alleys, littered with bars, restaurants, religious iconography
and bridal shops. There’s also a large art gallery, a museum
of cinema and a huge cathedral. The new part of town seemed fine,
too. All the shops you could ever want and plenty of places to sit
down and enjoy a cafe con leche. Or a cafe amb lett as they say
in Catalan.
Spain isn’t renowned for its vegetarian options, so full marks
to La Polenta, a tiny but excellent restaurant in the old part of
town that deals only in food of the ‘sin carne’ variety.
We went there Saturday night and it was very good, I had a bean
burger which was most interesting, unlike any bean burger before
or since. Tasty.
The Girona Jazz Club is also an absolute must, a very cool hang-out
with an acoustic trio revisiting old Pat Metheny tunes. A couple
of quid to get in, Amaretto’s the size of small buckets and
crushed velvet sofas to sink into. the perfect late night bar.
On the Sunday we caught the train down to Barcelona and spent a
few hours looking at Gaudi’s unfinished Cathedral and saying
things like "which is the front end?" It’s impressive
enough, and when it gets finished it should be great. From the little
we saw, Barcelona itself is a bit like San Francisco, only without
Alcatraz. And Alcatraz is by far my favourite bit of San Francisco.
We jumped on a train and went back to Girona for one last meal.
Hidden away near the Jazz Club we found a Morroccan restaurant which
turned out to serve the Food of the Weekend. We had these sardines
which were just stunning, and the Beef tagine was a treat. A few
hours later and we were stuffed, sitting in the Celtic Ale House,
drinking Red Stripe and talking to an ocupational therapist from
London. It was a strange end to our visit but it seemed somehow
appropriate. For the life of me, I can’t remember why, but
at the time it did.
The next day it rained. We did breakfast, ordered a cab, got on
a plane, drove in a car and were at work by midday. And you should
all do the same. Not the going back to work thing but the long weekend
in Girona. All in all it was less money than a weekend in London
and much more pleasant. Also, why go through the grief of getting
to Barcelona when you can just stay where you land? Girona is a
great place and should be treated as a destination in itself rather
than just a launch pad for more famous places. Book that flight
now!
www.ryanair.com
www.flybournemouth.com
By Richard Williams
Top of page
Oaten Beams as Barley Grows
(7th January 2004)
A Hampshire businessman is celebrating a victory for common sense
after EU bureaucrats threatened to wreck his historic livelihood.
Tony Pain, a barley producer based in Sutton Scotney, near Winchester,
was taken by surprise when European legislation nearly killed off
his industry.
His company, Green Ways, has produced barley straw, a pond lining
which kills off algae, for almost ten years. They were shocked in
September when they discovered its production was outlawed.
Mr Pain said; "This was a very real threat. We had been building
up the business for the past ten years and had 50 per cent of our
business in this country and 50 per cent in the US. We could have
lost half our business just like that.
Legally, any active ingredients in products (such as barley straw)
must be clearly identified.and although it’s been used for
around 8000 years, no-one really knows what the chemical reaction
between Barley straw and pond algae is.
Mr Pain contacted his MP, Mark Oaten, and local MEPs. After a lot
of battling they successfully argued that barley straw is safe and
natural. This saved Mr Pain the £185,000 fee to prove its
safety.
Mr Pain said: "The EU realised it was craziness and they found
a flexibility to let us carry on," Barley straw has been used
for hundreds of years in Winchester after an early bishop first
created the technology in his own pond to kill unwanted algae.
Mr Oaten said: " By demonstrating that we had some ‘get
up and go’, a company has been saved from almost certain closure.
It is great news for Winchester. This successful business can continue
as it always has - producing a useful and environmentally friendly
product which is in huge demand throughout Europe."
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Water Laugh (14th January
2004)
Winchester adventurer, John Pilkington has just returned from a
trip to the source of the Mekong river. He did the trip in two legs,
and travelled through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Burma.
Then it was into China, and over to Tibet, where he went to two
possible sources of the river. These are widely accepted as being
the most likely true sources, and when John mapped both of them,
he became the first British person to do so.
