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December 09, 2002

On the 6th day of

On the 6th day of Chanukah-

...so two mornings ago I had to be in Stamford Hill, near Clapton Junction for 9.30am location shoot or a BBC 2 food programme, in which I'd be dressed as Jesus, our Lord and Saviour... as I blindly got on the train at Watford Junction, it was only when I got out at Clapham Junction station that I realised I really should pay a little more attention to directions...a race across London ensued...
...I arrived at the location just in time, leapt into costume, had a beard and moustache and long hair stuck on (ah, memories) and the slightly concerned Director pointed out to me that 'there is an Orthodox Jewish Community here and this might cause some problems'. I replied (from beneath my Yoshki get up) that as an Orthodox Jew, I'll guarantee there won't be any problems.
Firstly, it's unlikely that any of the local Hasidim are aware of populist Jesus icons, and if we're questioned I'll just speak to them in Hebrew and tell them we're doing some Biblical film (although I might well have been mugged for speaking modern Hebrew and not Yiddish, it didn't seem apt to mention it at the time).
So we started filming the brief little segment and lots of little bespectacled faces are peering out from curtains across the street, and as one bearded and be-hatted cousin walked past I called out 'Chanukah Sameach!' ('happy chanukah'). That shut him up good and proper.
What better way to spend the first day of the winter hols from drama school?!