BTW if you are a loose end tomorrow, please come down to the Mill Hill Music Festival at the Adam and Eve. It's free to get in and you can see my band, The False Dots supporting the wonderful Mr Alan Warner of The Foundations. It will be a great night. Here's a little sampler of what you may hear from my lot (on at 8.30pm)
Checkout the full Mill Hill Music Festival Programme here
Locally based guitarist Alan Warner of 1960s band - The Foundations, brings his own band to Mill Hill, with an exciting mix of rock, blues and pop covers plus original songs. It promises to be a great night out for anyone who wants to see and hear a genuinely live set. Locally based guitarist Alan Warner of 1960s band – The Foundations, brings his own band to Mill Hill, with an exciting mix of rock, blues and pop covers plus original songs. It promises to be a great night out for anyone who wants to see and hear a genuinely live set.
Alan Warner has played and performed with various artists including The Foundations, Edwin Starr, Pluto, Billie Davis, Phil Lynott, Mike D’abo (Lead Vocalist with Manfred Mann)Terry Dene,Big Jim Sullivan, Zoot Money, Vanity Fare, Phil May (Pretty Things), Don Partridge, Wayne Fontana,The Polecats,The 60’s All Stars, Mike D’Abo, Eric Haydock (The Hollies), Vince Eager,Mike Berry,Jess Conrad, Derek Quinn (Freddie and the Dreamers), The Toys (Lover’s Concerto),Ray Ennis (The Swinging Blue Jeans), Arthur Brown, Graham Fenton (Matchbox),Karl Green (Herman’s Hermits).
He has also toured and shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, The Bee Gees, Deep Purple, Genesis, Love Affair, Julie Driscoll and the Brian Auger Trinity, Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich,as well as appearing on TV shows including Top of the Pops, Tom Jones Show, Beat Club, Bouton Rouge and the Saturday show etc.
Mill Hill legends the False Dots will open the show at 8.30, with Alan on stage at around 9.30pm
The last few days have been rather surreal. Whatever you think of Boris Johnson, you have to admire his ability to change the normal rules of politics to suit himself. Over the past few days, I've been watching Danny Boyle's 'Pistol'. This was a key time in my life. It reshaped my life in a way that I could not have even dreamed of. If you'd said to a 13 year old Roger Tichborne he'd own one of London's top music studios and he'd rub shoulders with many of the UK's finest musicians, he'd have thought you were insane.
As a dyslexic, it seemed every door was shut and I felt totally detached from 'normal society'. Then the Sex Pistols burst onto the scene. I recall watching them on Today with Bill Grundy. I was totally bemused. To me it was almost as if my class, 4B (allegedely the worst in the history of Finchley Catholic High School) had been given beer and put on telly with a brief to wind up Bill Grundy, with a few strange looking females thrown in. As I'd never heard the Pistols music, I couldn't judge whether I liked them. The music snobs I knew, and there were no other type of music fan in my world in 1976, sneered at the Pistols. They couldn't play. They couldn't sing. They couldn't write songs. There was a three day press frenzy and then they disappeared. We didn't have social media and I wasn't interested in music, prog rock left me cold.
But the Pistols had not disappeared. As Boyle's rather comic book documentary showed, they were plotting and scheming. Their manager Malcolm McLaren was plotting the destruction of the British Establishment and the Pistols were his shock troops. It seems quite fitting that I watched the documentary during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee as McLarens dream was finally realised. What even Talcy Malcy could not have realised was that the agent of chaos would not be Johnny Rotten, but a Conservative Prime Minister. The Boyle series reminded us just how staid and stuffy the UK was in 1977. The Pistols were railing against the prudish values of the UK, and the establishment hit back with headlines such as 'The Filth and the Fury'. Gay sex had been legal for less than a decade and homosexuality was tolerated rather than accepted. People with coloured hair and outlandish clothes were not only frowned on, but you ran the risk of getting beaten up. Racism was not only tolerated, but we saw it on the TV on a daily basis with 'comedies' such as Love thy neighbour and Mind your language. Oddly, black friends tell me that they didn't really mind these at the time, because they were the only shows where you actually saw non white faces. The only representations of gay characters were people like Mr Humphries in Are you a being served, cartoon characters, who thrived on saucy innuendo, but who would never actually get a snog on telly. To someone growing up today, this would be almost beyond comprehension.