John travelled in a variety of ways, trekking, hitch hiking, and
by boat. At the end he was on horseback, and accompanied by two
Tibetan guides. These guys sound fantastic. One of them was called
Bussrr, and was a veteran of both the Chinese civil war and the
war between China and Tibet. "Bussrr was great," said
John. "Every time I looked over he was sipping away from a
bottle of the local moonshine, and he was really friendly and nice."
John was made very welcome by all of the people he met. He is convinced
that being British had a lot to do with this. "Being British
has a two fold advantage," he explained. "People want
to learn the language, so they are keen to speak to you. Also, if
you are British it means you are not American!"
Unfortunately the local animals were not quite so cheery. John got
very badly bitten by a Tibetan dog. Although he had been vaccinated
against rabies, you are still meant to get a booster injection within
24 hours of being bitten. As they were eight days hard slog away
from the nearest hospital, this was not really an option!
Luckily the area did not have rabies in it, so he was alright, but
he did not know that at the time.
John also spent a lot of time avoiding Chinese checkpoints. The
Chinese invaded Tibet in the 1950s to vast international condemnation.
So, they would have been very suspicious of John’s motives
as a writer. "I spent a lot of time avoiding Chinese checkpoints
as many of the areas I passed through were closed to foreigners.
However, the police I did meet were very friendly, and one platoon
even put me up in their encampment," said John.
Now John is back in blighty, he is giving talks on his latest adventures.
The next one of these talks is going to be at the Daily Express
Adventure Travel and Sports Show at London Olympia from the 16th
to the 18th of January.
John moved to Winchester from Lancashire in the 1970s, when he moved
here to be a town planner for Hampshire County Council. Always a
keen traveller and adventurer, John was lucky enough to have a very
understanding boss who allowed him to go off on three sabbaticals
during his 15 years of working. "I will always be grateful
to Roger Brown, who let me head off, which kick started this career,"
says John.
Each of these three trips inspired a book; one about Nepal, one
about the Silk Road, and one about Patagonia. Having decided to
take the plunge, John has been making a living from his books, lectures,
radio and TV shows for 15 years now. He used to go on huge trips,
but now he tried to keep them down to around four months in duration.
This is so he does not start getting blasé about his adventures.
For a few months everything is new and exciting, and John tries
to keep it that way.
"I always said that I would do this for 15 years," says
John. "I guess I will have to start looking for something else
now," he joked. If I was making a living out of going to great
places and then writing and talking about it, you would not find
me changing career paths!
For more information on John, his adventures and books check out
the website: www.pilk.net.
Top of page
Life and death on the inside
(14th January 2004)
Statistics, published last week, recorded that 2003 saw four suicides
occur in Winchester Prison. Three other prisons in the country experienced
four self-inflicted deaths, while only one prison, Blakehurst in
Worcestershire, had a higher rate, with five suicides.
The figures have been collated by the prison reform charity, Inquest.
Deborah Coles, co director of the charity, said, "These statistics
are the chilling consequence of sending more and more people to
prison. Prisons are increasingly used as a dumping ground for the
most vulnerable people."
In total, 2003 saw 88 suicides within prisons. The year saw the
highest rate ever of suicides among female prisoners. Women accounted
for 14 of the 88 suicides, a rise of 56% upon 2002. One of the saddest
revelations of these figures is that 41% of the 88 took their lives
while on remand. This means that they had not even been convicted
of any crime.
The four people in Winchester have been named as Robert Green, Charles
Dojer Lebon and Daniel Madden, who were found hanged, and Stuart
Warwick, who died of burns.
"We view the results very seriously," said Ivan Augustus,
of Her Majesty’s Prison, Winchester. "Death in custody
is always our top priority."
When asked about how the result compared to previous years, Mr Augustus
said that the issue was more one of constant vigilance. "You
have to be constantly reviewing procedures, you can never relax,"
he said.
Winchester Prison has been very active in supporting the Save The
Custody project, an initiative to reduce the number of deaths in
custody. In particular they have been looking at altering the very
fabric of prison cells, to eliminate physical and structural aids
to suicide.
