The magazine of the Royal Automobile Club | January 2011 | Issue ...

The magazine of The Royal auTomobile Club | JanuaRy 2011 | issue 133 

Pell-Mell 

& Woodcote 

The magazine of the Royal Automobile Club | January 2011 | Issue 133

Proud sponsors of the London 

to Brighton Veteran Car Run 

Also sponsors of: Le Mans Classic; Classic Endurance Racing; 

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‘i GREATLY LOOK 

FORWARD TO 

MEETiNG AS 

MANY OF YOU AS 

POSSiBLE OVER 

THE COMiNG 

MONTHS’ 

from the chief executive 

& secretary 

As we embark on the first 

quarter of 2011 it gives me 

enormous pleasure to 

write to you for the first 

time in what promises to be an 

action-packed year, starting with the 

centenary celebrations of the Pall Mall 

clubhouse. It would be remiss of me not 

to pay tribute to the outstanding 

contribution made to the club over 

many years by my predecessor, George 

Kennedy. One of my first contacts with 

club life was to attend the London to 

Brighton Veteran Car Run on the first 

Sunday of November. To see the 

ceremonial tearing of the red flag by 

George in Hyde Park as dawn broke 

was a special moment, as indeed was 

the drive down to Brighton. As we enter 

the centenary year of the Pall Mall 

clubhouse, the results of 2010 are 

hugely encouraging, and I salute you for 

continuing to use the clubhouse 

throughout the inevitable disruption 

while the 5th floor works were being 

completed. As you will be aware, the 

Club Introduction 

Secretariat is now based at our country 

clubhouse in the stunning 

surroundings of Woodcote Park. This 

360-acre estate is a wonderful facility 

for all our members. There are many 

interesting places to visit nearby such 

as Mercedez Benz World and The 

Brooklands Museum, so pack your bags 

and head to Woodcote; I know that 

David Renton and his team will give 

you a very warm welcome. I would like 

to thank the many club members I have 

already met, and the management and 

staff at both clubhouses for their warm 

welcome. I greatly look forward to 

meeting as many of you as possible over 

the coming months, I am fully 

committed to protecting the heritage of 

the club, enhancing the already strong 

links with the motoring community, 

and to ensuring that members continue 

to experience outstanding service, 

facilities and value at both Pall Mall 

and Woodcote Park. 

David Wilkinson 

Chief Executive and Secretary 

January 2011 | Issue 133 | 5

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‘THEY HAD 

THE MOST 

MARVELLOUS 

DOS...... EVEN 

THE POOL WAS 

COVERED OVER 

TO USE AS A 

DANCEFLOOR’ 

Welcome 

This year marks the 

centenary of the Pall Mall 

clubhouse. We’ll be casting 

our eye back throughout the 

year to see what the clubhouse has 

witnessed during its long history. In 

this issue we make a start with an 

architectural history of the clubhouse. 

One thing it has seen is some wonderful 

parties. The Edwardians had the most 

marvellous dos, rip-roaring, loop-thelooping 

shin-digs; they would take over 

the whole clubhouse, even the pool was 

covered over to use as a dance floor. It 

was any excuse for a party too. Royal 

engagement? Let’s have a party. Royal 

Club Welcome 

wedding? Knees up anyone? Benfield 

Hucks has flown a loop-the-loop in an 

aeroplane. Party, but this time let’s 

serve the whole dinner the wrong way 

round with coffee to start and caviar to 

finish. At parties to celebrate New 

Year’s Eve, ladies were presented with a 

card to take away as a souvenir of the 

evening. The card depicted above was 

presented in 1911; it reads ‘Smooth be 

the road and every turning clear, that 

marks our journey thro’ the Coming 

Year’. May I wish you the same for 2011, 

particularly during the rush hour on 

Friday evenings. 

Sarah Walmsley, Editor 


Club DireCtory 

For a complete A-Z of club contacts go to 

www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/contact-us 

the royal automobile Club 

The Chairman and Secretary 

01372 229628 

membership 01372 229600 

aCCounts 01372 229608 

pall mall 

89 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HS 

T: 020 7930 2345, F:020 7976 1086 

E: recpm@royalautomobileclub.co.uk 

General Manager, Christian Horvath 

020 7747 3237 

Banqueting 020 7747 3386 

The Barber 020 7747 3365 

Bedroom Reservations 020 7930 2345 

Brooklands 020 7747 3380 

Events 020 7747 3441 

The Great Gallery 020 7747 3458 

Hall Porter 020 7747 3267 

Hanging Room 020 7747 3295 

Library 020 7747 3498 

Post Office 020 7737 3266 

Sports Reception 020 7747 3365 

St James Room 020 7747 3349 

WooDCote park 

Epsom, 

Surrey KT18 7EW 

T: 01372 276311, F: 01372 276117 

E: wpreservations@royalautomobileclub.co.uk 

General Manager, David Renton 

01372 229242 

Banqueting 01372 229214 

Bedroom Reservations 01372 229254 

Boston Room 01372 229204 

Cedars Sports 01372 229266 

Estates Office 01372 273091 

Events 01372 229284 

The Fo untain 01372 229225 

Golf Pro Shop 01372 229248 

19th Hole 01372 229308 

pell mell & WooDCote magazine 

Editorial office 020 7747 3291 

E: pellmell@royalautomobileclub.co.uk 

Editor Sarah Walmsley 

Designer Abdul Malique 

Production Manager Matt Reddings 

Editorial Consultant Matthew Line 

Pell Mell & Woodcote magazine is published 

on behalf of The Royal Automobile Club 

by Craft London, 

74 Clerkenwell Road, London EC1M 5QA 

T: 020 7148 3456 

E: contact@craftlondon.co.uk 

Club Contributors 

Contributors 

Club Members , journalists, enthusiasts and experts who 

have contributed to this issue. 

John kay 

Chief Reporter for 

The Sun, John has 

been a member of 

the club for 24 

years. He has twice been named 

‘Reporter of The Year’ by the British 

Press Awards. 

neil english 

Neil is in his 15th 

year as Winter 

Sports 

Correspondent for 

the The Mail on Sunday. Club 

member since 1993 Neil has visited 

hundreds of resorts worldwide. 

greg 

pearman 

Squash 

Professional and 

hypnotherapist 

Greg captains England over 45s 

squash team and was England over 

45s number one. 

luke Johnson 

Luke is the 

Chairman of Risk 

Capital Partners, 

Giraffe restaurants, 

and The Royal Society of Arts. He 

writes for the FT and has been a club 

member since 1998. 

miChael 

Dobbs 

Michael was 

recently created 

Lord Dobbs of 

Wylye. He is a best-selling novelist 

and has been a member of the club 

since 1985. 

Jeremy 

garfielD 

Davies 

Jeremy has been a 

member of the club 

since 1988. He is an international 

art and architectural historian and 

independent private art advisor. 

John mills 

Member for 13 

years John is a keen 

adventure traveller. 

He acquired a taste 

for colder climes after taking part in 

an ultramarathon in the Canadian 

sub-Arctic in 2008. 

tom Webster 

Member of the 

Guild of Motoring 

Journalists, Tom 

has been an avid 

motor sport fan since a young age. 

The Euroclassic is now on his 

motoring ‘to do’ list. 

thanks to… Jessica Bueno de Mesquita, Henry Mutkin, Piers Brendon, 

Martin Payne, Philip Gomm, Trevor Dunmore and Peter McCombie 


The 

Grand Palais Sale 

Bonhams is delighted to announce its inaugural auction at the 

Grand Palais, commemorating the 110th anniversary of the fi rst 

motor show at this magical venue. 

Over 100 signifi cant pre- and post-war motor cars and 

motorcycles, and 200 lots of automobilia will be offered for 

sale with estimates ranging from €100 to €1,000,000. 

The catalogue for this prestigious sale is available to purchase 

or view online. 

We are now accepting entries for the forthcoming auction sales 

listed and look forward to being of service. 

Supported by 

Enquiries 

Motor Cars 

James Knight 

+44 (0) 20 7447 7440 

james.knight@bonhams.com 

Motorcycles 

Ben Walker 

+44 (0) 8700 273616 

ben.walker@bonhams.com 

Bonhams 

101 New Bond Street, 

London W1S 1SR 

+44 (0) 20 7447 7447 

+44 (0) 20 7447 7400 fax 

Exceptional Motor Cars, 

Motorcycles and 

Automobilia 

Saturday 5 February 2011 

Le Grand Palais – Paris 

Forthcoming 2011 auctions 

5 March 

Bonhams Oxford, Oxford 

Collectors’ Motor Cars and Automobilia 

11 April 

RAF Museum, Hendon, London 

Collectors’ Motor Cars and Automobilia 

24 April 

International Classic Motorcycle Show, Stafford 

Pioneer, Vintage and Collectors’ Motorcycles 

and Related Memorabilia 

21 May 

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited, Works Service, 

Newport Pagnell, Aston Martin and Lagonda 

Motorcars and Related Automobilia 

21 May 

Les Grandes Marques à Monaco 

Important Historic Motor Cars and Automobilia 

www.bonhams.com/cars

ConTenTs 

January 2011 / Issue 133 

Around The Club 

05 Letter From The Secretary 

Your new Secretary bows in 

15 Eye For Detail 

Win a case of wine in our competition 

16 The Club Pages 

News, food & sport from around the club 

12 Letters 

What you think of it so far 

26 Man of the World 

John Simpson on Rupert Murdoch 

& luggage 

30 Matthew Williamson 

Colin Cameron gets down 

to fashion business 

36 The Palace At Pall Mall 

The architecture of the Pall Mall 

clubhouse explored 

42 A Brush with Her Majesty 

Brenda Bury on painting The Queen 

Club MeMbers 

25 Big Cheese 

Words from on business high 

50 A Word From The Wise 

Lumberjack, entrepreneur, farmer 

and free thinker, Tom Meyer shares 

tales from his life 

54 In The Footsteps of Giants 

John Mills treads the tracks of 

Ernest Shackleton 

74 In The Picture 

Photographs from at season at the club 

Food 

20 Some Like It Hot 

Currys, kilts and winter tipples in food news 

46 Black Gold 

A - truffle - hunting we go 

sporT 

58 Keep Calm and Win 

How to keep your head when all about 

you are losing theirs 

60 Star Spangled Skiing 

Skiing Across the Pond 

MoToring 

66 Motoring News 

Awards, dates for your diary and a 

speed camera debate 

68 Euroclassic 

Michael Southcombe takes on the 

Stelivo pass 

73 Back to the Future 

Our look at motoring past and present 


yoUR letteRs 

Send your letters to: The Editor, Pell Mell & Woodcote, 89 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HS, 

or email: pellmell@royalautomobileclub.co.uk. 

AGM At Woodcote? 

My understanding is that the 

AGM has always been held in 

Pall Mall. Bearing in mind the 

numbers of members who live 

outside of London would it be an 

idea to alternate the AGM 

between Pall Mall and Woodcote 

Park? Our helpful Secretariat is 

of course now based at Woodcote 

Park so it would seem an idea 

worthy of consideration. Like all 

new ideas perhaps it would be 

sensible to try the Woodcote 

Park idea for 2011 and then 

review attendance and 

interaction with members after 

it has taken place. 

Peter Allen 

Thank you for your email to Pell 

Mell & Woodcote. I understand 

the suggestion that you have 

made, and your reasons for doing 

so, and indeed it has been 

suggested once or twice before. 

The Pall Mall clubhouse is the 

registered office of the Club 

company. It is also the ‘senior’ 

clubhouse and its central London 

location makes it more accessible 

for a wider geographical spread of 

members. For these reasons the 

Board judges it to be in the best 

interests of the majority of the 

membership that the AGM 

continues to be held at Pall Mall. 

The Secretary 

12 | January 2011 | Issue 133 

eAGle eye 

I enjoyed the feature about Bond’s 

DB5 Aston in latest Pell Mell & 

Woodcote. Just one small 

technical point. You refer in the 

text to triple Weber carburettors 

feeding the 4 litre Vantage engine, 

and yet they look remarkably like 

triple SUs in the engine bay shot on 

the right hand page. 

Roger Mercer 

Thank you for the kind comments 

on the feature. I am horrified to 

have mixed up my carburettors.You 

are right and I think my only defence 

is that it is a long time since I took 

an SU to pieces. 

Peter Foubister, Motoring 

Secretary 

Roll Up FoR GolF 

I would like to request the Board 

and Golf Committee give 

consideration to reinstating the 

Saturday and Sunday roll-up for 7 

day pass holders, whereby 4-5 very 

early tee times are kept free for 

players arriving on the day. Until 

recently this was a great way for 

new seven day members to meet 

existing members and for existing 

members to mix and match playing 

partners and opponents rather 

than drift into smaller isolated 

groups. I believe therefore that its 

abolition was a significant loss to 

our clubbable spirit. Finally, for 

golfers working full-time in 

London, who may frequently be 

away overseas, it avoided the tricky 

and time consuming need to 

arrange 4-ball matches from afar. 

As a result, I am finding it 

increasingly difficult to play at 

weekends and am considering 

whether to renew my 7 day golf 

pass next year. 

