Inside the July Issue: Editor's Note p. 1)  They Say It's Your Birthday p. 2)  The Britcom World Mourns the Loss of a True Great p. 3)  Tea News Bits p. 4)  Interview with Bob Larbey, writer of As Time Goes By p. 5)  An Evening with Prunella Scales and Timothy West p. 6)  Tea With Jane Austen p. 7)  Tea Advisor p. 8)  Mystery of the Month p. 9)  England's Calendar of Events: July p. 10)  Recipes: Flip-Flop Cake p. 11)  Afternoon Teaisms     Printer-friendly Version

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Editor's Note

Happy 4th of July! We all send our best wishes for a festive, safe celebration with friends and family. For those of you with loved ones in the military serving our country, we send our heart-felt thank you for the sacrifices they make for all of us.

We know all of you are still saddened by the loss of John Inman so we are giving you another article about him written by The Insider. There are a few photos included that we think you will enjoy.

In this edition of the Tea Times, we also offer an interview with Bob Larbey, the writer of As Time Goes By (we know you can never get enough of this all time favorite!), among other programs.

Heather Sanderson supplies us with another article about British "royalty." She tells us about her evening with Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Heather, I think we are all getting a little jealous here!

Do you want to make something fun for your holiday party? This month we supply a recipe for Flip-Flop Cake! It's easy and certainly fun, and we think it would be an extraordinary addition to your cook out menu.

The Tea Times Newsletter Staff

1 

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Do you share a birthday with any of these people?

July 1, 1961 - Diana, Princess of Wales

July 6, 1747 - John Paul Jones, Father of the U.S. Navy

July 20, 1938 - Diana Rigg, actress

July 21, 1948 - Cat Stevens, singer, songwriter

2 

John Inman | 1935 - 2007

The Britcom World Mourns the Loss of a True Great

John Inman, who passed away in a London hospital this past March at age 71, belonged to an era of comedy which shunned satire for broad slapstick and sexual innuendo. But any criticism of Mr. Humphries, the camp, sharp-tongued sales assistant in Are You Being Served? was overwhelmed by public popularity.

Inman won BBC TV personality of the year in 1976 and was voted funniest man on television by TV Times readers. The show attracted up to 22 million viewers and his shrill "I'm free!" hardly faded from the public's imagination.

Frederick John Inman was born on 28 June, 1935, in Preston, Lancashire. At the age of 13 he appeared at the South Pier in Blackpool and he went on to make hundreds of stage and screen appearances.

Inman's West End debut was in the musical Ann Veronica at the Cambridge Theatre, followed by a stint as Lord Fancourt Babberley in Charley's Aunt at the Adelphi Theatre. But he also performed in more than 40 pantomimes and was one of the country's best-loved pantomime dames.

Are You Being Served? began life as part of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse strand. But disruption to the 1972 Munich Olympics meant it was moved to fill gaps in the prime time schedule.

He stayed for its entire 13-year run, alongside Wendy Richard, who went on to play Pauline Fowler in EastEnders, as well as Molly Sugden, Frank Thornton and Trevor Bannister.

Seven years after the final episode, five of the characters returned for a sequel, Grace and Favour (called Are You Being Served? Again! in the U.S.), in which they tried to run an old house as a hotel.

Inman also appeared in ITV's Odd Man Out as Neville Sutcliffe, the owner of a Blackpool fish and chip shop who inherited his father's factory, but the show only ran for seven episodes in 1977.

He next starred alongside Rula Lenska as a male secretary in Take a Letter, Mr. Jones for six episodes in 1981.

More recently, he returned to the BBC for Revolver, a 2004 sketch show in which he played an antiques-shop owner who got carried away when explaining the history of objects for sale.

At the end of that year Inman, who suffered from hepatitis type A, cancelled the opening of a London pantomime because of the disease.

In December 2005 he and his partner of 35 years, Ron Lynch, took part in a civil partnership ceremony at London's Westminster Register Office.

Editor: John, you will be missed. When you were called home, I have every confidence you responded, "I'm free!"

The Insider, May 2007

3 

Tea News Bits

Programming not to miss

Don't miss A Capitol Fourth on the evening of July 4th at 8:00 p.m., repeating at 9:30 p.m. Enjoy the symphony and fireworks at our nation's Capitol from the comfort of your home!

