The American Issue 720 April 2013 by Blue Edge Publishing Ltd.

April 2013

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EATING OUT • SPORT WHAT’S ON • POLITICS MUSIC • REVIEWS ARTS CHOICE

The American interview: Gavin Creel

The Book of Mormon Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz chats with The American Familiar faces in new places... catch our MLB Preview PLUS: OUR EXCLUSIVE US/UK ORGANIZATIONS GUIDE

Free to Read in Print or On Screen Every issue of the magazine now available online... IN PRINT: Pick a copy up from (among other places):  The US Embassy in London and US Consulates  The United/Continental and Virgin clubhouses at Heathrow  Hotels around the UK  The American Museum in Britain (near Bath)  Automat American Brasserie, Dover Street, Mayfair, London  Sports Bar & Grill Marylebone and Victoria  All the organizations listed in back of the magazine, and USAFE bases  Get a copy delivered to your home or workplace, the only thing we’ll ask you to pay for is the post and packing – call us on +44 (0)1747 830520. ON SCREEN: Read The American on your mobile device or computer at www.theamerican.co.uk – Click on the front cover image for the current issue, or on the MAGAZINE tab where you can read back issues too.

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The American ®

Issue 720 – April 2013 PUBLISHED BY SP MEDIA FOR

Blue Edge Publishing Ltd.

Old Byre House, East Knoyle, Salisbury SP3 6AW, UK Tel: +44 (0)1747 830520 Publisher and Editor in Chief: Michael Burland michael@theamerican.co.uk Editor: Richard L Gale editor@theamerican.co.uk Advertising & Promotions: Sabrina Sully, Commercial Director advertising@theamerican.co.uk Subscriptions: theamerican@blueedge.co.uk Editorial contacts: Virginia E Schultz, Food & Drink (USA) virginia@theamerican.co.uk Michael M Sandwick, Food mms@theamerican.co.uk Mary Bailey, Social mary@theamerican.co.uk Richard L Gale, Arts richard@theamerican.co.uk Alison Holmes, Politics alison@theamerican.co.uk Jarlath O’Connell, Theater jarlath@theamerican.co.uk

Please contact us with your news or article ideas ©2013 Blue Edge Publishing Ltd. Printed by Advent Colour Ltd., Portway Ind. Estate, Andover SP10 3LU www.advent-colour.co.uk ISSN 2045-5968 Cover Main Image: Jared Gertner and Gavin Creel in The Book of Mormon (Photo: Joan Marcus); Circular Inset: Kevin Youkilis (© New York Yankees); Square inset: Adam Duritz (Photo: Danny Clinch)

@TheAmericanMag

e like to think of The American as the house magazine of the Special Relationship. That transatlantic bond is as strong, as important and as necessary as it has ever been. It’s not just us saying it. John Kerry has been speaking about it in his first visit to the UK as Secretary of State (interesting he chose Britain for his first trip) and so too did Ambassador Louis Susman in his valedictory speech before heading home to Chicago. We’re doing our transatlantic bit too. This month we’re writing about a hit musical that’s come from Broadway to the West End, a new star of Billy Elliot that’s done the same and an author who traced the footsteps of brave women who traveled from England to frontier America. We’re also welcoming our new restaurant critic, Michael M Sandwick, who joins us from the USA. And back this month is Jay B Webster with his annual MLB preview. We’ve interviewed Adam Duritz of Counting Crows who are touring the UK for the first time in four years, and there’s a feature on how to get involved with the great Sport of Kings – as an owner. Enjoy your magazine,

Michael Burland, Publisher michael@theamerican.co.uk

Among this month’s contributors

Carol Madison Graham is a former executive director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission who now lives in Britain and writes for us on enriching study and living abroad.

Sara Wheeler is the author of O My America!, which traces the steps of six women who fled nineteenth century Britain to reinvent themselves in the United States (see page 40).

Jay B Webster is a professional sports journalist based in Dublin, Ireland. This month he previews all six MLB divisions evaluating each and every team’s chances.

Don’t forget The American online: www.theamerican.co.uk The entire contents of The American and www.theamerican.co.uk are protected by copyright and no part of it may be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information in The American is accurate, the editor and publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or any loss arising from reliance on it. The views and comments of contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers.

April 2013 1

The American • Issue 720 • April 2013

In This Issue... Regular Sections 4 News 14 Education 17 Wining & Dining 20 Arts Choice 25 Coffee Break 26 Music

32 45 47 54 57 65

Theater & Book Reviews DriveTime Sports Diary Dates American Organizations The A-List

43 States of the Unions WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA

8 The Special Relationship Ambassador Louis B Susman’s reﬂections on almost four years at the Court of St James’s and the unique US-UK partnership

10 Gavin Creel Interview The Book of Mormon star chats with us as he begins his third mission to the West End

12 Join the Sport of Kings

PHOTOS BY ALASTAIR MUIR

Enter the owners’ enclosure by being part of a horse syndicate

“...how many in the chamber realize how much their procedures and customs owe to the Queen’s Speech back in London” 14 IB, GCSE and A Levels: A Very English Dilemma As the International Baccalaureate increases in popularity, Carol Madison Graham looks at why British Government plans for an English Baccalaureate fell by the wayside

23 Elizabeth Glassman Q&A The American chats with the President and CEO of the Terra Foundation for American Arts about US art in the UK and Europe

26 Adam Duritz Interview We talk to Counting Crows front man and self-confessed music geek Adam Duritz about the tour and, ﬁrst, their latest album

38 Tade Biesinger Interview Tade, from Bountiful, Utah, is the new star of the smash hit musical Billy Elliot – the ﬁrst American ‘Billy’ to star in the West End

40 O My America!

38 Billy Elliot

Author Sara Wheeler tells The American about her new book, O My America!: Second Acts in a New World and the British women who rediscovered themselves in America

Alison Holmes examines the history of the President’s annual speech and the similarities between it and that of the British monarch

45 Mitsubishi Outlander Our ‘First Drive’ of the new mid-size SUV from Mitsubishi. It’s a multitasker, a little bit MPV, a little bit van, with a whole lot of options

47 Familiar Faces in New Places Jay B Webster previews the imminent MLB season and gets us updated on who’s wearing whose pinstripes this Spring

50 Vision of the Future In this month’s ‘Sideline’, Richard L Gale ponders what BT Vision’s purchase of ESPN America may mean for sports fans

51 Eagle Eyed Augusta National has Darren Kilfara contemplating the essential elements of great golf architecture

52 King Harold’s Field of Dreams The British baseball season is here. David Shaer looks at South East baseball with the Essex Arrows

THE CROWD GOES WILD!

THE STORy Of fRankIE VaLLI & THE fOuR SEaSOnS

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The American

SSA Online Account Scam

The Federal Benefits Unit London has warned of an increase in the number of “phishing” emails targeted at social security recipients. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has recently released a new online account service for future and current beneficiaries of social security benefits. However, the SSA is NOT sending emails to generate enrollment, and only US mailing addresses are eligible for an online account service with the SSA. The only web address for valid login to the Social Security online account information is through the following address: www.ssa.gov/myaccount/ Anyone in any doubt about the legitimacy of an approach regarding the SSA should contact the Federal Benefits Unit: http://london.usembassy.gov/ cons_new/faqs/faq_fbu_contact.html

Royal President for ESU

Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, The Princess Royal has agreed to become the next President of the The English Speaking Union. Princess Anne is very active as President or Patron of many charities. The Queen remains ESU Patron.

4 April 2013

NEWS

PHOTO: US EMBASSY

Secretary Kerry meets Prime Minister David Cameron

John Kerry visits the United Kingdom US Secretary of State John Kerry met for breakfast with UK Prime Minister David Cameron during a recent visit to the UK, his first foreign stop since being appointed. According to a Downing Street spokesman, they discussed a “shared priority of securing an EU-US trade deal and how the UK and US could work together to build support for a deal on both sides of the Atlantic.” There will be a G8 Summit in Lough Erne in June, when they are expected to discuss tax avoidance and transparency. The Secretary of State later met with the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague for further discussion on the Middle East. On Syria, he commented: “We will continue to work closely with our British allies to address the growing humanitarian crisis, and to support the Syrian Opposition Council”. Secretary Kerry called the UK a “remarkable partner” saying “there is a reason why we call this a special relationship ...it is absolutely clear that our partnership remains stronger than ever”. He also spoke

of “an historic agreement ... to start work on a US-EU transatlantic trade and investment partnership to grow prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic”.

State of the Union In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama commented on the “grueling recession” and that “together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis”. He also spoke on the subjects of Medicare, tax and entitlement reform, the American Jobs Act, and alternative energy, home ownership, more affordable higher education, immigration, new tax credits for businesses that hire and invest, Iran and North Korea, and cyber attacks. Catch Alison Holmes’ comparison of State of the Union addresses and the Queen’s Speech in the UK on page 42.

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Speaker John Boehner, President Barack Obama and others view the newly unveiled statue of Rosa Parks OFFICIAL PHOTO BY HEATHER REED

Rosa Parks Statue Unveiled

President Obama, other dignitaries, and relatives of Rosa Parks have unveiled a statue of the Civil Rights icon in the US Capitol Building, Washington. Rosa Parks was born 100 years ago this year, and her refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama 58 years ago, sparked a successful boycott of the buses. The President commented of Rosa: “She defied the odds, and she defied injustice. She lived a life of activism, but also a life of dignity and grace. And in a single moment, with the simplest of gestures, she helped change America – and change the world ... today, she takes her rightful place among those who’ve shaped this nation’s course.”

Mississippi ratifies 13th Amendment ...148 years late It’s taken 148 years, but the State of Mississippi has banned slavery – officially. After watching biopic Lincoln Ranjan Batra, an associate professor at Ole Miss, discovered that Mississippi’s ratification had remained unofficial, the State having failed to notify the US archivist, the Office of the Federal Register. On February 7 this year, Mississippi received official notification of its 1995 ratification.

6 April 2013

Blue Plaque A blue heritage plaque has been placed in South Kensington to remember American abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass (1818-1895). The plaque was organized by the Nubian Jak Community Trust in coordination with English Heritage and is at Nell Gwynn House, Whiteheads Grove, SW3, the former home of George Thompson, the British abolitionist with whom Douglass stayed in

ACA visits DC American Citizens Abroad (ACA) and other representatives of overseas Americans have visited Washington DC for Overseas Americans Week (OAW) to apply pressure for major tax reform for the 5-7 million Americans living outside of the United States. ACA and sister organizations attended over 80 appointments with Congressional offices in both the House and the Senate to press for a Residence-Based Taxation (RBT) proposal. Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced H.R.597, legislation to create a Federal Commission to study the impact of government policies on overseas Americans.

Frederick Douglass in engraving by JC Buttre PUBLIC DOMAIN

1846. Douglass was the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States, as running mate of Victoria Woodhull, on the Equal Rights Party ticket (1872), and wrote several autobiographies of his experiences under slavery.

Atlantic Council adds Latin American Center The Atlantic Council is to add a Latin American Center following a founding gift from American philanthropist Adrienne Arsht. The Center, named after her, is dedicated to forging an effective partnership between Latin America, the US and Europe, and will be launched at the Council’s Distinguished Leadership Awards dinner, May 1, in Washington, DC. Frederick Kempe, Atlantic Council President said “Occasionally an idea comes along that is both timely and historically significant, and this fits that bill. The Center will seek to integrate the region more fully into the transatlantic community by fostering a new era of partnership and action among political, business, and opinion leaders of Latin America, Europe, and the United States.”

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The American

utgoing US Ambassador to the UK, Louis B Susman recently made a speech to the Pilgrims of Great Britain, to whom he delivered his first speech as Ambassador almost four years ago, reflecting on the intervening years. He spoke much on the subject of the Special Relationship between the US and UK. Here are some highlights:

Ellis Island needs your help The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is seeking help to keep access to its historical archive of immigration records free. The Foundation was hit hard during Hurricane Sandy, with parts of both islands flooded, causing damage and power loss. The islands were closed to visitors. All of Ellis island’s technology, including computer servers at the American Family Immigration History Center® were destroyed, though the immigration database survived offsite and remains accessible. However, a major fund-raising effort is needed to replace nearly $2 million of equipment. To find out how you can assist with a donation, and help keep the records free to access, visit www.ellisisland.org. PHOTO: JIM SUMMARIA

Obituary: ALVIN LEE, Guitarist

December 19, 1944 – March 6, 2013

lues-rock guitarist Alvin Lee has passed away in hospital in Spain, where he lived. He had been admitted for a routine surgical procedure for atrial arrhythmia but died from unforeseen complications. He was 68. Born in Nottingham the youngest of three, Alvin began playing guitar aged 13. The Jaybirds, his early band, followed the Beatles to Hamburg in 1962 and had some success. After they moved to London in 1966 and changed name to Ten Years After, international success beckoned. Lee’s blistering playing, and their mix of blues, swing jazz and rock sparked an American love affair. TYA’s

8 April 2013

performance at Woodstock was a highlight of the festival and they toured the USA 28 times in seven years, more than any other British band. Lee later worked with gospel singer Mylon LeFevre, George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood, Mick Fleetwood, Mick Taylor, Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana. He is survived by his wife Evi, daughter Jasmin and her mother Suzanne, his former life partner.

“It is hard to believe that nearly four years have passed since I had the honor to stand before you and make my maiden speech as Ambassador to the Court of St James’s. “At the end of that first speech back in 2009, I made a sincere pledge to you, The Pilgrims of Great Britain. I said that my ‘principal priority would be to strengthen and nourish our special relationship’. “So I was pleased when President Obama told the world last year: ‘The relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is the strongest that it has ever been.’ “When one thinks about it that is a rather remarkable statement. “It means the President considers that our alliance today is at the very least as solid as it was under Roosevelt and Churchill, or Reagan and Thatcher. It suggests that even as the global order shifts and countries forge new partnerships, the relationship between the US and the UK remains the highest priority for America. “As Ambassador for the past four years, I can say with confidence from daily, first-hand experience – that I agree with the President’s assessment. “That while there are voices on both sides of the Atlantic who suggest the Special Relationship is diminished, even in some cases dead and buried, they are just plain wrong.

Ambassador Louis Susman and his wife Marjorie at the Pilgrims Society dinner COURTESY OF PILGRIMS SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN

The Special Relationship : Reﬂections and Challenges objectives. Everything we do supports the other. “For example, the expertise and integrity of the UK’s intelligence, law enforcement, security, and border control professionals are vital for protecting the lives and interests of British and American citizens and businesses. “And no one appreciates the extraordinary initiative, determination and courage of the UK’s armed forces more than the United States – or the willingness of the UK to stand beside us by contributing significant troops, equipment and resources to every important mission. “The UK is an active leader on the world stage, helping to influence global attitudes and shape the policies of the international community. “President Obama put it best. He said simply: ‘Our people – and the people around the world – are more secure and more prosperous when the United States and the United Kingdom stand together’. “I am more confident than ever that together, the United States and the United Kingdom can continue to confront and overcome our most profound challenges. “The bond between our two nations extends right across our societies: to our churches, universities, businesses, research labs, charities, and even sports teams.

“So as I say farewell, I want especially to thank you for your ceaseless dedication to preserving the personal, historical and cultural connections between our two countries. And while I can’t make promises on their behalf, I shall certainly encourage my successor – whoever he or she is – to engage fully with you. “One thing I can be sure of, is that that person will be very, very fortunate. Because for an American, there is no greater honor than being Ambassador to the Court of St James’s.” H

IMAGE COURTESY US EMBASSY, LONDON

“Our alliance is alive and well, it is thriving and it remains the bilateral relationship against which all others are measured. “Before the President appointed me as Ambassador to the Court of St James’s, I thought I knew all about the Special Relationship, being a confirmed anglophile for many years. “I always knew that we share a common bond of history and culture, and that – most of the time – we speak the same language. I knew that because we share values of liberty, democracy, universal rights, human dignity and the rule of law, we approach challenges from the same direction. “But in truth, I hadn’t fully understood or appreciated the United Kingdom’s value to America or exactly why the Special Relationship occupies such a distinct place in world affairs. “In short, I didn’t know why America’s first phone call in times of crisis or need is to the United Kingdom. “I certainly do now. “During my four years as Ambassador I have found this a remarkable country with extraordinary capacity, whose cooperation with America on virtually every major issue is second to none. “The United Kingdom and the United States share a world view. I know of no differences between us when it comes to our foreign policy

Ambassador Susman Oﬃcial Portrait Unveiled Ambassador Louis Susman’s oﬃcial portrait was unveiled February 27 in the Embassy auditorium. Ambassador Susman was joined by his wife, Mrs Marjorie Susman, the portrait’s artist Nicky Philipps and Embassy guests.

April 2013 9

The American

A THIRD TESTAMENT OF

GAVIN CREEL The Book of Mormon star begins his third mission to the West End... and chats to The American

he Book of Mormon, the irreverent multi-Tony winning musical comedy from the creators of South Park has landed in the West End. We caught up with one of the show’s stars, Gavin Creel (aka ‘Elder Price’) during previews at the Prince Edward Theatre, at the end of the first eight-show week. How have the previews been? Unbelievable. I am shocked at how London is devouring the show. The UK audiences are consistently rowdier than American audiences – they’re smart, they’re listening, they’re ahead – they understand what we’re talking about as its happening – boom! laugh! That’s very encouraging as an actor. You played Elder Price during the US Tour, but not on Broadway. Does the West End make up for that? I love the West End. I was perfectly happy just to be on the national

10 April 2013

tour, something I didn’t expect to do. I fell in love with the company and I still miss those guys. Then they said this isn’t actually going to be your job, we’d like you to come to London. So it worked out well. Does a career in theater cause Elder Price-like fluctuations of faith? Yes, that’s a good way of putting it. I burn out every couple of years, I’m like ‘Why am I doing this? It’s such a struggle’, but then the next minute something great like this happens. I wish everybody in the world could feel what we feel as performers – it would be great if you finished your accounting books at a firm and everybody stood up and cheered for you. Whatever else is happening in your life, at the end of the night you bow and [the audience] are just so grateful that you entertained them. This project you feel that even more, there’s something special about the show, a fever about it.

Did you find different audience reactions on the US tour and over here in London? They were pretty mental in Denver, where we played first – Trey and Matt [Parker and Stone, co-writers of The Book of Mormon] are from Colorado. LA audiences were really excited with a huge gala opening. San Francisco was quieter, but more appreciative – like a London audience, they listened more. Each night this first week the reaction is so different. The first audience was like a rock concert; there was a full fan performance, and they waited around the block. How much did you investigate Mormonism? I had a lot of friends in high school in Ohio, and in New York who are Mormons, and my sister lives in Salt Lake City. I studied a bit on my own, but the play has less to do with it... ...Its not an attack on Mormonism... No, I don’t find that at all. I was watching I Am Africa [one of the show’s songs] the other day and they do everything so earnestly with commitment and belief, it might appear that we are making fun, but if you ask any of the actors who are playing Mormons, Jared [Gertner, co-star] and I included,

The American

there is no negativity. There is no better way to honor a religion than to play it as honestly as possible. It’s a beautiful religion and they’re beautiful people. Is there something naive about the missionaries, being 19 years old? When I left for college I thought I had everything figured out: I’m going to college and I’m going to learn how to sing and dance. That’s the naive thing about being 18-19 and you just think ‘I just go on my mission and I come home and I’m celebrated and I get everything I want and life is done’. I think the great misunderstanding that all religion perpetuates is that we have all the answers. For me, I like to live in a world where there are more questions to ask, and that’s what’s exciting about this character – by the end he just begins to question. Have you and Jared ever been tempted to go out on the streets still dressed as missionaries and experience the reaction? I would be the worst Mormon ever to walk through the missionary program because I hate selling people anything. If I do a gig, I’ll tweet it once. I’ve made a few records I’m very proud of, but I’m not the best marketing person. You’ve released three albums, each one not long before coming to London [Gavin has also starred in Hair and Mary Poppins]. A pattern? I think it’s a curse because I make a record, I’m really excited about it, and then I move to London. It’s just what’s happened. The last one I actually made in London with Ben Cullum [brother of Jazz artist Jamie], so he and I are going to get together again while I’m here.

As you’re the seasoned West End performer, I like to imagine Jared bowing to your superior knowledge of London, a kind of Elders Price and Cunningham relationship. True at all? A little, but Jared marches to his own drum. He likes to find stuff and to be in charge, and he’s like ‘Hey, I found this place, let’s go’, and I’m allowed to follow. Last week we realised that in a way we are each playing the other character, even though physically we fit the mold for the character’s we’re playing. Over the course of the play, Jared’s character starts at the bottom and rises to the top, and I start at the top and go to the bottom and it’s where I need to be, more passionate, more understanding, more open. And its weird because we’re both more comfortable in the second act – naturally! The first act is where we have to step outside of our own comfort zone. I’m goofier and more self-effacing, and Jared’s strong and really quite confident and in control, so it’s neat, it’s really cool to watch each other take that journey. I’m pretty proud of the work we’re doing together, and he’s such a positive light in the show. I dont think there’s a better team mate I can imagine.

“ I would be the worst Mormon ever to walk through the missionary program”

What are you going to do in the UK this time that you haven’t done previously? Go to Cambridge and Oxford and Windsor. And my director bought me this really cool book that goes neighborhood by neighborhood in a really fashionable neat way. I just love how many little nooks and crannies are in this town, so I’m just going to do as many as I can. H

April 2013 11

Join the Sport of Kings I

and vet fees – just for one horse. You can cut the costs using several types of joint ownership, including partnerships, limited companies, racing clubs and syndicates. It has other attractions too. For example, if you’re choosing the colors of your jockeys’ silks it is probably more fun for a group of you to argue about the 18 colors and the 27 body, 12 sleeve, and 10 cap designs permitted by the Jockey Club. (Remember the advice of Clement Freud – British Member of Parliament and Sigmund’s grandson: his syndicate chose the gaudiest silks possible to ensure their horse stood out. Coming an ignominious last place, he ruefully remarked that they should have chosen a drab scheme on the grounds that if the horse won, no-one would miss it; if it lost, they would rather no-one saw it!) Tim Darby, General Manager of Exeter Racecourse, and former

ownership expert at the British Horseracing Authority, told us “The ideal way is for a group of friends or colleagues to join together. Partnerships are popular. Up to 20 people can be involved which reduces costs considerably.” Tim points out that “A partnership of 20 could get involved for less than the annual cost of a London travel card each.” The BHA offers advice on ownership at www.britishhorseracing.com.