Philip G Hykin 

Since we have moved to a system 

of all tee times being bookable, 

we have not experienced any 

problems with new members 

gaining tee times; in fact, quite the 

opposite. Single golfers now can 

telephone at any time, or 

alternatively turn up on the day, 

and our golf booking staff will 

allocate a tee time with either a 2 

or 3 ball, who generally play at 

weekends. This is a great way of 

mixing and meeting other golfing 

members. As I write this letter 

(Thursday 18 November), there are 

currently 6 times which are 

available for a single player to join 

other members on the Old Course 

and many available slots on the 

Coronation Course. I do hope this 

answers your query and you 

continue to enjoy your golf at 

Woodcote Park. 

David Renton 

General Manager, 

Woodcote Park

WoW What a coincidence 

Last summer four golfers took the 

Old Course for a friendly 4 ball 

(Messrs Burden, Dibble Gribben, 

and Bingham). Nothing unusual 

happened until the short hole 13th. 

The first two to play hit their 

balls onto the green to within 25 

and 20 feet of the flag (approx six 

to seven metres for your 

international readers). The third 

hit his ball within a foot of the flag, 

while the fourth to around ten 

feet. The first to putt rolled his 

ball in for a birdie, followed by the 

second and third players, making 

a trio of birdies. 

At this point only the ball one 

foot from the flag remained. This 

duly conceded (well he was a past 

golf captain!) to achieve four 

birdies on the same hole. Of 

course, purists will say that 

the fourth putt didn’t count 

as it was conceded, but men’s 

friendly golf is less about 

purism, more about 

sportsmanship. At this 

achievement we did a high 

five and proceeded to the 

next tee, our thoughts 

drifting lazily to a solid 

bronze commemorative 

plaque similar to that for 

Nicklaus at Birkdale or 

Ballesteros at the Belfry. 

These thoughts quickly 

passed after which one of us 

hooked his drive into a bunker, 

while one of the others lost his ball 

in the trees. Such is golf! 

Paul M Bingham 

What do YoUthinK 

oF it So FaR? 

Congratulations on a first Pell-Mell 

and Woodcote, which is beautifully 

designed and full of interesting 

articles. However I can’t resist one 

observation. In your piece ‘I would 

walk 1000 miles’ you refer to a 

tarpaulin shelter as a ‘basher’. 

Actually it should be ‘basha’ from 

the Malay word for shelter. But 

apart from that - top marks! 

Angus Palmer 

I do have to agree with Joan 

Gabbett regarding the font and 

background of printing in the July 

Club Letters 

2010 issue. The October issue is 

clearer but the fonts should go up a 

point as the white paper is very 

white and rather dazzling. Having 

some experience of the paper 

industry I do have to say I prefer 

the paper used in previous issues; I 

wonder how the costs compare? I 

prefer the gloss paper to the new 

matt too. Lastly it is messy to have 

several different fonts on pages. 

Mrs Deborah Cameron-Moore 

My congratulations on the latest 

edition of our magazine. The layout, 

design and choice of paper I felt 

worked brilliantly. I was 

particularly taken by the two superb 

photographs of George Cooper – 

the composition of the one on page 

46 was masterly. As for the content, 

well there is always something of 

interest - I think I might take 

up backgammon! 

Stuart W P Scholes 

Just a quick note to 

congratulate you on the 

great improvements to the 

magazine. I think the new 

style, particularly the small 

‘newsy’ items and the 

absence of long boring 

articles, has greatly 

enhanced the readability 

of the magazine. Keep up 

the good work. 

George Jacobs 

Janaury 2011 | Issue 133 | 13

St Mawes Classic Car Festival 

CORNISH COASTAL GARDENS 

3rd–6th May 2011 

TUESDAY MAY 3RD 

Cars arrive in St Mawes in the afternoon 

Private viewing of Lamorran Gardens 

Welcome drinks and dinner at Tresanton 

WEDNESDAY MAY 4TH 

Drive across the King Harry Ferry to 

The Helford 

Tour of Trebah Gardens by Charles Fox 

Drinks and lunch at Trebah 

Tour of Glendurgan Gardens or visit to 

Pendennis World Class Superyachts 

Evening boat trip up The River Fal to 

Tolverne for ‘Moules Night’ supper 

– Giant Chusan palms at Trebah Gardens – 

THURSDAY MAY 5TH 

Caerhays Castle garden tour 

Picnic lunch at Rosteague Manor 

St Mawes Classic Car Festival Inaugural 

Concours Event 

BRING BACK 

THE GLAMOUR 

OF THE 1920’s 

Late opening of local galleries, drinks with 

Cornish artists 

Lap of honour around St Mawes 

Final judging of ‘Best Turned Out Car’ 

Gala Night at Hotel Tresanton 

Fireworks off St Mawes Castle 

1920’s 

FRIDAY MAY 6TH 

After breakfast cars depart St Mawes 

For those not rushing off Pinuccia, Hotel 

Tresanton’s 1930’s yacht is available for day 

and half day sails with skipper and crew 

Prices from £1650 for two in a sea view 

room. For information please contact: 

Hotel Tresanton 

St Mawes, Cornwall TR2 5DR 

www.tresanton.com 

01326 270 055

win a case of wine 

Do you have an eye for detail? Then tell us what this 

is and exactly where it is in the club. 

Send your answer by email to pellmell@royalautomobileclub.co.uk or by post to Pell Mell & 

Woodcote, 89 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HS. The first correct entry to be pulled out of the hat will 

receive the prize. The deadline for entries is 1 March 2011. 

Club Competition 

photograph: martin burton 


the club pages 

Updates and information from around the club 

{ 

new on 

} 

ouR website 

You can now update 

your contact details 

online; go to www. 

royalauto mobileclub 

.co.uk/membersarea/Edit-Your- 

Profile 


the hanging Room 

Club member Roger Cracknell has 

travelled the world photographing 

people and places for the past 25 

years. In February he is exhibiting 

a variety of different images 

including portrait, landscape and 

abstracts, that represent a cross 

section of genres and locations . 

‘There are traditional English 

landscapes, along with shots I have 

taken at festivals in the UK and 

images from my travels in India 

and the Middle East’ says Roger. 

The photograph above was taken 

at dusk outside Jagat Shri Brajam 

Temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan. 

The temple is a magnet for sadhus, 

holy men who roam Indian on a 

spiritual journey. 

See the exhibition at the Woodcote 

Park Hanging Room until 

22 February. 

For more information email 

hangingroom@ 

royalautomobileclub.co.uk

Happy BirtHday pall Mall 

2011 brings the centenary of the 

Pall Mall clubhouse, the perfect 

excuse to spend the whole year 

eating cake. After homes in 

Whitehall and Piccadilly the club 

opened the doors to ‘the Palace in 

Pall Mall’ on 23 March 1911. 

There will be all sorts of goings on 

in the Pall Mall clubhouse to 

celebrate. Club archivist Jessica 

Mesquita has created a series of 

exhibitions with stories and 

photographs from the club 

archives, the first exhibition will 

be on display in March at the 

bottom of the main staircase. A 

celebration dinner will be held on 

12 April; the squash committee 

have organised a book to 

commemorate a 100 years of 

squash at the club; 100 chess 

players will congregate to play a 

galaxy of Grand Masters in April 

and freediver Tanya Streeter will 

be joining the sub aqua section in 

the pool. You might hear a few 

corks popping too. 

Visit www.royalautomobileclub. 

co.uk/pmcentenary 

‘100 CHESS 

PLAYERS WILL 

CONGREGATE 

TO PLAY 

A GALAXY 

OF GRAND 

MASTERS’ 

Club News 


paCK Your bags 

anD heaD to 

wooDCote 

Woodcote Park is offering 

accommodation packages 

so you can escape to the 

country. The RHS 

Gardens at Wisley, 

Brooklands Museum, 

Mercedes Benz World, 

Clandon Park, Polesden 

Lacey and Denbies 

Vineyard are all nearby. 

Too much choice, I know, 

but just think, if you 

stay at Woodcote you 

can visit them all. 

For more information visit 

the club website www. 

royalautomobileclub.co.uk 

or telephone 01372 276311. 


DiD You Know 

At the club’s inaugural meeting 

in 1897 the 100 luncheon guests 

were entertained with rather 

limited resources. At the time 

the club owned 88 glasses, 49 

knives, 48 forks and 24 spoons. 

in MeMoriaM 

Jeremy Akerman 1937 - 2010 

Leonard Biggs 1932 - 2010 

Kathleen Batt 1920 – 2010 

David Burgess 1947 – 2010 

Michael Fox 1967 – 2010 

Derek Jones 1953 – 2010 

David Landau 1938 – 2010 

John Miller 1947 - 2010 

Stuart Andrews 1963 - 2010 

Vincent Begley 1940 - 2010 

John Black 1940 - 2010 

Christopher Thomas 1941 – 2010 

Michael Palmer 1929 – 2010 

Richard Rowbotham 1932 - 2010 

Obituaries are published on the 

club website www. 

royalautomobileclub.co.uk. To 

receive an obituary by post please 

contact the editor. 

2011 MeMbership CarDs 

If you are a Life Member, you pay 

by direct debit or the 

membership office received your 

payment before the 26 

November 2010 you should have 

received your 2011 membership 

card. 2010 cards can be used in 

clubhouses until the 28 February 

2011 after which only the 2011 

card will be accepted. If you have 

any queries please email 

members@royalautomobileclub. 

co.uk or telephone 

01372 229600 

5th Floor beDrooMs 

Work continues to create 22 new 

bedrooms at Pall Mall. An 

elliptical walkway has been 

suspended on the interior wall of 

the fifth floor (depicted above). 

The walkway that is created 

from steel and toughened glass 

allows for more and larger rooms 

as well as an interesting view. 

The past caught up with workers 

on the project when they 

removed a ceiling and found 

some Edwardian graffiti. The 

words ‘Bonny 1910’ can be seen 

scratched into rendering in the 

south elevation. Who Bonny was 

remains a mystery for now. Work 

is scheduled for completion in 

March 2011. 

anD the winners are… 

A bottle of Champagne goes to 

Jeremy Garfield - Davies who 

spotted the photograph in the 

competition in the October issue 

was of the chandelier in the club 

room. Go to page 15 for the your 

chance to win.

George Kennedy (fourth from left) with the CMC 

FArewell GeorGe 

KennedY BY henrY MutKIn 

On Tuesday 7 December 2010 a 

dinner was held in the 

Committee Room to mark the 

retirement of George Kennedy 

as Secretary of the Club. Sir 

David Prosser hosted the 

evening, which was attended by 

71 guests including close family 

and friends, Board Members and 

key members of the management 

team. During his 13 years tenure 

effectively as chief executive, 

major developments were the 

de-merger of Motoring Services 

and the extensive re-building 

and renovation of the 

clubhouses. Tributes paid to 

George recognised his unique 

contribution in preserving the 

heritage of the club while 

making it contemporary and 

relevant to the future. 

lIFt oFF PArt two 

Refurbishment work on the East 

Lift at Pall Mall is expected to be 

complete by the end of January. 

You reAllY Must reAd 

On Chesil Beach by Ian 

McEwan says Judy Nash 

founder of the Woodcote Park 

book club. 

It’s July 1962. Edward Mayhew 

and Florence Ponting are young, 

in love and have just married. 

They spend the first night of 

their honeymoon in a small 

Dorset hotel on Chesil Beach. 

Edward, is sexually motivated 

and has silent dreams of a 

married life filled with constant 

pleasure. Florence, however is 

terrified at the thought of 

intimacy not helped by her 

explicit wedding 

instruction manual. They are 

trapped in time in an age when 

discussion of sexual difficulties 

was impossible. McEwan shows 

how lives are transformed by 

a gesture not made or a word not 

spoken. The next Woodcote Park 

book club meeting is on 10 

February at 10.30am. For 

information contact Judy Nash 

email judymnash@yahoo.co.uk 


Into the ArchIve 

Club archivist Jessica 

Mesquita has a pootle 

around the club archive. 

The New Year’s Eve 

programme of 1926 

features Father Time, 

that well known 

personification of the 

previous year, looking on 

as the young 1927 moves 

the minute hand towards 

midnight. For two 

guineas members 

attended a gala dinner 

held in the restaurant and 

Great Gallery, followed 

by a grand ball, which 

promised guests the 

‘latest novelties and 

presents from Paris’. 


ScotS WHa Hae 

Kilts are allowed in Pall Mall 

you know, so I expect to see you 

all sporting your man skirts in 

Brooklands during the last week 

of January; it’s Burns week. 

Brace yourself agin the dreich 

weather with some neeps and 

clapshot. You can get tucked 

into mutton, pearl barley and 

vegetable pie and Cloutie 

dumpling malt ice cream. Skirts 

still have to be worn with a 

jacket and tie so you can’t go all 

Mel Gibson. I’m not sure what 

the hall porters would make of 

blue face paint, so perhaps best 

to leave it at home. Burns Week 

from 24 to 30 January. 

{ 

Foody 

} 

Fact 

In December the 

club consumed 

500 turkeys; that’s 

7000kg, the 

equivalent 

of an African 

elephant. 


Fine Wine For LeSS 

Michael Fiducia, Sommelier in 

the Boston Room has introduced 

Fine Wine Wednesdays to 

Woodcote Park. From the New 

Year he will be offering any 

bottle of wine selling at £75.00 

or more at half price on 

Wednesdays only, your chance 

to sample wines from the upper 

echelon of the wine list. 

aLL Set For tHe BoSton 

Change is afoot for menus in the 

Boston Room. The à la carte 

menu has been replaced with a 

set menu for both lunch and 

dinner. Lunch menus start at 

£15.00, dinner menus from 

£24.00. In the evening there will 

also be a five - course taster 

menu with coffee and half a 

bottle of club wine for £39.00. 