What a great time at the Antiques Roadshow

Host Mark Wahlberg Photo credit: Anne Gummerson Chesapeake Home Magazine

Saturday, June 16 was a long day for many of us but all will say they had a fantastic time while the Antiques Roadshow was in town! We don't have final numbers but it was anticipated that 5,000 to 6,000 people attended, bringing along 10,000 to 12,000 items for appraisal. A total of 20,000 people applied for tickets but only 3,400 people were selected via a lottery drawing and each received 2 tickets to the event.

There is so much energy surrounding this event. The cameras are rolling for those lucky enough to be invited to the "table" for the surprise they receive when they hear the appraised value of their item, the media comes and goes, and just being able to see all the vastly different items that are in tow is amazing.

Even though there are many, many people who have waited in line to finally get to the set, everyone is smiling and happy to be part of this event. Kudos to WGBH for their coordination of such a massive undertaking!

Antiques Roadshow will produce 3 one hour programs just from Baltimore. They new season for them begins in January so we will tell you when to tune in to watch your home town.

A special hello to the couple that said they enjoy the BritComs and read the Tea Times!

20,000 in attendance at Stonehenge for Summer Solstice

The June 20 Summer Solstice attracted 20,000 people to watch the sign rise on the longest day of the year.

The rocks are remnants of the last in a sequence of circular monuments built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. and align directly with the rising of the sun on the longest day of the year. Some experts believe the monument was built by members of a sun-worshipping culture. Others say it aligns with the sunrise because it forms part of a huge astronomical calendar.

Titanic model built on beer cans

Sinking ships and superglue have replaced beer and wine as the most popular topics of conversation in one Bushey off-license. Mark Diggins, assistant manager at The Local, in Harcourt Road, north-west London, has been gluing and cutting each of the 5,000 painstakingly small pieces of his scale model of the Titanic at the back of the shop.

And after completing the 5ft model of the ship on a stack of beer cans at the back of the shop, Mark is now going to display the finished model on top of a fridge for all his customers to see.

www.thisislocallondon.co.uk

Rabbit calls police to home

Police officers forced entry into a home in a bid to help a woman heard crying only to find it was her rabbit who had called for attention. Operators from a telephone monitoring service connected to the house told Bromley Police they could hear a woman crying and whimpering down the line in Shurlock Drive, Orpington. It was believed the resident was in need of immediate help.

Two officers could not find a way of getting into the flat and no neighbours or relatives could assist them. They demolished both the door and frame and a large part of the surrounding wall and hallway. Once inside, both officers were confronted by a large brown lop-eared Dutch rabbit hopping around the front room and whimpering. The rabbit, named Humphrey, had pulled the cord which telephones the monitoring service while his owner was out shopping at around 1pm on May 27.

www.thisislocallondon.co.uk

PBS and BBC British Comedies

I had the privilege recently to spend some time, on-air, at one of our nation's leading PBS stations doing what I love, talking about British comedies. It has been a while since I have been "in-studio" during those all-important pledge drives that make Britcoms possible on PBS.

For me, it was an important reminder of how important support of our local PBS stations really is in bringing us the comedies we all love. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have been guilty of rolling my eyes when I tuned in to watch my favorite comedy, only to find a program director pitching for dollars.

But it is so much more. This is a dedicated group of people, who work in the non-profit sector, with limited budgets - all so that we can receive quality programming like BBC's British comedy line-up. For every 1,000 sets of rolling eyes, there is one volunteer who trudged to the station to answer phones, eat donated food and stay until the wee hours to ensure funding is available for quality programming on PBS stations across the country.

I had a special night in that I got to talk to this station's viewers about The Insider, co-host the pledge breaks during airing of the final two episodes of The Vicar of Dibley and take questions from those who called in to pledge their support. Lofty? Glamorous? Not even. Moving. Moving to watch a dedicated band of volunteers working hard to preserve what we treasure - the frequent airing of British comedies on America's PBS airwaves.

To all who volunteer their time, and pledge their monetary support for PBS, we salute you.

N. Scott Jones, Editor, The Insider, May 2007

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The Insider Interview with Bob Larbey

A Chat with the Writer of Good Neighbors, As Time Goes By, and Many More
By Garry Berman

Bob Larbey is not a household name, but those who appreciate the finest in British comedy know his work. On his own or with his former partner John Esmonde, Larbey has created and/or written no fewer than 18 sitcoms during his career, dating back to the mid 1960s. His best and most popular series have fortunately been imported to America, and the list is impressive: Good Neighbors (a.k.a. The Good Life in the U.K), A Fine Romance, The Darling Buds of May, Mulberry, and most recently As Time Goes By. He and John Esmonde also created and wrote Man About The House, which became Three's Company here–one of the few examples of a successful American adaptation of a hit Britcom.

