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Stratford-upon-Avon (part one -trip there)

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Dean BedfordSep 21, 2007
 

 
Okay here's the big report on my trip to see a JAM live. I'll write in
four parts as there's a lot to say.

Note it was the second recording I'd witnessed - I saw Clement, Paul,
Ross Noble, Greg Proops and Sean Lock at Edinburgh in 2002.

So my friend Keith Matthews and I travelled to Stratford on the train
from London. We spotted a good seat and grabbed it. And who - entirely
coincidentally - should be seated at the seats beside us than Sir
Clement Freud and a young blonde woman?

I'm assuming most people know what Clement looks like. Last time I saw
him in 2002 he really was shaped like a bowling ball on legs, short and
fat. I think he has lost weight since then - he's still round but he
just didn't look quite so big. He is grey and bald and I guess he now
looks his age (mid 80s). He was dressed formidably and conservatively in
grey suit and tie.

I'm not sure what the relationship was with the woman friend, I don't
think she was in his family.

Keith and I (under our breaths) decided not to approach Clement - he is
well-known for being shy and avoiding the fans and not enjoying signing
autographs and the like. We did listen in to his conversation - we
couldn't avoid that as he was sitting about a metre away from me. As it
was just a private conversation I won't go into all the details, but
I'll instead try to give you a bit of an idea what he was like in person.

Firstly, although the woman was clearly very intelligent and all,
Clement dominates conversation. Not in that he talked more than she
did - his comments were terse as you might expect - but his views on
subjects tended to be the "final word". He would correct her on facts
from time to time, and was witty as he is on the radio in his succinct
sort of way. She clearly enjoyed the conversation, laughing a lot at his
remarks

He said he had been on holiday in Portugal and hadn't been all that
well, but was beginning to feel better.

She asked him a bit about JAM - she hadn't been to a recording before -
but it's here where I feel the veil should be drawn. She asked him about
various JAM stars and he gave fairly pungent but usually one-word
opinions on most of them. He did praise one player, and on another the
woman gushed about this occasional guest at some length, to which
Clement replied "mmmmm". He wasn't complimentary about some. But it did
come through that he loves playing the game a lot.

Amusingly, he was in the paper I was reading. The Conservative MP Ann
Widdecombe was appearing in a TV ad, something a sitting MP hadn't done
before and she mentioned Clement as a precedent. Clement appeared in a
series of ads for dog food in the 60s, but that was before he was a MP
which Clement pointed out in the article.

Clement and friend had brought what looked like a delicious picnic lunch
which they consumed on the train. It wasn't enough though, at one point
he went looking for the refreshments area, which long trains on Britain
usually have. This trip though was just for two and a half hours and
didn't have one.

At one point when we stopped at a station, a man got on holding an unlit
cigarette in his mouth, in the way people do when they are about to
light it. Now we all know how Clement hates smoking. The man sat behind
me and Clement where the woman could see but he couldn't. He asked the
woman if the man had lit the cigarette and she said "no he hasn't, but I
wouldn't tell you if he had, because you'd get up and make a scene!"

Now sadly my friend Keith became ill on the trip, and Clement and the
woman were very kind and helpful about it and actually gave up some of
their picnic so Keith had something to drink.

And the trip through the English countryside was beautiful...
Stratford-upon-Avon is in the English midlands and it was a delightful
start to the excursion.

 
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