Telephone 01372 276311 

Some Like it Hot 

Embrace Pork Vindaloo this 

Winter! Chef Philip Corrick has 

decided we should all be 

warming ourselves with copious 

amounts of curry, so make for 

the Long Bar or The Fountain 

during January and February 

and sample delights from 

Southern Asia. It all sounds 

incredibly exotic. There’s 

Mughul lamb shanks (lamb 

marinated in ginger and 

yoghurt), Bengali Fish (little fish 

tossed in chilli and turmeric), 

duck curry with tamarind 

(tamarind is a tart fruit and a key 

ingredient in Worcestershire 

sauce). Even the puddings are 

peregrine, you can try buffalo 

milk and rosewater mousse. If all 

this is just too outlandish, fear 

not, Chicken Tikka Masala also 

makes an appearance.

what to eat now 

Chefs from Il Pelicano return to cook for you in the Great Gallery this 

March. As a little tease here’s an Il Pelicano dish to try at home. 

Vegetables in Rocket Sauce 

Serves 4 

Vegetables to steam 

20g of each vegetable: 

Carrots, green beans, courgettes, 

fennel, celeriac 

Raw vegetables 

15g of each vegetable 

Carrot, courgette, stick of celery, 

beetroot, radish 

For the rocket sauce 

500g of rocket 

400g of vegetable stock 

300g of chicken stock 

100g of butter 

For the garnish: 

Confit mashed tomatoes 

Fresh aromatic herbs (basil, chives, 

thyme, borage, marjoram) 

1 Round off the carrots, courgettes 

and celeriac ready to steam. Then 

cut the green beans into lozenges 

(diamond shapes). Next segment 

the fennels. 

2 Scald all the vegetables in salted 

water and then cool down in ice. 

Remove from ice and glaze with 

the chicken stock. 

3 Cut the carrots and courgettes 

(only the green part) into fine 

strips and put into iced water. 

Next julienne (cut into long thin 

strips) the celery and beetroot and 

put into iced water. Slice the 

radish very finely. 

4 Remove the vegetables from the 

iced water and garnish with salt 

and olive oil. 

5 For the rocket sauce. Scald and 

cool down in ice. Squeeze out 

excess liquid then blend together 

with vegetable stock and chicken 

stock. Strain the sauce through a 

chinois (or sieve), place in a pan 

and bring it to the boil, next add 

the butter and whip the sauce. 

6 Pour the sauce on a plate, pile 

the raw vegetables followed by the 

steamed. Garnish with herbs. 

Club Food 

what to drink now 

Master of Wine Peter 

McCombie suggests wintry 

tipples to make Mr. Frost 

loose his teeth. 

Given its dynamic economy 

it may not be news that 

wine appreciation is 

growing in India but it is 

perhaps harder to believe 

that India has a dynamic 

wine industry. It is still 

early days but there are a 

number of emerging 

regions and some good 

wines too. We especially 

like Sula, from Nashik in 

Maharashtra. In January 

and February you will find 

the Sauvignon Blanc and 

Shiraz on the list in the 

both the Long Bar 

at Pall Mall and 

The Fountain at 

Woodcote Park. 

Both are very 

much in the New 

World style with 

bold, rich flavours. 

Try them now 

with the special 

curry menu. 


en gaRde! 

Ever thought about learning 

to fence? Well, here’s your 

chance. In February, Pall 

Mall is offering a two-day 

beginners course to help you 

get to grips with the sport 

performed by a multitude of 

greats, Voltaire, Churchill , 

Marx a list you should be 

adding your name to 

immediately. But fencing 

gives you more than kudos, 

‘It’s a solid work out’ says 

Tim Gadaski from the 

London Fencing Club, ‘You 

can burn 450 calories an 

hour, working the stomach 

and lower body muscles.’ 

Contact Sports Reception, 

020 7747 3365 


one ocean, one aim, 

one montH 

About now member Justin 

Johanneson will be looking at 

the sea. On Christmas Eve he 

departed from the Canary 

Islands with a six - strong team 

to row across the Atlantic Ocean. 

New to rowing Justin hopes his 

experience in ultramarathons 

will help him complete the 

3,000 mile journey. Team Hallin 

hope to reach Barbados in fewer 

than 30 days – smashing the 

current world record of 33 days 

– and raising money for Combat 

Stress, the veterans’ mental 

health charity. To donate, go to 

www.justgiving.com/teamtriton 

{ 

save tHe 

} 

date: 

The 2011 centenary 

squash finals night will 

be held on 13 April. For 

more information on 

squash contact the 

professionals on 020 

7747 3368 

Rugby Host bows out 

In November, the club welcomed 

ex-Scotland international Scott 

Hastings to Pall Mall as guest 

speaker at the annual rugby 

dinner. ‘The evening was a 

resounding success, best ever!’ 

says dinner host Colin Ferguson. 

Having hosted the last five rugby 

dinners, Colin has decided to 

hang up both his boots and 

microphone, ‘It has been 

enormously enjoyable’, says 

Colin, ‘I have had the pleasure of 

meeting many of the great 

players, Lawrence Dallaglio and 

Will Greenwood have both 

visited the club and shared their 

rugby stories with us. It has been 

a great honour to be host, I look 

forward to coming along to the 

events in future.’ The club has 

been just as honoured to have 

him. Many thanks, Colin. 

Colin Ferguson and Scott Hastings

TEE TImE 

A range of video tips are now 

available on the golf pages of the 

website, ably demonstrated by 

the club pros. Develop and 

improve your game and 

technique with the help of a 

selection of online tips. Jason 

Neve, demonstrates how to 

improve your distance putting, 

and John Noble, explains the 

importance of a correct pre-shot 

routine, as well as how to escape 

from heavy rough. 

Visit www.royalautomobileclub. 

co.uk/activities/golf 

SNOOKEr TIpS 

Find top tips to improve your 

snooker on the billiards section 

of the club website. Once you 

have perfected your technique 

head down to the Roll Up 

Evening held on the second 

Thursday of every month in 

the billiards room. 

Look for tips at www. 

royalautomobilelclub.co.uk/ 

activities/billiards 

Club Sport 

GOING SKIING? GET SQUATTING 

Ski circuits instructor 1. Begin in a standing 

Loren Thaneja offers his position, feet shoulder width 

top tip to have you ready for apart 

the ski season ahead. 2. Keeping your back 

Worried that you won’t be straight, bend your knees to 

physically prepared for your a 90 degree angle, keeping 

next ski trip? Well, fret not, heels on the floor 

just squat. Repeatedly. The 3. Bend your legs as far as 

humble squat can 

possible, then push up 

strengthen the ‘core’ and through your legs to the 

prepare the lower body for starting position 

ski endurance. They’re also 4. Repeat (12 times). 

vital to good ski technique, Join a ski fit class. 

so follow these three easy For information contact the 

steps and you’ll be skiing Sports Reception on 020 

Val d’Isere’s La Face like a 7747 3365, or Cedars on 

pro in no time… 

01372 229 266 


Buy Our Heroes 

a Drink 

A cool drink at the end of a hard day at the office is one thing, but quite another when 

you’ve spent six months on the frontline. And how much better must it taste when it’s been 

bought by a member of the public saying thanks for what you do? 

Everyday stories from Afghanistan put the lives of our troops into sharp focus and remind 

us just how hard life is out there. The British Forces Foundation exists to help boost their 

morale, and we’re asking you to put a little in the kitty as a way of saying thanks. 

In association with a number of Pub Companies and Breweries we are sending a token, 

representing one free drink, to every one of the 23,000 troops on operations, away from 

family and loved ones. 

Show your 

support 

Text and buy one of 

our deserving heroes a 

welcome home drink. 

If they walked into 

your local – you would! 

MoD/Crown Copyright from 

www.defenceimages.mod.uk 

Text ‘HEROES’ to 70099 

Text messages cost £3 plus one message at your standard network rate 

From most users BFF will receive over £2.90 from each text donation with a minimum of £2.40 

received dependant on your network operator. **Donations from handsets registered in UK and 

Northern Ireland only. The British Forces Foundation Registered Charity No: 1075109.

Questions by: Luke Johnson. photograph: courtesy of LovefiLm 

CEO of Lovefilm Simon Calver 

began his working life stacking 

shelves in his grandfathers 

supermarket, ‘I got paid pence 

per hour’ he says. Now head of 

the film rental group that has 

leapt from 100,000 subscribers 

to more that a million in four 

years, Simon is thinking big. He 

hopes to double the customer 

base by 2014 and develop a 

strong digital service direct to 

television screens , Lovefilm is 

evolving into a multimedia 

entertainment service. 

Who do you most admire in the 

business world? 

I really admire Michael Dell. I had 

the fortune of working for him for a 

number of years (as Dell Vice 

President for UK and Ireland) and 

he is a really great guy. He created 

a strong vision and then got the 

team around him to execture it. 

What is your greatest strength? 

I think understanding what 

motivates and drives people. I 

ensure I have great talent around 

me and then let them get on with 

what I am paying them to do. You 

have to trust people to do their job. 

What is your greatest weakness? 

Probably impatience. Impatience 

for progress. When things don’t 

happen quickly I will chase and get 

heavily involved, which isn’t always 

the best course of action. 

What is your biggest and as yet 

unfulfilled ambition? 

I’d say getting Lovefilm to be the 

number one movie service in the 

UK. We have around 60 percent of 

the DVD rental market in the UK 

yet we only penetrate four percent 

of households - our opportunity for 

growth is huge. 

What gives you cause for 

optimism? 

That if you have a strong 

consumer proposition. If you offer 

great service, you can build a very 

good business. 

What single piece of advice 

would you give to someone 

starting a career today? 

Club Business 

Big Cheese 

In the first of our series on members who have excelled in their field we talk to Simon Calver 

Get as much experience across as 

many facets of business as you can 

as early as possilbe. 

What are your extravagances? 

I would say probably my Porsche, a 

Boxster and drinking fine 

wines-not together of course! 

What do you do when you are 

not working? 

I enjoy watching rugby but mainly I 

cycle. I go to the Alps and every 

summer to wherever the Tour de 

France is taking place. 

What is the most important 

quality needed by any leader? 

I would say the ability to set a bold 

vision and take people with you. 

What is your favourite film? 

Gladiator. 


Club Q&A 

Man of the World 

‘He put the gun to the back of my neck and told me he was going to shoot’, but as he revealed to 

The Sun’s Chief Reporter John Kay, John Simpson is still very much alive. 

Legendary globe-trotting 

BBC reporter John 

Simpson once worked out 

that throughout his 44-year career 

he jumped on a plane on average 

once every five days. He has 

reported from 138 countries, 

covered 37 wars, and interviewed 

175 emperors, kings, presidents, 

prime ministers and, in his own 

words, ‘assorted lunatics.’ Now 66, 

the father of three, who also has six 

grandchildren, shows no signs of 

slowing down in his demanding 

role as the BBC’s world affairs 

editor. In December he spoke at 

the Annual Literary Lunch where 

Chief Reporter of The Sun and 

club member John Kay tracked 

him down. 

What is the greatest single 

experience of your entire 

reporting career? 

There are quite a few in 44 years, 

as you might expect. But I think 

the finest moment was being at the 

inauguration of Nelson Mandela in 

1994. Lots of people had been 

forecasting civil war in South 

Africa, but having been the BBC 

correspondent there in the worst 

days of the 1970s, I had a feeling it 

wouldn’t be like that, and it was 

wonderful that everything passed 

off entirely peacefully. I’d come to 

know Nelson Mandela quite well 

after his release, and it felt even 

better when he gave me a broad 

wink during the ceremony. Also, 

while I was hanging around 


waiting for the ceremony to finish, 

I decided to ask my BBC producer, 

a South African girl, if she’d 

marry me. (She did.) So it was all 

pretty memorable. 

Why did you decide to become a 

journalist and did you always 

want to work for the BBC? 

I did a lot of journalism at school 

and university, and even covered 

the 1964 US election for my 

student paper at Cambridge, so it 

seemed natural to look for work as 

a journalist. I tried the Thomson 

group, which in those days 

published The Times and The 

Sunday Times, and was offered a 

job as a trainee. But the BBC said 

it would give me a full job at twice 

the amount that Thomson was 

going to pay me, so I took it. 

There is much greater TV 

competition now than when you 

first started your career . Do you 

see this as a force for good? 

I think the arrival on the scene of 

Sky News, CNN, al-Jazeera and 

the others has been excellent: good 

for everyone. The more 

competition there is, the harder 

everyone works. But the quality is 

pretty patchy, and as money gets 

tighter it’s quite rare to find any of 

these outfits covering any but the 

biggest stories nowadays. Only the 

BBC can afford the growing costs 

- and we’ve had to cut back heavily. 

I was very dubious about 24 hour 

coverage when it started, but I was 

completely wrong. It has made 

television news far more effective 

and useful to the audience. Of 

course there’s plenty of empty 

speculation being broadcast, and 

far too much repetition, but I find 

myself watching it a great deal. I’ve 

only got one complaint: on both the 

BBC and Sky there is a huge 

amount of airtime available, 

enough to go into stories in serious 

depth, and yet you still only get two 

or three minutes devoted to each 

subject before they’re onto 

something else. 

