April 2016

Sophie’s world
Photo: Claire Lawrie
Those were the days, before Shoreditch Trendies
invaded the East and we were known simply as, The
Weirdos, going to the Saturday night singalongs at
The Adam and Eve on Homerton High Street with
the old boys drinking real IPA or stout. Pre-internet
we didn’t know where the best parties in town were,
so we made our own.
Taste, smells, sights and sounds leave their imprint
in our memories, Remembrance of Things Past and
all that, and so it seems that Dick is now Everywhere
and yet Nowhere. How can that be? His laughter
attacked me on Park Lane yesterday remembering
giving his Christmas wages to a homeless person
in the snow before kicking a pale blue Rolls Royce,
and before being chased by police through Mayfair.
They didn’t catch us! Death is bewildering to those
left behind.
I wrote his obit for The Guardian. His daughter Bea
said, "It’s crazy Dad was so famous," when a full
page appeared in The New York Times, but you only
have to be famous for one thing and his cocktails
were legendary inventions – the Bramble, the
Espresso Martini, the Twinkle to name a few.
Sophie Parkin
Sophie Parkin raises a
glass in a fond farewell to a
cocktail king
It’s been an emotional week, I don’t mind admitting.
My best friend Dick Bradsell died much too young
and I have had trouble acting a smile onto my face
ever since – hating it when people asked how I was.
We grew up together in many ways all over
East London, sharing scuzzy flats and going
on adventures together with our friends. From
performance wedding parties on the steps of
Hackney Town Hall (Dick played my Dad and read
out the invented telegrams as we gorged ourselves
on Brown Derbys at The Wimpy Bar opposite), to
the inevitable divorce party, to trying to catch the
Loch Ness monster.
As I toast him at the wake with Russian Spring
Punches (invented when we were young and bored
for a Russian Easter party), I will remember the time
on the Kingsmead Estate when he made us eat a
purple curry with green and blue rice topped with
Maraschino cherries. We were penniless most of
the time but ridiculously rich with inappropriately
coloured food and laughter.
Sophie Parkin is the proprietor of
vout-o-reenees.com
Russian Spring Punch
...invented by the late, great Dick Bradsell
25ml vodka Stoli
15ml creme de cassis
15ml lemon juice
Topped up with champagne
Cheers!
18 LOVEEAST