I am impressed by the inside of Theatre Royal Nottingham which appeared to be to be better proportioned with more comfortable seating than its North East namesake although after the major refurbishment undertaken as part of the Newcastle Gateshead bid for the becoming a European City of Culture won by Liverpool, the Newcastle Theatre has a rich feel interior. I had a previously reported behind scenes tour of the theatre after the refurbishment. The outside of the Nottingham establishment is being renovated at the present time. The theatre is run by the City Council jointly with the adjacent music auditorium.
I had a two course meal in the theatre restaurant beforehand and which with a small glass of wine and coffee worked out at £21 a head another £4 for three courses. You can have olives or baked breads as a prelim if you do not want to rush to the first course or are waiting for other members of the party to arrive which the situation was noted at one of the dozen tables providing for between two and eight diners. The Appetizers included Whitebait which was tempting although I like these small fishes especially sprats wrapped in unhealthy crunchy batter. The Whitebait was served in a good heap with a tartar sauce. There was also soup and ciabatta bread, a Rillette of duck with a caramelized oranges and a mozzarella cheese and tomato salad with pesto oil.
I chose a Lamb shank in rosemary and recurrent jus with Lyonnais potatoes and season vegetables with the veg too crunchy for my taste but there were two piece of chunky lamb which was greatly enjoyed. Also available was chicken supreme in a creamy tarragon sauce with crushed new potatoes and seasonal veg, a Nile perch in fresh tomato salsa with a timbale of pepper rice and a Risotto of the day. Additional veg or a salad was available as side orders.
While the apple pie was tempting served warm with crème anglais and Gourmet ice Cream or sherry trifle. I settled for a Chocolate tart served with a white chocolate covered half strawberry. As this level of food goes and prepared for those with a Theatre show start it was neither the best or the worst encountered and being able to stroll over to good aisle seats in the dress circle after listening to a woman pianist gently playing tunes was a bonus, especially as the heavens opened outside as had been forecast and making an uncomfortable arrival for the majority.
My knowledge of the plays of William Shakespeare is no longer what it was during the years in which I attended the seasons of the Royal Shakespeare productions to Newcastle and visited Stratford twice. I also only have a vague memory of the 1988 production of the Taming of the Shrew at the Theatre Royal Newcastle although I remembered more the subject matter of play and the criticism which boiled over into understandable hostility on the part of feminists because in this version of the battle of the sexes the intended outcome in the subjugation of women by men which makes the play a clarion call for the Taliban. I have also seen the play at Oxford. Richard Burton and Elisabeth Taylor did a film version as Kiss Me Kate.
This year’s Royal Shakespeare Touring company production is a bawdy version with the actors speaking in the original English rather than the kind of Laurence Oliver pronounced Oxford.
Christopher Sly is fat, fatter than me, although this is not saying a lot and a drunkard with sexual ambitions and at the start of the play is thrown out of the alehouse scorned by a woman described as Hostess who is not inclined to invite him into her bed.
In the present production the woman director has chosen to use the rest of those in the alehouse to become the pack of hounds of an unnamed Lord and his huntsman who then encounter Sly in his stupor and hit on the idea of making an entertainment of him by removing his clothing and dressing him as the Lord and pretending that he has been deranged for over a decade in his bed. These kinds of devices are common to the Comedies. They also dress up a page to be his wife and who is told to express delight at having her husband seemingly restored to her. The disguise is so effective and Sly so drunk that he seeks his conjugal rights leading to a merry chase under the huge covering of the entire steeply slanted stage out into the auditorium.
It is at this point the Lord finds that there is alternative entertainment available as travelling players offer to give a performance of a play, The Taming of the Shrew with Sly and his “wife“ watching from different vantages points during the first half observed by the Lord from a box at the side. They disappear from significance until the end when Sly reverts to his former life.
The action of the play takes place in Padua, Italy. Hortensio can be described as a gold digger, Gremio is old and rich and Lucentio is new in town. All three men want to marry Bianca who initially appears beautiful and graceful. Her father Baptista Minola won't let anyone marry Bianca until someone marries her elder sister Katherina or Kate. Known as a shrew Kate is moody, fiery and has no desire to marry. In fact Bianca becomes something of a wanton as the play develops while Kate’s gestures match the sexuality of the language until eh end when they kinda switch roles.
