It’s like the eponymous buses scenario.
You wait for one Capital of Culture story to come along, and then three trundle down the road together.
And what made it more annoying was that they seemed to have waited until I took a week’s holiday to do it!
First came the news that the 2008 highlights will be announced on November 6. Well, to be fair I’d already got wind of this anyway and it was in my diary - whether the announcement will live up to the great expectations is another matter.
At least one theatre boss has told me that while they have got a lot of commissions out there, they simply don’t have enough pinned down ‘on my desk’ to be able to make a grand pronouncement come November 6.
They did, however, say that following a meeting of the cultural big boys (think the Phil, the Tate, the Playhouse etc) last week, they were reassured the programme for Capital of Culture year was going to be pretty memorable.
The second piece of news is that Culture Company chairman Drummond Bone looks like he is on the way out.
Silver-haired Bone has fingers in more pies than Little Jack Horner, but never seems to stay in one place for more than a handful of years.
He has been vice-chancellor of Liverpool Uni since 2002. Before that he was principal of my old alma mata, Royal Holloway College in London, and pro-vice-Chancellor of the University of London.
Ironically perhaps, given the criticism he got last month for not providing the inspirational leadership Capital of Culture needs, the Prof was also dean of arts at Glasgow University when it was European City of Culture in 1990.
And lastly, there is the news the Culture Company is due to replace Robyn Archer.
Hmmm.
We are assured the replacement won’t be an artistic director, with the autonomy la Archer enjoyed while she circled the globe, but an artistic coordinator.
Still, what’s in a title? More prescient is what’s in the pay packet. How much are we expected to fork out this time - not just for the new post but for the headhunting firm tasked with tracking down a worthy candidate?
And secondly, how many candidates-of-calibre are wafting around waiting to make an emergency landing at John Lennon Airport in good time to be useful to Capital of Culture?
Questions are already being asked by councillors.
It’s going to be an interesting three months, and luckily I am out of annual leave.
