A year ago I wrote a post about Maidenhead, in which I mentioned that there was a club called ‘Hungaria River Club’ in the Bridge Gardens next to the Maidenhead bridge. I wondered then and have been wondering since why that establishment was called ‘Hungaria’ and whether it had any connections with my country, Hungary. Well, my Hungarian guests who visited us beginning of May triggered my new investigation and I am happy to say, I think I resolved the mystery.

Hungarian restaurants in London

The story begins in London where – to my greatest surprise – two Hungarian restaurants existed before the Second World War, meaning that the ‘Gay Hussar’ which opened in 1953 and sadly closed in 2018 was not the first ever Hungarian restaurant in the British capitol. These two were the ‘Hungarian Csarda’ at 77 Dean Street and the ‘Hungaria’ in Lower Regent Street. Unfortunately, I do not know anything about the Hungarian Csarda other than ‘it was still be able to serve goulash during the war in-spite of the paprika shortage, albeit the paprika was a bit pale.’ About the ‘Hungaria’ however, I managed to find out quite a lot and it has quite a fascinating story.

The key figure: Joseph Vecci

Joseph Vecchi was a key figure in the Hungaria’s history. He was born in a small village close to Bologna, Italy and he had a big dream: he wanted to become a restaurant or hotel manager. He started his career in Nice and started at the very bottom, meaning he washed glasses and peeled potatoes. After a few months, he started to climb the ladder and became a Commis de Rang. The big opportunity presented itself in 1906 when Vecchi took a position at Claridge’s in London where his hard work paid off and within six months he became a Floor Waiter. Do not forget, entertaining and serving was still highly regarded as these employees dealt with royals, aristocrats and famous artist and politicians. In 1910, it seemed as if half of the world had visited London and that was because of the funeral of King Edward VII and a year later the coronation of King George V. Count and Countess Károlyi (Hungarian politician) also stayed at Claridges. Interestingly, the best hotels and restaurants were managed by Italians those days. So was Claridges, it was run by Monsieur Branchini who became Vecchi’s mentor.

Vecchi continued his career in Berlin at the Kaiserhof Hotel which used to be favoured by Kaiser William II. If nothing else, he could learn the German precision from first hand, but Vecchi thought the German politeness was based on lineage and the tone of voice in which a princess was addressed varied from the one in which a baroness would be spoken to.

From Berlin Vecchi went to St Petersburg to work at the Hotel Astoria’s French restaurant. Do not forget, these were still tsarian years in Russia when everything was still different and Russia was as popular among aristocracy as France or Italy. I would not like to go deep into the years he spent thereand later in Kiev, although that would be worth it as well. Instead, let’s take a leap forward in time.

The Hungaria in London

He returned to London on 15th February 1920, most of his fortune lost and soon after he was approached by a wealthy cotton manufacturer, Mr Henry Chanok whether he was interested in opening a Hungarian restaurant in London. The commission came from the Hungarian Government. Now you could ask the question why on earth would the Hungarian Government want to open a restaurant in London. The answer is simpler than we think: in 1918-1921, right after the Great War the Hungarian Government was keen to reduce Russian and German influence and build stronger relationships with England and Italy. Possibly, the idea of the ‘Hungaria’ was part of this strategy.

The Hungarian Government was to pay the rent of the premises, the equipment, decoration, furniture, linen and plates on condition the restaurant paid for the carpeting, kitchen equipment and installation, but more importantly, the restaurant had to buy wine from the Hungarian State Wine Cellars. The restaurant was not allowed to sell French or German wine with the exception of French champagne and they could serve English drinks. The negotiations lasted quite long, until 1928.

The restaurant was designed by a Hungarian architect, Mihály Dengler who apparently had a bad command of English and on top of that he was stubborn and as a result it was difficult to agree on arrangements. Vecchi went to Budapest to select the wine and he went to Budafok where he also chose Tokayers from the best vintage years: 1866, 1875 and 1889 from which His Majesty King George V ordered 2 bottles of the year 1889. One thing was still to be done: engage a Hungarian musician. Vecchi knew exactly who he wanted, somebody who he had met in Russia before: Jancsi Rigó. (A traditional cube-shaped chocolate sponge cake with chocolate cream was named after the musician and the cake is equalli called Rigó Jancsi.) He managed to find him and Rigó agreed to go to London.