Do you think the job of reporting 

international affairs has become 

easier or more difficult in recent 

years? It is much easier to find 

out what is going on via the 

internet from oppressed places 

like Burma, Iran and North 

Korea. But Governments now 

seem to be much more adept at 

controlling and spinning 

information and news. 

I think it’s got easier overall. 

Countries like Burma and Iran 

find it really hard now to keep 

foreign reporters out, and their 

own citizens are able to tell the 

outside world minute by minute 

what’s going on. It’s not always safe 

or easy for them to do it, but it’s 

virtually impossible nowadays to bbC 

oF 

keep important things hidden. 

There’s far more spinning and 

controlling of news than there used 

to be - but, with the exception of 

savage dictatorships like North photographs:CoUrtEsY


Korea, Uzbekistan and several of 

the other ‘stans, it’s no longer so 

easy to keep everything secret. 

Do you regret famously saying 

that you had ‘liberated’ Kabul? 

In fairness, it seemed like a 

perfectly acceptable slice of 

journalese and a genuine coup. 

Nice of you to say that! Actually I 

never said I’d liberated Kabul, that 

was made up by Piers Morgan in 

the Mirror, and copied by everyone 

else. (The Sun, I have to say, has 

always been much nicer to me.) 

But I was stupid enough to make a 

joke about it on air. When the 

interviewer asked who had 

liberated Kabul I said it must have 

been the BBC. Never make jokes - 

the British media have no 

discernible sense of humour. So 

yes, I’m sorry I made a pointless 

and rather dopey comment. On 

the other hand, I can’t say I think it 

matters much in the greater 

scheme of things. 

Have you ever been deliberately 

fed an outright lie and therefore, 

unwittingly, became a conduit 

for misinformation? 

I’ve been fed all sorts of lies over 

the years, and I’m sure I must have 

passed some of them on in good 

faith. But my formative years as a 

journalist were spent in Ireland, 

North and South, where I quickly 

learned not to trust anyone. I 

found out then that the best way 

was always to make it clear in 

general terms what the source of 

my information was, as best I 

could, and never to present these 


things as absolute fact. After that I 

went on to be the BBC’s political 

editor, and that taught me never to 

believe anything I was told. 

Why are you so implacably 

opposed to Rupert Murdoch? 

After all, he has created and 

sustained jobs for thousands of 

journalists and without him we 

in the UK would not enjoy the 

huge variety of newspapers 

which we have at present. 

Actually, I’m not really implacable 

in my approach to Rupert 

Murdoch. I’ve got plenty of 

criticisms of what he’s done, but I 

always try to stress that he rescued 

the British newspaper industry in 

the early 80s, and I’m pretty sure 

we wouldn’t still have The Times 

and The Sunday Times if it wasn’t 

for him. No one serious about 

journalism or politics can afford 

not to read The Sun each morning, 

and I watch and enjoy Sky News, 

which I think is very good. To be 

honest, though, I don’t think big 

proprietors with strong ideas about 

politics and society are particularly 

good for journalism, or for the 

country. I recently published a 

book about British reporting in the 

twentieth century, and found that 

the influence of big interventionist 

proprietors had been pretty bad: 

think of Rothermere trying to 

persuade The Daily Mail’s readers 

that Hitler was a great man, and 

Britain’s best friend. Like a lot of 

people, I’m worried about the 

influence on our political life of an 

American with not much affection 

for Britain. I suspect, though, that 

if I ever met the great man I should 

take to him quite strongly. 

To be immodest for a moment, 

do you think there will be many 

John Simpsons of the future still 

on top of their game in their 60s? 

Well, I don’t know how on top of 

my game I really am. It’s just that 

when you’ve been around for so 

long, and have white hair, people 

seem to believe you in a way they 

didn’t a few decades back. My 

friend and mentor Sir Charles 

Wheeler once said to me ‘Just hang 

in there - it all becomes much 

easier as the years go by.’ He kept 

going till he was 86, and I think he 

was the finest reporter this country 

has had, certainly in my lifetime. 

But I’m really sorry to say I’m not 

sure how much of a future there is 

in broadcasting, or in newspapers 

either. People seem to want 

bloggers who tell them what they 

already believe, rather than 

journalists who try to tell them 

honestly what’s really going on. 

One thing I wholeheartedly agree 

with Rupert Murdoch about is 

charging for his papers online. 

Why should people read the hard

work of hundreds of people for 

nothing? It’s crazy. 

As the BBC’s most instantly 

recognisable ‘fireman’ ready to 

move anywhere in the world at a 

moment’s notice, tell us what 

exactly you keep in your 

ever-present ‘overnight bag’. 

I’m afraid I’m a pretty incompetent 

packer. In fact one of the things 

I’ve rather come to enjoy is seeing 

what I’ve left at home. Some things 

I don’t forget, though: an iPod with 

several weeks’ worth of music and 

drama on it; a photograph of my 

wife Dee and our four-year-old 

son Rafe, who is the light of my life; 

and plenty of books, real and 

electronic. People who work for 

television news are always getting 

arrested, and I need something to 

keep me going in jail. Nowadays I 

also take half a dozen pairs of 

cheap specs: no point in having 

books if you can’t see to read them. 

What was the trickiest scrape 

you ever got into and do you 

think your life has ever genuinely 

been in danger? 

I’ve been bombed and shelled and 

sniped at and mortared all sorts of 

times. In Beirut once, three 

mortar shells landed behind me as 

I was doing a piece to camera, and 

none of them went off. The odds 

against that must be pretty high. 

I’ve been in the early stages of 

being torn apart by an angry crowd 

in Iran (God forgive me, I grabbed 

a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini 

and waved it in the air, so then they 

all started loving me). I had an 

operation to re-tie the main tendon 

in my knee in a hospital which was 

bombed by the Americans, and I’ve 

lost all hearing in my left ear and 

have a large piece of shrapnel 

embedded in what I call my hip 

(my doctor calls it my buttock, 

which is a lot less glamorous) - also 

as a result of being bombed by the 

Americans in Iraq. And I know 

what it’s like to think I’m about to 

cash in my chips: an Islamic 

fundamentalist captured me a few 

years ago in Lebanon and made me 

kneel down. He put a gun to the 

back of my neck and told me he was 

going to shoot me. There was a 

click and everyone laughed, and I 

brushed the dust off my knees and 

said some words which I hoped he 

Club Q&A 

‘ive been 

bombed and 

shelled 

and sniped 

at all sorts 

of times’ 

wouldn’t understand. But I still 

remember the patch of sand and 

dust and fag-ends and spit that I 

thought was going to be my last 

sight on earth. 

Finally, given that you still 

keep popping up on screen 

almost every night in all the 

globe’s hotspots - most recently 

in Burma, how long do you wish 

to continue front-line reporting 

for the BBC? 

Actually, I only travel for about 

twelve days a month, and the rest 

of the time I stay at home, make 

phone-calls and take my 4-yearold 

to and from school. I’d 

probably give it all up quite soon, if 

it weren’t for him. But I don’t want 

his main memories to be of an old, 

irritable bag of bones sitting by the 

fire shouting out, ‘Turn that bloody 

music down and bring me another 

g&t.’ So, like Charles Wheeler and 

my dear friend Martha Gellhorn 

(who wrote her last report at the 

age of 88), I’ll just keep going as 

long as I can. 

Unreliable Sources by John Simpson 

available in paperback now. 



An Audience with 

Matthew Williamson showed his dazzling designs at the club in November. Colin 

Cameron pinned him down to talk triumph, ties, and the business of fashion.

Club Events 

Matthew Williamson 


Matthew Williamson is a 

forward thinker. As an 

acclaimed fashion 

designer now of over a 

decade, renowned in Britain and 

beyond for both anticipating and 

initiating trends, he would have to be. 

After all, there is always next season. 

‘I tend not to go back in time,’ he 

confides. ‘I have never been interested 

in historical references.’ 

In Williamson’s case, his sense of 

anticipation goes altogether deeper 

than simply the ability to second-guess 

or shape taste. Today he finds himself at 

pretty much where he aspired to be 

after graduating from Central St 

Martins College with a BA in fashion 

design and printed textiles, and starting 

out an a career that has spawned a 

global business and earned him a 

deserved reputation for innovation and 

excellence. ‘I always wanted my own 

fashion label,’ he confesses. 

Whether Williamson’s foresight 

included the spectacle of his work 

paraded round the Club Room of the 

club in a figure of eight amid house 

lights and to the music of The Zombie 

Disco Squad raises a smile. On 

November 1, over 350 members and 

guests arrived for the spectacle of 

seeing a mix of Williamson’s recent 

work and some iconic pieces from past 

collections. The blend represented the 

essence of the Matthew Williamson 

story so far. 

Williamson, himself, described the 

experience as ‘jaw dropping’. This was 

on the basis that, instead of being back 

stage at a fashion show for his latest 

collection waiting for the gathered 

critics’ verdicts, he sat among guests. ‘I 

love showing to an audience that would 


not normally see a fashion show,’ he 

said, in anticipation. ‘I usually show to 

people who all wear black, have been to 

ten shows that day, are tired and jaded 

and work really hard and probably 

think, no, not another show! To come 

into an environment where the 

audience doesn’t work in fashion, and to 

see women’s faces and their response to 

the clothes is incredibly worthwhile. I 

am just thrilled for everyone to see my 

work.’ 

Back at the club the next day, the 

Club Room has an added dimension for 

those who attended proceedings. 

Meanwhile, Williamson, who as well as 

maintaining his label now for 13 years, 

was creative director at the LVMHowned 

Emilio Pucci label, from 2005 to 

2008, has returned to his own world 

refreshed from having stepped outside 

his comfort zone. 

Today with his company thriving 

out of offices in Mayfair, a new 

menswear to complement his 

established excellence on behalf of 

women, and with a book recently 

published chronicling his 13 years in the 

business, Williamson has cause to 

reflect nostalgically on his path to a 

triumphant night on Pall Mall, all from 

a relatively modest first collection in 

1997. 

He laughs: ‘a tiny little vision – just 

11 pieces but it had a point of difference. 

leslie 

There was much androgynous black at 

the time. So I stood out. It ignited a way 

roBerT 

in which women could dress.’ 

A spell before this working at 

PHoToGraPHs 

Monsoon ensured that the germ of a 

business ultimately survived and 

Cameron. 

thrived. ‘I learnt everything there is to 

Colin 

know about running a company, 

observing how big companies operate, Words:

words: Colin Cameron. photographs: robert leslie 



34 | January 2011 | Issue 133

developing a business head as well as a 

creative one,’ he confesses. 

Both were engaged when 

Williamson decided to venture into 

menswear, producing a collection for 

2010. ‘There is always a lot to consider 

when introducing a new facet to a 

business,’ he reflects. ‘Ultimately the 

timing was right after a range for H&M 

which was very successful and 

producing some cashmere sweaters for 

Harrods, which also went well. So those 

were two signals indicating we could try 

things out.’ 

The challenge then was to make 

clothes he could wear himself. ‘With 

women’s ranges, there is a detachment, 

a freedom even,’ Williamson maintains. 

‘You can take any colour, fabric and 

shape. You are liberated. Menswear is 

built around a staple wardrobe of 

trousers, shirt, and jacket. There is little 

flexibility within that. Luckily there is 

the detail; the way things are cut, the 

lining, how a pocket is angled, buttons 

flaps. All subtle delicate developments.’ 

For all Williamson’s youthful 

appearance – he certainly looks 

younger than his 39 years – he has 

earned veteran status. Equally, the 

business retains its capacity to surprise 

him. Last March, Natalie Massenet 

sold her 18 percent share in Net a 

Porter, the online fashion business she 

founded ten years ago, for over £50 

million to the Richemont Group. ‘I 

remember Natalie coming to see me 

and asking to sell my clothes online,’ 

Williamson recalls. ‘I thought she 

doesn’t know what she is doing!’ 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, 

Williamson shrugs. ‘My women’s 

philosophy remains what it was 

originally,’ he reflects. ‘That was to 


create collections that are textural and 

have an immediate impact through 

beading, embroidery, or pattern. With 

my men’s range, I will draw on these 

pillars, which have been successful in 

the past, our ultimate, absolute 

strengths.’ 

Sitting with Williamson at the 

heart of his empire listening to this, I 

am perhaps understandably a little 

self-conscious. Even in a bespoke 

Timothy Everest suit, I cannot help but 

reflect that compared to my companion 

I perhaps lack something of a cutting 

edge. 

A further blow to self-confidence is 

that Williamson, though born in 

Manchester, maintains that men dress 

worse the further north you go. This is 

not exactly an endorsement of style in 

my own home town of Glasgow. 

‘Women have a harder time dressing in 

the corporate world,’ he adds. So it 

should actually be easier for my clan 

and me? 

At least Williamson acknowledges 

that my tie’s width is ‘pretty good’ 

compared to his own altogether more 

narrow tastes. On the occasion that we 

speak he is open necked. At the club, he 

opted for a patterned bow tie, which 

without being a centrepiece of the 

occasion nevertheless echoes the 

philosophy of Matthew Williamson. 

‘I appreciate meticulous attention 

to detail, a real dandy consideration of 

what you wear from head to toe,’ he 

explains. ‘Then again, I also like a bit of 

gypsy, some rock and roll, a look that is 

even a little unkempt.’ 

As anyone at the club on 1 

November savoured for themselves. 

See more photographs from the 

event on the club website. 


