The Postcard
A postcard that was published by Judges of Hastings. It was posted using a second class stamp on Thursday the 12th. October 1995. It was sent to a recipient who lived in Alexandra Road, Muswell Hill, London N 10.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Thursday pm.
As desired Kate to add
to your collection!
Just been wandering
round the cathedral &
now supping a cuppa.
Cheers,
Peggy."
Celebration of Chester
This 16 ft high bronze sculpture on the left was created by Stephen Broadbent. It was unveiled in Town Hall Square in September 1992.
The sculpture comprises three large figurative shapes, each reflective of an aspect of the city's or citizen's life:
-- Protection evokes the enfolding city walls and the civic responsibility to protect the individual and similarly the individual's responsibility to the community. The figure appropriately looks towards the Town Hall.
-- Industry, with its spiralling form bends towards the ground, suggestive of each person's need to work and be creative, adding to the health and wealth of the city. This figure inclines to the main shopping area.
-- Thanksgiving, effectively protected by the other two figures. It looks toward the cathedral and symbolises the spiritual life of the individual and of the community, and of freedom of expression.
Gary Bond
So what else happened on the day that Peggy posted the card?
Well, the 12th. October 1995 marked the death at the age of 55 in Ealing, London of Gary Bond.
Gary James Bond, who was born on the 7th. February 1940 in Liss, Hampshire, England, was an actor and singer whose professionally active years were from 1963–1994.
Gary is known for originating the role of Joseph in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
He is also recalled for his performances in several high-profile West End plays and musicals, and his portrayal of protagonist John Grant in the Australian film Wake in Fright (1971).
Gary Bond - The Early Years
Bond was the first born child of a family in which the army was the destined career for any family member, with his father and numerous uncles being in the army.
As a result, it was always assumed that he would follow this tradition, and was frequently encouraged by his family to choose this career path. However Bond from a young age had always harboured a love for acting.
He was educated in Churcher's College in Petersfield and later Portsmouth College of Technology. His father died in December 1956 when Bond was aged just 16, and as a result, the young Bond was able to pursue his preferred path without any interference by family members.
After leaving education he moved to Johannesburg, South Africa for a gap year. However, he soon returned to England, after he won a scholarship at London's prestigious Central School of Speech & Drama.
During his three years there, he gained several awards, including the Margaret Rawlings Cup, shared with Angela Morant, and the Elsie Fogerty Prize for the Best Individual Performance by a Man.
Gary Bond's Stage Career
At the age of 23, Bond gained his first acting job, with the Connaught Theatre, Worthing. His debut performance was in a play titled Not in the Book; this was followed by Doctor in the House, where Bond appeared as Dr Simon Sparrow.
In 1962, Gary's breakthrough role was when he played Pip in the Royal Court's production of Arnold Wesker's Chips with Everything, which became one of the theatrical landmarks of the 1960's.
As result of the play's success, he made his Broadway debut when the production transferred the following year in 1963.
In 1968, Bond was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company, where he, relishing the opportunity to appear in classical roles, appeared in numerous productions including Sebastian in Twelfth Night, Sergius in Shaw's Arms and the Man, and No Man's Land.
In 1970, at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, he played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, and the one man show Lord Byron.
In late August 1972, Gary created the role of Joseph in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
Premiering at the Edinburgh International Festival by the Young Vic Theatre Company, it was directed by Frank Dunlop. Gary later joined the London production at the Albery Theatre to great acclaim.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a song for Bond titled "Disillusion Me", which he recorded as a single.
In 1976, Gary joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where he played Hevern in Maxim Gorky's The Zykovs, and Willy Oban in The Iceman Cometh.
He played opposite Ralph Richardson in Alice's Boys, and in Noël Coward's Tonight at Eight, in which he co-starred with Millicent Martin.
Gary also joined seasons at the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Bristol Old Vic, including a production of Old Flames which transferred to the Arts Theatre.
He played Brutus in Julius Caesar, and starred in the world premiere of Jean Anouilh's play Scenario in Canada.
When David Essex planned to leave Rice and Lloyd Webber's musical Evita, they looked for someone to play the part of Che. After being introduced by Lloyd Webber, producer Hal Prince and Bond hit it off famously, and very soon Gary was cast as David Essex's takeover in Evita.
Gary succeeded him as Che Guevara in the 1978 London production, initially opposite Elaine Paige. However, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 2018 memoirs, he recalls that, when performing eight shows a week, playing Evita became a strain for Elaine Paige:
"Help came from Gary Bond. Had
anybody thought of his friend Marti
Webb?
Marti, like Gary, was a veteran of
stacks of West End musicals. They
had both been in a show called On
the Level which, although a flop,
had a cast which spawned a bevy
of West End musical talent."
Bond brought Marti Webb round to Lloyd Webber's flat to sing for him, and by November Bond was cast as Che and his friend Marti was his leading lady.