Petruchio arrives in town and visits his good friend Hortensio. Petruchio's father has died and he is determined to marry any woman who is rich. He doesn't care how old she is or what she looks like. He is told of Kate and her fortune. Petruchio vows that he will marry her despite her reputation for “her scolding tongue.” He wants her fortune and the challenge of catching and taming her appeals to him.
At the Minolas' house Kate has tied her sister Bianca up and is making her cry with her vicious behaviour. Their father frees Bianca from Kate's bullying grasp. Kate accuses her father of loving Bianca more than he loves her. Kate is enraged that she will have to marry anyone who comes along just so that Bianca can have her dream wedding. She shouts at her father: 'I must dance bare-foot on her wedding day / And for your love to her lead apes in hell.'
Petruchio meets Baptista Minola who warns him that wooing his daughter Kate will be difficult. Petruchio assures him he is up to it. Meanwhile Hortensio poses as music tutor and goes in to teach both Kate and Bianca. The class does not last long, Kate swiftly smashes an instrument over Hortensio's head. Petruchio finds this encouraging: 'It is a lusty wench; / I love her ten times more than ever I did.'
Kate is brought to Petruchio. They have a fierce battle of words. He calls her a wasp. She replies: 'If I be waspish, best beware my sting.' Kate hits Petruchio who shouts: 'I swear I'll cuff you Katherina if you strike me again.'
Kate calls him 'one half lunatic'. He tells her they will marry on Sunday and she absolutely refuses and leaves. Both Hortensio and now Lucentio pretend to teach Bianca whilst they are really just desperate to spend time with her. Lucentio's servant Tranio pretends that he is Lucentio's master. The wedding day arrives. Kate waits for Petruchio but he is very late. Kate fears that he is going to stand her up on her wedding day. She feels abandoned and livid and hurt.
But when Petruchio arrives he is dressed like a tramp and rides an old horse and is everything that is the opposite of romantic. Kate is humiliated but he insists that love is not about clothes or image. They marry and then Kate tries to take Petruchio to the wedding feast but he refuses. He won't let her go to it either. Instead he drags her back to his home. Once they are in his house he starves her of food and sleep. He says she must become gentle and obedient before he will feed her.
He brings a tailor with a stylish dress but he finds fault and breaks into pieces. He gets her to say the sun is the moon and vice versa as a prelude to demanding complete obedience to his views and wishes
They travel to Padua to see her friends and family. Petruchio asks her for a kiss in the street and she does not object. Tranio persuades a visiting schoolteacher to pretend that he is Lucentio's father Vicentio. He will assure Bianca's father of Lucentio's wealth. Now the real Vicentio turns up. But Lucentio and Bianca still get married and are very happy. Hortensio marries a wealthy widow. Petruchio and Kate come back to town. Petruchio.
The play culminates in a bet between the husbands about their control of their wives. Hortensio and Lucentio have a bet on whose wife is the most obedient and wager a hundred crowns on it. Kate wins the contest and everyone sees that she is a changed woman. Kate lectures the other wives on obedience. And so the Shrew is tamed.
There is some humour in the work for those who like bawdiness and it can be argued that this is a work about the power of sexuality which both sexes use to try and conquer and control each other. As a statement about the role of wives it is appalling and to be condemned. The acting as one expects by the RSC is of the highest standards
I was able to watch Sunderland at Everton live on the Saturday lunchtime quarterfinal of the FA Cup. Sunderland have not had a good record playing Everton in Cup games or playing Everton in general. I was therefore apprehensive about the outcome.
For first fifteen minuets Sunderland dominated play with Everton seeming unsettled. Phil Bardsley scored the first goal with a powerful free kick at 12 mins. Goodison Park remains one of the original grounds similar to Anfield and West Ham where the supporters feel close to the play, the sense of being on top of it with steep side stands thus creating a tremendous atmosphere unlike that which has developed at the Emirates, Stamford Bridge, the Stadium of Light and St James, and the two Manchester grounds where getting the roar mighty and the ground rocking has become challenging.
The manager of Everton is celebrating ten years in charge and along with the Managers of Arsenal and Manchester United are the only managers to have survived more than a decade with the same club. There is therefore added incentive to round of his season with some silverware, something which has eluded throughout his time. The Sunderland manager has several trophies in his personal cabinet but not the FA Cup so that both Managers and clubs knew that upon this result the rest of the season depended. It was therefore not surprising that Everton were unwilling to surrender and Tim Cahill equalised on the 23rd mins and after this Everton looked the more likely to win. Towards the finals minutes Sunderland goal keeper Mignolet made a brilliant leap to prevent the ball dipping under the bat into the net and then rose quickly from the ground to parry the next shot delivered quickly at him. While the saves will not be remembered in the same way as those of Jim Montgomery when Sunderland won the cup in 1973 his performance was better and could still become a legend if the team is able to progress. The scoreline remained 1.1 and therefore the teams will replay the game next week.
