Chris Ghoti kindly replied to a post I had elsewhere which has led me to sign up to the Reporter which looks like a great fun place to while away the hours…now - can any longtime listeners with a financial planning or legal bent help me with the following quieries in relation to (1) Kenton’s activities in 1989 and (2) Caroline Bone and Cameron Fraser in 1991?
Peter hesketh’s Chronology states the following
1989/00/00 Kenton Archer is sacked from investment firm following investigation by FIMBRA.
CAN ANYBODY SHED ANY LIGHT ON THIS? I HAVE A CLEAR RECOLLECTION OF TALK OF AN INJUNCTION AND AN INVESTIGATION BY THE SECURTIES AND INVESTMENTS BOARD (I was working in that kind of legal field at the time in late 80s) - but do not recall FIMBRA involvement although that makes sense from a legal point of view? CAN ANYONE HELP ON FILLING IN GAPS? I may need to listen to all of 1989 again in sound archives…hopefully not!
1991/00/00 Cameron Fraser disappears, along with Caroline Bone’s £6,000 which he had invested for her (although she got most of it back).
BUT my very clear recollection is that it was £60,000 which he was supposed to be “managing” for her and I do not recall her being able to recover any of it…I don’t remember any subsiequent litigtaion. Chris assures me The Book of the Archers confirms £60,000 and I have this book on order and am looking forwrad to reading it - any other details out there?
AND - note this same chronology also states that 1991/00/00 Debbie Aldridge drops out of university (Essex, French and English) following affair with her tutor. Returns home.
However I am fairly sure she was at EXETER not Essex (am I not right on this folks??) which makes me think aspects of the Hesketh chronology may be wrong on some details such as those above?
I am doing all this research to help with an academic paper I am writing!!
All best
Joanna
The Book of The Archers is not so much for reading: it is a Who’s Who with an entry for each person who spoke in the series up to that date. An excellent book to keep in the downstairs lavatory for browsing. (grin)
Hesky was a darling but not always completely on the ball about detail like Essex/Exeter, and he died suddenly and far too young before he had a chance to complete work on his chronology. It was definitely Exeter, to read French and English, after going to Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
Kenton’s friend Alex (an ex shipmate of his) didn’t exactly sack him so much as tell him to get out before the shit hit the fan, and took the rap himself, as far as I remember. It was more a partnership than a firm, just the two of them involved, and they were extremely casual about the regulations about selling foreign investments, which was why FIMBRA was involved.
You can cut at least some of the listening in 1989 by applying yourself to the BBC Genome Project at https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/19680/20?order=asc&q=The+Archers#search
where the cast-lists are; eliminating weeks in which Kenton didn’t appear might well halve your labour. I’m afraid I have only got as far as 1976 in my listing of the casts, or I could simply send you those for the year, and I am also afraid that the Genome is a pig to consult: you have to go into the entry for every day to find the cast-lists, unless they have rationalised it by 1989 to be on Friday or something sensible like that. (Checks) Oooh! That year, they say “written by” on the page that has the cast list! Oh bliss, oh poop poop! Well, that makes your life easier, I should think. (And mine when I finally get there: it will go a lot quicker.) – Actually, since I am going to be doing this chore anyhow, I could cut from the start of 1976 which is where I have got to and do 1989 next and let you have the cast-list for that year when I have got them sorted, if you like? Let me know.
Caroline definitely lost £60,000 in Cameron’s scam. It was the greater part of her savings. Again, listening only to the episodes in which both she and Cameron appeared during 1991 would halve your labour; see Genome…
Unless this is a major part of your paper (are you an Archers Academic?) listening to the whole lot seems a considerable labour for a minor point, but I will help if I can.
FANTA - you are an absolute STAR …apart from anything else I am mightily relieved that my memory is still (barely) functioning - I recall 60 k and Cameron was a complete rogue so she got nothing back and I also recall Exeter …I cannot possibly imagine Jennifer approving anywhere other than a handful of green welly Unis (as it was in those days) ,
Yes I AM indeed an Academic Archer - I feel like I have finally found “my people” when I went there for the first time…loved it! This could be a major part of my paper so am very grateful for you and PLEASE could you send me the cast list for (1) 1989 for Kenton (and Alex maybe - I don’t remember him but also recall a partnership rather than anythign more - I wonder if they had a partnership deed? I bet not!) and (2) Caroline and Cameron - I don’t remember her actually makign the investment with him but clearly remember the aftermath …! Happy to chat more off site if that suits you better as I don’t want to bore people with my nerdy questions…
Hey, this is my site! I’ll nerd on it if I want to!
