The pleasure and perils of cycling

Lockdown is well and truly behind me now as I engage again with the world. I cycle to my office in Fitzrovia through semi-deserted streets feeling as if I am one of a few survivors following an apocalypse.

For those who do not cycle, I highly recommend it. Boris bikes were a brilliant introduction to London by our once Mayor, now PM, which he and I have discussed many a time. Cycling through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park is an absolute delight.

Film and television production ground to a halt during Covid. So terrestrial and streamed TV have been resorting more and more to repeated programming. I highly recommend on Netflix a wonderful movie, The American President, starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening, from 1995, about a widowed US president and a lobbyist who fall in love.

In this movie there is a scene when the President comes down the Grand White House staircase for the Presidential Entrance March, accompanied by his “date’”. It reminds me of 1999, when I was a guest of President Bill Clinton at a fund-raising event for the Ford Theatre in Washington, where my then discovery Charlotte Church, aged 13, performed. We enjoyed private tea in the Blue Room, discussing the then new European currency. President Clinton was mesmerising. He looked me in the eye, touched my shoulder and arm, asking a direct question, making me feel the most special person in the room.

A few years later I met him again at a private reception before the JNF centenary dinner at Alexandra Palace, for 1,500 people. His opening words to me were: “Good to see you again, Jonathan”. To which I responded “You are good”. With a wink and smile he shot back with: “No. My people are good”.

My good friend Simon Cowell breaking his back riding an electric bike is a reminder that any sport can be dangerous. Many years ago I had brunch at Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica with Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, who discovered and signed such artists as U2, Bob Marley and Grace Jones. To burn up calories following buttermilk blueberry pancakes, I roller-skated to Venice Beach. I still have the scar on my knee to this day from my tumble en route.

My Hollywood friendship with Chris lasted about two weeks. It included the most inspiring dinner on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, with David Geffen, who co-founded Geffen Records and Dreamworks. The words David said have always stuck in my mind: “I intend to be me. Whatever that is.”

For one week recently my office was at the eye of a storm as my business partner and music manager extraordinaire, Alistair Goldsmith, along with Marc Fineman, oversaw 700 signatories calling for love, not hate in music; denouncing the hateful antisemitic rants of a well-known grime artist. I saw at first hand the initial reluctance of a few prominent individuals to embrace their call. Happily, by the end of the week, they were beating down the door to be part of this incredible initiative.

I spoke with Tim Davie, the new director-general of the BBC, shortly after the death of George Floyd. We spoke about Black Lives Matter and the importance, which we all recognise, of change that must come. Having this one-on-one with Tim, I knew I would have been failing the Jewish community if I did not raise the issue of BBC bias over the Middle East. Back in January Israel accused the BBC of “belittling the Holocaust”. It goes without saying that Tim did not accept these criticisms. He does know I will be calling him direct if I feel things have not changed and are repeated. I have known Tim for many years. His being chosen to lead the BBC is a great moment. I am confident that under his leadership we will have a fair director-general who will listen to us and act accordingly if the need arises.

You may remember that I mentioned ChickenShed, the all inclusive theatre company, in my last column. Our chair of trustees, Tony Gibbon, scolded me for not shouting from the rooftops loudly enough. I make no apologies for doing so again, since it is a wonderful and inspirational organisation which has been a core part of my life since 1993 when, with the late Diana, Princess of Wales, I first saw them perform.

ChickenShed is world class and recognised as so around the world. Last Friday was the world premiere screening of David Walliam’s The Midnight Gang on YouTube, performed by ChickenShed, which David so generously allowed royalty free.

In these desperate times we need to raise £500,000 to go forward and survive. Please go to ChickenShed’s website and donate, or call me.

 

Professor Jonathan Shalit OBE is chairman of The InterTalent Rights Group