York Cathedral is gospel truth

Just when we've deluded ourselves that the big York building that we're all so proud of is called the Minster, now come the doubts.

Should it be dubbed the Cathedral? Hee-hee, we laughed scornfully, when the name York Cathedral was used among what we saw as a chronicle of basic errors in a new video featuring the ancient capital.

It was sandwiched among other howlers like renaming Clifford's Tower Clifford Tower, and the Golden Fleece pub is shown as "one of the many fine churches in York."

Now we are told on high authority that use of the name York Cathedral by the video producers wasn't really wrong. No less than the Rev Canon Toy wrote to us saying: "The video may have other errors but calling it York Cathedral is NOT one of them.

Minster is the name that has become very popular in this century, but it is not the official name and York Cathedral is perfectly correct."

So, who is the Rev Canon John Toy? Well, he's the Chancellor of... York Minster, according to his letter-head. Well, yes, says Mr Toy. "Minster" is the genuinely recognised name in the 20th century, so it is on the letterhead.

"But its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York. It was shortened to Minster in the 20th century."

When Kitchin didn't like the pressure he decided to get out into the heat.

But by uprooting from Malton to emigrate to South Africa York-born builder Rodney Kitchin didn't vanish into obscurity.

Millions of GMTV viewers in Britain saw him live, well and relatively wealthy on a sun-drenched beach in a live broadcast from Cape Town.

While relaxing at Camps Bay he told interviewer Eamonn Holmes, who this week has been enjoying the Republic's summer sunshine, that he sold his flat in Malton about four years ago for £100,000.

Now he is an estate agent and has his own three bedroom house with swimming pool and servant - and life couldn't be better.

But among the millions who did not watch because they knew nothing about the random interview were Rodney's parents. - dad, retired solicitor, Hugh Kitchin, formerly of Cowling. Swift & Kitchin in Blake Street, York, and his mum, Marian.

Mr Kitchin senior was delighted and planned to phone his 55-year-old son.

But he was a little puzzled about Rodney's sale of the flat.

"I thought he rented it out," he said. Whatever, if the price was £100,000 then it would have virtually made Rodney an instant Rand millionaire at the rate of exchange of 9.56 Rands to the pound.

But it still wouldn't have been enough to buy anything up to the usual standards in the surfers' haven of Camps Bay today, where the average selling price of a home is around R1,639,352 or £171,480.

I found that out because the only surfing we're capable of doing here is on the internet...

What an irony would arise should Phil Willis, Harrogate's Liberal Democrat MP, be chosen to succeed his leader Paddy Ashdown when he steps down in June.

The four-day Liberal Conference is already booked to be held at Harrogate International Centre from September 19.

But before Mr Willis will be able to address his first major rally as leader he would first have to declare his interest as chairman of the board of the HIC, a role he takes very seriously.

Just how seriously is illustrated by the luncheon he hosted for 14 guests in one of the Member's dining rooms at the Palace of Westminster last week.

His guests included top management staff at HIC plus organisers of national associations like the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, the Royal Town Planning Institute and Shell International.

He urged them to consider the Harrogate venue for their national, European and international conferences and exhibitions over the next five years.

It was a blatant marketing ploy by the MP and one with which Paul Lewis, HIC director, Stuart Mackay, head of marketing and sales, and John Wood, business development manager, were naturally delighted even though the HIC foot the bill.

It was a brave act. A male model deliberately exposed himself on Granada Television's Richard and Judy Show in the name of health this week.

Breakfast viewers watched a doctor exploring the exposed area for vital, lumpy signs of testicular cancer. Were we offended? Were we heck.

Many phoned in to the studio to applaud this small screen first. Only Pippa Baker, one of Granada's press assistants, was embarrassed, when she suddenly realised what she had told me: "Everyone thought they handled it very well."

Pin-up chef James Martin and Watchdog presenter Alice Beer were spotted shopping together in Malton after their flirty appearance on Celebrity Ready Steady Cook last week.

The pair seemed to be getting along famously on TV, despite losing out to chef Lesley Waters and American singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka in the contest to come up with a meal in minutes.

A friend of bandana-wearing James's parents suspects something could be cooking on the romantic front.

The friend contacted one of Turpin's partners in crime in Ryedale after spotting James and Alice in Malton Market Place last Saturday.

No surprises that James was showing her around Malton. It's his stomping ground.

At the tender age of eight he cooked for the Howard family and the Queen Mother at Castle Howard, the stately home run by his dad, Ian at the time.

He trained at Scarborough Technical College and was head chef at Hotel du Vin and Bistro at Winchester by the time he was 22, when he wasn't dabbling in male modelling.

Our reliable source described seeing James chatting away on a mobile telephone while the delightful Alice, looking splendid in a pair of brown leather trousers, carried the shopping bags.

23/01/99

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.