Back then Exeter was for the not-so-academic well-to-do who hadn’t got into Oxbridge, as I recall. (I had a friend living and working there and he found the money some of them had to throw around really quite disconcerting.) Durham and Bristol were acceptable but expected you to Work, Sussex and Essex were for Reds, Leeds was an anarchist hotbed of anarchist hotheads, almost as dodgy as the LSE… and York was too new and too far North for Naice Girls to go to (silly cuckoos, it was a fine university).
My recollection is that after CF ran away, the Berrow Estate was sold and Caroline and Marjorie got most of their money back from that sale, though I can’t remember details: look under Caroline J Bone in TBoTA and it’s mentioned there that she eventually got most of it back, but again no details. And “the enforced sale of the estate” is mentioned in passing in The Archers 1987-2000: Back to the Land by Joanna Toye (BBC Worldwide Ltd., London, 2000) p134; there is also a quick explanation of what had happened to Cameron Fraser by Shula to Elizabeth on p128 of the same book. I think that is a reliable source: Joanna Toye certainly had reference to the Archive when she wrote that trilogy, because she was a scriptwriter. Much of the speech in the books is verbatim quotation from the broadcasts, I suspect. Unfortunately she doesn’t go into any detail about Kenton’s troubles.
Here is another thought: I suspect Caversham has the scripts as well as the sound archives, and those might be easier to consult?
I’ll have you know it was a Stalinist hotbed. How very dare you !! Trots were viewed as dreamers and Anarchists as hypocrits for having a Society, with rules and joining fees.
Albeit, now I recall, there was a great deal of Bakunin discussions. I needed a reference for work & asked 2 tutors, both said they’d need to decline. One, who’s name I forget, explained that he’d been expelled from the US as part of the McCarthy hunts & another, Vic Allen … Arthur Scargill’s own guru, later turned out to be a Stasi spy who when doorstepped by the media about 10 years ago simply said “Yes. So what ?”.
… & my Personal Tutor in the Politics Dept. was a Ralph Miliband.
I never met his kids though. Whatever became of them ?
I had one lecturer in British Politics, Geoff Fry who could be described as ‘normal’. He was always a relief. Though he wrote many papers & books the outstanding one was ‘Bury My Heart at Fratton Park’, being an avid Pompey fc fan. I remember him putting a couple of ranters down as they complained Aristotle was sexist.
Well, dere, I suppose it keeps you off the streets ;- )
The only question I could have helped with has already been answered - definitely Exeter.
However, it does remind me of an old joke, when FIMBRA was found wanting and was largely subsumbed into the new PIA. FIMBRA - Flip It, Me Broker’s Run Away! PIA: Probably In Antigua…
You have failed to mention Newcastle (where I went for my UG degree) - does that make me not a “naice girl” then? GOOD!! Gosh Higher Education has changed since those days has it not…anyway - that is even more interestign detail about the sale of Berrow - if she got most of it back there would have been some interesting litigation behind the scenes - I can fill in those bits myself - but now for KENTON and his issues with the financial regulators of the late 1980s - where, who, or what is Caversham? Further and better particulars welcome if you have time in coming days…?
I wonder if being called Joanna would have be considered for a part time post reitrement gig economy job as a Scriptwriter for Ambridge too?? Where can I apply? I even live on a farm so know what I am talking about when it comes to livestock, dogs and horses…! Thanks Fanta for all this help!
ARMREST - are you now a leading politician? Or a Premiership footie player?
GUS - those are both new regulatory jokes to me - have you got one for IMRO and for LAUTRO too? Were IMRO involved with Cameron Fraser can you remember?
Disapointingly, I don’t recall any IMRO or LAUTRO equivalents (although IMRO was a bit of a joke altogether at times), and I’m afraid Cameron Fraser mostly happened during one of my patches of non-listening.
Sorry, Joanna.
The written archive used to be held at Caversham, which is on the other side of the river from Reading across Caversham Bridge. It may have been moved, of course. But it used to be possible to find out at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/a?_ref=898
I have done the cast-list sorting for 1989 (31 pages) and I am sorry to have to tell you that Kenton was in the cast for thirty weeks of that year. That’s a lot of listening. I am not sure how to get the information to you.
Of course Jennifer liked Simon Pemberton: he owned the local Big Estate (slightly smaller than Home Farm: 1,000 acres to Home Farm’s 1,500, but that is never mentioned) and was well-spoken. To be fair to the creepy little pederast Russ Jones, I don’t somehow see him beating his girlfriend up the way Simon did Shula and Debbie.
Bless you. The Premiership hadn’t been dreamt of in my day. I was “let go”, aged 16 by a then Div. 2 club & played semi-pro until my 30’s. I was “let go” because of an unfortunate combination of a (then) slight build, a couple of ankle injuries and an almost complete absence of talent.
I never followed my political interests, largely because the heavily political people I met were such pricks. My #2 son is in those circles nowadays. If you hang around you’ll become suitably bored with my references to him.
