Tag: Lord’s

A Joyful Day Of International Real (Court) Tennis At Lord’s, Followed By Dinner, With The Burghers Of Newport Rhode Island, 13 November 2024

l to r standing: Peter, Graeme, Giles, Graham, Me, Jonathan, Piers, Chris, Nick, Paul T, Paul B-B, Kelsey, Susan, Noel, Ellen, Steve, Tony. l-r kneeling: Keith, Chris, Sarah. With thanks to Kelsey Dolan for this & other photos from the day

Long in the planning, a delegation of tennis enthusiasts from Newport, Rhode Island ventured across the pond to play real tennis (or, as they call it over there, court tennis) at the several courts in and near London. This day was their Lord’s day.

I was delighted and honoured to be selected for the MCC team, this being only my second opportunity to represent the club at international club level. My first international was actually my first ever match for the MCC, report linked here and below:

MCC v The Wanderers, Real Tennis Match, Lord’s, 10 September 2016

Newport Casino is a fascinating-sounding place, steeped in tennis history; home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the original location of the tournament now known as the US Open (lawn) as well as a court tennis facility and much else. Sounds like my sort of casino – I like those that aren’t gambling houses.

Perhaps it was the club’s deep links with history, perhaps it was my remembering seeing Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais in several places on my first visit to the USA in the 1980s…

In the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, Late November 1989

…but I’m not entirely sure why I imagined the visiting delegation in the style of the Burghers of Calais. Anyway, in an attempt to envisage our visitors a bit better before the day, I asked the DeepAI Image Generator for help:

Rodin’s The Burghers Of Calais depicted with tennis rackets in their hands, DeepAI

The picture made me laugh, although it seems that two of Rodin’s six burghers don’t play tennis and that all of them have grown “Eustache beards” since Rodin’s day. Anyway, I can safely state that our friendly and charming guests from Newport did not look like those Calais burghers. Some wags might suggest that the AI depiction suits the burghers of the Marylebone Cricket Club more than those of Newport Casino.

Giles Pemberton, looking suitably burgher-like, receiving a tribute from Tony at the end of match ceremony.

Graeme Marks presenting a ceremonial MCC ball to the visitors

Have Nick Davidson’s psychoactives just kicked in or what?

It was simply a pleasurable day. Most of the visitors were keen to see around Lord’s when they weren’t playing and several of us were similarly keen to show the visitors around.

The tennis matches, seven rubbers, were all extremely closely contested.

  • Steven Bishop & Graeme Marks  v Keith Mayer & Paul Tromby
  • Jonathan Ellis-Miller & Ollie Wise  v Steve Devoe & Chris Werner
  • Piers Vacher & Peter Brunner v Noel Shiland & Ellen Defoe
  • Ian Harris & Paul Buchanan-Barrow v Sarah Stanley & Kelsey Dolan
  • Barry Nathan & Nick Davidson v Noel Shiland & Kelsey Dolan
  • Iain Harvey & Piers Vacher v Chris Werner & Steve Devoe
  • Giles Pemberton & Graham Findlay v Keith Mayer & Paul Tromby

I don’t think I can remember an event where quite so many sets of tennis went to to deciders at 5-5.

“So what were the precise scores in each of the sets of each of the rubbers and all that”, I hear you readers cry. Well, you know what Colson Whitehead (almost) said:

What happens in Newport Casino stays in Newport Casino…

It really was one of those days when everybody won. I sensed that the visitors very much enjoyed our hospitality and the MCC team similarly thoroughly enjoyed the company of the interesting, friendly delegation from Newport.

Beyond the many interesting conversations about tennis and our respective clubs, I took great pleasure in showing several of the visitors around the ground. Kelsey, who is a softball enthusiast as well as a tennis enthusiast, took a shine to the indoor school and would really like a go at batting. Let’s arrange that for next time!