The opening

The invitations were sent out by the diplomat Baron Iván Rubidó-Zichy and the Hungaria was opened on 8th October 1928. Among the guests were artists, the crème de la crème of London, featuring with Lord and Lady Londonderry and the famous Hungarian singer, Sári Petráss whose performance  was followed by a tremendous applause. (Sári Petráss had a miserable death two years later when she was driven in a locked car in Ostend. The driver missed the pier and the car fell into the water and sank.)

The Hungaria was a success.

Perhaps because it was so different to the other restaurants in London and well known for its bohemian atmosphere. How much it could keep its Hungarian nature, I am not too sure and it appears to be rather a Russian restaurant due to Vecchi’s passion for Russian food and Russia. He even arranged a Russian New Year’s party (13th January) in 1933 where 80 percent of the guests were Russians. But it was not only Russian dishes served at the Hungaria: spaghetti was a favourite by many, such as the councillor of the Hungarian Embassy, László Bárdossy.

Besides Russians, the Prince of Wales was a big fan of the Hungaria and had many parties held there, the Duke and Duchess of York were also frequent visitors. On one occasion the famous tenor, Richard Tauber and the Hungarian composer, Ferenc Lehár dined at the Hungaria. When Rigó started to play Tauber’s favourite tune (You Are My Heart’s Delight), Tauber sang the song and the applause broke out like a storm when he finished.

A new, American phenomenon: the roadhouse

So the restaurant was doing well, yet the weekends were quiet. Guests spent their weekends either by the sea or by the river. At the end of the 1920s and in the 1930s America’s influence on British culture was immense and it was triggered mainly by Hollywood films. At the end of the twenties the so called roadhouse appeared in England as well, which were built by main roads just like in America. The phenomenon had its widest appeal in between 1933-1937. As motorcars were spread more and more and people became more mobile, they were happy to take drives in the countryside and get a break from the City. The roadhouse offered entertainment in luxury surroundings: it had a bar, dance floors, live music, swimming pool, restaurant and often offered some sort of gambling. The forerunner of the roadhouse in Britain was the river club. Based on the success of the Hungaria, Vecchi and his patrons decided to open the Hungaria River Club in Maidenhead.

The English version: the River Club

The Hungaria River Club was not the first club in town: the Murray’s River Club opened in 1913 and was famous for its illuminated glass dance floors and the cocaine… Oh yes, the Bright Young Things were quite self-destructive and this elite group had an extensive drug use.

The Hungaria River Club failed

As the Murray’s was located at the same spot as the Hungaria River Club and a short film from 1933 shows the latter with illuminated glass dancefloor, I presume, Vecchi took over the management of the Murray’s and he called it Hungaria River Club. (Reputedly, the owner of the Murray’s, Jack May from New York was some sort of a gangster and drug-dealer and was removed from the nightlife scene in 1930. Maybe this is when Vecchi stepped in.) The Hungaria River Club had an outdoor swimming pool and the indoor dancefloor looked like a mock-parisian street.

The Prince of Wales had several parties at the Hungaria River Club as well and it was a brilliant advert for the place. It appeared the river club would be a success as well, but it was not and in the end it failed. Perhaps it was too far out from London, or the trouble was it was opened right before the Great Depression.

The Hungaria was adjusted to the needs during the war

While the river club didn’t make it, the restaurant in London was still doing extremely well even during the Second World War. The restaurant was moved to the Grillroom which had thick concrete walls and as such it naturally became an air raid shelter. The steel doors were gas-proof as well as bomb- and splinter-proof which secured up to 800 hours stay without suffocating. Vecchi offered his guests to stay for the night if they did not want to risk a dangerous journey home. The offer went down very well and Vecchi could have filled the Hungaria five times over each night.

~

The Hungaria came under new management in 1943 and I do not know anything about the years after, unfortunately. One thing is for sure: my heart was filled with warmth and pride as I was reading the story of the Hungaria. It is still unbelievable that Maidenhead has relations to Hungary one way or the other. I guess, from now onwards, I will always think of the Hungaria River Club and the Hungaria, whenever I pass by the Bridge Gardens…

Although I have already been to a concert and to a classical music concert in London, I must admit, I only managed to go to the theatre now. We saw two, short comedies at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London last Saturday, which was quite interesting, so I thought to share it.

Choosing the right play!