I had hoped that if they progressed the Wembley Semi Final would be held the weekend that I was in London for the cricket game between Durham and Middlesex at Lords. Alas it is the weekend before. An omen? But of what kind? If they win they will play Liverpool in the semi. I have been to three Cup Finals, two in two years which Newcastle losing both and once for the contest between Liverpool and Wimbledon where I went along as a Wimbledon supporter and they won by the only goal.
Sunderland were away at Blackburn on Tuesday evening and need at least a draw to keep their position in the top half of the table as a number of teams are now catching up with seven teams within three points of each other. Alas they had their worst performance since Martin O’Neil became manager in part because of giving so much on the Saturday and also because key players are missing from suspension. They lost 2.0 and eased Blackburn’s relegation worries in so doing.
I was out a theatre when an event occurred during the game between Tottenham and Bolton which was then abandoned just before the half time. The Bolton midfield player aged 23 years Patrice Muamba had a cardiac arrest and has been in a critical condition ever since. He is in the specialist chest hospital in London which takes care of those whose hearts having stopped but have been restarted. They have reduced the previous death rate by half although in the present instance he is still in critical care although he was able to move his arms and legs under his own control and to speak during to day asking to see his three year old son. Bolton were due to play tonight but the game has been postponed. Liverpool beat Stoke 2.1 and Chelsea Leicester 5.2. Bolton had been drawing 1.1 when the game was abandoned.
I watched the highlights of the Newcastle game at home against Norwich. They should have put the result beyond doubt with several chances in addition to the first class volley by Cisse at 11 minutes. The goal keeper made some excellent save. Norwich had a much better game in the second half and also had their chances. Newcastle still have a chance of making a European spot but need to displace Chelsea in the table unless Chelsea go onto win the Champions League and release the available place for one of chasing group which Newcastle lead 5 points ahead of Liverpool who have a game in hand with Swansea 8 point behind on the same number of points.
As previously mentioned Sky have introduced a Formula 1 racing channel although it was the BBC recording of the Australian Grand Prix that I watched on Sunday in which The UK’s Jason Button won after making a great dash for the first corner to get ahead of his team mate and also former World Champion Lewis Hamilton. There was a good prospect for a one two for the McLaren Mercedes team but an accident and the appearance of the Safety car resulted in current World Champion Sebastian Vettel taking the second spot with the consequence that the UK team ended the day only 10 points clear of their rivals 40 -30 instead of 43-27.
Warrington were playing on Sunday, they are on TV again this coming weekend on Friday .as are Newcastle on Sunday at 4 and they scraped home 32 30 after trailing a fighting Wakefield Trinity for most of the game and who are anchored with only 2 points with three others at the bottom of the table. Warrington were desperate for the win after the loss the previous week against Leeds. They remained second in the table to inform Huddersfield but there are several teams able to take a commanding lead at the top if they can get a good run of wins together,
I enjoyed a roast chicken meal on Sunday and again on Monday lunchtime with apple pie and custard on both occasions to follow and a little red wine on the Sunday.
I did not view this week’s episode of Inspector Montalbano until returning home which may have been called the Artist’s Touch and which involved the relationship between two brothers where there was bad blood arising form an accident 30 years before and a dispute between the young men over the affections of a girl. The girl had gown up with the young men and the trio had become inseparable.
The episode begins two years after the teacher who lives in the same beach side town as Montalbano and who nearly commenced an affair with her after she became a person to provide assistance in a case. She visits her aunt and sees smoke coming from the workshop of a goldsmith who is one of the brothers. There she finds that he appears to have committed suicide in an elaborately created electrical execution which also set his workshop on fire. She had some contact with the man who she always found kind and interesting and with a positive outlook despite being confined to a wheel chair in his large house which he had acquired with his inheritance. By coincidence Montalbano’s mistress at a distance also knew the Goldsmith from whom she bought a piece of jewellery each year. On hearing of his death she visits for the funeral.
