I was given the tall black umbrella in The City on the day I met Bishop Desmond Tutu at the unveiling of my sculptured poem The Gilt Of Cain earlier this year. I  don’t as a rule get attached to things but my rule was crushed as I watched the umbrella flit into the air , like a heavy crow and land in the middle of the street only to be  gnarled under the unsentimental wheels of the 254 bus.

In a little more detail this is what happened. It was windy. At the top of our street the umbrella flipped inside out so I tried to turn it against the wind (to right itself) my hat flew off. Instinctively  I let go of the umbrella to catch my hat. I slipped and fell backwards on my arse, in full view of the traffic at the lights as it flew into the street under the wheels of a bus.  Ten seconds of mayhem,

Tonight I performed Why I Don’t Hate White People at The Hammersmith Lyric. The house was virtually full. It’s the second preview night of the show and I have forty pages of script (almost) Off By Heart, a great title for an actors memoir.  Tom Priestley the son of writer JB Priestley came tonight with his friend. I am proud and honoured  that he did.  It is one of the good things about doing a run, meeting good people.