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Latest from LLL
We got them in a few hours ago. We will be packing and shipping today and over the weekend...well into next week
Sorry for the delay. Thanks for your patience
MV
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Packages have been arriving in UK
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As the great John Barry was born in York, the capitol of Yorkshire, England, I interrupt (with apologies, it is a lively current thread so the best place for this) the discussion briefly to wish everyone:
Happy Yorkshire Day!
Thankyou.
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In 2001 I visited York for a concert of Barry music at the Opera House. I took in some sightseeing of John Barry linked sites. Saw St.Peters School, Bar Convent which has a nice cafe, the Rialto cinema, by then a Mecca bingo hall, I managed to gain entry for a quick viewing, claiming to be a journalist, The York Pavilion Hotel,in Fulton home to the Predergast family until sold in 1987. I also visited the house on Hull Road to see the plaque. Mrs Richardson was pruning the bushes and invited me in to take a closer look. Had a tour of the house and tea on the lawn and, finally a lift to my accomadation. Very kind people but I was just lucky, they don't usually invite everybody into the house.
Here's an account of the visit I wrote at the time:
In May 2001, I travelled to York to attend a concert of John Barry music at the Opera House. I used the opportunity to see a few Barry related places. Here's an account of the trip, on the John Barry trail in York. (first posted on the old Yahoogroups Barry forum, It might be of interest here)
Having made the decision to travel up to York to see the concert of John
Barry music at the Grand Opera House on 28th May, I also decided to use the
opportunity to see a few places with Barry links in his home town.
If you turn right out of the railway station and walk up to the crossroads
you come to The Bar Convent on the corner of Nunnery Lane and Blossom
Street. This was the primary school that John attended. It is now a museum
with tours twice daily at 1030 and 1430. I was unable to go on a tour but
did have a sandwich and coffee in the pleasant café. Eddi Fiegel in her book
John Barry: A Sixties Theme tells how in April 1942 York was bombed by the
Germans and the Bar took a hit killing five nuns and destroying a whole wing
of the school. The Bar had a shelter and the nuns urged The Prendergast's
to leave John there overnight for safety but fortunately they took him home.
The Track 'Memories of Childhood' from 'Beyondness' recalls the air raid.
When he was 11 John went to St. Peters School, which is on Bootham and just
two minutes from my accommodation. It is a stern looking building and
apparently John was very unhappy there. However a woman who was sitting next
to me at the concert said that she knows several people with children at the
school and there is a rumour that the Barry's have Jon Patrick down to go to
the school. If this is true does it mean that John and Laurie are planning
to live in England in a few years time?. On the other hand if Barry hated it
so much would he want his son to go there, though obviously the regime may
have moderated.
South of the City wall and an easy walk from the city centre is Fishergate.
As you turn a bend a large red brick building comes in to view. This is now
the Mecca Bingo Hall but was once the 'The Rialto', one of Jack
Prendergast's chain of theatres. Here artist's like John Dankworth and Ted
Heath performed. The couple sitting next to me at the concert said that they
used to go dancing there. They also said that Prendergast brought The
Beatles to perform there in the early 60s. From the outside it looks little
changed from how it must have looked in the 30s and 40s with large windows
in what was the circle foyer area. And now appears to be a staff area.Words
like 'solid' and 'substantial' come to mind when trying to describe a
theatre/cinema which is in the grand tradition of British entertainment
venues. On my first day I decided to buy a bingo ticket for 60p and take a
look inside. Problem, you need to be a member. Membership is free but takes
24 hours to process. I then attempted to explain that I was a John Barry fan
who had come up to London for the concert and could I take a look inside.
The manager looked at me is if I was a loony and made it clear that without
a membership card I couldn't gain admittance.
However the next day I returned. There was different staff on duty and I
approached the manager saying that I was writing an article about the
Prendergast family and could I take a look inside the theatre. His response
was that
"so is everyone else writing articles"
But he let me in!!.
I walked though the doors and there it was, the place where John Barry saw
his first films and was inspired to go on and write film music. There were
about 150-200 people playing bingo. The place has a huge score board above
the stage and there are a lot of TV monitors around the place. There is a
café section selling refreshments and four aisles, two at the sides and two
dividing the rows of tables and chairs for the punters. It was very much as
I imagined it from the Omnibus documentary but it is very very much bigger.
