My Yorkshire: Broadcaster Paul Allen

What’s your first Yorkshire memory?

Coming up to Sheffield in the late autumn of 1966, to meet a girl who I had encountered while at college in Oxford. She was training to be an occupational therapist, and some friends and I had met her and her friends, and we were forever calling around to their flat for coffee. Then she invited me north, and spent a long time telling me how beautiful the countryside around Sheffield was. When I arrived, a thick fog had descended, and I didn’t see a thing for all of the weekend. I was constantly being told “You can’t see it, but it is really lovely over there”. Oh, by the way, we married a year later, and we are still together, Penny and I. We always thought that we would return South somewhere – we never did. Nor, today, are we likely to.

What’s your favourite part of the county – and why?

I really do like South Yorkshire, and looking along the Loxley Valley north-west of Sheffield and into the Peak District. And I also have a really soft spot for Scarborough. Everyone at some point in their lives should take the train to Scarborough, and savour the experience – a sensation of sea air and vinegar. And I love Upper Wharfedale, too, with all the little valleys leading off the big one.

What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

A long walk somewhere in the Dales, or maybe a trip to Scarborough, with – maybe – a quick dip in that icy North Sea. And then a nice late lunch and a couple of tickets to the theatre, the Stephen Joseph. The SJT and The Crucible are two of my favourite theatres anywhere. Or, if I couldn’t get to the coast, a trip to the Bradfield Farmer’s Brewery, just up the road. They’ve diversified into a becoming a micro-brewery operation, and their Farmer’s Bitter is superb.

Do you have a favourite walk – or view?

Yes, from the top of Derwent Edge. If you look west you can see Kinder Scout, and if you look east, you are looking into the very heart of Sheffield. On a clear day, it is superb, and the contrasts are amazing.

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take for lunch?

Sir Len Hutton, because he became the first player to captain England at cricket, as opposed to all his predecessors, who were all of the player and gentleman breed in those hierarchical days. I rather suspect he would have had to temper his Pudsey accent – among many other things. I’d love to unpick his experiences, one by one.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take for dinner?

I think that you’d get the most fun with Maureen Lipman, don’t you? For my money she is the funniest woman in Britain.

If you had to name your Yorkshire “hidden gem”, what would it be?

I’d go for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. There it is, just off the M1, and not enough people make the decision to follow the signposts and discover its delights.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

The Yorkshire folk, of course, no question. As someone who is not a native (I was born in Canterbury, in Kent), you are regarded with – perhaps – a little scepticism, and everything you do is examined pretty closely. It’s a fresh start every time. I like that, because it never let’s you get complacent, or stale. I love the creative feel to the county, at every level – that’s unique in the UK, I think. So much is going on – did you know that there are more artists per square metre in Sheffield than in any other area except London?

Do you follow sport in the county, and if so, what?

I have been known to attend the odd match at Bramhall Lane, and in fact I was at the very last cricket match played there as well. I’m going to confess that I follow my home county of Kent at cricket, rather than that of my adoptive turf. Naughty, I know, but some loyalties never die.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

I am a huge fan of the Kelham Arms in Sheffield, who have rightly garnered themselves many awards, but the pub I love is The Dog and Partridge in Trippet Lane. It’s also an award-winner, and the best Irish pub in the north of England. It was run for years by Frank and Ann Flynn, and Frank is sadly no longer with us. The wonderful Ann is still very much a presence. I went in there when I first arrived in the city, and I am still going back. They might even allow me to call myself a regular soon.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

The Ranmoor Deli in Sheffield, which is run by Attilio and Wendy. I could spend hours in there, and much of what they serve is beautifully home made. Attilio even introduced me to the work of a Genoese dialect poet that he thought I might like, and what a wonderful discovery that was. The poems are deceptively simple and elegant. Poetry from a deli – who’d have thought it?

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it?

Well, it is certainly much more mixed and diverse, which is excellent. But when I came here Sheffield was reliant on one industry and one industry only, and that is no longer (sadly) the case, so many jobs have been lost. But I also appreciate the way that people have used ingenuity to tackle unemployment. The Full Monty was said by some to be pretty negative – it wasn’t. It was about a group of men saying “Look we have something to sell, let’s get on with it”. In the late Sixties, when I first knew the city, you couldn’t go out and eat after about 9.00pm, and the choice was very narrow. Now you can enjoy food from all over the world and from so many cultures at just about any time of day.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

Henry Moore, who was (is) a great world-standard artist, and whose work is displayed to huge effect in the Sculpture Park.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

Absolutely and totally, in every field that I have attempted. Listening to the local people talk and express ideas and opinions has been hugely informative and enriching – doing Brassed Off for the stage was meat and drink to me.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.

Anything, absolutely anything by Sir Alan Ayckbourn. One of the greatest joys of my life is going to see one of his plays, settling down into a seat, and watching the mastercraftsman’s words being spoken by fine actors. You know that you are going to be part of something that you’ve not experienced before, and that you will emerge enriched. He’s now written well over 70 plays, and when one was revived in New York recently, he was feted as a “newcomer”, which he thought was very amusing. And, by the way, he is a genuinely charming, self-effacing, man.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be?

I would take them to any pub within throat-clearing distance of Barnsley or Rotherham, buy them a good pint, and then I’d say “Now, just sit, and listen”. They’d learn more about life and the way of the world in a couple of hours than they would ever think possible.