Larbey was born in London in 1934. His father loved the theater and aspired to be an actor, but when his children were born he went back to his job as a stage carpenter in order to support his family. He met Esmonde while in school and the pair bonded over a mutual hatred of the menial jobs they found themselves trapped in as well as a similar sense of humor. When Esmonde decided to decrease his workload and move to Spain, Larbey struck out on his own and eventually wrote As Time Goes By.

In an exclusive interview, he speaks with The Insider about his long and illustrious career.

When you sit down to create a series, is there anything in particular you strive to achieve?

I don't think we ever set out with a master plan of what we wanted to write. We just used to think of ideas that we hoped were funny, and hoped that somebody else found them funny. I think a style just naturally evolves, and I think John and I together and me singly tended to concentrate on characters, to make them character comedies as opposed to situation comedies.

I suspect you still get asked about The Good Life more than your other series.

That's absolutely true, yes.

What stands out most in your memory about having done that show?

I think it was a good idea. We started with the premise of somebody reaching his fortieth birthday, in this case the character [Tom Good]. People think of it as one of those milestone ages, the "Oh, God, what have I done with my life? What do I do about it?" That was the premise. Then we added the self-sufficiency, which seemed a good idea. It started slowly–bad reviews and low audiences, and then somewhere in the second series it just took off and flew. And it sort of passed into legend for some reason.

No doubt due to the cast as well as the writing.

Oh, it was a wonderful cast. I think that was a dream cast. Only Richard Briers was known as a comedy actor on television. The others were all fine actors, but mostly on the stage. They'd done television but never sitcoms. So what we got in fact were four leads, including three faces that were new to television comedy viewers, who kept saying, "where did you discover these people?"

The Queen once attended a taping of The Good Life. How did that come about?

I've heard various versions myself. I don't think she wrote in and asked for tickets! I think the BBC felt it would be a good idea for the Queen to actually go to a studio and see a situation comedy recorded. And rumor has it, I don't know whether it's true or not, that The Good Life was her favorite. We were told, panicked, then wrote what was in fact the last-ever episode we recorded.

It was one of two specials we did. We recorded it right at the end of all the others. And the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh came along and sat in the studio, and laughed, and it was wonderful. The episode was called "Anniversary," in which Tom and Barbara's house gets burgled. I remember that evening. I've never seen so many technicians in one studio. I think there were three people for each job!

I don't exaggerate to say that [during the taping of "Anniversary"] people were crying in the studio at the injustice of the Goods being robbed! When we pulled back the curtain and showed that wrecked room, the audience went "Ahh!". Tears all over the place. Nobody was smiling, but it worked extremely well.

You and John Esmonde later collaborated again with Richard Briers for Ever Decreasing Circles.

Yes, we always got on very well with Richard. Apart from being a very good actor, he's a very nice bloke to work with. We had quite a lot in common without ever becoming real close friends. I think we shared quite a lot with Richard. So we did get on well together and that's why we wrote Ever Decreasing Circles. We thought, it's time for another idea for Richard.

How did you and Esmonde write together?

We always wrote together in the same room. I've heard of pairs of writers who do scenes each and then meet up and put them together, but that never appealed to us. We rented a series of disgusting little offices and just used to go to work–sit in the same room, talk a lot, drink a lot of coffee, and ad-lib dialogue. We used to get the story fairly straight first, and then start to ad-lib dialogue. And that was it. Ad-lib it and write it down, and try to remember what you've just been laughing at. That's the hardest part.

About ten years ago, the two of you parted ways. Was it amicable?

It was totally amicable. We were kind of headed in different directions in our personal lives. John had bought a house in Spain, and wanted to cut down on the work and spend more time there–maybe spend six months here and six months in Spain, which was fine by me. At that time, my wife and I were moving house down to the country. We couldn't sell our old house so we got a loan at the bank, which put us into debt. I phoned my agent and said what do I do about this, so she said, "You're a comedy writer, write a comedy." That's what kicked me off my writing alone. Some years afterward John and I just came naturally to the end of our writing together. The last series we tried was a series called Down To Earth, again with Richard Briers [and 'Allo, 'Allo! alumnus Kirsten Cooke]. Unfortunately it didn't work. We didn't write it very well I don't think, so it just ran one series.