They attend the funeral at what appears to be a clear case of suicide. The first of two witnesses appear to confirm that a fast moving vehicle left the premises in the early hours injuring the leg of an animal where its owner is an insomniac and who had gone for one of his regular cannot get to sleep walks. The vehicle is subsequently established as that of the man’s brother, a physics teacher who teaching in class we overhear before the arrival of the Inspector to arrest him saying significantly- Every action has a reaction. And that the reaction often occurs when you least expect.
The man appears not to be surprised when the police arrive but quietly states that he did not kill his brother. The evidence against him appears to be a hand written Will leaving everything to him but is proved to a fake. It is then established that material used for the death was sent to the address of the brother or ordered by him (I am not clear about this aspect) but the combination of various pieces of evidence suggested an elaborate murder including that the brother had not received any inheritance from his father and appeared to have become short of money.
However having first persuaded the judge that it was murder and not suicide Montalbano now attempts to establish that it was not murder but a clever suicide to blame the brother. The first major clue is that the hand written Will was not necessary as the brother was always going to inherit the estate of his brother and vice versa something worked out with the family lawyer years before when neither brother married or had children. Similarly the decision to pass the parental inheritance to the invalid brother had been decided years beforehand.
According to the housekeeper who did not live in but had been with the Goldsmith for some thirty years since his move away from the family home, the Goldsmith has become disabled in a riding accident when he had fallen down some steps from an out building in the grounds of he family home and where it was alleged he had been pushed following a quarrel over the girl who was seen in one instance kissing both men at the same time. He had received a visitor a few times over recent months, someone she did not kno. It remains unclear if one brother pushed the other or the injured brother developed he belief that he had been pushed and that his accident prevented the relationship with the girl.
In fact she had married someone different, a wealthy man but within the past year she had become a widow. She attended the funeral in the presence of the surviving brother but he had given up interest in her after the accident although he had remained strong in his feelings for her.
Running alongside this investigation his deputy has an unsolved murder of an electrician on his hands and although I immediate suspected there was a link given that the Goldsmith had been electrocuted. I was right but wrong on the connection!
The deputy is puzzled by the fact that the electrician appears to be making several visits to some of the households visited and that his income appears to be greatly in excess of his business interests. It becomes evident that the man was a loan shark but none of the victims appear willing to admit their involvement until Montalbano recognises a woman sitting in the office of the deputy as the woman who has a girl played fast and loose with the affections of the brothers.
At the home of the suicide he discovers and album of photos with his brother removed from anywhere the girl was also present. He had first visited the abandoned family home with the family lawyer to identify sites in the photos to confirm the site where the accident happened. The woman admits that she had borrowed money from the loan shark in order to pay some of her husband’s debts on the maintenance of the house and that her former friend had helped her and they had become reacquainted.
It is when Montalbano takes his mistress to the home of the Goldsmith and sees that it has already been rented out and that a TV aerial is being fitted that he works out the truth of what happened. A witness passing the property in the evening had heard shouts suggesting a row between two male voices. In this respect the surviving brother had lied because he had explained the row as an incident in a television programme. However Montalbano had found out that the man did not watch live TV but videos. There was no aerial at the property. Therefore there must have been a row.
The teacher admits that his had heard from his brother a few months before after no contacts for over a decade. However when he visited the brother had admitted that that he maintained a grudge for what having happened saying that the man had ruined his life in terms of the accident and the love of his life. However he had not killed his brother who had attempted the elaborate suicide to gain revenge.
I cannot remember the reason for the contact between the brother and the woman but this is where the plot thickens and the connection with the loan shark electrician is made! When Montalbano undertook a detailed examination of the property of the Goldsmith he had noted a gun and a box of cartridges registered to the dead man. It would have been just as easy to have shot the brother and made this look a suicide that the elaborate creation of an electric chair.
What emerged is that the teacher had taken the gun and used it to kill the electrician thus ending the debt for the woman, and in fact the man’s torment of his other victims, and had returned the weapon to the house and left as had been witnessed but without discovering his brother’s suicide, with the circuit shortening and the fire commencing only later. Indeed there had been a reaction when he had least expected.
As with every episode the relationship between Montalbano and his mistress is always bubbling up from under the surface. In this instance his encounter with the woman who live sin his neighbourhood has its impact but it is solving the case that potentially harms his relationship with the mistress when on their way to a holiday he calls in at the police station and becomes so involved that he forgets he has left her sitting in his car. Previously he had left her at the bus terminus waiting for him to be collected, having previously said he would collect her at the airport. He returns home to find her asleep waiting for him on the veranda waiting to serve him the meal she has prepared. He wakes her and begs her not to berate him until the morning.