A part of the action

PHOTO © MATTHEW WEBB

t’s one thing being a horse racing fan, going to glorious British tracks like Newmarket, Epsom, Ascot, Ayr, and Doncaster but have you ever thought of being more than just a spectator? You’ve seen winning (and losing) owners, whose involvement is on a different league to the mere visitor. But surely you need to be one of the super-rich to own, train and run horses? Yes, if you own them outright, like Rich Ricci, the appropriately named Barclays banker who ran eleven horses at last month’s Cheltenham Festival (including one called Fat Cat in the Hat – sure Rich, rub our noses in it). Like most things in life, it depends on what you want to get out of horse ownership and how much you want to put in. Sole ownership is expensive. The average price of a yearling at Tattersalls in 2011 was 76,000 guineas (over $120,000) and it costs over £25,000 a year for training, insurance, travel

12 April 2013

Colin Bickerstaff, an accountant who lives in Surrey, describes the thrill of ownership. He owns a horse in partnership with his San Francisco-based brother. As both spend their working life offering financial advice to other people, why didn’t they simply put their money in a solid interest paying account and stick to watching racing on the TV? “Simply excitement. Owning a winner is like being a player in the Cup Final.” Other benefits to owners include free entrance to the Members areas of the racecourse, which could cost £25 for a big event like the Gold Cup. “It doesn’t have to cost a fortune: if you buy a decent horse and know what you’re doing you should be able to at least pay back the purchase and training fees. The main thing is getting involved. I visit the yard and see him on the gallops, and talk to the trainer regularly. We set up a limited company. Racing clubs are an easy way to get into ownership, but with the really big clubs you don’t see many of the

IMAGE COURTESY HTR © EMPICS

Enter the owners’ enclosure by being part of a horse syndicate

Own a horse at ‘Downton Abbey’ One of the top syndicates is Highclere Thoroughbred Racing based (HTR) in Berkshire, next to Highclere Castle – aka Downton Abbey. It certainly picks winners. Since its creation in 1992, 14 per cent of HTR’s runners have won or been placed, making Highclere the most successful multiple ownership company in Europe. A lot of this success is down to John Warren, one of the world’s leading bloodstock agents, who purchases all Highclere’s yearlings. His eye for a good horse, before they’ve started training, has produced no fewer than seven champions for Highclere: Lake Coniston, Tamarisk, Delilah, Petrushka, the Derby winning Motivator, Memory and Harbinger. HTR has been the leading syndicate company since 1994. Harry Herbert, Highclere’s MD (pictured opposite with Sir Alex Ferguson) says the aim is to make every syndicate member “feel as if

he or she is the sole owner of their horses.” HTR acts as a member’s personal racing manager, keeping them up to date with their horses’ progress, sending photographs and DVDs of winning races and arranging regular visits to see them in training and talk to the trainers. Membership of each of HTR’s fourteen syndicates varies between ten and twenty for flat racers, with a maximum of thirty for a National Hunt syndicate, so you’d not be swamped by multitudes of other owners. Owners share prize money and the proceeds when the horses are sold and the syndicate is wound up, usually after a minimum of two seasons. A share costs from £10,000 up to £30,000 (from £3,950 in a National Hunt syndicate) and a smaller sum is payable for the second year. HTR charges a management fee, which varies from syndicate to syndicate, and takes 10% of the sales price of any horse selling for more than twice its purchase price. Most new syndicates are launched in June of each year. HTR’s Yearling Parades take place in mid-October at Highclere Stud, where owners can see their beasts. After being broken at Highclere Stud, the horses are sent to their nominated trainers, twenty top names including Sir Michael Stoute,

William Haggas, Sir Henry Cecil, Andrew Balding, and Paul Nicholls in the UK, Freddy Head in France and Gai Waterhouse in Australia. So is a leg of a racehorse a good financial proposition? Highclere says “Absolutely NOT. Each shareowner acknowledges that participation in the syndicates is for the purpose of sharing in the enjoyment of the horses and not for investment.” But if you want to add spice to your Saturday flutter, are looking for an absorbing hobby and can afford to lose cash if things don’t work out there can be few more exciting investments than your own racehorse. H

IMAGE COURTESY HTR © SPORTSBEAT IMAGES

benefits. You’re so removed from the horse and trainer”, Colin added. Syndicates can be a great way to get into ownership. In addition to the financial elements, you can ‘hedge’ your investment by owning (part of) more than one horse. You’ll have a greater chance of a win, as well as accessing expert knowledge, advice and trainers that individual owners find hard to get.

PHOTO: © MATTHEW WEBB

The American

IB, GCSE and A Levels: A Very English Dilemma As the International Baccalaureate increases in popularity, Carol Madison Graham looks at why British Government plans for an English Baccalaureate fell by the wayside

he British have worked hard to eradicate vestiges of class divisions throughout their society, and perhaps no sector is a better indication of that than education. While they are justifiably proud of the quality of British education and exams, educators and officials also keep a watchful eye on any policies that might create or perpetuate class divisions based on educational attainment. Since that attainment is assessed on university entrance following secondary school exams, improvements usually target GCSEs (the General Certificate of Secondary Education) – exams for 15-16 year olds – and the advanced counterpart, A Level examinations taken at 18.

Depth of Knowledge

Before proceeding, it is worth noting that despite being more centralized in education matters than the US, the UK is not uniform. Scotland has a separate system of exams and universities, therefore references to the ‘English’ system mean precisely that. The ethos of the English system (and indeed that of many European countries) has been depth of knowledge in a particular area. The point of secondary school and of the exams

14 April 2013

has been to allow the student to identify an area of expertise and then to begin studying that area as soon as possible. A poll on the Student Room website revealed that students take between 9 and 12 GCSE exams (there are 45 subject areas according to the Department of Education) but by the time they are in their final year, students generally narrow their options to 3 A Level subjects. Students who specialize in science are no longer taking English or History in their final year. This is in complete philosophical opposition to the American system where the exam course load is lighter and breadth is encouraged over depth through to graduation. As a result, the 17 year old student in the English system who wishes to switch intended careers at university may need to repeat a year in order to make up the necessary courses for the college application. On the plus side, A Level qualified college students with a keen interest in a chosen subject can concentrate on that from day one. Either way, with the government-imposed limits on university places, students need great exam grades, and therein lies the problem. Accusations of grade

inflation and easier exams have been made at both GCSEs and A Levels, which are now taken by far more students than in the past. The British system in general is hard on grading (with course work scores of 65% in some cases regarded as not bad!); even so, the number of A and A* grades awarded at A Level rose for 21 straight years until August 2012 with the annual rises fueling the debate on quality. More worrying than easier exams were easy courses. In the past many more students left school for jobs instead of taking A Level exams and applying to university. A House of Commons report puts the percentage of students in higher education in 1970 in the UK as a whole at 8.3%. That compares with nearly 20% of Americans graduating with bachelors degrees in the early 1970s. Aware of the implications for the economy but also the class divide, the Blair Government in 1997 set a target of 50% participation rate in higher education. Ever since then, British governments have maintained scrutiny on university admissions, even setting up an office to regulate access for disadvantaged students. This office, nicknamed

PHOTO: COMEDY NOSE / PETE

EDUCATION

The American

‘OfTOFF’ by the press (‘toff’ meaning wealthy and privileged) indicates the measure of power available to the British government since the most sought-after universities in the UK are public rather than private. Interestingly, the top universities have been accused of discriminating against both state school and private school students at various times by the government, parents, students, educators and journalists.

One damn thing after another

Since class issues have no party affiliation, both Labour and Conservative governments have had their hands full seeking to encourage more state school (‘public school’ in American vocabulary) students to take A Levels, while assuring the public that grading standards will not fall. This is where current Education Secretary Michael Gove, like many of his predecessors, tried to intervene by changing the exams, but with a twist. The A Level (and A Level grading) has been under fire for some time and as a result it has frequently been changed and developed – often at very short notice – along with other educational reforms. I once attended an education authority meeting where the Chair expressed the dominant mood following the announcement of yet another reform. He said “what the Government calls ‘initiatives’ appears to teachers as ‘one damn thing after another!’” This view has been shared by many schools who have moved toward the International Baccalaureate (IB), an internationally-based alternative to A levels. The IB has been popular in part because it is not an English exam and therefore seen as outside of the political controversies and “solutions” associated with exam

16 April 2013

Left: Apple’s British design guru, Sir Jonathan Ive, arguably the world’s most influential industrial designer, pledged support for the #IncludeDesign campaign, which urged Michael Gove not to proceed with an arts-free EBACC. PHOTO COURTESY OF APPLE INC.

reform. Nor has the IB been plagued by accusations of grade inflation. According to The Independent newspaper, UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), which manages the college application system, reports that IB top grades rose by only 4% between 1990 and 2012 while during the same period A level scores rose by 30%. Universities are impressed by the IB record and so are many state schools, who outnumber the independent schools in the UK offering the IB.

Where’s the Art in that?

Perhaps it was this last fact that inspired Michael Gove to create the English Baccalaureate (EBC) to replace the GCSE. Of course, this being England it is more complicated than that. There is already something called the English Baccalaureate (EBACC), introduced in 2010 to encourage students from poorer backgrounds to take ‘heavier’ GCSE subjects. Students receiving a GCSE grade of C or better in English, maths, a language, history or geography, and two sciences completed the requirement for the EBACC. However, it offered kudos rather than a qualification. Enter the other English Baccalaureate (EBC) for which the previous one was perhaps the dry run. It ran into immediate trouble. Famous actors, musicians

and designers demanded to know why the arts courses were not considered worthy exam subjects. Educators asked why humanities students should lose out on college places due to math requirements which could torpedo their college hopes of studying art or English? After a firestorm of criticism and the rock solid opposition of the teacher’s union over lack of consultation and the narrow curriculum choices, Michael Gove was forced to scuttle the plan. However, he has declared his intention to move forward with other reforms to the A levels. The irony of this is that both Michael Gove and the people opposing his plans see themselves as a kind of St George battling the dragon of class divisions by looking out for the disadvantaged. In the meantime, the more reforms are proposed for A levels – and the teachers’ union has already warned that new reforms will be “contentious” – the more parents and schools will take a closer look at an international qualification, namely the IB, as the safest route to a British university. Somehow, I don’t think this is what the Government had in mind. H Carol Madison Graham, a former diplomat and executive director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission, now works with the Marshall Scholarships and writes a blog with ideas for enriching study and living abroad at www.engageabroad.com Her book Coping with Anti-Americanism is out now.

The American

WINING & DINING

Sale e Pepe Reviewed by Virginia E Schultz

ome restaurants never change. If you don’t like an atmosphere where the noise is above normal hearing range, and waiters shout out orders and greet old time customers like myself with loud cries of welcome, then this is not the place for you. But if you want to have wonderful Italian food and a restaurant that reminds you of that last time you were in Italy, then forget the noise and make your way to this

Italian bistro just a short walk from Harrods, as a friend June and I did one rainy cold evening recently. In fact, I enjoyed my dinner so much, I was back there on my own for lunch a few days later, because it’s one of those restaurants where you don’t mind eating on your own. The night I was with June we started with Mozzarella in Carrozza (£11.50), which is fried slices of breaded mozzarella served with an anchovy and garlic sauce. Now, I’m not an anchovy lover, but there is only a hint of it in this dish and I regretted sharing the antipasta. This is my problem eating in Italian restaurants, as there are fifty shades of Italian dishes I love, especially the pasta. With June I had the Spaghetti alla Carbonara (£12) but a few days later the Rigatoni ai Quattro Formaggi (£13) in a rich cheese sauce, which added to the week’s calories I didn’t need. Still, I cannot tell a lie, I’d have it again. Now came my first disappoint-

Tony Corricelli – manager of Sale e Pepe – and his waiters, are eager to greet old customers loudly

ment: the Fegato alla Veneziana (£18), thinly sliced calves' liver sautéed with onions and white wine. Frankly, it tasted too much like left over calves' liver that had been reheated once too often, and not what I recalled from the last time I was there. However, the Sogliola alla Griglia or grilled Dover sole was lovely, although at £36 was expensive and only enjoyed by those who were fortunate to have received their annual bonus. I love Dover sole grilled or meunière, but to be honest, because of the price, seldom order it in a restaurant any more. Still, if you have nothing else to eat and your budget allows, then

April 2013 17

The American

do not hesitate to order, for few restaurants do grilled sole better. We also had a selection of vegetables of the day (£3.50) which were perfectly and deliciously prepared. I’m not particularly fond of Italian desserts, except for their ice cream. The chocolate ice cream was delicious as was the vanilla. However, the way to end an Italian dinner is not with something sweet, but with an Italian liqueur (£8) such as Limoncello or Sambuca. Eating at Sale e Pepe is always a delight and the only thing missing was the weather, as outside London was cold, windy and raining. As I was driving, I only had one glass of Prosecco and a long, long sip of Limoncello, which is probably my favourite liqueur and the one thing I always bring back from Italy. H

Sale e Pepe 15 Pavilion Road, London SW1X OHD Telephone 020 7235 0098 www.saleepepe.co.uk

Odin’s

BAR & BISTRO Reviewed by Michael M Sandwick

bistro is a small restaurant serving moderately priced meals in a moderate setting. So when I walked into Odin’s, I thought, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in zone 3 anymore!” Moderate was not the first word that came to mind. The artwork alone was beyond anything one would expect to find in a bistro. The walls are covered with gems; among them a Hockney, given to the original owner Peter Langan in exchange for a meal. So David, you’re welcome to dine at my place anytime! We were taken to the smallest of the restaurant's three rooms. Four round tables, draped in white linen, were surrounded by mismatched but very comfortable chairs. The staff, like the chairs, made the place a little less formal. Very friendly while still offering excellent service. I began to feel like I was in the parlour of a cherished aunt. The real surprise came when I opened

the menu. The prices were indeed moderate. Except for high end items like lobster salad and Dover sole, the appetizers run from £5 to £9.50 and mains £12.50 to £15. The cuisine, like the other restaurants in the Langan group, is touted as Anglo-French. Fortunately, chef Liam Smith-Laing, who cut his teeth at La Petite Maison, has interpreted this fusion as French food with an emphasis on English ingredients. Sorry, but when I’m eating, I’m not one to close my eyes and think of England! Even so, Anglo attributes are well represented with Scotch salmon, Dover sole and Dorset snails as the stand-outs. Of course, my refined palate would immediately know whether a snail was from Dorset or Bourgogne. Wouldn’t yours? Seeing no need to prove this assertion, I chose the foie gras terrine. I know it’s not 'politically correct', but I couldn’t help myself and I’m glad of

the fact. The three generous slices melted in my mouth and were complimented beautifully by a prune compote. Followed by a slug of Pinot Grigio, I felt close to heaven and didn’t care if I ate another thing. I forced myself however, to taste my companion's smoked haddock and poached egg vichyssoise. Boy was I glad I did. This dish really showed off Mr Smith-Laing’s Anglo-French skills. Smoked haddock never had it so good. Served on a bed of lightly cooked spinach and held together with a little creamy potato broth. Delicious. For mains, the medallions of beef bordelaise was also excellent. The top quality beef was grilled perfectly and the sauce rich and flavorful. Unfortunately the roast cod with clam and parsley broth was overpowered by too much lemon, so the briney flavor of the clams got lost. We finished the meal with blackcurrant sorbet with Armagnac. A fantastic combination that simply ignited our tastebuds, but the serving was more than we could manage. Warm rice pudding with

Yorkshire rhubarb and ginger ice cream was one of the evening’s highlights. Comfort food with the element of surprise! Inventive and rich in both flavor and texture. Three courses each was an absolute bargain at £52 but the wine brought the bill up to £77.75 and if you have a pricey wine palate, be prepared to spend more. The wine list is excellent but not moderate. There is a decent selection of wines by the glass from £7 to £11 and bottles from £21 to £200. We sampled the house white, George Duboeuf, which was pleasant if not exciting, a fine Pinot Grigio and an excellent Haut Médoc, bringing our wine bill to £25.75 for 3 glasses. If you live in Marylebone I could easily recommend that you make this your local hangout. If you don’t, quel dommage! But it’s definitely worth a trip. Especially if you are looking for a romantic night out. H

Odin's Restaurant 27 Devonshire St, London W1G 6PL Telephone 020 7935 7296 www.langansrestaurants.co.uk

DINING EVENT Dîner des Grands Chefs

1 Old Billingsgate Walk, 16 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6DX www.dinerdesgrandschefs.com April 22 For one night only, Relais & Châteaux Grands Chefs’ world culinary tour stops in London. Patrick O’Connell from The Inn at Little Washington, Virginia, USA joins the group of 45 chefs, who participate in teams of three to create a five course menu from a set list of British ingredients. Most of them have earned two Michelin stars and many have three. An impressive British line-up is led by Raymond Blanc and Gary Jones (Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, near Oxford) and includes Andrew Fairlie (Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Gleneagles), Claude Bosi (Hibiscus, London), Martin Burge (Whatley Manor, Malmesbury) and Michael Caines (Gidleigh Park, Dartmoor). £650 per person. H

April 2013 19

The American

CHOICE Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum

Kaﬀe Fassett – A Life in Colour

The Fashion and Textile Museum 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF www.ftmlondon.org March 22 to June 29 A major exhibition of San Francisco-born textile designer Kaffe Fassett’s work is probably overdue despite, or perhaps because of, a commercial visibility which has seen him collaborate with Rowan Yarns in Yorkshire, Radio 4’s Stitch in Time, and Channel 4’s Glorious Colour (so, no stranger to these shores). It is perhaps hard for museums to find artistic perspective on Fassett. Yet he is a giant of textile design, with distinctive periods of purple/red, and cyan/ blue palette combinations. The Fashion and Textile Museum now faces the challenge of covering five decades of output and Fassett’s many skills – knitwear, patchwork fabrics, quilts, needlepoint, as well as painting, not to mention handling the crowds if this becomes the hit his 1988 show was at the V&A. © KA

FFE F ASSE

T T ST

British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG www.britishmuseum.org March 28 to September 29 and at cinemas around the country June 18-19 Nature, landscape, and our relationship with them are a recurring theme through much of this month’s Arts Choice, but we start with Mother Nature’s murderous attack on Roman civilization two millennia ago. We could have illustrated the British Museum’s show of relics from Vesuvius’ victims with the artistry of a serpent bangle or contemporaneous statuary, but we are perhaps better reminded of the human cost of history’s most famous volcanic eruption with a baby’s crib of sub-

Carbonised wooden cradle. From the House of M.P.P. Granianus, Herculaneum, 1st century AD. © SOPRINTENDENZA SPECIALE PER I BENI ARCHEOLOGICI DI NAPOLI E POMPEI / TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM

lime construction, abandoned but miraculously preserved. Over 250 objects are assembled, many never seen before outside Italy, offering a snapshot of Roman life in the seaside town of Herculaneum and the region’s industrial center, Pompeii.

Looking at the View

Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG www.tate.org.uk To June 2 This thematic exhibition is a broad overview of 300 years of depicting the terrain around us. It serves as a

UDIO

Joseph Wright, Sir Brooke Boothby, 1781

The American

Ann-Marie James: Proserpina

Karsten Schubert, 5-8 Lower John Street, Golden Square, London W1F 9DR www.karstenschubert.com To April 5

Stanhope A Forbes, A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach, oil on canvas, 1885 FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF PLYMOUTH CITY COUNCIL (MUSEUMS AND ARCHIVES) / © BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY

clarion call for our appreciation of Tate Britain’s diverse collection of artists, coinciding with the reopening of all of the institution’s galleries. While encompassing JMW Turner, Tracey Emin, Spencer Gore, Lucien Freud and 50 other artists in one conversation would be something of a stretch, pondering the relationship between British artists and their country’s vistas and greenery is a valid way to connect this wealth of art. Indeed, it’s sometimes amusing to note how seldom British painters paint either portrait or interior without a distant or external view upstaging the whole affair. An Englishman’s home may be his castle, but the English countryside is his kingdom.

Amongst Heroes: the Artist in Working Cornwall

Two Temple Place, London WC2R 3BD www.twotempleplace.org To April 14 At least within the UK, Cornwall’s significance to the world of Art is

noted by the presence of a branch of the Tate in St Ives. Colonies of artists established themselves in both St Ives on the north coast of the county, and Newlyn on the south coast in the late 19th century. They took advantage of a quality of light similar to that experienced by the more celebrated artistic community across the water in Brittany (although, as evidenced above, even the traditional Cornish drizzle would feature) and also of the rural industries of tin mining and fishing which defined Cornwall. The works make a fine, if less romantic aside to the trail of British Pre-Raphaelite art. Other European artistic communities have been more widely acknowledged, so Amongst Heroes is a rare opportunity to encounter Cornish art in the slightly incongruous though nonetheless decorous space of American-born William Waldorf Astor’s spectacular former London residence – as valuable and overdue an invasion of the capital as current exhibits of American art.

The less explicit the human form in Ann-Marie James’ work, the greater the result, it seems. Proserpina is her first solo exhibition since completing her Fine Art Masters at Wimbledon College of Art (she has already exhibited in Japan and the US). Figures inspired by Bernini’s Rape of Proserpina and Apollo and Daphne dance, curve and flail with such loose definition as to be near invisible, hints and echoes of form in a marble-like world of textural complexity that James has been perfecting the past couple of years. The forms – clearer in the supporting ink and acrylic studies (themselves very fine works) are so subsumed into her canvas works that one wonders if the mind is playing tricks. The image below hardly does them justice – do catch Proserpina in person.

April 2013 21

The American

The Nature of the Beast

The New Art Gallery Walsall, Gallery Square, Walsall WS2 8LG www.thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk April 26 to June 30 The efficient ruthlessness of nature (and our attitudes towards it) is reflected here, as the use of animal cadavers for abstract and fantastical constructs take ‘found objects’ to new, darker territory, the results disturbing and entrancing in equal measure. There’s the macabre work of trained taxidermist Polly Morgan (when did you last see a bird pulling tentacles from a dead fox?); a large new installation by Tessa Farmer, with artisan-like ranks of sinister skeletal fairies reconstructing the miniature world around them; and Patricia Piccinini’s hyperrealist sculptures of genetically altered future-animals. Maybe not for those who prefer their fauna Disney-fied, but an extraordinary gathering of contemporary art that would be the alternative must-see if it landed in London. Polly Morgan, Harbour, 2012 (detail), rubber and mixed media COURTESY OF THE ARTIST. PHOTO TESSA ANGUS

Sebastião Salgado: Genesis

Waterhouse Gallery, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD www.nhm.ac.uk April 11 to September 8 This is the world premiere of an exhibition eight years in the making, as celebrated Brazilian-born economistturned-photographer Salgado captures the fragility of man’s relationship with the planet. 250 astonishing black and white photographs remind us of the achingly beautiful world humanity tends, aesthetically rewarding yet with the insistence of reportage. Salgado says Genesis, ‘…speaks urgently to our own age by portraying the breathtaking beauty of a lost world that somehow survives. It proclaims: this is what is in peril, this is what we must save.’

View of the junction of the Colorado and the Little Colorado from the Navajo territory. The Grand Canyon National Park begins after this junction. Arizona, USA, April, May and June 2010 © SEBASTIÃO SALGADO.

The Unicorn is Found is part of a series of tapestries especially woven for the Queen’s Inner Hall at Stirling Castle. As with other tapestries here, it is the work of the West Dean Tapestry Studio, Sussex; other exhibits include a tapestry designed by Henry Moore and an installation explaining the conversion of Tracey Emin’s Black Cat into tapestry.

Finding the Unicorn – Tapestries Mythical and Modern

The Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8DU www.flemingcollection.com April 17 to June 1 The weaving, translation and restoration of tapestries is the subject of this smallish exhibition. The centerpiece,

The Unicorn is Found, 2008, wool, cotton and gold thread tapestry © CROWN COPYRIGHT REPRODUCED COURTESY OF HISTORIC SCOTLAND.

