Another gem that we have never been to before. Lots of forest trails on the arboretum side of this part of Thetford Forest. Then across a road is a lake with a small beach and it was warm enough to have a picnic lunch. The stroll was just over six miles and that included getting a tad lost at one point.
It's certainly somewhere we will return to, although I imagine it gets very busy in the summer when the weather is warm. Took plenty of photographs, many of which are included here.
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Yesterday's blog mentioned two people who I remember vividly from my days as a journalist working in Norwich.
The first was Charles Roberts who is pictured above on the left and the other was Richard Condon who is pictured on the right.
Dick Condon was one of the most outstanding human beings I have had the pleasure to come across and to me his benign ghost still stalks Norwich Theatre Royal. He is certainly one of the greatest Norwich imports ever. I would put him alongside the great world champion speedway rider Ove Fundin for making a huge contribution to Norwich and Norfolk life.
To many, Dick was Mr Norwich Theatre Royal. He turned an ailing theatre into one of the top in Europe - regularly attracting superstars onto the stage. Think a mix of Terry Wogan and Des O'Connor and you have an idea of what this genial extrovert Irishman was like.
Before virtually every show, Dick would be in the foyer on the microphone welcoming people to the theatre and calling out people he knew by name. At times it got quite embarrassing. I used to review plays, concerts and entertainment at the theatre on a regular basis. I was always weary if Dick was around as he would announce myself and my wife as we arrived. I took to waiting until a tall man was on his way in and then hid behind him, but Mr Condon would always see through any attempt to get in unannounced.
There was always alcohol around. Drinks for the press at the interval and also at the end and Dick would always try to get stars out for interviews. That's how I found out that Paul Henry wasn't stupid and didn't wear a woolly hat (who is Paul Henry I hear you ask)? Well older readers will remember him as the simpleton Benny in the soap Crossroads. Younger readers won't have a clue what I'm on about.
Met lots of other "stars" as well like Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee, Ralph McTell and many many more.
And that made me think about who my favourite celebrity and who my least favourite to interview were during my many years as a reporter. It's interesting that both were quite awkward in a very similar but totally different way.
My favourite was Lance Percival. Many won't be familiar with that name but he was very popular in the 1960s as an all-round entertainer who appeared in many satirical comedy shows. He must have been appearing in Lowestoft when I was sent along to interview him.
He was charming and fun but didn't want to talk about his career.
"Do you like football?" he asked.
"Yes I do," I replied.
"Who do you support?"
"Norwich City."
"I'm a Chelsea fan. Let's go down the pub and talk about football."
So we did and it was a fun evening and my feature was based around our chat.
The worst interview was a gentleman named Cy Grant. There were big similarities between Lance and Cy. Both were satirical people and both liked singing calypsos. Cy Grant is somebody else most of you won't have heard of. He is generally accepted to be one of the first black entertainers to appear regularly on British television. He was staying at Flixton Buck Public House while I was working at Beccles. The landlord, who I knew a bit, rang me to invite me down to have a chat with him.
Obviously he didn't tell Mr Grant that I was going and he was less than hospitable, refusing to talk about himself or his career and wanting to talk about philosophy. In those days I could handle talking about football but not philosophy. Today it would be very different as I would probably be able to "hold my own" in both subjects. I left without an interview and didn't write anything for the paper and, when the landlord contacted me to ask when the article was going in I had to tell him it wasn't and the reasons why. Don't think he was very happy but neither was I on being sent on a wild goose chase. Mind you the pub did have an interesting sign on the main road. It just said "Don't Pass The Buck."
The pub was owned many many years ago by Alan Breeze (now that's another who the hell was Alan Breeze). Well he sang with the Billy Cotton Band and all I can say to those who haven't heard of him is "Wakey Wakey." The Billy Cotton Band Show was a radio entertainment programme. I liked Billy Cotton because he looked a bit like my grandad. His son Bill Cotton became Director General of the BBC.
Back to Dick Condon as I've gone off at a tangent again (certainly not the first time that's happened). One of my favourite stories (although it's a bit gross) saw Dick and Barry Humphries dressed in full Dame Edna gear standing on the pavement outside the theatre and shouting at passers-by. Dick was wearing a suit and Barry waited until a small crowd had gathered and pretended to be sick into Dick's suit pocket. To which Dick took out a spoon and proceeded to take out a spoonful of vomit, which was actually sandwich spread, and ate it.
Every Christmas Dick sent round bottles of whisky to the press office with the obvious message "have a drink on me."
One day he rang me up to tell me about a phone call he had received.
"I've just had a complaint from somebody about your review in the Evening News. They want to know how to get hold of you. I think they were threatening to ring your neck."
The thing about Dick was he never expected condescending, sycophantic reviews. He took the good with the bad and knew that not everyone nor everything that appeared at the theatre was wonderful. Of course it is often a matter of personal opinion when reviewing something and I will talk more about this more tomorrow.
But just to explain about the death threat. It followed my review of a concert by the Dooleys. Again we are talking in the dim and distant entertainment past and so I feel the need to explain a little. The Dooleys were a family-based pop group who had a few hits. From an artistic point of view they were pretty dreadful and very limited in what they did. My review reflected this and I believe I said that the best thing about the whole concert was the music they came onstage to which was "Fools' Overture" by Supertramp.
One of the most difficult parts of reviewing professional acts is being critical when the audience comprises diehard fans for whom the act/artist can do no wrong. Again I will mention this tomorrow.
In the meantime I hope you enjoy the photographs of our short day out.