Author Archives: Nick Hennegan

Writer and creator of The London Literary Pub Crawl.com. and a few plays. BohemianBritain.com. Event and Theatre Producer. Done quite a bit on the wireless too!

Slater’s Big Bohemian Bike Ride! Part Four!

He makes a start from his chosen charity hub. It doesn’t go well..!

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In today’s other news… I survived the first day of the journey. Barely.

I was going to post a fetching picture of the bike under trees, hiding from one of today’s many rain showers, but it transpires the multi-way adapter I brought is USB-C and this tablet is only USB-3 so I can’t get any photos off the camera SD card until I get an adapter for the adapter.

Alzheimer’s Research UK turned out en masse to mark the start in Cambridge. They gave me a mug of tea and a hat, asked lots of questions, then assembled to cheer me on my way and were lovely.

Officially, my departure was at 1pm – the moment captured on video. Four times 🙂 Almost as soon as I was round the corner, it started to rain so I hid in an entrance until it passed so the real departure was totally unobserved, from a multi-storey carpark at 1:23pm

Somehow it took me 52 miles to ride a 40-mile journey. And I took 7 hours to do it, which is appallingly slow. At 30 miles my legs started to object, at 35 miles it hurt and I couldn’t ride up hills. Not even shallow ones. Serves me right for being cocky about the whole thing. Oddly, at 40 miles I got some of my mojo back and it got better. A bit. Still hurt. Back, shoulders and hands, too.

Honestly, I could write a whole book about just today but although I have only 17 miles to ride tomorrow, to the ferry, I MUST check-in before 8:15am so I’m going to have to get up at stupid o’clock in case I find I can only do slow.

Manana.

Day 1. No photo and no long bedtime story. But special mention for Tom and Helen who provided parking within 5 miles of AR UK when other plans fell through. We haven’t seen each other for decades and tonight I’m staying at Essex Uni, in Colchester, where Tom and I met, back in 1365.

Oh, and donations rose substantially today. £1,643 now. Momentum continues!

Oh look, I’ve made a picture. Me under me new titfer.

You can donate to John’s Charity Fund here…

Mad Man Cycling… Part Three!

John Slater’s newsletter on his crazy, bohemian cycle-ride… from Birmingham Uk to Asia!

I’ve given the bike new Schwalbe tyres, Shimano pedals (one of the old ones was broken) and a good washing. It’s likely to have its photo taken on Thursday. It’s never going to look its best again, much like myself, but it’s not too embarrassing now.
I just realised I’ve had it for 10 years. I bought it on 30th July 2012 and three days later set off from Birmingham to Edinburgh. My first multi-day bike ride. Took me a week.
It had a new Brookes B17 saddle a couple of years ago so I reckon the new parts and accessories have now cost more than the new bike.

A quick update 2/11/22

Photo by Lobna Mahmoud on Pexels.com

Summary:

I had an email asking me to do some of the quick updates I used to do a while ago. So they return here with touring news – and I’m blown away by The London Library. VIDEO TO FOLLOW!

— Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bohemianbritain/message

‘Trouble in the House’: Virginia Woolf and Ellen Wilkinson write the House of Commons

The Senate House Library is worth a trip in itself!

literarylondonrg's avatarLiterary London Reading Group

Dr Clara Jones (KCL) will be leading conversation in our upcoming reading group. It will be taking place in person at Senate House, London – Room 35, Ground Floor on the 8th November 2022 6:00pm – 7:15pm. All are welcome to join.

Abstract

This talk considers two pieces of writing about the House of Commons published in 1932 – Virginia Woolf’s article forGood Housekeepingmagazine, ‘This is the House of Commons’ and Ellen Wilkinson’s, thriller,The Division Bell Mystery. One fiction and the other a piece of creative non-fiction, both have much to tell us about this tumultuous moment in parliamentary politics. The proximity of these pieces to the 1928 Equal Representation Act and the fact both are written by women mean it is tempting to focus on the gender politics of their representations of Westminster. This certainly comes into it but what I want to do…

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MUSIC FROM THE EDINBURGH FRINGE Festival – PART TWO!

Summary:

Nick Hennegan presents unique music from some of the new musicals he attended at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 – including a new folk musical – Prejudice and Pride – the new classic The Choir Of Man – and the new ballet, Hamlet, starring Sir Ian McKellen.

— Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bohemianbritain/message

Mad Man Cycling… Episode Two!

The second episode of John Slater’s slightly mad charity odyssey from Birmingham, England to Istanbul… on a cheap, no-lycra, bike!

Well, the start of my journey is planned now. The Grand Depart will be around midday on Thursday, from the HQ of Alzheimer’s Research UK, a few miles outside Cambridge.

From there, I’ll be riding about 40 miles to the campus of my old uni, in Colchester. They let student rooms cheap(ish) and it’s for the sake of nostalgia as much as anything. I’ll have to get up early on Friday because I’ll be boarding a Stena Line ferry at Harwich. It’s a 9am sailing which means I have to check in by 8am and there’s 17 miles to cycle before I can do that. Cycling from 6am. This really isn’t a holiday!

I’ve just realised I don’t know if the arrival time of 5:15pm in Hook of Holland (Near Rotterdam) is UK or Central European time; European I hope. Whatever, by the end of Friday afternoon, I should have tyres on mainland European tarmac. Fingers crossed.