All that changed, but lets consider politcs. Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister. MP's would resign positions if they were caught having extra marital affairs. The concept that a Prime Minister would not know how many children they had would seem truly absurd. MP's would resign if they broke the law. MP's would resign if they were caught lying to Parliament. No 10 Downing Street was seen as a sombre place, where dull Prime Ministers lived. They were assisted by teams of dull civil servants who had signed the official secrets act and discretion was valued as the most important talent. Callaghan was expected to treat the Queen with respect and the concept that a Prime Minister would disrespect her was simply beyong imagining.
What is interesting is that whilst society changed, the rules of Politics didn't. Until Boris Johnson took the keys to No 10. He has rewritten the rulebook. Now the accounts of No10 parties sound just like the parties the Pistols had in their studio's, where Steve Jones lived. Boris partied the day Prince Phillip was buried, what greater insult to a mourning Queen? Whilst we can excuse a 19 year old sticking two fingers up at the Queen as juvenile exhuberance what do we make of Boris partying with his mates in No 10 as Her Majesty moruned alone at Buckingham Palace. By the sounds of it, only the flag on top of the building was at half mast. Boris not knowing (or at least owning up to knowing) how many kids he's got, lying to Parliament repeatedly, and simply crossing his fingers and smirking when asked is now the order of the day.
God help us if there is another Pandemic in the reign of Boris Johnson. Will anyone respect or observe lockdowns and curfews? The cottage industry of nutcases which has sprung ip claiming no one died of Covid and it was all part of a nefarious plan by Bill Gates has had petrol poured on its flames by Boris.
As for the Civil Servants and backroom staff that run the country, doing the bidding of politicians, Dominic Cummings has seemingly permanently trashed their reputation. I know Cummings wasn't a career civil servant but it seems he has dumped a supertanker ful of excrement all over theri reputation. Anyone who knows his hostory would know that this is deliberate.
Does anyone trust 'the establishment' any more? Does anyone think the politicians who run our country are decent, honourable people? When I was canvassing for the Lib Dems at the local elections, I knocked on the door of one chap who gave a me a string of invective. He basically said "You are all the same, a complete shower, only in it for yourself". I had to laugh. I said "Do you seriously think people who knock on doors, with little expectation of winning in local elections are corrupt?". His answer "You're all the same and you are only doing it for yorself".
It was quite interesting. As I watched Pistol and thought about the message and impact of punk and where the mentality of Boris fits into all of this. The punk ethos of challenging the establishment was never about making the country a nation of two classes, a plutocracy running everything and ignoring laws made for little people. It was about giving everyone a chance and making everyone realise that you can participate. Now the ordinary man in the UK is being squeezed financially by the cost of living crisis. We can't even go on holiday to escape for a few days, because the aviation industry is in turmoil. In the 1970's the UK was known as 'The sick man of Europe'. It looks as if next year we will have the lowest GDP growth in Europe and a huge rise in poverty. Malcolm McLaren assumed that if you got rid of the establishment, everyone would have a chance and society might be more equal and fairer. Boris has almost destroyed the establishment and replaced it with a clique, unanswerable to anyone.
Whilst Talcy Malcy would be proud of Boris Johnsons's efforts to destroy the old elite and its ways, I'm not so sure he'd approve of what he seems to have replaced it with. Interestingly, Malcolm McLaren was, like me, an Orange Hill School old boy. I believe that like me, he joined after being invited to leave another school. It seems to me that Boris has brought back the chaos of the 70's. We are looking at hyper inflation, strikes and food shortages. Sadly (for me at least), we've not seen a resurgence of Punk rock music as an antidote. One of the lasting legacies of Punk rock was the 'do it yourself ' culture of Independent music. This has endured, but protest music has not. For me, its return is long overdue.
