Author: Ian Louis Harris

Three Gentlemen Against Two, Two Brits & Fritz, Plus Appliance Of Science To Avoid The Inferno Of Another Blisteringly Hot Day At The Queen’s Club, 19 June 2025

Three On One Side Of the Net, Two On The Other

I was heavily sedated on the morning the LTA released tickets for the ATP event at The Queen’s Club this year; 11 February.

By the time I regained my compos mentis…to the extent that my mentis is ever truly compos…Pinky, my brand-new hip was in place, my non-functioning, organic right hip had gone…and so had most of the decent-looking seats for the ATP at Queen’s.

“No matter”, I thought, in what might have still been a drug-induced state of relaxed acceptance. Ground passes are just £30 a pop and I’m sure I’ll be able to get good seats for the Queen’s WTA tournament when they come out…which I did:

Hot Stuff At The Queen’s Club, WTA Quarter-Finals Day, 13 June 2025

This seemingly unfortunate timing turned out to be a jolly good thing, as Janie and I had a super day at Queen’s without “troubling the stewards” of the main Andy Murray Arena.

On Court One, which ground passes cover, there were to be two excellent looking doubles matches. Although I got very confused as to how many players we would actually see.

First Match: Three Gentlemen Against Two – Arévalo González & Pavić v Mektić & Venus

Marcelo Arévalo González: “There’s only one of me, you twit!”

The problem with modern trends away from the use of punctuation is that you can never be entirely sure where you stand.

Had the reading source I chose stated: “Arévalo-González & Pavić v Mektić & Venus” I’d have understood. I’d also have understood had they used the Oxford comma: “Arévalo González, & Pavić v Mektić, & Venus”. But in the absence of punctuation I assumed we would be seeing three gentlemen against two – which was, after all, a perfectly regular mode of tennis play in Baroque times…

Real Life Begins Around 1740: Delving Into The Previously Untold Story Of Tennis Champion Clergé

…and which I thought might explain why Arévalo González & Pavić are the top ranked team in the world at the moment.

Anyway, the scoreboard on Court One was quite clear that we were to see “Arévalo & Pavić v Mektić & Venus, so it was not a complete surprise when only four players emerged.

Nikola Mektić & Michael Venus

Mate Pavić

The Appliance Of Science To Avoid The Inferno

A pair of shady customers in the small, western stand of Court One

Inspired by Galileo’s mathematical/geometric analysis of Dante’s Inferno, as explained in the previous evening’s Gresham lecture…

Gresham Society’s Journey To The Underworld, AGM & Gresham College Provost’s Lecture, 18 June 2025

…I did some complex geometrical analysis of my own, ahead of setting off to Queen’s, to ascertain which area on Court One was likely to be in the shade the earliest.

Until my treatise has been peer-reviewed I shall not be disclosing my methods. Suffice it to say that my theory played out in practice, which was a real blessing on such a hot day.

Janie and I took turns to go out and refill the water bottles and/or get some iced coffee. We also scoffed our smoked salmon bagels with impunity, once we were in the shade, soon after 14:00.

The young stewards on and around Court One were very friendly and also very helpful.

It was rather a long wait for the second match of the day on Court One; Jacob Fearnley needed to finish his singles match and rest a while before it could start. But from our point of view waiting around in the shade was well worth it, not least because we had spent a full day at Queen’s the week before during the WTA, so had no great desire to look around the exhibition stands.

Second Match: Two Brits & Fritz

Those helpful young stewards started to “advertise” the impending doubles match to inquisitive passers-by as “two Brits & Fritz”. I wondered whether we were to see two gentlemen against one – otherwise known as Canadian Doubles.

Two Brits & Fritz: Taylor Fritz, Jacob Fearnley & Cameron Norrie

After all, but for the unfortunate absence of Señor González earlier in the day, we’d have seen three gentlemen against two, so this sort of made sense.

