The Highgate Echo can now confirm that the kipper breakfast he ate was not ordered by him, but rather one of the two men he dined with. John Redding, the chef that morning at Lauderdale House spoke to the Echo: “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was strange enough being given food to prepare,” Mr Redding said, “he just told me the gentleman was very particular, I didn’t ask questions, they looked rough, y’know, Eastern European.”

Fellow diners confirmed that three men entered the popular arts venue together. However, after a heated exchange, two of the men left. Only minutes later the man had collapsed.”What’s really strange is that the police never showed up. We saw some official-looking men arrive 15 minutes later and take the poor man away…we assumed they were police, plain clothes like.” Jenny Campbell told The Highgate Echo. “The next day, similar looking men came and asked me and my friend all kinds of questions, about what we saw and where we’ve lived over our lives, totally weird. That’s when we realised, these aren’t the police.”

Eyewitnesses said they saw two black cars leave with the man and head towards Highgate West Hill.

CEFC’s Musical Director, David Temple, comments,

“Even though we have appeared in many BBC Proms concerts, this is our first ‘First Night’ and to be singing such a majestic work as Mahler’s Eighth Symphony makes the whole occasion a major highlight in the choir’s history.”

The concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Two.

Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is known as the Symphony of a Thousand. When it was first performed in 1910, the combined forces of choirs, boys’ choir, huge symphony orchestra and eight soloists did indeed number over a thousand. This time, the BBC Symphony Chorus, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, CEFC and Choristers of St Paul’s Cathedral School and Westminster Cathedral will join soloists Mardi Byers, Twyla Robinson, Malin Christensson, Stephanie Blythe, Kelley O’Connor, Nikolai Schukoff, Hanno Müller-Brachmann and Tomasz Konieczny.

This is seventh time CEFC has appeared at the BBC Proms. Last year, it sang Berlioz’ Te Deum with the Bach Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Symphony Orchestra under conductor, Susanna Mälkki. In 2008, the choir took part in the Verdi Requiem, again with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Jirí Belohlávek.

The BBC Proms is the world’s largest classical music festival, with more than 90 concerts – featuring many of the world’s greatest artists and orchestras – as well as a host of extra events including talks, workshops, films, free performances and family events.

The Proms runs from Friday 16 July to Saturday 11 September 2010, and full information on the season is available at bbc.co.uk/proms.Local

Hampstead FC manager Mike Powell fields 36 teams comprising 600 players between the ages of 3-16, with each team playing an average of 20 games between September to mid-May.

In recent seasons Hampstead has unearthed a host of young talent with eight-year-olds Frankie McCarthy and Nathaniel Orafu snapped up by Tottenham Hotspur’s Academy and others signing for Arsenal and Leyton Orient.

But despite the the club’s recognition Powell has become increasingly frustrated with the large number of postponed matches due to bad weather.

“This is the third year running we have struggled through the winter months and this time we have lost the equivalent of two months play which is forcing teams into a situation where they have to play double-headers,” said Powell.

“Surely it is time the FA had a serious rethink about the youth football season as weekend after weekend, parents prepare their kids for games only for the matches to be called off.

“The late cancellations drive parents from the game. It wrecks weekends for the family and any planning is impossible.

“I see the negatives start to develop, but there is little we can offer parents by way of regular football this time of year. We had one team who have played one match in three months.

“The cancellations are frustrating but with climate change they are inevitable, why not move the season to March through to October and provide football in better conditions and a reasonable guarantee the games will go ahead.

“The parental and family support would vastly improve with parents taking grandparents along and siblings too.

“At present the lone parent is the norm, often dropping their child to avoid standing on a frozen touchline, inches deep in mud.

“The FA has spent £200 million on trying to improve touchline behaviour under the FA Respect banner and action to bring families back to the touchline would make a massive difference.”

And Powell believes a scheduling change may also enhance these young players’ talents.

“The more skilful players would have a chance to develop, whereas under the current system the long-ball, hoof-it tactic, is the winner.

“Any player of natural ball skill is systematically left on the touchline. It is no coincidence the world’s most skilful players learn their football on flat pitches in decent climes.