One of your early solo projects was adapting The Darling Buds of May for television [starring David Jason], which was very successful.

That was a huge success. I did the first four episodes of that. I adapted two of the books. And, without being mean spirited, I saw some things starting to happen that I didn't particularly want to happen so I quit then. But I did have the advantage of meeting Catherine Zeta-Jones, who played Mariette. I remember the stunned silence as she walked into the rehearsal room!

In the early 1980s, when the "alternative" comedians became popular, did you and writers like yourself become concerned that your style of comedy might have to give way to the more outrageous kind of things that became common on television?

No, I don't think we did. I don't want to sound like Mr. Nice, but I've always thought there's room for just about every kind of comedy. I've laughed at some of the anarchic stuff like The Young Ones just as much as everybody else, and thought yes, it's funny! But I've never regarded it as competition. It's different. Ask the alternative comedians to write the kind of stuff I write and they couldn't. And vice versa. I think there's room for everything as long as a television company like the BBC or any other company doesn't get totally carried away by thinking that one style is now IT, now the word of the day.

There have been so many attempts to take popular British sitcoms and Americanize them here, which usually involves watering down the very aspects that make them so special. One of your series, Man About The House successfully became Three's Company here back in the 70s, but more recent attempts have been fairly disastrous. The supposed American version of One Foot In The Grave, with Bill Cosby, bears no resemblance to the original at all. But the opposite has been true also.

I remember they tried that with The Golden Girls, which was a big hit in the states, but simply didn't work here [as Brighton Belles]. In that case, it was a case of British actresses really saying American scripts, which you can't do, and vice versa. The cadence, the rhythms, it's just naturally all wrong. They didn't sound like British women. I think one or two programs were bought [in America] and then watered down because they were considered a bit too raw or savage. It makes me wonder why American television has actually bothered to buy these shows in the first place!

The most popular program of yours in America at the moment is As Time Goes By. The credits list Colin Bostock-Smith as having conceived the idea for the series. How did it get from his idea to you actually writing each episode?

I knew nothing at all about it until the Theatre of Comedy [production company] asked me if I'd go along and talk about an idea they had. What Colin had done was a synopsis–whether or not they commissioned a script I don't know–but they gave me the synopsis and said see what you think and come back to us. With nothing at all to lose, I told them what I liked about it and what I didn't like about it, and they commissioned a script. I wrote the script, then the series, and it went from there.

Geoffrey Palmer had left the series Executive Stress reportedly because he was getting tired of doing situation comedy. And yet he returned to sitcoms with As Time Goes By.

Geoffrey is a man who has got his life very much in order. He loves fishing, and he doesn't do any work in the fishing season. He doesn't want to do too much. He wants to do what he likes to do. He's very nice about the scripts, but probably most of all he likes working with Judi Dench and the cast–it's a very happy show. It's been an absolute joy. It's the old cliché how everyone gets on, but they really do, and I think he enjoys it.

Since the original premise of the series–the characters of Lionel and Jean "finding" each other again after thirty-eight years–was so compelling, did you personally have any concerns once they decided to stay together that the series might become just another domestic sitcom?

I think I had it in mind that it was a lovely premise, but it was never a premise which in itself was going to last for very long. You can do just so much with two people sort of dancing around each other–and the audience knowing that the outcome was going to be a happy one. I think the reason that I went on was that they were all so good in it and enjoyed it, and I liked the characters that I'd written. It was a happy time, and we said let's go on, let's make it a character comedy.

And you added other facets such as alternating between their home in the city and the one in the country, Lionel's career versus Jean's, so you gave yourself a lot to work with.

I think I had to, to some extent. There are bits in any comedy series that just sort of peter out. Like the bit in Jean's office, the secretarial agency. That featured quite heavily in three or four series, but that was going nowhere just by itself. So I decided to bring Jean out and leave it to the girls. It's not about an office anymore. But we wanted to keep Jenny Funnell in it, who we all love as Sandy.

I'd have to include myself in that!

Yes, it's a long list! She's sweet. And I wanted her in it. But to have her in it as a secretary that you hardly ever saw was never going to work. It's pretty much of a device that they took her under their wing, she's moved in with them, and is now part of the family. People seemed to accept that quite easily.

