MAYFAIR JOTTINGS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 809, 8 July 1933, Page 24 (Supplement)

MAYFAIR JOTTINGS.

Titled Ladies Act as Mannequins. BIRD MAN IN HYDE PARK. Windsor residents report that tlie King has taken full advantage of our amazing April weather to go riding in the Royal Park. That His Majesty is fit enough for quiet horse exercise as a regular regime is most satisfactory. I am told that be has chosen Anzac, the safe Australian horse used at the trooping of the colour, and a veteran Hussar charger, who is equally well-behaved, for his Windsor rides, and that he appears to enjoy these open-air excursions in the saddle immensely. Though he never had anything like the horse-riding in his younger days that his sons have enjoyed, the King site a horse well, and rides like a real horseman. He is always accompanied on these Windsor rides by well-mounted attendants. OGPU WIVES. A voting German whom I saw the other day tells me that, when in Russia, he met an attractive young woman at a public debate, and after a short courtship married her. He was then acting as an Ogpu agent, but was anxious to escape and take bis wife to Germany with him. With the assistance of a fellow countryman he seemed on the point of succeeding, when his plans were betrayed by his wife —who was also an Ogpu agent. Since he left Russia his wife has divorced him and married again, this time an Englishman, \ who is, no doubt, equally ignorant of her real character. TITLED INTRUDERS. Fewer complaints arc heard nowadays than formerly of society amateurs invading the domain of stage professionals. That used once to be a fierce theatrical grievance; but now there is a tendency on the part of titled ladies to invade the professional fashion mannequin’s preserves. Times are lean, dress allowances have been cut down, and the chance of earning a little pin-money by the agreeable work of parading in beautiful new gowns or even lovely lingerie is one that naturally attracts once well-to-do women. 1 am told expertly, however, that the professional mannequins, though they resent the intrusion, do not greatly dread it. Few society women know how to display apparel as professional mannequins can, and fewer still possess the same natural advantages. The amateur’s one asset is usually the aura of Debrett. MODERN ST. FRANCIS. In Hyde Park to-day I met Mr. Bates, the old bird man, who looks like a Jewish Rabbi, but comes from the Vale of Aylesbury. Thirtv-three years Mr. Bates has fed the sorrows, and there was someone else doing it before his day. Mr. Bates gave me a picture postcard of himself festooned with sparrows. "Eleven on one hand is my record,” lie said modestly, “but there was a twelfth hovering.” As he talked, he tossed up crumbs, which smart sparrows caught on the wing. “You can’t get the St. James* or Regent’s Park sparrows to do that,” said Mr. Bates, “queer thing how the Hyde Park ones cotton to it.” He said the birds remembered him no matter how long he stayed away. But if there was a hawk about, they refused to d«> their tricks, like taking bread from his mouth, and went on strike. “Smartest little birds in the world, the London sparrows,” said the bird man. ROYAL INTEREST. Mr. Bates told me Princess. Elizabeth and her little sister were much interested in his doings with the birds. When he knew thev were coming, he took hits sparrow ‘flock to where their prams passed, and “got 'em all lined up on the railings.” As Mr. Bates kept calling for “Twinkle,” I asked if that was a pet sparrow’, and fcaid I would like to meet him. “He’s a pet all right,” said Mr. Bates, “but I left him up the path a bit. I fancy his wife is nesting. But he may be along presently. Twinkle’s a cute one, he is.” Bank holidays and Sundays arc Mr. Bates’ big days. “Crowds of kids and grown-ups hold up the traffic,” he observed not without some pride. “Last Easter Monday I gave a big show —from one o’clock till near six. And I make a point of never sitting down during a show!” One gathered that Mr. Bates regards himself and his sparrows as a sort of Park turn. HIKING UNDER ESCORT. During the Easter holidays three men I knowr went for a walking tour. It was ir. outlandish country far from the madding crowd, and across lonely moorland footpaths. On the second day they discovered, somewhat to their embarrassment, that they were being shadowed by a solitary young woman hiker. She was dressed in a neat and serviceable walking costtime, looked a most reputable young lady, but kept methodically about a quarter of a mile behind them all the way. If they halted, so did she. If they put on the pace a bit, she did likewise. Eventually the mystery was boldly solved by inquiry. She was not a lady detective, but just a walking enthusiast, whose unexpected companion had failed her, and who feared possible footpads. So she conscripted mv three sturdy friends, w r ith excellent judgment, as safe escort at a discreet distance. ADJUSTABLE EVE. It seems to me that since the kilt or knee-long skirts went out of fashion, and women began to get gradually back to Victorian ankle-length garments, their very walk has changed. In the old days of not so very long ago ladies 6wung along with a- free and easy stride. In that epoch, which followed soon after the end of the ivar, it was a business keeping up with them in the street. But now, with their longer skirts, they are taking a more mincing step, and working, so to speak, on a low gear. Possibly the very tight fit of the modern skirt round the hips helps towards this effect, but the full length - of the skirt must also tell. Whether one prefers. the former free-striding miss or the present semi-hobbling one. 1 suppose, depends largely on one’s birthday vintage—and the Miss. LADY SEAFORTH. Most of the money distributed under the will of Lady Scaforth was left for that purpose by her father, Mr. Steinkopff, who began his working life in this country as a German clerk in a Glasgow warehouse, as a preliminary to making a huge fortune out of mineral waters. Lady Seaforth had the enjoyment of the income during her lifetime, and the right to choose the charitable objects to which the capital should ultimately Ik* devoted. I believe that the estate of Brahau, which is a picturesque property with a small net rental, goes to the elder son of Lord Midleton bv his second marriage, the present Lady Midleton being a niece of Lord .Sea,forth.