Are You Watching Cyril?
Vague Shot is a horse I own and he goes by the nickname of Cyril. He is known for winning the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot in 1987 under top weight in heavy going. He did have the advantage of carrying the best jockey, who ever rode for C or myself, Steve Cauthen. Sadly, we didn’t own the horse at that time and only acquired him later in the year.
A few years later he ran in the first race at Royal Ascot, the Queen Anne Stakes. He wasn’t expected to do well, but we did have a good day out.
I do remember that day, that he was saddled by Julie, Sir Henry Cecil‘s first wife. C commented her on her amazing jacket and Julie said that she’d got it for a few pounds in an Oxfam shop. C approved, especially as it was so good.
Incidentally, Vague Shot is now 29 and happily turned out in a field at the stud I still own and am trying to sell.
This year’s race incidentally was a procession, won by the best horse in the world, Frankel, who is trained by Sir Henry Cecil.
I used to think that Brigadier Gerard was the best horse, I’ve seen either in real life or on television. He now must be rated the best horse, I’ve only seen in black and white. I can still hear Peter O’Sullevan calling out “Here comes the Brigadier!” on the television commentary. Some years ago, I had the pleasure of talking to Joe Mercer, who rode Brigadier Gerard in his races, at a time when I think Xaar was being touted as the greatest. Joe still thought in his heart then that Brigadier was the best. If he still favours the Brigadier, it will be because of this incident.
The Sunday prior to the Brigadier’s third race of the season (at Royal Ascot) Mercer flew to France in a small plane with three others. Soon after take-off the plane crashed and luckily Mercer was thrown clear. He rushed back to the plane and pulled out the trainer Bill Marshall. He could not get the pilot out of the wreckage and gave up trying just before the plane went exploded. Unsurprisingly Mercer was shaken up and there was talk that he would not take the ride on the Brigadier on the first day of Royal Ascot. After taking a day off Mercer declared himself fit to ride on the Tuesday of Royal Ascot and he lined up on Brigadier Gerard for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. As it was the Brigadier gave one of his most stunning displays beating a field which included the future Irish Derby winner, Steel Pulse, effortlessly. Unlike other runs Mercer reported that the horse did not pull as much as usual. However Mercer felt unwell after the race and did not ride again at the meeting or for the next week.
Joe Mercer was reported at the time to have said something like, the horse did it all himself. There’s a video of it here on YouTube.
A Note For Those On The Other side of the World
The BBC is streaming their coverage of Royal Ascot on the web.
It’s a long way for all those pixels to go.
In Search of Small Waists
The BBC’s web site today is verging into dangerous territory this morning, with a serious article called the re-re-re-rise of the corset. The article is in their magazine, so comments are not allowed, so we will not see the opinions of both fetishists and feminists.
The article does say that sales are on the rise.
But sales figures suggest ordinary people are turning to one of the greatest symbols of the Victorian era. Corsets are making a comeback.
Rigby & Peller, the Queen’s brassiere-maker, says sales of traditional corsets in May were 45% up on 2011.
Ebay has reported a 185% rise in the number of corsets being sold over the last three months, with 1,900 listed over the period. It says most corsets are bought in the UK (40%), the US (34%) and Australia (8.6%).
Many women aspire to Marilyn Monroe’s hourglass figureMarks & Spencer says it sells one item from its new corset-inspired Waist Sculpt lingerie line every three minutes.
The article then goes on to discuss why, which includes a comment by Liberty Sweet of the Folly Mixtures.
On a personal level, I always believed that C’s small waist was one of her physical characteristics, that attracted me to her. I could have probably made my hands touch round her waist, when we got married in 1968.
She never actually wore a corset, but she did wear a basque at times, especially after she had her brush with breast cancer, as she felt a proper fitting basque, gave her more support after the operation. In one instance, having a basque in her holiday suitcase, actually saved the day at a New Year’s Eve ball in Venice.
Where Is Bill Mclaren?
The events at Queen’s yesterday needed Bill McLaren, as there was as he would say a spot of “Argy-Bargy”.
Just as some great sportsmen live on in peoples’s minds because of what they did, some great commentators live on because of what they said.
A Dunking Biscuit for Coeliacs
I have found that Waitrose’s new gluten-free ginger biscuits dunk well.
A Dunking Biscuit for Coeliacs
My mother and my late wife, C, would be horrified at the picture. Dunking was not for polite society!
But my mother would have been pleased that I’ve stopped biting my nails, which C knew anyway.
Back to the Eighties
In The Times today, Lord Mandelson is reported as saying that the Unions are taking the Labour Party back to the 1980s.
It certainly seems to me that the two organisations are not singing from the same hymn sheet.
I doubt in this country, there has ever been any strike, that has ever achieved all its objectives. Some small ones might, but in most cases the threat of strike action ends up with a positive result and usually for all parties concerned.
An MRi Scan in Harley Street
The doctors are trying to get to the bottom of why my heart doesn’t push as hard as it might.
So on Saturday lunchtime, I found myself in The Heart Hospital round the corner from Harley Street for an MRi scan. The hospital has an interesting history having been refurbished at one time as a private heart hospital. Some of the expensive fittings show this.
Now it is part of UCLH and it was a very efficient procedure, as a cardiologist checked my heart with the machine.
I think the whole story shows how only the NHS can afford really expensive machines, but they must make the assets sweat.
My only complaint was the usual NHS one, of magazines that were fairly out of date. But hey who cares? I waited with a man, who had brought his wife in for something much more serious than I am suffering from. He was much better company than last year’s Hello.
It was also a simple bus ride without any changes from the stop at the end of my road.
Professional Theft – Dutch Footballers at Euro 2012
They have definitely underperformed in this tournament, as they are ranked fourth in the World at the moment.
I wonder what the man on the Amsterdam Omnibus is saying?
Professional Theft – PIP Breast Implants
It has been reported that Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS medical director has looked in to the sub-standard breast implants supplied by French company PIP and has said that despite their double-than-normal failure rate, they did not appear to be linked with increased levels of cancer.
It would appear that where the NHS is concerned, the organisation has offered to remove any implants it made, but the problem in England lies with the 95 % of women, who had the operation done privately.
I’ll give an example here. Suppose I had taken my Jaguar to an approved dealer after the air-conditioning pump had failed and it had been replaced by a sub-standard import, non-approved part. If I’d have noticed this, I’d have asked the dealer to replace it with the approved part at no charge and I suspect that Jaguar would have backed up my demand.
The NHS seems to be fulfilling its similar obligations, but many private clinics seem to be washing their hands of the whole thing. Surely, to use a sub-standard part and probably charge for the kosher one is theft. I call this professional theft, where the customer is milked by a professional, who should know better.
And when the report from Professor Keogh doesn’t take a robust attitude to those of his profession, who didn’t put the best interest of the patients first and insist they replace the offending implants, some might think he is putting the doctors before the patients.
In my view these women should have their implants removed and replaced and those done outside the NHS, should be paid for by the skimping clinics and doctors involved.
The Emirates Air-Line Opens On June 28th
It has been announced that the new cable-car in East London will open on the 28th of June.
I shall be there with a camera.
Can I use it on my Freedom Pass? I’ve now heard the answer is no! But I can see their reasoning, as otherwise pensioners would treat it as a free ride in a theme – park.
The Anonymous Widower 