NSN season 2 starts tonight! We have 6 shows between now and mid May and I'm really looking forward to it. But the nerves are here already....

So far the show is pretty much as it was at the end of last year. We've made a few changes to the running order and brought in one new game. I'm hoping that during March we will get time to try out some more new games and bring in a few new players including (at last) some women. Our 'diversity' record is shameful.

Also new this year - online booking (Etcetera Theatre dates only).

Last weekend was a moving and memorable experience. My father, my aunts Anne and Mabyn and I finally laid my mother to rest for ever. Mum had left instructions that she should be cremated but had not made any request as to where her ashes should be scattered. Thinking about it after the funeral I realised that there was one perfect location, the source of so many golden memories of happiness for her, the house where she had grown up during the war: Trewin, in Cornwall. One look at my middle names tells you how much she loved that place; not for nothing am I John Crace Trewin Johnston. As Anne pointed out, many sons have their father's name but I have my grandfather's name and address!


Mum at Trewin c. 1935. Granny wrote on the back of the photo
"It is so fun, sailing boats and all that!"

The first step was to contact the current owners, the Foster family. Incredibly they were the family that bought the house when my grandfather's lease expired in 1945. We have had occasional contact with them over the years so they were well aware of the family connection. They could not have been more welcoming or accomodating once we had explained the plan and I owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for making this wish come true.

After consultation with my aunts, mum's elder sister Mabyn and younger sister Anne (who was born at Trewin), we hatched a plan to all come down together this last weekend. Mabyn's son Richard Ellis now lives nearby so we were able to rendezvous at his house in Millbrook on Saturday morning for him to drive us over.

It was a bright Cornish morning with occasional clouds hurrying through and leaving a mostly blue sky as we arrived at Trewin. The house lies up a hill away from the road, along an avenue of copper beech trees planted in 1905. I had been there once before, I think, as a very young child so I didn't remember anything. But on first seeing the house I could understand immediately just what an idyllic childhood my mother must have enjoyed there. It seemed to me to be one of those solid country houses that appear in Jane Austen novels. Not the home of a Mr Darcy but perhaps a Lizzie Bennet.


This tree was planted by my grandfather in 1935

On arrival we knocked on to the door and were introduced to Nicholas Foster, the current owner, who like Anne was born at Trewin. He was so welcoming and showed us the gate in the garden that they had just replaced. On it was an inscription which sums up the generosity of spirit and sense of common history that the Fosters possess:




Anne and Mabyn and the Crace Gate

Mr Foster then let us be for the scattering of the ashes. Mabyn suggested a bank at the top of the beech tree avenue. It was a beautiful spot, with the first snowdrops appearing, two wonderful oak trees and a huge rhododendron at the rear. It seemed a very fitting location so it was here that we began. From there I went around and scattered some more around the big trees and the large flower beds. It was very moving and I cried more than once. There may have been a few tears of sadness because right then I did feel her absence and how much I love her and miss her. But mostly they were tears of something like joy. I think it was the joy you feel when you know something is so right and so perfect. Above all it was knowing that I was able to offer her this last small service after everything that she had done for me. Trewin, and Cornwall, had always been an enormous part of her life; now she is part of Cornwall and part of Trewin for ever.



We took our time, listening to Anne and Mabyn's reminiscences, and slowly returned to the house where the Fosters had invited us for lunch. Mabyn explained that the beautiful Eucalyptus tree had been planted by her father as part of the war effort, "to feed the Koala bears at London zoo" they were told! She was, however, confused as it wasn't in the place she remembered but Mr Foster explained that the original had come down so they had planted a new one in a new location.



We were eight for lunch, Nicholas and his wife Jennifer, his brother John and their mother, the venerable Mrs Foster, wife of the late K.G.Foster who had bought the house in 1945. She could remember my grandparents living there and all the Fosters were very keen to hear the tales of Trewin and local life that Anne and Mabyn could recall. It's clear that they have an enormous affection for Trewin and I got the feeling that they knew it was more important than any of us. Families come and go and somehow this wonderful house endures. We left with firm instructions to return and call on them again and I firmly intend to do so.

