A few Bob anecdotes
Scene: a crowded cafe in Newcastle.
Bob looks around the room, waits for me to take a sip of coffee, then says at the top of his voice : “SO CHRIS, IS YOUR BROTHER GAY LIKE YOU?”…
Bob Tear – “sublime and celestial greatness”
A neighbour of ours died last week and his widow asked me to sing something at his memorial next Friday. It’s always very hard to choose something for these occasions and I suggested Britten’s arrangement of “The Salley Gardens”. It’s short, it’s beautiful and it’s ripe with poignancy. The last time I sang it was just over two years ago in the dining hall of King’s College Cambridge, my old alma mater, at a dinner to raise money from fellow Kingsmen. It was a great evening. Philip Ledger accompanied me and amongst the diners were Stephen Cleobury (the College Organist), David Willcocks, and Bob Tear with his wife Hilary. …
Time Waster
Despite having done this singing malarky for over thirty years now, whenever I go to the theatre I still find myself being taken in by the magic of the proscenium. By which I mean, when I see singers or actors (not that the two are mutually exclusive) leave a scene, rather than visualising them going into the wings and back to their dressing rooms I still get taken in. I do actually imagine them going into the street and climbing into a carriage, or strolling in the streets of Montmartre, or in the case of this Billy Budd, being somewhere else in the school.…
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