Bill was looking for the right play for hours and he was not in an easy position to be honest, as I do not like musicals. Now London being London, is of course full of musicals and it might not be easy to find a good play. Helping him, I suggested checking if one of my favourite actors was playing on stage this season, as my first choice was Davit Suchet (Poirot). I feel extremely lucky as David Suchet is performing on stage this September and October, so we booked the tickets and counted down the days to the event.

We had absolutely no idea what these plays were going to be about, but we thought they would be OK as David Suchet would not play in something he considered to not be good. I deliberately did not look up what the stories were about, this time I simply put up with the information found on the website, which said these were two comedies that were very successful in the 1960s.

The Harold Pinter Theatre

The Harold Pinter Theatre was built in 1881 within 6 months only, apparently. It was opened as the Royal Comedy Theatre. It still looks very Victorian with the horse-shoe shaped balconies, the gold and blue interior design and detailed decoration. An interesting and a quirky solution: when you walk in, you are actually on the dress circle which in normal theatres would be on the first floor.

Just to put this theatre into perspective, it is sort of in the middle in terms of capacity with its nearly 800 seats and it is classified as a theatre with plays and NOT musicals. (Oh, yes!) I was intrigued how many theatres there are in London and I was amazed when I found out that there are 38 theatres in the West End only! Outside of the West End I found another 119 theatres, which is an unbelievable number (however, looking at the number of theatres in Budapest we are not doing bad, either, I have to say). Apparently, there are commercial and non-commercial theatres in London, the latter stage drama and classical plays (Royal National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Barbican Centre etc.) which is what I would prefer.

Some interesting facts:

• Longest running musical on the West End: Les Misérables
• Most popular theatre genre: Musicals
• Longest non-musical play in the world: Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap which has been performed since 1952.

Differences between the Hungarian and English theatre

I appreciate, for an English person the things I found unusual at the theatre in London are normal just like Bill said that he did not expect anything else. Obviously, being a foreigner for me these differences were quite strange and new.

01. Dress Code (or rather non-existing dress-code)

You could say that having been to one theatre in London can not be representative, but I have a funny feeling even if I went to another 10 theatres in London, that would not make any difference and I would have the same or very similar experience. The feeling I had, is that going to the theatre in London is not the same as going to the theatre in Budapest, or even in Hungary, I would say. Of course it does not have to be, yet I was somewhat surprised… Although I am pretty sure the situation has changed a lot at home since my childhood and even since 2014 when I think was the last time I went to the theatre in Budapest, but I would think people still dress up nicely. Maybe it is not a sin anymore wearing jeans in the theatre (unlike in my childhood when it was!), yet everybody tries to wear something elegant, or at least smart casual.

Well, London itself is quite diverse, why would the dress code at London theatres be any different? To be fair, I did not have a clue what to put on and what to expect at the theatre, but in the end, I could not, be not me, so I put a dress on (OK, not a cocktail dress or a gown, just a simple dress) and tried to look elegant and civilised and respectful towards the actors. “It is always better to look elegant than dressed-down“, I thought. As for the shoes, I wore ballerinas, but carried my heels in a bag so that I could change them at the theatre. Well, I did not need to… 🙂 When we arrived to the theatre, the audience were dressed in the most unusual and different clothes I have ever seen, for theatre goers. I must admit, I didn’t really understand how some of these attires were let into the theatre… You could see people wearing strappy, hiking sandals (barefoot), shorts with Doc Marten boots, mini skirts with over-knee boots… At this point, having felt completely overdressed anyway, I thought there was no point changing to my heels…

Of course, you can say it is great that theatres are that liberal and you can wear whatever you want and all that matters is you feeling comfortable, but I don’t know… If young women (and even older) can dress up nicely for a night in the pub, why can’t they do the same for the theatre….?

02. Food and Drinks

The other thing which I am struggling to understand, is the consumption of food and drink during the performance. I will never forget how exciting it was at theatres in my childhood, when we had a fairy cake and a drink in the buffet during the break and the adults would have some champagne or a coffee and we had to finish our refreshment when the bell rang. Then we went back to our seats and enjoyed the rest of the play. In London (or let’s say in this theatre) people sat in their seats with a glass of champagne, a plastic glass of beer and ice cream in tub. Ouch… Please, help, I don’t understand… !

