The Economist and the Maharani

Have just read the most extraordinary obituary in The Economist about the Maharani of Jaipur. Reads as though it was written in the 30s! Would love to know who The Economist commissioned to write it - apparently, when she was sent to prison by Indira Ghandi, she poured French perfume into the sewer in her cell; 'As it ran through the building, Asia's largest prison and one of its worst, other prisoners gathered to inhale the wafting vapours, the true scent of royalty.'
Makes me see The Economist in a whole new light!

It's a funny thing, this blogging business. I suppose it's true that one blogs to be read but not knowing whether anyone does read your stuff, and then, even more so, not knowing WHO is reading it can be both daunting and discouraging. Which is why I stopped for a while. But in the last couple of weeks I've been amazed to meet people in very different places, both geographically and in my life, who have seen it and read it so here I am again! I've been tweeting too, mostly inspired by Stephen Fry's tweets - following him to Bayreuth and sharing his joy at the performances there has been a delight - of course when he talks about cricket, I'm lost! But I was reminded of when I was at the NT and Peter Hall was doing the Ring at Bayreuth - the stories were legion but, given the recent legal ruling, probably better not told here! Peter was an amazing man to work for - physically very imposing, he almost always spoke gently and calmly, playing against the sheer charisma that you felt the minute he walked into a room - most of the HoDs had stories of going to see him while you were steaming about something and coming away 20mins later feeling on top of the world,the crisis quite forgotten! Looking back now, it was an extraordinary time in my life! But then, so is now - Jorge from Sao Paulo emails to ask if I'm going to the World Arts Summit in Jo'burg next month and could we meet up; Craig, currently writing the score for a Mark Ravenhill play at his request, rings to see if I can go to Nashville to see his new work there; Elena from Toronto writes to make contact because she's been reading about CIDA - Lee and I have spent last couple of weeks working up CIDA's aims for the next five years - and I find that the DCMS cabinet (no ampersand on phone) is following my tweets - such fun!

Excellent meeting with Keith Arrowsmith, our Company Secretary - he's moved to London (www.sghlaw.com) so we met at the Champagne Bar in St Pancras and had delightful pot of tea! Had lovely long and wide-ranging chat: about using blogs - he apparently gets phoned by journalists about various media stories because his blog makes him visible, as it were - fascinating stuff! The Diageo and Sainsbury story, Alton Towers and Speedos.....very funny and lightens up a more serious week! Also exchanged notes on theatre - he loved Streetcar and I loved The Mountaintop - we were both seeing Arcadia next - he told me of audience research pointing out that majority of concertgoers play instruments themselves so musicians should be less supercilious about amateurs! He tells me that the CEO of a company he's a Director of actually emails Board members every Friday...! Altogether a revitalising and happy chat at end of a not so good day!!