Are you aged 18-24 years and looking to get work? –
You may be interested in applying to for a post at the Kennington Cross Flower Stall as a
Customer Services Officer
Funded by the Future Jobs Fund and supported by Lambeth First
Tomorrow’s People we can offer young people a six month fixed term contract at £5.80 per hour, 25 hours per week.
This position is with Kennington Cross Flower Stall,
a social enterprise run by Tomorrow’s People who are a national charity that work and support people to get and keep a job.
Applications for these positions are ongoing until the 5 positions are filled.
Future Jobs Fund posts are open to those aged 18-24 years old who have been claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) for six to twelve months. However if you fall outside of this criteria you could still be eligible for Future Jobs on other grounds.
To find our more about these posts please email flowers@tomorrows-people.co.uk or telephone Jan Tomlinson, on 0208 690 8522
Jonathan Bartley, with his son Samuel, 7, told David Cameron that Tory policy was not representing the needs of disabled children in mainstream education. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
TheGuardian—April 26, 2010 — Ronald Grant film archivist, projectionist and founder of the Cinema Museum in Kennington, London takes Michele Hanson on a tour of movie history through the museum's extraordinary collection and tells her about the campaign to buy the collection's home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-57NhAM-pGA&feature=player_embedded#!
The Northern Line between Morden and Kennington will be out of action this weekend due to upgrade works. Transport for London said a rail replacement bus service would operate between Clapham Common and Morden, calling at Clapham South, Balham, Tooting Bec, Tooting Broadway, Colliers Wood and South Wimbledon.
Passengers are warned journey times could be increased by about 40 minutes.
Underground tickets will be valid on London bus routes.
For runners and officials taking part in the London Marathon on Sunday, free travel is available on the Tube and DLR if you present a race number or pass.
TRAVEL: Maintenance work to disrupt journeys this weekend
9:58am Thursday 22nd April 2010
By James Ranger
PEOPLE travelling in and around London on the tube and train networks this weekend face disruption to their journeys. Bakerloo line
There is no service on the entire line due to Network Rail engineering work on Sunday. District line
Eastbound District and Piccadilly line trains are not stopping at Ealing Common station, this is due to platform improvement work.
Southfields station is closed for improvement work.
Cannon Street station is closed for major refurbishment work every weekend until summer 2012. Jubilee line
Between Waterloo and Stanmore there is no service due to line upgrade work on Saturday.
Please note Metropolitan line trains will stop additionally at Willesden Green to connect with Jubilee line replacement services. Metropolitan line
Between Wembley Park and Uxbridge/Northwood there is no service due to line upgrade work. Northern line
Between Kennington and Morden there is no service due to line upgrade work.
Archway and South Wimbledon stations are closed for improvement work on Sunday from 2200.
Warren Street station is closed for improvement work. Piccadilly line
Eastbound District and Piccadilly line trains are not stopping at Ealing Common station, this is due to platform improvement work. Victoria line
Warren Street station is closed for improvement work. Waterloo & City line
There is no service on the entire line due to drainage work on Saturday. London Overground
Between Gospel Oak and Stratford there is no service until 31 May 2010, while between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction there is no service.
On Sunday, there is no service between Richmond and Gospel Oak, between Gospel Oak and Barking, and between Stonebridge Park and Queen's Park.
Keep checking the Guardian Series website for more travel updates.
The first Sunday morning at 10.45 am Tour du Jour
in the new Summer 2010 London Walks programme will be
Isobel's Princes & Paupers – A "Local" Walk in Kennington.
It'll go at 10.45 am on Sunday, April 25th from KenningtonTube.
A London Walkcosts £8 - or £6 for Super Adults (65+), full-time students, and Discount Walkabout Card holders. Children under 15 go free if accompanied by their parent(s).
Come along to the Friends of Kennington Park AGM for an update on all our
activities to improve your local park, takeout/renew memberships and elect
the committee. It's your chance to have your say about your park so see you
at the Durning Library, 167 Kennington Lane SE11.
**Free refreshments from 7pm, meeting starts at 7.30pm.**
Exam assessments may be delayed at Streatham school due to volcanic ash
3:53pm Monday 19th April 2010
Practical assessments for GCSE and A-level pupils may have to be delayed at a Streatham school because of the air travel disruption caused by volcanic ash from the Icelandic volcanic eruption.
Pupils at Streatham and Clapham High School for Girls are due to be sitting their practical drama assessments next week.
