Dot Counting 10,000 - Charlton Game?

[Paul Cannell]

I exchanged pleasantries with Archer a few times back in the very late 1980s (or it may have been very early 1990s).

My company were involved in the refurbishment of a large building called Thames House, which was the HQ for MI5. It was a fascinating project, and the architects set up a project office on the opposite side of the Thames, in a 1960s office block called Alembic House. As I was heading up our side of it I would frequently be at meetings there. It was a very nondescript building, apart from the top two floors which were Archer's London penthouse apartment. He had his own private lift and the apartment had panoramic views along the Thames including the Houses of Parliament. It's apparently been used in films, including I think, a James Bond one.

The lobby area was very plush, even though the main building wasn't, and a few times Archer was just hanging around the lobby on his own (maybe waiting for a car to pick hime up or something?) and after a while he would chat when he saw me, and was surprisingly quite pleasant. This was, of course, before we all knew he was a wrong'un!!!

If only he'd told me he knew you Paul. I could have ingratiated myself further with him and he might have invited me up to the penthouse to peruse his memoirs.....

Probably 1989. Jeff spent most of his time in the Alembic lobby that year after the demonstrations against The Satanic Verses, which he ghost-wrote for 'Dear little Sally', and the Fatwa issued later that year. He was terrified his involvement would go public and the Moslems would target his flat with one of the suicide planes that Stella had told him they had 'standing by'.

God, that girl used to come out with some whoppers after she'd had a few. Of course Jeff was completely credulous, being a total egomaniac. BTW - did you ever meet any of the girls she used to send down from the typing pool with Jeff while he was skulking in the lobby? He used to send the porter on errands and they'd 'do it' in the old boys' cubby-hole.

Halcyon days, eh?

 

[Sarge]

Yes it's very helpful thank you, these are all great ideas, I'll have to sort of pick a few and go with it. Appreciate such an informed post. I'd really like to get a shot of the blue plaque, so it looks like I'll be turning up way before kick off.

The only thing I'll say is I didn't realise how annoyed Oxford United fans were with the stadium, it's really interesting. I'll be sure to touch on this and try and get some nice shots.

Genuine question with all these ideas and having a better understanding of the layouts and walk times, how much time will I need to tick off all of this, I was aiming for around 10am but I'm thinking it might need to be a bit earlier..

If you come in via M40/A40 then go straight on at the hamburger roundabout ( bear left to go straight on, youll be in Headington- Shark in roof, Blue Plaque on the Britannia and the old entrance to the Manor ground you could do comfortably in 20-30 mins .... back up to the roundabout, turn right onto the ring rd, stay in left lane- take 1st exit ( few 100 yards after Hamburger roundabout) at traffic lights, turn right onto Kiln Lane, Lewis Close ( with CS Lewis' cottage) is 4th turn on the right ( private rd- park on Kiln Lane) ... beyond the cottage is CS Lewis nature reserve, said to be part inspiration for fictional Narnia , and Lewis's mate Tolkien's fictional Middle Earth - you could do both in 30 mins or so , and still have plenty of time left to get the the breeze block / breeze block car park by around 1pm ish if you reach Headington by 10am

 

[Yellow River]

Old Marston Village, if you don't mind.

Yeah, but let’s be honest, there’s only one genuine quaint old village in Oxfordshire, blighted slightly I grant you by a triangular shaped piece of contaminated waste land.

But despite that, the Chinese tourist flocked there, before moving onto Blenheim Palace and the Cotswolds.

 

[Colin B]

Probably 1989. Jeff spent most of his time in the Alembic lobby that year after the demonstrations against The Satanic Verses, which he ghost-wrote for 'Dear little Sally', and the Fatwa issued later that year. He was terrified his involvement would go public and the Moslems would target his flat with one of the suicide planes that Stella had told him they had 'standing by'.

God, that girl used to come out with some whoppers after she'd had a few. Of course Jeff was completely credulous, being a total egomaniac. BTW - did you ever meet any of the girls she used to send down from the typing pool with Jeff while he was skulking in the lobby? He used to send the porter on errands and they'd 'do it' in the old boys' cubby-hole.

Halcyon days, eh?

Halcyon days indeed, and your musings remind me of a couple of things.

Firstly, with regards to "Dear little Sally" I once heard a funny joke about the dyslexic moslem extremist. He ordered a fatwa against Willie Rushton.