My most recent go at the indoor school, November 2022, picture by Janie

Almost all of us retreated to The Ivy on St John’s Wood High Street for some dinner. Several of the visitors were, understandably, struggling to reconcile the pronunciation and spelling of the word Marylebone. I consoled them by explaining that we’re probably all getting it wrong when we pronounce St John’s Wood, as it was most likely pronounced “sinjin’s wood” back in the day.

To cap it all, amongst the assortment of fascinating conversations we were all having over dinner, Ellen and I discovered that we have a shared interest in early music, including madrigals. She was not aware that our young professional Alex is not the earliest generation of the Hume family to sing professionally and was intrigued to learn that several of us have played with his dad, Alistair, who was a founding member of The King’s Singers. I recommended the album Madrigal History Tour to her, and/but have found a YouTube of the TV show from whence that album sprung:

There’s Alistair, second from the left

It was that sort of day and that sort of evening. Warm-hearted, interesting people finding things in common and enjoying each other’s company. We left The Ivy in a glow of high spirits…that was possibly the gemütlichkeit, but possibly it was the wine and cocktails.

Rodin’s The Burghers Of Calais depicted drinking cocktails and socialising warmly, Deep AI

An Evening At Lord’s For A Women’s T20 International Between England & New Zealand, 17 July 2024

The last time Janie and I had seen England Women play New Zealand Women was a World Cup Final 15 years earlier…

England Women v New Zealand Women and Pakistan v Sri Lanka, ICC World Twenty20 Finals Day, Lord’s, 21 June 2009

Back then, I wasn’t a member of the MCC but I did know how to tick boxes on a form requesting a chance at returns if there were any.

This time, I simply applied for a guest ticket and this time, now that diversity is all the thing, I could even take Janie as a Member’s Guest into the pavilion and enjoy a relaxed dress code in there.

Janie loves the upper sub deck. Given that the sun indeed chose to shine on us that evening, that is the spot I picked, getting to Lord’s early enough to secure good seats up there.

Last time I travelled to Lord’s separately from Janie for the sun deck, Janie walked straight past me up there, so I decided to take no chances and sent her a selfie so she might recognise me…or at least recognise my shirt.

I hope readers have noticed the little nod to MCC colours about that shirt.

Janie arrived in good time, as evidenced by the headline photo, which she took.

England had already secured the series by the time this match came around. We didn’t think they batted brilliantly but we guessed they’d batted well enough.

As it started to get a bit colder and my picnic got depleted, we decided to catch the end of the match at home.

Everything you might want to know about the match, and probably much more, can be found through this Cricinfo link.

Three Days At Lord’s, Mostly Watching James Anderson’s Last Test, England v West Indies, 10 to 12 July 2024

There will be a King Cricket piece of mine about this test in the fulness of time – I’ll publish the links here.

Meanwhile, just a placeholder to note that I:

  • watched and played real tennis on Day One;
  • brought Janie as a guest on Day Two;
  • watched and (once the match was over) played real tennis Day Three.

It was a very one-sided match, but passing time at Lord’s when there is a test match on is always a pleasant experience, however the cricket is panning out.

Here is a link to the Cricinfo resources about that match.

The June 2024 Social Whirl Part Two, Plus Jazz In the Crypt With Emma Rawicz & Dave Preston, Mid June

It’s been a long week

Lots of pleasant events in my diary in one mid-June week:

  • 18 June – MCC real tennis club night;
  • 19 June – lunch with Stuart Harris after session with accountants;
  • 20 June – real tennis follwed by a bit of Middlesex v Surrey at Lord’s followed by Jazz in the Crypt at St John Smith Square…or should I say Sinfonia Smith Square;
  • 22 June – dinner with Simon & Timothy… & Ella.

Club Night

The last tennis club night of the current season – we’ll resume in September – had seven of us engaging in various doubles battles until the last four of us standing were worn out.

Lunch With Stuart Harris

The next day, I met up with my very first former tennis doubles partner – albeit “lawn” rather than “real” – Stuart Harris. (No relation).The tale of our great seminal tennis tournament victory in 1974 can be seen by clicking here or below.