I had a two course meal in the theatre restaurant beforehand and which with a small glass of wine and coffee worked out at £21 a head another £4 for three courses. You can have olives or baked breads as a prelim if you do not want to rush to the first course or are waiting for other members of the party to arrive which the situation was noted at one of the dozen tables providing for between two and eight diners. The Appetizers included Whitebait which was tempting although I like these small fishes especially sprats wrapped in unhealthy crunchy batter. The Whitebait was served in a good heap with a tartar sauce. There was also soup and ciabatta bread, a Rillette of duck with a caramelized oranges and a mozzarella cheese and tomato salad with pesto oil.
I chose a Lamb shank in rosemary and recurrent jus with Lyonnais potatoes and season vegetables with the veg too crunchy for my taste but there were two piece of chunky lamb which was greatly enjoyed. Also available was chicken supreme in a creamy tarragon sauce with crushed new potatoes and seasonal veg, a Nile perch in fresh tomato salsa with a timbale of pepper rice and a Risotto of the day. Additional veg or a salad was available as side orders.
While the apple pie was tempting served warm with crème anglais and Gourmet ice Cream or sherry trifle. I settled for a Chocolate tart served with a white chocolate covered half strawberry. As this level of food goes and prepared for those with a Theatre show start it was neither the best or the worst encountered and being able to stroll over to good aisle seats in the dress circle after listening to a woman pianist gently playing tunes was a bonus, especially as the heavens opened outside as had been forecast and making an uncomfortable arrival for the majority.
My knowledge of the plays of William Shakespeare is no longer what it was during the years in which I attended the seasons of the Royal Shakespeare productions to Newcastle and visited Stratford twice. I also only have a vague memory of the 1988 production of the Taming of the Shrew at the Theatre Royal Newcastle although I remembered more the subject matter of play and the criticism which boiled over into understandable hostility on the part of feminists because in this version of the battle of the sexes the intended outcome in the subjugation of women by men which makes the play a clarion call for the Taliban. I have also seen the play at Oxford. Richard Burton and Elisabeth Taylor did a film version as Kiss Me Kate.
This year’s Royal Shakespeare Touring company production is a bawdy version with the actors speaking in the original English rather than the kind of Laurence Oliver pronounced Oxford.
Christopher Sly is fat, fatter than me, although this is not saying a lot and a drunkard with sexual ambitions and at the start of the play is thrown out of the alehouse scorned by a woman described as Hostess who is not inclined to invite him into her bed.
In the present production the woman director has chosen to use the rest of those in the alehouse to become the pack of hounds of an unnamed Lord and his huntsman who then encounter Sly in his stupor and hit on the idea of making an entertainment of him by removing his clothing and dressing him as the Lord and pretending that he has been deranged for over a decade in his bed. These kinds of devices are common to the Comedies. They also dress up a page to be his wife and who is told to express delight at having her husband seemingly restored to her. The disguise is so effective and Sly so drunk that he seeks his conjugal rights leading to a merry chase under the huge covering of the entire steeply slanted stage out into the auditorium.
It is at this point the Lord finds that there is alternative entertainment available as travelling players offer to give a performance of a play, The Taming of the Shrew with Sly and his “wife“ watching from different vantages points during the first half observed by the Lord from a box at the side. They disappear from significance until the end when Sly reverts to his former life.
The action of the play takes place in Padua, Italy. Hortensio can be described as a gold digger, Gremio is old and rich and Lucentio is new in town. All three men want to marry Bianca who initially appears beautiful and graceful. Her father Baptista Minola won't let anyone marry Bianca until someone marries her elder sister Katherina or Kate. Known as a shrew Kate is moody, fiery and has no desire to marry. In fact Bianca becomes something of a wanton as the play develops while Kate’s gestures match the sexuality of the language until eh end when they kinda switch roles.
Petruchio arrives in town and visits his good friend Hortensio. Petruchio's father has died and he is determined to marry any woman who is rich. He doesn't care how old she is or what she looks like. He is told of Kate and her fortune. Petruchio vows that he will marry her despite her reputation for “her scolding tongue.” He wants her fortune and the challenge of catching and taming her appeals to him.