03. Applause

Perhaps it is already known by Hungarians that the strong, loud, rhythmical, synchronised clapping that we call “iron applause“ is not known in Western Europe. Fine! I have to say, I was quite surprised, when at the end of the performance the actors bowed, then ran off stage and came on stage again and bowed once more, but then that was it! During the second bow you could hear some “Bravos“ coming from the audience, but soon after this the lights were put on, everybody in the audience stood up quickly and left the theatre. So did the actors. They disappeared. The stage was left there, not even the curtains were pulled. “Is that it?“, I asked myself the question. I am used to actors coming on stage one by one, then together several times during the applause. It was not the case here. Two bows and that was it.

Let’s get down to business: David Suchet on stage!

For me, the perfect Poirot is the one performed by David Suchet. I appreciate some might prefer Peter Ustinov or others, for me David Suchet IS Poirot. I love the fact he read every Agatha Christie’s novel, he made notes about Poirot’s character, observed the little Belgian man and paid attention to details to create Poirot. He IS Poirot and even he admits in his book, he loves the character, even if it can be disadvantageous as the audience often associate the artist with that character only and are disappointed seeing the actor in other roles. Well, I have seen David Suchet in the films “Gulag” and “Moses”, a biblical film and I loved his performance in both, so I was not too worried that I might be disappointed because I expected Poirot to appear on stage.

In the first play (Harold Pinter: The Lover) there were only two actors and neither of them were David Suchet, so we started to worry a little bit that we might have misunderstood something and he will not play in these comedies. Thankfully it was not the case. I had to strain my eyes a little bit at the beginning of the second play to recognise David Suchet (the wig puzzled me a little bit), but because of his distinctive, curved eyebrows and voice, there was no doubt: David Suchet was on stage! Wow, I saw David Suchet on stage in London! Yes, it is a big thing, because he does not play in theatres every year, the last time he did was in 2015, and he is not getting any younger either unfortunately, so the sooner you see him on stage the better – before it gets too late.

He was brilliant in his role, Harry (in Harold Pinter’s The Collection), a gay man in his forties living in Belgravia. He was articulate, spoke beautiful English and I could understand every single word. What I liked the most was his mimic. It was good to see David Suchet on stage and in a different character. I could not be happier and wish for more.

~

All in all the theatre was great in-spite of the odd English customs. I think, I have to apply the “When in Rome, do as the Romans do“ saying and everything will be even better. Therefore, next time when we are going to see “Les Misérables” at the Queens Theatre in London, I may wear jeans with ankle boots and have a hot-dog during the performance… 🙂

Piccadilly

You may know Piccadilly from maps, travel books or from films. It is one of London’s widest and straightest streets where such famous buildings stand like Fortnum & Mason, Hotel Ritz or the Burlington Arcade. At the end of the street is the Piccadilly Circus built in 1819 to connect Piccadilly with Regent Street.

No, it is not Eros on the top

The famous fountain was erected in 1893 to commemorate Lord Shaftsbury’s philantropic works. (He campaigned to improve of life and environment of the psychiatric houses – previously known as sanatoriums, to ban child labour etc.) . The statue’s title is The Angel of Christian Charity and is meant to be Anteros, Eros’ brother.

Have you ever wondered….?

Is that another strange English name perhaps? When we walked along Piccadilly last summer, I was wondering about the origin of this name and looked it up.

This part of London was bought buy a tailor called Robert Baker who sold piccadills and made his fortune from that. Piccadills were large cut-work lace collars which were fashionable in the 16th and 17th century. Not to be confused with a ruff. Baker built several buildings on Piccadilly, one for himself called the Pikcadilly Hall. In 1663 the street was named after the wife of Charles II, Portugal Street but by 1680 it was called Piccadilly again.

So what is Piccalilli then?

No, it is not a mistake in pronouncing Piccadilly. 🙂 It is an English pickles which of course does not have English origin at all, it comes from Asia, probably from India. It came to England in the middle of the 18th century and it consists of cauliflower, onions, gurkins in mustard and turmeric. Of course ingredients may vary: you may find carrots or red peppers in it, too. I remember when I first tried piccalilli, I had no idea what it was. We were travelling and I wanted to order something light at the airport. I can not recall what dish exactly it was, but probably an omelette, or something with piccalilli. As I had no idea what it was, I asked Bill who explained with pleasure. It did not sound too exciting for me to be honest. I tried it and was not keen on it, so it is probably not something I would buy and you would find in our pantry. However, never say never…

It was end of May when several news sites wrote about the closure of the legendary Hungarian restaurant in London, the Gay Hussar. We have wanted to have lunch there for nearly 2 years, but we never managed, however the fact it was going to close gave us enough motivation to book a table, saying now or never. Being a Hungarian I felt it was sort of a duty to at least try this old, historic Hungarian restaurant in Soho.

