The Catch-Derek Malcom,Harold Pinter & Salmon Rushdie
Matt Thacker of Wisden’s ‘Nighwatchman’ asked Nomads CC if we had a high resolution version of the above photograph as they wee doing piece on Harold Pinter’s The Catch. We put him in touch with Matthew Burton former Nomads and currently Chairman of Gaieties Cc and he wrote thus-‘
Delighted to hear you’re doing a piece on THE CATCH. An obscure showbiz factoid is that I performed THE CATCH with Harold at its premiere (at the Savile Club, i think). I take it you’re in touch with Alan Wilkinson.
That photo of Harold, Ossie Gooding (Gaieties CC’s Bajan quickie, he who bowled the ball that led to THE CATCH), and Salman Rushdie in the garden at 52 Campden Hill Square was taken (I believe) by Antonia Fraser. Presumably she is in possession of the negative. The version i have of the photo is pitifully lo-res. Not sure what you can do to improve on it other than write hopefully to Lady A.
The occasion of the photo was lunch prior to the Harold Pinter XI annual game against The Guardian who were skippered by the recently deceased Derek Malcom (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/23/derek-malcolm-obituary-letter). This happened during the Rushdie Fatwa (1989?) so Salman was accompanied everywhere by two armed Special Branch. They attended the lunch and must have assumed their afternoon would involve lounging in deckchairs on the boundary in Gunnersbury Park with Salman safely next to them. But mid-way through the afternoon a Guardian fielder was suddenly injured and obliged to leave the field. The cry went up for a substitute fielder. Salman Rushdie leaped to his feet, volunteering with all the enthusiasm of a cricket-mad eleven year-old. As he ran out into the outfield the two powerless Special Branch realised there was an inter-mosque rival match on the next pitch involving twenty-two fiery young Muslims. They spent a very anxious hour hoping that Salman wasn’t spotted.
I’ve never seen any photos of the Savile Club premiere, which took place as part of a drinks party to celebrate publication of THE CATCH. I do have this photo of Harold and Alan taken at Shipton-Under-Wychwood CC (also very lo-res).’
The piece from The Guardian concerning Derek Malcolm was written by former regular Nomad Clyde Jeavons also Former Curator, National Film and Television Archive (BFI) and more recently a dedicated Bushmen and ‘poetic’ skipper of Surrey Over 70s 2nd XI still playing in his 80s.
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