Remember

Poor Jill.

Well, he sure would have been different! I saw him speak at a rally once and he brought the house down. However I think he only got around 100 votes. What killed the fun was when they put the application fee for a candidate up to about £2000.

Martin Stone

...Stone himself was an intriguing figure who in later years looked a little like a more crumpled William Burroughs and came with a fascinating back story and the vibe that you wouldn’t want to get on his bad side. When I wrote about early 1960s R&B in south-west London, his name recurred as one of the best guitarists on the scene, able to hold his own against the likes of Page, Beck and Clapton. He was even said to be on the shortlist to replace Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones. Stone stayed in music throughout the 60s and 70s – he played for a variety of bands including The Action, Mighty Baby, Pink Fairies and 101ers – but later branched into bookselling, where he became a mythical figure, “running” books from one shop to another, which basically means finding something underpriced in one place and selling it for its true value in another....

He makes some great appearances in John Baxter's memoir of book collecting, A Pound of Paper - and I've just now seen that it's dedicated to him - he is the dealer at every early morning house clearance with the shabbiest shoes, the grubbiest raincoat, the most shapeless roll-up...

I only realised a few months ago that he was involved with the 60s west London music scene as well; I must have seen the name but thought it was someone else.

June Rosemary Whitfield, CBE (born 11 November 1925) is an English actress, well known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for her work in radio and television comedy series.

Her first big break was a lead role in the radio comedy Take It From Here from 1953. Television soon followed, including appearances with Tony Hancock throughout his television career. In 1966, Whitfield played the leading role in the television sitcom Beggar My Neighbour which ran for three series. She was also a cast member in four Carry On films.

In 1968, June Whitfield and Terry Scott began their long television partnership, which peaked with roles as husband and wife in Happy Ever After (1974–78) and Terry and June (1979–87). Since 1992, Whitfield has appeared in Jennifer Saunders's sitcom Absolutely Fabulous playing Edina Monsoon's mother. In recent years she has played a regular character in Last of the Summer Wine as well as a recurring character in The Green Green Grass.

^^^
What was the afterthought? Her top, or bottom? 😄

Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George, born 14 November 1948) is the heir apparent and eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay.

I was going to write here what I have believed for the last 30 years or so, that today is the 36th anniversary of my having moved to London, but looking at the calendar for 1980 I see that the Sunday I was thinking of was actually the 16th, not the 14th. All these years, and I've been celebrating (in my mind) on the wrong day.

My brother and our singer came down the week before, and my mother and the bloke she was seeing at the time brought me and a load of furniture down in a van. We got lost on the way, getting to Oxford Street (for some reason) and thinking we should be on the road to the Westway (A40(M) as was), and so get down the M41 to Holland Park Roundabout, etc etc, and spent a lot of time getting up there; I only realised much later that carrying on along Oxford street (if such a thing were possible back then) would have got us to the same spot and with a lot less faffing about.

When our mam had gone back home we went out, down to Shepherd's Bush Green (about a mile off) for a drink in the Bush pub, just next to the old BBC Theatre, where later I was to see The Fall, The Divine Comedy, Rufus Wainwright, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Van Der Graaf Generator (amongst others) though at that time it was just where Crackerjack was filmed and where Wogan would be filmed. At one point there was a bomb scare, and we were all hustled out onto the pavement. That was exciting, if you like - my first night in London and my first bomb scare! I stood on the pavement thinking, I'm in London!. When we got back in all our drinks had gone.

We were living in a squat, where we lived for the next two years, nearly (it was still empty two years after we were evicted).