At the Minolas' house Kate has tied her sister Bianca up and is making her cry with her vicious behaviour. Their father frees Bianca from Kate's bullying grasp. Kate accuses her father of loving Bianca more than he loves her. Kate is enraged that she will have to marry anyone who comes along just so that Bianca can have her dream wedding. She shouts at her father: 'I must dance bare-foot on her wedding day / And for your love to her lead apes in hell.'
Petruchio meets Baptista Minola who warns him that wooing his daughter Kate will be difficult. Petruchio assures him he is up to it. Meanwhile Hortensio poses as music tutor and goes in to teach both Kate and Bianca. The class does not last long, Kate swiftly smashes an instrument over Hortensio's head. Petruchio finds this encouraging: 'It is a lusty wench; / I love her ten times more than ever I did.'
Kate is brought to Petruchio. They have a fierce battle of words. He calls her a wasp. She replies: 'If I be waspish, best beware my sting.' Kate hits Petruchio who shouts: 'I swear I'll cuff you Katherina if you strike me again.'
Kate calls him 'one half lunatic'. He tells her they will marry on Sunday and she absolutely refuses and leaves. Both Hortensio and now Lucentio pretend to teach Bianca whilst they are really just desperate to spend time with her. Lucentio's servant Tranio pretends that he is Lucentio's master. The wedding day arrives. Kate waits for Petruchio but he is very late. Kate fears that he is going to stand her up on her wedding day. She feels abandoned and livid and hurt.
But when Petruchio arrives he is dressed like a tramp and rides an old horse and is everything that is the opposite of romantic. Kate is humiliated but he insists that love is not about clothes or image. They marry and then Kate tries to take Petruchio to the wedding feast but he refuses. He won't let her go to it either. Instead he drags her back to his home. Once they are in his house he starves her of food and sleep. He says she must become gentle and obedient before he will feed her.
He brings a tailor with a stylish dress but he finds fault and breaks into pieces. He gets her to say the sun is the moon and vice versa as a prelude to demanding complete obedience to his views and wishes
They travel to Padua to see her friends and family. Petruchio asks her for a kiss in the street and she does not object. Tranio persuades a visiting schoolteacher to pretend that he is Lucentio's father Vicentio. He will assure Bianca's father of Lucentio's wealth. Now the real Vicentio turns up. But Lucentio and Bianca still get married and are very happy. Hortensio marries a wealthy widow. Petruchio and Kate come back to town. Petruchio.
The play culminates in a bet between the husbands about their control of their wives. Hortensio and Lucentio have a bet on whose wife is the most obedient and wager a hundred crowns on it. Kate wins the contest and everyone sees that she is a changed woman. Kate lectures the other wives on obedience. And so the Shrew is tamed.
There is some humour in the work for those who like bawdiness and it can be argued that this is a work about the power of sexuality which both sexes use to try and conquer and control each other. As a statement about the role of wives it is appalling and to be condemned. The acting as one expects by the RSC is of the highest standards
I was able to watch Sunderland at Everton live on the Saturday lunchtime quarterfinal of the FA Cup. Sunderland have not had a good record playing Everton in Cup games or playing Everton in general. I was therefore apprehensive about the outcome.
For first fifteen minuets Sunderland dominated play with Everton seeming unsettled. Phil Bardsley scored the first goal with a powerful free kick at 12 mins. Goodison Park remains one of the original grounds similar to Anfield and West Ham where the supporters feel close to the play, the sense of being on top of it with steep side stands thus creating a tremendous atmosphere unlike that which has developed at the Emirates, Stamford Bridge, the Stadium of Light and St James, and the two Manchester grounds where getting the roar mighty and the ground rocking has become challenging.
The manager of Everton is celebrating ten years in charge and along with the Managers of Arsenal and Manchester United are the only managers to have survived more than a decade with the same club. There is therefore added incentive to round of his season with some silverware, something which has eluded throughout his time. The Sunderland manager has several trophies in his personal cabinet but not the FA Cup so that both Managers and clubs knew that upon this result the rest of the season depended. It was therefore not surprising that Everton were unwilling to surrender and Tim Cahill equalised on the 23rd mins and after this Everton looked the more likely to win. Towards the finals minutes Sunderland goal keeper Mignolet made a brilliant leap to prevent the ball dipping under the bat into the net and then rose quickly from the ground to parry the next shot delivered quickly at him. While the saves will not be remembered in the same way as those of Jim Montgomery when Sunderland won the cup in 1973 his performance was better and could still become a legend if the team is able to progress. The scoreline remained 1.1 and therefore the teams will replay the game next week.