But Phyliis Warner, office manager at the private school, said she knew some pupils sitting the practical exams had been stranded abroad.
She said: "We will have to delay the assessments if they can not get back with suitable time to prepare. Those pupils affected are our biggest concern to do with the volcanic ash right now."
She said the school was already aware of four teachers and eight pupils who had been marooned abroad because of the ash cloud clogging the skies preventing air travel.
Two teachers have resorted to rail travel in a bid to make it for the first day of term tomorrow, she added.
She said with the new term starting tomorrow, more absences because of the ban on air travel were expected to be discovered then.
An estimated 150,000 Brits are currently estimated to be stuck abroad.
One school in Lambeth was closed today because too many of its teachers had been unable to attend after getting stuck on their Easter holidays abroad.
A Lambeth Council spokeswoman said Walnut Tree Primary School in Kennington is expected to be be open as normal tomorrow.
No offical figure for teacher and pupil absences today as a result of air travel disruption is currently available for Lambeth.
"I'm interested in community initiatives, politics, environmental issues, planning matters, local events and anything else that affects our tiny postcode," says this low-profile but high-output resident of Lambeth, who focuses mostly on Kennington, Vauxhall and Oval.
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor
19.04.10
David Cameron said today that Britain needed a radical shift away from the “big state” because there isn't “any government money left”.
The Tory leader attacked Labour's bureaucracy and increasing centralised control of public services on a campaign trip in Kennington.
He said that his “big society” idea of allowing the public to set up their own schools and services was the answer to ever-expanding “bossy” government, particularly when finances were tight.
“For decades politicians in this country have been treating the British public like a bunch of mugs. Politicians have been saying, Just give us a little bit more of your money, just let us pass one more law, one more regulation, one more little order from on high and suddenly we will solve all the country's problems',” Mr Cameron said.
“It is a big lie, it is rubbish. There isn't really any government money left. Gordon has spent it all, it is all gone so we need something different.”
Mr Cameron said that with a dire shortage of school places in London, parents were crying out to set up and run their own schools. “We will only get really good schools when we say to families You have got to get involved with your school, you have got to help back up the teachers, you have got to make sure you bring up your children properly'.”
Typical. On the day I finally get to meet the new boss of London Underground, the Circle line runs bang on time.
I had wanted to harangue Mike Brown with a tale of woe that typified the state of the Tube. He is four weeks into his second term at London Underground - having left for two years to run Heathrow airport - but I arrived on a rare Monday morning when all lines were running smoothly.
Delays on the much-mocked Circle line are down since it was extended to Hammersmith, he assures me.
Brown's daily commute is on the District line, from Wimbledon to London Underground's Grade II-listed headquarters in St James's Park. Even that has been running smoothly. "In my time here so far I have not had a single delay," he beams.
Brown uses his first interview as London Underground's managing director to set out a vision of a "golden era for public transport in London". It may seem fanciful for the multitude of passengers who have experienced endless weekend closures of the Jubilee line, as work overruns by 10 months, or those on the Northern line whose agony is just beginning.
They face up to 20 months of closures - first with shutdowns south of Kennington at weekends and then 10pm closures of the central and northern sections on weekdays.
Negotiations are continuing with private maintenance firm Tube Lines over the intensity of the shutdown. "Whether it is 60 or 80 or 90 [weekend closures], it still is an awful lot of disruption for people using the Northern line," Brown says.
"I am hugely mindful of the impact, not just on individuals trying to get around London north-south on the Northern line but also on the business community." Camden Market traders have raised fears of being cut off from the thousands of weekend customers who provide their lifeline.
But let's hear more of the good news first. What could possibly justify the promise of a "golden era" on the Tube? Brown, a personable Irishman who talks freely yet without risking a word out of place, has three aces up his sleeve.
The first is the improvement of the Victoria line. New air-conditioned trains are entering service - five are already running in live tests - alongside a new signalling system. By this time next year this should mean a 30 per cent increase in capacity. He believes it is the model for future upgrades.
He says: "I was out on the Victoria line yesterday, with five of the new trains operating. I saw the reactions of passengers. I saw and talked to the train drivers and the station staff who are hugely excited at seeing the first new train on the Underground for many years. These are fantastic new trains that are really going to transform people's experiences of the Victoria line.