I would think a lot of people are surprised that, given her enormous success on stage and on the screen, such as winning the Oscar, that Judi Dench still returns to her work on the show. What is her response to people who don't think very highly of sitcoms and ask her why she continues with it considering everything else she's achieved?

I think she likes being on television. Having been in the theatre for much of her life, she's quite tickled by the fact that she's watched by several million people, as opposed to a theatre-full, per evening. We have a good time, it's become sort of like an annual reunion.

The first thing I wrote alone was a series called A Fine Romance, with her and her husband Michael Williams. The producer and I were trying to cast it, and we batted names back and forth, making endless lists with asterisks and question marks, and he said, "In a dream world, who would you like to play it?" And I said Judi Dench, thinking this is a great classical actress, she wouldn't touch a sitcom with a barge pole. He, bless him, said, well let's send her script, she can only send it back. He sent her a script, she phoned him back and said she'd love to do it.

It was quite a breakthrough back then to get an actress of that quality to do a situation comedy. I can't speak for Judi but if you asked her if a sitcom is this little, easy thing to do as opposed to doing a James Bond film or whatever, she would say no. She would say it's very, very difficult to play.

The show has completed eight series. Are there plans for more?

We've all been saying "this must be the last series" for the past four or five years. The BBC want another series, but it's very difficult to get hold of Judi, who wants to do it but is obviously swamped with offers from all sorts of people, as it should be. So it's a question of her finding the proverbial window. If she finds it, we'll do another series.

The Insider, March 2001

5 

An Evening with Prunella Scales and Timothy West
By Heather Sanderson

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip weren't the only "Royals" attracting attention this side of the pond during the merry old month of May. The Royal Shakespeare Company completed its five year association with the Kennedy Center with a splendid production of William Shakespeare's Coriolanus. The play starred actor Timothy West in the role of Menenius. West of course, is a familiar face to MPT viewers having appeared in numerous series, including Henry VIII (Wolsey), Churchill and the Generals (Churchill), and Bleak House (Sir Leicester Dedlock).

Prunella Scales, Heather Sanderson, Timothy West

In real life West is married to actress Prunella Scales, who stars as the shrewish wife Sybil Fawlty on the classic John Cleese comedy Fawlty Towers. The couple were recently guests of the English Speaking Union at a dinner held at Dacor Bacon House in Washington DC. Following dinner, the couple participated in a question and answer session moderated by John Andrews, Head of the ESU's Washington DC chapter.

Scales, who is much prettier in real life than her Sybil character and surprisingly diminutive, with a very soft voice, did a fine job of disguising what must have been a horrible case of jet leg, having just flown in from the U.K. that same afternoon. West looked, and sounded exactly as one would expect - a perfect example of a classically trained British actor.

When asked how audiences in the U.S.are different to those in the U.K., West responded that he felt the American audience seemed to be more appreciative of the language and reacted to the wit of the language.

Both West and Scales commented on the fact that a lot of U.K. actors nowadays tend to feel themselves drawn to film, where "looks are more important than the words you speak" and they both spent some time reminiscing about their days in repertory theatre, when the plays would alternate each night. It was obvious from listening to the couple speak that their true love is theatre, and they both recalled with fondness their time spent traveling the world over performing in live theatre.

Scales' most recent theatrical endeavor has been playing the part of Queen Victoria in her one woman show, An Evening With Queen Victoria. You might also recall that Scales portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the BBC adaptation of Alan Bennett's play A Question of Attribution. Scales originated the role on stage, and became the first actor to portray a reigning monarch in a theatrical production. On being awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by the real Queen, Her Majesty said, "I suppose you think you ought to be doing this." (One has to wonder how Scales felt at being overlooked for the role of Her Majesty in the recent film The Queen.)

As well as enjoying a long and successful career as a stage actor, some of West's best experiences have been in film and television. Bleak House being a particular case in point. He felt it was a "great honor" to have been cast in the show and all the actors involved produced an extra 10% above what they believed they were capable of". West also said that the series was a prime example of good filmmaking in that time was spent on preparation, and care was given to the set, the costumes, the make-up, the long shots, etc. All of which made the actual filming so much easier. For West, preparation is key and he always spends time researching the characters he plays.