The American

Profile: The Terra Foundation for American Art’s

The Terra Foundation for American Art is supporting four major exhibitions now in the UK. The American caught up with its President and CEO Elizabeth Glassman to ask more about their plans and objectives

Elizabeth Glassman

PHOTO: NATHAN WEBER

poignant and thought-provoking ideas. What people sometimes forget is that these are portraits of actual people, not just idealized figures. They were intended to illustrate a robust society and serve as ambassadors to the world’s many different cultures, and I think that’s precisely the role they are fulfilling today. To what extent do you think the work of the Foundation has enhanced respect for American art in the eyes of the European art landscape? To a significant extent, I believe. One of the most important things we do at the Terra Foundation is think about our audiences very carefully and deliberately. Ours is not a simple export model whereby we send American art across the globe and hope it’s well received. Instead, we work closely with curators and directors of partner institutions to employ the historical art of the United States in ways that will resonate meaningfully with the people who see it. For example, Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch, co-organized with the National Gallery, seeks to situate the American artistic tradition in a new context and stimulate fresh

Terra Foundation Facts l Founded in 1978 by businessman

and art collector Daniel J Terra

l Headquartered in Chicago with a

satellite oﬃce in Paris, France

l Devotes approx. $12 million / year

to support American art exhibitions

l In 2012-2013, $7.5 million is

dedicated to grant programmes

l The Foundation’s art collection

includes 725 works

l Web: www.terraamericanart.org

he Terra Foundation for American Art is supporting four exhibits currently in London: George Catlin: American Indian Portraits; George Bellows: Modern American Life; Lichtenstein – A Retrospective; and Through American Eyes: Frederic Church and the Landscape Oil Sketch. We began by asking Elizabeth Glassman, Which of these exhibitions stand out as something the Foundation feels art-goers here deserved to see? Much of the credit for this fortuitous convergence of American art in London belongs to our wonderful partners: the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts, and Tate Modern. I’d encourage people to see all four exhibitions if they can. However, if I had to select just one exhibition that strikes me as particularly well suited for art-lovers here it would be George Catlin: American Indian Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. Many of the paintings in this exhibition were shown in London 173 years ago, shortly after they were created. I think that seeing these paintings today, with the benefit of hindsight and a drastically different cultural landscape, will introduce some very

George Catlin, Medicine Man Performing his Mysteries over a Dying Man Blackfoot/ Siksika, 1832

April 2013 23

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interpretations of the works in the show. A similar dynamic is occurring through our collaborations with the Musée du Louvre, where the focused exhibition, New Frontier II. American Art Enters the Louvre – The Origins of American Genre Painting, will be on view through April 22. What changes have you see globally in the appreciation of American art? If the number of grant requests we receive is any indication, I’d say there is a growing demand for exhibitions of American art worldwide. Our partnership with the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation resulted in the first major survey of American art ever presented in the People’s Republic of China. The exhibition, Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation, traveled to Beijing and Shanghai, drawing more than half a million visitors in roughly five months and generating enough international interest to extend its run for another nine months at venues in Moscow, and Bilbao, Spain. Daniel J Terra perhaps didn’t start out to champion American artists, but to collect European art, switching later to promoting American art around the world. Would you say that Daniel’s discovery of and love affair with American art is reflected in the Terra Foundation’s objectives? Absolutely. Dan Terra believed that American art vigorously expressed the nation’s history and identity, but not for the sake of exclusivity. Instead, he held that art had the potential both to distinguish cultures and to unite them, and this position is reflected in every initiative we undertake. To what extent does being a ‘museum without walls’ make the Terra

24 April 2013

Frederic Edwin Church, Niagara Falls, from the American Side, 1867 © NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND

Foundation a proactive rather than passive museum? Well, it enables us to be a tremendously nimble organization – we’re better positioned to capitalize on newfound opportunities and be more malleable in how we approach them. How can smaller galleries get involved with the Terra Foundation? The first thing they should do is visit our website (www.terraamericanart.org/grants), where they’ll learn that our grants are available to any qualified not-for-profit organization, regardless of size. In the UK, we’ve sponsored exhibitions at venues that range in size from the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, to the Tate. There’s also a variety of other opportunities for funding and support for individuals, including grants to scholars – especially scholars based outside the US who are working on American art – and teaching fellowships at The Courtauld Institute of Art. How much time do you spend in Paris and Europe vs the US? Given the nature of the Terra

Foundation’s work, I spend roughly five to six months per year traveling internationally. Approximately half that time is spent in Europe. Do you miss being on the ground in the US more often? Yes. As anyone who travels that much will tell you, there’s nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed. Nonetheless, it’s a great thrill to work with so many enthusiastic and intelligent people all over the world. The Frederic Church exhibition is also visiting Edinburgh. Did the Scottish National Gallery make any specific approach? In part it’s because the Scottish National Gallery owns one of the most compelling Church paintings I’ve ever encountered, Niagara Falls, from the American Side (1867), which is included in the show. Moreover, we’ve had an ongoing relationship with the museum for a couple of years now – in fact, we’re partnering with them on an exhibition of American Impressionism in 2014. Everyone there has been such a lovely partner in this endeavor. H

The American

Coﬀee Break QUIZ

cover version of Kiss. But for which James Bond movie did Tom Jones supply the theme song?

Musical April 1 Which Canadian singer’s

5 What’s the connection

name translates from French as ‘April Vine’?

2 Name the National

Anthem adopted after being a rallying call during the French Revolution.

3 Name the 1986 album by

Prince and The Revolution that includes the tracks Sometimes it Snows in April and Kiss?

4 Tom Jones and The Art

of Noise had a hit with a

between Bond movie Diamonds are Forever and the song Little April Showers?

6 Another popular song,

the similarly titled April Showers, was first performed in the 1921 Broadway musical Bombo, sung by whom? A) Al Jolson B) Cab Calloway C) Arthur Fields

This man would become Professor of Law at Yale University in 1913. Who is he?

It happened 100 years ago... 7 April 1: Which former US President took

up the post of Professor of Law at Yale University on this day?

8 April 3: Danish physicist Niels Bohr

completes his paper (published in July of that year) supporting which theory?

9 April 10: Which US sports team, once

known as the Highlanders, played their first game under the name they now use?

7 4 8

1 4

1 5 9

It happened 50 years ago...

3 4 6 7

5 7 6 2 3

10 April 1: Which medical drama debuted

on this day on the ABC network?

11 April 9: Which Briton became the first

3 6

person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States by Act of Congress?

12 April 16: Which ‘Long Haired Lover From

Liverpool’ was born on this day?

Answers to Coffee Break Quiz & Sudoku on page 65

April 2013 25

The American

THE AMERICAN INTERVIEW

Counting Crows’

Adam Duritz

The Bay Area rockers are here this month after four years away. The American talked to main Crow and self-confessed music geek Adam Duritz about the tour and, first, their new album.

our latest album, Underwater Sunshine, consists of covers of songs by an eclectic variety of artists. [famous and obscure, old and new, British and American; The Romany Rye, Teenage Fanclub, Tender Mercies, Fairport Convention, Kasey Anderson & The Honkies, Pure Prairie League, Travis, The Faces, Dawes, Gram Parsons, Sordid Humor, Bob Dylan and The Byrds, Big Star]. How did you choose them? They’re songs that we love. They’re not the most obvious ones sometimes – we didn’t choose top 40 songs, but at the same time we didn’t choose not to play big hits. Just ones that mean a lot to us. Hospital by Coby Brown was brought in by Dave Bryson as a demo, just guitar and bass. We recorded it and put it out before Coby did – he liked it then he recorded kind of a cover of our cover of his song. That’s what I love about music, when you share it and it goes around. There are more country influences on the album than we’re used to from CC. Have you bottled them up in the past?

26 April 2013

Oh no, a lot of where we come from is country, country-rock. That’s why we’re doing the Gram Parsons song (Return of the Grievous Angel) on the album. I particularly loved Meet on the Ledge – it was by Fairport Convention, who you wouldn’t necessarily link to Counting Crows. Have you always liked them? I got into Fairport Convention after I heard one of Richard Thompson’s records with his wife, Linda, Shoot Out the Lights, and I discovered that Richard had been in Fairport. When I was young I went on a trip to England with my parents. There were all sorts of bands that I loved but I couldn’t get their records. Wherever we went on that trip I would buy LPs of all these bands that I loved – I ended up with 70 or 80 albums, all packed into a special suitcase designed for albums. It lasted all the way round that trip wherever we went, then as I got off the plane in San Francisco the handle broke clean off. But it got there, got the albums home. I spent the next couple of days just listening to every one of those records, man.

Recording Sordid Humor’s Jumping Jesus must have been nostalgic for you and the two Davids [Immerglück and Bryson]. Yeah, Dave and Immy and I all played in that band. Half Counting Crows were in Sordid Humor, half in Tender Mercies . The full title of the album is Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation) – is that a reference to Fairport’s What We Did On Our Holidays? Yes, and the first part is from [Robyn Hitchcock’s psychedelic band] The Soft Boys’ album Underwater Moonlight. Going back to the beginning of the band, Counting Crows started life when you and David Bryson started as an acoustic duo in San Francisco in 1991 – was the idea always to grow into a full scale rock band? Not really. You have to remember that I was in two other bands before that. The Himalayans were a really rocking band – I mean we really rocked – and Sordid Humor. But in both of those I was a band member, not the leader. I think maybe I felt I

The American

“The best way to get people to come to this year’s concerts is if they have heard last year’s ones on a bootleg...”

“...at home I have a wall of bootlegs – I’d be a bit of an ******* if I stopped other people from recording us!”

was ready to be the leader. Even so, in Counting Crows we’re kind of a democracy. I mean we’re not communists. And I can be a real shit-head, making decisions. We argue all the time... but the others argue among themselves more than I do with them, and it’s all because we love the music. It’s all about the music.

nervous breakdown, but I’m not very good at all that. I do get a little crazy. I’d rather play music. Most unusually you encourage fans to record your gigs and distribute the results. Why? I don’t think people stop buying records or refuse to go to concerts if they get a bootleg. It’s like free advertising for us. The best way to get people to come to this year’s concerts is if they have heard last year’s ones on a bootleg. And at home I have a wall full of bootlegs – I’d be a bit of an asshole if I stopped other people from recording us!

You also sang ‘But when everybody loves me, I’m going to be just about as happy as I can be’ – but that didn’t happen. You became so big, so quick. Was that the cause of your nervous breakdown? I was never comfortable with all the fame stuff, being a celebrity. I’m still not. I don’t know if I’d call it a

PHOTO: DANNY CLINCH

You were referencing other musicians even in your first big hit Mr Jones, which has the line ‘I want to be Bob Dylan’ – do you still want to be him? I don’t think I wanted to be Bob Dylan even back then. It was a song all about wanting to be famous and successful and knowing that all those plans won’t turn out the way you expect.

You’re back in Britain in April after a long four years. Why now? I don’t know, I honestly had no idea it had been this long. It just seemed like the right time. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get less crazy. We’re honestly playing the best gigs we’ve ever played. And I’d like to say that we’re really honored to have Lucy Rose supporting us on the tour. I love her music. She had an American tour planned and when I asked her she rearranged her dates. H

April 2013 27

The American

OMD

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, who brought us Enola Gay, Souvenir, Joan of Arc and Sailing on the Seven Seas, are back on the road supporting their well-received new album English Electric. Electro sounds, catchy melodies, big hooks – they’re all there. April 28th Margate, Winter Gardens; 29th Birmingham, Symphony Hall; May 1st Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall; 2nd Ipswich Regent Theatre; 3rd London Roundhouse; 5th Bristol, Colston Hall; 6th Oxford, New Theatre; 8th Sheffield, City Hall; 9th Leeds, Academy; 10th Manchester Academy; 12th Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall; 13th Gateshead, Sage; 14th Liverpool, Empire.

Johnny Winter

The master of raw, unvarnished electric blues, Johnny Winter is playing in Europe early this month, then six dates in the UK. Experience Johnny’s electrifying guitar playing, which Muddy Waters said made him “Hard Again”!: April 14th London, Shepherds Bush Empire; 15th Bilston, The Robin 2; 16th Gateshead, The Sage; 18th Bath, Komedia; 19th Manchester, Royal Northern College Of Music; 20th Holmfirth, Picturedrome. Johnny Winter

28 March 2013

MUSIC

Pink Martini

LIVE AND KICKING Americana International 2013

The biggest Americana festival in Europe returns for its 33rd celebration of country and rock’n’roll music. Centrally located in Nottinghamshire, the long weekend boasts some great American artists as well as local acts. Highlights include PJ Proby; rising country/rockabilly star Tracey K Houston from Nashville with a tribute to Loretta Lynn; Virginia-based singer/songwriter Randy Thompson; Jay Chevalier, one of the last surviving greats of Louisiana rockabilly; Georgette Jones, the daughter of legendary country music stars George Jones and Tammy Wynette; country singer, actress and star of the ‘Always… Patsy Cline’ stage production Mandy Barnett from Crossville, Tennessee who is making her UK debut. Sun Records recording artist Carl Mann; Texan Will Banister; Missourian country singer Billy Yates; Mary Jean (niece of Jerry Lee) Lewis and the great Moe Bandy (pictured right). July 12th to 14th (camping also 11th & 15th), The County Showground, Winthorpe, near Newark, Nottinghamshire NG24 2NY.

Pink Martini

China Forbes – now happily recovered from vocal surgery – and Thomas Lauderdale are bringing their “little orchestra” back to the UK. Although a very American band, their shows are joyous melanges of glamor, fun and impeccable musicianship with multi-national, multi-cultural music and song, usually involving songs in Arabic, French, Japanese and more... China, though fluent only in English, sings in 15 different languages. UK tour dates are: April 28th Cambridge, Corn Exchange; 29th London, Royal Albert Hall; 30th Brighton, Dome; May 1st Bristol, Colston Hall; 3rd Basingstoke, The Anvil; 5th Derry/Londonderry, Millennium Forum; 7th Edinburgh, Usher Hall; 8th Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall.

Eric Church

Church’s song Springsteen has topped the Mediabase/Country Aircheck and Billboard country charts and every time he performs it he remembers his first concert at an amphitheater when he was 16. “I can remember spreading that blanket down,” he says, “and I can

The American Eric Church

The Sixteen © MARK HARRISON

The Choral Pilgrimage 2013: “The Queen of Heaven”

still see the faces of the people that were there with me; I still remember what the weather was like; I can still remember what the air smelled like, what the sky looked like. And I think the great thing about that song, you always try to write music and record music that sparks a memory, and there’s a line in the song ‘Funny how a melody sounds like a memory.’ That’s exactly what Springsteen is for me, and I hope that that’s what it is for everybody out there.” Find out April 24th at London, The Forum [a great, atmospheric venue for an artist like Eric - ed].

Robben Ford

Californian Robben Ford is one of those musicians who is not widely (enough) known by the general public. Adept in blues, jazz and rock guitar, he was named one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century” by Musician magazine, was a member of the L.A. Express and has worked with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison and KISS among many more. See Robben in intimate venues here in Britain on April 24th London, Leicester Square; 25th Bath, Komedia; 27th Holmfirth, Picturedrome; 28th Glasgow, The Arches; 29th Gateshead, Sage.

Harry Christophers, Artistic Director of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society , is also the leader and inspiration of The Sixteen, a choral group which he started when he was at university. Now in its 13th year, the group’s Choral Pilgrimage is a tour in which they bring the widest variety of sacred music back to the kind of buildings for which it was written. This year’s program includes work by Allegri (Miserere), James MacMillan and Palestrina. You can see them between now and October in 34 cathedrals, churches, chapels and kirks around the UK and Ireland. Timeless and magical – see www. thesixteen.com for details.

Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty have sold over 30 million albums worldwide, and their latest single She’s So Mean and album North have kept up the momentum. They’re over here this month, straight off the back of a US tour, on April 15th, Southampton, Guildhall; 16th & 17th London, Hammersmith Apollo; 19th Wolverhampton, Civic Hall; 20th Manchester, Apollo; 21st Glasgow, Academy.

European tour with Soil last winter, we decided we couldn’t wait until August to come back. So we started looking for that special band that we could join forces with to have an even more successful tour... Drowning Pool is that band! Now we can’t wait to tear the heads off of both our fans and theirs and create a giant pool of Drowning Fozzy lunatics!” April 11th Southampton, The Cellar; 12th Plymouth, The White Rabbit; 13th Brighton, Concorde 2; 14th Norwich, Waterfront; 16th Nottingham, Rescue Rooms; 17th Rugby, The Vault; 18th Stoke, Underground; 19th York, Fibbers; 20th Manchester, NQ Live; 21st Wrexham, Central Station; 23rd Bristol, The Fleece; 24th London, Electric Ballroom; August 11th Bloodstock Festival, Derbyshire. Fozzy

Fozzy

Wrestler Chris Jericho’s metal band Fozzy return to Europe, this time co-headlining with Drowning Pool. Jericho promises mayhem: “After our highly successful co-headlining

April 2013 29

The American

ALBUMS THEOF MONTH David Bowie The Next Day Iso/RCA

As surprising as the Pope’s resignation – and maybe as meaningful to millions – was the completely unexpected release of David Bowie’s Where Are We Now? (on the singer’s 66th birthday) and the announcement that the single presaged a full album of new Bowie songs, the first new material since 2003’s Reality album, his 2004 heart attack during a concert in Germany and his subsequent withdrawal from public life. By now, if you’re the least bit interested, you probably know what The Next Day sounds like (it was streamed free on iTunes). But what does it mean? Bowie – despite his current man-in-a-flat-cap ‘no image’ is still playing with image and perception. The single, with its lyrics about “a man lost in time … just walking the dead”, another song called You Feel So Lonely You Could Die, and other words like “Here I am, not quite dying, My body left to rot in a hollow tree” might have led us to believe this would be a mournful, melancholic elegy to Bowie’s lost health and youth. Maybe even a ‘goodbye’ record – was his health that bad? But nothing’s as simple as that in Bowie-world. There are elements of the Berlin trilogy here, but also Scary Monsters rockers, the odd Young Americans and Aladdin Sane moments... even Ziggy gets a look in (spot the Five Years drum pattern that ends You Feel So Lonely You Could Die). The Next Day sounds like a compilation of (admittedly)

30 April 2013

very good out-takes from previous Bowie periods. It doesn’t take Bowie anywhere new, but he is back, he is writing great songs. We know where he is now. Where will he go next? – Michael Burland

Muddy Waters

Terri Clark Classic

Humphead, HUMP 136 Terri, a talented singer songwriter with eight earlier albums, has decided to pay homage to over forty years of country music from a personal perspective. This album features song covers from some of the all-time greats; Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, Linda Ronstadt as well as her fellow Canadians Neil Young and Hank Snow. This time in several duet tracks she has invited Reba, Dierks Bentley, Jann Arden and others to pay respect to her selection of classic country. However, covers should be more than just a karaoke version; they should give the artist scope to develop the songs’ style or give them a new twist. I’m Movin’ On and Leavin’ on your Mind both display an almost identical pace and style as Hank Snow’s or Patsy Cline’s versions. Brought up deep in the country tradition her skill and talent are outstanding, giving her commercial success since the early ’90s. Despite its excellent production values this album makes this reviewer wonder if Terri is trying to make up for not being born at the heart of country’s roots. These songs may have “shaped who she is as an artist” but they should give her rein to be true to her talent and give country music modern classics. – Paul Eggington

Muddy Waters

You Shook Me – The Chess Masters, Vol. 3, 1958 To 1963 IMS/Universal By 1958 Muddy Waters, surely the greatest and most influential electric bluesman of them all, already had a dozen R&B chart hits and had played in England. The period covered by the latest of Universal’s excellent rerelease series shows him growing in stature and maturity – the Bossman. It includes tracks recorded for Muddy’s first full album, Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill (a tribute to his hero Big Bill Broonzy) and the landmark Muddy Waters At Newport, along with recordings not intended for LP, including the title track, and Walking Thru The Park. Several tracks have rarely been on compliations before. Standout track? Impossible to say! – Michael Burland

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The organisers reserve the right to alter/cancel any part of the festival if the need arises without prior public notification. Also the right to refuse entry to any person(s) who are considered to be a threat to the general running of the festival and its patrons. PHOTO I.D IS REQUIRED AT THIS EVENT

The American

THEATER REVIEWS Reviewed by Jarlath O’Connell

PHOTO © JOHAN PERSSON

Macbeth By William Shakespeare Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY www.macbethwestend.com To April 27

32 April 2013

ames McAvoy bounds onto the stage, dripping in blood, hatchet in one hand, machete in the other, skids across the floor and lets out an almighty shriek, narrowly avoiding tumbling onto those cowering in the front rows. It’s certainly an entrance and a portent of things to come: we are in the world of schlock horror. Movie star McAvoy’s West End return is a triumph in that he has a commanding presence. Schoolgirl hordes won’t need much bribing with additional retail opportunities to sit through this Scottish Play. He is, however, somewhat at sea in a production, directed by Jamie Lloyd, which mistakes action for drama, often mangles the verse, and where everyone is essentially too young for their parts. It has the unpolished urgency of a student DramaSoc production, but never really gets under the skin of this great play. It is set in a dystopian postapocalyptic future. Is there any other kind, I hear you moan? We’re also definitely in Scotland, with fine Scottish accents in evidence, which all give the piece a curious gravitas which it badly needs. If you are new to this country, I’d recommend renting Trainspotting first, to acclimatise yourself. The aesthetic is indeed very Irvine Welsh – its really grim up north, everyone is in mud and rags, and the chic gloom of Adam Silverman’s filmic lighting leaves us literally squinting at times. It’s brutal and visceral, and yet every trick it pulls to approximate cinematic realism must strike the younger audience members as quite futile – weaned, as we’re supposed to believe they are, on Saw II. Soutra Gilmour’s squalid industrial grunge design extends beyond the proscenium as the theater has

been radically transformed (this is the first outing for a new production slate called Trafalgar Transformed). The old stage has been raised two meters, allowing for very effective use of trapdoors and industrial grilles, which also allows the blood to drain away. The first four rows have been removed and audience also placed at the rear of the stage to approximate a traverse type stage in this rather difficult space. This adds to the intimacy but it curiously limits the staging possibilities for the director, and the clarity of establishing place is often muddled. The all-encompassing monochrome grime doesn’t help either in delineating the Macbeths’ aristocratic status. If they’ve all fallen this far, you feel they’re all just one rabble; again this is confusing. Claire Foy’s Lady Macbeth starts at a high pitch and has nowhere else to go. She ends up a cross between Ophelia and a whiny college girl trying to rein in her hothead lug of a boyfriend. It’s partly a factor of being too young for the part – the crafty Lady is better presented with middle-aged wiles. Jamie Ballard is adrift as Macduff, particularly in the scene where he responds to the slaughter of his family. However Hugh Ross brings a welcome stillness, doubling as Duncan and the Doctor. We get slow strangulation, puking into a toilet bowl, child slaughter, more blood than an abattoir and a nifty beheading. What we don’t get is nuance. The soliloquies are transformed from interior monologues into hearty declamations. For a production that wears its realism like bling, it actually misses out on so much of the deeper realities of the text. The thesis that it’s just about the making of a tyrant is overegged. As film critics are prone to say about Vin Diesel movies, it’s certainly “high octane”.

dear

The American

World Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee in a new version by David Thompson Charing Cross Theatre, London WC2

insome isn’t a word you hear much these days, but it perfectly describes this wonderful curiosity by Jerry Herman, composer of Hello, Dolly! and Mame. This was his 1969 follow up to those two massive hits, but it closed after only four months on Broadway and only now has made it to the West End Based on Jean Giraudoux’s play The Madwoman of Chaillot (memorably filmed with Katharine Hepburn), this rose-tinted fable tells the story of Countess Aurelia, the owner of the 1940s Paris bistro Café Francis, which comes under threat from unscrupulous businessmen who believe they have discovered oil directly underneath. The three corporate suits will stop at nothing to push Aurelia aside, demolish her café and drill for oil. Yes, oil under Paris. Geology was never Herman’s strong point. Herman’s trademarks are present and correct – a batty middle-aged female lead with a great intro number (A Sensible Woman), a chirpy hymn to optimism (Each Tomorrow Morning), and a sentimental show stopper in waltz time (I Don’t Want To Know, the only song which has had a life outside the show), plus a chance for great character acting in the smaller parts. The songs are suffused with Herman’s sentimentality, yet redeemed by his great talent for penning catchy tunes.

His shows require larger than life female leads and here the producers have sensibly imported the great Broadway doyenne Betty Buckley. Flighty, ditzy and sharp as a pin at the same time, she is perfectly cast, perfectly dressed, and commands the stage. There are few female musical theater stars today who can match her skill in conveying a dramatic lyric, and here she turns And I was Beautiful, for example, into a touching meditation on old age. Paul Nicholas provides solid support as the unfortunate if accurately named Sewerman, but the piece really comes alive when Aurelia marshals a pair of her equally dotty friends to thwart the plan by the evil moguls. Annabel Leventon is a complete delight as Constance (who “hears voices”), and Rebecca Lock steals the show as the capricious Gabrielle. Trapped forever in maidenhood, she is invariably accompanied by her invisible pooch, Dickie, which she uses to persecute those who might get in her way. The show is at its best during these great flights of fantasy and weakest when trying, rather feebly, to be meaningful. There is no denying the unevenness of the book, but director Gillian Lynne’s affection for the material shines through. Legendary choreographer Lynne brings some beautiful movement to the piece, but the

Betty Buckley as Countess Aurelia PHOTO © ERIC RICHMOND

dance numbers are hemmed in on this small stage. Rambert Dance star Ayman Safiah adds a real touch of class in the dancing role of the Mute and is one to keep an eye on. The story goes that the original production drowned under the weight of its own lavishness (and changing tastes), but here the chamber production approach works a treat. Production values, for such a small commercial venue, are top class with Sarah Travis’ beautiful orchestrations, Matt Kinley’s luxurious set and Ann Hould-Ward’s striking costumes of particular note. Its delicate whimsy won’t be to everyone’s taste, but for Herman completists, for fans of Betty Buckley, and for those fed up with jukebox musicals, this is a bit of light relief. Jerry Herman does eco-drama. Who’da thunk?