Nothing else comes close to the aura of quality and success in the film world. This amazing 45 piece band presents a night of music from the roaring 20s.The BBC Elstree Concert Band is back performing in a programme guaranteed to make you smile with that great big band sound and some of your favourite tunes from the American Songbook. One hundred years ago, the Roaring Twenties were starting to build up a head of steam just as George Gershwin burst onto the musical scene along with the likes of Kurt Weill and the early jazz pioneers. As we embark on the 2020s, their programme will explore the style of the 1920s and the new dance crazes which were taking the world by storm. We can see how these uplifting tunes are just as relevant today. Formed in 1984, this 45-piece band has a repertoire that reaches from light classics to show music as well as contemporary wind band arrangements. Their performances have been broadcast nationally as well as internationally through the BBC World Service.
Below is some info about a screening in Mill Hill of 'Legacy' - The best event I went to when I attended COP26 last year was an exclusive screening of 'Legacy' by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (feat. Sting) about the relationship between humanity and nature through history.
Invitation:Screening and discussionof Yann Arthus-Bertrand's documentary 'Legacy', narrated by Sting - 6-8.30 PM on Sunday 12 June at Mill Hill East Church (free)
The film discusses the relationship between humanity and nature through history. It is very like an Attenborough documentary, just as breath-takingly beautiful.It is a free screening to share it with the community at Mill Hill East Church. There will be a discussion of ideas of community actions to help tackle the climate crisis after the screening with snacks and soft drinks provided.
More information and the link to sign up is here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/348068591527 (Please sign up so we can get a rough idea of numbers but anyone is welcome whether they sign up or now.)
At the screening, I will also be sharing information about some inspiring secondary school students I took to COP26, including some who go to school in Barnet.
Partnering with the UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN), we took over 20 secondary school students to engage with policymakers and the public in the Green and Blue Zones at COP26 last November. One of the students who goes to school in Barnetsat on a panel discussionrun by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport and met Nadhim Zahawi afterwards. Also, Rt Hon Alok Sharma visited our stall in the Green Zone to meet the students there. You can read more about the projecthereor see a short video about what the students had to say about their experiences here. We also hosted a panel discussion on how to green your personal finance in the COP26 Green Zone in case of interest - one of the biggest impacts we have on the planet is through our money - which you can watchhere.
Barnet Council have finally declared a climate emergency after the victory at the local elections by The Labour Party. They are advertising for a sustainability officer.
More details
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Portfolio Lead (Sustainability) to join our growing Sustainability Team. This newly established role will be responsible for building on, expanding and amplifying the work already taking place across the Council to deliver against our ambitious Net Zero commitments (as a Council by 2030 and as a place no later than 2042). You will be responsible for developing an aspirational and rigorous strategy and associated Climate Engagement Plan, engaging with residents, partners and communities, to establish Sustainability at the heart of everything we do.
About you
You will be an enthusiastic individual who is keen to drive change through our ambitious programme of delivery. As such you will have significant experience of managing complex multi-disciplinary teams within a local government context at a management level and excellent knowledge of best practice in programme management (a good understanding of Climate Change will be desirable).
As a driver for change you will have strong communication skills and be able to influence at all levels of the organisation and its partners. You will be responsible for developing and managing a team to support the organisation in delivering it commitments to becoming Net Zero. You will be comfortable collaborating across the organisation and have strong leadership skills; with a proven experience of getting things done!
So how's your week been? Mine? Been pretty good, very busy at work providing PA systems for street party's, events and shows. Did some recordings with my band and perhaps the highlight was the London International Ska Festival Ska cruise last night. It is the best way to see London!
