Page 14 - Phonebox Magazine July 2014

When the Romans came to Castlethorpe
Recent archaeology has found traces of Roman activity around Castlethorpe, and an archaeologist will be exhibiting and discussing this at the village hall on July 3.
I’ll go along, and if further activity is planned I’ll join in and keep you all informed.
This has set me dreaming about the warrior queen Boudica and her determined Iceni stopping off to enjoy a hog roast during their advance on Towcester. I’ve been chasing that remarkable woman all the way from her Thetford camp, with its nearby flint mines and on through Colchester, London and Verulanium.
It is difficult to make everyday connections with Castlethorpe because the only pub is out of commission and has been slowly falling to ruin since around 2008. The owner faces masses of expenditure for repairs, which to my untrained eye look more like a complete rebuild.
I learnt from meeting the Parish Council that Castlethorpe’s people desperately want their pub back too.They have every sympathy with the owner who stands to lose on his investment, but sympathy alone will not solve his problem. Not every investment goes on to make a profit and sometimes we have to suffer a loss. Once the pub is restored, the owner will inherit an immense number of friends, which may advance his hopes of building profit elsewhere in the village.
Rik Mayall
and Blackadder
David Pibworth
Occasionally someone dies suddenly who everyone is quite fond of and this applied to Rik Mayall, the comedian
and actor who took his final bow last week at the age of 56.
However arrogant and belligerent Rik Mayall was on stage and in character, off stage he wasn’t like that and was a popular man to work with.
OK, he stole scenes from others in nearly every show he was in on TV, but I have to say I saw him in ‘Waiting For Godot’ in London with his old sparring partner Adrian Edmondson and it was really good. I still didn’t understand the play but they were excellent.
I think he was the first of the ‘New Wave’
of comedians to die. Unlike people like comedian Peter Cook, or Tony Hancock, who lived lifestyles that didn’t bode well for longevity, Rik didn’t live like thatatall,soitwasabitofashock.
People always say “Where are all the up and coming comedians?” and to that I say, they are all around you. We might not recognize the fact that they are brilliant while they are still around and new styles of comedy always attract criticism. The Goons (Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine) were classed as a danger to society when they first took to the airwaves and are now revered in comedy circles, quite rightly too.
I think Mayall and his colleagues are in the same league. He was Kevin Turvey, he
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