Fun from Fry, a ferret and a former florist...
Kelly Stapleton and ferret
A friend recommended that I take a peep at Stephen Fry’s autobiography, The Fry Chronicles.
To be precise, at page 152 in my friend’s paperback edition.
Stephen is writing at that point about his Cambridge University days, and an approaching Edinburgh Fringe season.
And Dunstable gets a namecheck, shout-out, mention or whatever you like to call it.
He writes: “A friend called Oscar Moore had written a piece whose title I forget, but but which had darkly funny things to say about Dunstable.”
Oo-er. Dunstable also pops up in Stephen Fry’s Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music, as told to Tim Lihoreau.
Key players in the book include John Dunstable, whose name is thought to be a derivation of John of Dunstable.
He was one of the most famous composers in the 15th century.
Thanks for the memories, Mr Fry, they’re Quite Interesting.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when our photographer Jane Russell showed me a picture she took at the Dunstable Town Fayre.
She snapped a shot of a woman walking a four-legged friend on a lead.
What’s so unusual about that, I hear you ask.
Well, it wasn’t a dog... it was a ferret.
Kelly Stapleton, from Kensworth, and furry friend Dexter, you really made my day.
I thought I’d share the picture with you.
Couldn’t find it at first, then I managed to ferret it out...
I told you the other week about an Australian who’d asked the Dunstable and District Local History Society for information about old Chade razors.
The safety razor collector had picked up a Chade razor from an antiques shop.
But the only reference that the collector could find about Chade just talked about the Chade Razor Blade Co, which was once in High Street South, Dunstable.
Rita Swift, of the society, now tells me that more information has turned up – about the Chade Razor Co,
Apparently, the company came to Dunstable in 1946 and two years later was taken over by the Ever-Ready Razor Co.
In 1954 the company was moved from Dunstable to Glasgow.
She says: “We now have one very happy Australian!”
Our friend Down Under must be delighted that more information came to light.
But it was a close shave...
It was lovely to hear about retired florist Olive Ashley’s very special birthday.
You remember Miss Ashley, who lives in Dunstable – we featured her last week when she reached the grand age of 106.
Her sister Nellie is 103. Wow. With more than 100 birthdays each behind them, I wonder what on Earth you could find to give them for a present!
I’m also curious about whether Miss Ashley is the oldest lady in Dunstable.
Taking that thought a little further, is she the oldest person in town?
If you think you can answer that, do email me or drop me a line – our postal address is on page 2. Or talk to me on Twitter, by direct messaging me on @Dunstable_Anne.
A study out the other day said most people now think middle age begins in your mid-50s.
That’s spot on, judging by Miss Ashley.
I laughed at the advice that she gave a couple of years ago about how to live to a great age.
She was only a sprightly 104 at the time.
What did she say: “Just keep going...”
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Weather for Luton
Sunday 19 May 2013
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Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
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Wind direction: North
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