Live Event
The largest crowd of the day will be at Twickenham for Wasps v Bath on Saturday (5pm kick-off) for what will be a decider for both clubs as the winner is likely to qualify for Europe. Ticket sales have topped 55,000 and if the weather stays good expect this to climb to 65,000 – 10,000 or so short of the record 76,716 for the Quins v Wasps (20-21) game just after Christmas.
If you’ve never been to a rugby match have no fears, bring the family, dine out in the South Stand and cheer for both sides. Take the tube, overground or train to Richmond and then the special buses now waiting on the main road to the right (no longer opposite the station) or take the train from Waterloo or Clapham Junction to Twickenham and walk. Network Rail deserves the Coat of Paint gold medal for the lack of any acknowledgement of rugby at Twickenham station – not even an England flag.
Tip: The side which win the lineouts tends to win the game; possession has become even more important in the modern era which is why it is odd some many threequarters spend so much time playing aerial tennis and losing the ball in the process.
Tickets: www.rfu.com
Film
Unless you are catching up with the
The Blind Side, Shutter Island, Lourdes or
I Am Love (
lo sono l’amore), the only film in town is Roman Polanski’s
The Ghost Writer from Robert Harris’ book of the same name. Philip French’s essay in
The Observer last Sunday said it all though given it is largely set in Martha’s Vineyard he might have commented on its importance in the political firmament. I thought it would have worked better if it had been shot in black and white.
In case you haven’t caught the publicity, the film is about a past British PM trapped by events which happened under his watch. These sit alongside his current world ramblings where he only has to smile to make $200,000.
There were two outstanding performances from Ewan McGregor as the ghost writer and Olivia Williams as "Ruth" (Cherie Blair).
iPhone App: FLIXSTER has Box Office: Cinemas: Highlights: Maps: Upcoming: DVD: Virtual Popcorn & Under arm deodorants.
Book
Dilly: The Man Who Broke Enigmas by Mavis Batey (dialogue)
By and large we think of Bletchley Park and WW2 as the domain of Alan Turing... well this wonderful doesn't debunk this and nor should it, but it does make the case rightly that Tilly was our greatest breaker of codes in the 20th century since he had history in both WW1, between the wars and WW2. But no peerage or knighthood for a man who frankly saved the nation. Should we be surprised?
Away Day
Fancy a champagne breakfast? Fancy a fast drive into God’s own county? Fancy meeting him in one of the great cathedrals in the world? Well why not take the train to Canterbury? There are plenty of offers; you travel on the new hi-speedo from St Panc and when you see the sun-tanned cathedral rising out of the earth you’ll gasp. There are plenty of first class restaurants and one of the picks ought to be The Goods Shed
www.goodsshed.net which has an indoor farmer’s market and a restaurant which tends to buy its produce from, you’ve guessed, the downstairs market, so it couldn’t be fresher. Heaven.
Restaurant
The Greenhouse* in Mayfair was one of those restaurants I used to frequent when a board member and publisher at William Heinemann in the mid to late 80s when we were an adjunct to the grotesquely designed US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. I remember the day when Muscadet-sur-Maine was the Pinot Grigio of its day until usurped by Sancerre and when Perrier made its debut as the only bottled water in the land. My how the landscape has changed and my how The Greenhouse has been revitalised.
Try a lazy lunch (Monday-Friday) and if you keep to the set menu you might have change out of £30 (x2) but you'll lose it all on the wine roulette! The chef is Antonin Bonnet (Lyon). There is a stunning wine list put together by Alexandre Ceret - no wonder they are one of only four restaurants to win the Wine Spectator Grand Award every year since 2005 so enjoy and do try the Montalcino but probably best to have secured a mortgage first! Weekends: only Saturday and only Supper....
The "MARC" owners also have interests elsewhere in London, New York, Boston and Greenwich, CT.
www.greenhouserestaurant.co.uk
www.umurestaurant.com (Bruton Place, London W1J 6LX)
A Voce Madison & A Voce Columbus www.avocerestaurant.com (NY)
www.bistrodumidi.com (Boston) & www.morellobistro.com (Greenwich, CT)
Enjoy and write and tell me what your own Take 5 would be.