Enough of me, how was your week? Our local tweeters have been busy. As you can imagine, there were a lot of tweets about the Jubilee and surrounding events. Here is my pick
1. Here's a question I've been meaning to explore for some time. The best fish and chip shop in the Borough of Barnet. Here's pur first nomination. Watch this space.... Any suggestions
Poseidon in East Finchley has been the best I’ve found in London by some margin. Masters Superfish have come close as have Seafresh on Wilton Road. Golden Fish on Farringdon Road, now long gone was outstanding pic.twitter.com/SWt6MgRBIv
4. If you are in the locality of Hendon and Colindale, these are both worth a look
Just been to my wife’s old stomping ground in Colindale, London, visited the church we got married in, and looked around the RAF museum! Now on the 113 bus back to Marble Arch!! Walked 8 miles so far!! 😮💨🤣 pic.twitter.com/003aLinvYJ
Great to see a proper doorman keeping the crowds safe whilst Hot Swing Bohèhm entertained the crowds at Mill Hill East Church for the Jubilee Picnic. A wonderful event! pic.twitter.com/TnUg1qwhAE
— #MillHillMusicComplex (@MillHillMusicCo) June 5, 2022
7. Some up and coming rock stars are working hard for their big gig
Celebrating Barnet Black & Amber 60s winning the @middxfa Central league with Barnet Blues Runners up joined by @BarnetFC manager Dean Brennan & Chairman Mr Kleanthous 🐝 also @middxfa Grassroots project of the year @BarnetHomes Group of the year & 2 super awards from @BFCSA1926pic.twitter.com/wVfowpt9NV
🚊London Underground’s Art Deco masterpieces are exemplified by East Finchley station (the tube station of my youth—well, I also hung out at Golders Green station on a Saturday evening!)
So this week sees the Queens Platinum Jubilee. It got me thinking, what National Events and celebrations have stuck in my memory? What events do I look back on with a warm tingle. What big celebrations do I recall with happiness?
1966 - England win the World cup. Now I was only three and three quarters years old at the time, so my memories of the event are a bit sketchy to tell the truth. I wasn't really interested in Football, but I do have strong memories of it. Back in the 1960's not much happened, but as our family had a telly, the house was packed and we had a massive party. I recall my elder Brothers and all of their friends gathering around to watch. I recall the huge whoops of celebration as Geoff Hurst scored his hat trick. My brother are sixteen years older than me, so they'd have been 20 at the time. I really got into football a couple of years later, in 1968 when Manchester City won the League. I adopted City and it's been a roller coaster ride. But it is those sketchy memories of how happy everyone was that I believe cemented my love of football.
1971 - Decimalisation Day. This was the day that money changed in the UK. Out went Shillings, thruppeny bits, ten bob notes and half crowns and in came 5p's, 10p's and 50p's. It was a massive thing, My parents bought us special sets with the new coins in. I kept mine, as I believed it would be a great momento, but my elder brother nicked it and bought fags with the dosh. He was like that. I was really cross. He said "What's the point keeping it, that's the new money now, the old money is what people will be collecting". My biggest recollection was that it was the first time I understood what inflation was. All of a sudden, fruit salads and blackjacks became far more expensive. Not really a celebration but very exciting for an eight year old.
1977 - The Queen's silver jubilee. This was a big deal. In 1966 it seemed like Britain as great. By 1977, we were the 'sick man of Europe (God only knows what we are now?). The Jubilee came along and was seen as a chance to bring the nation together. Four young herberts called the Sex Pistols had other ideas. The night before the celebration, I went to see The Ramones at The Roundhouse and my life changed. We had a street party in Millway that was fun, it was great to meet the neighbours. I still recall the spare ribs cooked in a giant pan by a Nigerian lady up the road. It was the most delicious food I ever tasted. I've always fancied a trip to Lagos as I was told that was the dish they ate. My Dad told our neighbour that she should open a restaurant and he'd go every week. The bloke two houses up the road was a DJ and he played disco and funk all day, which I wasn't so keen on, but was probably appropriate.
1981 - The 'Botham' Test match. Every so often a sports event happens that everyone talks about. In 1981, England were getting thrashed in the third test at Headingly. Step forward Ian Botham. He single handedly blew Australia away. My Dad was an Aussie and a cricket nut. He would watch the whole thing. I sat there with him and was transfixed. My Dad was a passionate Australia fan. As the final day unwound, I supported England and he supported the Aussies. As Bob Willis scuttled out the Aussies in their second innings, with England winning by 18 runs, I expected him to be gutted. He said "That is why I love Cricket, that was the best performance I've ever seen". He loved Botham, who he considered to be a real man. He said that he was the only England Cricketer who he could imagine playing in an Aussie team. For days after, all anyone talked about was Botham and the Test match. He was on TV everywhere. He'd claimed his place up there with the greats. Botham was possibly the first modern Englsh sports superstar. On telly, on quiz shows, doing sponsored walks. If it was today, he'd be on Big Brother and Dancing on Ice, walking them all.