Eustace Miles, Victorian/Edwardian multiple Queen’s champion, doyen of tennis, rackets and much much more

Further, Eustace Miles much preferred playing tennis two against one if he could not play singles

As a variation, the Three-handed Game is good. One
of the best Matches I have ever had was at Boston,
when I played against Messrs. Fearing and Stockton.
They have practised together as a pair again and
again, and they probably form the best working pair
and combination of all amateurs. It was capital exercise,
and I cannot imagine anything more enjoyable.
But I can count on my fingers the Four-handed Games
that I have enjoyed.

Eustace Miles, Racquets, Tennis & Squash, 1903, p269

Yet, when the players emerged, Taylor Fritz brought Jiri Lehecka with him, perhaps attempting an element of surprise or ambush.

Had Team GB doubles coach Louis Cayer been nobbled?

Clearly Daisy had been taken by surprise

Cam Norrie above, Jacob Fearnley below

Surprise package Jiri Lehecka looks super-fit

Two Brits, Steak & Fritz

But the Brits were not to be outflanked. An excellent win for Messrs Fearnley and Norrie – they could be a formidable doubles pairing should they choose to persevere with their partnership, we both felt.

We avoided the crush at Barons Court Station by walking away the long way around and stopping for a couple of games of table tennis before heading for the exit.

The ground pass thing was very different from any day Janie and I have spent at the tennis before, but still a most enjoyable, relaxing day. Maybe I should try being sedated on the day that LTA tickets are released more often.

Looking and feeling sedate is SO hip.

Gresham Society’s Journey To The Underworld, AGM & Gresham College Provost’s Lecture, 18 June 2025

The irony of the Gresham Society AGM being held underground in the basement meeting room of Barnard’s Inn Hall, ahead of the Provost’s lecture entitled, Galileo’s Journey to the Underworld: The Case for Interdisciplinary Thinking, was not wasted on me.

Under normal circumstances, The Gresham Society AGM is held in the early evening, followed by a dinner. Indeed, last time, I ended up being the “guest” performer…I mean, speaker:

Singing…Or In This Case Speaking… For My Supper, Gresham Society AGM & Dinner, Guildhall, 11 March 2024

Obviously the Society couldn’t go through all that again, so they opted for high tea and some very interesting updates from the new top team at Gresham College: Professor Robert Allison, Professor Sarah Hart & Richard Smith. All had very interesting things to day.

Bob Allison, in particular, teased us with a potted academic biography – basically he is a geographer with expertise in landfalls and stuff like that – so what is the connection between that discipline and his accidental occasional career as an expert witness in high-profile murder cases? We managed to winkle out some intriguing answers.

There should be at least one Gresham lecture in those fascinating topics, although Bob show’s some reluctance, as Chairman, to step up to the Gresham College podium himself.

Tim Connell thought he was doing a smart thing by peppering the AGM material with the updates from the college top team, making it impossible for me to do my usual thing of timing the AGM itself and challenging Tim’s assertion that he can get the main business done in less than 10 minutes.

That was a shame, because I suspect that on this occasion Tim really did keep the substantive business down to less than 10 minutes. Tim missed a sitter by dodging the time & motion aspect.

Tim Connell missing a sitter on our visit to the Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court in September 2023.

By the time we emerged from the Barnard’s In Hall underworld, after some high tea and further chat, the early evening was cool enough for some pleasant further chat in the courtyard before attending the Provost’s lecture. Most but not all of the attendees for the meeting stayed for the lecture, but some were unable to do so.

Professor Sarah Hart’s lecture was absolutely fascinating. If you missed it live, you can still of course see it. Indeed, if you visit the Gresham College website you can see lectures going back into the dim and distant past; even the couple that I gave “back in the day”.

Here is a link to Sarah Hart’s lecture on that site – Galileo’s Journey to the Underworld: The Case for Interdisciplinary Thinking – or you can watch the YouTube embed below:

An Antipodes Fest At Lord’s, 11 to 14 June 2026

In an unusual act of punctuality, King Cricket published my (Ged Ladd’s) write up of the four days I spent at Lord’s enjoying the ICC World Test Championship Final between Australia and South Africa, amongst other leisurely pursuits.