In fact that wasn't the end of things. My father had not been able to make the long journey to Cornwall so I saved some of the ashes and came back to Oxford. On Sunday we went out into the garden that he and mum created together and we quietly spread the rest of the ashes in amongst the flowerbeds. I think it meant a lot to him to put his beloved wife to rest and I was very happy that we were able to have that moment together.

I hate to admit it but the Daily Telegraph is right and I was wrong. Watching the second Nathan Barley episode I came to the very same conclusion as Mr Christopher Howse, only he did it rather more eloquently. Nathan Barley isn't a sit-com, it's social satire and Chris Morris is the Jonathan Swift de nos jours.

The Onion like Viz is officially not as funny as it used to be, but at least Viz has the good grace to admit it. However this recent article is great, because it's just sooooooo plausible:

Michael Moore honoured with New Ben & Jerry's flavour.

My mate James Crawford has produced a fascinating documentary for Radio 4 about the Australian comedy character Norman Gunston. Here's what the website says:

Long before Ali G and Mrs Merton there was a hapless Australian television reporter called Norman Gunston. With his greased down hair and shaving cuts, he shocked actors, politicians and rock stars with a constant stream of disarming questions.

Gunston's creator, Garry McDonald gives a rare interview to life-long fan Mark Little, and confesses to suffering major panic attacks before confronting the likes of Mick Jagger, Ray Charles and Muhammad Ali.

You can listen via Real Audio here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml#g. Click on Gunston!

Much going down this weekend. Including... BRAND NEW FRISBEE SHIRTS!


Woo and indeed yay!

That's my team, PAF! We are great and absolutely rule in every sense apart from the strict one about wining things. But we did win one game at the weekend and having been promoted to Division 2 of the London Winter League, thats some achievement. At least by our standards it is.

The other highlight of the weekend was Hayseed Dixie at the Shepherds Bush Empire with my excellent friend Iona Jennings. I haven't seen nearly enough gigs at the Empire since I moved to the Bush so it was a real treat to get such high quality entertainment only 5 minutes walk from my house.

All I can say about the 'seed is that they are cracking entertainment. They are more than just a Hillbilly AC/DC tribute band; they can really play and they love what they do. The Banjo playing was extraordinary and I particularly enjoyed the Angus Young impressions done by Dale Reno (on the Mandolin!) in Darkness-esque flaming dungarees. Bill Murray is a cert to play that part in "Hayseed Dixie: The Motion Picture" - they are perfect looky-likeys.

Saw the first episode of Nathan Barley on channel 4 on Friday night. Hmmm. It wasn't everything that I was expecting, but I didn't hate it. So I have decided to stop expecting the website-made-into-reality and try and judge the remainder as a TV series on its own.

The Nathan character was certainly not the same as in TVGoHome. He was an idiot but the character I was expecting is much more than that. He should have been posher and actively more obnoxious to really capture the essence of the original Nathan Barley. The other thing I think that didn't really work was the general satire of the inanity of media/new-media types. It was too obvious - the flip-flops in the headband - the tiny bikes - the tiny hats; quite funny but actually a bit of a blunt instrument. If you want to show the world what a valueless life that is then be more subtle - tell it like it is. But then maybe thats a different programme entirely. It is meant to be comedy after all but still I was expecting more of an Office-style verisimilitude. Then again a wise man told me; Never assume. It makes an ass of you and me..

The girl who plays Claire is lovely.

Went out for a great meal on Saturday night with the NSN gang and partners. We went to the Real Greek Souvlaki and Bar on Bankside. The riverside location gave us a great view of St Paul's and having taken my camera ostensibly to take pictures of my mates - I only managed some long exposure shots of the London skyline.










The riverside at night is fantastic. And the Millenium Bridge is wonderful even if it doesn't wobble any more. Still only my second favourite though - the new Hungerford bridge is still my number 1.