1985 - Live Aid. This concert was born in the Tragedy of a famine in Africa. Being me, I went to an 'Alternative Live Aid' at Dingwalls and watched Johnny Thunders et all, as everyone else on the Planet watched Queen. I think I made the right decision. It was a fun day. When I got back, I was amazed to see my parents glued to the TV. My Dad made a humble confession, unprompted. He'd been moved by Bob Geldolf's four letter requests to donate cash. He told me he'd been wrong about punk and wrong about young people and the concert had made him realise that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. We all felt good about ourselves as a nation, which was good.
1999 - The Total Eclipse. I was working in London for the total eclipse. It was a very strange and memorable day. To see the whole city on the roof of their buildings looking at the sky in awe was probably the strangest day of my life. The city went still. It is funny how we have these seminal events and then completely forget them.
2000 - The Millenium. This was an event that only happens every 1,000 years. I had to work. We had a party, but I left at 10pm and drove to Aldgate. I drove back at 6am and people were still revelling. I was paid a shedload of money to work, so I couldn't turn it down. My children were small and my wife was pregnant, so it was the right thing to do. When I was driving back, I wondered if I was the only sober person in town. Many of my friends went into town and found it a bit disappointing. The 'River of Fire' was a let down by all accounts and you couldn't get in anywhere.
2012 - The Diamond Jubilee. Of all of the Queens Jubilee's, this was the one that I most enjoyed and got into. We spent the day in town, in the soaking wet. We couldn't get to see the Royal Floatilla. We ended up having fish and chips.
2012 - The London Olympics. This was perhaps the biggest, longest party in the history of London. It was amazing. I was in Camino celebrating on Super Saturday. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood. It was unbelievable as the medal stacked up. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.
2022 - The Queens Platinum Jubilee - Once again, I've been working. We've been supplying sound systems for everyone else's street party. I had a takeaway and an early night. But everyone else has had a brilliant time.
Excuse me a moment. Yesterday at around this time (1pm on the 2nd), I took a short break from the office desk at Mill Hill Music Complex, grabbed a ladder and climbed on top of one of the storage containers in our studio car park. This has a great view looking South over London. I knew that the Battle of Britain flight of the RAF would be passing by. For me, this is always a moving sight. My Dad was an RAF Bomber pilot. He never actually flew Lancasters, his active service was on Wellington bombers for 40 Squadron in Italy and the Middle East. He also flew Oxfords later. He was a Flight Leutenant in the RAF and flew a tour of 40 missions, getting shot down in Rumania on his final mission of his Tour. He was a Prisoner of War for 68 days, escaping and seeing out the rest of the war in a number of roles, such as Pilot instructor and air accident investigation officer.
Seeing a plane of Bomber command flying over Mill Hill reminds me of my Dad. I always well up. He passed away in 1987. I was 24 and at the time I wasn't particularly interested in listening to his stories. He was great company and full of them, but my idea of fun was to watch a band with my mates. I have remarkably few regrets in my life, but not sitting down with my Dad and writing down his stories is one of the biggest. It pains me that I've written a blog of over 8 million words and so few are full of his wisdom, insights and amazing stories. Occasionally something happens that brings one to mind. Watching the Lancaster pass over, reminded me of a really tragic story he told. When he was an air accident investigation officer, he had to investigate the crash of a Lancaster. When he turned up at the airbase, the whole base was in mourning. Although he was used to the effects of tragedy, this was of a scale he'd not experienced. It turned out that the pilot was one of the best in the RAF. He had a penchant for doing aerobatic turns in his Lancaster. As a treat, he'd taken all of the cooks from the base up for a spin. As he was putting the plane through its paces, it had disintegrated, killing everyone. Not only were they mourning the loss of friends and comrades, there was no one their to cook dinner.