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The American

A Chorus Line

sparkling form) cuts the attitude for a moment and describes in At the Ballet how dance provided a muchneeded respite from the domestic hell of her parents’ marriage. Tonedeaf Kristine bemoans that she can’t Sing. Mark, the baby of the group, recounts how he coped with his first wet dream, Greg charts the hell of growing up gay in a small town, and Diana sends up her tortuous method-infused high school acting class, where she felt a failure because she felt Nothing. Connie, Chinese and 4’ 10”, laments being short, while the busty blonde Val extols the virtues of silicone and plastic surgery to transform your audition chances, in the catchy tune Tits and Ass. Also in the mix is Cassie, Zach’s ex-partner. An ex-star oddly wanting to return to the chorus, her great solo The Music and Mirror is forever associated with Donna McKechnie who created it. Here the great Scarlett Strallen delivers it with gusto. Zach (the buff John Partridge) allows one dancer, a bright, sensitive, gay kid, Paul, to tell his story away from the rest. Coming to terms with his

manhood involved tackling his hellish school days and starring in a selfesteem zapping drag show where he ran into his parents. Gary Wood’s delicate and quietly felt performance here is an emotional powerhouse, which stops the show. The genius of the piece is how it interweaves gritty realism with showbiz cliché. It has an early Seventies rawness to it which is miles away from the shoddy emoting of today’s X Factor/American Idol competitions. This is not to say the piece is in anyway grim. It eventually builds to a climax which would lift the roof off any theater, so perfect is its execution. Bennett poignantly explores too how dancers might cope when they can no longer dance. “Am I copping out or am I growing up” as Shelia puts it. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt’s interpretation of What I Did for Love gives us the answer. The book is a model of concision, enhanced by Hamlisch’s lushly tuneful score, and the technical aspects coalesce into sheer perfection. Theoni V Aldredge’s great costumes are now of course ‘period’ (this was before leggings!) and Tharon Musser’s iconic lighting will never date, as it’s part of theater history. PHOTO © MANUEL HARLAN

hy it has taken 37 years for Michael Bennett’s A Chorus Line to return to the West End is a mystery, but Bob Avian, one of the original co-creators, has lovingly recreated it for a cast made up of the cream of British musical theater talent. The result is simply thrilling. It had a famous gestation, Bennett recording dancers just telling their stories before the piece being workshopped at the famous Public Theatre. In conceiving it, he illuminated the lives of these hitherto unsung heroes of Broadway and while giving dancers a voice he crafted a powerful and compelling drama which went on to win the Pulitzer and nine Tonys, and run for over 6000 performances. Like all works of genius, its greatness lies in its simplicity. There is a white line on a bare stage and on it stand a troupe of dancers. They are at an audition being whittled down, first to 17 and eventually to just 8, by an imperious director, Zach. His disembodied voice, ringing out from the stalls, Zach entreats dancers to talk honestly about themselves and these stories then morph into the musical numbers. Cocky Mike describes his first experience of watching his sisters at a dance class and thinking I Can Do That. Dry-as-dust Sheila (leggy goddess Leigh Zimmerman, in

Conceived, choreographed and directed by Michael Bennett; book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante; music by Marvin Hamlisch; lyrics by Edward Kleban London Palladium Theatre, 8 Argyll St, Soho, London W1F 7TF

34 April 2013

A Life of Galileo speare, for example, extend to other great dramatists? Of all Brecht’s plays, this is an easy target for dumbing down, as it’s his most conventional piece, resembling an old-fashioned movie biopic about some great historical figure. The story of how, in June 1633, the grand ducal mathematician and philosopher Galileo had knelt before the Inquisition and formally abandoned his opinions of the Copernican theory that the Earth revolves around the sun, is a great one. This first mighty clash between scientific truth and religious scripture set the scene for many more to come, and for Brecht it provided fertile ground in which to explore the responsibility of the scientist to society. Originally written when he was in hiding in Denmark in 1939, he rewrote it in Hollywood in collaboration with the great actor Charles Laughton, and that reworking first saw the light of day in Beverley Hills, of all places, in 1947. The revision recasts Galileo in a less sympathetic light. It must be remembered this was in the immediate aftermath of Hiroshima and Brecht took an even more dim view of scientists “selling out” to power. Silbert stages it here with a frantic exuberance and while this bustle is suited to a thrust stage, it does quickly tire. The electronic captions and choruses between scenes, which presumably are meant to “distance”, come

By Bertolt Brecht, translated by Mark Ravenhill RSC’s Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon Reviewed by Jarlath O’Connell across instead as light entertainment distraction, with no edge, although the singing is painful. Curtain numbers, not critical counterpoint. Costumes and sets combine the modern and the period, which is fine, but in the period elements there is scant attention to detail: an actress not knowing how to use rosary beads, or the Pope being dressed by nuns! In the lead, Ian McDiarmid, essentially miscast, does try and capture the many sides of Galileo from the larger than life bon vivant to the petulant self-absorbed truth seeker, who is drunk on his new knowledge. His careless dismissals of his devoted daughter rebounds badly on him when she turns informer. The play is a compelling portrait of a flawed genius and its brilliance is in how it explores these ethical conundrums with such ease. It’s a pity though that this production is more school pageant than Berliner Ensemble.

ELLIE KURT TZ

oxana Silbert’s new RSC production of Brecht’s great play about Galileo is Brecht-lite, one for those faced with revision notes and exam worries. There was a time when the decision to stage a Brecht play involved agreeing from the outset how to engage with his revolutionary ideas for staging his work, including his famous ‘alienation effect’. These days, at least in this country, such worries don’t detain directors for a second, with the result that we end up with just the plot and, if we’re lucky, a good translation. Mark Ravenhill (enfant terrible of Shopping and F***ing fame) has done a workmanlike job here of shortening and simplifying the text and it is certainly the most lucid and concise adaptation you will ever see, but one is left with something that reeks of Theatre-inEducation earnestness rather than a sample of his revolutionary brand of theater making, one which influenced so many. He may be dead, didactic, Marxist, and have been horrible to his wives (boo), but he deserves better than this from the premier subsidised national theater company. As well as helping teenagers with A-level science, doesn’t the RSC also have a responsibility to the history of theater and the intentions of the original artist, no matter how unpalatable that might be to bourgeois tastes or current fads? Similarly, why doesn’t the current fetishism with ‘authentic performance’ in Shake-

PHO TOS ©

The American

abaret rooms are like buses – you wait ages and along come three. Following the opening of the lush Matcham Room at the Hippodrome and the Art Deco splendor of The Crazy Coqs at Brasserie Zédel, we now have a third plush little boîte in which to sample great singing. The St James Studio is the basement of the stunning new St James Theatre, located a hop and a skip from Victoria Station, on the site of the old Westminster Theatre. On a recent Sunday night, Australian chanteuse Alison Jiear played a blinder of a gig here, to a rightly adoring crowd. An astounding talent, she combines impeccable artistry, great warmth and complete command of her audience. With a voice that can tackle any style, she does just that. Always totally connected to her material, over the course of two riveting hours she made a packed house laugh, cry, groove, mellow-out and get funky. Accompanied by a stonking quartet led by Dave Arch, known to millions as the MD of TV’s Strictly Come Dancing, I can’t recall seeing anyone before her with such sheer versatility. On Strictly, versatility must also be Arch’s middle name, and here he pulled off the same trick, producing for Jiear a set of dazzling arrangements, covering the whole gamut of musical styles. Who else but Jiear could rival Al Jarreau with his swing take on My Favourite Things or up the pitch and slow the tempo on You’re My World and make that old Cilla Black war horse sound fresh, or even resurrect The Seekers, with a jaunty In a World Of Our Own. Her talent for soul exploded in a mini Aretha section, culminating in a very personal tribute to her own favorite goddess, Chaka Khan, with the low down and dirty Tell Me Something Good.

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Alison Jiear

Under the Influence Her lethal wit was unleashed in the devilishly clever One Note Samba, whose musical challenge nearly finished off her devoted MD. Arch too displayed an exquisite sensitivity himself in his piano solos on numbers like Blue Skies. Carole King, Janis Ian and Barbra Streisand each got a nod and she finished off with a heartfelt Both Sides Now, which didn’t leave a dry eye in the house. Barbra’s Papa Can You Hear Me? segued into some spiritual music, something also close to her heart, and she related how she had recorded a special album of Christian music for her Dad, when he became seriously ill. Desperately wanting to record an “inspirational” album, she is now trying to raise the funds, but on the evidence of this, her focus should be on capturing a live set, as that would really convey her special appeal. Criminally underrated and underused since her stint as the female lead in Jerry Springer – The Opera, she is so much more than a West End gal trying out her act. Her struggle

St James Studio, London SW1 www.stjamestheatre.co.uk with “weight issues”, as they say, while in the chorus of Les Misérables meant she never did manage to take over the role of Fantine, as was promised. But her loss was our gain as it inspired a deliciously twisted take on I Dreamed A Dream, in which it is re-born for the Grand Ole Opry. The key to her brilliance is that she approaches each genre with such love and respect. There is no ironic distance here. She knows she’s good and she gets on with it and that confidence is enchanting. Alison will be appearing at the St James Studio again on May 3, 10 and 17, and she is at Ronnie Scott’s on April 28 as part of a Frank and Ella show but Under the Influence is the set to look out for. H

PHOTO © SARAH-MARTIN-2010 WWW.ICANDYFOREVER.COM

The American

Joan Collins in One Night with Joan

THEATER PREVIEWS

Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BX plus other venues (see below) leicestersquaretheatre.com April 12 to 28

National Theatre

Southbank, London SE1 9PX www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Children of the Sun

Lyttelton Theatre at the National Theatre From April 9 Howard Davies directs Maxim Gorky’s depiction of middle class Russia in an adaption by Andrew Upton (who previously adapted Gorky’s Philistines). Protasov (Geoffrey Streatfeild) obsesses on his experiments while a widow has him in her sights, his best friend takes an interest in his wife, and a restless, starving, cholerathreatened mob roils outside.

Othello

Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre From April 23 The classic tragedy of jealousy and deceit by that chap Shakespeare. Any new Othello at the National is an event, sometimes generationally so, and with Adrian Lester (2012 Critics’ Circle Best Actor Award for Red Velvet) in the title role and Rory Kinnear (previously in the title role of Nicholas Hytner’s Hamlet) as Iago, much may be expected. Hytner again directs, so good luck getting a ticket.

Rory Kinnear and Adrian Lester head the National Theatre production of Othello

Untold Stories

Duchess Theatre, 3-5 Catherine Street, London WC2B 5LA From March 22 Alan Bennett’s critically acclaimed autobiographical tales Hymn and Cocktail Sticks are bound together for a 12-week transfer at the Duchess Theatre. Directed by Nicholas Hytner, the full-cast Cocktail Sticks observes the gentle tragicomedy of a son speaking to his dead father, while his mother hopes for a new life. Hymn, directed by Nadia Fall, recollects childhood through music and Bennett’s celebrated monologue. Alex Jennings plays the playwright – and British institution – Alan Bennett.

Table

The Shed at the National Theatre April 9 to May 18 Nine actors play thirty roles in this 200 year story of one family, featuring live music, dance, and a very special piece of furniture. (The Shed is the temporary venue in front of the National Theatre during the Cottesloe Theatre’s closure, by the way).

Acting icon Joan Collins brings her one woman show to the West End and beyond for, fortunately for us, more than one night, sharing memories and secrets from her life and career. Hear about her screen test for Cleopatra, her on-set encounters with Bette Davis, and more. Each evening includes a question and answer session. There are six dates at Leicester Square, April 12 to 14 and 26 to 28, with further dates at Royal & Derngate, Northampton (April 6); The Swan, High Wycombe (April 7); G Live, Guildford (April 16); Orchard Theatre, Dartford (April 17); The Anvil, Basingstoke (April 19); Town Hall, Birmingham (April 20); The Lowry, Salford (April 21); The Arena, St Albans (April 23); and The Pavilion, Bournemouth (April 24).

Alex Jennings as Alan Bennett in Untold Stories PHOTO: JAYNE WEST

I hope the National Theatre will forgive us bundling their April openings together, but with Shakespeare, Maxim Gorky, Alan Bennett and Tanya Ronder all jostling for our attention, the Southbank provides a broadside of theatrical essentials this month.

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The Pitmen Painters

The American

PHOTO: KEITH PATTINSON

Once

Phoenix Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0JP Oncemusical.co.uk March 16 to November 30 The London production of the celebration of love, friendship and music, was an eight-time Tony award-winner on Broadway, and if the London production is even half the Broadway show, another run of awards beckons. With music and lyrics by Academy Award® winning Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, it stars Declan Bennett (Rent and American Idiot on Broadway) and Zrinka Cvitešić, a massive star of stage and screen in Croatia.

Theater Round-Up

Also out there: Theatre Royal Bath (www.theatreroyal.org.uk) has both the transfer of the London production of Abigail’s Party, plus Relatively Speaking, due to transfer to the West End in May; London’s Arts Theatre (www.artstheatrewestend.co.uk) has the 20th anniversary revival of Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing (April 13 to May 25) starring Suranne Jones, Zaraah Abrahams and Oliver Farnworth before it tours to Liverpool, Leeds and Brighton; and finishing where we began, the National Theatre stages a national tour of The Pitmen Painters, a tale of miners inspired to become artists. Written by Lee Hall, creator of Billy Elliot. (To August 24 – www.kenwright.com) H

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id actors, eh? Especially ones that have starred on Broadway. Spoilt brat divas or glassyeyed puppets to their Svengalis? Not always! There’s a talented young American currently starring on the London stage who could teach some of his elders a thing or two about charm and ‘media relations’, as The American found out when we talked to him just before he went on stage in Billy Elliot the Musical. Starting February 6th, thirteen year old Tade Biesinger from Bountiful, Utah, became Billy Elliot in the West End. Tade is the 32nd boy to play the young lad from the gritty north east of England who dreams of being a dancer. He’s the second to have taken the title role in the blockbuster musical in both the United States and the UK, and the first to have played Billy on Broadway before London. Amazingly, it’s Tade’s first lead role. I wondered how it came about. “The directors of a dance competition I was in, in Utah, called the casting director of Billy Elliot and she got in touch with my mom and dad and my dance studio director. I had an audition in Denver, then two more in New York. And I was asked to play Billy on Broadway!” Simple! But fame hasn’t got to Tade. Engagingly, he grins and his

voice lights up when he says ‘New York’ – it’s obviously still a big thrill. Now he’s dancing professionally, at such a high level, does Tade think it will become his career? “It was something I was doing for fun. I didn’t think I’d be here doing this. I just like to dance, and goof off, I guess! But I hope to do more stuff like this.” School is the biggest part of most kids’ lives. What is Tade doing about education? And how is living away from his family – including three brothers, a sister and Bear, the family dog – working out? “I’m living in a house with some of the kids from the cast. We get tutored in the morning. I brought my books and curriculum from my school in Utah and my tutor teaches me that. I’ll go back to that school when I finish here, but I’m not sure when that will be. It’s OK being here – my mom and dad are coming over to see me sometimes.” Billy Elliot’s north east English accent, known as ‘Geordie’, is a tricky one that most English people have trouble doing convincingly, but Tade has mastered it. “There’s four Billys at the moment, sharing the role. We all use Geordie – the same as I did on Broadway. We have a dialog coach who comes to see us in the show

The American

Billy Elliot and then gives us rehearsals during the week. They’re really nice!” Billy Elliot is set during the British miners’ strike of the 1980s. Tade didn’t know much about it before he was in the show, but read about it when he was preparing for his Broadway debut. It was a tough time for many working people in Britain, which comes out in the show – it’s not all laughs and dancing. I asked Tade what his favorite part of the musical is. “Some numbers are harder than others but I like the whole show, the singing too. I saw the film, and I think there’s more life to the stage version, more dancing too. The London production is a little bit different to the Broadway one.” Tade has never been to England before, so on top of being in a hit musical he’s also living in a new country. How has he enjoyed it so far

Tade Biesinger, from Bountiful, Utah, is the new star of the smash hit musical – and what does he miss most about the States? “I haven’t seen too much of it yet! When my mom and dad came over I got to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery, so I’ve seen a few places. The theater is fun too – it’s quite old and it’s really pretty. I miss my family a lot. But it’s very exciting to be here.”

Tade will be playing Billy at the Victoria Palace Theatre for the next few months, so there’s plenty of time to see him (although you can’t specify which of the young actors will be in a given performance). H

Tade in action in Billy Elliot the Musical, and inset, with Older Billy, Barnaby Meredith PHOTOS BY ALASTAIR MUIR

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The American

BOOKS

O My America! © NICK CUNARD 2012

Sara Wheeler tells The American about her new book, O My America!: Second Acts in a New World

Above: Sara Wheeler Below: Sara visits The Knoll, Harriet Martineau’s house in the Lake District

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read an old newspaper telling the story of Fanny Trollope, who came from the same rather insalubrious district of Bristol as I do, who went to America ‘hardly better known than Fairy Land’ as she put it, when she was 50, my age when I discovered her. This was 1827, 35 years after the Boston Tea Party. Born in 1777, she was C18th and she had a lot of the rackety Regency about her. Leaving a useless husband behind, she needed to find a way to make money for her kids. It took six weeks to get there, in steerage with three children, then up the Mississippi, along the Ohio river to Cincinnati, which was the frontier at the time, with all the frontier entrepreneurial energy, enthusiasm and early American Wild West spirit that implies. So it was a hell of a place for a woman who grew up mostly in Regency England. This turned out to be a complete failure, she stayed three and a half years and at the end of it one of her daughters didn’t even have any shoes. She came back near-destitute, and wrote a book, Domestic Manners of the Americans, published in 1832, that’s never been out of print since in both America and Britain. When Fanny’s son Anthony (of The Chronicles of Barchester fame), published his first book, his mother was so famous that they wanted to put just ‘Trollope’ on the cover to trick people into thinking that she was the author! She became a big superstar, and earned lots of money. So America was the promised land after all. I became increasingly drawn to the notion of feminine Second Acts in America. I feel 50+ is an age so rarely written about. I followed their footsteps, from the Deep South, to Colorado, the Rockies, San Francisco, taking two maps with me everywhere, one they would have used,

The American

and a current one. Their maps had huge splodges of mustard yellow that just said something like ‘Cherokee country,’ revealing just how much of America was unmapped in those days, once you got away from the Eastern seaboard. In those early maps it was astonishing how the Ohio river, for instance, had settlements on either side of it, for obvious reasons, and yet there would be hundreds of miles in either direction on either side which hadn’t been mapped. The next was Fanny Kemble, already an English celebrity actress when she went to tour America with a theatre company, quickly becoming a celebrity there too. She gave it all up for love and married a slave owner, went down to his rice, tobacco and cotton plantations, which were on the Georgia Sea Islands, and discovered this was not Tara. Her story is so harrowing, but she wrote a brilliant book, to my mind one of the most powerful depictions of slavery ever, probably because it was so first hand, and fertilised by shame. Her motive was to garner support for the Yankees in the UK because she so wanted abolition. There is still a sign near Savannah saying that Southern historians still blame her in part for them losing the Civil War. She took me to the Georgia Sea Islands, quite an astonishing landscape for a European. It’s a bit like Venice but not quite, it’s all a bit swampy and miasmic and almost seemed as though it was going to sink into the Atlantic at any minute. I found it all rather beautiful. The next was Harriet Martineau, the social theorist, who was so famous that on arrival in DC, 600 callers in stove pipe hats left their cards at her boarding house. She had indefatigable energy. She came back and kept writing and writing. Even when

she was ill and knew she was dying, she wrote her own obituary, walked to the postbox to post it, went home and died! Dickens said that her book, Society in America, was the best thing ever written on America. I find her work just about unreadable now, it’s social theory that’s out of its time. I very much wanted to follow the Frontier west and include a homesteader, because they were so much the women who created America. I found Rebecca Burlend. When she, her husband and five children were put off a steamer on the Illinois river onto a patch of black earth in the middle of nowhere, they sat down, and burst into tears. She harvested their first crop on her own with a borrowed scythe, while her children looked after her dangerously ill husband and young baby, such a courageous story. Then there was Isabella Bird, a Victorian traveller, who fell in love with a bandit in the Rockies. My final woman was Catherine Hubback, Jane Austen’s neice, who like Fanny Trollope was fleeing her husband, although for different reasons. It was a logical end to the book when the rails joined up the country and there was no frontier left. She was living in Oakland in the 1870s and that was just when domestic tourism started to be a big thing. The Americans started to realise that the landscape wasn’t just territory to be beaten into submission, it was something that was part of the splendour of America, so for the first time people were going in stage wagons up to the end of the Cascades to see the volcanoes and the geysers, (now in Lassen National Park), to Yosemite, or down to Santa Cruz and Pescadero, all well known places now in California but weren’t then. So the book is about six middle aged women writers who went to

Oh My America!