The Palace 

At Pall Mall 

Described as ‘The Parliament House of Motoring’ the Pall Mall clubhouse has 

since 1911 presided over Pall Mall as the most prestigious beacon for motoring 

as well as one of this country’s greatest buildings of the Edwardian age. 


Pall Mall Centenary 


By 1907, it was decided 

that the club’s 

premises, housed at 

119 Piccadilly were 

inadequate. A dedicated 

committee was established to 

locate suitable new premises. 

After discreet negotiations with 

the Crown for the site of the old 

War Office in Pall Mall it was 

secured in January 1908 on the 

condition that the new building 

was to cost no less than 

£100,000; the committee was to 

honour their brief admirably as 

the finished cost was to amount 

to a startling £250,000 

(equivalent to £14 million today). 

The planned amount was raised 

by the offer of life memberships 

and the work steered by its new 

Chairman, HRH Prince Francis 

of Teck (1870-1910), who, 

though until his appointment 

was more noted for his colourful 

lifestyle, proved to be an 

admirable chairman. 

The committee turned to 

Keynes Purchase as architects 

and the firm of Mewès and Davis 

for the design following the 

latter’s successful execution of 

the sumptuous Ritz Hotels in 

London and Madrid as well as 

the remodelling of Polesden 

Lacey near Woodcote Park in 

Surrey for the lavish Edwardian 

hostess Hon. Mrs Ronald 

Greville (1863-1942) and Luton 

Hoo, Bedfordshire for the great 

Edwardian diamond magnate 

Sir Julius Wernher (1815-1912). 

The chosen Beaux Arts style of 

the new clubhouse building 


perfectly reflected that of the 

Edwardian period and especially 

of Edward VII who took a very 

close interest in the building of 

the club. Both Charles Mewés 

and Arthur Davis had attended 

the École des Beaux Arts and, as 

was the fashion, they 

incorporated complete 

historically designed interiors 

into a single project. The 

clubhouse is a magnificent 

example of this. The stately 

French public spaces lead into 

restrained neo-classical English 

rooms whilst the Pompeian 

splendour of the pool and 

Turkish baths lie on an imperial 

scale beneath. The club opened 

on March 23 1911 and it is little 

wonder it was referred to by one 

outraged member, shocked by its 

size, as ‘a bloody great railway 

station’. 

Inspired by Ange-Jacques 

Gabriel’s Hotel Crillon in Paris, 

which was home to the 

Automobile Club de France, the 

230ft Portland stone exterior 

hid the building’s then 

revolutionary steel frame. The 

façade was designed in the Louis 

arChive. 

XIV style with arcaded windows 

Club 

on the lower range, a grand order 

the 

of ionic columns unifying the 

of 

first and second floors and 

centred by a projecting portico 

Courtesy 

with a pediment and a carved 

imaGes: 

centrepiece, ‘Science as the 

davis. 

Inspiration of the Allied Trades’ 

depicting a sober classical 

Garfield 

tableau that hides an 

Jeremy 

enthusiastic cherub making off 

on a motorbike! Words:

The Swimming Pool 

pictured in 1911 



The frigidarium 

in the Turkish Bath 

picture in 1911 


Over 100 years the use of 

some rooms has inevitably 

evolved from their original 

purpose. What is now the 

Cocktail Bar on the left of the 

main entrance was the grey 

panelled Ladies Drawing Room 

and cloakroom that allowed 

female guests to be met safely 

and led directly into the 

Restaurant (now the Brooklands 

Room) without having to meet 

strangers in the central atrium. 

The Restaurant first employed 

the personal chef to the late 

King, Edward VII, and was 

decorated by M. Remon of Paris 

in the Louis XV style with 

magnificent scagliola Siena 

marble columns. The panelling 

is still inset with the five 

Italianate landscapes after 

Hubert Robert believed to have 

come ‘from a château in the 

Midi’. The Club Room, was 

painted pale green and was 

designed and furnished by the 

Mayfair firm of Lenygon & Co. 

and is believed to be a replica of 

the early Georgian council 

chamber from the old War 

Office. In 1920 more space was 

claimed for the Billiard Room 

and more staff accommodation 

by breaking through the party 

wall in the basement. 

Central to the club remains 

the splendid Louis XIV style 

Great Gallery with its ceiling by 

Boulanger. Originally painted in 

grey and white it served as a 

more relaxed Palm Court, with 

an oak parquet floor and wicker 

furniture, and an occasional 


concert and ballroom. 

The first floor rooms in 

contrast were inspired by 

neo-classical English 

architecture and were executed 

by the eminent firm of Jackson & 

Sons. The original library was 

housed in the Mall Room, with a 

small writing room next to it 

(now the Small Mall Room) 

before moving to its present 

commanding home in the 

original Billiard Room 

overlooking the Mall and next to 

the Card Room which is now the 

St James’s Room. Today’s 

impressive Mountbatten Room 

was originally the Members’ 

Dining Room and also decorated 

by Lenygon & Co. in the lighter 

neo-classical style of William 

Chambers. Some wonderful 

rooms have however been lost 

including the novel fifth floor 

members’ Photographic Studio, 

the Rifle Range and the Fencing 

Salle (now the gym) that excited 

Kaiser Wilhelm no end when he 

visited in 1911. 

Change will still continue 

but it is remarkable that such an 

ambitiously conceived building 

of such quality has remained in 

much of its original form and use 

for 100 years. It still remains 

relevant to its original 

foundation and still provides its 

members with great comfort, 

hospitality and above all good 

fellowship keeping true to Prince 

Francis of Teck’s words when he 

aimed to create ‘the most up to 

date and comfortable club… in 

the World’. 


Club Art 

A Brush 

With Her 

Majesty 

Artist Brenda Bury tells the story behind 

the portrait of The Queen that hangs in 

the Pall Mall clubhouse 

If you are in Pall Mall this winter take a 

moment to wander. Meander past the hall 

porters (say hello of course) and make your way 

up the stairs. Clamber up, past the television 

room and carry on up the next flight (make a mental 

note to book an appointment with a personal trainer). 

Continue the climb until you are on floor one and a 

half, then turn and there, looking at you is the Queen, 

painted by Brenda Bury in 1967. Here Brenda, who 

now lives and paints in Toronto, shares her thoughts 

on that ‘rather important job’. 

I have been painting since I was a child. In order to 

do people well you have to be trained in life drawing, 

composition, landscape, in all things because it’s all 

one world. I studied under Anthony Betts who was 

pupil and friend to Whistler and Sickert; they 

influence my painting, but I think your teacher is really 

the one who shapes you . I began my professional life 

by painting Lord and Lady St. Oswald in 1964. Then I 

painted Lord Mountbatten of Burma and it was really 

through him that I was asked to paint Queen Elizabeth 

when the club commissioned her portrait. As soon as I 

got the job I got hold of my teacher Anthony Betts and 

said, ‘What do I do?’ He said; ‘Well you know you have 

no trouble with likeness, but watch your composition. 

You may not practice on the Monarch.’ In other words 

figure it out beforehand. So I did. 



October 2010 | Issue 132| 41

All Seeing Eye 

Portrait painting is a gift. 

You need a gift for likeness 

and I have that. I never work 

from photographs. You will 

never get anything worth 

anything from a photograph, 

the result would be far 

inferior to the photograph 

itself . They are two 

completely separate things, 

both very important but a 

photograph does not replace 

a painting. Can you imagine 

Michael Angelo using 

photographs for the Sistine 

Chapel? No. Painting is to do 

with seeing and a painter 

will help people to see. How 

often have you driven into 

the South of France and seen 

a Monet? There are 

Constables all over England! 

These painters have seen 

and introduced you to a way 

of looking at the world, a way 

of seeing things. I know in 

front of a person I think, ‘you 

look terrific I wish you could 

see it’ and then I realise that 

is what I am doing, I am 

showing them what they are 

like. You have from life, a bit 

of the human being in the 

painting, never from 

photographs. When you see 

the Rembrandt at Kenwood 

what you do is that you 

recognise in a good portrait 

our common humanity. 

You look and say to yourself 

there he is; now I know what 

he was like. You see. 


words: sarah walmsley 

ArrAnging the 

monArch 

I went to the palace and 

they were very helpful. It 

was important for her to 

look regal. I managed to 

get a chair that looked like 

a throne and then went to 

see the dresser, the famous 

Bobo, and we picked out a 

beautiful satin dress. 

i don’t Sketch 

Everybody works in a 

different way but I find 

that if I make a drawing it 

has immediacy and a flair 

that is lost once you use it 

as evidence. So I just 

smash paint straight on the 

picture. The painting is the 

one and only record of my 

meetings with the Queen. 

time to PAint 

I had four sittings planned 

with the Queen. After the 

first the palace put the 

dress and jewels on a lay 

figure, which meant I could 

go in and out. After the last 

sitting the Queen said ‘I 

can see you would like a bit 

longer’, so she arranged for 

me to have two more. 

i PAint WhAt i See 

I don’t think you need to 

know a person before you 

paint them. It’s not your 

business to assess a human 

being. I think that 

everything that we are is 

visually apparent. You 

think about getting the 

mouth right not about the 

character of a person. 


A muddle 

The tone of the white 

dress got me into a muddle, 

There’s a wonderful 

portrait by Gainsborough 

called ‘The Morning 

Walk’. I learnt from it, 

that whites are cream 

and darks are brown. So 

that was very helpful and 

I got through it. 

chit chAt 

The Queen is incredibly 

good fun to be with. She is 

extremely chatty and 

friendly, so I nearly always 

found myself jabbering 

away. We chatted about all 

sorts, gossip mainly: whose 

hair looked a mess, what 

the Kennedys were like, all 

sorts; it was great fun. 


Black Gold 

What no pig? The pungent perfume of truffles is about to waft through 

the Great Gallery. A hunting we go, sans pig. 


Words: sarah Walmsley. photographs: getty Images 

‘ 

Club Source 

Bonjour, Je m’appelle Jean 

Louis, je suis cultivateur de 

truffe’. Jean Louis is standing in 

the middle of a field in the 

Languedoc, South West France. He is 

sporting a green coat, a huge black beret 

and an impressive moustache. Assuming a 

rotund pig is in the back of his ramshackle 

Citroen, he is my truffle farmer dream 

made real. We are cherchons des truffes, 

foraging for black diamonds and once we 

find them truffles from this field are going 

to appear on a plate near you in February. 

The Fabled TruFFle 

Come winter, black truffles are quite the 

thing to be eating: ‘exquisite’ says Howard 

Bisset, ‘magnifique’ purrs Ben Guilen. It’s 

not just the club chefs who make a trophy 

of the truffle, do the google yourself; they 

are ethereal, orgasmic, magical, 

apparently... This all seems quite a 

hullabaloo for what is essentially a kind of 

‘underground mushroom’ that grows on 

the roots of trees and resembles what can 

only be described as a clot of clay. But the 

mystique is there, from speaking to truffle 

lovers I am envisaging a secret cave in a 

land far far away, where truffles nestle next 

to the contents of the Bermuda triangle. 

The high rollers 

The fact that black truffles are so rare goes 

some way to explaining the mystical aura 

that surrounds them. Notoriously difficult 

to cultivate most are now produced on 

truffle plantations where truffle farmers 

like Jean Louis attempt to create perfect 

growing conditions for the fungi. ‘We plant 

trees, mainly oaks; their roots have been 

exposed to the spores of fungi. I prune the 

trees so that sunshine can reach the base; 

sunshine is important’ he explains. So too, 

he tells me, is a well-drained limestone soil 


and litres of water. Even after all this, 

finding truffles is still a lucky dip. Farmers 

must wait for their investment to pay. On 

average trees only produce truffles after 

ten years. Out of the 850 trees on Jean 

Louis’ plantation only ten have given 

truffles. ‘Finding one is like winning the 

world cup’ he grins. 

Where’s The Pig? 

Truffles do leave a sign of where they can 

be found, enzymes from the fungus kill off 

plants to create a brùlè, a bare area around 

the base of the tree ‘this can signify the 

presence of truffles’ says Jean Louis. 

Surely this is when the rotund pig makes 

an appearance. ‘Pig? Oh no. No pig!’ 

exclaims Jean Louis, ‘He wants the truffle 

for himself. I always use my dog.’ Enter 

Miss, Border Collie and truffle hound. She 

is actually the dog of Laetitia Rigaud 

another local truffle farmer. Miss skips 

about sniffing the ground, ‘Allez Miss, 

cherchez’, Laetitia calls, Miss does a dance 

and then scratches at the base of a tree. 

Laetitia leaps in and whilst pushing Miss’s 

nose out, delves into the soil with a screw- 

driver. We wait, the delving continues and 

then out of the ground it appears, the 

truffle. There is certainly a thrill in the air, 

Miss looks on expectantly, Laetitia 

rewards her with a hunk of Babybel, the 

dog wags her tail furiously, I think this 

must be Miss talk for ‘magnifique’. 

Club Truffles 

Once the truffles are harvested they are 

brought to one of the truffle markets in the 

area. Marie Cecile, sister of Jean Louis, 

organizes a series of three markets that are 

held in Moussoulens during winter 

months. We are munching truffle butter on 

toast in her sitting room. ‘The quality of 

the truffles is assessed by a controller’ says 


Marie Cecile, ‘He is looking for a firm 

truffle, very black with strong white 

marbling’. Truffles that have passed the 

test are placed in a white cotton bag and 

after a gunshot rings out at 11.00am to 

signal the start of the market, each truffle 

is auctioned off to the highest bidder. ‘A 

good truffle will make around €1,000 per 

kilogram’, says Marie Cecile, I take 

another bite and try not to fall off my chair.