Pretty much everything I want to say about that match is included in that article.

Tennises, Black Caps and tie envy at the World Test Championship Final | a match report

Just in case misfortune should ever befall the King Cricket site, that page can also be read from this scrape.

And if my any chance you were hoping to learn what actually happened in the match, click here for the Cricinfo resources on that.

Hot Stuff At The Queen’s Club, WTA Quarter-Finals Day, 13 June 2025

Feeling the heat

Squeezed between two days at Lord’s for the ICC World Test Championship final…and then another day at Lord’s for that final, I took a break from cricket at Lord’s by going to Queen’s for a day to watch tennis with Janie.

Friday 13 June turned out to be a very hot day indeed, which is potentially more problematic for us at Queen’s, where we had allocated seats in the sun, than at Lord’s, where I can pick and choose a bit more.

Still, we had a good time, not least because it was an excellent day of tennis.

This is the first time there has been a women’s tournament at this professional level since the early 1970s – i.e. a few months before I picked up a racket for the first time.

Anyway, more than fifty years after I lost my tennis virginity, we saw:

  • Madison Keys beat Diana Shnaider
  • Tatjana Maria beat Elena Rybakina
  • Qinwen Zheng beat Emma Raducanu
  • Amanda Anisimova beat Emma Navarro
Shnaider serving to Keys

I took one stroll mid match during the first match and checked out the facilities.

One of the “benefits” of a day at Queen’s rather than Lord’s is that I don’t expect to run into a cricketing colleague, friend or acquaintance every five yards or so. Yet, on leaving the Arena at Queen’s, within about five yards, I ran into Josh Knappett, who is my main Middlesex CC link in my capacity as Middlesex’s Trustee on the London Cricket Trust. Josh was even sporting an MCC hat. Always a pleasure to see Josh, of course, but it made both me and Janie laugh when I reported back to her on this chance encounter.

When you’re hot, you’re hot…

Less amusing was the heat and the crowds as we all left the arena at the end of the first match. I did suggest that we turn right rather than left on exit, but Janie spotted a “toilets” sign and got us caught up in heaving dead end misery at the club house end of the campus, where a fight nearly broke out (not us, I hasten to add). Some folk (again, not us) tank up with alcohol to add to the strain of the heat on such days.

Anyway, we changed tack and ended up at the less-heaving end of the campus, where we observed some fine players practicing and took some delicious iced coffee to cool ourselves down.

Above, Neal Skupski, below, Joe Salisbury

Amanda Anisimova practicing

We took advantage of some shade and air conditioning at the exhibition stand end of the ground before returning to see the end of the Maria v Rybakina match.

Above, Elena Rybakina, below, Tatjana Maria

Our smoked trout bagels (lovingly prepared by me in the morning before I went to the physiotherapist and the gym) were not going to eat themselves. I can faithfully report that they indeed did not eat themselves; we ate them. We also ate some hand-made crisps, cheese clouds pretzel thins, strawberries and grapes. Not all at once – throughout the afternoon and early evening.

Next up Qinwen Zheng (who now prefers to be known as Zheng Qinwen apparently) against Emma Raducanu.

We took a break during that match, for comfort and for a game of table tennis in the sponsors exhibition area. My new found stability and confidence transferred to table tennis, where I recorded a rare win over Janie.

Janie’s rage almost certainly knew no bounds at this juncture, but she did a grand job of behaving as if she was having a good time and cared not about the table tennis result.

Soon after our return to our seats, the penultimate match ended and the last match of the day began.

Above, Emma Navarro, below, Amanda Anisimova

After the first set, Janie looked up and said that her internal weather detector sensed rain approaching. Strangely, AccuWeather agreed, suggesting that we had some 40 minutes or so before the rain would start.

We decided, wisely I think, to leg it at that juncture, avoiding the heave at the gates and getting home in time to catch the end of the last match on the telly.

