East & West Magazine Spring 2018

LIBRARY LECTURES
The remarkable racing journalist, radio and television presenter
Brough Scott came to the club, as did former doctor and now
comedian Adam Kay, both with their new books in hand, and
both to deliver superb library lectures
CHURCHILL ON HORSES
Y
ou may not know how important
horses were to that great
Englishman Winston Churchill.
Brough Scott’s book Churchill at the Gallop:
Winston’s Life in the Saddle reveals how
they were his escape in childhood, his
challenge in youth, his transport in war,
his triumph in sport and his diversion in old
age. In an evening lecture in the Smoking
Room, followed by dinner and a questionand-answer
session with the author, Brough
Scott followed in Churchill’s hoofprints from
galloping his pony around the grounds of
in Leicestershire and breeding racehorses
near his home in Kent, with a short interlude
out of the saddle winning a war.
Brough Scott and his book, Churchill at the Gallop
Parts and
labour
A
dam Kay first specialised in
obstetrics and gynaecology – or
‘parts and labour’ as he calls it. He is
now a commentator on the state of the NHS
generally and doctoring in particular. The
British like to face adversity with humour,
and Adam deals with one of the country’s
most adverse subjects in fabulously dry
style. In This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries
Adam Kay in full flow
It is billed as ‘the incredible story of the only man to collect money from Vladimir Putin’, and it
happened to a member. Franz Sedelmayer has catalogued his dealings with modern Russia in a
new book, Welcome to Putingrad. He came to the club to tell his story to members and guests,
including human rights activist Marina Litvinenko .
HOW TO DEAL WITH VLAD THE IMPROPER
Franz Sedelmayer’s story – as told in
the club at the library lecture – starts
in Russia in the 1990s, where he set
about building a successful police supply
and training company. One of his biggest
supporters was St Petersburg’s young
deputy mayor, a former KGB lieutenant
colonel named Vladimir Putin. The two
bonded. For Putin, Franz created and trained
the KGB’s first western-style SWAT team.
in 2006. She says of Franz’s book, “Many
people have been wronged by the Kremlin.
Few dared to fight back. Franz Sedelmayer
did — and won!”
Franz says there is a Russian saying
attributed to Putin that defines the
current situation in Russia succinctly: “For
my enemies, the law, for my friends,
everything.”
He adds, “I shake my head
in disbelief and wish for the
Volodya [Vladimir] I knew
in St Petersburg.
Unfortunately
for me – and
the rest of the
world as well –
that particular
Volodya is as
dead as Boris Nemtsov or Sacha Litvinenko.
He’s been replaced by an evil meme, a
greedy zombie, a caricature of the manly
man: Putin the Great bareback on a horse,
Putin the Brave in scuba gear, Putin the
Deadly on the shooting range, Putin the
Athlete playing ice hockey with the national
team, Putin the Ninja in the
dojo, tossing opponents
left and right.“
LIBRARY LECTURE
A packed Smoking Room listens to the author
An elderly Winston Churchill out riding
Blenheim Palace, to topping the riding class
whilst army training at Sandhurst, taking
part in a famous cavalry charge in Sudan
– some say the British army’s last cavalry
charge – playing polo in India, hunting foxes
A message from the Pigeon Loft
by Alan Taylor
Sitting in our garden in the middle of
the square (having first borrowed
the key from our front desk), the
pigeon lofter recalled with particular
pleasure walking into the hills of southern
Spain about a mile from the coast. He had
just left the top of one of the hills and
was beginning the return stretch when he
took a break, and leaned against the wall
of a derelict farm.
A number of goats came over the brow
of the hill. All of a sudden he found himself
confronted by 70 of them, with two dogs
in charge of the herd in the middle of
them. They all stood – ‘nor breath’, as the
The Duke of Westminster, Coco Chanel and Winston
boarhunting in France
poet has it, ‘nor motion’ – looking at him.
With no imminent arrival of a herdsman,
the pigeon lofter was completely on his
own. It will not surprise anyone to hear
that he took immediate action. Looking
at the dogs he patted his leg and said:
“Aren’t you coming to say ‘hello’?”. At once
the first dog came up, stood in front of
him and lowered its head to receive a
gentle pat. Then the pigeon lofter pointed
down the track and said, “Off you go,”
and away it dashed, followed by half of
the goat herd. The rest remained with
the second dog which was waiting to
be called forward for its pat. Then it was
their turn to be off. At that moment the
herdsman appeared, all smiles and ready
Library committee chairman St John Brown
of a Junior Doctor, he shows hospital
doctors, and in particular himself, as poorly
paid, undervalued and grossly neglected
professionals who are unfailingly willing to
give up their own time for free to do battle
with the health of the nation. And still he
makes it funny.
to exchange a few words before catching
up with the herd.
Before returning to the clubhouse,
the pigeon lofter thought with pleasure
how easy it is to establish contact with
club members, too, even with those he
has never met before.This is particularly
effortless at the club table. On arrival,
young and old introduce themselves and
the conversation stays general for a while
until two or three hit on a topic which
particularly interests them. But beware.
It can take hold of you. Not long ago
this pigeon lofter and another member
maintained a conversation of nearly three
hours. Is that a record? Probably not. It
would not be wise for the pigeon lofter
to impart this to those dogs in charge of
the goat herd in Spain. It might discourage
them from having another meeting.
Franz Sedelmayer signed copies of his book
Maybe, by Russian standards, Franz
was too successful. In 1996, his Russian
company was expropriated by President
Boris Yeltsin. Putin, ambitious, political, and
ruthless, let it happen. And because he did,
he landed his first Moscow post.
Franz sought arbitration and won – but
Russia refused to pay damages. Undeterred,
Franz waged a 20-year campaign against
the Kremlin and its current president, his
former friend. He foreclosed on Russian
state property in western Europe. Incredibly,
Franz is the only individual ever to collect
money from Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Among guests at the lecture was author
and human rights activist Marina Litvinenko,
widow of former Russian Federal Security
Service officer Alexander Litvinenko, who
was poisoned by the Russians in London
Dinner and questions-and-answers took place in
the East India Room
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EAST & WEST – SPRING 2018
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