Jonathan Cape, Hardback, 229 pages £18.99 ISBN 978-0-22409-070-4

Hear Sara talk about her book March 21, 6pm, Oxford Literary Festival – tickets £11 April 11, 7.30pm (doors open 7pm), Keats Community Library, Ten Keats Grove, Hampstead, London NW3 2RR – tickets £5 April 17, 7pm, Topping & Co, The Paragon, Bath BA1 5LS, £6 in advance, redeemable against book purchase 01225 428111 April 19, 6pm, Aye Write! Book Festival. Mitchell Theatre, 7 Granville St Glasgow G3 America in that crucial 50 years, 1827 – 1877. It was really the battle to be themselves in a man’s world as late middle age loomed that united them in my eyes, that and their attempts to understand America. I’d spent a lot of time writing about the polar regions and men with frozen beards, it was such a relief to be spending my time in the company of women! H

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The American

BOOK REVIEWS The Globetrotter Diaries

Michael Clinton Glitterati Incorporated, Hardback, 258 pages $30 ISBN 978-0-9851696-6-4 To say this is a collection of articles about Michael Clinton’s very broad travel experiences (he is the publishing director of Hearst Publishing and has visited over 120 countries), makes this book sound a little dry. However, the tagline ‘Tales, tips and tactics for traveling the 7 continents’ is no idle threat. Clinton’s compact, informative and very readable articles are punctuated by pages of tips from other frequent travelers such as Laureen Ong of Travel Channel and Kate White, former Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan. Clinton’s own (many) chapters range from pure travelogues (‘Stranded’ parts one and two and ‘Excuse me, have you seen Indiana Jones’) to nuts-and-bolts advice (‘The A to Z of Globetrotting’, ‘If you like it, buy it’) and those that fall between (‘What to do if you leave something on a plane’, which delivers bullet-pointed lessons learned from his experience after a flight from JFK to LAX). Clinton’s very personable words promote a see-what-happens adventuring spirit instead of just collecting Air Miles, but those of us whose travel experience doesn’t stretch more than resetting our watches by a few hours and standing by the baggage carousel can at least read The Globetrotter Diaries and dream of being bolder. Next time you want a holiday read, forget the latest Dan Brown and pick this up instead. You’ll be no less entertained and a whole lot more informed. – Elena Erickson

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Normal for Norfolk

Mitzi Szereto Thelonious T. Bear Books, Paperback, 186 pages, RRP £7.05 ISBN 9781478177449 A photojournalist in a Mini quits London for what he expects to be the sleepy Norfolk countryside. “We don’t get murders round here” comments the local inspector, despite increasing evidence to the contrary. So begins a rural crime novel I found approachable and engaging, featuring an oddly detached hero who just happens to be a small bear. Thoughts of Paddington and Ted are inevitable, though coincidental (however be warned, the language is in places unashamedly adult). I’m not entirely sure what Thelonious T Bear’s ursinity adds to the story (my advice: just go with it) but it did accentuate his role as a self-conscious ‘outsider’. I did wish the furry protagonist was less of an outsider to the main plot, though – he travels more in parallel – but perhaps subsequent installments of what is promised to be a series will reconnect him with interesting peripheral characters from this first outing and drive him deeper into events. I enjoyed my visit to Norfolk and I could certainly bear another outing (sorry!) – Elena Erickson

Atlas of History’s Greatest Military Victories

Jeremy Harwood Icon Books, Paperback, 224 pages, £12.99 ISBN 9781848315785 Subtitled ‘The 50 most significant moments explored in words and maps’, this is a tidy little book. Too tidy. The maps, well-rendered, are of variable complexity, fleetingly conveying the stages of conflict. The definition of ‘victory’ is broad, sometimes equating to engagements (Blenheim), sometimes eras (The Battle of the Atlantic), and some have been chosen for their historical significance regardless of how tactically complex the battle itself may have been (Pearl Harbor, Plassey). The moments ‘explored’ are hampered by a limited word count for each entry, sometimes reducing coverage of a battle to a disappointing precis. For example, the El Alamein entry has room to mention Operations Lightfoot and Supercharge, but not Operation Bertram, in which Montgomery misdirected Rommel through the use of fake tanks and tanks dressed as trucks. And while the map for Gettysburg is finely delivered, covering the battle in 500 words reduces it to a triviality. It makes a nice little present for the price, but it’s little more than an historical tease. – Richard L Gale

The American

POLITICS

States of the Unions Alison Holmes examines the history of the President’s annual speech and the similarities between it and that of the British monarch

PHOTO: PETE SOUZA

he State of the Union is a strange beast. The Founding Fathers were determined to cast off the traditions of Blighty – yet such fripperies creep even into those things most Americans would swear are among its oldest traditions. Part of that original determination is illustrated by the fact this ‘annual report to the shareholders’ was enshrined in the Constitution. Never again would a ruler hide behind rank or office; ‘He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient’ (Article II, Section 3). Yet, despite this clear language, it was known as ‘the President’s Annual Message to Congress’ until Franklin Roosevelt reverted to the original term in 1934, becoming commonplace after 1947. The wise old Fathers also did not say it had to actually be a speech. George Washington did deliver his address in 1790, but 11 years later in 1801, Thomas Jefferson refused to give the speech in person as he regarded it as too ‘monarchical’ and

sent his report to Congress to be read by a clerk instead. It is educational, edifying and perhaps slightly depressing to delve a little more into these early speeches as the themes are hauntingly familiar. For example, President Washington dealt with the economy, agriculture and the urgent need for education if the young country was to grow and be strong. One might expect defense of his fragile union, but he also implored his colleagues to deal with naturalization as a matter of national importance. Similarly, in his first report, President Jefferson spoke of the complications of foreign policy and his decision to send frigates – perhaps ironically – to Tripoli. He also focused on the need to reduce taxes whenever possible, naturalization as an urgent issue and the ‘4 pillars of prosperity,’ namely ‘agriculture, manufactures (sic), commerce, and navigation’. The issues may have been the same – even if the speeches were much shorter in length! Modern technology has proved a game changer as every President since Woodrow Wilson has opted to

give at least one Union address to a joint session of Congress. Calvin Coolidge was the first to use radio in 1923 and Harry Truman was first ‘on the box’ in 1947. Modernity has also helped to transform the event from a mere ‘report’ from the President to Congress to a message to all stakeholders of the Union. Indeed, today, the audience in the room are little more than camera fodder for a President’s bully pulpit. For all this innovation, it would be interesting to know how many in the chamber realize how much their procedures and customs owe to the Queen’s Speech back in London.

Formal Invitation

Just as the Serjeant at Arms marches solemnly from the House of Lords to the Commons to call the Members of the lower house to hear the Queen’s Speech – only to have the door ceremonially slammed in his face – the Americans must issue a formal invitation to the President to present his report. The end result is the echo of a symbolic representation of the tensions between the head of state and the legislating body.

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The American

On their appointed days members on both sides of the Atlantic come together in a joint session. Standing room only affairs, care is still taken to assign places in a clear order of priority and distance from the ‘throne’. Americans prefer a gladhanding entrance of the President through the crowded chamber while the Brits arrive to find an already seated Queen, but it amounts to the same thing as the President and the Queen announce the priorities for his administration and Her Majesty’s Government respectively. There is also a common tradition of a rebuttal. In stark contrast to the British custom, the Americans have deemed it necessary to guard against disaster with a ‘designated survivor’ amongst the Cabinet. Since 2001 and real disaster, some members of Congress have been added to this list and asked to go to undisclosed locations. Another peculiarly American tradition is the ‘Lenny Skutnik’ seat. Since 1982 when President Reagan invited Mr Skutnik to be recognized

from the galturing, clean lery – in his energy, infracase for his structure and heroism in education.’ the wake of There an airplane was a focus crash – on domestic Presidents have economics as used this ‘call out’ well as the obligaPA RLI RIS tory peroration on the as an opportunity AM AR H ENTA R RY COPYRIGHT / ROGE to bring attention to importance of a strong an issue – as well as a photo defense blended with a desire for opportunity. peace. Education, tax and immigraSo what did second term Presition were specifics at the top of this dent Obama say as he followed in President’s agenda as well as the these hallowed footsteps? Nothing age-old desire to work with all colvery new – as it turns out. President leagues to make progress. Washington could just as easily have Former Presidents did not have said: ‘Together, we have cleared nuclear power – or nuclear weapons away the rubble of crisis and we can – to contend with, but their lists of say with renewed confidence that priorities cast long shadows down the State of our Union is stronger.’ the centuries, even as modernizaThere would not be a cigarette tion anchors each innovation to a paper’s distance between Presidents specific time and place. However, 1 through 43 and 44’s call to make there is no doubt there could be no the United States a ‘magnet for jobs dissenting voice from the President’s and manufacturing’ and ‘equip every assertion that, ‘It is my task to report American with the skills they need… the State of the Union. To improve it through investments in manufacis the task of us all.’ H

The “Quintessential Mayor” Edward Irving “Ed” Koch

American city above all else in his life, perhaps even his own heart. Driven by his fierce love of a place that is edgy and arrogant; loyal and protective, whose heart beats with the melting pot of American culture, he often declared he was not the sort of person who got ulcers. He gave them to other people by always saying exactly what he thought. It is the fate of a high profile politician to have many post-mortems on the successes and failures of a lifetime in the public eye. And no harsher public eye exists than those of his beloved constituents in the Big Apple. Now that Mayor Koch has

December 12, 1924 – February 1, 2013

t sounds like the start of a joke: “There’s this Polish Jew from New Jersey. He goes to his Rabbi – he says: ‘Rabbi – I want to be buried in a fancy Episcopal churchyard in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Manhattan.’ His rabbi says…” We can only imagine what his Rabbi might have said, but a joke it certainly wasn’t. Mayor Koch’s story is that of an extraordinary man who put the ‘quintessentially’

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been laid to rest, doubtless the ‘real’ stories will emerge – but to most he will remain the man brave enough to never stop asking, “How am I doin’?” – and really listen to the answer. Ed Koch: warrior, lawyer, politician – campaigner for civil rights and Israel – as sharp an observer of movies as he was of life. The star studded crowd of old friends and old enemies – often the same people – laughed and clapped and cried, and agreed there was no better salute to the man than a rousing chorus of New York, New York and to be carried straight into the quintessential New York compliment: a traffic jam as far as the eye could see. H

The American

DRIVE TIME FIRST DRIVE:

Mitsubishi Outlander

adminton House is a grand country house in Gloucestershire, England. One of the grandest, but when you peer behind the glorious façade, parts of it could best be politely described as 'shabby chic'. Despite Mitsubishi's links with the estate and its equine sports, was it the best place to launch a car that's all-new and part of the company's push into the future? Perhaps yes, as it points out the great leap forward that they are making with their new models. Mitsubishi have been quiet recently, with no new products for a couple of years, but now there are two coming along at the same time. We'll take a look at the city car Mirage soon, but now here's our first drive in the new Outlander, the third iteration of the mid-size SUV. The previous Outlander model was launched in 2007 and, like most SUVs of its age, was in need of a revamp. Not because it was a bad car – it wasn't – but because the car-buying world has changed.

Families want all the spaciousness and capability of a 'soft roader', something that can get them along farm tracks and potholed roads and maybe tow a horse box across grassy fields rather than a hardcore offroader, but they will no longer tolerate the 25 to 30 mpg thirst that often went with them. How does the new car stack up? For a vehicle that can take seven adults in its three rows of seats the Outlander has been engineered cleverly. At just 1555 kg it weighs less than a BMW 1 Series, and it's over 100kg (that's 220 pounds, one big passenger!) lighter than the current Outlander, and 198kg lighter than the new Honda CR-V. A lot of effort has gone into aerodynamic design; its drag coefficient is 0.33, 7% down from the old model. To make it more wallet-friendly, there's an ECO driving mode which suppresses power, reduces air-conditioning load and switches to ‘Eco’ 4WD mode, driving the front wheels only until they lose traction and the computer diverts torque to the rears. The steering is accurate if over-light and the six speed auto gearbox

Frugal yet spritely diesel is the only option – until the hybrid arrives

(with adaptive software that 'learns' how you drive and adjusts shift timings to suit you) is smooth and keeps things moving along briskly enough with 147bhp, 380Nm, a 0-62mph sprint of 10.2 seconds and a maximum speed of 125mph from the 2.2 liter four cylinder DI-D diesel engine. It drives smoothly, quietly and effectively. It's no sports car, but it will typically be bought as a family car and in that role it scores well. The Outlander can multi task. It's happy as an MPV. Virtually all will be seven-seat versions – there's a cheaper five seater, but why would you? And even the two rear seats in the third row that pull up from the boot floor are decent padded chairs that are acceptable for kids or occasional adult use – legroom is fine once the middle row slides forward, though headroom is limited. It's a small van when called upon too – once all the rear seats are folded down – usefully flat – there's an impressive 1022-liters of carrying capacity. People plus bags? There's

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The American

NEW DESIGNS Alfa 4C

Alfa Romeo is back doing what it does best: making beautiful, compact, lightweight sports cars. A limited ‘Launch Edition’ – 400 in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, 500 in North America and 100 in the rest of the world – will be sold at the equivalent of £52,000. That buys you into a compact two-seater with a carbon fibre monocoque, new all-aluminium 1750cc, direct-injection 240hp turbo petrol engine with twin dry clutch transmission, a top speed of over 155mph, and 0 to 62mph in 4.5 seconds. Designed by Alfa, it is built by Maserati in Modena. The launch edition comes in Alfa red or ‘Carrara White’ – that’s as in Italian marble, NOT Carrera as in Porsche!

314mpg Volkswagen

How to sum up VW’s extraordinary XL1? Hybrid, exotic, midengined, slippery, carbon fibre, moderate speed, up to 314mpg... and available! Yes, it’s not just a concept car. A run of 50 XL1s is being sold, with further being built on demand. The price is yet to be announced.

46 April 2013

591 liters of room when the middle row of seats is in place, and even with all seven seats up there's room for a fair bit of shopping. Mitsubishi reckon Outlander will compete against the Hyundai Santa Fe, Honda CR-V, Kia Sorento and Toyota RAV4, some of which are more off road orientated. It should be cost effective to live with compared to them, especially when you factor in Mitsubishi's near-legendary reliability. With manual transmission it's in VED (car tax) band E which costs £120 a year and it averages a class leading combined 52.3mpg (manual) or 48.7mpg (auto). Even the lowest specification GX2 Outlander (there's a GX1 trade variant too) is well equipped with climate control, auto lights, steering wheel audio controls, 'welcome home headlights' that stay on while you leave the car and enter your home, brake and hill start assist, cruise control & speed limiter, USB connection, and dual front, curtain & driver's knee air bags, but only two rows of seats. GX3 adds 18" alloy wheels – although there's a better ride from the GX2's smaller 16 inchers and deeper rubber – the two extra seats, dual zone climate control, front fog lamps, rain sensing wipers, power folding heated mirrors, colour LCD display, leather steering wheel and gear knob, Blue-

tooth, privacy glass and optional leather seats (on GX3 Leather). With GX4 you'll enjoy seat heaters, power seat, rear parking sensors, Super HID headlights, headlight washers, MMCS sat nav & reversing camera, electric sunroof and paddle shift (auto only). The top of the line GX5 adds power tailgate, adaptive cruise control (as on the more expensive Infiniti M35h GT tested in February), forward collision mitigation and lane departure warning. The new design – with grille and light treatments that will likely find their way onto a succession of new models – looks fresh and modern if a little slabby. It looks particularly good in black and white (that's two options, not one peculiar colorway). Comments were made at the launch that the interior is forgettable – it's certainly functional and maybe it's simply liveable with, classic – time will tell if certain all singing all dancing Starship Enterprise dashboards will last or look dated in a few years. The Outlander ranges from £23,699 to £33,999. We’ll be writing about Outlander again soon, when Mitsubishi bring in a PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) derivative. It's already on sale in Japan and pricing here is still to be confirmed but Mitsu say it will be highly competitive. They're touting it as ‘The Game Changer’ – we'll see... H

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SPORTS

Familiar

Faces in New

Places

Jay B Webster previews the imminent MLB Season

AL East l Toronto Blue Jays: In what figures to once again be the most compelling division in baseball, the Blue Jays made the biggest waves. First they unburdened the Marlins of José Reyes, Josh Johnson, Emilio Bonifacio and Mark Buehrle. Then they reined in reigning NL Cy Young award winner RA Dickey before adding Melky Cabrera, who was putting up MVP-caliber numbers for the Giants last season before being suspended for failing a PED test. Add all of that to a roster that already contained one of the most potent bats in baseball in José Bautista, as well as Edwin Encarnación, Brett Lawrie, JP Arencibia and Colby Rasmus, and you’ve got a recipe for bringing baseball glory back north of the border for the first time since the early ‘90s. Of course, Reyes and Buehrle were supposed to be ushering in a new era of dominance in South Florida last season, and we all know how that turned out. l Baltimore Orioles: With the Blue Jays hitting the gas pedal in the off-season and the Orioles winning the Wild

47 March 2013

pring is in the air, and that means baseball. So what does the landscape look like around the Majors this year? As usual, there are lots of familiar faces in new places. Long-time Bostonian Kevin Youkilis – after spending half a season on Chicago’s south side – took a page out of Johnny Damon’s book and exchanged Red Sox for Yankee pinstripes. Josh Hamilton jumped Division rivals and landed with the big-spending Angels. Zack Greinke is in Dodger blue, the Marlins cut bait on half of their roster, and a whole team turned up in a different league as the Astros beamed from the NL Central to the AL West. So who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? Here is a look at all 30 teams, roughly in the order of how they should finish come October.

Card last season, the hegemony exerted over the division for so many years by the Yankees and Red Sox, if not waning, is at the very least diminishing. The O’s lived life on the edge last year, going 29-9 in one-run games, 54-23 in games decided by two runs or fewer, and 16-2 in extra-inning games. While centerfielder Adam Jones, catcher Matt Wieters and young third baseman Manny Machado are quality big leaguers, this team lacks the true star power of other teams in the division, but here’s hoping they’ll be at least half as much fun to watch as they were a season ago. l New York Yankees: Gone are Nick Swisher and Russell Martin. In are Travis Hafner and Youkilis, neither exactly spring chickens. They join a roster of aging veterans that Father Time seems to be catching up to. Derek Jeter is coming off of a serious ankle injury, Mariano Rivera blew out his knee, CC Sabathia had elbow surgery and Alex Rodriguez is out until at least the All-Star break after hip surgery. Curtis Granderson is out until May with a broken arm, and even the newlyacquired Hafner and Youkilis have been on the

DL a combined nine times in the past three years. This Yankee team had a run differential of +136 last year, and won the division. It will be interesting to see if this is the year age and injuries finally catch up. l Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays had the best year of any team to miss the playoffs last year, highlighting just how competitive the AL East is. Gone are BJ Upton, James Shields and Carlos Peña, replaced by James Loney, Yunel Escobar and super-prospect Wil Myers, acquired from the Royals for Shields. With Joe Maddon at the helm, and the team anchored by Evan Longoria and David Price, the Rays always seem to find a way to remain relevant and competitive. l Boston Red Sox: The BoSox have missed the playoffs each of the last three seasons. Last year’s Bobby Valentine experiment ended as messily as most people expected it to. It isn’t as if fans in Beantown have nothing to cheer about, but some cold, blustery day in April, Fenway Park figures not to be filled to capacity for the first time since 1993, ending a streak of almost 800 consecutive sell-outs.

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AL Central l Detroit Tigers: The pitching rotation, led by Justin Verlander, is one of the deepest in baseball, especially after Aníbal Sánchez re-signed with the club. Triple Crown winner/AL MVP Miguel Cabrera and first baseman Prince Fielder are joined in the heart of the lineup by Víctor Martínez, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, and veteran outfielder Torii Hunter. l Chicago White Sox: Everyone had pretty much handed the division title to the Tigers before last season started, but it was the White Sox who led the division for most of the way. The team returns largely intact from last season’s squad, with only mid-season acquisition Youkilis and AJ Pierzynski departing, and Jeff Keppinger brought in to take over duties at third base. For the Pale Hose to contend again, they’ll need Chris Sale and Jake Peavy to be as effective as they were last season. l Kansas City Royals: The Royals have been building from the bottom up for some time now, nurturing a core of young players. Last year was supposed to be the year the young bucks would start coming into their own. It didn’t work out that way, first baseman Eric Hosmer the poster boy for high-expectation under-achievers. While the likes of Alex Gordon, Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas hope to continue their development as the nucleus of a talented big-league roster, the Royals’ front office honed the pitching this winter, sending prized prospect Wil Myers to the Rays for pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis. They also re-signed Jeremy Guthrie and traded for Ervin Santana. The pitching is a serious upgrade, but will it be enough? l Cleveland Indians: The Indians ranked 13th out of the 14 AL teams last year in runs scored. Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, and Mark Reynolds were brought into town, as was new skipper Terry Francona. 2B Jason Kipnis and catcher Carlos Santana are each elite players at their respective positions, and left fielder Michael Brantley is undervalued. Pitching might be a problem, but with the likes of Swisher, Jason Giambi and Brett Myers in town, this Indians team figures to be colorful, if nothing else. l Minnesota Twins: What’s to say about a team that finished dead last a year ago, and did very little to improve? At least Target Field is a great place to watch a ballgame.

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AL West Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: A year ago the Angels made the biggest splash in the game by signing slugger Albert Pujols and finished third in the division. So what did they do this year? Went out and signed the biggest free agent on the market in Josh Hamilton. Aside from bloating an already prodigious payroll, Hamilton brings a whole lot of lumber to Anaheim, and watching Pujols, Hamilton and AL Rookie of the year and MVP runner up Mike Trout will be a whole lot of fun. l Oakland Athletics: The ‘A’s stunned the baseball world last year by besting the heavily favoured Angels and Rangers to win the division. Without a lot of star power, it will be interesting to see if these over-achievers can reach the heights they did last year. Yoenis Céspedes has the looks of the real deal and right fielder Josh Reddick is one of the most exciting young players in the league, but clearly, a lot of breaks will have to fall Oakland’s way for another post-season trip. l Texas Rangers: After backto-back World Series appearances, the Rangers flamed out in spectacular fashion last year, only to see their best hitter defect to their biggest division rival. Ian Kinsler, Adrián Beltré and Nelson Cruz remain. Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison and Derek Holland anchor a respectable rotation for a team that figures to be firmly in the Wild Card race. l Seattle Mariners: The M’s have one of the game’s best pitchers in Félix Hernández. Catcher Jesús Montero, at 23, batted .298 last year, and his best years are ahead of him, but most likely the only thing keeping this team out of the AL West basement is the... l Houston Astros: The Astros were bad in the NL, and they won’t be any better in the AL. The biggest beneficiaries are the other teams in the AL West who now get the chance to pad their records. l

NL East Washington Nationals: A year ago, the Nats seemed too young in a division too competitive, and at least a year away. Turns out it was their year after all, ringing up MLB’s best record. This year they’re the trendy pick to represent the Senior Circuit in the Fall Classic. Stephen Strasburg showed he’s 100% after Tommy John surgery, l

and Bryce Harper had a better age-19 season than Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr, Al Kaline or Robin Yount. Ian Desmond has become a productive shortstop and the outfield of Harper, Denard Span and Jayson Werth has plenty to offer. Pitching won’t be a problem, with Strasburg, Gio González and Jordan Zimmermann atop the rotation. If the Nats can nail down a closer, the division could be theirs to lose. l Atlanta Braves: The Braves brought the Upton brothers, BJ and Justin to town to team up with Jason Heyward in what figures to be one of the more dynamic outfields in baseball. The Braves also have quality players in catcher Brian McCann and 1B Freddie Freeman. It will be strange not to see Chipper Jones at third base (or on the bench nursing an injury) for the first time in living memory, but the most fearsome bullpen in baseball, led by closer Craig Kimbrel and set-up men Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty, won’t let many leads slip. l Philadelphia Phillies: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels are as good a threesome as you’ll find toeing the rubber. Age and injuries have slowed Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, but are they completely washed up? 3B Michael Young comes to town from Texas, but he is 36 years old. This is a Phillies team that finished a very ordinary 81-81, but they did win 44 of their final 72 games. A bunch of washed-up hasbeens, or a solid core of veterans with one more pennant run left in them? l NY Mets: David Wright got a Met-for-life contract extension, and Cy Young winner RA Dickey a ticket out of town. The Mets have some young guns who figure to make an impact, including pitchers Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, and catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Johan Santana and newcomer Shaun Marcum could be effective atop the rotation, IF they can stay healthy, but an outfield of Lucas Duda, John Buck and Mike Baxter isn’t going to strike fear in the opposition. There’s reason for optimism, but maybe not this year. l Florida Marlins: Owner Jeffrey Loria blew up the team that cost so much to assemble, incurring the wrath of the Marlins’ faithful in the process. After moving into a shiny new stadium and stocking the roster with proven veterans, the Fish proceeded to stink up the joint, losing 93 games. That brought out the wrecking ball, leaving only exciting slugger Giancarlo Stanton as a bona-fide big league talent.

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Cincinnati Reds: The Reds won 97 games last season and improved their offense, adding outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. First baseman Joey Votto is one of the top NL sluggers, with Ryan Ludwick and Jay Bruce hitting behind him. Fireballer Aroldis Chapman, lights out as the closer last year with his 100mph+ fastball, moves to a starting rotation that already includes Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos and Bronson Arroyo. If that experiment works out, hitters beware. There is little reason to think that, barring injuries, the Reds won’t punch their ticket to October once again. l St Louis Cardinals: The Redbirds always seem to have a knack for staying relevant, no matter what losses they have to overcome. This is a team that came one win from winning its second consecutive pennant last season despite the loss of Albert Pujols and manager Tony La Russa. New manager Mike Matheny made few changes in the off-season, nor was there much need to. St Louis ranked second in the NL in runs scored. Led by slugging left fielder Matt Holliday, the Redbirds figure to be an offensive juggernaut once again. Pitching could be an issue, but the team has a wealth of talent at the upper levels of their farm system. This is a team that could give the Reds a run for their money, but they certainly will have their eyes on at least another Wild Card berth. l Chicago Cubs: The rest of the division will fight for leftovers. The Cubs lost 101 games in the first year of the Theo Epstein era, but there were signs of life as some of their young players made progress. First baseman Anthony Rizzo and pitcher Jeff Samardzija in particular showed that they could become building blocks. Although their pitching as a whole has some depth and they have the potential to surprise some people, the Cubs won’t contend this year. But with some luck they will keep moving in that direction. l Milwaukee Brewers: After awakening from a season-long slumber, the Brew Crew made a late-season charge at the second Wild Card last year. l

Ryan Braun remains one of the best players in the game, Rickie Weeks and Aramis Ramírez are solid big leaguers, and Corey Hart will man first base ably when he returns from injury. After Yovani Gallardo and Marco Estrada, the rotation will be filled out with promising but unproved arms, and the reality is an awful lot of things have to fall their way for the Brewers to stay in contention. l Pittsburgh Pirates: In Pittsburgh it’s not so much about reaching the playoff as breaking a streak of 20 straight losing seasons. They made strides last year and were even atop the division at the All-Star break before fading away. Andrew McCutchen has emerged as a true superstar, and the Bucs did upgrade with

catcher Russell Martin. The pitching shouldn’t be terrible and there is a chance that this is the year the Pirates get the .500 monkey off their backs.

