He had quite often played entire evenings at out-of-town jazz clubs and been fast asleep throughout.”I tell you what, though,” he said. “Being a jazz musician, working nights and sleeping days, means that the best place in the world for me to go on holiday is Australia. When you fly to Australia, you are immediately acclimatised when you arrive – you’re awake by day and asleep by night.”Then he nodded off again. Yours, etc.From Jim WallrushSir, You might not think that jazz and cricket would mix very well, but Ronnie Scott took advantage of the terminology of jazz when he was bowling to communicate with his wicket-keeper and let him know what to expect.

Slow numbers in jazz are often called ballads, so if he was about to bowl his slow one, he would call out “Ballad coming up” Similarly, he might say “Up tempo” for a fast one. Occasionally he would whistle a tune which I recognised as one of Hoagy Carmichael’s old songs, though I couldn’t make out which. I asked our wicket-keeper if it meant anything to him.”That’s Hong Kong Blues,” he said. “Means he’s going to try a Chinaman.”This didn’t always work.

I remember once he was hit all over the ground by one batsman, who turned out to be a local drummer and could understand everything Ronnie was trying to keep secret. After he had hit him for three successive boundaries, the drummer said, “Keep swapping fours, shall we, eh, Ronnie?” I don’t know what it meant, but it didn’t best please Ronnie. Yours etc.From Mr Bobby RandellSir, The only time I ever met Ronnie Scott, he wasn’t there. I had been asked to turn out for a cricket team called the All Star Jazz XI, and one of the reasons I agreed to play was that Ronnie Scott, whom I had never met, was playing in the team. Well, none of the players looked very much like him so I said to the bloke beside me in the slips, who was a young guy, that I had hoped to meet Ronnie Scott.”Well, you won’t today,” he said “He’s gone off to play in another cricket match. He sent me in as a dep.”And do you know, it turned out that all 11 of us were deps! Well, that’s jazz for you Or do I mean cricket? Yours, etc..

The European Union is to urge the new Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, to take swift and aggressive steps to overhaul the organisation’s sprawling web of departments, agencies and specialised funds, if necessary merging some with each other and eliminating others altogether. The proposals, that have emerged from months of debate between EU governments most recently at foreign minister level, are contained in a 25-page memorandum obtained by The Independent. The document will be presented today to Maurice Strong, the Canadian industrialist who was appointed by Mr Annan at the weekend to bring together an overall reform package.
While the memorandum, which is still classified, is far-reaching in its suggestions for change, it contains repeated warnings that reform at the UN should not be equated with cutting the organisation’s budget. The references are meant to put distance between the EU and those voices in the United States, most of them Republican, seeking to use the reform exercise to strip away UN resources. “The reform of the United Nations is not about cost-cutting,” it insists.In what promises to be a critical week, Mr Annan tomorrow begins a visit to Washington, where he will meet for the first time as Secretary General with President Bill Clinton and members of the Congress. Mr Annan must try to persuade members of Congress of his commitment to reform while convincing them to release the more than $1bn in late payments due the UN from the US.Mr Annan hopes to have a complete package of reform proposals ready by the summer.