Richard skyped with us from his home in Edinburgh, Scotland. We were ready to ask him the questions we had prepared for the interview but he immediately started telling us about how he met Jim and all the amazing adventures they went through together during the 1950s and the 1960s…
“I met Jim during the Edinburgh Festival in 1957 by accident. He and I were together in a play called “Corruption”, which was a fantastic success during the Fringe. I was with my dear wife and her sister, and Jim liked to look at my wife’s sister. I could see him, we were sitting on the same row and I could see him looking towards us. When the play had finished and we moved beyond the entrance to the church, in the Royal Mile, the medieval main street in Edinburgh, we were amazed. Because on these days there were no motorcars anywhere. The world was a much safer place without motorcars! Anyway, he had a motorcar!! He had a black Volkswagen Beetle, tiny little car. And I’ll never forget him driving up beside us as we walked up the Royal Mile after that play and I will never forget his words, they’re engraved in my mind!… ‘Hello. Can I give you, folks, a ride?‘”
Thanks Richard for such an amazing interview. We couldn’t stop laughing listening to all your stories!
Jim and Richard at 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Richard Demarco and Jim Haynes
(from the Demarco Archives)
Meeting Jim 