NL West LA Dodgers: With a new ownership group including Magic Johnson and Stan Kasten, the Dodgers become the team with the highest payroll in baseball, over $200 million. Handsomely paid Hanley Ramírez, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez will see their first full season in Dodger blue, while Matt Kemp, who signed a monster contract extension, is one of baseball’s best all-around players. Lefty Clayton Kershaw is a Cy Young caliber ace atop their rotation. l

COURTESY OF LA ANGELS © JOHN CORDES

NL Central

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He is joined by Zack Greinke, who was inked for only another $147 million, to fill out one of the deepest rotations in the league. This crop of high-paid talent still needs to show they have the chemistry necessary to contend, but the talent’s there. l San Francisco Giants: The defending World Series Champions return their core. Catcher Buster Posey is one of the bright young stars of the baseball universe, while third baseman Pablo Sandoval finished in the top 10 in the NL MVP balloting. Pitching forms the basis of the Giants’ success. Matt Cain is the ace of the rotation, posting an impressive 2.93 ERA over the past four campaigns. If Tim Lincecum regains some of his Cy Young form after a disastrous 2012 season, good things could be in store once again. l Arizona Diamondbacks: After trading Justin Upton to the Braves, the D-backs figure to have some ground to make up offensively. Where that production will come from is unclear. Paul Goldschmidt and Jason Kubel aren’t terrible hitters, but they aren’t exactly the type of players to build a lineup around. If Arizona is to have success this year, the starting pitching will have to lead the way. Ian Kennedy is solid and Wade Miley won 16 games with a 3.33 ERA, finishing second to Bryce Harper in ROY voting. l Colorado Rockies: The Rockies’ pitching was abysmal last year. The offense wasn’t much better. Troy Tulowitzki was injured, appearing in just 47 games. The starting rotation is healthier now, and young arms such as Drew Pomeranz have the potential to make an impact. If the team can stay healthy and the young pitching continues to develop, the Rockies could at least get back above .500. l San Diego Padres: The Friars finished a mediocre 76-86 last season and didn’t upgrade much. Perhaps the biggest move was to bring in the Petco Park fences. The stadium has been notoriously pitcher friendly since opening in 2004. The Padres hit 74 home runs on the road last season and just 47 at home. H

Catch Jay B Webster’s full MLB preview at www.theamerican.co.uk 50 April 2013

What does BT Vision’s purchase of ESPN America mean for sports fans? Richard L Gale offers some early reaction

t was announced last month that BT (British Telecom) Group is to buy ESPN’s UK and Ireland TV Channels, adding ESPN and ESPN America to BT Vision’s sports portfolio, with plans for two own-name sports channels. The transaction will complete on July 31. A press release stated that “BT will continue to operate at least one ESPN-branded channel” and “the deal will allow BT to continue to show a host of US sports currently shown on ESPN America, including NCAA College Basketball, NCAA College Football and NASCAR”. Now, let’s face reality. BT isn’t popping the champagne corks over its acquisition of exclusive NCAA lacrosse. This is to do with ESPN’s FA Cup rights, Scottish Premier League rights, UEFA Europa League and German Bundesliga coverage – soccer, soccer, soccer. BT already has 38 Premier League matches per year, live rugby, and women’s tennis. The veteran telecoms company not only sets itself up to make a run at Sky Sports’ dominance, but in buying ESPN, it simplifies the market, taking another bidder out of the equation. We probably shouldn’t have been amazed by this development. In May of last year, Bob Iger, Disney Chairman told investors “ESPN’s international business has never been particularly large, nor has it been a huge priority for the company”. So what now for college sports fans in the UK? The answer is, we don’t know, and we probably won’t know

for a while. Here goes some early thoughts on that press release: First off, “Basketball, Football and NASCAR” – “...and MLB”, surely? No clarification. Well, that’s worrying. ESPN do have Major League Baseball for at least the regular season, but thereafter it’s a mystery. We probably won’t know BT’s level of commitment (or indeed their level of purchase) until August, but then, hey, we’re American sports fans in the UK – knowing the situation with US sports coverage sooner than days before the event wouldn’t be traditional. “BT will continue to operate at least one ESPN-branded channel” because BT don’t want to ditch the sports connotations that go with the brand. At the same time, it would be underusing the ESPN badge to discard US Sports, but ESPN themselves stocks the main ESPN channel with British sports, so if BT retain only one ESPN branded channel, we needn’t expect it to be more than British sports with live US sports to fill out the schedule in the small hours. We could end up seeing a lot less SEC football on a Saturday afternoon and a lot more Pac-12 in the middle of the night. Might BT just badge it all as an American Sports Showcase and pump out whatever’s in season, so that NCAA football only really gets attention after MLB, then basketball in the new year to April, then... MLB? Another question: How will these rights issues affect online access via ESPN College Game Pass? One hopes

PHOTO: RUPERT DU BOIS

rights aren’t fed exclusively to BT Vision in the UK meaning no online option, so that BT Vision have the rights to show games, but perhaps less inclination or sense of priority, just as Sky will air only the first 30 picks of a 250+ player draft. ESPN have done a fabulous job these last few years providing all Bowl games bar one, all of March Madness, and more. I suspect we will soon look back at the last few years as a period when we were spoiled rotten for US college sports, yet an opportunity for US sports to break into the mainstream was missed. There’s nobody to blame, exactly. While the NFL and NBA try to expand the reach of their product, the NCAA wrestles enough with issues of commercialism and professionalism without trying to worry about promoting itself overseas. Yet to this day, most Brits still don’t realise that when we casually mention ‘college football’, we don’t mean some kids running up and down a field with three girlfriends and a dog watching them. There are many NFL nuts who don’t watch NCAA football. If they could only experience the 100,000 raucous students, fans and alumni rocking the big football stadiums. Most Brits probably think March Madness is something to do with a tea party in Alice in Wonderland. Brits who play basketball will stare blankly at the mention of Bracketology. So maybe this is our job to get the message out. Grab your friends and neighbors, just like you did for the Super Bowl, and drag them round your house for the Final Four. BT are sure to show some college sports. To show them the potential of NCAA coverage, spread the word (Tweet @BTSport) and prove there’s an audience for it. H

The American

Eagle Eyed

Augusta National has Darren Kilfara contemplating the essential elements of great golf architecture

n my ninth birthday, I attended The Masters Tournament. I remember the two-hour drive from Atlanta and the insalubrious field in which we parked, across the road from a Waﬄe House. I remember following John Mahaffey, first out for the third round and playing on his own around all 18 holes, before I decamped behind the 15th green. I remember spying my first pimento cheese sandwich and wondering who would eat such a thing. I also remember the crowd at the 15th singing “Happy Birthday” to Seve Ballesteros and childishly thinking they should also be singing to me. Thus began a lifelong obsession which continues unabated, 30 years on: items #1, #2 and #3 on my personal Bucket List involve playing Augusta National before I die. While I love The Masters for many personal, historical and horticultural reasons, architectural reasons compel me the most. The variety of different golf courses and their changeability in different seasons and weather patterns is at the heart of golf’s allure; Augusta National is far more different from, say, Muirfield than Yankee Stadium is from Fenway Park, or Wimbledon from Roland Garros. And because Augusta National is both the best course and the most-watched course on which the world’s best golfers play every year, April is the perfect time to ponder the essential elements of great golf course architecture:

Slopes

Flat fairways, flat bunkers and flat greens are anathema to exciting golf, whereas great courses fit the terrain on which they are built and make the golfer use that terrain constructively. Consider two of the greatest shots in Masters history, Louis Oosthuizen’s double-eagle approach at the 2nd hole last year and Tiger Woods’ chip-in birdie at the 16th in 2005. Neither Oosthuizen nor Woods aimed their shots at the flag, and both balls rolled a full 15 seconds after hitting the ground before entering the hole – both at angles perpendicular to the original strikes. From the steeply banked fairways at the 10th and 13th to the tilting plateaued greens at the 3rd and 15th to the wonderful mounds on the 6th and 8th, Augusta teaches that the shortest distance between two strokes isn’t always a straight line.

Strategy

My two favorite holes in golf are the driveable par 4 and the reachable par 5: such holes, when properly matching the risks of failure with the rewards of success, tax the golfer’s temperament as much as his mechanics. Augusta National has no truly driveable par 4s, but the 13th and 15th holes are among the best par 5s in the world, and the 2nd and 8th would likely be regarded just as highly if the two nines were reversed to their original

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B The familiar undulations of Augusta’s 13th hole

1932 configuration. Great courses constantly challenge your decisionmaking and reward creative shotmaking; to its immense credit, very few shots at Augusta National are straightforward.

Accessibility

Truly great courses offer challenges to the professional while remaining playable and enjoyable for the amateur. So much of modern golf course design – and redesign – involves lengthening and toughening courses to cope with modern equipment, and Augusta National is unfortunately no exception. However, from the members’ tees (near to where the Masters tees were 30 years ago), even high handicappers can plod

The PGA Tour’s Top 10 Courses

Excluding the majors, these are the courses on the standard PGA Tour schedule which are most likely to teach you something about good golf course architecture: 1. Pebble Beach Golf Links (Pebble Beach, CA) 2. Riviera Country Club (Pacific Palisades, CA) 3. Plantation Course at Kapalua (Maui, HI) 4. Muirfield Village GC (Dublin, OH) 5. TPC Sawgrass (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL) 6. The Golf Club at Dove Mountain (Marana, AZ) 7. Harbour Town Golf Links (Hilton Head, SC) 8. The Old White TPC (White Sulphur Springs, WV) 9. Congressional Country Club (Bethesda, MD) 10. Colonial Country Club (Ft. Worth, TX)

52 April 2013

PHOTO: RUPERT DU BOIS

around the course and avoid the few water hazards: no forced carry is longer than 140 yards. The greens are of course firmed and greatly quickened for The Masters, but when watching The Masters this year, see how many shots you think would be impossibly difficult for you under normal course conditions. You might be surprised. Indeed, do yourself a favor and watch the whole tournament this year with one eye trained exclusively on the golf course itself. Watch very carefully how golfers approach a hole like the 16th to each of its four very different pin placements. Try to picture the scale of Augusta’s hills, impressive enough on television but truly wheeze-inducing in person (as I still vividly remember from my walk 30 years ago). Most of all, don’t forget that as new legends are made at Augusta National, they are largely made by Augusta National. The Masters wouldn’t be The Masters without it. H American golfer Darren Kilfara formerly worked for Golf Digest magazine and is the author of A Golfer’s Education, a memoir of his junior year abroad as a student-golfer at the University of St Andrews.

aseball fever hit the quaint market town of Waltham Abbey in 1984 when the Essex Arrows Baseball Club was founded. Thirty years later, the Arrows organization comprises the Atoms youth project, Archers adult team (single A division) and National League Essex Arrows. Situated just outside London with a small population of around 20,000, Waltham Abbey has proudly hosted national finals, tournaments and international baseball games at one of the best baseball venues in the country. The club’s mission is to create a sustainable organization by coaching baseball in local schools, developing a local little league and bringing youth players through to the adult teams. The club aims to create a true baseball experience in the UK by developing its field to the highest possible standard over the next five years. With £35,000 invested in 2010, the Essex Arrows Baseball Club has a fully enclosed field, brick dugouts, a dirt infield apron, a batting cage and bleacher seating for 120 people. The club hopes to attract a further £80,000 in funding to bring the field up to European standards. Essex’s National League team, the Arrows currently has players

You never know who you might find at a baseball game. Yep, that’s Jerry Springer: The Umpire, on a visit to Essex IMAGE: KATE TOWERZEY / ABOUTMYAREA.COM

The American

King Harold’s Field of Dreams The British baseball season is here. David Shaer looks at South East baseball with the Essex Arrows the process of attaining their coaching badges and the organization is currently in a development stage. The Essex Arrows is looking to attract both youth and adult players, coaches and volunteers to join on its baseball journey. If you want to get involved, contact the club’s General Manager, David Shaer by emailing dpshaer@ hotmail.com or calling 07961 346370. Twitter – @essexbaseball. Facebook: Essex Arrows Baseball Club. There’s a phenomenal amount of diamond action to be found in the British countryside. To discover more about baseball or softball in the UK, visit www.baseballsoftballuk.com

Above: An internationalism of local baseball: Brit Richard Chesterton pitches with South African Lance Louw in the background playing third. Richard came through the youth system and now represents Essex in the National League team and Great Britain with the GB National Team. IMAGE: KATE TOWERZEY / ABOUTMYAREA.COM

Taking its name from history

The Essex Arrows name was carefully chosen back in 1984 to acknowledge King Harold (the last Anglo Saxon king of England) who lost his life in the Battle of Hastings, commonly reported as having been shot in the eye by an arrow. King /A BO Harold ruled England for just over seven UT MYA R E A.C months in 1066, and before his death had been OM responsible for rebuilding Waltham Abbey. Legend has it that after King Harold’s death, his body was brought back and buried in Waltham Abbey. Today the Abbey can be seen from the Essex Arrows baseball field (see above) and acts as the perfect backdrop for the battles that ensue most weekends at the diamond from April to September. Plenty more celebrations future The location is said to haveinbeen one of Henry VIII’s favorite resting spots. years: Hugh Freeze and The medieval Waltham Abbey Church remains, still used as a parish church. the Ole Miss recruiting team had a In addition, monster there day are other remains of the former abbey – the Grade II listed Midnight Chapel, the gatehouse, a vaulted passage and Harold’s Bridge which are all in the care of English Heritage. H I M AG E : K

W TO ATE

from the USA and Venezuela as well as players from the Great Britain national team. American player Jeff Summers, a member of the Essex Archers, explains “Baseball here is played with all the skill and seriousness it is in the States, and the league structure allows you to find your correct level of competition. I enjoy being surrounded by Brits who are passionate about the sport and play for the love of the game. And at this point in the sport’s development in the UK many of the clubs have that Field of Dreams feel to them.” The Arrows is currently managed by Steve Simmons, an ex-Great Britain player, who has been with the team for twelve seasons and was part of four times National League champions the Enfield Spartans. Steve says his philosophy is simple: “(1) work on the fundamentals, and (2) nobody trains harder than the Arrows. That mentality won us three consecutive titles at Enfield and I hope to bring some of that success to the Arrows”. On the importance of youth development, Steve says “The majority of our National League adult team started off playing youth baseball in England so we need to make sure we continue to develop the next generation”. The schools development program and youth project is in its infancy. Players are going through

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Your Guide To The Month Ahead

The Salon Project Barbican Centre, Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS www.barbican.org.uk April 4 to 14

Get your event listed in The American – call us on +44 (0)1747 830520 or email details to editor@theamerican.co.uk

The Salon Project aims to recreate the ‘salon’ experience of French society’s golden age. Begin by dressing in period costume and enter a ‘19th century Parisian salon’ to discuss science, politics, technology and the arts with fellow guests.

World Coal Carrying Championships Gawthorpe, Ossett, West Yorkshire www.gawthorpemaypole.org.uk April 1

Tutti-Day Hungerford, Berkshire RG17 www.visitnewbury.org.uk April 9

See our full events listing online at www.theamerican.co.uk

Every Easter Monday, Gawthorpe is the scene for the World Coal Carrying Championships. Now in its 50th year, the event has races for men, women and light hearted fun runs for children.

The London Harness Horse Parade The South of England Centre, Ardingly, West Sussex RH17 6TL www.lhhp.co.uk April 1 Originally founded in 1885, the Harness Horse Parade aimed to promote the good welfare of London’s working horses. Still going today, the parade offers a glimpse into the history of the horse and cart.

Easter Week Children’s Days: Georgian Games Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven Street, London WC2N 5NF www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org April 2 to 9 18th century games including quoits, marbles, stringed cat’s cradles and cup and ball feature at Benjamin Franklin’s House during Easter.

54 April 2013

Grand National Aintree Race Course, Ormskirk Rd, Aintree, Liverpool, Merseyside L9 5AS www.aintree.co.uk/pages/grand-national April 4 to 6 A sporting tradition in Britain, this is among the world’s premier horse racing events. Even non-betting folk have a flutter on ‘the National’.

Hungerford’s residents still don costumes for the Hocktide celebrations. Tutti-Day, the end of the administrative year, is on the second Tuesday after Easter each year.

Study USA: The Southwest’s American Universities Fair Taunton School,Taunton, Somerset TA2 6AD www.tauntonschool.co.uk david.hawkins@tauntonschool.co.uk Telephone: 01823 703652 April 24 The annual College Fair at Taunton School offers an insight into study opportunities in the United States. In 2012, over 25 US institutions attended, including Florida State University, the University of San Diego and the Fulbright Commission and this year over 50 are expected. The fair aims to inform students based in the UK on options for further education in the States. Taunton School has developed a programme to support UK students considering degree-level studies in America, with the College Fair being a vital chance to find out more about individual universities and what they can offer. Taunton is centrally located in the South West, and is easily accessible by rail. The day begins with tours of Taunton School from 12pm on request, an introductory talk at 2:15pm, followed by the fair which opens at 2:45pm and closes at 5:30pm.

WWE Wrestlemania Revenge Tour Various, UK and Ireland www.wwe.com April 12 to 21

The festival of British jazz features the Devon Youth Jazz Orchestra, Bruce Adams, Jim Mullen and Alan Barnes, as well as Clare Teal.

Following the biggest event on the wrestling calendar, Wrestlemania, the stars of the WWE tour the UK.

Bishop Auckland Food Festival Bishop Auckland, County Durham www.bishopaucklandfoodfestival.co.uk April 20 to 21

Messenger of the Spirit at Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2EJ www.salisburycathedral.org.uk April 13 to September 8 A retrospective of American contemporary sculptor, Helaine Blumenfeld, who works in Britain.

BAAS Annual Conference 2013 University of Exeter www.baas.ac.uk April 18 to 21 The British Association for American Studies welcomes speakers including Paul Gilroy, Professor of English and American Literature at LSE; Dolores Hayden, Professor of Architecture, Urbanism and American Studies at Yale; and Anders Stephanson , Professor of History at Columbia U.

RHS Flower Show Cardiﬀ Bute Park, Cardiff Castle, Cardiff CF10 3EA www.rhs.org.uk April 19 to 21 The Spring gardening season bursts into life in Cardiff. New for 2013 is the RHS Potting Bench, with hands on advice and tips for visitors.

Budleigh Jazz Festival Budleigh Public Hall, Budleigh Salterton, Devon EX9 6RJ www.budleighjazzfestival.org April 19 to 21

The ninth annual festival of food offers tasty treats and creative crafts.

Thundersprint Anglesey Circuit, Ty Croes, Anglesey LL63 5TF www.thundersprint.com April 21 Thundersprint 2013 is one of Europe’s biggest celebration of motorcycles. This year’s event moves to the spectacular Anglesey Circuit.

London Marathon www.london-marathon.co.uk April 21 One of the greatest marathons in the world. Thousands of fun runners and elite world-class athletes compete around the streets of the capital.

Heart of Darkness, London Premiere Cadogan Hall, Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DG www.cadoganhall.com April 23 The London premiere of the orchestral suite from Heart of Darkness, an opera by Fulbright Alumnus Tarik O’Regan, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

St George’s Day www.stgeorgesday.com April 23

Bath in Fashion 2013 Bath, UK www.bathinfashion.co.uk April 13 to 21 One of the most talked-about fashion gatherings outside of London takes a look behind the seams at how fashion is presented. Discover how an artist can freeze a fashion icon forever in time or how a photograph can capture a fashion moment. 2013’s exciting line-up includes a centenary Norman Parkinson exhibition curated by designer Roland Mouret, a special installation by Julie Verhoeven, an illustration masterclass with David Downton, talks with Michael Bush (Michael Jackson’s costume designer) and Sir Roy Strong, and Iain R Webb launching his new book about the fabulous Eighties fashions as seen in Blitz Magazine. Catwalk shows, craft workshops including the Kaffe Fassett studio and more. The Patron Saint of England is celebrated with special events taking place around the country.

Lecture: The Thatched House Petition Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven Street, London WC2N 5NF www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org April 24 April 2013 55

American Museum in Britain Claverton Manor, Bath BA2 7BD www.americanmuseum.org info@americanmuseum.org Telephone: 01225 460503 To December 18 The Museum is now reopened after its winter closing. Workshops, Quilting Bees every Tuesday, kids’ activities, music concerts and special events. A new exhibition is a must: Gangsters and Gunslingers, The Good, The Bad and The Memorabilia (to November 3), investigating how popular fiction affected perceptions of the Wild West and Prohibition/Depression eras in America. It brings together two defining chapters in the history of the USA that shaped America’s national identity: the Wild West (mid 1860s to late 1880s), and the Prohibition/Depression era (1920s to early 1930s) which produced legendary characters, both famous and infamous – Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane, and Bonnie and Clyde, to name but a few. It includes the watch and vest worn by Clyde Barrow when he was gunned down with Bonnie Parker; a death mask of notorious bank robber John Dillinger; Native American weapons confiscated after the Battle of Little Big Horn, Doc Holliday’s medicine bag; mobster Al Capone’s silver cigarette case and memorabilia owned by Tom Mix, Humphrey Bogart, Tyrone Power and Elvis Presley. Housed in Georgian splendor at Claverton Manor, Bath, the American Museum in Britain remains the only museum outside the US to showcase the nation’s decorative arts.

56 April 2013

Catherine Leitch, author of Discovering American History in England, explores the Thatched House Petition, signed by 29 American colonials living in London during 1774 including Benjamin Franklin, to protest against a potential Parliamentary response to the Boston Tea Party.

Dead By Dawn Festival Edinburgh, Scotland www.deadbydawn.co.uk April 25 to 28 Scotland’s international horror film festival returns with 4 days of chills.

The London Original Print Fair Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, London W1 www.londonprintfair.com April 25 to 28 The longest-running art Fair in London, covering all periods of printmaking from the early woodcuts of Dürer and his contemporaries to the graphic work of modern masters such as Hockney and Hirst.

Sundance London Film and Festival O2 Arena, London www.sundance-london.com April 25 to 28

London’s version of the big event sees the UK premieres of American independent films shown at the Sundance Festival in Utah, talks and panel discussions makes Sundance London a must for fans.

RSNO: An American Festival, II Usher Hall, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH1 2EA www.rsno.org.uk April 26

The second of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s American themed concerts, including works by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and John Adams.

American Foreign Policy and US Presidential Elections The Senate Room, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU americas.sas.ac.uk April 26 A conference examining the relationship between American presidential elections and US foreign policy.

Patrick Lowry: American Dream Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall www.newlynartgallery.co.uk April 27 to July 6 Lowry’s ‘1950s American suburban home’ explores the relationship between humans and places within political and social contexts.

BBL Playoﬀ Final Wembley Arena, Arena Square, Wembley, London HA9 0AA April 28 April heralds the BBL playoffs, with the last piece of British basketball silverware up for grabs and Leicester and Newcastle in the mix again.

Beltane Fire Festival 2013 Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland beltanefiresociety.wordpress.com April 30 Beltane is the ancient Celtic festival that celebrates the beginning of summer. Edinburgh celebrates with its annual Fire Festival on Calton Hill, with a night of fire, drum beats and storytelling.