A ‘Listener Scheme’ is also in operation at Winchester
Prison, whereby prisoners are trained in counselling skills by volunteers
from The Samaritans organisation.
"The staff at Winchester are really very good indeed,"
said Mr Augustus. "We aim to make the prison experience something
which can contribute positively to the individual’s return
to society. It isn’t just about locking people up."
By Sam Leyden
Top of page
Caught In The Net (14th
January 2004)
The dangers of internet chat rooms has struck home in Hampshire
this week when a 14 year old girl from Winchester travelled to Merseyside
to meet an 18 year old with whom she had communicated in cyberspace.
The girl was accompanied on her trip by a 31 year old man from Basingstoke.
He was subsequently arrested for abduction, but later released on
police bail, pending enquiries. The 14 year old gave up her quest
after worried phone calls from her family and the police. She went
and reported in to a police station. She was not harmed in any way.
The police are still carrying out investigations in Merseyside to
track down the 18 year old. It is thought that he may have given
out a false name and address.
Detective Inspector Bob Maker said "we are extremely concerned
that a vulnerable person - a teenage girl - ended up in a strange
part of the country. So many teenagers and children have access
to the internet and chat rooms, we think it is important to remind
teenagers of the dangers of meeting people via this method. Whilst
the majority of conversations taking place are between children
of the same age and are perfectly innocent, there are, unfortunately,
a small number of innapropriate individuals who use these sites
to prey on youngsters."
His advice to anyone who is arranging to meet someone of the internet
is to make sure that you meet them in a public place, and ensure
that your parent or carer knows where you are going.
Top
of page
For
Sale (21st January 2004)
Wolvesey Palace may be sold off as a result of cost-cutting measures
proposed by The Church of England.
The palace could ultimately become used for alternative or commercial
means in order for the Church of England to save money. The costs
of the palaces’ maintenance and upkeep has meant that some
bishops’ residences, such as Norwich, Bristol and others,
have suffered this fate already. A report for the Church Commissioners
claims that the ‘wrong signals’ are given out anyway
if the bishops live in grand, palatial surroundings. Many bishops’
palaces have been sold off in recent years, but a handful of the
top properties, such as Canterbury, York, Durham and Winchester,
still house them.
The process is likely to take some time as each house needs to
be reviewed individually by the Commissioners. It is not certain
what Winchester’s fate may be or when a decision will be
made.
With forty three different houses under review it is unlikely
that Wolvesey Palace’s outcome will be known for some time
yet. On average each house and garden can cost £50,000 a
year to repair, maintain and run. This is money that the Church
cannot readily afford in this day and age.
A spokesman for the Bishop of Winchester said "as a vacancy
comes up in a bishop’s house it will come under review. This
is absolutely consistent with clergy houses in general. There
are no proposals for Wolvesey Palace at the moment."
By Andrew Streat
Top of page
Oaten
shocked by cheap drugs (21st January 2004)
The street prices of illegal drugs have fallen dramatically since
1997, Winchester MP Mark Oaten has discovered.
There has been an across-the-board drop since Labour came to power
in 1997, affecting the prices of ecstasy, cocaine and heroin most
dramatically. Cocaine is now 29 per cent cheaper than in 1997
and a gram of heroin 18 per cent lower. Ecstasy tablets can be
bought for half the price of six years ago.
Mr Oaten said: "The fact that prices have fallen is a good
indication that criminals are finding it easier to bring drugs
into Britain. If the efforts of law enforcement were making any
impact on the streets, we would expect the prices to be rising."
Mr Oaten obtained the figures for the past two years from the
Home Office after they were compiled by the National Crime Intelligence
Service. He added that the government should look afresh at plans
to create a common frontier force comprising customs, police and
the immigration service to "provide a much better shield
against the traffickers".
Top of page
Conservatives help
Nightshelter (21st January 2004)
Winchester Conservatives have stepped in to help out the city's
Nightshelter with a rota of volunteers to cover the next 12 months.
Councillors and party members rallied round after their general
election candidate and city councillor George Hollingbery heard
the charity was desperate for volunteers when he recently met the
manager Jonathan Walker.