‘A GOOD 

TRUFFLE WILL 

MAKE AROUND 

€1,000 PER 

KILOGRAM’ 

How To Make Truffle risoTTo 

By club chef Philip Corrick. Serves 2. 

100g Butter 

50g Finely chopped shallot or onion 

200g Acquerello carnoroli rice or any good 

alborio rice 

100ml Dry white wine 

1lt Chicken or vegetable stock 

seasoning 

Grated parmesan to taste 

1 Small truffle 

Melt 1/3 of the butter in a high-sided thick 

bottomed pan over a low heat, add the 

onion and soften in the butter without 

colour. Add the rice, stir in until the grains 

are opaque, add the white wine, reduce 

until the wine has almost disappeared. 

Add a large ladle of stock, a small amount 

of salt, increase the heat, cook until the 

liquid almost disappears, continue adding 

stock until the rice is cooked. Dice and 

add the remaining butter, a generous 

handful of grated Parmesan, stir 

vigorously to a creamy consistency, 

correct the seasoning, spoon into bowls, 

shave the truffle on top, sprinkle with a 

good quality olive oil (optional) and serve 

more grated Parmesan apart and a good 

twist of the peppermill. 

Club Source 

know Your Truffles 

Black winter Truffle, Tuber 

Melanosporum, also know as Perigord 

Truffle. It is harvested in France, Italy and 

Spain from November to March. Its skin 

has pyradimal scales whilst its flesh goes 

from grey to black showing thin white 

veins when mature. 

winter white Truffle, Tuber Magnatum 

Pico, also called Italian White Truffle. 

Mainly found in Northern and Central 

Italy it is harvested from October to 

December. Smooth and yellowish skin. Its 

flesh is white to light brown with thin 

white veins and has a very strong aroma 

with hints of garlic and shallots. 

Black summer Truffle, Tuber Aestivum 

also called the ‘Truffle of Saint Jean ‘ is 

found in France, Spain and Italy from 

May to August. Its skin has black scales. 

The flesh is light brown when mature 

with white veins. 

snuffle for Truffles 

Make a Bid: Visit a French truffle market, 

events include 23 January Ampélofolies du 

Cabardès in Mousselens, 29 January 

Foyer in Talairan, 5 February Promenade 

des Fosses in Villeneuve – Minervois. 

Have a Taste: The club is holding a fete 

de la truffe when chefs from the Hotel de la 

Cite will visit the Great Gallery to cook 

truffley wonders, 21 – 27 February. 

Telephone 020 7747 3458 

see for Yourself: Make for the Languedoc. 

The club has arranged special rates for 

members with the Hotel de la Cite; visit 

www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/truffles 

Grow Your own: Plant your own truffle 

trees; visit www.plantationsystems.com 

Hunt with Your Hound: 

Train your dog to hunt for truffles at the 

Truffle Hunters Dog School www. 

plantationsystems.com/dog-school 


Club Interview 

A Word 

from 

The WIse 

Tom meyer hates publicity, he shies away from cameras, in fact he 

has never given an interview. Not that is until one day in december 

when he met michael dobbs and shared stories of a wondrous life. 

My notes sum up the 

challenge. ‘Could write a 

book, but all I get is 900 

words.’ The focus of this 

challenge is Tom Meyer, a man of 91 

who speaks slowly, with obvious care, as 

if he is afraid of offering unintended 

offence, yet who has a twinkle in his eye 

that belongs to a much younger spirit.. 

‘I’ve been very, very lucky,’ he says, and 

sitting in his exquisite home in central 

London, surrounded by the treasures 

and memories of his long life, it’s easy to 

agree with him. But that would miss the 

point. Tom may have had good fortune, 

but he has used it wondrously. 

He is one of the club’s Senior One 

Hundred members who first came to 

the Pall Mall clubhouse before the war 

with his father to swim. A Cockney, he 

came from a wealthy background – 

money never seems to have been a 

problem - but shunned university to 

become a lumberjack, deckhand and 

soldier. As part of the Rifle Brigade he 


endured the siege of Tobruk, only to be 

captured on a mission behind enemy 

lines. He didn’t waste his four years as a 

prisoner of war. Locked up in 

Czechoslovakia, he and three other 

inmates decided to buy a racehorse. 

Instructions were sent by post card to a 

trainer in Newmarket to buy a yearling. 

It ran with modest success until they 

were told that in order to improve its 

performance it would have to be gelded. 

Cooped up as bachelors behind barbed 

wire, it was something they couldn’t 

countenance. So the horse was sold, and 

gelded - and proceeded to win its next 

three races. 

There was another side to his 

captivity, of course – he admits to being 

‘knocked about a bit’ – but there is no 

trace of remorse or recrimination. He’s 

been too busy for that. 

He’s been a fabulously successful 

lumber man, an entrepreneur and art 

lover, a pioneer and public benefactor, a 

farmer, a free thinker, a charitable



photographs: martin burton 

worker of prodigious energy and 

accomplishment – and the husband of 

Fleur Cowles. Tom won’t mind if this 

sounds a little like playing second fiddle 

to his wife; in fact, he almost insists on 

it. When Fleur died in 2009 aged 101, 

newspapers around the globe were 

filled with tributes to a woman who 

befriended kings, queens, shahs, 

presidents, popes, prime ministers, film 

stars, and artists. Mother Theresa, 

Salvador Dali, Picasso, Marilyn 

Monroe, Margot Fonteyn – the famous 

flowed through Tom and Fleur’s life like 

a mountain stream. When they 

married, their best man was Cary 

Grant. 

I talked to Tom sitting in Fleur’s 

office. It’s a most exceptional room, 

windowless, where everything is as 

Fleur left it, designed and decorated in 

the most exquisite taste, right down to 

the teacups. It has been left largely 

untouched since her death. Tom talks 

about Fleur as if she were still there, but 

there is nothing maudlin in this; they 

were married for more than fifty years, 

and the joy Tom found with his wife 

seems limitless (indeed, Cary Grant, 

often a troubled soul, once asked them 

to take LSD with him so they could 

discover the secret of why they were so 

happy together). 

His face lights up as this shy man 

gradually reveals the tales of his past. 

After the war he became an avid racing 

driver competing in almost all the great 

long-distance races in Europe. It was an 

age when the sport was often 

desperately dangerous. ‘I was never the 

most successful driver,’ he told me. 

‘During one race, I remember seeing a 

cloud of dust up ahead. Some terrible 

accident. As I approached I saw the 

bodies lying on the ground, but you had 

to carry on, although it has to be said I 

was never the fastest driver in the land. 

The report afterwards said that I was 

passed by the ambulance on the back 

straight.’ 

His racing career was brought to an 

abrupt end, not by an accident but by 

Fleur. She never told him to stop, there 

would be no point, for behind Tom’s 

gentle eyes lies an ocean of resilience. 

She simply announced that she would 

sit beside him in the car on his next race 

– the Mille Miglia, almost a thousand 

miles of open roads and one of the most 

perilous races of the season. ‘Of course, 

I couldn’t. I never raced again,’ he said, 

smiling softly. 

Yet Tom’s life has not been that of a 

playboy. Besides building up the largest 

lumber company in Britain he has 

devoted decades to the health service. 

His dedication as a volunteer, 

particularly as the chairman of the 

Royal Brompton National Heart and 

Lung Hospitals, is legendary. This is a 

man who has put his strong back and his 

plentiful resources where his heart is. 

And what of the future? ‘I like to 

gather around my table wise people who 

can explain to me how the world works,’ 

he told me. Even in his nineties, he is a 

remarkably modern man. 

Disarmingly modest, he hates 

personal publicity. ‘My father told me 

never to invest in a company whose 

chairman appeared in the press more 

than twice a year.’ His own 

extraordinary accomplishments have to 

be pulled from him like teeth. ‘I know 

I’m going to regret giving this interview,’ 

he said, reverting to self-effacing type. 

Well, I hope not, Tom. Meeting you 

has been sunshine for the soul. 

Club Interview 

‘CARY GRANT, 

OFTEN A 

TROUBLED SOUL, 

ONCE ASKED 

THEM TO TAKE 

LSD WITH HIM’ 


Club Adventure 

In the 

footsteps 

of giants 

In October John Mills went to South Georgia 

and retraced Shackleton’s epic journey from 

King Haakon Bay to Stromness.Here he 

shares the story of his adventure. 

As the James Caird crash-landed on South 

Georgia in May 1916, Sir Ernest 

Shackleton and his crew were in a sorry 

state. They had been at sea for 16 days in a 

22 foot long open lifeboat, battling towering waves, sub 

zero temperatures and their own hunger and 

exhaustion. In their hands rested the fate of the rest of 

the crew of the Endurance, trapped 800 miles to the 

south on Elephant Island. Shackleton knew the 

whaling stations on the northern coast would help but 

could not risk putting to sea again to reach them. They 

had no choice but to go overland, something never 

before done. After a 36 hour marathon trek, 

Shackleton, together with Tom Crean and Frank 

Worsley, stumbled into Stromness whaling station, 

famously leading to the rescue of the Endurance crew 

without the loss of a single life. 

I have been fascinated by this story since I first 

heard it, so when a friend, Chris Short, tipped me off 

about an expedition to retrace Shackleton’s route 

across the island, there was no question - I was in. We 

wouldn’t be the first to do it. A British joint-forces 

party crossed in 1964, and in recent years, there have 

been fairly regular expeditions. Still, it would be a rare 



SOUTH GEORGIA 

N 

Scotia Sea 

privilege to have a crack at it ourselves, but no matter 

what our collective experience, this was a serious 

challenge. South Georgia is a harsh and unforgiving 

place. If something goes wrong there is no chance of 

rescue; you’re on your own. 

It isn’t only the Brits who are fascinated and 

inspired by Shackleton’s story. The idea for our 

expedition originated with a German, Florian Piper. 

His employer, Oceanwide Expeditions, had scheduled 

a unique ten-day cruise to South Georgia on the MV 

Plancius, a converted polar research ship. As well as 

getting the twitching world all excited, Florian 

realised there would be time for a small team to 

attempt a traverse. He invited Austrian mountaineer, 

Christoph Hobenreich, to lead the group of eight. We 

were joined by Martina Six and Mathilde Danzer 

along with previous climbing partners of Christoph’s, 

Gerhard Schuhmann and Mario Trimeri. Chris and I 

made up the British contingent. 

Our biggest fear on the five-day crossing from 

Montevideo was the weather in King Haakon Sound, 

Shackleton’s eventual landfall. We needed reasonably 

calm conditions to get ashore in the Zodiac. The ship 


Stromness Bay 

had a full itinerary of wildlife sites to call at, so couldn’t 

afford to wait around for us if the sea was rough. 

Fortunately, it wasn’t. Like Shackleton, we happened 

upon a weather window. As soon as we were ashore, 

the clouds lifted and we were faced with one of the 

most beautiful vistas I had ever seen. Imagine the 

Alps dropped in the sea and you have a pretty good 

impression of what South Georgia looks like. 

The crossing took us just under three days – skiing 

across the terrain towing pulkas that carried our 

means of survival. Unlike Shackleton, we had the 

luxury of camping equipment. I’d love to say we lived 

through whiteouts, icestorms and blizzards, but it was 

largely drama-free, other than some tricky descents 

and ice-blasting winds one night as we tried to get the 

tents up. Even so, we could see clouds and stormy 

weather chasing us across the island so we needed to 

press on as fast as we could. 

Our luck held. Despite being on deep ice, the 

temperature was no colder than a crisp winter’s day in 

England. Crossing the glaciers, we roped up in two 

teams of four in case of crevasses. No-one fell down a 

crevasse and we didn’t set off any avalanches, which I

from left: 

Day One the climb up to 

Shackleton Gap, King 

Penguins at St. Andrews 

Bay, Camp Two at the 

Great Nunatak, 

Breakwind Ridge and 

Fortuna Bay 

felt was an achievement since we could often hear the 

rumbling of snow and rock falling. 

I made the schoolboy error of turning up in new 

ski boots and as with most new boots, they were 

torture. Cursing my boots (and the bloke that sold 

them to me) took up a lot of thought time as we made 

our way across the seemingly endless miles of snow. 

However, I quickly learnt to focus on what I was doing. 

Once or twice the concentration wavered, me speed 

crept up, the rope slackened, caught on a ski and 

suddenly I was on the floor! There are two huge 

obstacles on the route Shackleton took to Stromness– 

the Trident and Breakwind ridges. With heavy pulkas 

and backpacks, sliding down on our backs, as he had 

done, wasn’t an option. Instead we had to take off our 

equipment and haul it down, before lowering 

ourselves. As a confirmed chicken when it comes to 

heights, these were the bits of the journey I was least 

looking forward to. Strangely enough though, the 

usual ‘fear’ wasn’t there. I was so elated about where I 

was and what I was seeing, I seemed to ‘forget’ to be 

scared. 

Shackleton, Worsley and Crean ate the last of 


their rations at Breakwind Ridge. The gap was only a 

few feet wide, so we knew we were in the same spot 

where Shackleton and his men descended. From here 

they heard the 7.00am shift whistle at the Stromness 

whaling station, so knew they were close. No whistle 

for us, but we could see Stromness Bay over the far 

horizon – it seemed almost within touching distance. 

