Leatherhead

But at that time, they stopped going down lists because market forces dictated that they got the name who the building people knew who they were.

In other words, whereas once I might be asked to direct a production in Leatherhead... which might then move to London.

Peter Hall and Trevor Nunn were then directing at the Thorndike Leatherhead because they weren't working in other theatres.

And also, if Peter Hall or Trevor Nunn weren't available, or Richard Eyre, weren't available for May 1999, they would say, well, we'll wait till...

May 2000 not let's find another director so which is a very long way of saying that I wasn't going to wait to go up the list I wanted to try and make my way up the list doing something which nobody else was doing and so I tended to specialise in doing these fly by a seat relying on the charity of others productions and do you know what if you'd said to me 25 years ago that you're going to spend your life raising money for other people I would have laughed because I always saw myself as a commercial director hopefully raising money for other people but more for producers than for charitable causes but because so many of the events that I do involve so many people who if you were to put a commercial value on them you wouldn't be able to afford to do them they do tend to be events that raise money for other people, which is great, and I'm really happy about it.

Other nations, however, had the impertinence to produce versions of their own.

So in 1959, British scientists in a laboratory in Leatherhead, Surrey, set out to create the perfect pickled onion As British Pathé explained, the project was a matter of national prestige because nearly all the best pickling onions came from abroad, chiefly Holland and Egypt.

"Why, pray, shouldn't the cold roast beef of Old England be served with English pickled onions?" the narrator wondered.

Why indeed? The researchers in tweed suits used a huge revolving drum to peel the onions without bringing tears to their eyes.

The smallest known cells are much tighter.

There's one at Leatherhead at 2.4 meters square with a window 53 centimeters across.

And then there's Compton and Surrey, which is 2 meters by 1.3 with a sleeping loft.

That cell was occupied from 1185 to the early 14th century.

But having said that, there are presses springing up.

So Jack's Acorn, my latest children's book, was published by Isaiah Books, a wonderful small press near Leatherhead in Surrey.

I think publishing has become easier now.

because of technological developments of various sorts.

I'm at it 24-7.

And we bought a little property in Leatherhead for £600,000, which we hope will do well for the group.

We get planning permission on it to convert it from offices to resi.

We're looking at a few others of that kind of thing.