Not hard to imagine the John Barry Seven practising there or rows of seats
in place and the young John watching and loving movies.
It's a real pity it doesn't still function as a theatre/cinema. Rumours say
that it could be pulled down in the near future.
If you walk back towards town and turn right into Paragon St, past the
Barbican Centre ,which some say should have been called the John Barry
Centre!. You come to signs for A1079 Hull. Take this road and keep going. It
leads to the Hull Rd. Keep going, it is long but on the left hand side you
will come to a pleasant semi-detached house with a blue plaque on it which
says
JOHN BARRY
Born 3rd November 1933
Oscar Winning Film Music Composer
Lived Here 1933-1947
In Association with the British Film Institute.
Michael Caine presented the plaque to Barry just after the interval at the
1998 concert at The Royal Albert Hall
There was a woman trimming her bushes. I asked her if she would mind if I
took a closer look at the plaque. She said of course. I explained that I had
travelled up from London for the concert. She said that she and her husband
were also going and invited me into the garden for tea and biscuits. In
London, a similar situation would probably have resulted in the resident's
phoning the police, thinking that I was either begging or sizing the house
up for a burglary!.
John and Margaret Richardson have lived in the house for 25 years and
couldn't have been more hospitable. They are retired now. John used to work
as a journalist. Margaret is an enthusiastic sculptor. They showed me their
collection of cuttings from the local papers about Barry. Margaret showed me
around the house, the bedroom that John shared with Patrick. His parents
room, his sister June's room and the maid's room. I saw the comfortable
sitting room where according to Eddi Fiegel, John heard Chamberlain on the
radio announce that Britain was at war with Germany, though being only six
years old he obviously didn't understand the significance. June has returned
to the house in recent years and has said how little the house has changed.
Some of the flooring is still the same. She and John loved the garden, which
apparently was slightly larger than it is now and were sorry to leave the
house. The Richardson's have sent me photocopy's of many of their cuttings
on Barry and his family and the plaque and John ( Richardson that is!) gave
me a lift back to the hotel where I was staying.
I was very lucky and privileged to be taken in to their home by such kind
people and given a glimpse of the place where John spent much of his early
life.
In 1947 the Prendergast's left the house on the Hull Rd and moved to
Fulford. Basically if you come out of the Mecca on Fishergate and turn right
and keep going you will come to it. I reached it by taking a 3B bus from
Piccadilly in the City Centre.
The house that he lived in was called Fulford House, now the York Pavilion
Hotel. The son of the present owner poured me a pint of beer from the bar
and said that his family has owned the place for 14 years. The original
buildings have been extended, the bar for instance was not part of the
original house. He showed me 'The John Barry Room' which now appears to be a
functions room and has several pictures and articles about John Barry and
his family. There is an article about June, who lives close by, it tells
about how moved she was by the music from 'Chaplin' when she heard it at the
recording sessions she attended. There is a family picture with John aged
about 16. There is also an article about 'Beyondness' and a picture of John
and June. There is piped classical music in the room and the ceilings are
high and the windows large and it was clear that Jack Prendergast was doing
well for himself when he and his family moved here. I sipped my beer and
took in the peaceful and gracious room that I guess may have been the main
living room. Next to it there is the 'Prendergast Room' which is similar but
does not have any pictures or articles.
I walked back to town and pondered on how many times Jack Prendergast had
driven down this road on his way to the Rialto.
It was time to go and I headed back to the station. On the train back to
London I reflected on how seeing these places had brought John's early life
into sharper focus, 'Memories of Childhood' means even more now. Add the
concert of Barry music and it had been a great couple of days. I had even
taken in a bus trip around York and revisited York Minster. At Kings Cross I
picked up a copy of 'Record Collector' with it's article and discography of
Barry from 1965. When I got home my copy of Goldfrapp's 'Felt Mountain CD
with several tracks sounding more like Barry than Barry, had arrived from
Amazon ………………………………………. .
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HeHe..... Somewhere in Time (theme variation) sounds like its right out of Octopussy. Sounds like Bond trying to seduce Kristina Wayborn. 
Strange. I hear no similarity.
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