The Plancius arrived while we slept at our final 

camp, just above Fortuna Bay and only a short hike 

from Stromness. After a painful morning negotiating 

all our kit down a series of steep, rock-filled gullies to 

the water’s edge, we swapped our gear for wellies and 

tackled the last leg in relative comfort. My feet sang. It 

was thrilling to be so close to achieving our goal, but I 

was already missing the raw beauty of the mountains. 

A couple of hours later, we were photographing 

each other on the final ridge above Stromness, giggling 

like a bunch of school children. We had done it! That 

same afternoon, the ship sailed round to Grytviken 

and we joined the rest of the crew and passengers to 

pay our respects to Sir Ernest with the traditional 

whisky toast over his grave. It was a powerful moment 

that I shall never forget. 


Keep calm and win 


Squash Professional Greg Pearman on why the man 

upstairs doesn’t always love a tryer. 

GreG SayS relax 

Outside of my office in Pall Mall there is a 

water fountain used by the squash players. 

This is where they come to hydrate and 

give themselves a little talking to when the 

need arises. Perhaps they are thinking 

about what they need to do to turn around 

a losing match or how to keep their 

concentration until victory. More often 

than not the conclusion of the player is ‘I 

must try harder’ and with the body 

language to match he marches off back to 

the court to do battle. But trying harder 

isn’t always the best policy. In fact relaxing 

can have more benefits as it allows you to 

play the right shots and win the match. 

everythinG and the 

Kitchen SinK 

The trying harder policy is the easy way 

out. All you end up doing is hitting the ball 

harder, running more, getting tired 

quicker, making mistakes and losing. 

When you make the decision to try harder 

and throw the proverbial kitchen sink at 

the problem you enter a state which is 

called over arousal. In this state you throw 

out rational thinking, your mind is now 

flying off at speed and for it to keep up with 

your demands it will dispense with good 

clear solution thinking and your technique 

will lose accuracy and discipline. 

aim For the Zone 

What you should be aiming to achieve is 

optimal arousal. This will enable you to 

make clear and productive decisions. 

Most people suffer excess arousal when 

put under pressure either in sport or 

business; it’s how the individual deals with 

it that will separate them from the rest of 

the field. Athletes talk about being in the 

zone and they understand that without 

working towards optimum arousal their 

success will be limited – the best athletes 

and businessmen share the skill of being 

able to think clearly and really focus when 

under pressure. 

Be inquiSitive 

So before you blame rackets, too much 

espresso, clubs or everyone else for a poor 

performance, be inquisitive about what 

really stopped you winning. Did you lose 

your focus? Were you unable to make clear 

decisions? Did your imagination 

exaggerate the situation? Do you regret 

your actions now you’ve calmed down? If 

you answer yes, here is a way of mentally 

slowing down, improving and protecting

qUALity OF pERFORmAncE 

Lethargy 

(asleep) 

The 

green 

zone 

(win) 

Loss of control 

(kitchensink) 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 

LEVEL OF AROUSAL 

your focus under pressure, finding your 

optimum state and staying there. It’s 

simple and with a bit of practice can 

change your success rate in sports, 

business or life in general. 

Keep Your Head 

Use your imagination and install a mental 

barometer. Scale it from 1-10, 1 

representing under-arousal and 10 

over-aroused. Optimal arousal and 

thinking are represented by 4, 5 and 6. Use 

the following techniques to stay at in the 

‘green zone’. 

1. Imagine: Replay scenarios when you 

could not maintain optimum thinking and 

subsequently failed in an important 

business meeting or lost a match. At the 

point where it went wrong, change it using 

your imagination and experience the 

whole event again, with you not becoming 

over aroused and with a positive outcome. 

In sport and business it’s much more likely 

that you will suffer from over arousal 

rather than under arousal 

2. Breathe: Whether you are over or 

under-aroused you can bring yourself back 

to optimum performance simply by using 

diaphragm breathing. Take a couple of 

‘use your 

imagination and 

install a mental 

barometer 

then stay in the 

green zone’ 

breaths expanding your chest and 

abdomen at the same time and you will 

be able to re focus and re enter your 

optimum thinking. 

3. Talk: Quietly repeat a key word or 

phrase to yourself something like ‘calm’ 

or ‘easy’. 

4. Perform: Direct your focus on 

performance rather than outcome. If you 

are skiing think about doing perfect turns 

not how you are going to get down this 

black run. 

5. Flex: Engage in ‘progressive muscle 

relaxation’ by briefly tensing and relaxing 

muscle groups for five seconds at a time. 

6. Go Slow: Dictate your own pace and 

take your time. 

Learning techniques or getting fit takes time, 

practice and patience, so while you’re 

learning these things, why not make an effort 

to strengthen your mind’s ability to focus for 

longer under pressure? The more you 

practise the easier it will become and soon 

you will be able to stay focused and have 

more success in whatever you are pursuing. 

For more information on keeping calm 

contact Greg Pearman email 

squashpro@royalautomobileclub.co.uk 

Club Sport 


Club Travel 


STAR 

SPANGLED 

SkIING 

Sugar and spice and all things nice, that’s what skiing 

in North America is made of. So says The Mail on 

Sunday’s ski correspondent Neil English.



I’m often asked what the key differences are 

between skiing in North America (NA) 

compared to Europe. 

Really it boils down to culture. It could 

casually be termed as the difference between the 

‘have a nice day’ culture of Stateside skiing and 

the ‘dog eat dog’ scramble that is all too prevalent 

in the Alps. 

NO QUEUE BARGERS ALLOWED 

In Canada and America disorderly lift 

queues do not exist. Attendants ensure that ‘lift 

lines’, as they are known, move smoothly and 

that every chairlift, the main form of uphill 

transport in NA, goes up full. A ‘singles’ line also 

aids this philosophy so any spare places are 

eagerly filled. All this means generally less wait 

time than in Europe and certainly far less loss of 

dignity. ‘Queue bargers are not tolerated’, 

confirms fellow ski-loving member, Guy Darby, 

when speaking glowingly of Whistler 

Blackcomb, the undisputed, by a massive margin, 

largest ski area in NA, and where Guy and his 

wife have bought a small townhouse on 

Blackcomb Mountain. 

This behavioural difference doesn’t stop 

there. Lift lines also have free supplies of tissues 

so you can wipe your nose and goggles while 

preparing to load; lift maps are at nearly every 

lift station and at the point of being seated you 

will hear the all typifying, ‘you all have a great 

day now’, said with abundant enthusiasm 

through a fresh-faced smile. Quite different 

from a surly grunt from some old Swiss farmer. 

This commitment to good service in NA is 

also apparent at restaurants during the busy 

lunchtime period. Nobody tramples over 

innocent children while trying to beat the next 

person to a table that has just become free. And 

restaurant seats will have baskets under chairs 

for storage of gloves, hats and jackets . 

The fact is, when it comes to skiing and 

snowboarding, North Americans are better 

behaved than Europeans, in terms of civility and 


decency to fellow man. I’ve long been impressed 

by this phenomenon, prompting me to think how 

wonderful it might be for the world if United 

Nations’ scientists could find a way of piping 

Rocky Mountain Air into the Pentagon. 

TOO MUCH CORDUROY? 

Factor in too the equation that North America 

still leads the world in the art of piste grooming, 

preparing gossamer smooth slopes like 

manicured golfing greens, where even the most 

timid skier gains confidence with ego turn after 

ego turn, and you might wonder why anybody 

bothers to ski in Europe anymore. 

The answer is that all this welcome slickness 

is too often woven into purpose-built ski resorts 

where due to the litigious nature of NA, even the 

off piste areas have boundaries and many of the 

so called ‘off piste’ slopes are in-bounds, often 

groomed, then left to be snowed on to provide 

powder skiing. These areas might have dramatic 

names like back ‘bowls’, ‘ridges’ and ‘chutes’ 

giving the impression of pure backcountry 

skiing. But they are all in fact in-bounds and 

patrolled by the ski area. I am not as purist as 

many but I do still like the European brand of 

being able to ski off piste for eight, ten or twelve 

kilometres down to some small hamlet where 

you can enjoy a drink with locals in a distant 

valley before catching a narrow gauge railway 

train ride back to your ski area. 

For me Vail typifies what I refer to as ‘theme 

park skiing’ where the, albeit rugged and 

beautiful, mountains, are tamed by man to take, 

as far as possible, the risk out of nature. Even 

Vail’s ‘Back Bowls’ and ‘Blue Sky Basin’ are 

patrolled, in- bound areas, despite boasting some 

truly fearsome pitches. I would take a more 

alpine looking ski area, like Whistler Blackcomb. 

But sooner than either of those, because let’s face 

it, Whistler Blackcomb is purpose built too, I’d 

opt for an authentic former mining town, with 

genuine year round community, like Aspen 

Snowmass in Colorado.

above left: Hiking the Highland 

Bowl, Aspen (photograph Dan 

Bayer) top right: Powder Turns, 

Aspen Snowmass (photograph 

Brian Porter) top bottom: 

Chairlift chat, Whistler (photograph 

Robin O’Neil) bottom: Man or 

boy? Courbets Couloir,Jackson 

Hole (photograph Tristan Greszko) 




Through the 

trees, Ajax 

Mountain, Aspen

photographs: getty images, Brian porter, roBin o’neil, tristan greszko/Jhmr. skier, tom roBBins 

KEEP IT REAL 

‘The highlight is Highlands Bowl’ (the off piste 

peak above Aspen Highlands ski mountain, one 

of four skiable mountains making up this huge 

ski area of Aspen Snowmass), says Katya 

Speciale. ‘You get a snow cat to the ridge, then 

hike up for about 30-40 minutes to enjoy the 

most spectacular ski down the off-piste bowl.’ 

On one of my Aspen visits, the snow was so 

good I did the bowl twice and be sure not to miss 

out on the best on-mountain eatery on the 

lift-served part of this mountain, called Cloud 9, 

the only European-style, rustic cabin with 

genuinely excellent food, in NA. 

And Jane and Shaun Patrick, who skied in 

Aspen last January, say: ‘There is so much skiing 

here between the four mountains that it is quite 

possible to ski for seven days without doing the 

same run twice.’ 

I hope the backlash from Whistler 

Blackcomb devotees is not too severe, since 

anybody would be foolish not to recognise this 

superlative double mountain ski area, linked by a 

record breaking span of cable for the Peak 2 Peak 

gondola and to acknowledge the undoubtedly 

world class facilities. I just prefer authentic alpine 

communities like Aspen Snowmass and in equal 

measure, Jackson Hole in Wyoming. Though the 

skiing is 20 minutes away by car from the vintage 

cowboy town of Jackson with its raised up 

wooden sidewalks and genuine saloon bars the 

cocktail of this mid-west ranching culture on the 

edge of Yellowstone National Park, with the 

rip-roaringly exciting, rugged, all-mountain 

terrain, boasting the longest vertical drop in 

America, is simply, as is best said with an 

American accent: ‘Awesome’! 

Nigel Deacon and David Triggs site Corbetts 

Couloir as a run that might ‘separate the men 

from the boys’. Well it generally does, I did it 20 

years ago when it had a 15 foot drop in and it took 

three visits to the edge before finding the courage 

to jump. Have a great winter to all wherever you 

chose to ski. Let it snow! 


STAR SPANGLED SKIING 

ADDDRES BOOK 

Vail 

Eat: Left Bank, www.leftbankvail.com, Vail 

Chop House, www.vailchopshouse.com 

Drink: Gafinkels, www.garfsvail.com 

Runs; Blue Ox, Highline 

Powder: Blue Sky Basin 

Website: www.vail.com 

Whistler Blackcomb 

Eat: Araxi www.araxi.com, La Rua, 

www.larua-restaurante.com 

Drink: Tapleys Neighbourhood Pub, 

www.tapleyspub.com 

Run: Spankys Ladder 

Powder: Symphony 

Website: www.whistlerblackcomb.com 

Aspen 

Eat: Cloud 9 located at the summit of the 

Cloud 9 chair, Apsen Highlands. +970-923- 

8715 (dinners) or +970-544-3063 (lunch) 

Drink: Sky Hotel, www.skyhotel.com 

Run: Highlands Bowl 

Powder: Take a Powder Tour, fresh tracks are 

guaranteed Telephone +970-920-0720 

Website: www.aspensnowmass.com 

Jackson Hole 

Eat: Million Dollar Cowboy, www. 

milliondollarcowboybar.com 

Drink: Mangy Moose, www.mangymoose.net 

Run: Corbetts Couloir 

Powder: Go heliskiing www.heliskijackson. 

com and explore the backcountry 

Website: www.jacksonhole.com 

For more star spangled skiing 

recommendations visit 

www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/skiing 

Thanks to all the members who sent in their 

tips for skiing in North America. 


Motoring news 

The latest in club motoring 

the club wins Fia award 

The club’s London to 

Brighton Veteran Car Run 

has won the FIA Founding 

Members’ Club Heritage 

Cup. Presented at the 2010 

FIA Prizegiving Gala in 

Monaco on Friday 10 

December, the newly 

inaugurated Heritage Cup 

recognises outstanding 

achievement in the historic 

vehicle world. The award 

was presented to Chairman 

of the Motoring Committee 

Ben Cussons. ‘It is a great 

honour to receive this 

award,’ said Mr Cussons. 

