Danny Lane revisited

And so to Danny's studio once again. As predicted Charles just loved it, especially the 'junk yard' out the back! And Danny is just such a wonderfully easy-going guy with a great sense of humour and hugely inventive. John and Patrick arrived and we got set up - Danny working on some glass on a large table, Patrick wanders in, Danny takes his coat, puts it on a large hook, pushes a knob and the jacket miraculously disappears to the ceiling. With Danny you're never quite sure what's going to happen next! The pair of them started working together on the table whilst Danny recalled Burghlefield days. Patrick paint's Graham's 'window'
It was then that a young stereotyped Australian (only he was named Graham and not Bruce which was a shame) walked in from the road and asked if anyone knew anything about glass. Well there we were surrounded by the stuff, so it sounded a pretty dumb question. We all had a bit of a laugh with him and Patrick painted on the little sample double glazed window he was clutching. He wanted to know why and what we were filming so we explained that Patrick was a VERY FAMOUS man, had he heard of Coventry Cathedral, Paddy's Tent etc etc. Of course he hadn't. I was convinced that this was another of Danny's games and he'd set the whole thing up - but Graham was 'for real' amazingly enough. Off Graham went.
Back Graham came 3 minutes later - 'Oi've rung moy mate and he hasn't heard of you!' Great, thanks Graham. Off he went.
5 minutes later he was back again. 'Oi've rung moy woif Sheilah and she's looked you up on the web and you did a picture of Dame Edna!' He was WELL impressed!
Somehow we managed to get back into the mood of the interrupted interview and brought it to a successful and picturesque conclusion with Danny flame throwing.
And then a miracle of sorts happened - Danny's wife Fiona had set up tables on the pavement and said tables were laden with BBQd chicken, loads of salads, dips, crisps, bread, wine - an absolute feast! So all of us, including Danny's staff, sat in the sunshine in the middle of an industrial estate in north London enjoying a Mediterranean type feast. I though it was just glorious. Forget about Heston Blooming whatsit or precious Raymond Blanc - this was living! In the afternoon we interviewed Danny alone - which worked very well. Somehow joint interviews involving Patrick don't work particularly well, he either goes mute (as with deMarco) or the other person is inhibited. Danny the Magician