Getting there

We were looking forward to this experience a lot, not only because every time we go to London I take the opportunity to make photos for new topics presented on the blog, but we were genuinely interested in the Gay Hussar. Even the weather pleased us: it was 20C plus and the sun did come out before noon. As we booked the table for half twelve, we had plenty of time to walk around the city. We walked up to the Gay Hussar from the Victoria Embankment through the China Town and Soho. I have never been to these places before and although I have been to various districts of London, I have never seen such a vibrant, bohemian and pleasant atmosphere. Theater after theater, artisan food bars, restaurants of different nations. So this is the area where the famous Gay Hussar is, which got its name from an operetta by Imre Kalman, that was first played in London in 1909.

We got to the restaurant by quarter past twelve but its doors were shut. We hoped it would be open on time, they should do as we had a reservation at 12:30. We went back after a few minutes and we found a gentleman dressed in suit waiting for the restaurant to open. As we chatted with this gentleman, the doors of the Gay Hussar opened and we were welcome by a middle-aged gentleman wearing a grey suit and glasses. He was very polite and after having found us on the reservation sheet, he showed us our table which happened to be right next to the door. It was a tiny table for 2 but and we did not mind its location as we had a perfect view of the entire restaurant. Mind you, the entire restaurant was a smallish room which surprised me a bit. The layout reminded me of restaurant in Paris, meaning benches along the walls and chairs opposite.

First impressions by a Hungarian

The ambience of the restaurant was rather special and unique due to the many caricatures of famous people (I guess mainly politicians), the vintage lamps and half light. It made me see how this place was heaving with politicians and journalist back in time. The salt and pepper shakers on the table decorated with the famous Kalocsa pattern, the red chilies, the Hungarian flag and coat of arms, and the bottles above the mirror (Zwack Unicum, Fütyülős pálinka, Agárdi Cherry Liquor and William Pear) gave you a touch of Hungary without being too much. There were two gentlemen in the restaurant looking after guests and both had a distinctive Eastern-European accents. I tried to guess whether either, or perhaps both of them were Hungarians, but as they talked in English to each other it became obvious both of them had different nationalities. Not that it mattered too much, I was just interested. My guess would have been the main waiter because his pronunciation of some of the dishes of the menu such as “csirkepaprikás” or “dobos torta” were rather excellent, not to mention the word “fantasztikus”.

Having said menu…

I found the menu quite good, actually as it contained the most famous Hungarian dishes that a foreigner should try, or that you would find on the dinner table at weekends in Hungary. Although I got unused to Hungarian cooking in the past few years and to be honest I do not really miss them, I was pleased to have the opportunity to have something I have not had for a long time. I chose mushrooms fried in breadcrumbs with sauce Tartar for a starter, Bill ordered goose liver paté. For the main I ordered chicken in creamy paprika sauce with dumplings and Bill had crispy roast duck with purple cabbage and onion potato mash.

Although at the start, it was only us and the gentleman dressed in suit in the restaurant, we got the starters very quickly. The mushrooms were crispy and hot just as they should be and the sauce Tartar was home made which was really nice. Bill too, was satisfied with the goose liver paté. As we finished our starters, the place was filled up with guests, which was really good to see. Whether this was because it was Saturday lunch time, or because people wanted to try the restaurant before its final closure, I do not know. However, one thing was clearly visible: the Gay Hussar was not the choice of the younger generation. We heard the main waiter talking to one of the guests saying they still had some loyal regular guests.

Very good quality

I have to say (without being biased), I was impressed with the quality of the food and was looking forward to the mains, which I thought would be served with a delay because of the new guests, but I was wrong and it was served quickly again. It was delicious and hot. I mentioned to Bill a couple of times how good the food was and I would be happy to have this quality in Budapest. (There are probably some restaurants in Budapest with the same quality, maybe it is just me being unlucky.) There is another aspect as to why I am pleased the quality was as good as it was: during my career I have seen a few times how the work moral changed once an announcement was made about restructuring, outsourcing or closure. In the Gay Hussar it does not seem to be the case and it is nice to see they keep up the quality until the end – even if I do not have other experience to compare it with, but the quality we had, spoke for itself.