I had hoped that if they progressed the Wembley Semi Final would be held the weekend that I was in London for the cricket game between Durham and Middlesex at Lords. Alas it is the weekend before. An omen? But of what kind? If they win they will play Liverpool in the semi. I have been to three Cup Finals, two in two years which Newcastle losing both and once for the contest between Liverpool and Wimbledon where I went along as a Wimbledon supporter and they won by the only goal.
Sunderland were away at Blackburn on Tuesday evening and need at least a draw to keep their position in the top half of the table as a number of teams are now catching up with seven teams within three points of each other. Alas they had their worst performance since Martin O’Neil became manager in part because of giving so much on the Saturday and also because key players are missing from suspension. They lost 2.0 and eased Blackburn’s relegation worries in so doing.
I was out a theatre when an event occurred during the game between Tottenham and Bolton which was then abandoned just before the half time. The Bolton midfield player aged 23 years Patrice Muamba had a cardiac arrest and has been in a critical condition ever since. He is in the specialist chest hospital in London which takes care of those whose hearts having stopped but have been restarted. They have reduced the previous death rate by half although in the present instance he is still in critical care although he was able to move his arms and legs under his own control and to speak during to day asking to see his three year old son. Bolton were due to play tonight but the game has been postponed. Liverpool beat Stoke 2.1 and Chelsea Leicester 5.2. Bolton had been drawing 1.1 when the game was abandoned.
I watched the highlights of the Newcastle game at home against Norwich. They should have put the result beyond doubt with several chances in addition to the first class volley by Cisse at 11 minutes. The goal keeper made some excellent save. Norwich had a much better game in the second half and also had their chances. Newcastle still have a chance of making a European spot but need to displace Chelsea in the table unless Chelsea go onto win the Champions League and release the available place for one of chasing group which Newcastle lead 5 points ahead of Liverpool who have a game in hand with Swansea 8 point behind on the same number of points.
As previously mentioned Sky have introduced a Formula 1 racing channel although it was the BBC recording of the Australian Grand Prix that I watched on Sunday in which The UK’s Jason Button won after making a great dash for the first corner to get ahead of his team mate and also former World Champion Lewis Hamilton. There was a good prospect for a one two for the McLaren Mercedes team but an accident and the appearance of the Safety car resulted in current World Champion Sebastian Vettel taking the second spot with the consequence that the UK team ended the day only 10 points clear of their rivals 40 -30 instead of 43-27.
Warrington were playing on Sunday, they are on TV again this coming weekend on Friday .as are Newcastle on Sunday at 4 and they scraped home 32 30 after trailing a fighting Wakefield Trinity for most of the game and who are anchored with only 2 points with three others at the bottom of the table. Warrington were desperate for the win after the loss the previous week against Leeds. They remained second in the table to inform Huddersfield but there are several teams able to take a commanding lead at the top if they can get a good run of wins together,
I enjoyed a roast chicken meal on Sunday and again on Monday lunchtime with apple pie and custard on both occasions to follow and a little red wine on the Sunday.
I did not view this week’s episode of Inspector Montalbano until returning home which may have been called the Artist’s Touch and which involved the relationship between two brothers where there was bad blood arising form an accident 30 years before and a dispute between the young men over the affections of a girl. The girl had gown up with the young men and the trio had become inseparable.
The episode begins two years after the teacher who lives in the same beach side town as Montalbano and who nearly commenced an affair with her after she became a person to provide assistance in a case. She visits her aunt and sees smoke coming from the workshop of a goldsmith who is one of the brothers. There she finds that he appears to have committed suicide in an elaborately created electrical execution which also set his workshop on fire. She had some contact with the man who she always found kind and interesting and with a positive outlook despite being confined to a wheel chair in his large house which he had acquired with his inheritance. By coincidence Montalbano’s mistress at a distance also knew the Goldsmith from whom she bought a piece of jewellery each year. On hearing of his death she visits for the funeral.
They attend the funeral at what appears to be a clear case of suicide. The first of two witnesses appear to confirm that a fast moving vehicle left the premises in the early hours injuring the leg of an animal where its owner is an insomniac and who had gone for one of his regular cannot get to sleep walks. The vehicle is subsequently established as that of the man’s brother, a physics teacher who teaching in class we overhear before the arrival of the Inspector to arrest him saying significantly- Every action has a reaction. And that the reaction often occurs when you least expect.
