Tom Roper's Weblog

Haydock, Goodwood and York

210 Haydock: Look Busy
245 Haydock: Crystany
315 Haydock: Major Cadeaux
325 York: Tranquil Tiger
325 Goodwood: Ordnance Row
355 York: Rebel Duke

Irish 2,000 Guineas

305 Haydock: Virtual
335 Haydock: Fleeting Spirit
400 The Curragh: New Approach

Interment of ashes

Last Saturday I joined my cousins Sue, Ann and Mark Roper, to put my Aunt Betty's ashes in a grave in St Leonard's churchyard in Seaford, where they joined her husband's, Uncle Lewis, who died in 1978. With the ashes they buried a sprig of rosemary and some sea-water.

Lewis was the third of four children, my Aunt Mary (1909-1991) being the oldest, my father, William George, aka Tim (1912-1997) the next, and the youngest my Uncle Tony, born in 1921.

Putting the elephant in the room back on its feet

I am sure I would be inarticulate and verbally maladroit if interviewed on the Today programme.I hope though I would not mix my metaphors to the extent that the interviewee did just now, discussing failed and failing states, and speaking of the need to put the 'elephant in the room back on its feet'. Poor elephant!

elephants

Hove library in the Times

Christopher Hawtree writes on Hove library's centenary: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article3957954.ece

Juddmonte

210 Newbury: Regal Flush
245 Newbury: Cesare
320 Newbury: William Blake
335 Newmarket: Sphinx

Patrick Hamilton in the NYRB

Francine Prose reviews Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, The Slaves of Solitude and Hangover Square in the New York Review of Books: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21437

The last word on striped ties...

...I promise. But here are those that lurk in my wardrobe:

From left to right, a pink and blue stripe from Hackett, sadly stained with coffee, an Old Persean tie, the next two, both from Hackett, are red on navy and a blue on yellow in linen; last of all, a Liberty tie. Liberty seem to have stopped making ties themselves. The last time I visited their shop, their own designs were nowhere to be seen.

American striped ties slant in the opposite direction. There are the bizarre traditions about old school ties; there used to be two versions, the crested one shown above and a plain one. It was considered more correct to war one in town and the other in the country, but I can't remember which. That admirable work, the Book of Public School Old Boys, University, Navy, Army, Air Force & Club Ties, London, Seeley Service, with an introudction by John Betjeman, may help. I have a copy in the garage.

Haydock, Ascot and Lingfield

200 Haydock: Blue Bajan
220 Ascot: South Cape
310 Lingfield: Alessandro Volta
345 Lingfield: Volta

Once more on striped ties

After posting my diatribe this morning, it occurred to me that readers might reasonably ask if striped ties may be found in my wardrobe. I have nothing to hide, indeed I once planned a blog devoted entirely to ties, with photographs, and daily posts showing that day's choice  accompanied by a full and frank disclosure of the reasons for my choice, accompanying shirt and suit, and so on. I have the following (photographs to follow):

Red and black diagonal striped tie from Hackett. Bought about ten years ago, slightly faux-regimental, but still good.

Blue diagonal striped tie from Liberty. Bought more recently. Good, but difficult to pair with shirts.

Old school tie: purple and white stripes on a navy ground, with pelicans. Rarely worn.