I once asked my Dad if he regretted not flying Spitfires or Lancasters, which were the iconic aircraft. He said that at the time it hadn't really occurred to him. The RAF needed pilots and he was assigned to Wellingtons. When he joined 40 squadron, the vast majority of bombers and missions were undertaken by Wellingtons. He also loved the versatility and durability of the aircraft. He said a Wellington, due to it's geodisic airframe was far more durable than a Lancaster. The RAF legend was that a 'Wimpy would always get you home'. He was not overly sentimental about the equipment he used. If a new plane or engine made his life easier or improved his chances of surviving the war, he'd think it was better than something that looked pretty or was 'legendary'. When his squadron was equipped with Liberators, he was not keen. He told me the turbochargers on the engines glowed in the dark and gave the night fighters something to look out for. He was pleased his tour finished before he had to fly them.
All of this came back when the Lancaster flew over. I once asked him if he could fly any plane in the RAF, what would he like to try most. He gave me a considered answer. For the sheer speed, he'd have flown a Lightning. As an operational bomber, he'd loved to have flown the Vulcan mission to the Falklands that fascinated him and out of curiosity, he'd have loved to have flown a Harrier Jump Jet. He loved the idea of being able to land outside the house.
All I have to remind me is a Lancaster passing over my head. Forgive me my little tear. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is just about the last link I have with that era. Long may she reign.
Joe Stilgoe is an internationally acclaimed singer, pianist and songwriter. He has created a fresh sound for jazz in the 21st century.
Joe Stilgoe is an internationally acclaimed singer, pianist and songwriter. He has created a fresh sound for jazz in the 21st century. He is known for writing songs that feel like they have been around for years, and adapting classics that sound as though they were just written. Joe has released eight albums, five of which have topped the UK Jazz chart. He has appeared everywhere from Ronnie Scott’s to Birdland Jazz Club with every festival and jazz club in between. He oozes wit, style and panache. He is always searching for a new way of bringing not only his own songs but those he loves from the past to a new audience. He is an enticing mix of his heroes, such as Danny Kaye, Nat King Cole and Dudley Moore. Some of his influences come from Harry Connick Jr, Peter Skellern, Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Irving Berlin to name but a few! Joe is excited to bring his talents to Mill Hill Music Festival, showcasing levels of musicianship that sees him at the top of his game. His brand new album, ‘Theatre’ was released in April. Don’t miss this chance to see him. As an added bonus he will be playing the treasured grand piano that once belonged to Jamie Cullum.
“Dapper, handsome, quick witted…and gifted with dazzling digits” THE TIMES
“A songwriter of uncommon originality“ ***** THE OBSERVER
I'm sorry. I am finding it very difficult to work up any enthusiasm for the Jubilee. Ten years ago, I was quite excited. We tried to watch the Queens river pageant (and failed miserably) and I wrote a review of the Queen's Jubilee Concert. I'm finding it hard to work up any enthusiasm this time. In 2012, with the Olympics, the Jubilee and our new studio block opening I was in a very happy and positive frame of mind and felt very proud to be British and celebrate her Maj's 60 years. Ten years on, I couldn't feel more different. There is only one reason. The Government of Boris Johnson.
Why? The answer is quite simple. That man is a disgrace. It is not a political thing. I never felt the same way about Ted Heath, Margaret Thatcher, John Major or David Cameron. I did not agree with any of them. I felt the policies of all damaged Great Britain and the weakest, most vulnerable people, but I did not think the duplicitous liars. Their governments did not sign treaties then threaten to break them. They did not get find by the police for breaking the laws that they'd passed and implored us to follow every night on TV. They didn't tell the House of Commons that they were 'truly humbled' and then sit down and smirk, with an "I've got away with it" look on their faces.
After the end of WW2 when the Nuremburg trials were held, probably the most important criminal trial of the 20th Century, possibly ever, the French, Russians and Americans agreed to hold it under the jurisdiction of UK law. The reason, the world respected us and knew justice would not only be done, but be seen to be done. Does anyone seriously believe that under Boris Johnson, we are viewed the same. One aspect of Brexit that has not been mentioned is that we have little influence of the direction the EU takes. The French and Germans have little time for smaller Eastern nations that we would have stood up for. It is all very dispiriting and I simply cannot say I feel very proud of our nation right now.