The Nightshelter, which is in Jewry Street, offers 18 beds for the
night to the city's homeless.
After hearing of the volunteer problem, George phoned up his colleagues
to ask if they could help.
Twelve people immediately came forward willing to prepare a meal,
go to the Nightshelter to serve the food and help staff. The rota
guarantees one volunteer will help out once a month for 2004.
George said: "The Nightshelter staff do a fantastic job all
year round looking after the city's homeless and we felt it was
right we should do something practical to help after hearing of
the problems getting volunteers.
"We are excited about getting involved and I hope we can all
learn a few things about homelessness in Winchester while raising
awareness of the issue and perhaps getting others to help out too."
Mr Walker said: "I am very pleased that the Conservatives in
Winchester have volunteered to help out in the Winchester Churches
Nightshelter. It is a real encouragement to our work with the homeless
and shows a commitment to the project which is very much appreciated.
Those who have volunteered include: George Hollingbery and his wife
Janette, city councillors Eileen Berry, Fiona Mather, Ken Oxley
and Mike Read, and party chairman Annie Saunders.
Top of page
Queen
of the Sea (21st January 2004)
Lynne O’Gley is one of the team running The Cavendish Centre
where The Observer is based. She had a lovely evening last week,
when she joined the flotilla to see off the Queen Mary 2, the
biggest ship in the world.
Max Jones spoke to her.
The ship sailed off from Southampton on her maiden voyage, and
was apparently an awe inspiring site. Lynne is a member of the
Master Mariners Club. They had chartered the SS Shield Hall, which
is the oldest steam ship still plying its trade. The Shieldhall
escorted the Queen Mary 2 out to Calshot. "It was absolutely
lovely, although a bit cold," said Lynne, "inside our
steamer was all cosy and warm, but I was so excited that I wanted
to be out on the deck all the time." There was a splendid
firework display which further enhanced the event.
Lynne certainly comes from nautical stock. The reason she is a
member of the Master Mariners Club is because both her father
and brother were master mariners themselves.
This means that they were qualified to captain their own ships.
Lynne’s father was Captain of the Queen of Bermuda which
plied its trade between Bermuda and New York. Her brother was
Senior First Mate on the Q.E 2.
Lynne was a purser with Cunard, the shipping giants who run the
Queen Mary 2. She used to love working on the boats, in particular
pulling into New York harbour past the Statue of Liberty. "New
York is great in that you dock actually at the bottom of streets.
The ships were so vast that it would be like they were about to
land on the town itself."
We have been having a debate in the office about the noble pastime
of cruising. Andrew and myself think it would be really dull,
whereas Rebecca thinks it is a lovely idea. Lynne says that, when
she came back once as a passenger, it was "perhaps not as
exciting" as actually working on the ship.
One of the nicest bits about the Trans Atlantic crossing is when
the huge ships pass one another. "Everyone would wave and
shout at each other," said Lynne " it was really quite
awe inspiring."
Lynne was worried that perhaps the hooter on the Queen Mary Two
would not be as grand as her predecessor. Lyne need not have worried,
as Cunard have taken the original steam whistle from the Queen
Mary reconditioned it and installed it on the new one. "Basso
profundo" said Lynne.
Top of page
Duck
Billed (28th January 2004)
Winchester rock venue The Railway Inn is bringing theatre into
the pub by presenting the Nuffield Theatre Company’s production
of Duck Variations by David Mamet on 3rd, 4th and 5th of February
2004.
The Nuffield Theatre Company’s recent production of Duck
variations was described as "a real triumph" by The
Stage and "Beautifully written and performed... perceptive
and very funny" by The Daily Echo.
David Mamet is arguably America’s greatest living writer
for stage (Oleanna, Speed The Plow and Sexual Perversity in Chicago)
and screen (The Untouchables, The Spanish Prisoner, Heist and
Hannibal). Mamet’s work reflects the rhythms of Harold Pinter
and the tough attitudes of his native Chicago.
Duck Variations takes place in a Chicago park, two men sit on
a bench and talk about life, history, love and the universe. It
sounds simple, but this is David Mamet remember, and nothing is
quite as it seems.
