Three famous faces at the Phoenix

By Daphne Chamberlain
Look out for events at the Phoenix. Last month, a favourite book brought Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to the cinema. The week before, famous local poet Fleur Adcock introduced her favourite film, while first in to bat in September had been “Blowers”, alias cricket commentator and wit Henry Blofeld, “my dear old things”.

The Blowers event was a screening of one of his recorded talks, giving glimpses of his eccentric family, his roundabout way into commentating via the City, and his gift for mimicry. He signed copies of the video afterwards.

Fleur’s happy few
“As you get older, your perfectly ordinary life turns into history,” Fleur Adcock reflected after reading some of her poems, most with the emphasis on East Finchley. The film she selected to be shown was Shakespeare at his most accessible, Laurence Olivier’s excellent Henry V, chosen for nostalgic reasons. She had seen it three times as a child, in England, Ireland and New Zealand, and had delivered the St Crispin speech many times from the family’s kitchen table.

Almunia’s choice
And finally, “fresh from keeping a clean sheet against Blackburn”, and with his sweaty shirt to award to one lucky ticket-holder, came Manuel Almunia.

A question and answer session before the film of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas revealed a footballer with a passionate interest in history, particularly relating to World War Two. He had not seen the film before, but his wife had bought him the book two years ago, and he recommended it for children to learn about mistakes the human race has made, and to remember not to make the same mistakes again.

The young boy next to me had his hands over his face as the story neared its terrible climax. This extremely powerful and very sad film made a tremendous impact on the audience.

Almunia was at the Phoenix to support Arsenal’s Premier League Reading Stars programme, an educational project in partnership with the Football Foundation, the National Literacy Trust, the Premier League and the Arts Council England, which aims to encourage families to read together.

The Archer

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