Call Sign January 2002 - Page 29 - Call Sign Consumer Expert's Wedding

Ian Cameron (R12) has been Call Sign's Consumer Expert for several years testing everything from coffee establishment to taxi washes. Although currently "unemployed" on the consumer front while trying to think what else he can test for the mag, he had a surprise up his sleeve that few knew about until it was over... In early December, Ian and his long-time lady-partner Jeanne, had a meeting with their four children from previous marriages (one marriage each!), and asked them how they would feel about their mother and father getting hitched after six years of living together? None of the "kids" - now all grown up - had any problems with it and in fact were thrilled with the decision. So Ian and Jeanne decided to go for it, but wanted it to be just for the two of them - unless the Arsenal Football Club wanted to send a representative! The Highbury 'hooligans' declined, so the happy couple decided that they'd go to Cuba and get married on a beach of golden sand!	Call Sign Consumer Expert Gets a Cuban Wedding
	*Ian and Jeanne after the Ceremony in Cuba* Off they trotted to the Cuban Embassy in High Holborn to sort out visas. They then came across Cuba's main source of income - people who want to go there to get married! Visas Ł120 each! Check birth certificates; Ł120 each! Ian and Jeanne decided not to ask if they could use the loo while there because they only had fifty quid on them! Eventually they got to Cuba and	realised that a beach wedding might be a bit unpractical, so they arranged it for the magnificent garden of their five-star Melia Rio D'oro hotel. The hotel management provided everything they needed, including the "dragging" of a couple of bemused witnesses off the street - neither of whom wore khaki or had a beard! The ceremony went off without a hitch under blue, cloudless skies. The only moisture seen around came from the eyes of the so-very happy couple. Speaking to Call Sign, both Ian and Jeanne said that the experience had been "absolutely magical." "It certainly cost us a packet," said Ian, "but it was worth every penny - or should that be every Peso! It was an experience that we will never forget. Perhaps there is a demand for a series of 'getting married around the world' consumer reports in Call Sign?" Well done Ian and Jeanne - but don't hold your breath about the reports!

Join Bernie Pressman as he charts some of London's history via its 'Blue' Plaques...
Bernie Pressman's London Plaques

Those of you who come into town from N16, might be surprised to learn that Daniel Defoe (1661 - 1731) lived at 95 Stoke Newington Church St where you can see his plaque. Best known for writing Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, one of his political works got him two years in prison. He was bankrupted three times and changed his political views even more often! Wrote and published one of the first newspapers...
Living at 4 Carlton Gardens SW1 and 99 Frognal, Hampstead NW3, Charles De Gaulle (1890 - 1970), General and later president of France, didn't think too highly of the British. One of his most famous sayings about France still brings a smile: "How is it possible to govern a country that has 150 kinds of cheese..."
Theatrical impresario, Sir Bernard, Baron Delfont of Stepney (1909 - 94) has a plaque where he spent most of his time, The Prince Of Wales

Theatre, Coventry St W.l. Born Boris Winogradsky in Russia and brought to England with his brother Sir Lew Grade in 1912, they started in show business as dancers and became world champions. They then went into theatrical management and later became agents. They built up businesses, owned the London Hippodrome and also several TV companies. They presented many Royal Command performances...
Acknowledged by many to be our greatest author, Charles Dickens (1813 - 1870), lived in at least fourteen addresses in the Bloomsbury area! He had to move frequently because he was always in debt and was once

thrown into the debtor's prison! His desk and other items of his life can be seen at Dickens House, 48 Doughty St WC1 - The Dickens Museum. He had ten children by his wife Catherine, but separated from her in 1858. By then, his works had become popular and he toured the United States reading from them. There are nine plaques to his memory, the most to anybody in London.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881), First Earl of Beaconsfield lived at 22 Theobalds Rd WC1, 6 Fredricks Place EC2, 93 Park Lane and 19 Curzon St W.l. He became Prime Minister in 1868 and from 1874 - 1880. He began life as a solicitor but went on to become a brilliant politician and was later responsible for the purchase of the Suez Canal.

Bernie Pressman (M31J)

Information courtesy Discovering London Plaques, Derek Sumeray, published by Shire Publications

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Call Sign Consumer Expert Gets a Cuban Wedding

Call Sign Consumer Expert
Gets a Cuban Wedding