Caring staff

As we were eating, suddenly somebody shouted in the street and you could hear sounds of a drum and from one minute to another there was a demonstration in the street passing the doors of the Gay Hussar which – because of the nice weather – were open. The main waiter went to the door in a milisecond and shut the grill first then the doors. The guests were watching his action closely when he turned around and asked: “Do you want them in?”. We all laughed and I loved the fact he did care about the guests. He appeared to be of the old-school along with the other waiter: they were polite, attentive and funny. As it turned out he was Polish and the other waiter was Bulgarian. Apparently, some staff in the kitchen are from Hungary, as well as some of the waiters who had a day off.

Time to look back on history…

We only had to wait for ordering the desserts which was understandable, as by that time the rest of the guests had their mains served and ordered wine which kept the waiters busy. We did not mind because we could think about the history of the place. I tried to imagine how it was when the founder, Victor Sassie (who had Swiss and Welsh origin) learnt the industry in Hungary in the 30s by Gundel (famous Hungarian restaurateur), how it was when he opened the Gay Hussar in 1953, how it was when he went back to the socialist Budapest with 3 of his chefs for 6 months in 1966 for further training and most importantly, how it was when the Gay Hussar was heaving with politicians in the 70s and 80s. Apparently, journalists of Private Eye (satirical magazine) went to the Gay Hussar to listen to the gossip of the politicians in the restaurant. I could well understand that, as I could perfectly follow the conversation of the 2 couples sitting at the table in front of us whether I wanted or not. One of the ladies was of Hungarian descent, but lived all her life in the UK. She can speak Hungarian, however speaks it very rarely and is not fluent. She has gluten intolerance and could recommend a typically Hungarian dish to the other lady, however to my mind everything was typically Hungarian on the menu. All in all, I am not surprised journalists did not really have to sharpen their ears back in time…

I am not sure this is how Gundel would have served the pancake…

If anything I was sure about, it was my dessert. I wanted Gundel pancake. Gundel pancake which is still one of my favourite Hungarian dessert and which my Mum used to cook beautifully and I have not had it for years. This was the only dish that did not meet the expectations. It was nice, but it could have been better. I would not have served it on a piece of slate to start with as the walnut filling was dropping down by the edges plus the Gundel pancake has to be soaking in chocolate sauce. This one had a few drops on top which is not enough.

Lunch habits are changing

While Bill was having his tea, we were talking about the changed lunch habits of today’s generation. They often go to a franchise restaurant, or grab something form the fast-food restaurants, or in a better case from an artisan food shop which are really trendy these days. They could equally pop in to a restaurant like the Gay Hussar and have proper, hot meals (instead of burgers and chips for instance). Prices are not higher than the average franchise restaurants like Miller & Carter or Frankie & Benny’s.

Before we left, I looked around upstairs and I was amazed that even in the stairs they had caricatures that reminded me of the “Uborka” (Cucumber) which was a Hungarian puppet show caricature of politicians. I was surprised there was an extra event room on the first floor, but I did not dare going up to the second floor.

~

All in all we had a lovely time and meal at the Gay Hussar, which represents good quality Hungarian food. This is why it is such a shame it will be closed soon. Although we did hear the main waiter saying there were different funds being raised to save the restaurant, somehow I have the feeling this time it cannot be saved, although they would deserve it. I wish them all the best – sometimes changes are needed in spite of the old history and traditions. Maybe this is what the Gay Hussar needs… Time will tell. So that was our first and perhaps last lunch at the famous Hungarian restaurant in London.

PS: Before you started to make some thoughts about my food intake, let me say I could not finish my main and we walked 15 km in London afterwards. 🙂

I have been thinking a lot, how and what to write about the concert of one of the most iconic British Bands from the 80s, having seen them for the first time on stage. I did not want to write a biased report, or an article that contains a bunch of information that are obvious for fans either. It is not easy, therefore I decided to simply start to write and let it be, what it may be.