"I think we are on the brink of a golden age of transport in London. We have to keep our nerve. We have to diligently ensure that the financial stability and financial realities are taken care of. But in terms of delivering the service, we have to be optimistic."
The second ace is the refurbishment of the sub-surface lines - the Metropolitan, Circle and District. The Met will be the first to be improved, followed by the Circle and the District. The first new train will enter service on the Met line this summer. Brown believes it is crucial that the work will be tendered by London Underground rather than a private-sector firm under the controversial PPP (Public Private Partnership) system.
But why leave the District line until last when it is the most used by commuters? Because its trains, though aged, are the most reliable of the three lines. "The Met line has got trains running on it that were built four years before I was born," says Brown, 46,. "We have got a signal box at Edgware Road that is pre-war in its technology."
The third ace is a rebuilt Victoria Tube station. A £700 million transformation will double capacity and prevent it having to be closed daily to alleviate overcrowding. Work will begin next year but won't complete until 2018 - a year behind schedule, owing to Transport for London's cash troubles.
But there will be a price to pay. Passengers can expect to wait "eight or nine years" before they will find all lines running normally. "It will be a few years before those trains are rolled out and get the full benefit of a new signalling system," Brown admits.
He believes the way passengers judge the Tube is on the basis of their last journey. He insists it is getting better. But he agrees that "the scale of weekend disruption that Londoners and visitors to London face is significant. Therefore, we have to be continually vigilant to ensure we are not going that one step too far and preventing Londoners from travelling round and enjoying the city at the weekends."
In his mind, weekend closures are preferable to weekday shutdowns. "I think there is always a balance," he says.
"You can't disrupt the same people's journeys every weekend. Equally, if you debilitate London by stopping people from going to and from their jobs every day, that causes in some ways an even greater economic impact for the city and for people's own quality of life. On balance, doing closures on the weekend is usually the right thing to do, providing we can operate effective alternatives."
Brown joined the Tube in 1989, managing train cleaners in Neasden depot. He later became station manager at Baker Street. He rose to the post of chief operating officer, the second most important on the Underground. He was recruited by Heathrow airport to replace the man responsible for Terminal 5's opening.
But when Tim O'Toole unexpectedly announced he was quitting the Tube, Brown "couldn't resist the challenge" to oversee the Underground during its rebuilding. "Fundamentally, 67 million passengers use Heathrow every year. Three-and-a-half million use the Tube every day. The scale of impact of what I was doing was clearly going to be greater here," he says.
He is responsible for services on all 11 Tube lines, and for overseeing their 30-year upgrade under PPP, designed by Gordon Brown, as Chancellor, to guarantee long-term investment in the Underground. The hope was that the involvement of private firms would guarantee value for money. But in reality it has led to bitter contractual wrangling between the parties.
One of the two private contractors, Metronet, collapsed in 2007, leaving London Underground to take responsibility for its nine lines. Mike Brown is now in charge of both running and upgrading eight of them (the East London line recently transferred internally within TfL to the London Overground). The one surviving private contractor, Tube Lines, is responsible for upgrading the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines.
Brown describes the workings of the PPP as "insane". He believes that London Underground will not have to close lines as frequently as Tube Lines to carry out improvements. But relations between London Underground and Tube Lines are "increasingly antagonistic", according to the Commons Transport committee.
Brown insists that he has no wish to "score points" in the ongoing stand-off over the cost of upgrading the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines and denies having a "visceral hatred of Tube Lines". But he is uncompromising in backing legal threats that could bring the PPP crashing down.
And what of Mayor Boris Johnson's pledge (one that echoes a previous commitment by Ken Livingstone) to run Tubes later at night? Brown would "love" to do this but London's lack of flexibility does not allow this to happen. It remains an aspiration for the future - the gilding of the lily that would define his "golden era", perhaps - but a "difficult ask" at present. At the moment, all the time when trains are not running is required for the upgrade.
Does the Tube offer value for money? Not if you are an unknowing tourist who has coughed up £4 to travel a short hop in zone one, surely? Value for money does exist but only to passengers using Oyster, Brown admits in a roundabout way. Oyster travelcards were frozen this year, while other Tube fares rose by 3.9 per cent.
Another rise - two per cent above inflation - is already planned for next January. More will follow. "My push is to ensure more and more people use Oyster [cards]," he said.
Whatever the make-up of the Government after May 6, TfL needs to present a "compelling case" to ensure Whitehall continues to fund the Tube upgrade. With 3.5 million passengers a day, it carries more people than the national rail network, Brown emphasises.