When it came time to ask Scales about her role in Fawlty Towers, the audience greeted the mention of her role as Sybil with a round of applause. The actress explained that each show was put together at a frenetic pace, in just a week; with taping taking place in front of a live audience on a Sunday. When asked why the series ended after just twelve episodes, Scales explained that it "was based on a rough time John Cleese had at a hotel in Torquay," and was written in a frenzy by him and his wife Connie Booth, as a way of appeasing their anger. After twelve episodes they felt they had purged themselves and wanted to move on. Despite the many lucrative offers Cleese and Booth were made to write more episodes of Fawlty Towers, they never did. Something Scales feels was extremely admirable.

West pointed out that it was no coincidence that a married couple such as Cleese and Booth would create a masterpiece series like Fawlty Towers. Not only are they both "very intelligent," but in West's opinion, the series starring (make that warring) couple, Basil and Sybil Fawlty, are a prime example of the fact that "the best comedy is based on pairs."

Finally, with the time fast approaching 2am in the UK, this wonderful pair had to wrap up the evening, but not before they had made sure that everyone who wanted to chat personally and take photographs had done so. Including, of course, yours truly!

Related links

6 

Tea With Jane Austen
by Kim Wilson

Tea in the Evening

7 

Tea Advisor

Essential Components of Tea

This is the last installment in which you'll continue to find some of today's most popular herbs, with a brief description of their effects plus instruction on how to brew each one into a tea. (Caution: When brewing herbs that you've gathered, do not use roadside herbs, which may be coated with noxious car exhaust, or herbs that may have been sprayed with pesticide.)

Rosemary – (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a powerful herb that has been a symbol of fidelity, friendship, and remembrance since antiquity. The tea tastes the way the potent herb smells. It is an all-around digestive and is also comforting, especially when you feel a cold coming on. Rosemary is often combined with other herbs into tea blends. Use 1 tablespoon of the fresh leaves or 2 teaspoons dried in 6 to 8 ounces of boiling water. Steep to taste.

Sage – (Salvia officinalis) tea has been used as a digestive aid since Hippocrates' time. Today, people drink the highly aromatic tea to help alleviate the flu-like symptoms of a bad cold. As the name implies, this tea supposedly keeps your brain sharp and your memory quick. Use 1 tablespoon of the fresh leaves or 2 teaspoons dried in 6 to 8 ounces of boiling water. Steep for 5 to 10 minutes or to taste, and serve with lemon.

Thyme – (Thymus vulgaris; T. x citriodorus, lemon thyme) is a culinary herb that enhances the flavor of many savory dishes and is essential to a bouquet garni. Thyme's leaves and flowers also make a pungent, slightly bitter tea that is best enjoyed with honey and is believed to help relieve headaches, sore throats, and irritable bowels. Use 1 tablespoon of the fresh leaves or up to 2 teaspoons dried in 6 to 8 ounces of boiling water. Steep for 5 to 10 minutes or to taste.

The New Tea Book | By Sara Perry

Aspects of Tea Production

During the first half of the nineteenth century there was very little increase in the amount of tea British people consumed. In 1800 the consumption per head was about one and a half pounds a year; in 1850 nearly two pounds. However, it was a time of rapidly increasing population, so total consumption more than doubled. Virtually all this tea came in from China.

The British were a great trading nation, skilled at exchanging the goods they manufactured or traded for the goods they wanted. The Chinese, however, desired very little from the British. They were confident that their own manufactured goods were superior to anything the British might try to sell them. They were only interested in being paid in silver. This was difficult for the British. for it seemed that the export of such huge quantities of silver might debase the British currency. The problem was slightly alleviated by the Chinese desire for cotton. So much Chinese land had been given over to the hugely profitable tea industry that it had been necessary to curtail the production of cotton. India grew cotton, so the East India Company, which of course controlled, India, was able to sell cotton for silver, and then with the silver buy tea. The Chinese need for cotton, however, was nowhere near the British demand for tea.

Fortuitously for the British, and for the East India Company, There was one other commodity that was in increasing demand in China - opium. And opium was produced in India.

Tea | By Roy Moxham

8 

Mystery of the Month

What Is Your Guess?

Case One

On February 9, Joseph celebrates his 30th birthday with friends and family. At noon, he packs up his belongings, boards a plane, and leaves his native land forever. After a five hour flight he gets off the plane - and realizes it's no longer his birthday.

The Mystery
What country did Joseph leave and how many days away is his next birthday?