I Didn’t Just Learn Tennis In The School Easter Holidays Of 1974, I Smashed It

Following a most enjoyable Zoom, we decided to meet up properly for lunch. Fitting that Stuart suggested John Lewis’s 5th floor restaurant, as that location was well suited to Cavendish Square accountants and was also faintly reminiscent of Pratts restaurant at the John Lewis store in Streatham, where my dad used to like to take me for tea on rare, cherished occasions during my childhood.

It was great to catch up with Stuart again after all these years. We had lots to talk about and a couple of hours flew by. Stuart’s jokes have not got better over the decades, whereas mine have. That’s one of my jokes, btw. Why isn’t anybody laughing?

LOrd’s For Tennis & T20

Real tennis was fun. Then I had some time to kill, not least because the T20 match was to be a late kick off due to the football Euros match. I got some reading done on the pavilion sun deck while holding some suitable seats for me and Janie. Janie arrived in such good time for the match that we were able to eat first. Good idea, really, as we’d neither of us had lunch.

Yum

Middlesex did its usual “flatter to deceive” bit, looking good for the first 15 overs of the Surrey innings.

Janie and I were not heavily invested in this match, as we had long-since planned to abandon ship in favour of SJSS and a jazz evening there.

Jazz In The crypt with emma raWicz & Dave preston

Emma Rawicz is seen as one of the brightest young jazz talents around. Saxophone too – Janie’s favourite. She, together with her friend Dave Preston, another bright young thing in the jazz world – guitar in his case – were to do a jazz impromptu set of their latest stuff.

No second innings at Lord’s for us – off to collect Dumbo who drove us across London to St John’s Smith Square.

But wait…

…there are balloons and signs of a party as we arrive. The place is no longer named St John’s Smith Square – it had that very day been rebranded as Sinfonia Smith Square. Get it right.

Thus, instead of the promised St John’s Smith Square crypt jazz concert, we saw a Sinfonia Smith Square crypt jazz concert.

Here’s a link to the Sinfonia Smith Square stub for that concert.

It was very good.

Here is a video of the two of them, plus a pianist on this occasion, playing one of the cool jazz pieces they played for us: Vera:

Emma comes across as a warm-hearted young woman, who spent more time plugging Dave Preston’s latest album, Purple / Black…

…than she spent plugging her own latest material. The album Chroma, seeing as you asked:

We really enjoyed the concert and for sure will now be looking out for Emma and Dave – yes we feel as though we’ve done enough to be on first name terms with them both.

Dinner With Simon, Timothy & Ella at their place

Simon & Timothy have a recent addition to their family: Ella. One of the purposes of our visit was to have dinner and a good chat with Simon & Timothy. But the main purpose, obviously, was to meet Ella and take her the present that we have been accumulating for her since we learnt of her imminent arrival – our spent, balding tennis balls.

“Ella” depicted by a lookalike actress

Naturally we didn’t take photographs of young Ella – Simon and Timothy don’t want her to turn into a vain, lens-loving gal…

…in any case, she’d probably just eat the photos. Apparently Ella will try to eat almost anything. She certainly made a good attempt at one of my elbows while I was eating and made headway with the first of the 15 balls we took for her. That collection of balls is not expected to last long. Janie and I will need to play yet more tennis.

Simon cooked a splendid meal:

  • asparagus soup;
  • roast chicken with roasted vegetables;
  • strawberries and cream.

Very English summer, which, coincidentally, is the way the weather seemed to be turning that weekend. At last.

It was a very enjoyable evening which flashed by all too quickly.

Book Club Evening At Lord’s, Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth, With Mark Peel, 13 February 2024

It’s only partly about the food. Also the company and that evening’s book too.

Janie and I very much enjoyed a book club evening the previous year, when Jon Hotten talked about his book on Geoffrey Boycott:

Book Club Evening At Lord’s: Being Geoffrey Boycott With Jon Hotten, 28 February 2023

I should imagine that the library book club occasionally has evenings about books that don’t revolve around gritty Yorkshire cricketers whom I once met. But Ray Illingworth, like Geoffrey Boycott, had the joy of my company once. In Illingworth’s case, for considerably longer than my one-minute exchange with Geoffrey in 1969.

