LONDON CLUB GOSSIP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 9 January 1929, Page 3

LONDON CLUB GOSSIP

BY A CLUBMAN Glimpses of tlm ..Thomas Hardy wo knew not. are provided by bis widow in her “Early Life of Thomas ilardy,” jnsl issued by Macmillans. And exceed •iugly iiitei'e.slh'ig they tiro. -Wo visunlisq tli'n fai'mitiS litterateur (’hit as a “country imuise'’.shunning (Ho‘gay Metropolis and all its distractions and allurements, but as one whose wont it was io visit London regularly iij “the season,” to sample and enjoy the diversions of Society. He hail the novelist's eye for what may he termed trivialities. For instance, witnessing a ballet af the. theatre, ho noted; “The premiere danseuse strokes each calf with the sole of the other font, like a My.” Again, at Lyme Hegis, in his beloved “Darsel,’’ lie iiiet “a cheerful man who bail turned bis trousers bind part before, because the knees bail worn through !“ It could not be matched iu London, or in any big city or town. Wind experiences does one encounter in the country, if only one has the seeing eve!

LOST EYE SAVES MONEY

Air Hardy, meeting an old Dorsetshire man, was told by Him that he had been submitted, to an operation for. cataract. “When he’d ’a dope ope eye ’a said, ‘Now, my man, you must make shift with that, one, aiul b’e thankful you Faint.left wi' narn.’ So ’o didn’t do tj/e .othcjr.. And I'm g]ad ’a didn't... I’.ve saved half-crowns and half-crowns, out of number in only wanting one, glass to my spectacles. T’other eye would never liayc, paid,, the., expenses of keeping on going.',' .Another country . tale quoted by Airs Hardy of her husband: “1 am told that —— has turned upon her drunken husband at last, and knocked him dqwq without, ceremony.... In .. the morning he holds out his trembling hand and says ‘Give me sixpence for a drop o’ brandy—please do ye, my dear !’ ”

ACTOR AND ATHLETE

“I have just given up football. I can still swim a mile out to sea and back.” So. declares. Sir Fraijk Benson, the Shakespearean actor-manager,, who lias just reached bis 70th. year. Despite his advanced age, Sir Frank is (ho embodiment of. health and energy. Always a great..walker, be can still walk ,45 .miles in a (lav. and lie.lias now wagered that if he lives to be 00 lie will walk 80 miles on his 80th birthday ! Next to his love for Shakespeare and acting, is Sir Frank’s passion for athletics. As a schoolboy lie won the jnjle race at Winchester, and when at Oxford be won the iiiler-Varsity three miles in 15 thin 5 sec—an excellent time considering, that the weather was stormy. "One..of the niosb beautiful sights of our undergraduate days,” says Canon Adderley, “was to look at Benson’s long black hair flying in the wind as lie raced the three miles at Oxford and at Lillie Bridge.” Mr Oscar Aselie declared that be owed Ills start as an actor with Sir Frank Benson to the latter’s belief that lie was a ..first-rate athlete. “I remember at,i Manchester,’.’ Air Aselie lias said, “that we once bad six evening performances and a matinee, and that in the five days we were free we played six games—two of water. . pole, .two of hockey and two of Association football. We never used to play fewer than three games a Week. . Once, in Ireland,, we played water polo against a. team which included five international players, and we beat them, by 9 goals to i.

“SUniEAIELY BEAUTIFUL GIRL’

1 have referred to Sir Frank Benson’s athletic achievement wlieu he was an undergraduate at Oxford. Apropos, there is an interesting glimpse of. him at Oxford in the late Dame Ellen Terry’s Recollections. She was watching a performance of "Elektra” by students. “A young woman veiled in black, witii bowed head, was brought in on. a chariot. Suddenly, she lifted her head and looked round, revealing a face of such classic beauty and a glance of such pathos that 1 called out ‘What a supremely beautiful girl!’ Then I remembered that there were no women in the east. The face belonged to a young Oxford man, Frank BensOn.” One of the funniest of his stage experiences Sir Frank tells against himself: Acting before a small audience in the provinces, lie exclaimed, as iie walked off the scene, "Tarry awhile,,and anon I will return. “Don’t trouble to return, giiv'nor,’’ exclaimed one of the "gods ’ in the gallery; "we are going ami shall not come back." THREE WORDS, £5 Mr George Bernard Shaw has been outwitted neatly, and that by a woman. Not long ago the woman secretary of a women's society wrote to -Mr Sliaw to ask ff lie would lie. good enough to. give the society a copy of his “Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism.” Some weeks elapsed, and then llwJelim: was returned trout Cap. d’Antibes with a characteristic three-line refusal in Mr Shaw’s writing at its fool. “No, damn it!” wrote Mr Sliaw, who suggested that a society which could not afford 15s for a book'could not have any members. Nol.to .be beaten, the recipient took the letter to a West-end bookseller, readily ..sold it for 15s, and with the.proceeds bought.a copy of Air Shaw’s hook. Sir Gabriel Wells, the New York bookseller, who recently purchased a loitg series of intimate Shaw letters, heard of the letter and secured it for £5. “I have bought many Shaw letters,” said Air Wells, “but this is the gem. I would not part with it for ten times five pounds.”

"HOLDING THINGS UP”

Quick-witted, with a keen seiise of humour, is Sir Edwin Lutyens, the eminent artist, .whose name is associated with the Presidency of the Royal Academy, in succession to the late Sir I 1 rank Dickseo, It is related of him that, wearing a pair of brigliUy-hucd silk braces,, ho attended a dinner in company with diplomats and other distinguished men wearing their decorations. Sir Edwin, who was minus decorations, retired for a moment, to leturu wi.th Jus braces stretched across, his shirt-front. Asked what Order the braces represented, Sir Edwin replied, smartly, "lhe Order uf Architect.ue—bolding things WANTED TO BUY A LONDON CHURCH

Jlow Henry Ford, the multi-million-aire motor-car manufacturer, tried to buy a Loudon church in order to transfer it to America, is one of many stories told by the Bishop oi ; London. "MyjnIrotluction to Hr Ford,” says Dr. A inninglon Ingram, “was by one of Ins firm, turning tip in the middle of tnc general strike from Manchester to ask if Mr Ford could buy one of the City churches and set it up, stone by stone, in Detroit. 'Good heavens !\ I exclaimed, ;l should never think of doing such

a, tiling.'” ~‘‘A shrewd ..business nan, a, bit of a. fanatic, and.yet a devout believer jn Gpd" is t!io Bishop’s summing up of Air Ford. THE BISHOP “TURNS A DEAF EAR” When tlic Bishop, who is ail ardent 'gbl'loe, was iii Oaiilid'y he played with Sir Biihert. Bc/rderi at. Ottawa: Sir Robert, wav; v’orjy dcli'iwitt'u in driving' from the tee, a .fact ’which prompted one of,Jiis friends to whisper, to Dr. Ingram,. “Dp'n’t he surprised if Sir Robert.,,i.v, a' little slpw. Before lie hits the ball he says to. himself, three, times, 'Keep your head down,, Borden,’ ” When Sir Robert did drive, .after thrice "addressing" lh‘o ball, the Bishop said to him, "1 know what you are saying, sir, hut 1 can take no notice because you don’t snv it aloud.