We’d had a grand day out.

At Lord’s With Daisy For A Middlesex v Sussex Double Header, 29 May 2025

Intelligence radiating off his face…

Daisy likes these Lord’s double-headers, where you get a nice, reasonably quiet women’s match in the afternoon, followed by an increasingly noisy and boozy men’s match in the evening. The Hundred is her preferred choice of such double-headers, following a confusing experience in 2023, watching Sunrisers in May, as reported 18 months later on King Cricket:

Sunrise without enlightenment – a Sunrisers v South East Stars match report

This year, the women’s team has reverted to being Middlesex Women, so the idea of a Middlesex double-header of Middlesex v Sussex made a bit more sense and attracted us to attend.

Naturally Daisy’s favourite sun deck was the location of choice. Naturally we brought lashings of ginger beer with us and resolved to make a meal of the Long Room Bar Baps and salad (gammon again, seeing as you were going to ask).

Unlike Daisy, I prepared for this event inadequately, by assuming that at least one of my Middlesex caps was in my Middlesex bag. Neither of them were. In need of head protection, and with Daisy having doubled-up in the head gear department, I tried to look sensible in Daisy’s floppy hat.

In truth, I was struggling to look sensible in that hat.

Eventually I gave up trying to look sensible in that hat:

Middlesex Women dealt out a thrashing to Sussex Women, in truth. Click here for the scorecard.

I took a stroll between matches – firstly to move the car and then around the ground, which took a long time as I ran into lots of people I knew – some regular friends from Lord’s but also, somewhat surprisingly, Andy Shindler.

We enjoyed our grub between the two matches. So much so that we didn’t even photograph each other eating the food. Older people like us just don’t get the entire purpose of eating out – which is to photograph the event and show your so-called friends that you know how to eat.

Almost identical grub from the social whirl of June 2024

As the place started to fill up for the men’s match, Daisy became less enthralled and more aware of it being a bit chilly. After about half-an-hour, it became quite obvious to us which way the match was likely to go and we resolved to catch the end of it on the TV when we got home…which we did.

The scorecard looks like this.

In Other Words by Matthew Seager, Arcola Theatre, 24 May 2025

Whose “bright” idea was it to book a play about dementia and stuff for a week after mother-in-law Pauline’s funeral – which was the closing scene of Pauline’s long, slow demise at the hands of that disease?

OK, so it was my idea. But, to be fair, the idea of seeing this piece had been brewing in my mind for some time, given that Lydia White was appearing in it.

Hitting The High Notes With Lydia White, 5 May 2020

After all, Lydia is my best mate John’s daughter and has been helping me to grapple with the shreds of my so-called singing voice for some five years now. Still, I had told John early in the year that I thought that the subject matter would be too close to the bone for Janie at this time and that the journey to the Arcola too far for my healing bones in May, just three months after my hip replacement.

Between February and April, though, the hip replacement went well and Ben Schwartz had coincidentally arranged to see this very show in Leicester – one of several stops on a tour scheduled to finish at The Arcola in London. When Ben reported back to me in April that the play, and Lydia, were the bees knees – (expressed with well-chosen, professional words to that effect) – I decided to book the show. I suggested to Janie that I’d go it alone on the Saturday matinee, while she was having her hair done. But so impressed was Janie with Ben’s informal review, she decided to move her hair appointment and join me.

That was on 16 April – about 12 hours before Pauline expired.

Still, coincidence followed coincidence when I told John that we’d be going along after all, as he reported back that he and Mandy would be at that matinee with several friends.

In Other Words…

“But what about the play and production?”, I hear frustrated readers cry.

It was excellent. The numerous four and five star reviews are well summarised on the Arcola website, along with lots of interesting materials about the play/production – click here.

Matthew Seager plays the male lead, as he has in previous productions of his play. He and Lydia certainly make this piece fly. [Insert your own joke here about the production flying to the moon or being a play among the stars].