Come the 2012 Olympics, he vows that the Tube will not be the capital's Achilles heel, as was once feared by international Olympics bosses. Brown is unequivocal. "I have no doubt that London Underground will play its role as one of the jewels in the crown of London at the time of the Olympics."
Mike Brown CV
Age: 46. Born:Belfast. Family: Married with a seven-year-old son. Lives in Wimbledon. Education: Degree in economics and MBA from Queen's University, Belfast. Salary: £289,000. Hobbies: Family, going to the gym. Work history: Graduate trainee at food firm Ranks Hovis McDougall. Joined London Underground in 1989. Managed cleaning depot in Neasden. Promoted to customer services director and then, in 2003, to chief operating officer. Left in 2008 to join BAA as Heathrow airport's managing director. Returned last month to London Underground to replace Tim O'Toole as Tube managing director. Awards: Credited with restoring Tube services after 7/7 attacks. Appointed to the Royal Victorian Order for getting the Tube to run overnight during the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
The Young Vic theatre lives right on the border of Lambeth and Southwark and has a deep history within these two boroughs. Our friends and neighbours are really important to us. For the last 10 years we have given away over 10,000 tickets every year. We believe that if you live in our two boroughs, you should visit us at least once in your life. If you don’t like it, you never need come back, but there’s a chance - and we are prepared to take it – that this will be the start of a lifelong relationship.
The Two Boroughs Project is open to any resident of Lambeth or Southwark. This gives you the chance to come and see a show for free at the Young Vic. Once you have used your free tickets we will let you know about other special offers, discounts, events and workshops open to everyone who has registered their details with the project.
Free Tickets…
We provide free and discounted tickets to the residents of Lambeth and Southwark. We will advertise community tickets dates and you can request to book tickets. Individuals can usually book up to 4 tickets. This may vary depending on the availability of tickets. Sometimes for our shows in our smaller theatre spaces you may only be allocated 2 tickets. The people you choose to bring with you must be residents of Lambeth or Southwark too. Once you have received your free ticket you will receive further offers and discounts as well as invitations to events and workshops. We always give priority booking to people who haven’t received a free ticket through the project! Free Workshops and events… We also give you the opportunity to participate in any of our workshops or community projects. You will receive updates when we have projects coming up and will be able to book your place if you are interested!
We recruit to workshops as and when they happen and we hold different types of workshops and sessions throughout the year. We have limited places available on these workshops and places are decided by giving priority to people who haven’t joined us at a workshop before. You MUST BOOK A PLACE on these workshops if you would like to attend.
You don’t need any previous experience of theatre to take part in any of our workshops or events and we promise it will be fun! So spread the word to your friends and family that also live within the two boroughs and we hope you will all come and join us here soon.
Things to remember
- you must live within either Lambeth or Southwark - we will need proof of your address as well as your name, date of birth, your borough and telephone number. Anyone you choose to bring along with you must also be a resident of Lambeth or Southwark!
- once you have received your free ticket you will receive further offers and discounts as well as invitations to events and workshops.
Once you have registered your details we can let you know about the next things coming up at the Young Vic as part of the Two Boroughs Project!
In the meantime, have a look below at what is already going on now or what may still be available…
ON SOON:
FREE TICKETS FOR: Eurydice (suitable for ages 14+) (LIMITED TO 3 TICKETS PER PERSON – ALL TICKET HOLDERS MUST BE RESIDENTS OF LAMBETH OR SOUTHWARK)
Alice in Wonderland meets Greekmythologyin this playful and heartbreaking take on a tale of grief and redemption.
Eurydice loves Orpheus and is going to marry him, but her dead father's letters of advice aren't reaching the land of the living. She falls down a flight of stairs and wakes up in the underworld, her memory erased.
How will she ever get home...?
Created by the team behind the award winning The Brother’s Size
Two Boroughs Tickets available:
Saturday 8 May at 2.45pm
Monday 10 May 7.45pm
Thursday 13 May at 7.45pm
FREE TICKETS FOR : Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (suitable for ages 14+) (Individuals can book up to 4 tickets – anyone you bring with you needs to be a resident of Lambeth or Southwark as well, proof of address needed on collection of tickets)
Set in America in the 1920’s, this show follows the story of a freed slave, who is searching for the wife he left behind. Will he reclaim his lost identity? Will he find his place in this new world?