Winchester audiences are expected to seize the opportunity to
savour Mamet’s characteristically low-key yet highly charged
verbal confrontations. The show begins at 8.30pm and tickets are
only £5. Telephone 01962 867795 for tickets and information.
Top of page
Bless me, Hardy (28th
January 2004)
St Luke’s Church in Stanmore have discovered that they are
the proud owners of a font in which novelist Thomas Hardy was baptised.
Hardy is one of the best known of English authors. His works include
Jude the Obscure, Tess of the D’Urbevilles and The Mayor of
Casterbridge. Hardy was from Dorset, and that is where the font
first appeared.
In 1948 the church gave the font to the Mission Church in Cromwell
Road, but it then moved to St Luke’s in 1962.
Members of the church are now planning to put a plaque on the font.
They also want to get the relevant paperwork and records so that
they can show the provenance of the white marble font, which was
built between 1730 and 1740.
The font was found after a Radio Solent Appeal. Bill Jesty is a
member of the congregation at St Michael’s Church in Dorset,
where the font was originally from. He launched the appeal after
he had been trying to track down the font for years. However, there
are no plans to take the font back, so visitors to St Luke’s
in Stanmore can enjoy it for years to come.
Top of page
Tree Fellers Wanted (28th
January 2004)
Fair Oak residents are up in arms after a historic Yew Tree was
chopped down without their knowledge.
The tree had stood in the grounds of St Thomas Church for 200 years.
Even so, it only took five days for the plan to lop it down to be
implemented. At a meeting on January 8th the Parish Church Council
decided the tree should go. It was gone by the 13th of that month.
This did not give church goers and local residents a chance to lodge
protests. The reasons given for chopping it down range from the
reasonable to the utterly ludicrous.
There were worries that the children may eat the poisonous berries.
This could be seen as a problem, although it has not happened in
two centuries. There was also a worry that people may have slipped
on the roots. If these concerns were to be taken into account we
amy as well tarmac the whole country! The most ridiculous one, though,
is the worry that paedeophiles could hide behind the tree! This
is because there are youth clubs and the like held in the church
sometimes.
The church was built at the latter end of 1862, and so the tree
must have predated it by quite w few years. It does seem like such
a shame to have got rid of it, particularly when you think that
a replacement would cost up to £1500!
That’s a lot of tree!
Top of page
Bobby Fischer Goes To War
(28th January 2004)
by David Edmonds & John Eidinow (Faber & Faber)
It’s 1972. Nixon is in the White House, Cambodia is being flattened
and East and West stare suspiciously at each other over an iron
curtain.
Somewhere amongst this heightened state of fear and loathing, two
men arrange to meet in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik to play a
game of chess. At first glance this doesn’t seem much of a
story, but this is the World Chess Championship and the two men
involved are from differing sides of the political divide. Bobby
Fischer, a highly strung boy-genius from Brooklyn, and Boris Spassky,
World Champion and hope of the entire Soviet state.
For the first time in history a pawn of Yankee Imperialism was challenging
the recognised order. No American had ever been World Champion,
and the Soviets weren’t about to give it up.
Bobby Fischer Goes to War is the story of many battles. The battle
for the title, the battle of ideologies, the battle between the
individual and the state.
The title also hints at the demons that exist within the talented
American. Fischer waged war on almost everyone he came into contact
with, his never-ending lists of demands, restrictions and complaints
became the stuff of legend. Fischer cared about money, chess and
control in equal measure. Spassky just cared about chess.
Mind games, pschological warfare, poisoned orange juice and LSD
painted chairs containing radio transmitters - an average day at
the office for Fischer and Spassky. Paranoia reigned supreme, the
KGB, the CIA, Henry Kissinger and Yuri Andropov are all involved.
You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Some criticism has been directed towards the authors for the lack
of in-depth chess analysis, but this is not the book for that. This
is a snapshot of a moment in time, a book about sportsmanship in
the biggest sense of the word.
Anyone who loves the game has to read it, anyone with an interest
in Cold War politics will find it fascinating, and anyone who wants
to see inside the mind of a crazed genius should also look no further.
By Richard Williams
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