A Short Holiday In Brighton, During Which I Met Geoffrey Boycott & The Yorkshire Cricket Team, 3 September 1969

Indeed, I spent a couple of hours hours chatting with Ray Illingworth at Headingley in 2015:

A Visit To Leeds For Yorkshire v Middlesex, Headingley, 8 to 10 June 2015

Janie’s interest in cricket tends to revolve around the people, so these talks about biographies please her, as does the charming, relaxed atmosphere of a light meal and talk on a winter’s evening.

We were seated next to Alan Rees, who runs the library and who introduced the speaker, Mark Peel, who was seated to Alan’s right. It was fortuitous sitting near to Alan, as he can help me find some rare real tennis history books in the MCC’s extensive collection to help with my research. A really pleasant, friendly and helpful chap.

Alan looks remarkably calm in the above picture, although he confessed to Janie that he feels nervous introducing such evenings. Alan’s calm look in such a photo reminds me of the deceptively calm look on my face when I am doing something that makes me very nervous, such as riding an elephant.

I don’t look terrified, but…

The pachyderm image leads us nicely to the subject of Ray Illingworth, who must have been one of the thickest-skinned cricketers ever to play for Yorkshire and England…which is a cohort of especially hardened characters.

Of course I met Ray in his dotage, by which time he had softened in the way that legends often do. I told him, as I am now telling you, dear reader, that I started taking an interest in cricket in the early 1970s, when he was the England Captain. I couldn’t really imagine anyone else being the England Captain until, all of a sudden, in 1974, someone else was.

Mark Peel’s book, “Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth” covers all of Ray’s life and career.

Image from and link to Amazon. Other sources of this book are available.

Mark’s talk was excellent. Lots of detail, lots of interesting anecdotes, all delivered with aplomb. Mark also answered all of our questions thoughtfully and in depth.

Undeterred by the “strangely reflected” pictures Janie took last time, she couldn’t resist taking some pictures pointing away from the Writing Room, where the meal takes place. Again, she obtained a rather weird effect but I rather like this one.

A very enjoyable and interesting evening.

The MCC Tennis Weekend 2024: The Secret Diary Of Ian Harris Aged 61 and 5/12ths, 26 to 28 January 2024

Me looking to hit a rare winner

I wrote up my experience of the MCC Tennis Weekend as a “Secret Diary” piece which found its way onto the MCC website as the authoritative report on the event.

As everything I wanted to say about that most enjoyable weekend is contained in that report, I replicate it here, with the links to other resources for anyone who might be interested.

The Secret 2024 MCC Tennis Club Weekend Diary Of Ian Harris, Aged Sixty-One And Five Twelfths

I felt excited and fearful in equal measure when I learned that I had been promoted to Group B of the MCC Club Weekend this year. Surely Group C is where I belong.  The pros told me that Group B, this year, would be for 50-60 handicappers, like me.

I was to partner the actor Ian Falconer, with whom I had played a fair bit before. He can exert a calming and experienced influence over me. Anyway, there was no time to fret on Friday morning, as we played two tough matches, both of which we won; the second by quite some margin. My sense of imposter syndrome begone.

Ian Falconer said that I left the ball well in that second match. That reminded me of comments I have oft received about my cricket batting; that my best shot is the leave. Less kindly folk tell me that, apart from the block, the leave is my only cricket shot.

Tennis leaves don’t look very pretty on camera. Here is a link to a “lowlights” video package of our successful leaves in that Friday morning bout, with “musical” accompaniment. To be fair on our opponents, they hit some actual winners – e.g. these two top notch shots.

Our group then had a 24-hour break from the tennis, until Saturday afternoon. I enjoyed the convivial Friday evening dinner, with great company, great grub and surprisingly interesting speeches, not least from the Chairman, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, who broke the good news to us that real tennis play during test matches should be restored henceforward, with just a small risk of occasional interruption for media purposes.