A profoundly moving and haunting story of racism and discrimination in the the lives of a few freed former enslaved African-Americans in North America.
Two Boroughs Tickets Available
Thursday 27 May at 7.30pm
Friday 28 May at 7.30pm
Saturday 29 May at 7.30pm
Tuesday 1 June at 7.30pm
Saturday 12 June at 2.30pm
How to Book and Get in Touch (plus the small print!) Please reply to this email, or call the Two Boroughs Hotline, 020 7922 2861 ANYONE USING THE TICKETS MUST BE RESIDENTS OF LAMBETH OR SOUTHWARK, or attend with a local community group. (Proof of address will be needed on collection of tickets).
Please note: All tickets are subject to availability and we regret that young children will not be able to gain entrance to the auditorium, please call if you need more information. Please understand that priority booking is given to people who have not had free tickets here before. We hope to see you here soon!
David Cameron, speaking at a business centre in Kennington, south London, has been told by senior Tories that his ‘big society’ message is failing to connect with voters Photograph: David Levene
David Cameron junked a planned party election broadcast to record a personal television message as jittery Conservatives changed tactics to confront the new threat posed by the Liberal Democrats.
Amid mounting internal criticism of the leadership's handling of the general election campaign, Cameron attempted to turn the tables on Nick Clegg by saying that only the Tories can embrace change.
Taking a leaf out of Clegg's book, Cameron looked directly into the camera to admit that last Thursday's leaders' television debate had transformed the general election.
"So we have had the first TV debate and, yes, it has really shaken up this election campaign," Cameron said in the film, which was recorded in the back garden of his London home on Sunday afternoon.
"It's got people looking at the parties in a way they weren't before. In many ways I am not surprised. People are desperate for change and they're looking for anything different or new. So what does it really take to change a country?"
The broadcast, which replaced a film attacking Labour, then depicts Cameron as the agent of change by showing videos of his widely praised response to last year's expenses scandal. Without mentioning Clegg or the Lib Dems, Cameron made an appeal to the party's natural supporters by pledging to "smash apart the old politician-knows-best syndrome" through his "big society" idea of presiding over the biggest devolution of power in a generation.
Cameron then delivered his main message, outlined to the Guardian earlier, in response to Clegg's strong performance: that a vote for anyone other than the Conservatives would not lead to change because it could leave Gordon Brown in Downing Street.
"The only way we are going to get that change is through a clear, decisive result at this election," he said. "Any other result would lead to more indecision and more of the old politics. We might even be left stuck with what we've got now."
Tory sources said tonight's broadcast was not a panic response to the Lib Dems' success and that it marked a change in tactics rather than a change in strategy. But other Tories voiced fears that Cameron's entire election strategy – that he is the only agent of change – has been struck a devastating blow by Clegg's success.
Internal Tory criticism focused on two areas. First, that Cameron made a "catastrophic error" in pressing for the TV debates; this was compounded when he agreed to give Clegg equal billing. Second, that the strategy of focusing on the "big society" is failing to connect with voters.
"I really do not see how we can win a Commons majority now," one senior Tory said. "The big society, which is great for governing the country, is no good as an election strategy. It needs to be dumped because nobody understands it on the doorstep. We need to spell out in specific terms what we plan to do. Let's talk about our plans for cancer drugs."
Sources say there have been a series of anxious meetings at Tory HQ. Cameron told his inner circle on Friday, the day after the television debate, that there was no need to change tactics. But as the Lib Dems surged ahead in polls over the weekend, key figures wrote notes to Cameron urging a rethink.
Cameron, who indicated to the Guardian that he was reluctant to attack the Lib Dems, changed tack today. In a question and answer question with sixth-form students at Varndean College in Brighton, he compared the sums in their manifesto to a sudoku puzzle.
"It's all very well to say 'I've got numbers at the back of my manifesto'," Cameron said. "I mean, there's numbers in a sudoku but it doesn't mean it all adds up. They are saying the first £10,000 of your income, you shouldn't pay any tax on at all. That is a beautiful idea, it is a great idea. How do you pay for it? It is £17bn. We have this enormous deficit, we need to reduce the deficit. You can't go round making promises like that."
His remarks came as Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative chairman, urged the party to step up its attacks on Clegg. Tebbit urged the Tories on Radio 4's World at One "not to hang around because there is a Clegg bubble and the imperative is to puncture the bubble before the 6 May – the 7th would be too late".
