A diamond duck

Dear David

I am one of Jim's friends from the Crescent Theatre and I have a wonderful email in my inbox that Jim sent me that I'd like to share on the blog with his many friends.

We met during Nicholas Nickleby and, as we both lived in Harborne, we shared a great few months after the show drinking and eating with a newly formed group of friends. It was Jim who recommended his favourite Indian restaurant to me (the Hewali on the Hagley Road) which soon became my favourite and Jim's favourite dish (chicken tikka dry fry) is also now one of my staples!

I have fond memories of sitting in the bar of the Crescent Theatre smoking and teasing each other - I made him swap lighters with me on one occasion because I said his pink one was too feminine for him - and the occasion when he gave me his coat because it was raining outside but we still both wanted a crafty puff! The time we all drove across to a party in Sutton Coldfield and we got hideously lost - I was driving and he was navigating and I laughed so much at his dreadful directions that I don't know how we all made it there in one piece.

Here's the excerpt from his email which for me, sums him up and how I will remember him. I'm devastated that he has passed without me being able to tell him just how much he meant to me. He was the quintessential perfect gentleman. Kind, thoughtful, tall and handsome with a merciless sense of humour which we all found infectious.

"had an appalling match - was not only out first ball for the first time ever, but also because I was opening up the innings, it was the first ball of play overall. A diamond duck. A new low.

I was then umpiring, and had to make a LBW decision against the senior partner of the firm - the ultimate boss-man. And he was out. For sure. My finger was shaking even as I raised it, but it was absolutely plum. Never has an umpire wished more to call on the third umpire and the benefit of slow-motion...

Btw, I have intellectual property rights in the phrase "butter your cultural muffin" - any unauthorised use and I'll have the boys in pinstripe round armed with more quia timet injunctions than you can shake a stick at."

Best wishes,
Jo Baker

Posted on behalf of Jo Baker