Sitting in his sunny living-room overlooking a sun-dappled canal, white-haired Frank Bagnall’s mind goes back to the cells at the Old Bailey, where, (if they had the money), he would cater in some style for the prisoners.
‘Reggie and Ronnie Kray ate very well,’ Frank remembers. ‘And when Dr.John Bodkin-Adams was there, being tried over that old ladies business in Eastbourne, I looked after him. Dr.Bodkin-Adams enjoyed a good burgundy and asked for a bottle to go with his beef; but I had to refuse him. Prisoners could not have wine with their meals - only the judges dining upstairs were able to do that.’
But the determined doctor didn’t give up easily. He even had his solicitor make a special application, but it was knocked back.
Frank Bagnall, catering manager for a subsidiary of Trust Houses Forte, had responsibility for the City of London, including the Old Bailey -- where he had his headquarters - the Royal College of Physicians and the various livery halls.
A burly six feet tall and 65, Frank now lives on the Queensland Gold Coast (sometimes dubbed God’s waiting-room for its population of sun-loving retirees). He loves cooking. ‘I go out and find three kilograms of beef on special so have to give a party to eat it.’ He gave a private, black-tie dinner party the other night for 60 guests to celebrate his birthday. Ladies turned up in tiaras and the splendidly-attired host served the best French champagne, sherries, Italian whites and vintage reds. ‘I had a menu the Queen allowed me to have when I catered for her silver wedding party; she instructed a secretary to give it to me. They were very rare copies.’
The Central Criminal Court judges he served, ate very well. ‘There is a luncheon every day, hosted by the Sheriff, who entertains the judges, their associates and the Clerk of Courts. It is very grand - with cocktails and martinis to start, and good wines - but light food, because the judges still have to go back to work. We always had turtle soup on one day of the week, it was a tradition. And the judges liked lamb cutlets one day, with sole on a Friday.
‘The Sheriff of the City of London is doing his sort of apprenticeship before he becomes Lord Mayor and he has to be able to afford to entertain. We had the President of the United States one day as guest, and after the Queen, Princess Alexandra.’ (One of the Royals particularly enjoys Bombay Gin and Frank’s livelihood depended on making sure it was always there). Surrounded by his art collection and the sun bouncing off the water outside, he says: ‘It seems such a long way away, doesn’t it?’
When he arrived in Sydney he believed he had a good chance of becoming catering manager for the spectacular new Opera House. He had been encouraged to apply. ‘I had references from Sir Hugh Wontner, the Queen’s Secretary, the Lord Chief Justice, the Leader of the Bar, and Claridges. But I didn’t get the job. It became obvious that nobody would employ me; I was over-qualified. I went to see the manager of a leading Sydney hotel about a minor position and he said: "No. The only job you could do would be mine and I am not about to leave." I protested that I only wanted the more humble position. "Yes, you can say that now," he replied. "But if I get somebody in with your experience you’ll have me out." ‘I was a threat to him.’
Frank’s advice for newly-arriving British migrants: ‘Say you’re Scots. Maybe it’s changed a bit since I arrived, but there is still the attitude in the English mind that we’ve come out here to teach the Aussies a thing or two; that the place is really England with sunshine. I had that attitude myself. Then I had to go to the other extreme and pretend I had no references, because they were in fact, an embarrassment. I still thought I could show them how to run their Opera House and maybe I could have done. I went there later and worked in a less important position. I came down in the world, in my eyes, anyway.
‘A lot of English people still have this sense of superiority; the old idea that Australians are all descended from convicts. Forget it.’
When the catering world declined to have him aboard, Frank opened a shop specialising in antiques and taught himself how to restore old chairs. ‘I enjoyed it enormously. Then I went to work for a Swiss hotelier who knew what he was doing and I loved being back in catering.’
He has an interest in a Gold Coast business and says he keeps the brain cells turning by entertaining. His grand dinner with assistant chef and five waiters had a string quintet playing background music, witty speeches and good conversation. He followed it with further parties in Sydney and Melbourne. Now he’s tempted to ‘do’ grand private luncheons professionally. ‘For people who recognise a bit of style.’