Parliament Hill

A BIZARRE story concerning a local resident has been the talk of the town following events that took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Local dog walkers were hailed from a park bench by a middle-aged man on Parliament Hill who claimed to have no recollection of who he was of how he got there. At first, people thought the man to be drunk or on drugs, but a small crowd soon gathered and it became clear that the man’s story was genuine.

“At first I thought he was having us on,” said Mr Franklin of St Anne’s Close “but after a while we started to take him seriously, and someone rang the police.”

Police arrived at the scene shortly after 6:30am and found the man to be in possession of no identification other than a small slip of paper with a Highgate address scrawled across it. The man was asked by the police to accompany them to the location in question, believing it to be his home address. At this point a further mysterious twist came to light: the man was unable to walk.

“When I asked the gentleman to follow me back down the hill, he complained that he had no sensation in his legs,” said PC Haskell. “We rang for a local doctor who arrived and confirmed that the man was paralysed from the wait down.”

An ambulance was called to take the man to the St John’s Way Medical Centre for a routine medical examination, which found him to be generally in good health. He was then taken to the address found in his possession that morning, of which he claimed to have no recollection of ever visiting. On entering the property police found a number of photographs of the man, along with a passport in the name of ‘Thaddeus Headley’, the photograph of which matched the mystery man.

I spoke to residents of the neighbouring houses, who confirmed that he was indeed resident at the address.

“I’ve seen him going in and out before. Mostly very early in the morning or very late at night, but not for at least 18 months now,” said Brenda Wilson, whose property backs on to that of Mr Headley.

Part of the Reveal festival in Kings Cross and the Camley Street Natural Park’s 25th Anniversary Festival, Food Junctions has been organised by staff and students at UCL (University College London) in collaboration with Camden Council, local schools, businesses and campaign groups.

Jam-packed with a smorgasbord of free events, Food Junctions is all about celebrating food and its place in the lives of Londoners. With over 200 contributors the festival will feature a wide range of talks, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, tasting sessions, art and architecture installations, performances, films and much more.

The festival is designed to promote healthy living and local food production as well as to encourage visitors to explore the world of food politics, culture and research.

The scheme which involved input from local businesses and residents, has been ongoing since the beginning of January.

But despite initially being scheduled to end last month, due to a delay in shipping over materials, the project is now expected to continue for at least another two months.

Business owners claim the project has already hit them hard due to the nearby car park being closed off, and local residents have been up in arms over the noise and disruption the works are causing.

Simon Price, owner of Meg’s News, said: “They’re chopping and changing their plans every minute. We’re losing out on business  – people aren’t able to come into the shops because of the roadworks. And on top of that, our business rates have just been put up by 40%.

“It’s just another case of small businesses being made to suffer.”

Nicola Doyle, the manager of The Duke of St.Albans, said: “It’s a project that involves us all. But what we were told in the beginning about the project has now changed, and I think we have all been misinformed.

“We were told it would be finished by the end of March, ready for the Easter season, and now we’ve been told it will be carrying on for another eight weeks, and we have two bank holidays during that time.

“With businesses in Archway closing left, right and centre, we’re becoming very concerned.”

Dave Morris, owner of a local florist, said: “Last weekend, business for me was down 400%. Last week I opened Monday to Friday and we didn’t have enough money to pay the staff.

“There’s no point in me opening during the week, especially since they’ve closed the car park for the past two weeks.

“They’re drilling three metres away from the building. You can’t open the doors because the noise is terrible and the dust keeps blowing in. It’s very difficult.

“They can’t tell us when it will be finished, but it won’t be for quite a few weeks. That takes us into the summer season, and that’s where the money is.”

He added the workers were doing their best, but his only hope would be to try and make money at weekends.

A spokesman from The Highways Authority said: “The Swain’s Lane scheme was developed in order to improve the surrounding area for the developing businesses and provide a more attractive vista for visitors.

“Unfortunately the scheme has been delayed due to late delivery of materials at no fault of the contractor or the County Council. In order to minimise this delay alternative materials have been sourced and extra resources brought on to site.

“The council has also asked the Valuation Office Agency to send Business Rate appeal forms to the five affected business premises.”