Alphabet associations - I

[Anna]

I'm still not clear about J...

Nor am I, but I didn't like to ask (being a very Shrinking Violet who don't speak unless spoken to and, if I don't get it, well, it makes me look fairly twp don't it?)

[rubbernecker]

Oh, rubbers went to Whitby? You know, I would never have had him down as a Goth! The things you learn on AA

The funny thing was, the town was positively teeming with Goths all weekend, it being Bram Stoker's birthday or something. I thought the sunshine would have kept them all at bay, but no. Every pub, every chippie, all along the seafront and especially the graveyard on the hill, there they were. They kept leering at my car which freaked me out a bit, but then I realised that because it's a large black estate with blacked-out windows they thought it was the nearest thing to a hearse and therefore uber-cool.

Did you go anywhere near N. Yorks, Anna, or was it Co. Durham?

I must try and finish off this J...

[Angle]

J hasn't been completed but has been overtaken by talk about cakes. I fear that stomachs come first today.

rubbernecker almost finished it but was wrong on one point:

A little while ago, I posted :

Philip Jones is correct for the first
Keith Jarrett is incorrect for the second
Harpsichord is correct but who played one as well as being better known for another instrument? Who he ?
Sir Peter Jonas is correct for the third but I should have mentioned that one was an odd man out. Sorry.

So all we need is the harpsichord connection.

[Angle]

To help you on your way:

"The son of a minister, he studied at Caterham School, in Surrey, and was subsequently a Sterndale Bennett Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music. He volunteered for service in the Second World War but was rejected on the grounds of poor health. Determined to "do his bit", he made his debut as a harpsichordist in 1940 at one of Dame Myra Hess's National Gallery concerts, where he continued to appear on a regular basis until 1944. He soon became known as a virtuoso.

Immediately after the war, he launched into a series of concerts performing the complete organ works of Bach in London. This was a composer to whom he returned a decade later at the Festival Hall, but to a mixed reaction."

Further, he conducted his own orchestra.

[Nick Armstrong]

They kept leering at my car which freaked me out a bit

Are you sure they hadn't just caught sight of you at the wheel? You had been ill after all, maybe you looked a little undead?

[Norfolk Born]

Is it J S Bach's little-known, and criminally underrated, Jammy Dodger Suite? (Sorry, couldn't resist it).

[Nick Armstrong]

I was thinking more of the Battenburg Concertos...

[rubbernecker]

To help you on your way:

"The son of a minister, he studied at Caterham School, in Surrey, and was subsequently a Sterndale Bennett Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music. He volunteered for service in the Second World War but was rejected on the grounds of poor health. Determined to "do his bit", he made his debut as a harpsichordist in 1940 at one of Dame Myra Hess's National Gallery concerts, where he continued to appear on a regular basis until 1944. He soon became known as a virtuoso.

Immediately after the war, he launched into a series of concerts performing the complete organ works of Bach in London. This was a composer to whom he returned a decade later at the Festival Hall, but to a mixed reaction."

Further, he conducted his own orchestra.

Is this Leslie Jones? I toyed with him earlier on, too...

[Angle]

That seems to be a possibility, Ofcachap, but with everyone else's mouths full, interest has waned somewhat.

Lunchtime is over, people. Back to work. 't mill will go out of business if we don't get on with it (to misquote Nat Mills and Bobby).

[Norfolk Born]

Boom!Boom! (But where's the 'J' ?) Did people who attended Dame Myra's concerts perhaps eat Jaffa Cakes?
EDIT: I should have made clear that this was in response to Caliban's #4413. I'm not sure to which message from me Angle's #4415 refers. Time we all stopped being so 'silly, silly, silly' (Graham Chapman) and behaved properly.

[Angle]

Jon*s (Jones and Jonas), yes.

The subject died in 1998.

[Anna]

. They kept leering at my car which freaked me out a bit, but then I realised that because it's a large black estate with blacked-out windows they thought it was the nearest thing to a hearse and therefore uber-cool

Dead cool!! Driving a hearse through Whitby, wonderful. Actually, blacked out windows is a bit Naff, is it not? How does that go down in Wales?

[Angle]

I feel a pain growing in my brain with the thought of Dame Myra even knowing about Jaffa Cakes. You'll be saying next she knew a few Jammy Dodgers.

There are just three minutes left to get the second element and then I shall hand over to rubbernecker for K.

[Angle]

Time's up.


A true Welshman in manner and character, Jones forever had a twinkle in his eye and had a mischievous sense of humour. He adored smart cars, pretty women, and parties, where he was a shrewd people watcher. He retained a large and assorted circle of friends until the very end of his life.

Geraint Iwan Jones, musician: born Porth, Glamorgan 16 May 1917; FRAM 1954; Professor, Royal Academy of Music 1961-88; married 1940 M.A. Kemp (one daughter), 1949 Winifred Roberts; died London 3 May 1998.

And I thought that was going to be a quickie.

Now it's my turn to watch Waking the Dead.

Over to rubbernecker for K: Good luck, r.

[rubbernecker]

There are just three minutes left to get the second element and then I shall hand over to rubbernecker for K.

Sir Geraint? A harpsichordist! Well, I never...