The American

American ORGANIZATIONS

www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/support_us/ american_friends.aspx

An index of useful resources in the UK

ESSENTIAL CONTACTS Here are some crucial telephone numbers to know while you are in the UK. EMERGENCIES Fire, Police, Ambulance

999 or 112 (NOT 911)

TRANSPORTATION London Underground 020 7222 1234 www.tfl.gov.uk National Rail Enquiries 08457 4849 50 www.nationalrail.co.uk National Bus Service 0990 808080 www.nationalexpress.com TELEPHONES Direct Dial Code, US & Canada Operator Assistance, UK Operator Assistance, Int. International Directory Assistance Telephone Repair

American Friends of the Donmar Inc. Stephanie Dittmer, Deputy Director of Development 020 7845 5810 sdittmer@donmarwarehouse.com www.donmarwarehouse.com/p46.html

American Citizens Abroad (ACA) The Voice of Americans Overseas, 5 Rue Liotard, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland +41.22.340.02.33 info.aca@gmail.com www.americansabroad.org

American Friends of the Jewish Museum London Stephen Goldman Tel. 020 7284 7363 stephen.goldman@jewishmuseum.org.uk www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/american-friends

American Friends of Chickenshed Theatre U.S. Office: c/o Chapel & York PMB293, 601 Penn Ave NW, Suite 900 S Bldg, Washington, DC 20004 UK Office: Chickenshed, Chase Side, Southgate, London N14 4PE 0208 351 6161 ext 240 AdamG@Chickenshed.org.uk www.chickenshed.org.uk/659/individual/ american-friends.html

For more details go to

www.theamerican.co.uk and click on Life In The UK

American Church in London Senior Pastor: Rev. John D’Elia. Music Director: Anthony Baldwin. Sunday School 9.45am Sunday Worship 11am, child care provided. 79a Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4TD (Goodge St. tube station) Tel: 020 7580 2791/07771 642875 churchsecretary@amchurch.co.uk www.amchurch.co.uk

American Institute of Architects Benjamin Franklin House, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX. Tel: 0203 318 5722 chapterexecutive@aiauk.org www.aiauk.org

American Friends of the Lyric Theatre Ireland Crannóg House, 44 Stranmillis Embankment, Belfast, BT9 5FL, Northern Ireland Angela McCloskey info@americanfriendsofthelyric.com www.americanfriendsofthelyric.com/

American Friends of the Almeida Theatre, Inc. Kenneth David Burrows, 950 Third Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, USA or Lizzie Stallybrass, Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, London N1 1TA, UK www.almeida.co.uk/supportus/individual-support/ american-friends

MEDICAL ADVICE LINE NHS Direct delivers 24-hour telephone and e-health information services, direct to the public. www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk 0845 4647

CIVIC & SERVICES

American Friends of the British Museum Mollie Norwich. The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. 020 7323 8590 www.britishmuseum.org

American Red Cross RAF Mildenhall Tel: 01638 542107, After Hours 07031 15 2334 red.crossv3@mildenhall.af.mil

001 100 155 153 151

American Friends of ENO – English National Opera Denise Kaplan, American Friends Coordinator London Coliseum, St. Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4ES 0207 845 9331 Americanfriends@eno.org www.eno.org/support-us/individual-giving/ american-friends/american-friends.php

American Friends of Contemporary Dance & Sadler’s Wells U.S. Office: Celia Rodrigues, Chair 222 Park Avenue South, 10A, New York, NY 10003 +1.917.539.9021 americanfriends@sadlerswells.com www.sadlerswells.com/page/american-friends UK Office: 020 7863 8134 development@sadlerswells.com American Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery Kathleen Bice, Development Officer, Members and Patrons 020 8299 8726

American Friends of the National Portrait Gallery Stacey Ogg and Charlotte Savery, Individual Giving Managers 020 7312 2444 individualgiving@npg.org.uk www.npg.org.uk/support/individual/ americanfriends.php

American Friends of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Inc. Jennifer Davies, Development Director jennifer.davies@philharmonia.co.uk www.philharmonia.co.uk/support/friends/afpo/ American Friends of the Royal Court Theatre U.S.: Laurie Beckelman, Beckelman and Capalino +1.212.616.5822 laurie@beckcap.com UK: Gaby Styles, Head of Development, Royal Court Theatre 020 7565 5060 gabystyles@royalcourttheatre.com or info@afrct.org

American Friends of the Royal Institution of Great Britain U.S.: c/o Chapel & York Limited, PMB #293, South Building Washington, DC 20004 UK: The Development Office, Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS 020 7670 2991 kdodd@ri.ac.uk www.rigb.org

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American Friends of the Royal Society http://royalsociety.org/Overseas-Donations American Friends of St. Bartholomew the Great U.S.: John Eagleson 2925 Briarpark, Suite 600, Houston, TX 77042 UK: 20 7606 5171 admin@greatstbarts.com

American Friends of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust U.S.: John Chwat, President 625 Slaters Lane, Suite 103, Alexandria, VA 22314 +1. 703.684.7703 info@americanfriendsofsbt.org www.americanfriendsofsbt.org

American Friends of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Inc. U.S.: Diana Seaton, Executive Director 61 Londonderry Drive, Greenwich, CT 06830 +1.203.536.4328 diana.seaton@afvam.org www.afvam.org UK: 020 7942 2149 American Friends of Wigmore Hall U.S.: c/o Chapel and York, 1000 N West Street Suite 1200, Wilmington DE 19801 UK: 020 7258 8220 mhosterweil@wigmore-hall.org.uk American Museum in Britain Director: Dr Richard Wendorf Claverton Manor, Bath BA2 7BD. 01225 460503. Fax 01225 469160 info@americanmuseum.org www.americanmuseum.org American Women Lawyers in London www.awll.org.uk info@awll.org.uk American Women’s Health Centre 214 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5QN. Obstetric, gynecological & infertility service. 020 7390 8433 www.awhc.co.uk Anglo American Medical Society Hon. Sec.: Dr. Edward Henderson, The Mill House, Whatlington, E. Sussex, TN33 0ND. 01424 775130. ed@themillhouse.eclipse.co.uk Association for Rescue at Sea The UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Association does not have an American Branch but if you wish to make a tax-efficient gift to the RNLI, contact AFRAS. Secretary: Mrs. Anne C. Kifer P.O. Box 565 Fish Creek, WI 54212, U.S.A. 00-1-920-743-5434 fax 00-1-920-743-5434 email: ackafras@aol.com Atlantic Council Director: Alan Lee Williams. 185 Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UF 0207 403 0640 or 0207 403 0740. Fax: 0207 403 0901

58 April 2013

acuk@atlantic-council.org.uk

Bethesda Baptist Church Kensington Place, London W8. 020 7221 7039 office@bethesdabaptist.org.uk Boy Scouts of America Mayflower District Field Executive: Wayne Wilcox 26 Shortlands Road, Kingston, Surrey KT2 6HD 020 8274 1429, 07788 702328 wpwilcox@gmail.com BritishAmerican Business Inc. 75 Brook Street, London, W1K 4AD. 020 7290 9888 www.babinc.org ukinfo@babinc.org British American-Canadian Associates Contact via The English Speaking Union esu@esu.org CARE International UK 10-13 Rushworth Street, London, SE1 0RB 020 7934 9334 www.careinternational.org info@careinternational.org Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 66-68 Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2PA 020 7584 7553 adcockmp@ldschurch.org https://lds.org.uk http://mormon.org Church of St. John the Evangelist Vicar: Reverend Stephen Mason. Assistant Priest: Reverend Mark Pudge. Assistant Curate: Reverend Deiniol Heywood. Hyde Park Crescent, London W2 2QD Tel: 020 7262 1732 www.stjohns-hydepark.com parishadmin@stjohns-hydepark.com Commonwealth Church Rev. Rod Anderson, PO Box 15027, London SE5 0YS www.savestmarks.com Democrats Abroad (UK) Box 65, 22 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JE Regular updates on events, chapters throughout the UK (and specific email addresses), and DAUK newsletters: www.democratsabroad.org.uk Register to vote and request an Absentee Ballot: www.votefromabroad.org Tel: 020 7724 9796 www.democratsabroad.org/group/united-kingdom Farm Street Church 114 Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1K 3AH Tel: 020 7493 7811 www.farmstreet.org.uk Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) Department of Defense, 1155 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301-1155. Director: Ms. Polli K. Brunelli

UK Toll Free Tel: 0800 028 8056 US Toll Free Tel:1-800-438- VOTE (8683). www.fvap.gov vote@fvap.ncr.gov

Friends of St Jude London Debbie Berger 07738 628126 debbie.berger@stjude.org www.friendsofstjude.org/london Grampian Houston Association Secretary: Bill Neish 5 Cairncry Avenue, Aberdeen, AB16 5DS 01224-484720 wineish@sky.com International Community Church (Interdenominational) Our Vision: “Everyone Mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28) Pastor: Rev. Dr. Barry K. Gaeddert Worship on Sundays: 10.30 am at Chertsey Hall, Heriot Road, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 9DR Active Youth programme. Church Office: 1st floor, Devonshire House, 60 Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 2AF. 01932 830295. churchoffice@icc-uk.org www.icc-uk.org Junior League of London President: Jennifer Crowl 9 Fitzmaurice Place, London W1J 5JD. Tel: 020 7499 8159 Fax: 020 7629 1996 jrleague@jll.org.uk www.jll.org.uk Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation 19 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT. Tel: 020 7713 2030. Fax: 020 7713 2031 info@jdrf.org.uk www.jdrf.org.uk Liberal Jewish Synagogue 28 St John’s Wood Road, London NW8 7HA Services 6.45pm Fridays and 11am on Saturdays except for first Friday each month when service is held at 7pm with a Chavurah Supper. Please bring non-meat food dish to share. 020 7286 5181 ljs@ljs.org Lions Club International Lakenheath & District 105EA, 15 Highfields Drive, Lakenheath, Suffolk IP27 9EH. Tel 01842 860752 www.lionsclubs.org Lutheran Services, St Anne’s Rev. Timothy Dearhamer. Lutheran Church, Gresham St, London EC2. Sun 11am-7pm. Tel. 020 7606 4986 Fax. 020 7600 8984 info@StAnnesLutheranChurch.org www.StAnnesLutheranChurch.org Methodist Central Hall Westminster, London SW1H 9NH Services every Sunday at 11am and 6.30pm. Bible study groups & Monday guilds also held. Tel: 020 7222 8010

The American

www.methodist-central-hall.org.uk church@mchw.org.uk

North American Friends of Chawton House Library U.S. Office: 824 Roosevelt Trail, #130, Windham, ME 04062 +1.207 892 4358 UK Office: Chawton House Library, Chawton, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1SJ 01420 541010 www.chawton.org/support/nafchl5.html Republicans Abroad (UK) Chairman Dr. Thomas Grant chairman@republicansabroad-uk.org www.republicansabroad-uk.org Rotary Club of London 6 York Gate, London NW1 4QG. Tel. 020 7487 5429 Royal National Lifeboat Institution Head Office, West Quay Road, Poole BH15 1HZ 0845 045 6999 www.rnli.org.uk The Royal Oak Foundation Sean Sawyer, 35 West 35th Street #1200, New York NY 10001-2205, USA Tel 212- 480-2889 or (800) 913-6565 Fax (212)785-7234 ssawyer@royal-oak.org www.royal-oak.org St Andrew’s Lutheran Church Serving Americans since 1960. Whitby Road & Queens Walk, Ruislip, West London. (South Ruislip Tube Station). Services: 11 am 020 8845 4242 pastorvan43@hotmail.com www.standrewslutheran.co.uk Other Lutheran Churches in the UK www.lutheran.co.uk T.R.A.C.E. P.W. (The ‘original’ Transatlantic Children’s’ Enterprise reuniting children with G.I. father’s and their families) Membership Secretary: Norma Jean Clarke-McCloud 29 Connaught Avenue, Enfield EN1 3BE www.tracepw.org normajean78@hotmail.com

United Nations Association, Westminster branch Chairman: David Wardrop 61 Sedlescombe Road, London SW6 1RE 0207 385 6738 info@unawestminster.org.uk www.unawestminster.org.uk www.wethepeoples.org.uk USA Girl Scouts Overseas – North Atlantic Stem Kaserne Bldg 1002, Postfach 610212 D-68232, Mannheim, Germany. +49 621 487 7025. girlscouts@cmtymail.26asg.army.mil www.norags.com

SOCIAL American Club of Hertfordshire President: Lauryn Awbrey 63-65 New Road, Welwyn, Herts AL6 0AL 01582 624823 amclubherts@aol.com American Expats of the Northwest of England The Ruskin Rooms, Drury Lane, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6HA. expatsnw@gmail.com American Friends of English Heritage 1307 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. Washington DC 20036. 202-452-0928. c/o English Heritage, Attn: Simon Bergin, Keysign House, 429 Oxford Street, London W1R 2HD. 020 7973 3423 www.english-heritage.org.uk American Professional Women in London Rebecca Lammers 58 Shacklewell Road, London, N16 7TU 075 3393 5064 abwinlondon@gmail.com www.meetup.com/American-Business-Womenin-London www.facebook.com/groups/293890040710041 Twitter: @USAProWomenLDN American Society in London c/o The English Speaking Union 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5ED info@americansocietyuk.com 020 7539 3400 American Stamp Club of Great Britain Chapter 67 of the American Philatelic Society. Hon. Publicity Secretary: Stephen T. Taylor 5 Glenbuck Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6BS. 020 8390 9357 American Womens Association of Bristol awabristol_membership@fawco.org American Women of Berkshire & Surrey P. O. Box 10, Virginia Water, Surrey GU25 4YP. www.awbs.org.uk awbscommonground@yahoo.co.uk American Women of Surrey PO Box 185, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3YJ. www.awsurrey.org American Women’s Association of Yorkshire The Chalet, Scarcroft Grange, Wetherby Road, Scarcroft, Leeds LS14 3HJ. 01224 744 224 Contact: Carol Di Peri The American Women’s Club of Dublin P.O. Box 2545, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 IRELAND www.awcd.net info@awcd.net American Women’s Club of London 68 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3LQ. 020 7589 8292 awc@awclondon.org www.awclondon.org

American Women’s Club of Central Scotland P.O. Box 231, 44-46 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4BF info@awccs.org www.awccs.org American Women of South Wales 07866 190838 awsouthwales@fawco.org The Anglo-American Charity Limited Jeffrey Hedges, Director. 07968 513 631 info@anglo-americancharity.org Association of American Women in Ireland aawireland@fawco.org Association of American Women of Aberdeen PO Box 11952, Westhill, Aberdeen, AB13 0BW email via website www.awaaberdeen.org British Association of American Square Dance Clubs Patricia Connett-Woodcock 87 Brabazon Road, Heston, Middlesex TW5 9LL 020 8897 0723 tricia_baasdc@btinternet.com www.squaredancing.co.uk Canadians & Americans in Southern England 023 9241 3881 contactcase@casecommunity.com Canadian Womens Club 1 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 4AB Tues – Thurs 10.30-3.30 0207 258 6344 info@canadianwomenlondon.org www.canadianwomenlondon.org Chilterns American Women’s Club PO Box 445, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 8YU membership@cawc.co.uk www.cawc.co.uk Colonial Dames of America Chapter XI London. President Anne K Brewster: AnneBrewster@hotmail.com Daughters of the American Revolution – St James’s Chapter Mrs Natalie Ward, 01379 871422 nattyward@aol.com or UKDARStJames@aol.com http://mysite.verizon.net/jean.sutton/main.htm Daughters of the American Revolution – Walter Hines Page Chapter Diana Frances Diggines, Regent dardiana@hotmail.co.uk www.dar.org Daughters of the American Revolution – Washington Old Hall Chapter, North Yorkshire Mrs. Gloria Hassall, 01845 523-830 Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Great Britain President: Mrs. Sheila Roberts, Morvan House, Shoreham Lane, St. Michaels, Tenterden, Kent TN30 6EG email: saroberts123@aol.com www.deltakappagamma.net

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Delta Zeta International Sorority Alumna Club Mrs Sunny Eades, The Old Hall, Mavesyn Ridware, Nr. Rugeley, Staffordshire, WSI5 3QE. 01543 490 312 SunnyEades@aol.com The East Anglia American Club 49 Horsham Close Haverhill, Suffolk CB9 7HN Tel: 01440 766 967 Email: eaacexpats@karej.co.uk English-Speaking Union Director-General Peter Kyle Dartmouth House, 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5ED. Tel: 020 7529 1550 Fax: 0207 495 6108 esu@esu.org Friends of Benjamin Franklin House Director: Dr. Márcia Balisciano Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven St, London WC2N 5NF 0207 839 2006 www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org info@benjaminfranklinhouse.org Hampstead Women’s Club President - Betsy Lynch. Tel: 020 7435 2226 email president@hwcinlondon.co.uk www.hwcinlondon.co.uk High Twelve International, Inc. Local Club Contact – Arnold Page High Twelve Club 298 Secretary, Darrell C. Russell, 1 Wellington Close, West Row, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 8PJ Tel. 01638 715764 email: russelld130@btinternet.com. International American Duplicate Bridge Club Contact: Mary Marshall, 18 Palace Gardens Terrace, London W8 4RP. 020 7221 3708 www.ycbc.co.uk/american.htm Kensington & Chelsea Men’s Club Contact: John Rickus 70 Flood Street, Chelsea, London SW3 5TE. (home): 020 7349 0680 (office): 020 7753 2253 johnrickus@aol.com Kensington & Chelsea Women’s Club President: Susan Lenora. Tel. 0207 581 8261 president@kcwc.org.uk Membership: 0207 863 7562 (ans service). membership@kcwc.org.uk New Neighbors Diana Parker, Rosemary Cottage, Rookshill, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 4HZ. 01923 772185 North American Connection (West Midlands) PO Box 10543, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands. B93 8ZY T: 0870 720 0663 info@naconnect.com www.naconnect.com

60 April 2013

MILITARY

Northwood Area Women’s Club c/o St John’s UR Church, Hallowell Road, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 1DN 01932-830295 info@northwoodareawomensclub.co.uk www.northwoodareawomensclub.co.uk

AFJROTC 073 Lakenheath High School. Tel: 01638 525603 Air Force Sergeants Association European Division Timothy W. Litherland CMSgt, USAF (ret). Chapters at RAFs Alconbury, Croughton, Lakenheath, Menwith Hill and Mildenhall. tim_lith@msn.com www.afsadiv16.org

Stars of Great Britain Chapter #45 Washington Jurisdiction Lakenheath, England sogb45@yahoo.com http://starsofgreatbritainchapter45.com

American Legion London Post 1 Adjutant: Jim Pickett PO Box 5017, BATH, BA1 OPP Tel: 01225-426245 www.amlegionpost1london.org.uk info@amlegionpost1london.org.uk

Petroleum Women’s Club Contact: Nancy Ayres. Tel: 01923 711720 nanayrs@btopenworld.com Petroleum Women’s Club of Scotland pwcscotland@yahoo.co.uk www.pwcos.com

Pilgrims of Great Britain Allington Castle, Maidstone, Kent M16 0NB. Tel. 01622 606404 Fax. 01622 606402 sec@pilgrimsociety.org

Bentwaters/Woodbridge Retirees’ Association President: Wylie Moore. 2 Coldfair Close, Knodishall, Saxmundham, Suffolk, IP17 1UN. 01728 830281

Propeller Club of the United States – London, England propellerclubhq.com St John’s Wood Women’s Club Box 185, 176 Finchley Road, London NW3 6BT membership@sjwwc.org www.sjwwc.org

British Patton Historical Society Kenn Oultram 01606 891303 Brookwood American Cemetery (WW1) Brookwood, Woking, Surrey GU24 0BL 01483 473237 www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/bk.php

Thames Valley American Women’s Club Contact: Miriam Brewster PO Box 1687, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 8XT. 0208 751 8941 www.tvawc.com membership@tvawc.com

Cambridge American Cemetery (WWII Cemetary) Superintendent: Mr. Bobby Bell. Asst. Superintendent: Mr. Tony Barclay. Coton, Cambridge CB23 7PH. 01954 210350

UK Panhellenic Association Contact Susan Woolf, 10 Coniston Court, High St. Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex HA1 3LP. 020 8864 0294 susanrwoolf@hotmail.com

Commander in Chief, US Naval Forces Europe Naval Reserve Detachment 130, Recruiting Officer: LCDR Thomas D. Hardin, USNR-R. 020 7409 4259 (days) 020 8960 7395 (evenings).

United Kingdom Shrine OASIS Anglian Shrine Club Secretary: Charles A. Aldrich, 11 Burrow Drive, Lakenheath, Suffolk IP27 9EY 01842 860 650 mailto:caaldrich@btinterner.com

Eighth Air Force Historical Society UK Representative: Mr. Gordon Richards and Mrs Connie Richards 14 Pavenham Road, Oakley, Bedford MK43 7SY. 01234 823357.

W.E.B. DuBois Consistory #116 Northern Jurisdiction Valley of London, England, Orient of Europe Cell: 0776-873-8030 mjack36480@aol.com Women’s Writers Network Cathy Smith, 23 Prospect Rd, London, NW2 2JU. 020 7794 5861 www.womenwriters.org.uk info@womenwriters.org.uk

Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association London Chapter Secretary: CW04, A.H. Cox, USN, Navcommunit Box 44, 7 North Audley Street, London W1Y 1WJ. 020 7409 4519/4184 www.afcea.org.uk london.sec@afcea.org.uk

Friends of the Eighth Newsletter (FOTE News) Chairman: Mr. Ron Mackay. 39b Thorley Hill, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 3NE. 01279 658619.

Joint RAF Mildenhall/Lakenheath Retiree Affairs Office Director: Col. John J. Valentine, USAF (Ret) Unit 8965, Box 30

The American

RAF Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, IP28 8NF Tel. (01638) 542039 rao@mildenhall.af.mil

Marine Corps League Detachment 1088, London, England Commandant Mike Allen Creek Cottage, 2 Pednormead End, Old Chesham, Buckinghamshire HP5 2JS detachment1088@mcl-london-uk.org www.mcl-london-uk.org Mildenhall Retirees Association President: Jack Kramer 6 Nunsgate, Thetford, Norfolk 1P24 3EL Navy League of the United States, United Kingdom Council Council President: Steven G. Franck steven.franck@googlemail.com www.navyleague.org Non-Commissioned Officers’ Association (NCOA) – The Heart of England Chapter Chairman: Ronald D.Welper. Pine Farm, Sharpe’s Corner, Lakenheath, Brandon, Suffolk 1P27 9LB. Thetford 861643. The Chapter Address: 513 MSSQ/SS, RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk. Society of American Military Engineers (UK) UK address: Box 763, USAFE Construction Directorate. 86 Blenheim Crescent, West Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 7HL London Post. President: W. Allan Clarke. Secretary: Capt. Gary Chesley. Membership Chairman, Mr. Jim Bizier. US Army Reserve 2nd Hospital Center 7 Lynton Close, Ely, Cambs, CB6 1DJ. Tel: 01353 2168 Commander: Major Glenda Day. US Air Force Recruiting Office RAF Mildenhall, 100 MSS/MSPRS, RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, 1P28 8NF. 01638 542290

Retired Affairs Office, RAF Alconbury Serving Central England POC: Rex Keegan Alt. POC: Mike Depasquale UK Postal Address: 423 SVS/RAO, Unit 5585, Box 100, RAF Alconbury, Huntingdon, Cambs PE28 4DA Office Hours: Tuesday and Friday, 10:30am–2:30pm 01480 84 3364/3557 Emergency Contact: 07986 887 905 RAO@Alconbury.af.mil 2nd Air Division Memorial Library The Forum, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1AW 01603 774747 www.2ndair.org.uk 2admemorial.lib@norfolk.gov.uk USAF Retiree Activities Office Director: Paul G Gumbert, CMSgt (USAF), Ret

American School of Aberdeen Craigton Road, Cults, Aberdeen. 01224 861068 / 868927.

