People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20454, 6 November 1934, Page 6

People and Their Doings .

More Evidence About 'the Name of the River Avon : Prince George's Wedding Cake will be Nine Feet High : Miss Dorothy Round’s Tennis Wear.

jVTR JOHN DEANS, of Kirkstyle, Coalgate, writes:—“The following extracts from letters written by my grandfather and his brother, William, from Riccarton, soon after their arrival there, may be of interest to your contributor, Mr Watt. I hope they will prove convincing evidence of the origin and correctness of the name of the River Avon. The first extract is from a letter dated April 6, 1843, written by William Deans to his father in Scotland. He says, ‘ In the front of the house there is a stream a little larger than the Avon where the Gavel joins it.” The second is contained in a letter from John Deans to his father, dated January 20. 1849. ‘ The river up which we now bring our supplies is to be called the Avon at our request. and our place Riccarton. which will at least remind us of these two places at Home.’ ” $p W 3P is rife as to where Prince George and his bride will live after thev are married. It is thought that they will take a house in the West End. though it has been suggested that the Prince of Wales might let them have Marlborough House, which has been closed since the death of Queen Alexandra in 1925. The King possesses twenty residences in which he could, if he wished, live, or hand over to his children; but most of them are already occupied by his relatives, and none, with the exception of Buckingham Palace and Marlborough‘ House, are in central London. They include White Lodge, Richmond. where the Duke and Duchess of York lived for a time. Bushev House, East Sheen Cottage. Kew Palace. Thatched House Lodge in Richmond Park, and Blackheath House. & shipwrecks, in one of which a boatful of men survived, while in the other all but the narrator perished by drowning, by sharks, or as a result of exposure, are described by C. J. M’Guinness. in his book of reminiscences, “ Nomad.” The first disaster occurred when the author, as a lad of seventeen, was a seaman on the Pilgrim, bound for Newcastle, Australia, to San Francisco.

Twelve men. representing five nations, sue- ! i c eded in steering a lifeboat to Tahiti. | ! Seven years later the tug, Magellan, was j swamped. Mr M’Guinness and the captain ! lashed themselves to the thwarts of the lifeboat, and, after a day’s agony in tropical heat, without food or water, were rescued by the Liberador. The captain, parched with thirst, seized a jug of water and drained its contents: the shock was fatal, killing him instantly. 3? W © jyjISS DOROTHY ROUND, holder of j the Wimbledon women’s singles title, | who will appear at Wilding Park on Friday j and Saturday, is a very charming figure on J the courts, and has a temperament which i enables her to play with a nonchalance j

most disarming to her J opponent. In appear- j ance she closely re- j sembles the former j champion. Suzanne Len- j glen. the graceful j Parisian, but her shots j have an extra devil in j them which is so neces- | sary for success in mod- j ern tennis. There was | much discussion at ; Wimbledon over the j

various costumes of the women players and j it is said that that worn by Miss Dorothy Round approximated most closely to the ideal. She wore Lilly white pleated shorts, ! which gave the impression of a divided skirt. Skirts, divided skirts and shorts—such is the line of progress in women's tennis dress. Shorts appear to predominate even now, and are increasing their lead. Last summer they even invaded the sacred precincts of the centre court at Wimbledon. The gallery at Wilding Park has never seen shorts. Miss Round wore shorts in America, but chose the divided skirt for Wimbledon. Her opponent in the final. Miss Helen Jacobs, wore shorts, but not her “ shortest.” Both girls looked attrac- I tive in their well-cut garments, which are designed to give the utmost freedom to the j

pRIXCE GEORGE’S wedding cake will be nine feet high and weigh 800 pounds. The recipe will be the same as that used for the wedding cakes of the King and Queen, the Duke and Duchess of York, and the Princess Royal and Lord Hare wood. It will be made in Edinburgh, of Empire ingredients only, and brought to London in four sections. There will be all kinds of ornaments and decorations, and inside there will be a lucky sixpence. The cake will be decorated with natural flowers, which Prince George and his Princess will choose. The cake will take six weeks to make. The Greek colony in London is now busy cooking wedding presents for Princess Marina, for it is a Greek custom to give food at a wedding. The Princess is particularly fond of bakhlava and kadaii, national sweetmeats which derive from Turkish days, and some of these are being prepared for her, together with rose petal jam and mastik jam, mad? from the white, sweet gum of a tree. The most elaborate sweet, however, is being made by one of London’s most celebrated Greek pastrycooks. This is tapsi of bakhlava and is composed of Millefeuille pastry with nutmeal and spices sandwiched between and soaked in syrup. The tapsi is a bronze tray 21 f et in diameter on which the sweetmeat is set out. m ® & YEARS AGO (from the “Star” of November 6. 1874) : Metropolitan Show.—Owing to the upcountry entries not coming to hand, the total number of entries cannot be given until to-morrow afternoon. It is expected that the entries this year will not be so numerous as last year, but this will be accounted for by the new regulation now in force, to the effect that an exhibitor is restricted to not more than three entries in any one class. In former years exhibitors were at liberty to make as many entries as they pleased in one class. Up to the present time, the entries are such as to give promise of a very successful exhibition in all its departments.