‘The London to Brighton 


Graham Stoker, 

Ben Cussons and Nick 

Craw in Monaco 

Veteran Car Run is a 

unique event which, every 

year, brings together 

enthusiasts from around 

the world to celebrate the 

1896 Emancipation Run – 

the birth of motoring. I am 

proud to accept it on behalf 

of the LBVCR Steering 

Group, the participants, 

volunteers and all 

spectators who enjoy the 

wonderful spectacle of the 

world’s longest-running 

motoring event.’ 

Go and watch the Run next 

year visit www.lbvcr.com for 

more information. 

tVr: the early years 

(Vol. 1) by Peter Filby 

Meticulous research compiled 

over many years has preceded 

the first of a possible four 

volumes on the iconic sports car 

born of a Blackpool shed. It’s an 

enjoyable idyll interweaving 

generous fact and acutely 

observed anecdote. Evocative 

images show off the host of 

colourful personalities involved 

in the design and production of 

what was to become a worldclass 

road car. This first volume 

briefly covers the ‘nameless’ 

models: the early specials, the 

open sports and the coupé. Then 

in more detail, the iconically 

shaped Grantura Mk1 hoves into 

view followed quickly by the 

rather more polished Mks2+3. 

The ferociously quick Ford 

V8-powered Griffith Series is a 

culmination in performance of 

that early period, the late 1940s 

to mid-1960s. Roll on volumes 

two, and three and four …! 

By Trevor Dunmore. 

The book is available in the club 

library contact 020 7747 3398

Foundation update 

By philip Gomm 

Speed cameras are the road 

safety equivalent of Marmite; 

you either love them or hate 

them. The RAC Foundation has 

commissioned a study from 

Professor Richard Allsop of 

University College London to 

analyze the effectiveness of 

speed cameras - its conclusions 

are unequivocal. There are some 

6,000 cameras in operation in 

Great Britain and without them 

there are likely to be at least 800 

more people killed and seriously 

injured each year. In what other 

field of public health would a 

measure be implemented which 

caused this number of fatalities? 

Yet many local authorities are 

now agonizing over whether they 

can afford to keep cameras, 

indeed more than one council 

has already hit the headlines for 

pulling the plug on their speed 

cameras. The correct question 

might be; can they afford not to? 

Speed cameras are already here. 

Expense-wise, the hard work 

has been done; now the issue is 

maintaining them. The 

Foundation report also debunks 

the myth that cameras are big 

income providers for the 

Government, after meeting the 

running costs,; there is a £4 

surplus on each £60 speeding 

penalty notice issued. The RAC 

Foundation has no vested 

interest in speed cameras but in 

this case the evidence shows that 

cameras make a significant 

positive difference. 

Martin Payne congratulates 

Gordon Murray 


Future Car SuCCeSS 

The inaugural RAC Brighton to London Future Car 

Challenge was a huge success with 64 cars, from all the 

leading manufacturers, making the run to London on 

Saturday, 6 November to join the LBVCR International 

Concours for a wonderful celebration of motoring in 

Regent Street. Hydrogen, electric and the latest hybrid 

technologies were all on display. Professor Gordon Murray, 

a Steward of the club, gave his radical new T25 its public 

debut and attracted enormous interest. This year’s event 

will take place on Saturday, 5 November, one day before 

the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Go to www. 

futurecarchallenge.com for more information. 

2011 dateS 

The Annual Motoring Dinner was a sell-out, almost as soon as we 

announced our guest speaker, Christian Horner, Team Principal of the 

Red Bull Formula 1 team and winners of the 2010 Formula 1 

Championship. News of upcoming club events , including an evening 

with Nick Mason and details of the annual film night, are in the motoring 

section of the club website so please keep up to date - and get involved 

with the online forums at www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/motoring 



‘ 

Travelling 

In Style 

Club Motoring 

The MSA Euroclassic takes in some of Europe’s most challenging roads 

and most glorious scenery. Tom Webster learns more from the experts. 

Os nonsequat. Ut adiam, vulla feuiscilisl et ullandre consequis dolobore 

We had an hour at the 

Nurburgring exclusively 

to ourselves – it was an 

absolute privilege.’ 

The highlight of this year’s 

Euroclassic rally was easily identifiable 

for Michael Southcombe, and it was clear 

this was one of his personal high points 

from his many years of taking part in this 

prestigious touring event. And as he has 

attended every one of the 18 International 

Motor Sports organised events, it must 

have been some experience. 

The annual MSA Euroclassic has a 

fairly loose brief, and describes itself as ‘a 

drive on scenic roads with stops at places 

of interest and with the chance to drive 

on racing circuits, visit motor museums etc’. 

The inspiration for the event came 

from the MSA One Day Classic, and 

Southcombe’s dedication to the 

Euroclassic comes from being involved in 

its creation back in 1993 as a former 

chairman of the MSA. The first one took 

place in 1993, starting at Brands Hatch. 

Since then it has covered most of Europe, 

including Norway, Denmark, Sweden, 

France, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, 

Austria, Italy and more. 

It certainly isn’t a competitive event, 

and is designed for cars that are at least 

20 years old, but as organiser Andrew 

Coe of the IMS says, this is not a hard and 

fast rule. 

‘We tend to try and not say no to 

anybody,’ he says, although he added ‘We 

would like to see some with classic 

interest as it is nice for the local towns to 

get a mixture of cars passing through. 

The likes of the club’s Alvis (a 1937 4.3 

Short Chassis Tourer) looks great.’ 

Obviously with such an event, the 

cars are as much of a priority as the 

people taking part and are looked after 

just as well. A team of RAC trained 

mechanics from independent recovery 

firm Brit Assist follows the crowd of 

entrants and is on hand in case anything 

goes wrong. Human injury or ailment is 

dealt with by an English-speaking doctor 

who also travels in the support crew. 

The event typically starts 

somewhere in Europe, and then heads 

along a scenic route through the 

continent. But the emphasis is on 

enjoying the journey rather than the final 

destination. ‘We don’t go rushing up and 

down motorways; we see Europe as we 

would hope to see it,’ says Southcombe. 

There are a series of checkpoints, 

which are open for two to three hours to 

allow all the cars to pass through, and a 


outebook guiding participants. Former 

Chairman of the club Tim Keown is 

another regular participant and also 

speaks in glowing terms of the event’s 

route. 

‘Peter Wellington, who organises the 

route, is very good at minimising the time 

on motorways and maximising the time 

on A and B roads. The ones chosen are 

often marvellous roads that you wouldn’t 

normally find as a tourist,’ he says. 

Other than the tracks, one of the 

highlights from this year for Southcombe 

was the chance to drive along such roads 

as the Grossglockner Pass in Austria and 

the Stelvio Pass in Italy with its many 

tight hairpins. 

While the IMS takes care of the 

route and the cars, it is specialist travel 

agent Kuoni that organises the hotels – no 

mean feat when there are typically 100 

cars arriving each night. 

‘When you apply you are given an A 

and B list of hotels and you can choose 

which price category you want to stay in,’ 

says Keown. 

But it isn’t a case of choosing one 

package, as Andrew Coe explains that 

some rally goers choose to treat 

themselves on some nights and keep 

costs down on others. 

This flexibility and relaxed attitude 

extends to the evening arrangements. 

Tim Keown found that there were several 

groups that came along in unofficial 

teams, and would on occasion make their 

own plans for evening meals, with no 

obligation on staying with the group. 

However, he found that the rally was by 

no means a clique that was closed to 

newcomers and that he was welcomed on 

his first time. 

‘I didn’t know many people, but by 

the end of the week we had made some 


new friends and it was jolly fun,’ he says. 

However, despite the friendly 

welcome and detailed organisation of the 

trip, surely there must have been some 

mishaps over the many years of Michael 

Southcombe’s Euroclassic experiences? 

‘In 2000 we were finishing in 

Hungary – in Budapest – and all we had 

to do was drive to the Hungaroring,’ he 

says. ‘Three miles from there I got 

T-boned by a 26 wheeler. It spun me 

round and I clouted into the central 

reservation.’ 

Sadly his Mercedes 450 SLC was a 

write off, but Brit Assist came to 

Southcombe’s rescue and transported his 

car back to Britain on a flat bed truck. He 

was fully checked out by the trip’s doctor 

and feels that although the experience left 

him shaken it reaffirmed his faith in the 

support network and its ability to take 

care of any problems there might be. 

This certainly didn’t put him off 

continuing to join the 100-or-so strong 

throng heading over the Channel every 

year, and it is highly likely he will be on 

2011’s trip too. It starts in Troyes and 

heads down through Italy. 

‘It’s going to be a glorious route and 

will follow the route of the Mille Miglia,’ 

says Andrew Coe. Entrants will be faced 

with an embarrassment of circuits this 

year, with the trip expected to take in 

Imola and San Marino and one final 

flourish on the last day. 

‘We are planning to drive the Monte 

Carlo Grand Prix circuit, and that should 

be memorable,’ says Coe. 

Members interested in taking part in the 

2011 event should contact International 

Motor Sports, telephone 01753 765100, 

email classics@msaevents.co.uk or visit 

www.msaclassics.co.uk

‘I GOT T-BONED 

BY A 26 WHEELER. 

IT SPUN ME ROUND 

AND I CLOUTED 

THE CENTRAL 

RESERVATION’ 

above left: The Euroclassic 

kicks off in Nurburgring 

above right: The rally 

stops off in Efurt 

right: Nurburgring, 

Euroclassic drivers take 

to the track left: The 

Grossglockner Pass, Austria 



photograph: CoUrtESY oF martIN paYNE.. pa paYNE.. a YNE.. CartooN: CoUrtESY oF oF thE raF YEarBooK 

Through The windscreen 

Have battery powered cars come of age? Asks Martin Payne. 

The Brighton to London Future 

Car Challenge (FCC) was a great 

success; much has been written 

about the event. In previous 

articles I have discussed the merits 

of hydrogen and fuel cell cars, of 

battery cars and of low emission 

petrol/diesel cars. Each of those 

types of vehicle was represented in 

the FCC; but has a clear winner 

emerged? Strangely, the variety of 

propulsion methods on show at the 

Veteran Car Run Concors in 

Regent Street mirrored the FCC, 

where there were several steam 

cars, electric cars and cars running 

on petrol. Perhaps there is nothing 

new under the sun, but it has taken 

100 years and the occasional fuel 

crisis coupled with the emerging 

demands from expanding 

populations in the far east for 

many to realise that perhaps 

petrol/diesel will actually become 

rather scarce in the future. Has the 

time arrived when we will all have 

more than one car; one for town 

driving and one for longer distance 

driving? Perhaps your next vehicle 

will be battery powered. 

Through The rear view mirror 

Piers Brendon delves into the club’s history. 

Jeffrey Rose, whose obituary of 

Squadron Leader John Crampton 

appeared in the July issue of 

PM&W, has kindly deposited this 

long-serving committee member’s 

unpublished autobiography ‘Wings 

and Things’ in the club archive. 

John was the son of founder 

member W. J. Crampton, a pioneer 

automobile engineer, and he 

developed a fascination for cars 

and, by extension, aeroplanes. 

After Harrow he determined to 

serve in the war as a pilot but his 

height (6’ 8”) nearly prevented this. 

In the cockpit, as his Group 

Captain said, ‘You would be 

decidedly cramped, Mr, ahem, 

Cramp…ton’. In fact John became 

a highly decorated pilot and his 

memoirs are full of wonderful 

vignettes. He was particularly 

good on club characters. To me, he 

said, Lord Brabazon, who held 

Mayor of Westminster, 

Jim Chaudry, John Wood 

and Michael Quinn 


Pilot’s Licence No 1, ‘was a sort of 

god, or rather God’. When he spoke 

‘we all woke up’ – even Lord Howe. 

Tom Sopwith told John that 

Charlie Rolls was ‘as mean as Old 

Nick’. Wilfrid Andrews had a ‘great 

presence, almost Churchillian’. 

Clive Bossom ‘worked like a 

one-armed paperhanger’. 

And there’s much, much more 

in this splendid new archival 

acquisition. 

January 2011 | Issue 133| 73

Club People 

SING SING: Members gather round the tree for a Christmas sing along NOT STIRRED: Sir Ken Adam and his wife Maria with the Bond Aston Martin 

LIVING LEGEND: Erik Carlsson with the Saab 

96 he drove to win the RAC Rally in 1960 

GOOD TASTE: Lois Cameron (aged 3) taking 

in the last issue of PM&W 


In the 

PIcture 

Photographs from a 

season at the Club 

We want to see what you’ve 

been up to. Perhaps you 

have just climbed a 

mountain for charity, met 

the Queen, had a baby, spent 

the week feeling smug on a 

sun lounger, returned from 

a far-flung adventure, or had 

a lovely time at the club. 

Send in your photographs to 

pellmell@ 

royalautomobileclub.co.uk 

Selected photographs will be 

published in the magazine. 

MADE UP: Colin Freeman is made Master of 

the Worshipful Company of Glaziers 

OFF THE HOOK: Glen Jones catches a 35lb 

salmon in Newfoundland, Canada 

ON PAR: Golf Captains John Enston and Jenny Guymer with Ian Poulter BRIGHT LIGHTS: Helena Bonham Carter in the club Alvis

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Showing on Sky 3D 

on February 5th 

Sky 3D is exclusively available to Sky World HD 

customers at no extra cost. 

3D TV required. Sky World HD customers who have all our TV packs and HD pack. 

© 2009 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. 

sky.com/3D 

Believe in better

The magazine of the Royal Automobile Club | January 2011 | Issue ...

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