(30) Union Chapel, Highbury & Islington, London – Our intrepid, life-long Monkees fan was perched high up in the balcony, stage-right, for a 8:00pm performance by the group’s legendary singer/ songwriter, Michael Nesmith, one which concluded his brief, 4-date concert tour of the UK. After the truly superb 90-minute show, which included solo Papa Nes classics such as ‘Rio’, ‘Joanna’ and ‘Silver Moon’, Keith suddenly found himself among a throng of fellow Arsenal FC supporters (in a local Highbury boozer) to watch the club’s incredible comeback from 4-0 down to 7-5 victors over Reading in the Capital One Cup.
(25) Farnham Road, Slough, Berks – Keith was among the studio audience at a taping of BBCTV’s political debate programme, Question Time at The Centre, in Slough. (Unfortunately, the question he had prepared for the panel that night wasn’t chosen.)
On the same day – the Book Charts on Amazon in Italy reveal Gli ultimi giorni di Marilyn Monroe: Le relazioni pericolose, le trappole, il presunto suicidio: tutta la verità sulla finehad returned to the No.2 spot in the ‘Bestsellers Cinema e Television’ section on the site.
(22) Odeon, Leicester Square, West End, London – Our Mr Badman was seen strutting-up the Red Carpet tonight (I kid you not) at the World Premiere of the new Status Quo movie, Hello Quo!, which was directed by his long-time pal and associate, Alan G. Parker. (It’s a truly great production – go and see it… or at least buy the Blu-ray of it!) Following the two-and-a-half-hour screening, Keith was present at the Q&A sessions with the band themselves, which was conducted by the broadcaster, Paul Gambaccini.
(16) BBCTV, England – The highly-praised documentary, Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, which featured archive research by Keith, was premiered this evening on BBC1 in the UK, as part of their Arena features strand.
(11) British Library, Euston Road, London – Keith was among the especially-invited guests for the launch of The John Lennon Letters, the new book by official Beatles biographer, Hunter Davies. Following a talk by the author and a screening of a previously unseen December 1968 home movie of Paul, Linda, Hunter and his family holidaying in Portugal, the assembled crowd excitedly listened to a short speech by the legendary, Yoko Ono. Not wishing to miss an opportunity, once her talk had concluded, our Mr Badman reached out, politely shook her hand and said “It’s a great pleasure to meet you.” (Keith had actually encountered her for the first time back in 1988, during a Lennon photo exhibition at London’s Art & Design Centre.)
(9) Windsor, Berkshire (in the shadow of Windsor Castle) – Here’s one for the “You just couldn’t make it up” department. At approximately 3:40pm, during a fairly routine visit to Windsor, Keith turned into the town’s King Edward Court shopping centre, found him amongst a huge throng of people and… approximately 6-feet away from Her Majesty The Queen (“who doesn’t have a lot to say,” Lennon& McCartney 1969). For the inquisitive among you, she was there to inaugurate a highly-impressive, Diamond Jubilee monument designed by the 15-year-old schoolgirl, Caroline Basra.
(5) BBC Caversham Park, Reading – With the country (and, in fact the world) celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ first EMI single, ‘Love Me Do’, Keith was a guest to talk about the landmark occasion on a couple of BBC stations, the most notable being Radio Berkshire’s Tony Blackburn’s Weekend Warm-Up show (between 12:04 and 12:44pm), hosted, as you’ll guess, by the broadcasting legend, the “sensational” Tony Blackburn.