Over the years, Bond became close friends with both Lloyd Webber and his then-wife Sarah Brightman, and often provided a "lifeline to the goings-on backstage."
In 1993, despite struggling with failing health after being diagnosed HIV positive, he achieved one final triumph in the theatre as George in Aspects of Love, which toured the UK before a short season at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London.
Gary Bond in Films
Although probably best known as a theatrical actor in England, Gary also played a number of roles in feature films. Having made his screen debut in Zulu (1964) as Private Cole, he starred as Mark Smeaton in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and the Australian film Wake in Fright (1971).
Wake in Fright
Although Gary's film output is small, consisting of only three films, Bond is best remembered for appearing in the Australian film Wake in Fright as teacher John Grant.
A film version of Wake in Fright, based on the 1961 novel by Kenneth Cook, was linked with the actor Dirk Bogarde and the director Joseph Losey as early as 1963.
However, Group W purchased the rights, hiring Canadian director Ted Kotcheff to direct the film. Kotcheff asked multiple British actors to play the part of John Grant, and he particularly wanted Michael York.
Eventually however he cast 29-year-old Bond, persuaded by his audition and his strong CV. He later commented that:
"Gary was magnificent, so I hired
him.
I thought he had such a likability
to him that it would make it easy
for audiences to want to follow
him on this terrifying journey."
Anthony Buckley, the film's editor, later said:
"The producers NLT and Group W
pushed him as the 'new Peter O'Toole'.
Bond was affable, likeable and
somewhat shy, but crew members
found him diffident."
Monica Dawkins, the film's make-up artist, remembered that:
"Out of hours he was very nice but
during shooting he kept himself
apart, he wasn't comfortable around
people".
Bond started shooting in January 1970 in the mining town of Broken Hill, New South Wales. He dyed his hair blonde for the part; as a result comparisons were made between him and Peter O'Toole.
The world premiere of Wake in Fright occurred on opening night of the 1971 Cannes Film Festival on the 13th. May. Ted Kotcheff was nominated for a Golden Palm Award. The film opened in France, Great Britain and Australia in 1971, and the United States in 1972.
The film was deemed lost for years, until a copy was rediscovered and, following its restoration, it was screened at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival on the 15th. May 2009 when it was selected as a Cannes Classic title by the head of the department, Martin Scorsese.
Wake in Fright is one of only two films ever to screen twice in the history of the festival. Consequently, Bond's performance was once again praised.
Gary Bond's Television Work
Gary made his professional screen debut in 1963, in a BBC production of War and Peace. Other television roles include Pip in the 1967 television production of Great Expectations, and Antonio in BBC Television's 1972 production of The Duchess of Malfi.
In 1985 Gary starred as John Worthing to Jeremy Clyde's Earnest in The Importance of Being Earnest. He also appeared in Variation on a Theme, as Boswell in The Highland Jaunt, The Linden Tree, Affairs of the Heart, Wings of Song and a recorded version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Bond also had cameo roles in Z-Cars, The Avengers, The Main Chance, Hart to Hart and a major role in “All The Sad Songs” - an episode of Bergerac.
Gary Bond's Personal Life
Within the theatrical profession, Bond was openly gay, and from 1969 to 1976 was the partner of actor Jeremy Brett.
In Garry O'Connor's 2019 biography of Ian McKellen, he mentions that the two were in a relationship early in both of their careers, but it came to an end in 1972 when Bond was about to open in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
In the same biography, a former lover of Bond said that:
"Gary was part of one of the first relatively
out (gay) couples with Jeremy Brett, but
theirs was an on-off liaison which lasted for
years.
Bond was irresistible, with an easy warmth
of manner, wonderful humour and sometimes
a wicked sense of fun.
He was divine, lovely and wonderful in bed."
Agent David Graham mentions in his book Casting About: A Memoir that:
"Had it been within my power to choose, Gary
Bond would have become my life’s companion.
When Chips with Everything was brought to New
York, he was among the original British cast that
came with it.
Ashley-Steiner had been asked by his agent to
represent him, and I was the lucky bloke assigned
to look after him. Young, blond and handsome, he
struck me as the most beautiful man I had ever
seen.
One Saturday afternoon between performances,
Gary came to my apartment for a drink and a snack.
We ended up in bed together and I was completely
smitten. It was only afterwards I learned he was in a
relationship with Jeremy Brett at the time."
From 1979,Gary lived with American artist and illustrator E. J. Taylor, following their initial meeting in Fire Island, New York, later moving to Barnes and then to Ealing, London.
The Death of Gary Bond
Bond died of AIDS-related causes on 12 October 1995 in Ealing Hospital at the age of 55. He had been with his partner E. J. Taylor for 16 years, and he died exactly one month after Jeremy Brett.
Simply Red
Also on that day, the Number One chart hit record in the UK was Fairground by Simply Red.