Strewn with Frank Sinatra songs, it is the sort of play that could easily come across as mawkish or cloying, yet Seager somehow manages to avoid those pitfalls, while retaining warmth, humour and empathy. The fact that he spent a considerable amount of time working in care homes before writing this play might well have helped in that regard…as does an evident talent for playwriting of course.

Both performers did a great job of transforming their body language in a near instant, as the scenes move backwards and then forwards again in time. Matthew’s physical changes were the most profound ones, yet Lydia’s subtle transformations from lovestruck young woman to worn-down, middle-aged accidental-carer were in some ways even more impressive for their subtlety.

But then, I’m biased. After all, Lydia has almost managed to make an audible silk purse out of the sow’s ear that is my voice.

There is a scene during In Other Words in which Matthew’s character explains how bad he is at singing and demonstrates same with a bit of Sinatra. I asked Matthew after the show if Lydia had taught him how to feign singing that badly. Matthew’s reply:

“I didn’t need lessons – I really do sing badly”.

That answer was clear.

To be totally Frank with you…

Pinky’s First “Competitive” Tennis Match, The Dedanists’ Society v The Jesters Club At Queen’s, 23 May 2025

First Up: Jester, Anton, James & Peter

Far be it from me to pretend to be a Jester.  But this was a match at The Queen’s Club, so I am in the habit of representing various different teams there, regardless of whether I am actually a member of that club (e.g. MCC, The Dedanists’ Society) or not (e.g. The Queens Club itself, or, for this match, The Jesters Club).

In this instance, I wasn’t supposed to be playing at all. I had promised myself, and my surgeon, that Pinky, my brand-new hip, would be spared competitive matches and tournaments until the autumn. But when the call comes from Tony Friend, it’s difficult to say no…especially when he says, “feel free to say no”, in his “please help” tone of voice. 

Also, the call to play the kick-off rubber of this match, as a substitute Jester, could be construed as more like the friendly hours of doubles that I am now playing, than a fierce competitive bout. I said “yes”.

“Would you also be willing to write the match report please? …fully understand if not,” said Tony.

The gentle art of watching on: Anton, Patrick & Josh (above) – Peter, Jon, Tabby & Jez (below)

Had anyone present been paying attention to the scores, they would have seen a match that built to a tremendous climax.  First the Jesters took the lead, then the Dedanists’ clawed it back and took the lead, then the Jesters levelled the match again. After six rubbers, there had been two wins for each side and a couple of drawn rubbers. Naturally the final rubber went to a nail-biting one-set-all, five-games-all decider that was determined in favour of the Dedanists’ by a whisker.

James, Stuart, James & Paul. Did any of them know their rubber was determining the match?

But in truth, no-one was paying attention to the scores, other than a vague interest in the rubber that was in front of those indulging in the gentle art of watching tennis. Such is the way of matches such as this, between two peripatetic sides, with many players eligible for both teams and some, like me, representing the team for which they are not eligible.

The well-worn but suitable phrase on such occasions is that tennis was the winner. Several hundred pounds raised for the Dedanist’s Society, after a convivial afternoon and evening at Queen’s, playing & watching tennis, then dining and chatting with friends. Bliss.

Click here for a copy of the above report as it looks/looked on The Dedanists’ Society website when it was match report headline news.

Pinky’s First Theatre Trip: Personal Values by Chloë Lawrence-Taylor, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, 17 May 2025

Whose “bright” idea was it to book a play about family funerals, eulogies and stuff for the day after Pauline’s funeral?

OK, so it was my idea. But I had the idea to book this back in early March, not even three weeks after I came out of hospital with Pinky. Janie and I love the Hampstead Downstairs – I spotted that this play was only an hour long and that the production had Rosie Cavaliero playing the lead.

Back in the day, Rosie stormed NewsRevue with her performances, not least a cracking, seminal job with one of mine, Domestic Fuel, which became a NewsRevue classic…

Domestic Fuel, NewsRevue Lyric, 12 May 1993

…so I was keen to see her perform again after all these years. I booked the very last night of the run to give my hip sufficient time to repair ahead of a “cheek-to-cheek” hour on those Hampstead Downstairs pews.