This year’s summerfête in Albert Square will be on Saturday 12 June, 3pm-6pm - pop it in your diary. We'd also be grateful if you could forward to your networks and in your newsletters.
Last year’s fête was a great success: over 600 people attended raising over £3,000 for local charities and we hope to build on that success this year.
We'll have the same great attractions: lots of stalls, Vauxhall City Farm, food, drink, live music and sports with more live music in the evening.
We look forward to seeing you there.
If there is any way you would like to help out or if you have any questions, please contact Chris on 07971198555, christopher.h.morrison@gmail.com
England's Stuart Broad bowls during a nets session at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, India (Anthony Devlin/PA)
The Five Cricketers of the Year represent a tradition that dates back in Wisden to 1889, making this the oldest individual award in cricket. The Five are picked by the editor, and the selection is based, primarily but not exclusively, on the players’ influence on the previous English season. No one can be chosen more than once. Since 2004, Wisden has also chosen a Leading Cricketer in the World. The five players of the year:
Stuart Broad Michael Clarke Graham Onions Matt Prior Graeme Swann
It was with his devastating, series-winning, career-defining bowling spell at The Oval that Stuart Broad made an indelible mark on Ashes history; but it was in the previous, chastening Test at Headingley that he helped shift the momentum that was swinging Australia’s way.
When England, still leading the series 1–0, staggered to the end of the second day of the Fourth Test, they were teetering at 82 for five in their second innings, still 261 behind Australia and heading for the most comprehensive defeat. What happened next not only irritated Australia but played no small part in England regaining their self-esteem for the decider.
“It was typical Andy Flower,” says Broad. “He gathered those of us still to bat on the Sunday morning and said ‘I don’t care how you do it. You can leave every ball, block every ball or hit every ball for four, but go out there and show some fight. We must leave this ground with something to show for our efforts.’ Matty Prior started it by going after them and they started to get a bit frustrated.
“Then Graeme Swann came in. I always enjoy batting with him, because we hit the ball in different areas but score at a decent pace, and we just got a bit of momentum going. It was a good laugh, the crowd got behind us and the atmosphere was fantastic. We clawed a little bit back and it gave us a lot of confidence.”
In an eighth-wicket stand of 108 in 12.3 overs, Broad scored 61 to follow career-best figures of six for 91. He might not have been selected had Andrew Flintoff been fit. It did not stop Australia levelling the series with an innings victory, but some pride had been restored and foundations laid for what was to come in Kennington.
STUART CHRISTOPHER JOHN BROAD was born in Nottingham on June 24, 1986, to former England batsman Chris and mother Carole, “the most positive person you will ever meet,” according to her son. “Mum texted me that Sunday morning at Headingley to say ‘get a hundred runs ahead and then take a few early wickets and you could be back in the match’.” She was hoping for a repeat of the 1981 partnership there between Ian Botham and Graham Dilley that went into folklore. Broad was always destined to be a cricketer, from the times when he would get his sister Gemma, later analyst for the England one-day and women’s teams, to throw a ball at him in the garden, and he would play on the Trent Bridge outfield with Philip Robinson, son of his dad’s opening partner Tim.
Yet it was at hockey that he initially thrived, before a growth spurt and a spell in Victoria, Australia, with Hoppers Crossing transformed him from an opening batsman into a bowler. He earned his first-class debut with Leicestershire in 2005, before his 19th birthday.
“Up until I was 16 I just turned my arm over with the keeper stood up, trying to bowl maidens and swinging it nicely,” says Broad. “My most successful sport then was hockey, where I had trials with England. I was a goalie. I was short then and pretty fearless, but it came to an end when I was hit by a fierce shot in the leg. I was 17 and getting more serious about cricket.”
Cricket was in his genes, and he was also influenced by Frank Hayes and David Steele, his coaches at Oakham School. Broad’s paternal grandfather would take him to Lord’s once a year to watch England. “We would get up at 5.30am to get the bus then the train to London,” says Broad. “There was the one time (in 1997) when Glenn McGrath was virtually unplayable. There was another when I saw Jimmy Anderson playing against South Africa. I was a little kid and he was bowling for England, and he’s only four years older than me!
“I was a regular viewer on television too. I was watching with my grandparents when Andrew Caddick took four wickets in an over at Headingley against West Indies, and Darren Gough was another favourite. I was always a big fan of seeing wickets fall. Watching someone get a five-for was much better for me than seeing a batsman get a hundred.”