Clues

• Joseph does not speak English as a native language.
• Joseph reset his watch while en route.
• Joseph traveled between two large countries and flew in an easterly direction.
• Joseph is officially 29 when he lands and will celebrate his 30th birthday a second time.
• Chronologically, Joseph arrived before he left.
• Joseph drove past the Kremlin on his way to the airport.

Case Two

Hughes Bank has just been robbed! Two miles from the bank, Lydia is racing down the highway. She has committed a crime, but three police cars are hot on her trail. Lydia does not pull over - and continues to speed through traffic with the police following her every move.

The Mystery
Where is Lydia heading and what is her profession?

Clues

• Lydia has never been to her destination before.
• Lydia knows about the robbery.
• Lydia will continue at top speed until she reaches her destination.
• Lydia carries a revolver - and won't hesitate to use it.
• The police will tail Lydia all the way to her destination.
• Lydia does not own the car she's driving and is about to become involved in the robbery.

Be sure to check the August 2007 edition of the Tea Times for the answers

Answers to June Mysteries:

Case One: The woman was convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.
Case Two: Julio lives in Washington, DC; Maryland and Virginia are the closest states to his home.

30 Second Mysteries, © University Games

9 

England's Calendar of Events | July

The Fourth of July Picnic Party and Festival

July 4, 2007

Leeds Castle hosts the biggest birthday party in Britain to celebrate American Independence Day. As well as musical entertainment from international and local groups throughout the day, there's a taste of life in 1607, an evening concert featuring Glenn Miller classics and a firework finale.

www.whatsonwhen.com

Tewkesbury Medieval Festival

July 7-8, 2007

The annual Tewkesbury Medieval Festival includes the re-enactment of the battle of Tewkesbury - way back in 1471 - with hosts of armoured participants. Tewkesbury is a very old market town in Gloucestershire with some fine historical monuments, set in some beautiful countryside. Seeing the town in its medieval clothes, so to speak, is well worth your while.

www.whatsonwhen.com

World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkeling Contest

July 7, 2007

Just outside the smallest town in Britain, Llanwrtyd Wells, a group of people with questionable sanity race through a bog on mountain bikes during the World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkeling Championship. A special trench is cut into the bog, six feet deep and 45 yards long, and competitors must complete two lengths of it using snorkels to ensure survival and prevent inhalation of the murky water. Wetsuits are optional (but highly recommended) and the bikes themselves are specially designed with lead in the tubes and water in the tyres to help the riders stay firmly on the bottom.

Speed is of the essence, but a steady pace is advised. Using a low gear and carrying extra weight also helps. Visibility is low to non-existent but riders must aim for a pole at the far end of the trench, manoeuvre round it and make it back to the start as fast as they can.

www.whatsonwhen.com

10 

Are you having a July 4th party? Do you want to impress the crowd with a seasonal dessert? Try this easy recipe to wow them!

Flip-Flop Cake

Ingredients

• 1 10-¾-ounce frozen pound cake, thawed
• ¾ to 1 cup desired-flavor ice cream
• ½ of an 8-ounce carton frozen whipped dessert topping, thawed
• Pull-apart licorice twists
• Bright-color candy wafers and/or round candies
• Graham cracker crumbs (optional)

Directions

1. Halve pound cake horizontally. Using a serrated knife, cut off the rounded top of the cake so each layer will be level. Cut each half into a flip-flop shape*. Place ice cream in a small bowl and stir to soften. Spread softened ice cream over one of the cakes. Top with second cake. Place ice cream-filled cake on a baking sheet. Cover and freeze until firm (2 to 3 hours). Spread with whipped topping.
2. To decorate, cut the ends of two twists at a diagonal. Insert a toothpick on the underside of each twist. Arrange the two twists with the cut ends together to form a V-shape, inserting toothpicks in cake to hold the twists in place as straps. Arrange candy wafers around base of flip-flop to decorate. Cover cake loosely and freeze until serving time. Serve on a platter sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs as sand, if desired. Makes 6 servings.
3. Tip: To cut flip-flop shape, trace the bottom of a child-size flip-flop (needs to be 7 to 7 1/2 inches long) on a piece of paper. Cut out shape. Place paper, clean side down, on a piece of clean cardboard or sturdy paper; trace shape. Cut out shape. Place cardboard shape on top of one cake half and use a small sharp knife to cut around shape and through cake. Repeat with other cake half.
4. Cake for 12: For a larger crowd, double recipe and make a pair of flip-flop cakes.

www.bhg.com

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Afternoon Teaisms

Rhymes and Wits

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