While my mother-in-law Pauline’s demise this spring was not entirely a surprise, I could not have known in early March that she would die some six week’s later and that the funeral would be the day before we saw the play.

The timing could have been worse. Given the central conceits of the play revolving around funerals, eulogies and things going badly wrong for a family before during and after…I guess seeing this play the day BEFORE delivering Pauline’s eulogy might have terrified me. Whereas, seeing the play the day after simply reinforced my view that I had needed to write with care and deliver the eulogy with dignity:

My Eulogy To Pauline Wormleighton (1 July 1929 to 16 April 2025), Delivered 16 May 2025

Anyway, returning to Personal Values.

Here is a link to the Hampstead resources for this play/production.

All three members of the cast – Rosie Cavaliero was joined by Holly Atkins and Archie Christoph-Allen – performed admirably, directed well by Lucy Morrison. The set made excellent use of the limited space downstairs, creating a sense of the claustrophobic atmosphere in a home that has become a hoarding nightmare – we have Naomi Dawson to thank for that.

It is an excellent short play. The notion of someone getting emotionally stuck in their past reminded me a little of Kevin Elyot’s excellent plays My Night With Reg and The Day I Stood Still:

The Day I Stood Still by Kevin Elyot, Cottesloe Theatre, 24 January 1998

Except in Personal Values, the “stood still” syndrome manifests itself in an extreme hoarding disorder and the “syndrome” is family-originated rather than through romance and otherness.

We were left in no doubt as to the growing up era upon which the sisters were reflecting. Rosie’s one chance in the play to show off her ability to deliver a belter of a song was a pivotal scene, excellently done, when the sisters started singing and dancing to Temptation by Heaven 17:

It was preceded by some business, which amused me a lot, around a Casio keyboard which the Rosie character had put up for sale on E-Bay at the behest of her sister and then bought back from herself, because she couldn’t bear to part with it. When she demonstrated the instrument it had the Nightbirds (Shakatak) riff programmed into it:

So very early 1980s, both of those tracks. Mercifully, although I am prone to mentally and digitally hoarding this stuff, I am not tempted to rush out and secure those tracks on vinyl…or am I?

The reviews for Personal Values have mostly been terrific, deservedly so. Headline ones are shown on the Hampstead resource – here’s the link again.

If you want to do a deep dive into the reviews themselves, the search term linked here will initiate that dive for you.

Once again, the Hampstead Downstairs has done the business. Janie and I really like that place. And it’s great to be back at the theatre, even if, for the time being, limiting ourselves to short plays for Pinky’s sake.

My Eulogy To Pauline Wormleighton (1 July 1929 to 16 April 2025), Delivered 16 May 2025

Howard & Pauline, March 1954

Pauline Wormleighton led a long and turbulent life.  What do we, her surviving family, learn from that life, now that Pauline has died?    I have chosen three quotes that we might use as our lessons from Pauline.

Lesson One — Audrey Hepburn: “The most important thing is to enjoy your life — to be happy. It’s all that matters.”

Pauline, nee Wallen, was born 1 July 1929, a couple of months after Audrey Hepburn.  She doted on her absentee father Jack, but had a tempestuous relationship with her mother, Alice. Pauline was close to her older brother John, before he and his family emigrated to Australia, but couldn’t get along with her younger sister, Christine. 

Pauline was an unhappy evacuee teenager during the War, yet still learnt to excel at the arts (especially music) and languages.  She spoke Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, French and German.

I get a strong sense that Pauline sought enjoyment & happiness early in her life.

In the early 1950s, Pauline found glamorous, high-profile work in Europe as a social secretary; first for a Swedish industrialist, then for an eminent Portuguese medical family and thirdly,  1952-1953, for Prince Otto von Bismark, the Iron Chancellor’s grandson. 

