Danskcolin: Thursday 5 July 2018

08:00 Lois and I get up and have breakfast. Lois goes for a short walk on the local football pitch and afterwards we head over to the local Fresh Foods supermarket to buy a few things, mostly fruit and vegetables, but also sugar because Lois wants to make some jars of gooseberry jam this morning .

11:00 Lois hurries into the kitchen to make her jars of strawberry marmalade.

Later in the day, Lois showcases her latest 1 lb jars of jam in our kitchen

- yum yum !!!!

Meanwhile, I get going with reading the next 2 pages of the medieval York mystery play which is Lynda's U3A "Making of English" group's current project.

These dialogues are rather boring and repetitive, like the earlier ones. The soldiers continue to talk to each other about how best they can put Jesus on the cross they have made, in such a way that he cannot escape. They are also a little afraid that the cross will be a little too heavy to carry. All rather selfish really!

a scene from a typical medieval mystery play (rehearsal)

However, there are a lot of interesting words in the dialogues. I did not know that the English word "harlot" originally characterized disreputable men rather than disreputable women. Nobody knows for sure where the word originated. It came into English from French, but was probably a German word originally: it probably referred to some of the disreputable people who followed armies from place to place, including prostitutes and other disreputable followers and hangers-on - yikes! What a crazy world we live in !!!!

11:30 I drag our 2 electric fans down from the attic. The weather girl says the heat wave is going to last for at least another 2 weeks - damn it!

12:00 I listen a bit to the radio, one of Matt Berry's classic celebrity interviews dating from the 1970s. Today's celebrity is the late stand-up comedian, Kenneth Williams, and the interview took place in 1979 in Warwick Cathedral's cramped vestry. Williams would later the same day be performing a concert of organ music in the cathedral, but he allowed Berry to interview him at intervals during the breaks between his rehearsals and musical warm-ups, which was certainly very sweet of him!

Matt Berry Interviews......

An interesting and revealing interview. It is noteworthy that Berry chooses to put the spotlight on William's secret sideline as an organist, rather on his more famous role as a stand-up comedian, but I'm going to let that one slide! I wonder if Berry's researchers let him down here, but that's something I'm not completely sure about - the jury is still out on that one!

Kenneth Williams (left), the famous stand-up comedian

Berry persuades Williams to play some of his favorite organ pieces, including Fouré's Barcarolle, Handel-Tennyson's "Now Sleeps The Crimson / Evening Petal" (ft. Kathleen Ferrier); and finally Beethoven's "Spring Sonata" (also known unofficially as "Go little bird and tell them I'm lonely"), a very short but delightful piece that consists of just 2 notes.

A nice performance, but one also has to say that it included a string of unexpected "duff" notes, as Berry did not hesitate to point out! I would personally have let these little 'booboos' slide! Fortunately, Beethoven's "Spring Sonata", which consisted of only 2 notes, was played correctly - for both notes, thank God.

Speaking personally, however, I find Williams' characteristic rock-a-boogie-rockabilly-boogie-woogie-hurdy-gurdy style a little inappropriate, especially on a 200-year-old cathedral organ - that's something I have to admit.

It is a regular part of all Berry's classic interviews that he asks his celebrity to empty his pockets, describing each item as it plops on the table. This is often surprisingly revealing, no doubt about that. We soon find out, for example, that Williams is keeping in his pants pocket, amongst other things, a pair of socks, a Yorkshire pudding, and a pearl necklace, which is a clear testimony to Wiliams' eccentricity, I think!

It is not generally known that Williams had many years earlier had a passionate affair with the famous actress, Dame Edith Evans, after the two played a series of roles together in a number of West End plays. Berry gets Williams to confess the affair for the first time in the radio, which was a bit of a scoop, to say the least.

But it's a little disappointing that Berry fails to follow up the topic and discover more details about the affair - a bit of a minus there, I think. He changes the subject instantly - an insignificant slip perhaps, but I blame Berry's relative lack of experience - remember, at that time (1979) he was only a teenager.

Berry is for the most part a perfectly competent interviewer, but I find his periodic burping, coughing, sneezing and farting a little distracting - that's something I can't be silent on, unfortunately.

At the end of the interview, Williams plays us out with a final organ piece - Tchaikovsky's " 'Is anyone there?' said the stranger while knocking on the moonlit door." A moving finale, no doubt about that.

13:00 Lois and I have lunch on the terrace. Afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 4pm and we relax with a cup of tea on the patio.