The man appears not to be surprised when the police arrive but quietly states that he did not kill his brother. The evidence against him appears to be a hand written Will leaving everything to him but is proved to a fake. It is then established that material used for the death was sent to the address of the brother or ordered by him (I am not clear about this aspect) but the combination of various pieces of evidence suggested an elaborate murder including that the brother had not received any inheritance from his father and appeared to have become short of money.
However having first persuaded the judge that it was murder and not suicide Montalbano now attempts to establish that it was not murder but a clever suicide to blame the brother. The first major clue is that the hand written Will was not necessary as the brother was always going to inherit the estate of his brother and vice versa something worked out with the family lawyer years before when neither brother married or had children. Similarly the decision to pass the parental inheritance to the invalid brother had been decided years beforehand.
According to the housekeeper who did not live in but had been with the Goldsmith for some thirty years since his move away from the family home, the Goldsmith has become disabled in a riding accident when he had fallen down some steps from an out building in the grounds of he family home and where it was alleged he had been pushed following a quarrel over the girl who was seen in one instance kissing both men at the same time. He had received a visitor a few times over recent months, someone she did not kno. It remains unclear if one brother pushed the other or the injured brother developed he belief that he had been pushed and that his accident prevented the relationship with the girl.
In fact she had married someone different, a wealthy man but within the past year she had become a widow. She attended the funeral in the presence of the surviving brother but he had given up interest in her after the accident although he had remained strong in his feelings for her.
Running alongside this investigation his deputy has an unsolved murder of an electrician on his hands and although I immediate suspected there was a link given that the Goldsmith had been electrocuted. I was right but wrong on the connection!
The deputy is puzzled by the fact that the electrician appears to be making several visits to some of the households visited and that his income appears to be greatly in excess of his business interests. It becomes evident that the man was a loan shark but none of the victims appear willing to admit their involvement until Montalbano recognises a woman sitting in the office of the deputy as the woman who has a girl played fast and loose with the affections of the brothers.
At the home of the suicide he discovers and album of photos with his brother removed from anywhere the girl was also present. He had first visited the abandoned family home with the family lawyer to identify sites in the photos to confirm the site where the accident happened. The woman admits that she had borrowed money from the loan shark in order to pay some of her husband’s debts on the maintenance of the house and that her former friend had helped her and they had become reacquainted.
It is when Montalbano takes his mistress to the home of the Goldsmith and sees that it has already been rented out and that a TV aerial is being fitted that he works out the truth of what happened. A witness passing the property in the evening had heard shouts suggesting a row between two male voices. In this respect the surviving brother had lied because he had explained the row as an incident in a television programme. However Montalbano had found out that the man did not watch live TV but videos. There was no aerial at the property. Therefore there must have been a row.
The teacher admits that his had heard from his brother a few months before after no contacts for over a decade. However when he visited the brother had admitted that that he maintained a grudge for what having happened saying that the man had ruined his life in terms of the accident and the love of his life. However he had not killed his brother who had attempted the elaborate suicide to gain revenge.
I cannot remember the reason for the contact between the brother and the woman but this is where the plot thickens and the connection with the loan shark electrician is made! When Montalbano undertook a detailed examination of the property of the Goldsmith he had noted a gun and a box of cartridges registered to the dead man. It would have been just as easy to have shot the brother and made this look a suicide that the elaborate creation of an electric chair.
What emerged is that the teacher had taken the gun and used it to kill the electrician thus ending the debt for the woman, and in fact the man’s torment of his other victims, and had returned the weapon to the house and left as had been witnessed but without discovering his brother’s suicide, with the circuit shortening and the fire commencing only later. Indeed there had been a reaction when he had least expected.
As with every episode the relationship between Montalbano and his mistress is always bubbling up from under the surface. In this instance his encounter with the woman who live sin his neighbourhood has its impact but it is solving the case that potentially harms his relationship with the mistress when on their way to a holiday he calls in at the police station and becomes so involved that he forgets he has left her sitting in his car. Previously he had left her at the bus terminus waiting for him to be collected, having previously said he would collect her at the airport. He returns home to find her asleep waiting for him on the veranda waiting to serve him the meal she has prepared. He wakes her and begs her not to berate him until the morning.
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