Reporter’s diary

Press, 29 December 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Some things ... A SUBSTANTIAL haul of letters and cards written: by W. G. .Grace and soon to be . auctioned by Sotheby’s should provide some surprises for cricket lovers who maintain that the game has changed out of all recognition. The “Daily Telegraph” newspaper says that writing to a journalist friend -90 years ago, the great allrounder discussed a forthcoming test match against Australia. “We ought to win,” he wrote, “But I do not think our bowling is not as it should be.” Seems to be pretty much the same game, somehow. ... never change W. G. GRACE had the

same complaints about gamesmanship and emotional players that are voiced today. “What you say re players making remarks to put bowlers off their games, I entirely agree with ... On the other hand a little wholesome hilarity and praise is all right.” As he would like THAT OLD Chestnut — the argument that Shakespeare was not the author of his plays — will be taken up again by a descendant of the great pretender, Edward de Vere, seventeenth Earl of Oxford. Lord Charles Vere, who is a 21-year-old

Oxford undergraduate, has written to all the history and English dons challenging them to refute the case for his ancestor. The earl, who went up to Cambridge at the precocious age of eight, acquired the nickname “Speare shaker” for his jousting prowess, and, his descendant claims, this was rearranged for his nom de plume. Traditional recipe MARMALADE manufacturer, Akvina of the Netherlands, cites the ingredients of its marmalade as: “Sugar, oranges, and conservatives.” Right juicy ones, obviously.

—Jenny Feltham