Just before we left…

Our departure to the O2 Arena which is in Greenwich, London was scheduled for 3pm. We were just about to leave when someone knocked on the door. It was a young volunteer raising funds for the Alzheimer and Dementia Group. We explained we were going to a concert so not the best timing. “Oh really? What concert are you going to?”, he asked kindly. “Depeche Mode”, I replied. He had absolutely no idea who they were. “Enjoy the Silence, Personal Jesus, Everything Counts, It’s No Good”, I said listing some of the greatest hits, but he kept on waving his head whilst he was smiling. Interesting, I thought to myself. I have always thought more people liked DM in abroad, however, the British do not seem to understand or appreciate their music. Yet, I hoped the name of the band would ring a bell. Apparently, it does not. (Inspite of that, he got the money.)

The O2 Arena

Back to the departure and the O2 Arena. There are obviously thousands or millions of people who have been to this establishment, but for me this evening was the first time and maybe the last one as well. Whilst the concert was flawless, the Arena was a nightmare. There are some interesting details available on Wikipedia about the O2 Arena, such as having 12 poles according to the number of the months, being 52 meters high like the number of the weeks in a year, or the diameter being 366 meter just like number of days in a year. It is also interesting that the plastic sheet roof is 1mm thick only and the acoustic is very good because it was built in a way that there is no echo unlike in many other stadiums. An impressive achievement of the O2 Arena is that it was the busiest venue in the world with more than 1,5 million sold tickets, leaving Madison Square Garden in New York behind.

The entry to the stadium was well organized, although everybody had to go through a detector gate. It was fascinating to see the arena with its roof and the city that is built around it: pubs, restaurants, cinemas. “hm… this is where the big tennis tournaments are held as well…”, I thought, but my excitement was soon over once I saw the seating area. It is very steep, the stairs were sticky, no non-slip strip on them. When we reached our row I turned around and looked down and my heart stopped beating. I do not understand… Where is the famous Health and Safety keenness of the English? To my mind the place is dangerous and you can easily fall over by bumping into the back of the seats in front of you which stick 20cm out of the floor and there is nothing that would protect you from falling. The seats were quite narrow. Although I have lost weight since I have been living in the UK the seat was just about right for me to fit in, but somebody with a slightly bigger size of bottom would have struggled. The worst is yet to come… I was waiting for the air conditioning to be switched on, but nothing happened, neither during the guest band’s performance, nor during the concert or it was switched on but nothing could be felt up there. I was sweating but more importantly struggling to get some fresh air which really did not help my headache to go away.

That’s all about the arena and this is to see that nothing is gold that shines (or a more English version of the saying, all that glitters is not gold) and next time there is a broadcast on TV from the O2 Arena, I would not be envious of the audience.

The guest band played with their backs to the audience (is it a new, trendy thing…? no idea…) which I did not understand just like their songs as could not understand a word of what they were singing. All I could hear was they were from Basingstoke. Maybe…

At last DM is on stage

My pain was eased by Depeche Mode who were fantastic on stage and showed a huge contrast to the guest band. Everything they did was professional. Alright, alright, I know… they have been doing this for the last 37 years… But still. Dave was a real showman and ran up and down the stage effortlessly and although some of his moves reminded me of Freddie Mercury, he was the good old cheeky little boy and sex-god at the same time, called Dave Gahan. I would not have thought these boys in their fifties would do the whole concert without breaks, but they did it. In the second half of the concert they played mainly old songs, which made the audience stand up and dance. Everybody stood up. Even the people in their 60s. No wonder they came to the concert as well – they were young during the Thatcher-period when DM was really in. It was good to see the band attracts old and young. And then there was the moment… The moment when Dave started to wave his hands during Never Let Me Down Again, just like he did at Pasadena, California in 1989 at the 101 Tour in front of 72 thousand people. There are probably lot of fans who have had this experience, but for me this was the first time to wave my hands, and God I waved them with a smile on my face as it reminded me of that little girl who watched the concert film and wondered how it could feel like being part of this collective wave. By the way, this is (Never Let Me Down Again) the most played song on concerts (899), Enjoy The Silence and Personal Jesus take the second rank (807) and Walking in My Shoes is the fourth (719).

“London, you are the best!”

