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Back To Basics Weekend
Sunday 16th September 2001
 

Holywell Music Room

After the buffet lunch we made our way back into the centre of Oxford and to the Holywell Music Room. Here we were lucky enough to attend a concert given by the Adderbury Ensemble who have appeared in several episodes of Inspector Morse in some cases playing in concert settings and in one case busking at Oxford station! Simon Lewis welcomed the audience and in particular the Inspector Morse Society, explaining that it was unusual to hold concerts in the afternoon and that this one was down to a certain amount of persuasion from Antony.

We were treated to a recital of Haydn and Dvorak which was beautifully played and rapturously received by the audience. We were delighted to have heard such a magnificent ensemble perform and it had an extremely relaxing effect on all of us (especially Antony who fell asleep).

Tesco Use Morse In the Petrol Theft Wars!
 

Supermarket giants, Tesco, have recently revealed that they have been using the theme tune from Inspector Morse in trials designed to prevent people driving away from their garage forecourts without stopping to pay for their petrol. The trials concluded that whilst music from Inspector Morse (and indeed other police classics such as the Bill and the Sweeney) are played quietly over the tannoy the number of ‘drive offs’ is reduced by anything up to a third.

‘We think it triggers something in people which makes then think twice before driving off without paying,’ said Tesco spokesman Russell Craig. Psychologists have long stated that music can have a subliminal affect on people whether they appear to be consciously listening to it or not. John Slobboda, a member of the British Psychological Society said: ‘Music is capable of carrying subliminal messages which will influence the behaviour of people … If they hear music associated with the police they are less likely to indulge in criminal activity’. Tesco will shortly be adopting the scheme in their some three hundred nationwide stores. Whether it will have the same conclusive effect as it did in the trial period remains to be seen. Many have their doubts, including university student and regular Tesco customer, Gwyn Richards, who yesterday commented that some of his finest criminal acts had been carried out shortly after perusing episodes of the Bill.