Ian Falconer was unable to attend the dinner, as he is deep into rehearsal for a play in which he plays a domineering father. He was also to attend an audition the next morning, for a film role as Hitler.

Less aware of my partner’s acting techniques than his tennis techniques, I worried overnight that Ian might be a practitioner of The Method. If so, that calm, gentle, encouraging persona I had previously experienced, might be replaced with something…less comforting and more shouty. I decided that we should agree a safety phrase, “who do you think you are kidding, Mr Falconer?”, just in case matters got out of hand for the rest of the weekend. I am pleased to report that neither of us needed to resort to the safety phrase.

Saturday’s battles in our group were really close. We managed one (narrow) win and a draw, leaving us top of the table and qualified for a semi-final before the final day. All groups (including ours) had at least one, if not both, semi-final places up for grabs still on the Sunday.

There were many distractions for tennis-loving MCC folk early that Sunday morning. First thing, at home, I followed the India v England test match, the Australia v West Indies test, the Australian Open (lawn tennis) Men’s final and the live stream from Lord’s of our tournament. “Isn’t this a bit too much stimulation before you play?”, asked my wife, Janie. “Probably”, said I. By the time I set off for Lord’s, I knew that our pair had won Group B whatever happened in our last group match.

I got to Lord’s in time to see the final wicket fall in the India v England test along with my tennis friends in the dedans gallery, which was a wonderful watching moment ahead of playing our final group match.  We lost that match narrowly, despite having been ahead. “Foreshadowing”, as my dramaturge/actor tennis partner might well say.

We enjoyed lunch in the Long Room Bar between our last group match and the semi-final. All three days, in fact, lunch is an informal pleasure as part of this tournament. An opportunity to chat with friends, old and new, in convivial surroundings. The glorious sunshine all three afternoons added to that pleasure.

The tale of the Groups C/D category was one of mostly close-fought matches during the group stages. That characteristic persisted into the finals stages, with, in particular, a nail-biting semi-final Brunner & Vacher v Nelson & Stain. The Group C/D final, Brunner & Vacher v Lark & McDermott was similarly close and exciting to watch. Congratulations to the winners: Peter Brunner & Piers Vacher.

In the Groups A/B category, the main story was the dominance of the Cattermull & Parkes pairing. My own semi-final, Falconer & Harris v Bishop & Whiting, was one of the most exciting matches I have ever played. We had our chances…we came close. The final, Bishop & Whiting v Cattermull & Parkes, was one-sided in the final score, but was an excellent display of good tennis by all four players. It was just the relentless consistency of Paul Cattermull & Rufus Parkes, despite giving up significant handicaps, that saw them dominate their matches and storm home with the trophy.

It was a superb weekend which should live long in the memory. The organisers – Hannah and Dinesh, the professionals – Chris, Chris and Alex, and the tennis committee – especially Giles and Graeme, all deserve our thanks and praise.

If you only watch one of the video clips, I’d recommend this one: six “highlights” that couldn’t possibly be described adequately in words. [alternatively click the YouTube below]

Real Tennis Skills Night & Club Nights At Lord’s, Some Really Real Tennis At Queen’s, Dedanist’s Lunch At Lemonia & Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner In Holborn, November & December 2023

This photo and others from Skills Night by Conor Coley, with thanks

Skills Night At Lord’s 1 November 2023

Lord’s Skills Nights, now held twice-yearly, have become “my thing”, by dint of me, foolishly, offering to help back in 2019. Foolishly, because I thought “help” might mean adding a bit of extra resource to a well-managed thing, rather than, as it turned out, replacing the manager who used to manage the well-managed thing. Thank you, Johnny Whiting.

Still, in truth I enjoy managing it as much of not more than I enjoyed playing it. The curry and wine afterwards always was the highlight and I can certainly still participate in that aspect.

At least i get to curate the prize-giving, providing room for all manner of subsidiary prizes and opportunities to give away gimcrack.