422 ABG/CVR Unit 5855, PSC 50, Box 3 RAF Croughton, Northants NN13 5XP Phone: 01280 708182 e-mail: 422abg.rao@croughton.af.mil

US Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) UK Chapter President: Allison Bennett bennett.ac@gmail.com Facebook: Kings Point Alumni - London/United Kingdom USNA Alumni Association UK Chapter Pres: LCDR Tim Fox ’97, timfox97@hotmail.com Vice Pres: Miguel Sierra ’90, mrsierra@chevron.com Treas/Membership Coord: Bart O’Brien ’98, bartonobrien2@yahoo.com Secretary: Matt Horan ’87, matthoran@btinternet.com Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Commander: Ernest Paolucci 24, rue Gerbert, 75015 Paris, France 00 33 (0)1.42.50.96.34 Western UK Retiree Association President: R. Jim Barber, MSgt (USAF), Ret Phone: 01280 708182

EDUCATIONAL ACS International Schools ACS Cobham International School, Heywood, Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1BL 01932 867251 ACS Egham International School, Woodlee, London Road (A30), Egham, Surrey TW20 0HS. 01784 430800 ACS Hillingdon International School Hillingdon Court, 108 Vine Line, Hillingdon, Middlesex UB10 0BE. 01895 259771 www.acs-england.co.uk

AIU/London (formerly American College in London) 110 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4RY. Tel 020 7467 5640 Fax 020 7935 8144 www.aiulondon.ac.ukadmissions@aiulondon.ac.uk Alconbury Middle/High School RAF Alconbury, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE17 1PJ, UK. www.alco-hs.eu.dodea.edu AlconburyHS.Principal@eu.dodea.edu American Institute for Foreign Study 37 Queensgate, London SW7 5HR 020 7581 7300 www.aifs.co.uk info@aifs.co.uk American School in London 1 Waverley Place, London NW8 0NP Tel: 020 7449 1200 Fax: 020 7449 1350 www.asl.org admissions@asl.org

Benjamin Franklin House 36 Craven Street, London WC2N 5NF. Tel 020 7839 2006 Fax 020 7930 9124 info@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Boston University – London Graduate Programs Office 43 Harrington Gardens, London SW7 4JU. 020 7244 6255 www.bu.edu/london British American Educational Foundation Mrs. Carlton Colcord, 1 More’s Garden, 90 Cheyne Walk, London SW3. 020 7352 8288 www.baef.org anncolcord@compuserve.com BUNAC Student Exchange Employment Program Director: Callum Kennedy, 16 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0QH. 020 7251 3472 www.bunac.org enquiries@bunac.org.uk Center Academy School Development Centre 92 St. John’s Hill, Battersea, London SW11 1SH. Tel 020 7738 2344 Fax 020 7738 9862 ukadmin@centeracademy.com Central Bureau for Educational Visits The British Council Director: Peter Upton 10 Spring Gardens, London SW1A 2BN 020 7389 4004 Wales 029 2039 7346, Scotland 0131 447 8024 centralbureau@britishcouncil.org Council on International Educational Exchange Dr. Michael Woolf, 52 Portland Street, London WIV 1JQ Tel 020 7478 2000 Fax 020 7734 7322 www.ciee.org contact@ciee.org Ditchley Foundation Ditchley Park, Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxon OX7 4ER. Tel 01608 677346 Fax 1608 677399 www.ditchley.co.uk info@ditchley.co.uk European Council of International Schools Executive Director: Jean K Vahey Fourth Floor, 146 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9TR Tel 020 7824 7040 www.ecis.org ecis@ecis.org European-Atlantic Group PO Box 37431, London N3 2XP 020 8632 9253 justinglass@btinternet.com www.eag.org.uk Florida State University London Study Centre Administrative Director: Kathleen Paul

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The American

99 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3LH. Tel 020 7813 3233 Fax 020 7813 3270 www.international.fsu.edu/london/ intprog1@admin.fsu.edu

Fordham University London Centre Academic Coordinator: Sabina Antal 23 Kensington Square, London W8 5HQ 020 7937 5023 londoncentre@fordham.edu www.fordham.edu Harlaxton College UK Campus, University of Evansville Harlaxton Manor, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG32 1AG. Grantham 4541 4761. Tel 01476 403000 Fax 01476 403030 harlaxton.ac.uk. Huron University USA in London 46-47 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 4JP Tel +44 (0) 20 7636 5667 Fax+44 (0) 20 7299 3297 folu@huron.ac.uk www.huron.ac.uk Institute for Study Abroad Butler University, 21 Pembridge Gardens, London W2 4EB 020 7792 8751 http://www.ifsa-butler.org/england-overview.html Institute for the Study of the Americas Director: Professor James Dunkerley. Tel 020 7862 8879 Fax 020 7862 8886 americas@sas.ac.uk www.americas.sas.ac.uk International School of Aberdeen 296 North Deeside Road, Milltimber, Aberdeen, AB13 0AB 01224 732267 www.isa.aberdeen.sch.uk admin@isa.aberdeen.sch.uk International School of London 139 Gunnersbury Avenue, London W3 8LG. 020 8992 5823. www.islondon.com mail@ISLondon.com International School of London in Surrey Old Woking Road, Woking GU22 8HY Tel +44 (0)1483 750409 Fax +44 (0)1483 730962 www.islsurrey.com mail@islsurrey.com Ithaca College London Centre 35 Harrington Gardens, London SW7. Tel. 020 7370 1166 www.ithaca.edu/london bsheasgreen@ithacalondon.co.uk Marymount International School, London Headmistress: Ms Sarah Gallagher George Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT2 7PE Tel: 020 8949 0571 info@marymountlondon.com www.marymountlondon.com Missouri London Study Abroad Program 32 Harrington Gardens, London SW7 4JU.

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020 7373 7953. www.umsl.edu/services/abroad/universities/ molondon.html web_office@umsl.edu

Regents American College Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NS. 020 7486 9605. www.regents.ac.uk exrel@regents.ac.uk

Richmond, The American International University in London Richmond Hill Campus,Queen’s Road Richmond-upon Thames TW10 6JP Tel: +44 20 8332 9000 Fax: +44 20 8332 1596 enroll@richmond.ac.uk www.richmond.ac.uk Schiller International University Royal Waterloo House, 51-55 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8TX. Tel. 020 7928 1372 www.schillerlondon.ac.uk admissions@schillerlondon.ac.uk Sotheby’s Institute of Art Postgraduate Art studies, plus day /evening courses 30 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3EE Tel: 0207 462 3232 www.sothebysinstitute.com info@sothebysinstitute.com Southbank International Schools Kensington and Hampstead campuses for 3-11 year olds; Westminster campuses for 11-18 year olds. Director of Admissions: MargaretAnne Khoury Tel: 020 7243 3803 Fax: 020 7727 3290 admissions@southbank.org www.southbank.org TASIS England, American School Coldharbour Lane, Thorpe, Nr. Egham, Surrey TW20 8TE. Tel: 01932 565252 Fax: 01932 564644 http://england.tasis.com ukadmissions@tasisengland.org University of Notre Dame London Program 1 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG 020 7484 7811 london@nd.edu http://www.nd.edu/~ndlondon/lup/future/ introduction.htm US-UK Fulbright Commission Dir. of Advisory Service: Lauren Welch 020 7498 4010 Dir. of Awards: Michael Scott-Kline, 020 7498 4014 Battersea Power Station, 188 Kirtling Street, London SW8 5BN www.fulbright.co.uk Warnborough University International Office, Friars House, London SE1 8HB. Tel 020 7922 1200 Fax: 020 7922 1201 www.warnborough.edu admin@warnborough.edu Webster Graduate Studies Center Regent’s College, Regent’s Park, Inner Circle, London NW1 4NS, UK. Tel: 020 7487 7505 Fax: 020 7487 7425 www.webster.ac.uk webster@regents.ac.uk

Wickham Court School, Schiller International Layhams Road, West Wickham, Kent BR4 9HW. Tel 0208 777 2942 Fax 0208 777 4276 Wickham@schillerintschool.com www.wickhamcourt.org.uk Wroxton College Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.,Wroxton, Nr. Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 6PX. Tel. 01295 730551 http://view.fdu.edu/default.aspx?id=326 admin@wroxton-college.ac.uk

ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS Alliant International University (formerly United States International University) England Chapter Alumni Association Chapter President: Eric CK Chan c/o Regents College London, Inner Circle, Regents Park, London, UK University: www.alliant.edu chane@regents.ac.uk Amherst College Bob Reichert RAreichert26b@aol.com Andover/Abbot Association of London Jeffrey Hedges ‘71, President 07968 513 631 hedgeslon@hotmail.com Association of MBAs Leo Stemp, Events Administrator Tel 020 7837 3375 (ext. 223) Fax 020-7278-3634 l.stemp@mba.org.uk Babson College Frank de Jongh Swemer, Correspondence W 020 7932 7514 babson.alumni@btinternet.com Barnard College Club Hiromi Stone, President. Tel. 0207 935 3981 barnardclubgb@yahoo.co.uk Berkeley Club of London Geoff Kertesz Email: berkeleyclublondon@gmail.com http://international.berkeley.edu/LondonClub Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ groups/223876564344656/ Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/BerkeleyClub-London-4186104 Boston College Alumni Club UK Craig Zematis, President +44 7717 878968 BCalumniclub@gmail.com www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/BTN/cpages/ chapters/home.jsp?chapter=41&org=BTN Boston University Alumni Association of the UK Will Straughn, Snr International Development Officer, University Development and Alumni Relations,

The American

43 Harrington Gardens, Kensington, London SW7 4JU 020 7244 2908 020 7373 7411 bstraugh@bu.edu

Brandeis Alumni Club of Great Britain Joan Bovarnick, President http://alumni.brandeis.edu office@alumni.brandeis.edu Brown University Club of the United Kingdom President: Tugba Erem Vice President: Caroline Cook Secretary: Pinar Emirdag Treasurer: Mikus Kins Events: Ramya Moothathu Communication: Patrick Attie Alumni Club & Liaison: Vanessa Van Hoof Former President: Ed Giberti edgibertiwgcuk@aol.com. Brown Club UK, Box 57100, London, EC1P 1RB contact@brownuk.org www.brownuk.org Bryn Mawr Club President: Lady Quinton. c/o Wendy Tiffin, 52 Lansdowne Gardens, London SW8 2EF. Wendy Tiffin, Secretary/Treasurer wendytif@ukgateway.net Claremont Colleges Alumni in London Hadley Beeman hadley_beeman@alumni.cmc.edu Colgate Club of London Stephen W Solomon ‘76, President 0207 349 0738 swsolomon@hotmail.com Columbia University Club of London Stephen Jansen, President london@alumniclubs.columbia.edu www.alumniclubs.columbia.edu/london Cornell Club of London Natalie Teich, President nmt4@cornell.edu www.alumni.cornell.edu/orgs/int/London Dartmouth College Club of London Sanjay Gupta, Officer Andrew Rotenberg, Officer sanjay.gupta.96@ alum.dartmouth.org andrew.l.rotenberg.92@alum.dartmouth.org www.dartmouth.org Delta Kappa Gamma Society International For information about the Society in Great Britain go to our website www.deltakappagamma.org/GB. There are links to all the USA and other international members’ sites. Delta Sigma Pi Business Fraternity London Alumni Chapter. Ashok Arora, P O Box 1110, London W3 7ZB. 020 8423 8231 bertela@yahoo.com www.dspnet.org

Duke University Club of England Ms Robin Buck buckrobin@yahoo.com Tim Warmath timwarmath@yahoo.com Kate Bennett jkbennett@btinternet.com www.dukealumni.com/england

NYU STERN UK Alumni Club Matthieu Gervis, President sternukalumniclub@hotmail.com Ohio University UK & Ireland Frank Madden, 1 Riverway, Barry Avenue, Windsor, Berks. SL4 5JA. Tel 01753 855 360 Fax 01753 868 855 frank@madant.demon.co.uk

Emory University Alumni Chapter of the UK Matthew Williams, Chapter Leader 079 8451 4119 matthew.eric.williams@gmail.com www.alumni.emory.edu/chapters-and-groups/ chapters/international.html

Penn Alumni Club of the UK David Lapter Tel. 07957 146 470 david.lapter@alumni.upenn.edu

Georgetown Alumni Club Alexa Fernandez, President GeorgetownLondon@Yahoo.com

Penn State Alumni Association Penn State Alumni Association Ron Nowicki 0207 226 7681 pennstatelondon@yahoo.co.uk www.alumni.psu.edu

Gettysburg College Britt-Karin Oliver brittkarin@aol.com Harvard Business School Club of London www.hbsa.org.uk

Princeton Association (UK) Carol Rahn, President Jon Reades, Young Alumni carol.rahn@orange-ftgroup.com jon@reades.com www.alumni.princeton.edu

Harvard Club of Great Britain Brandon Bradkin, President president@hcuk.org www.hcuk.org Indiana University Alumni club of England Anastasia Tonello, President 020 7253 4855 iuinlondon@yahoo.com www.alumni.indiana.edu/clubs/england

Rice Alumni of London Kathy Wang Tel. 07912 560 177 kathyw@alumni.rice.edu

KKG London Alumnae Association emilymerrell@gmail.com

Skidmore College Alumni Club, London Peggy Holden Briggs ‘84, co-ordinator 07817 203611 peggyhbriggs@gmail.com

LMU Alumni Club London (Loyola Marymount University) Kent Jancarik 07795 358 681 kent@jancarik.com

Smith College Club of London Kathleen Merrill, President smithclubgb@googlemail.com http://alumnae.smith.edu

Marymount University Alumni UK Chapter President: Mrs Suzanne Tapley, 35 Park Mansions, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7QT. Tel 020 7581 3742 MIT Club of Great Britain Yiting Shen Flat 8a, 36 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6PB Tel: 0789 179 3823 yshen@alum.mit.edu http://alumweb.mit.edu/clubs/uk/ Mount Holyoke Club of Britain Rachel L. Elwes, President rlelwes@yahoo.com Karen K. Bullivant Vice-President kkbullivant@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu www.mtholyoke.co.uk Notre Dame Club of London Hannah Gornik , Secretary ND_Club_London@yahoo.co.uk NYU Alumni Club in London Jodi Ekelchik, President alumni.london@nyu.edu

Stanford Business School Alumni Association (UK Chapter) Robby Arnold, President Lesley Anne Hunt, Events robby@blueyonder.co.uk lesley.hunt@blueyonder.co.uk www.stanfordalumni.org.uk Texas Tech Alumni Association – London Chapter David Mirmelli, Ferhat Guven, Bobby Brents president@texastechalumni.org.uk www.TexasTechAlumni.org.uk Texas Exes UK (UKTE) President: Carra Kane 7 Edith Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 8TW 0778 660 7534 carrakane@alumni.utexas.net www.fornogoodreason.com/UKTEMain.htm Texas A&M Club London Ashley Lilly, Co-President Devin Howard, Co-President london@aggienetwork.com http://clubs.aggienetwork.com/londonamc/

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The John Adams Society Contact: Muddassar Ahmed c/o Unitas Communications, Palmerston House, 80-86 Old Street, London EC1V 9AZ 0203 308 2358 johnadamssociety@unitascommunications.com www.johnadamssociety.co.uk Tufts - London Tufts Alliance Vikki Garth Londontuftsalliance@yahoo.com UK Dawgs of the University of Georgia Rangana Abdulla ukdawgs@hotmail.com UMass Alumni Club UK Julie Encarnacao, President (0)20 7007 3869 julesje32@gmail.com University of California Matthew Daines (Program Director) 17 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JA 020 7079 0567 matthewdaines@californiahouse.org.uk University of Chicago UK Alumni Association President c/o Alumni Affairs and Development – Europe University of Chicago Booth School of Business Woolgate Exchange, 25 Basinghall Street, London EC2V 5HA Tel +44(0)20 7070 2245 Fax +44(0)20 7070 2250 www.ChicagoBooth.edu University of Illinois Alumni Club of the UK Amy Barklam, President 07796 193 466 amybarklam@msn.com University of North Carolina Alumni Club Brad Matthews, Club Leader 2 The Orchards, Hill View Road, Woking GU22 7LS brad.matthews@alumni.unc.edu http://alumni.unc.edu University of Michigan Alumni Association Regional Contact: Jessica Cobb, BA ’97 +44 (0) 788-784-0941 jesscobb@yahoo.com http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/umich_uk_alumni/

University of Rochester/Simon School UK Alumni Association Ms. Julie Bonne, Co-President 0118-956-5052 julie_bonne@yahoo.com University of Southern California, Alumni Club of London Jennifer Ladwig, President Chuck Cramer, Treasurer usclondon@gmail.com www.usclondonalumni.org University of Virginia Alumni Club of London Kirsten Jellard, 020 7368 8473

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londonuvaclub@yahoo.com http://members.aol.com/UKUVACLUB/UVA-london.htm

US Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) UK Chapter President: Allison Bennett bennett.ac@gmail.com Facebook: Kings Point Alumni - London/United Kingdom USNA Alumni Association, UK Chapter President: LCDR Greta Densham ‘00 (gretaj@mac.com) Vice President/Treasurer: Tim Fox ‘97 (timfox97@ hotmail.com) Secretary: Mike Smith ‘84 (Mike.Smith@polycom.com) Facebook Group - USNA Alumni Association, UK Chapter Vassar College Club Sara Hebblethwaite, President 18 Redgrave Road, London, SW15 1PX +44 020 8788 6910 sara.hebblethwaite@virgin.net Warnborough Worldwide Alumni Association c/o International Office, Friars House, London SE1 8HB. Tel. 020 7922 1200 Fax. 020 7922 1201 http://www.wwaa.info/ admin@warnborough.edu Wellesley College Club Ana Ericksen, President. ana@ericksenuk.com Wharton Business School Club of the UK Yoav Kurtzbard, President Claire Watkins, Administrator 020-7447-8800 ykurtzbard@youngassoc.com cwatkins@youngassoc.com Williams Club of Great Britain Ethan Kline: ethankline@gmail.com Yale Club of London Joe Vittoria, President president@yale.org.uk Scott Fletcher, Events events@yale.org.uk Nick Baskey, Secretary secretary@yale.org.uk www.yale.org.uk Zeta Tau Alpha Alumnae Kristin Morgan. Tel: 07812 580949 kristinamorgan@gmail.com www.zetataualpha.org

ARTS North American Actors Association Chief Executive: Ms. Laurence Bouvard Americanactors@aol.com 07873 371 891

CIVIL WAR SOCIETIES American Civil War Round Table (UK) Sandra Bishop, 5 Southdale, Chigwell, Essex IG7 5NN sandra-bishop@hotmail.com www.americancivilwar.org.uk

Southern Skirmish Association (SoSkan) Membership Secretary, Bob Isaac, 3 Hilliards Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3TA email membership@soskan.co.uk

SPORTS Eagles Golf Society Sharon Croley c/o Eventful Services, 49 Hastings Road, Croydon, Surrey CRO 6PH sharoncroley@blueyonder.co.uk English Lacrosse PO Box 116, Manchester M11 0AX 0843 658 5006 info@englishlacrosse.co.uk www.englishlacrosse.co.uk British Baseball Federation/ BaseballSoftballUK 5th Floor, Ariel House, 74a Charlotte Street, London W1T 4QJ. 020 7453 7055 British Morgan Horse Society 01942 886141 www.morganhorse.org.uk admin@morganhorse.org.uk Ice Hockey UK 19 Heather Avenue, Rise Park, Romford RM1 4SL Tel. 07917 194 264 Fax. 1708 725241 www.icehockeyuk.co.uk ihukoffice@yahoo.co.uk Herts Baseball Club Adult & Little League Baseball www.hertsbaseball.com LondonSports Instruction and competitive play in baseball, basketball and football (soccer), for boys and girls aged 4-15, newcomers or experienced players. Learn about and play sports in a safe, fun environment. We welcome children of all nationalities. www.londonsports.com vll@me.com London Warriors American Football Club Contact: Kevin LoPrimo info@londonwarriorsafc.co.uk www.londonwarriorsafc.co.uk Mildenhall EELS Swim Team International and local competitions for ages 6-19. Contact Coach Robin flv4@hotmail.com

Every effort is made to ensure that listings in the information guide are correct and current. If your entry requires amendments please notify us immediately. We rely on you to keep us informed. Telephone 01747 830520, Fax 01747 830691 or email us at theamerican@blueedge.co.uk. We would be pleased to receive news or short articles about your organisation for possible publication in The American.

The American

RESTAURANTS

Suppliers of quality products and services hand-picked for you ACCOUNTANCY & TAX

La Capanna The Finest Italian Food served in the loveliest of Surrey’s settings. 48 High Street, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3EF 01932 862 121 www.lacapanna.co.uk

GROCERY

BDO LLP The UK member firm of the world’s fifth largest accountancy organisation. 55 Baker Street, London W1U 7EU 020 7486 5888 info@bdo.co.uk www.bdo.uk.com

Lidgate Butchers Organic meats from a 150 year old business now run by the the fifth generation of the same family. 110 Holland Park Avenue, London W11 4UA Tel. 0207 727 8243 www.lidgates.com

Jaffe & Co., incorp. American Tax International Comprehensive tax preparation and compliance service for US expatriates in the UK and Europe. America House, 54 Hendon Lane, London N3 1TT 0800 085 1537 or 020 8346 5237 www.americantaxonline.com

LEGAL

Xerxes Associates LLP Fixed Fee US & UK Individual Tax Compliance, Consulting & Planning. Tel: +44(0)207 411 9026 Fax: +44(0)207 411 9051 www.xerxesllp.com

ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES Stephen T Taylor Your American stamp dealer in Britain since 1995. 5 Glenbuck Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6BS 020 8390 9357 info@stephentaylor.co.uk www.stephentaylor.co.uk

DRIVING INSTRUCTION Alison Driving School A well established, well known International Driving Instructor covering the area south and west of London, ideal for new drivers and for Americans who want to drive in the UK. www.femaledrivinginstructorinstaines.co.uk alisondrivingschool@yahoo.co.uk 01784 456 037, cell 07956 220389

EDUCATION Florida State University in UK Over 50 years of experience in international education. 99 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LA 020 7813 3223 www.international.fsu.edu

Kingsley Napley LLP Family lawyers with particular experience in dealing with cases involving Americans living here and abroad. 020 7814 1200 www.kingsleynapley.co.uk

MEDICAL & DENTAL

VIDEO / TELEVISION Jim Garnett - Cameraman 27 years’ experience in television, magazines and newspapers – Full professional gear in both NTSC [USA/Canada] and PAL formats. Used by ‘Entertainment Tonight’, CBC, CTV National, CTV Toronto, CTV Sports, Global TV and Channel Zero. Tel. 07930-100909 http://jimgarnettphotography.blogspot.co.uk

COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY Transitions Therapy Psychotherapy & Counselling for Expatriate Individuals, Couples, Families & Adolescents in the West End. London, England, United Kingdom 07557 261432 in the UK or 0044 7557 261432 from another country. Skype sessions available around the world. transitions_therapy@hotmail.com www.transitionstherapy.co.uk

The American Women’s Health Centre (AWHC) OB GYN Based in the West End of London, at the heart of medical excellence in Britain. Third Floor, 214 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5QN 020 7390 8433 info@AWHC.co.uk www.awhc.co.uk

To find out whether you’re eligible to advertise your products and services here, and for rates, call Sabrina Sully on +44 (0)1747 830520. You’ll reach Americans living in and visiting the UK as well as Britons who like American culture and products.

Coffee Break Answers

SOLUTION 6

1. Avril Lavigne; 2. La Marseillaise; 3. Parade; 4. Thunderball; 5. Little April Showers features in Disney’s Bambi – In Diamonds Are Forever Bond finds himself tag-teamed by two ladies named Bambi and Thumper; 6. Al Jolson; 7. William Howard Taft; 8. (Old) Quantum Theory; 9. The New York Yankees; 10. General Hospital; 11. Winston Churchill; 12. Jimmy Osmond.

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