My First time on the radio, I think, in about 30 years, being interviewed on Midlothian’s Black Diamond FM about my forthcoming solo bike ride to Asia. The mid-morning presenter is Geoff Ruderham whom I’ve not seen for over 40 years when we both worked at Edinburgh Playhouse. Also in the conversation was Bernie Carranza. She’s the Scottish fundraising manager for Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Geoff does like his studio dark. So did I, but not that dark, and I never worked in a studio with computer monitors. Mine had turntables and tape machines.

Can you support John? https://justgiving.com/fundraising/TheRideOfOurLives

Mad Man Cycling… Part One!

The first episode of John Slater’s slightly mad odyssey from Birmingham, England to Istanbul… on a cheap, no-lycra, bike!

I’m currently at home in Birmingham, following the end of work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. There’s a few things I have to do before I can disappear for a while. I have a plan to do the start on Wednesday or Thursday but I need to talk to some people who aren’t contactable at weekends. If that works out, I’ll be cycling to Harwich before boarding a ferry to the Hook of Holland. Hopefully, there will be confirmed news on Monday.

I’m getting very squeaky about this whole thing now. It’s been seven years since I did something like this. Now I’m seven years older. As it gets close I’m starting to think… what the hell am I doing? I can’t announce the start plan yet but I can say it will need 40 miles on the first day, then get up early to set off at 6am to ride 20 miles on the second day, possibly followed by 50 miles later in the day. I’ve done no training and I’ve no idea how hard that might be. Seven years ago, through France and into Spain, my average was 45 or 50 miles a day. My work keeps me fit to a degree. It has kept me knackered recently. So… we’ll see. I’d love to say I’m not bothered, but I am.

Over £700 raised and I haven’t even cleaned the bike and pumped up the tyres yet. Wow.

In other news, about time, a plan for at least the first few days, possibly the first few weeks of the journey is starting to circle my head, like a flock of seagulls spotting someone with a bag of chips.

I thought I’d set off with nobody watching, but I have an idea for a grand depart. However, that depends on the ferry route and on Alzheimer’s Research UK. I have some questions to ask.

Then there’s the possibility of a side visit right at the start, to visit my niece who lives in Amsterdam — the world capital of cycling, whatever Katie Melua has to say on the matter. But I have to talk to Paula, the niece in question.

If I pitch up in Amsterdam, I’m tending towards following the Rhine south to around Heidelberg then cutting across to the Danube and following it east to Vienna. The alternative is to cut straight across Germany, which would be shorter but hillier. Oooh, what to do.

If this is sounding all very exotic, trust me, it seems just as unlikely to me. I’m open to input. Any thoughts? Anywhere you think I should visit?

Blimey! £700 already, plus gift aid. I’ve got to actually do this in a couple of weeks time. Aaaargh.

Mad Man Walking! (Well, cycling actually!)

So you get to 60+ish years old and what do you do? Go Gardening? Retire and watch daytime TV? Start a jolly new Jigsaw hobby? Or get fit? Gentle wandering walks in the park. Sedentary Swimming or Cycling?

But if you DO take up cycling, what you probably DON’T do is decide to cycle from Birmingham, England… to ISTANBUL, ffs! On a cheap, no Lycra, budget, bone-shaker bike!

Unless your name is John Slater, of course. Now, I’ve known John (he prefers being called Slater) for around 40 years from when we were both young bucks on THE commercial radio station for Birmingham — BRMB — now FREE radio.

I was in Programming and Slater was in Engineering (where the brainy people in radio work!) but it didn’t stop us from eventually becoming good pals and boozing buddies. And some years later, when I started the Maverick Theatre Company and needed some technical assistance, John came to help me out for two days. He ended up ’helping out’ for nearly five years! He learned new theatre skills and now does great things with production companies all over the world. Maverick can’t afford him anymore, but being Slater he, of course always helps out if and when he can.

And that’s another reason why this bike thang is so mad! There was a time a few years ago when we were in our 30s and both cycled to see the brilliant theatre director John Adams in Alvechurch, Warwickshire. It was about 5 miles and John hadn’t had his (cheap) bike for long. I’d only had mine for a few months (50 quid from Halfords, Kings Heath) And neither of us is ‘sporty’ but Slater was slower and more wobbly than even I was! To the point where I became a bit concerned about him!

AND NOW HE’S CYCLING TO ISTANBUL!

Crazy madman!

Having said that, although a dour techie Scot, once you get to know him, you realise he has a very good heart. So I’m going to cover his mad odyssey here. Come back for updates. And here’s what he wrote on social media about WHY he’s being so mad. Ya gotta love this really…

Mad John Slater with cheap bike!

“I’ve done some longish bike rides but nothing on this scale. I’m a grumpy old git heading from the UK to the edge of the continent, to Asia, to Istanbul — on a cheap bicycle — for Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Friends think I’m nuts but my dad was taken by vascular dementia and, when my mother died last November after years with Alzheimer’s, I knew I had to do something to aid the research. Major breakthroughs aren’t far off. Help them make a difference!

I’ve put my own life on hold for a few months to see what I can do. Please join me vicariously on the adventure. Do whatever you can to help the fundraising, spread the word and follow the ups and downs of the ride of my life, your life, our lives…

And to quote Geldof… Give us yer fekkin money…

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/therideofourlives

And please pray the weather’s not as crap as it might be. Thank you!

Whatever happens, it’s going to be a hell of a ride.”

What a stupid, brilliant, mad, idiot. A bit like Geldof was with Live Aid! So amen to that Jonnie!

Come back here soon for more on the ride!