Monthly Archives: February 2016
A true story in 56 words
Ellis was a boy born with a number of conditions. “He’s not going to make old bones.” He couldn’t speak but to say “Hiya!” At the crematorium he went into the flames to the sound of Summer Lovin. He came out to the sound of Grease Lightning. His mother a…
I never spoke out until I was 40. It was taboo. Men aren’t victims of abuse
Tony Magee is searching for the right words as he absently taps his fingers on the table in an airless conference room at Mercury headquarters. “What do you call it when something is like something else?” asks the grey haired 55 year old, his accent a disarming patter of Midlands-softened…
The Turkish Baths
The people of Leicester and Leicestershire have always enjoyed their baths. Always. Since at least AD150 (See Jewry Wall for proof). The Victorians, the people who made the city into a pleasure dome, also enjoyed getting steamy, cold, hot and wet. The Turkish Baths in Friar Lane had been going…
Our World War – nice job Bruce Goodison
I’ve just been watching Our World War on BBC iPlayer. It was moving, factual and the action was brilliantly done. Got to the final credit, and saw the name of the director – Bruce Goodison. Bruce is a Bafta winner who did Our War – a real eye opener…
Paganism in Leicester
It’s a drizzly Tuesday evening and at a city centre café, a steady trickle of people are pouring through the door as the time inches towards 7pm. On cue, a lady in a long skirt and a mop of brown hair enters in a swirl of fabric. She starts…
The virtually unknown Battle of Losecoat Field
There were two Wars of the Roses battles in our neck of the woods. There was one on Bosworth Field that saw Richard III lose his crown… and the other one happened in Rutland. Farmer Andrew Beckingham has a battlefield in his back garden. Not that you’d know it. A…
The Battle of Frezenberg Ridge
Tony Roe glances at the sloping field behind him and up to the trees on the horizon backlit by bright morning sunshine. It seems hard to believe, but 100 years ago almost to the hour, Tony’s dad was here, holding the line with the Leicestershire Yeomanry, fighting off a…
Photos of Leicester and Leicestershire
William Flint’s Corn Exchange with the Venetian steps designed by FW Ordish, currently in need of some TLC. To the far right is the new food market building. This is the view from the bar at Cinema De Luxe, looking out onto St Peter’s Square. The bar has Brew…
Jewry Wall
When you live in an unfashionable city with two thousand plus years of history, it’s easy to be a bit meh about the things you graze past every day. Easy and a bit, well, silly. A 25 minute amble from my house and you’re in Roman Leicester. Jewry Wall…
Great firkin news for people in Leicester who like beer
What in the blazes is going on? Beer. Firkins and firkins of it. For £3 a pint. Where? St Anne’s Church Hall, Letchworth Road, Leicester. And when is it? Friday, March 4, from 5pm. Eh? It’s a pop-up pub serving the liquid gold of Leicestershire’s finest brewers; Charnwood, Tres…
King Dick’s bed (Not a porno)
Heard the one about the vilified king, the long-lost Leicester pub and the bed secretly stuffed with regal riches? It’s an ancient murder-mystery with a plot which takes in avarice, ambition and execution and boasts a cast led by one of the nation’s most notorious monarchs. Our story begins on…
Catching up with Albert – the safe-blower who broke out of Leicester Prison
In a semi-detached on the outskirts of Sheffield, Albert Hattersley glances at the Leicester Mercury headline of Saturday, December 19, 1953, 30FT JUMP TO FREEDOM IN PRISON ESCAPE “It was 36ft,” says the pensioner, jabbing a peevish finger at the front page. “I should know.” It’s been 57 years since…
Thought for the day: Imagine waking tomorrow and all music has disappeared
In the distance is one of Leicester’s oldest churches, the 12th century All Saints, in High Cross Street. In the foreground is an old Great Central Railway bridge with some ponderous, chin-scratching graffiti. How would you feel if all music had disappeared? Me: I would have to express some…
Who knew the zombie apocalypse would be so much fun?
It’s Saturday afternoon and a crowd of twenty-somethings are listening intently to a tall man holding court in the corner of a pub. That man is Richard Wheatcroft, the events director of Requiem:Live, and he’s in the middle of what will easily be the most surreal team-talk in the city…
The future of Leicester Central
It’s one of Leicestershire’s unofficial tourist destinations. Tucked away down a side street, removed from the bustle of the city centre. “I get plenty of visitors,” nods Mukhtar Shah, who has a car workshop in Great Central Street. “Sometimes 10, 15 people come a month, a lot of people who…
Images from LE1 and elsewhere
Currently on display in Dover Street, Leicester. Just excellent. Walkers. Best pies. No contest. Leicester Market vinyl stall. Leicester Fridge do Naked Comedy at Manhattan 34. Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival on Friday, February 5. Leicestershire love god drops by the Mercury offices and visits the newsfloor. Pre-Eurovision. Nicely…
46 interesting facts about Leicestershire…
Leicester City FC won the league in 2015/16. But what do you know about the city and county which spawned them? 1. Leicestershire is the Spiritual Home of Rock Music. It started back in 1980 with the first Monsters of Rock at Donington Park. It continues today…
Pay It Forward Day or summat
There are some days as a journalist that you’d rather not remember. The crown court cases, the inquests, the death knocks, dealing with Tory MPs, the endless parish council meetings about dog poo bins and street lighting. And then you get a job like this one. I can’t remember what…
Greyhound racing is a thing of the past…like jousting
It was once as English as eating fish and chips from newspaper. No longer. As developers eye up Hinckley greyhound track, Cat Turnell goes to the dogs. There’s a chill in the air at Hinckley Greyhound Stadium, but it’s nothing to do with the temperature outside. While men in flat…
The secret to a long life? Keep breathing
On January 19, Stapleton resident George Fray will be celebrating his 101st birthday. Catherine Turnell went round for a cup of tea. In the kitchen of a farm house in the tiny village of Stapleton the temperature is nearing the mid-20s. Sat in the corner by the electric heater, centenarian…
Je-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-suss
It’s 7.30pm on a Friday at Leicester’s All Nations Hall and almost 600 people are standing shoulder to shoulder to witness the healing power of the reverends David Carr and Richard Taylor. Tonight’s Free American Methodist service in Frog Island has drawn people from all parts of the city, from…
One of Hitler’s bodyguards…and his English wife, on how they got together
Betty Dickinson met Hans Kuhn, one of Hitler’s bodyguards, while he was a prisoner of war in Melton. They have four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and live in Houghton on the Hill Betty: When I first met him I worked at the George Hotel in Melton. It was 1948. My friend…
The Anchor Centre
John Chalmers thinks for a moment about what time would be best for a visit. In the morning, he says, there might be nobody there, but in the afternoon, they might be too far gone to make sense. In the end, he suggests coming along at noon. “Welcome to the…
Letzgo Hunting – the Leicestershire dads bringing hebephiles to justice
Fingers clatter across an iPad and up goes the internet chat room profile of 14 year old Jess. A couple of seconds pass and the phone vibrates to indicate a message. The date is December 14, 2014 and this is the first contact from Peter Hyam in Essex. “Hello Jess…
Interview with a porn star
It’s a sweaty Friday night and scores of people are enjoying the bars of Leicester’s leafy New Walk. Basking in the fading rays outside Pause, the time has just gone 8pm when Tony de Sergio arrives. Tall, toned and tanned, he takes a seat and soon, perhaps expectantly, the conversation…