Bismarks in Library: Otto, Leopold, Gunilla, Maximillian & Ann-Mari December 1953

A few years ago, Janie interviewed & noted Pauline’s memories of those early years – we’ll edit & post that material on-line sometime soon.

Bismark children above & staff below (Pauline right) October 1953

In January 1954, during a supposedly brief stop in England before starting work for Aristotle Onassis, Pauline met Howard Wormleighton.  Within 10 weeks, Pauline & Howard were married, while Aristotle was dumped. Let’s hope Aristotle took it philosophically.

Howard had been an heroic prisoner of the Japanese for most of the war; by 1954 he was going places as an insurance executive.  Despite worries that Howard & Pauline were unable to have children, in 1955 Hilary arrived and in 1956 twins; Phillipa and Jane. Pauline attributed this “miracle” to fertility charms that Howard brought her from his business travels in Central & South America.

Pauline with Hilary, Phillipa and Janie

Pauline and Howard had a happy marriage, initially in Willesden, near Pauline’s birth family, then in a large family house in Batchworth Lane.  Pauline used her social secretarial skills at home and on glamourous travels with Howard on business, while the girls were at boarding schools. 

In October 1978, while the couple were in Portugal on business, Howard collapsed and died, while Pauline’s long life was only half done.

Lesson Two – Henry Fielding: “If you make money your god, it will plague you like the devil.”

The 18th century writer Henry Fielding, like Howard, died aged 50-something in Portugal. 

Howard’s untimely death left Pauline emotionally bereft. Pauline also became convinced that she was impoverished, although by objective measures that was not the case.  I describe the condition as “anorexia of money”, an affliction which Pauline bore herself and inflicted on others, for the rest of her life.  

I am glad that the grandchildren can tell some happy memories of times with their grandmother. Janie and I also have some good yarns. My favourite memory is a summer evening 25 years ago – sitting in Janie’s car outside the Wigmore Hall, “oohing & aahing” at the car radio, until England narrowly won the Lord’s test against the West Indies.

Following The Lord’s Test Match In The Car, Then Bach At The Wigmore Hall With The Duchess, 1 July 2000

But for the last 20 years or so, it was not even possible to mollify Pauline with cricket, theatre or music concerts.  Pauline would find an excuse to reject such treats, often angrily. 

Pauline holding court in the Sandall Close Garden, Summer 2009

Pauline could not understand unconditional kindness, nor could she express gratitude or love.  The last few years were harder still, especially once dementia took hold of her already troubled personality.  But in truth, by that time, Pauline had long since pushed most of the family away.  And in truth, most of us took the hint and stayed away.

Still, we should all remember and try to learn lessons from Pauline’s life.  This final quote is from her near-namesake, St Paul, in his unifying letter to the Corinthians.

Lesson Three – St Paul (1 Corinthians 13): “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  

A Short Afternoon Visit To Lord’s On The First Day Of The Season, Middlesex v Lancashire, 4 April 2025

The weather smiled on us – oh boy did it smile on us – for the first day of the cricket season.

Even as recently as Wednesday, Janie was wondering whether it would be warm enough for her at Lord’s in early April. She’s never forgotten an icy day at Lord’s in June, on her favourite sundeck:

Middlesex v Australians, Lord’s, 19 June 2010

Anyway, 4 April 2025 was no such day. Glorious sunshine. More than 20 centigrade in the shade. Who said 4 April was too early for the start of the cricket season?

A sizeable crowd at Lord’s for the first day of the championship. We ran into lots of people I know, but there was still plenty of time/room for us to sit a little and wander round the ground a few times. What bliss.

Middlesex batting four down…

Middlesex were doing quite well when we arrived…

…but soon they weren’t.

…Middlesex bowling without joy.

Scrubbed up for an afternoon out

Daisy took on the chin a minor reprimand earlier, for entering the pavilion sleeveless. The steward ever so politely told her to put her sleeve-endowed top on!

It isn’t just youngsters who can do double-selfies, you know.

Want to see the scorecard and all that stuff? Click here.