After his one-day international debut against Pakistan in 2006, Broad was selected for the squad against India at Lord’s in 2007, but overlooked in favour of Chris Tremlett. His Test debut had to wait until the following winter and the bowler’s graveyard of the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. Since then, progress has been sustained and rapid.
Another breakthrough came in 2008, when Broad worked with Ottis Gibson at England’s academy in Loughborough and was told that a bowling action remodelled by Kevin Shine was not working. “Ottis told me I was too chest on, so I went back to how I used to be,” says Broad. “I stood still for three months when I was trying to change too much. I wouldn’t blame Kevin Shine, he was trying to look after my body. At the end of the day he made a suggestion and I took it on.”
This progress culminated in Broad becoming perhaps the first really tall England bowler to swing the ball both ways at 90mph, a heady mix that proved too much for Ricky Ponting and his team at The Oval. A 12-over spell of five for 37 included four for eight in 21 balls. His freshness for the big moment had undoubtedly been helped by his mature decision not to go to the Indian Premier League earlier in 2009.
“The Oval has given me a lot of confidence for what I can achieve,” says Broad. “There have been times in my Test career where I haven’t been sure where to go, whether to be an economical bowler or try to bowl bouncers and knock someone’s head off. The thing about The Oval was that I bowled the way that suits me best, trying to hit the top of off stump using a bit of variation.”
Broad’s manner will be familiar to anyone who watched his ultra-competitive father play for England, before the poacher became an ICC referee. “I always look at my attitude as competitiveness and a passion for the game, but there are times when it can bubble over, like with dad, and that’s something I’m working to control,” says Broad. “My dad was a bowler in a batsman’s body, because he was so fiery, and I think as a bowler I have to be like that. There is nothing worse than seeing a bowler with no spirit or fight.”
It is unlikely to be a failing of which he is ever accused.
Vauxhall: 'Not for the faint-hearted. But its hideousness equals good value.' Photograph: Martin Godwin
What's going for it?
If you believe what you read in the property pages (I wouldn't), Vauxhall and Nine Elms are where all the cool young daddios are. There's still a cluster of nightclubs hunkered under the viaducts, and the gay village remains thriving. But now the swanky apartments have moved in, for how long? To cap it all work begins soon on America's new fortress – sorry, embassy – complete with moat. Vauxhall is not for the faint-hearted. Still, all its hideousness equals good value, especially for its location, by the Thames, opposite Tate Britain. And hunt behind the roaring roads and you'll find secret nooks of peace: Vauxhall Park, the grand terraces of Fentiman Road, Oval cricket ground, the Portuguese delis of South Lambeth Road, and the little community utopia of Bonnington Square, proof that even in the harshest of habitats, life can thrive.
The case against
Less a place, more a circle of hell. An unrelenting urban experience. Thundering roads as wide as the ocean. Trains overhead. Viaducts beneath. Blades of grass and trees rare as hens' teeth – those nine elms are long gone. Patches can be unsafe after dark, even with MI6 in the 'hood. New development's not much improved it: the incomparably ugly St George's Wharf will be in your eye sockets every day.
Well connected?
Tremendously. Vauxhall is on the Victoria line (zone one), and has trains to Waterloo and Clapham Junction (both five mins, every three/four minutes) and farther south. Super bus station, too.
Poshest is up the hill north and east towards Kennington. Postwar estates are the bargain. Huge apartment complexes like St George's Wharf promise pricey mod cons. A redevelopment at the site of the New Covent Garden Market will include 2,000 new homes.
Market values
Ex-council flats, £160,000-£325,000. Flats in Victorian terraces: one-bed, from £275,000; two, from £325,000. Posh modern flats: studio, £200,000-£375,000; one bed, £250,000-£450,000. Houses, from £430,000 for two beds, from £550,000 for three or four.
Bargain of the week
Six-bed Victorian stuccoed town house, needs converting back from flats, £675,000, with Ludlow Thompson (020-7820 4100).Tom Dyckhoff
From the streets
Laura Newbery "Some parts seem a bit bleak, but the Fentiman Arms on Fentiman Road and the Priory Arms on Lansdowne Way are excellent, welcoming pubs with great food." Joe Eyton Cole (age 15) "Nice green spaces around, Battersea Park a stone's throw away, but the best thing is the river."