18:00 We eat dinner and afterwards go out into the backyard to water the flower beds and vegetable garden.

I take a little look at my smartphone. I have access to a whatsapp chat room used by members of Lois's church, which gives me interesting insights. Currently, the members are very excited whenever there is news about earthquakes - they often say that nowadays there are more major disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.) than ever before and that this is a sign that we are living in the last days.

I find this very touching, but for my part, I am somewhat unsure whether this perception of a greater number of natural disasters is not more a feature of better news gathering around the world, much better than the news gathering in the 17th century, say, for example - but I'm going to let that one slide.

19:30 We watch a bit of television. An interesting documentary is on (3rd part of 6) in a series all about Africa's major civilizations. This third paragraph is about the history of West Africa. The host of the program is the charming black American, Henry Louis Gates Jr.

It seems that Gates has a bit of an subtext or private agenda in his approach. Africa has for many years been unfairly ignored by world historians when it comes to many aspects of human development and culture - and he is very keen to redress this imbalance, which may be fair enough.

It is true that when beautiful medieval sculptures were dug up accidentally in West Africa (Nigeria) in 1938, during a house renovation, and were investigated by Leo Frobenius, a German archaeologist and ethnographer, Frobenius refused to accept that the sculptures could have been created by Africans. He claimed that he had discovered the mythical realm of Atlantis and that it must have been Greek sculptors who created them - good grief, what madness !!!!

some of the beautiful medieval sculptures unearthed in Nigeria

Leon Frobenius, the German archaeologist and ethnographer who examined

the sculptures, refused to accept that it could have been Africans who created them.

He claimed he had discovered the mythical lost Greek empire of Atlantis.

Good grief, what madness !!!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg står op og spiser morgenmad. Lois går en kort tur på den lokale fodboldsbane, og bagefter kører vi over til det lokale Fresh Foods-supermarked for at købe nogle ting, for det meste frugt og grøntsager, også sukker, fordi Lois har lyst til at lave nogle krukker stikkelsbærmarmelade i formiddag.

11:00 Lois skynder sig ind i køkkenet for at lave sin krukker stikkelsbærmarmelade.

Senere på dagen, fremviser Lois sine seneste marmeladekrukker

i vores køkken - yum yum !!!!

I mellemtiden går jeg i gang med at læse de næste 2 sider af det midalderlige York-mysteriespil, der er Lyndas U3A ”Making of English” gruppens nuværende projekt.

Dialogerne er temmelig kedelige og repetitive, som de tidligere. Soldaterne fortsætter med at snakke til hinanden om hvor bedst de kan stikke Jesus op på korset, de har lavet, så han ikke kan undslippe. De er lidt bange for at korset vil være lidt for tunge til, at de kan bære det.

en scene fra et typiske midalderligt mysteriespil (indstudering)

Der er imidlertid en masse interessant ord i dialogerne. Jeg vidste ikke at det engelske ord ”harlot” oprindeligt karakteriserede usmagelige mænd snarere, end usmagelige kvinder. Ingen ved med sikkerhed, hvor ordet stammede fra. Det kom ind til engelsk fra fransk, men var sandsynligvis et tysk ord i begyndelsen: det identificerede nogle af de usmagelige folk, der fulgte hær fra sted til sted, inklusive prostituerede og andre usmagelige tilhængere og afhængere - yikes! Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

11:30 Jeg slæber vores 2 elektriske vifter ned fra loftet. Vejrpigen siger, at hedebølgen kommer til at vare mindst endnu 2 uger – pokkers!

12:00 Jeg lytter lidt til radio, et af Matt Berrys klassiske interviews af berømtheder, der daterer fra 1970’erne. Dagens berømthed er den afdøde stand-up komiker, Kenneth Williams, og interviewet fandt sted i 1979 i Warwick-katedralens trange sakristi. Williams ville senere på samme dagen opføre en koncert af orgelmusik i katedralen, men han tillod Berry at interviewe ham med jævne mellemrum under pauserne mellem hans øvelser og musikalske opvarmninger, hvilket uden tvivl var meget sødt af ham!

Matt Berry interviewer....

Et interessant og afslørende interview. Det er interessant, at Berry vælger at sætte rampelyset på Williams hemmelige nebengesjæft som orgelspiller, snarere på hans mere kendte rolle som stand-up komiker, men det springer jeg over! Jeg undrer mig, om Berrys forskere svigte ham lidt her, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på – det er juryen stadig ude om!