Secondly, and mention of Stella, reminds me of some of the oddities of dealing with the MI5 project. Now this was back in the day when all drawings were done on paper, by actual people, not computers. Our meetings would often entail pouring over these drawings, which were the size of a small bed sheet, to ascertain that we could actually build what was proposed. On these drawings, certain sensitive areas were blanked out, and just referred to by an odd name. One that sticks in the mind was called "The Wendy House". Now on occasion, I might ask what space existed in one of these areas, if we needed to pass cables or something else through it, or above it. What would then happen is that the lead architect and the "client's representative" (a spy) would leave the room, have a private conversation, and then come back and give me a sealed envelope with only the basic information that I asked for written inside it. I then had to read it to myself, in front of them, tell nobody else in the meeting the details, and hand them back the envelope.

As you say, halcyon days, that the youngsters of today, with their instant information culture could never cope with. Where several business meetings were conducted over a period of weeks and months, leading to the formation of relationships, with actual people, and often concluded by partaking of a little something from the ubiquitous decanter that was always in the meeting room. And all of that civilised behaviour has been replaced by what? Emails and WhatsApps!!!

 

[Marked Ox]

Old Marston Village, if you don't mind.

Pah, they are one and the same, just like Yarnton and Kidlington.

 

[Paul Cannell]

One that sticks in the mind was called "The Wendy House". Now on occasion, I might ask what space existed in one of these areas, if we needed to pass cables or something else through it, or above it. What would then happen is that the lead architect and the "client's representative" (a spy) would leave the room, have a private conversation, and then come back and give me a sealed envelope with only the basic information that I asked for written inside it. I then had to read it to myself, in front of them, tell nobody else in the meeting the details, and hand them back the envelope.

As you say, halcyon days, that the youngsters of today, with their instant information culture could never cope with. Where several business meetings were conducted over a period of weeks and months, leading to the formation of relationships, with actual people, and often concluded by partaking of a little something from the ubiquitous decanter that was always in the meeting room. And all of that civilised behaviour has been replaced by what? Emails and WhatsApps!!!

Aaahh. Yr Lead Architect must have been vetted, then. I'll bet he was on a good whack. A company I worked for sold commercial voicemail (systems in O2, EE for example) based on tech the US paid them to develop for phone monitoring (e.g. legal intercept in GCHQ). The hackers were all vetted, engineers positive-vetted. Strange world.

Weren't many public decanters in my neck of the woods despite the importance of relationships. Off-site coffee mostly, cigarette breaks with the techies. I did have a the odd extremely bibulous meeting with Saudis in Bahrain and a meeting with a quite important person in the Burj al-Arab where he insisted his 'nieces' serve us coffee and cakes. That place really is over-decorated.

 

[bazzer9461]

Aaahh. Yr Lead Architect must have been vetted, then. I'll bet he was on a good whack. A company I worked for sold commercial voicemail (systems in O2, EE for example) based on tech the US paid them to develop for phone monitoring (e.g. legal intercept in GCHQ). The hackers were all vetted, engineers positive-vetted. Strange world.

Weren't many public decanters in my neck of the woods despite the importance of relationships. Off-site coffee mostly, cigarette breaks with the techies. I did have a the odd extremely bibulous meeting with Saudis in Bahrain and a meeting with a quite important person in the Burj al-Arab where he insisted his 'nieces' serve us coffee and cakes. That place really is over-decorated.

I remember delivering to a building which as far as I was aware was an office block. Went to the underground car park met by a couple of well versed security guards and escorted up the loft after having paid £5 for the privilege of delivering, then it dawned on me we overlooked the SIS MI6 at Vauxhall, don’t know whether it was connected in some way but the security was very tight.

 

[southlondonyellow]

I should be able to make this one, which will be my first home game of the season. My only game so far was Cambridge, so I apologise in advance!

 

[Paul Cannell]

I remember delivering to a building which as far as I was aware was an office block. Went to the underground car park met by a couple of well versed security guards and escorted up the loft after having paid £5 for the privilege of delivering, then it dawned on me we overlooked the SIS MI6 at Vauxhall, don’t know whether it was connected in some way but the security was very tight.

Wouldn't you have saved a fiver by just going to reception like a normal person who's not delivering illegal substances?