It was Groucho Marx who was famously and frequently quoted (and misquoted) over the years as saying: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”
Therefore, it stands to reason that he would have declined membership of the exclusively male Garrick Club of London.
Groucho’s view was very different from that of Joanna Lumley.
In 2011 she was so eager to “join the boys” that she persuaded her chum Hugh Bonneville to help her test the waters by nominating her for membership.
The scheme failed; she was stopped at the club steps without even getting as far as the front door.
And now, at long last, her wish has come true. After 193 years as a men only preserve, in response to public pressure the Garrick’s doors are open to women members.
Call me cynical but it is interesting to notice how many male members have recently come out of the club’s very grand woodwork to support the changes.
It is odd that, considering they joined long ago when it was males only and nobody actually forced them to join.
Still, I suppose women who can now be nominated and able to afford the membership must be quivering with pleasure at the prospect of climbing those steps and entering those hallowed doors.
I doubt whether I’ll ever see the inside of the Garrick but there is one other club that Ms Lumley subscribes to which is more in my league.
It’s called Pipe Down, founded in 1992 by the author and environmentalist Nigel Rodgers. Pipe Down campaigns against background music in places such as pubs, shops, restaurants and so on.
The argument is that whatever type of music it is it shouldn’t be forced on people in public places.
I’ve taken my own stand on unwanted noise by not frequenting places where the stuff is unbearably loud and intrusive. My argument is that if chains like Wetherspoons, Aldi, Lidl and John Lewis can succeed, music-free, why can’t more places follow suit?
As if there wasn’t enough of a “musical” menace indoors we suffer it outside. Right here in Norwich we have an uninvited accompaniment to our days, which has got worse over the years.
Lately, it’s not been possible to wander the streets of the city without some un-musical cacophony coming at you from every corner. I do admit that there are a few talented and pleasant buskers but they barely get a look in, drowned out by selfish, under-talented, over-amplified brutes.
I never realised that Norwich buskers didn’t need a licence to play on the streets; they’ve been free to play anywhere for however long and as loudly as they wanted.
I must say I’ve been tempted to challenge over-loud players and singers to switch off the amplification and show us how talented they really are without artificial help.
I’m also tempted to ask if any of these performers have paid for the right to play the compositions of other people. In the theatre each piece of music has to be logged and payment made to the Performing Right Society.
Why shouldn’t songwriters get their fee? It’s bad enough for their music to be slaughtered on the streets let alone not being paid for it.
I do hope that City Hall alters the rules soon, allowing talented performers the chance to entertain us, controlling excessive loudness and the tendency of some street performers, many of whom aren’t local, to bully others off their pitch.
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