Viva Lewes Issue #152 May 2019

COLUMN
Lewes Out Loud
Plenty more Henty
Whilst five O
Levels were enough
to get me a junior
reporter’s job on the
Croydon Advertiser
sixty years ago this
year, it was five ‘W’s
that then helped me
to progress in the
demanding world
of print journalism.
Why? Who? What? When? And Where?
Quintessential questions representing all that
nouveau newshound Henty needed to conduct
any interview, anywhere. Whether it was the
secretary of West Wickham Horticultural
Society or, later, for the BBC, Hollywood
legend, Charlton Heston.
It’s called curiosity. I’ve always had it in
abundance so that interviewing people and
getting paid for it has been a lifelong bonus.
Funniest person was probably the actor Roy
Kinnear whose son Rory has achieved so much
comedy success in television of late.
The most difficult? Jim Davidson who
grudgingly agreed to meet me and then threw
away most of his answers in an uninterested
manner. The one interview I failed to obtain
was in Croydon, funnily enough, when
trumpeter Ken Colyer was appearing at an
all-night jazz festival. At 2.30 in the morning,
he was in no state to answer my questions and
it was a miracle that he was still able to play his
horn – which he did.
I’ve never been a festival goer, as such, but I
did enjoy the Mumford and Sons Gentlemen
of the Road stopover in our own Convent Field
in July 2013, and recall one idyllic weekend in
South Devon at the Sidmouth Folk Festival
which celebrates 65
years this year in
August. Great place for
people with beards and
glasses like me!
Locally, I like the
sound of the Looking
Out festival, on
Sunday, June 9, which
promises a celebration
of the natural world at
Lewes Railway Land Local Nature Reserve.
Words of praise now for the new retaining
wall to the footpath between the bottom of
Keere Street and Paines Twitten. In November
I commented on the delay in re-building it,
but the finished flint wall is excellent and well
worth the wait.
At the Dripping Pan, I was amused to hear
what was, for me, a new football chant when
the Rooks faced local rivals Whitehawk. A
noisy crowd of supporters from Brighton,
complete with drum, were puzzled by the
subdued home support. They offered the
traditional “Is this a library?” followed by “Sit
down and read a book!” I laughed, but again
rued the lack of raucous vocal support for the
home side.
Finally, a curiosity of sorts. I’ve always enjoyed
Belgian buns so it was a real pleasure to see a
couple of the iced wonders featured in a High
Street window display recently. Not a baker’s
shop though. This was Kings Framers and
owner, Peta, told me that I was not alone in
asking whether the buns were real. The super
cake stand on marble was £75 she told me, but
this did not include the buns. Incidentally, no
firm link has been established between the bun
and Belgium. Curious! John Henty
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