Baronet's Diary 2019

It was a Derby woman, Rachel Webb, who was instrumental in bringing The Knife Angel to Derby in October. For those of you who did not see this magnificent statue outside the Cathedral on Iron Gate it really was the most amazing structure. With knife crime on the rise across the country the statue has come to be a symbol of the hard work that partners in all communities contribute to halt this dreadful disease in society. Rachel’s son Tom was only 22 years old when he was stabbed and killed in St Peter’s Street, Derby, by a 16-year-old boy in January 2016. The 27 feet high sculpture is made from 100,000 bladed weapons collected in ‘amnesty’ knife banks across the country and has been on a tour of the country stopping off at Derby before heading for Chester. Powerful.

Rather like London buses we get no television filming enquiries for months then suddenly three come along at once. First I was interviewed for a forthcoming slot on the BBC East Midlands show Inside Out about a piece on slavery when the presenter Sue Brown revealed that one of our ancestors, one Robert Alleyne, had been very kind over the sentencing of an escaped slave and had in fact defended him, so granting his freedom. Second, a show that I had appeared on over ten years ago decided to revisit past haunts. Broadcast on the Discovery back on tv Channel, the show is called Salvage Hunters and is presented by celebrity Drew Pritchard who descends on a property and rummages around in sheds and attics to haggle for items his team can restore and then sell on at inflated prices. Thirdly, after talking to me, the team behind the first show decided that they wanted to pitch for a 30 minute documentary about our village and proceeded to spend the next Saturday filming local characters (of which there are plenty!) for a pilot. I shall let the dear reader know transmission dates..

Rather like London buses we get no television filming enquiries for months then suddenly three come along at once. First I was interviewed for a forthcoming slot on the BBC East Midlands show Inside Out about a piece on slavery when the presenter Sue Brown revealed that one of our ancestors, one Robert Alleyne, had been very kind over the sentencing of an escaped slave and had in fact defended him, so granting his freedom. Second, a show that I had appeared on over ten years ago decided to revisit past haunts. Broadcast on the Discovery back on tv Channel, the show is called Salvage Hunters and is presented by celebrity Drew Pritchard who descends on a property and rummages around in sheds and attics to haggle for items his team can restore and then sell on at inflated prices. Thirdly, after talking to me, the team behind the first show decided that they wanted to pitch for a 30 minute documentary about our village and proceeded to spend the next Saturday filming local characters (of which there are plenty!) for a pilot. I shall let the dear reader know transmission dates..

Life gives few opportunities for the true use of that phrase, but I was there on the day England won the Cricket World Cup on Sunday 14th July 2019. As regular readers will know I love my cricket and each January plan my diary around the fixtures list, especially at Lord’s, and apply for various tickets to take family and friends to international matches and others in London NW8. The Cricket World Cup (CWC) takes place every four years and the last time it was held in England was in 1999. As a member of the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) for the games at Lord’s I had to enter a ballot for tickets. For the round robin England/Australia match I was only given one (so I sent it back to the ticket office) but I was also allocated three tickets for the final. Remember this was in January – seven months before the actual day.