As our friend Manuela discovered, Rupert was intending to perform a reading at Carols in the City for the Marie Curie charity on 9 December. This was held at the lovely old Southwark Cathedral, and included a champagne reception afterwards. Joe Stilgoe (from High Society) was also performing.

Unfortunately, however, Rupert was unable to make it due to a new work commitment. We don’t have any details yet on what this new project might be, but it meant Rupert couldn’t be in Southwark on Wednesday night.

I decided I might as well attend anyway, and it was a truly lovely evening. The choir Canticum sang beautifully, Joe Stilgoe was his usual charming self, and everyone performed with great verve. Of particular note was ‘A Personal Story’ from Brian Andrews, about his wife’s death from cancer and the Marie Curie nurse who did so much for them both during Gillian’s last hours.

According to the program, Rupert was due to read the poem ‘Christmas Thank Yous’ by Mick Gowar. It’s a perfect choice for his delightful light ironic delivery, and I’m really sorry we missed out! With all due deference to Mick Gowar, here’s the first verse:

Dear Auntie
Oh, what a nice jumper
I’ve always adored powder blue
and fancy you thinking of
orange and pink
for the stripes
how clever of you

If my Googling doesn’t lead me astray, this poem has been used in an assessment at LAMDA, so that may be where Rupert first performed it.

On one last amusing note, it seems Rupert’s biography in the program was cribbed, in part, from this very website! If you check out our biography page, I’m sure you’ll see what I mean. The program also featured another lovely photo from Ian Philips-McLaren, so it’s all good.