THE beautiful North Yorkshire village of Coxwold is going Hollywood for one night only. It is hosting the world premiere of a new movie, A Cock & Bull Story, in the village hall on Friday, June 17 at 7.30pm.
This is quite a coup. The advanced charity screening comes at least three months before the movie makes its official debut, at the Toronto Film Festival in September - and it may not go on general release until next year.
A Cock & Bull Story is based on Tristram Shandy, the pioneering 18th century novel written by Laurence Sterne while he lived at Shandy Hall, Coxwold.
The cast list reads like a who's who of English comedy talent: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Dylan Moran, Stephen Fry and Gillian Anderson are the stars. Any one of them could turn up to the Coxwold premiere, although Patrick Wildgust is not promising anything.
A Cock & Bull Story is directed by Michael Winterbottom, and is quite a departure from his previous work 9 Songs, the "most sexually explicit film in the history of mainstream British cinema".
Patrick, curator of Shandy Hall, said there are a few tickets still left for the event, price £17.50. All proceeds to the Laurence Sterne Trust. Call (01347) 868465 for details, or email shandyhall@fireflyuk.net.
Attendees are also required to join in the "guess the weight of the bull competition" on the night.
Stephen Fry filmed some scenes for A Cock & Bull Story at Shandy Hall, and Patrick described him as "quite disturbingly charming. He couldn't have been pleasanter".
He also met Irish comic Dylan Moran but Steve Coogan was "preoccupied with his part".
The man who adapted the book is named as the unknown Martin Hardy - "an enigma" whose true identity is set to be revealed later.
SPURRED on by an owner of the many excellent local sandwich emporiums in York, the Diary popped into the new Subway on Pavement the other day.
We didn't partake of any of the fare but took a menu home to peruse. This announces proudly that Subway has "over 21,394 restaurants in 75 countries".
But it was the small print we were interested in. And it is very small print, virtually unreadable.
Where the word "ham*" occurs on the menu, you can trace the asterisk to the bottom of the page and, if you squint, you can just make out the word "*reformed".
"Seafood & Crab*" takes you to this tiny announcement: "*Subway Seafood & Crab is a processed seafood & crab blend".
And Subway's trademark slogan? "Eat Fresh."
FINALLY an appeal. "I would like to try and help a little old lady I met recently," emails Wayne Ivany, of the Cinema Organ Society of Great Britain. "Her father was Arthur George Sherwin, better known I think as Hal Sherwin.
"He was born in 1901 in Lancaster and moved to York in 1927. He was a great friend of Jack Prendergast (father of John Barry, composer) who owned, among others, the Rialto cinema in York, and Hal played the organ on the opening night, November 11, 1935.
"I believe he became the resident organist, but don't know for how long. He also led a band called Hal Sherwin's Seven Symphonics.
"His daughter Margaret is very proud of her dad, but the family separated in 1930 when she was four, and she would really like to know a bit more about him."
If you can help, email Wayne at musicnostalgia@tesco.net
Updated: 11:12 Monday, June 06, 2005
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