When Dave shouted “London, you are the best” I was proud although I am not a Londoner, let alone not British. But for them London was home despite Martin and Dave living in the US. Their roots are here in the neighbourhood, in Basildon, and even the distinctive Sussex accents is still there, although Dave has a bit of American now (“dawg” vs “dog”). As Andy Fletcher said, it seemed to take ages to get to London those days (50km) and today it takes only 35 minutes by train which run every 15 minutes. I do not wish to praise the band or their music any further as there are plenty of articles available about that and everybody has a different experience, I think. I would not have minded though if the big display had worked but it did not… No idea why.

At the end of the concert the masses were led out of the stadium in a very organized way. No wonder British always organize everything pretty well. I was not disappointed about the concert (I would go to their concert again, anytime it is worth traveling 3 hours ) and the organization, but the arena was a complete disaster.

Summing up…

When the following day my manager asked me how the concert was I said fantastic but the arena was a nightmare. Then he said

I know, the O2 is crap, horrible. The Wembley Arena is much better.

~

PS: Conclusions: 1) I am not the only one being critical regarding the O2 Arena, others think the same. 2) The English do like DM. All tickets were sold out within a few hours in July.

Does this sentence ring a bell? Yes, it was Miss Poppy who used to say it with enthusiasm in the series “You rang, M’lord?”, whenever the Kit-Kat Club was the solution for their aristocratic boredom. I was interested, whether this club exist or was a fictional club.

To my greatest surprise the original, or the first real Kit-Kat club had a different function than the one in the series and was established way earlier than the 1920s. The club used to be a political and literary club in the early 18th century and was committed to whig objectives (Whigs were against absolute monarchy). It held its meetings in London and in Water Oakley in Berkshire. The first meetings were held at a Tavern in Shire Lane, run by innkeeper Christopher Catt. Catt called his mutton-pies Kit-Cats, hence the name of the club. The club became famous with members like the architect Sir John Vanburgh, the Duke of Somerset or Sir Robert Walpoe (the first unofficial prime minister of Great-Britain.)

But what does it have to do with a night club in London in the 1920s? Apart from the name, nothing, really. The club Miss Poppy loved to visit, did exist. The Roaring Twenties were marked with the wealth of factory owners and their young families, whose products were needed and used during the war. For the young growing up, this decade brought out the wealthy bohemian aristocrats and new rich generally called as “The Bright Young Things”. They did their best to party as much as they could, because this generation was too young to fight in the Great War and felt guilty for not having fought and survived, or they just simply wanted to enjoy life, we do not know.

After the Great War, in 1921 the rules of serving alcohol were finally changed and drinks could be served until 1 o’clock in the morning, as long as it was served with a meal. As a result, night clubs and jazz clubs flourished.

The Kit-Kat club opened in the Haymarket Street, West End, London, in 1925 and became the centre of London’s night life. According to many, it was Europe’s most luxurious and expensive night club, attracting princes, ministers and of course London’s aristocracy as members. Its seated capacity was 1700 and the number of the members grew rapidly reaching 6000.

The club itself was 2 levels below the entrance level: this is where the ballroom, restaurant, American bar and the dance floor used to be. The balcony was a favorite meeting place for professionals, where the dress code did not apply. The ballroom was rectangular with high ceilings and lobbies. The colours of the interior design were ivory, gold and turquoise. The giant columns which were royal blue and gold and the lights of the dance floor were constantly changing: bright lilies, blue and orange light were illuminated from the ceiling. The club opened at ten o’clock in the evening, but the real party started at half past twelve, when the guests wanted to have fun after visiting the theater. At midnight, guests were entertained by singers, dancers and acrobats. I can see it with my eyes… it must have been similar to the world of the Great Gatsby… I can see the crowd, people dancing, glasses full of champagne chinking together, Charleston played by the band…

In December 1926, the club was closed for three months and fined because liqueurs were served outside of opening hours. There was no consistency in the club’s management and there was a fight going on for the manager position. In May 1927, it was announced that the club re-open as a restaurant, and finally in October, the Kit-Kat Club really opened with a new sparkling program. In the years to follow, the club was proud of many performers and artists and offered a variety of entertainment to its members. Despite all efforts the club’s financial situation deteriorated and it was closed in 1931. The Kit-Kat Club had been one of the most popular entertainment venues. Replacing the Kit-Kat Club was the Trocadero, simply called “Troc” which was popular in the West End, and the most expensive club was “The Embassy”, however they never managed to surpass the decadence of the Kit-Kat Club during it heyday.