|
BB1207
: Some Foolish Things
Wednesday
22nd February 2012
Donny
Nomates this week, thanks to an imaginative set of excuses
from my erstwhile companions. Still, it gives
me the chance to process a few things that would otherwise
clutter the next report. This is becoming more
like the BOOTboys colour supplement rather than a
log of our outings!
Don,
Wednesday
22nd February
2012
Withnail;
With Us No More
|
Regular
BOOTboys
followers will be aware that some members
of the group have more than a passing interest
in Uncle Monty's Cottage, a.k.a. Sleddale
Hall, and related matters.
Stan
recently informed me that Richard
Morant
who inspired the Withnail & I film (and
thereby Uncle Monty) had died, aged 66.
He
gained fame playing Flashman in the BBC
Tom Brown's Schooldays series.
However,
his dandyish costumes, dark good looks and
the filthy, squalid house that he shared with
Bruce Robinson in Camden when he was a young
actor was a model for Withnail and directly gave
rise to the 1987 film in which Richard
E Grant played Withnail.
By
one of life's strange coincidences, in the
same set of incoming e-mails was this from
Dave, one of the blokes we had met in Mosedale
Cottage on BB1046:
|
Richard
Morantt
|
|
Richard
E Grant as Wiithnail
|
Hi
guys, thanks for giving us a mention on your website.
Having
found Sleddale Hall abandoned in 2006 we decided to
use it as a bothy as it was a lot closer than the hike
to Mosedale. Over the years we tidied it up and
made regular visits, staying over and cleaning the place
up until it was sold at auction in Feb 2009.
Happily
Mr Hindley could not back up his promises with cash
but Mr Tim Ellis came to the rescue of Sleddale Hall
and is currently renovating the place to its former
glory.
The
story continues as Tim is now a good friend of ours
and is now part of the great community at Shap.
|
I
hope I am not hearing you say "What is the connection?"
Just check back to BB1046
(and the links contained therein) if you are in any
doubts. In summary, Sleddale Hall was the setting
for Crow Hall, i.e. Withnail's Uncle Monty's country
residence. Dave went on to provide some Crow
Hall links.
Tony
remembered that when we last visited the property, there
was a sign saying how to get in touch with the new owner
and, sure enough, on BB1046 I
had recorded the fact and the e-mail address. Consequently,
I contacted the new owner, Tim Ellis, an architect from
Canterbury, Kent, who is renovating the house. I
told Tim about the visits of the BOOTboys
to Sleddale Hall and asked if we might see how the renovation
was coming along. He responded:
Today
must be blessed by the patron saint of coincidence.
I recieved an e-mail earlier from a friend which
had a link to the BOOTboys!
You
are most welcome to visit and I will gladly show you
around.
Unfortunately,
so far, we have not been able to find a date that is
convenient for both Tim and the BOOTboy Withnail
fans. However, he
is clearly sympathetic to such addicts. On
the Withnail
and I Forum website
to which he referred me, he stated in March 2011:
|
I
hope that this will be the first of many posts concerning
progress at the house.
I've been maintaining a low profile
pending the outcome of my application for a Certificate
of Lawful Use; the Lake District National Park Authority
have now granted this which means that I have the go-ahead
to restore the house.
|
 Tim
Ellis at Sleddale Hall
|
The
site goes on to provide many updates on progress.
It is clearly a major project, sympathetic to
its unique history. It is impressive that Tim
is taking the trouble to share the development with
Withnail fans in this way and we look forward to reporting
progress in the not too distant future.
John,
Julia, Ranvir and Alex
BOOTboys
readers with long memories will recall that John L,
plus others, had an (un?) healthy admiration for Julia
Bradbury. Do you recall how John's lust for her twice
enabled him to reach the summit of Side Pike, as described
in BB1132?
|
2006
fantasy
|
2009
fantasy
|
Strange
then that on the very night that I remarked to Margaret as to how over-exposed I thought Julia Bradbury
had become with yet another simpering commentary about
the British countryside, I received an e-mail from John
admitting
how his affections had moved on.
I
already knew that he had a thing about Ranvir
Singh, the North
West Tonight presenter. At least I think that
is the person about whom he confessed but I may
have misunderstood and perhaps he was actually raving about Ranveer
Singh.
|
John
with Ranvir Singh
|
John
with Ranveer Singh
|
Having
discovered that she (or he) married recently, fickle
John is now inviting fellow BOOTboys
to sign up for the APAS (the
Alex Polizzi
Appreciation Society).
Perhaps
it says something about me that I had never heard of
this person.
|
John
with Alex Polizzi
I
am informed that
Alex is the ex-presenter of the Channel 5 TV series "The
Hotel Inspector" and now presents
her own programme "Alex Polizzi - The Fixer"
on BBC Two.
Bearing
his own reputation as a "Fixer", watch out
for John's appearance thereon!
Juding
by the photo on the right, they might yet
appear in a Julia Bradury programme!
|
Nor
did I know whether the individual was a male
Alex or a female Alex.
Seemingly,
however, other BOOTboys
are better informed and at least one has also admitted
having already joined APAS.
Could it possibly be because
Alessandra
Maria-Luigia O Polizzi Di Sorrentino
(born 28 August 1971) is, apparently, a British hotelier?
Could that be a clue to the other admirer's identity?
Alex
and John
in the countryside
|
Not
that this has anything to do with this week's non-outing but I thought you might be interested. It
is published as John's punishment for preferring to
travel to Newcastle to meet a former football manager.
Unforgiveable, even though one of that indiviidual's
former clubs was Manchester City!
Don,
Thursday
22nd February
2012
.
These
Foolish Things
Occasional
BOOTboy
Tim took me to task for forgetting that he had
told me about Claife Station some time back.
Put
another way, here is a previously unknown verse of These
Foolish Things:
The
day that Tim went to The Claife Station
He told me
then it was a great sensation
Me, he now upbraids
Because
the memory fades
Remind me of ... what was it again?
To
discover more, see These
Foolish Things
where
you also find how Chris
P gently took me to task about my accuracy concerning
the viewing stations on Windermere in BB1206.
See West's
Stations.
STATISTICS:
|
BB1207
|
Wednesday
22nd February 2012
|
| Distance
in miles:
|
0
|
| Height
climbed in feet:
|
0
|
| Wainwrights :
|
-
|
| Other
Features:
|
-
|
| Comitibus:
|
Don
|
BOOTboys
routes ares put online in gpx format which
should work with most mapping software. You can'f follow
our route in detail by downloading BB1207
as there ain't one!
To
see which Wainwright top (excluding Outlying Fells)
was visited on which BB outing
see Which
Wainwright When?
For the latest totals of the mileages and heights see: BB Log.
E-mail addresses on this web site are protected
by
Spam Trawlers will be further frustrated
by
Spam Blocker:
help fight spam e-mail!
|