Kenneth Williams (til venstre), den berømte standup komiker

Berry overtaler Williams til at spille nogle af sine favoritte orgelstykker, inklusive Fourés Barcarolle, Handel-Tennysons ”Now Sleeps The Crimson/Evening Petal” (ft Kathleen Ferrier); og til sidst Beethovens ”Spring Sonata” (også kendt uofficielt som ”Gå lille fugl og fortæl dem, jeg er ensom”), et meget kort men herligt stykke, der kun består af 2 noter.

Men man må også sige, at der var en stribe uforventede forkerte noter, som Berry ikke tøvede at udpege! Jeg ville personligt have sprunget over disse små bommerter! Heldigvis Beethovens ”Spring Sonata”, der kun består af 2 noter, blev spillet korrekt, gudskelov.

Og personligt talt, finder jeg Williams’ karakteristiske rock-a-boogie-rockabilly-boogie-woogie- hurdy-gurdy stil lidt upassende, især på en 200 år gammel katedralorgel – det må jeg indrømme!

Det er en regelmæssig del af alle Berrys klassiske interviews, at han beder hans berømthed om at tømme sine bukselommer, og beskrive hvert genstand, samtidig med, at den falder på bordet. Dette er often overraskende afslørende, ingen tvivl om det. Vi finder snart ud af, at Williams holder i sin bukselomme, blandt andet, et par sokker, en Yorkshire-budding, og en perlekæde, hvilket er en tydelig vidnesbyrd om Wiliams’ excentricitet, synes jeg!

Det er ikke generelt kendt, at Williams mange år tidligere havde en lidenskabelig affære med den berømte skuespillerinde, Dame Edith Evans, efter de to spillede en stribe roller sammen i mange West-End teaterstykker. Berry får Williams til at tilstå affæren for første gang i radio, hvilket var lidt af en bedrift, for at sige mildt! Men det er lidt skuffende, at det mislykkes Berry at følge emnet op og opdage flere detaljer – lidt af et minus der, synes jeg. Han skifter emnet umiddelbart – en ukarakterisk bommert, men jeg bebrejder Berrys forholdsvisse mangel på erfaren – husk, han på det tidspunkt (1979) var kun en teenager.

Berry er for det meste en dygtig interviewer, men jeg finder hans periodiske bøvsen, hosten, nysen og prutten lidt distraherende – det må jeg nok sige.

Ved slutningen af interviewet spiller Williams os ud med et sidste orgelstykke – Tkajkovskis ” ’Er der nogen der?’, sagde den fremmede, mens han bankede på den månelysede dør”. En rørende finale, ingen tvivl om det.

13:00 Vi spiser frokost på terrassen. Bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 16 og vi slapper af med en kop te på terrassen.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad, og bagefter går ud i baghaven for at vande blomsterbedene og grøntsagshaven.

Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone. Jeg har adgang til en whatsapp-chatrum, der består af medlemmer af Lois’s kirke, hvilket giver mig interessante indsigter. For tiden bliver medlemmerne meget begejstret, når der er nyheder om jordskælv – de plejer at sige, at der nutildags sker alt flere store katastrofer (jordeskælv, tsunamier osv) end før, og at dette er et tegn på, at vi lever i de sidste dage.

Jeg finder det meget rørende, men for mit vedkommende er jeg imidlertid lidt usikker på, om denne opfattelse af flere katastrofer ikke er mere en funktion af bedre nyhedssamling verden over, meget bedre, end nyhedssamling i 1600-tallet for eksempel - men det springer jeg over.

19:30 Vi ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm (3. del af 6) i en serie, der handler om Afrikas store civilisationer. Dette 3. afsnit handler om historien af Vest-afrika. Programmets vært er den charmerende sorte amerikaner, Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Det føles som om Gates har i sin tilgang lidt af en undertone af, Afrika er for mange år blevet uretfærdigt ignoreret af verdens historikere, når det kommer til mange aspekter af menneskelige udvikling og kultur – og han er meget opsat på at rette op på denne ubalance , hvilket er måske fair nok.

Det er godt nok sandt, at da smukke skulpturer tilfældigvis blev udgravet i det vestlige Afrika (Nigeria) i 1938 under en husrenovering, og blev undersøgt af Leo Frobenius, en tysk arkæolog og etnograf, afviste Frobenius at acceptere, at skulpturerne kunne være blevet fremstillet af afrikanere. Han påstod snarere, at han havde opdaget det mytiske rige af Atlantis, og at det var græske billedhuggere, der skabte dem – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!