A meal out at The Chequers.

“Memories of the Raj. “

By: Graham Salter

The Chequers is one of the trio of pubs tucked away amid the Cotswold stone of Headington Quarry, and for nearly a year now, it has housed the “Royal India” restaurant. Together with Nick Newman and Julia Gasper, I paid a return visit there on Sunday evening , and was impressed.
If you know the Chequers in Horspath Village, you will feel at home with this “curry on the village green” format: the yeoman virtues of a standard English boozer, giving way (through a door on the left) to a plush Indian restaurant with tear-drop shaped wall-lighting and a warm décor. And those round tables may look large, but they prove to be not quite large enough once the food arrives.
Julia had a Lamb Pasanda in a very superior sauce (containing cashew nuts as well as almonds) and served on a gleaming square acre of porcelain, while I gave full marks to the rich Chicken Bhuna I ordered, along with an aubergine bhaji. But for sheer theatrical effect, hats off to the House Special, which arrived, in the form of a Lamb Steak, amid clouds of culinary smoke from the sizzling onions, and a great deal of head-turning from the other diners.
Is there room for improvement in any quarter? Well, would it be too expensive to invest in better Christmas crackers? Ours were identical –same hat, same plastic moustache, same joke, oh dear. And maybe they could offer, on the pudding menu, something insubstantial (like a sorbet or a single-scoop ice) for those who have over-indulged on the main course.
We all agreed, however, that the Royal India has a lot to recommend it. Ease of parking, subtle use of ingredients, quality meat cooked to perfection, and very reasonable prices. For a classy curry, why not check out the Chequers!

Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore at the new Theatre at the Old Fire Station.

A review by Julia Gasper

 I was delighted to see the new Theatre open at the Old Fire Station on Tuesday evening. The old one, shabby though it was, had seen many a fascinating and rewarding dramatic production. The building now has been refurbished as a result of the government’s Places of Change Programme and houses the Crisis Skylight Centre as well as the new theatre. Everything is bright, colourful and cheerful, and with the Christmas trees and decorations sparkling, it gave us a warm welcome. Breaking the Code is the play chosen by the Oxford Theatre Guild to launch the new theatre and it is well up to their usual high standards of production. Based on the book by Andrew Hodges, “Alan Turing: the Enigma,” the play tells the life story of this shy and stammering mathematician who played such an important part in World War II. Turing was among the team at Bletchley Park who broke the German Enigma code, in which all the enemy messages were sent. Yet despite getting the OBE, he was later subjected to a humiliating prosecution for his homosexual behaviour, and his death a few years later was probably suicide.

It may be that the play slightly exaggerates Turing’s role in breaking the code. Actually a team of Polish decrypters had been working on the project for seven years before the war and their groundwork was crucial. Then there was a lucky break in 1941, when a British destroyer, the HMS Bulldog, captured an enigma encoding machine from a German U-boat before sinking it. The acquisition was kept top secret. Finally, the Germans did make some mistakes: one was that on Hitler’s birthday all officers sent him messages of greeting and as they all ended “Heil, Hitler!” this provided another useful clue for the Bletchley team. So Turing was one of a team, but nevertheless he was an invaluable asset and his later work made a substantial contribution to the development of the modern computer. The play has a streak of really dry humour. It also shows the pathos of Turing’s lonely lifestyle, picking up youths in pubs and then finding they have rifled his wallet before leaving. We wince as a policeman questions him about all the details of this encounter. To us now it seems that the “gross indecency” is in having to tell a third person exactly what happened.

 

Joseph Kennaway’s performance in the demanding role of Turing is an impressive one, and the others who stood out were Wayne Brown as Ron and Tim Eyres as Knox, the Bletchley boss. Kevin Elliot, the director, is to be congratulated on this production and I look forward to many more now that this venue has risen from the ashes. I think that the people who campaigned, forty years ago, to save the Old Fire Station as a community arts centre, would be pleased and happy to see it now. Julia Gasper.

 

 

 

 

Julia Gasper.

http://oldfirestation.info/

http://www.oxfordtheatreguild.com/index.html

Mother Goose Oxford

If you are looking for good old-fashioned family Christmas fun, then going to see Mother Goose at the Oxford Playhouse certainly fits the bill. Both kids and adults will enjoy this story, full of humour, political comment and fun. Even the song and dance routines were enjoyable. It was great to see and hear the audience laughing, clapping and singing along to the songs that ranged from The Monkey’s ‘I m a believer’ to the Mikado’s ‘Three little maids from school’.
Like all good British panto’s Mother Goose pokes fun at the latest developments in society. This being Oxford, it is full of local references to Oxford United and local Witney MP David Cameron. The audience really enjoyed the jokes made at Cameron’s expense with reference to his role as Prime Minister and his Oxford student days and membership of the Bullingdon Club. Other jokes, made throughout the performance, focused on various celebrities, chavs and the “makeover ” programmes that dominate television today. Be on the lookout for references to ‘Little Britain’ and ‘Gavin and Stacy’. http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/Mother-Goose-Oxford.html

SOUTH PACIFIC OXFORD

There is nothing like a good musical to brighten up a cold and damp Oxford December evening, which is what you get from attending South Pacific at Oxford’s New Theatre. Certainly, this Lincoln Centre production of South Pacific set on the island of Guadalcanal, put a smile on the face and a spring in the step of the audience, as they left (7 December 2011) at the end of this exciting performance.

It was perhaps a bit ironic that as we enjoyed this great musical based in Hawaii, people were commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. This production is packed full of well-known tunes that kept the audience stomping their feet, clapping their hands and singing along to the lyrics, such as “There is Nothin’ Like a Dame”, “Younger than Springtime”, “Some Enchanted Evening” and “ I am going to wash that man right out of my hair.” http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/SOUTH-PACIFIC-OXFORD.html

East Asia – a nuclear hotspot?

By 2050, at least half the world’s new nuclear power plants are likely to be built in East Asia. Most of these planned plants will be built in China, Taiwan and South Korea. However, there are tentative proposals that other plants for elsewhere in the region, including Vietnam and Indonesia. However, one thing for certain, Australia will be supplying the uranium to these countries. It is funny that Australia is happy to mine uranium for export, but not use it itself. Nevertheless, unlike many of its North Asian neighbours, it has a vast treasure-house of energy resources. Therefore, the energy security concerns its customers have do not apply for Australia.

http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/East-Asia-a-nuclear-hotspot.html