Most Valuable Player Award – a millionaire every time

The Close But No Cigar Award

If you have an MCC login – everything you ever wanted to know about his event but were afraid to ask can be found here. In the unlikely event that someone else wants to read my match report in excruciating detail, click here.

Lord’s Club Nights, 16 November and 13 December 2023

By similar method, although slightly less formal, Steven Bishop managed to finesse a seemingly one-off request to “look after Club Night” for him on one occasion just before the pandemic, into “I’m basically not really in London midweek any more…” me looking after Club Night most months.

This informal evening can be curated while playing, which I very much enjoy doing on these occasions. We get a mixture of regulars and newbies. It is always possible to mix and match, to make the evening fun and good practice for most if not all who attend.

An Afternoon Watching Really Real Doubles At Queen’s, 17 November 2023

The only slot of the British Open that worked for me this year – I very much enjoyed a few hours at Queen’s watching proper real tennis doubles on Quarter-Finals afternoon. I saw Rob Fahey and Nicky Howell overcome Levi Gale & Lewis Williams, then John Lumley & Steve Virgona defeat Claire Fahey and Louis Gordon. A pleasant afternoon, during which time I ran into several people I know, which is more or less guaranteed if you go to see real tennis.

Dedanist’s Lunch At Lemonia Followed By Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner At Spaghetti House Holborn, 14 December 2023

A Highlight of the real tennis year is the Dedanist’s seasonal lunch, at Lemonia. On this occasion I needed to be reasonably abstemious because OI was going on that evening to the annual Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner afterwards.

But reasonably abstemious still allowed for a glass-and-a-half of wine, some tasty grub and excellent company.

The photo below from the Ivan Shakespeare, not The Dedanist’s.

The Hundred Finals Day At Lord’s, With Rudimental, 27 August 2023

Almost everything that I want to say in words about this event is contained in the “match report” on King Cricket – click here or below, where, in case you didn’t know, dear reader, I am Ged and Janie is Daisy:

Rudimental at the Hundred finals (a match report)

If anything were ever to go awry with the King Cricket site, click this link for a scrape of that report.

Janie took a ludicrous number of pictures – you can see them all through the Flickr link below:

Janie and I were very motivated by the live appearance of Rudimental and mugged up on their hits in advance of the concert…I mean Finals Day.

I expected that we might see live performances of at least four Rudimental bangers and we were treated to all four of the ones I expected we’d see:

I was also hoping for this next one, which I especially liked when mugging up, but they didn’t do this one. Shoulda been a bigger hit in my opinion, but my opinion didn’t guarantee hits even when I was younger, let alone now!

A “Billy No-Mates” Visit To Lord’s To See A Bit Of The Hundred, 18 August 2023

After a busy week and a visit to Ben the chiropractor that afternoon (nothing to do with Olaf The Buddhist Viking, btw), I thought I’d stop off at Lord’s before going back to the house and catch a tad of The Hundred, given that both of my previous attempts to see any (Janie wimped out on 2 August) had been to a greater or lesser extent thwarted by poor weather.

I got to see men’s as well as women’s cricket. I located myself in the pavilion for the women’s game, then shifted to the Upper Allen for the men’s, seeking a slightly different view and a good location for a fast getaway.

I wasn’t wild about the Charles music as it sounded live from the stands at Lord’s, although I must say I got more out of it listening on SoundCloud when i got home. Click here to listen to some Charles.

The MC/DJ implored us all to make noise before the start of the men’s match, as oft she does.

I sneaked away from the ground soon after the start of the reply innings of the men’s match. You CAN have too much of a good thing. I didn’t want to sit too long and I did fancy a timely dinner with Daisy.

An Afternoon & Evening At Lord’s Watching The Hundred & The Rain With Colin “Olaf the Buddhist Viking” Stutt, 8 August 2023

Everything that needs to be said about a most enjoyable afternoon and evening at Lord’s with Colin is contained in the headline and my write up for the King Cricket website – click here or below:

A new fan at the London Spirit v Southern Brave washout – a match report

In the unlikely event that misfortune ever befalls the King Cricket website, please click here for a scrape thereof.