Today is an historic day. This evening, the cast of Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap will be appearing on their West End stage for the 25,000th time. Well of course it’s not the same players that graced the playhouse on that first occasion back in 1952, but hopefully you get my drift. It’s had a continuous run in the West End since that first night on 18th November, sixty seven years ago. Isn’t that astonishing? You wouldn’t think there are enough people on the planet to keep it going that long.
I was one and a half when the curtain first went up on The Mousetrap. Sad to say, I’ve never even been to see it, shame on me. I would like to say that I remember the first night……mmmm. It is amazing what I do remember from a very early age though. I have clear memories of watching the Queen’s coronation as a two year old. We were in my grandfather’s house and I was surrounded by rather stern uncles and aunts with Victorian bearings watching a tiny oval shaped black and white screen in a cabinet in the corner. For the first two and a half years of my life we lived in a third storey flat and I can picture as clear as day sitting in my high chair at the table when a foot came through the ceiling. You can imagine that might make an impression on a two year old. I also remember standing in the entrance lobby with my father suffering from earache with cotton wool in my ear, wearing a sweet little Lord Fontleroy grey overcoat with a black velvet collar. There are other very distinct memories which I won’t go on about, but I think it’s quite unusual. Most people I have asked struggle to remember anything until they’re three or four. The bad news is that I obviously did all my remembering super-young and I now can’t remember my neighbour’s name or what it was Alison (my wife) wanted from the shops.
I’m off to South Africa tomorrow on a three week trip to Johannesburg firstly, then a wonderful golf course called Leopard Creek, overlooking the Kruger National, for the Dunhill Championship and finally on to Mauritius. My writing might become even more erratic than usual but I will endeavour to keep you appraised of the many and varied issues that will undoubtedly arise in that magnificent but troubled country.
Meanwhile I still have no idea what happens in The Mousetrap?
ADayInTheStrifeOf 