The polo season hasn’t even begun and already the divots are flying at Ham Polo Club, London’s last remaining ground, where Princes William and Harry and Elle ‘the Body’ Macpherson have all played chukkas.
The fencing outside its entrance is festooned with signs listing the names of the club’s hierarchy and juxtaposing them with disobliging epithets, including ‘disgusting’ and ‘toxic’.
One of the boards then poses the question: ‘Where is RBS Bank and Members’ Money?’
As if that were not inflammatory enough, a letter has been pinned up next to the signs in which its signatory, former club stalwart Sean McCormack, accuses the club’s panjandrums of ‘frankly disgusting behaviour’.
The polo season hasn’t even begun and already the divots are flying at Ham Polo Club (pictured), London’s last remaining ground, where Princes William and Harry and Elle ‘the Body’ Macpherson have all played chukkas
McCormack bewails the replacement of the club’s longstanding catering firm, Hunt Kendall, and what he alleges is the way in which the club’s social members have been treated ‘with utter disdain’ so that they are ‘left without voting rights’.
McCormack asks what has happened to a £150,000 loan from RBS for renovating the grounds, and warns that he will mount what he describes as ‘a peaceful protest every playing Sunday’.
Warming to his theme, he derides one of the club’s officers for making what he describes as a ‘misogynistic’ remark about wives of male polo players during the course of an interview. In the interview, the officer is quoted as remarking: ‘You’re not creating grass widows. You’re including them and they get fed very well.’
File image of Prince William and Prince Harry taking part in a charity polo match at Ham Polo Club
‘I am now 81 years old,’ McCormack rounds off, ‘and never thought I would see the day when this club was being run by a collection of such narcissistic, selfish and incompetent individuals’.
McCormack declines to elaborate on his letter. Tempers flared last year at the club over who was to blame for a massive operating loss of £330,000.
The club, which charges playing members £2,500 a year, retains an unquivering stiff upper lip and declines to comment.
Amal’s sister shows she’s a material girl
Glamorous lawyer Amal Clooney may be a style icon, but her older sister, Tala Alamuddin, admits she looked to other women for inspiration for her new fashion line.
The 47-year-old designer has re-launched her label, Totally Tala, with a collection of accessories called ‘Rock ‘n’ Fringe’, which includes £1,123 handbags and a £193 belt emblazoned with the words: ‘Rise. Rock. Repeat’.
George Clooney’s sister-in-law Tala — who was jailed for three weeks last October for drink-driving in Singapore — points to Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner as her muses: ‘Queens of the Eighties pop music culture who defined and defied a generation.’
Glamorous lawyer Amal Clooney may be a style icon, but her older sister, Tala Alamuddin, admits she looked to other women for inspiration for her new fashion line
Former Miss World presenter Michael Aspel fronted 14 of the beauty contests in the Sixties and Seventies, but he insists he did not indulge in any inappropriate behaviour with the contestants.
‘Miss World made me an envied man and people thought it was a riot of lust and that I was the luckiest man in the country, which was so far from the truth,’ he says. ‘There was no hanky-panky of any kind because the girls were guarded by these immense henchmen who just stayed with them all the while. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing it.’
Show must go on, says Mayfair’s king of clubs
From the king of clubs to the king of hygiene. Robin Birley, owner of the exclusive private members’ club 5 Hertford Street, has written to his members assuring them he is doing his utmost to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
‘Within the club itself, while cleanliness and hygiene have always been a top priority, we have significantly increased daily cleaning and introduced a disinfecting regime,’ he writes.
‘The safety and wellbeing of our staff and members is, and always has been, our top priority. I wish to reassure you that in both of my clubs we are strictly adhering to government advice.
‘Staff are kept up to date daily on the current situation. To date we have not been affected.’
The club, which was founded by Robin, son of Annabel’s founder Mark Birley, is frequented by the likes of Bill Gates and supermodel Cara Delevingne and charges members about £2,500 a year.
‘Thank you for your continued support during these strange times,’ concludes Birley. ‘Stay well and be safe.’
Don’t expect Dame Judi Dench to rush to join the trend for gender-swapped Shakespeare characters on stage, a la Glenda Jackson, who played King Lear. ‘There never have been enough parts for women and I think it’s excellent that they should be considered,’ Dame Judi tells the BBC. ‘But I don’t want it muddied so I suddenly think, “why is that a woman?” or, “what does that do to another relationship?” ’
She has been invited on to The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer, but comedian Jenny Eclair admits her skills are wanting. ‘Despite having a surname that suggests advanced patisserie skills, I’m a complete baking novice,’ she says. ‘I don’t even own a cake tin. The only thing in my house with a loose bottom is me.’
Firth pours cold water on steamy Mr Darcy
He made his name as smouldering Mr Darcy in the Nineties version of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice, but Colin Firth has dismissed the role as unhelpful to his career.
‘It was a great role and it was a major event in my career,’ he recalls. ‘But I don’t think it was all that helpful because it tended to create this image that can restrict what kinds of roles you are going to be able to find. Looking good and strutting around is very boring. I wanted to do other things as an actor.’
Nor is he that fond of his role as Mark Darcy in the film Bridget Jones’s Diary.
‘I gained a lot of attention for this film but there was a side of me that resisted all of that.’
Lily Collins’s display of puppy love alarms fans
Les Miserables star Lily Collins, who played unlucky-in-love Fantine in the BBC adaptation, is used to locking lips with suitors on screen.
As the proud new owner of a puppy, the 30-year-old daughter of Genesis singer Phil has now set tongues wagging with her latest show of affection.
She posted a picture online of herself with her rescue dog, Redford, whom she allowed to give her a peck on the mouth. ‘That’s so unhygienic,’ one of her fans commented, referring to scientific evidence that letting your dog lick your face risks disease transmission.
Les Miserables star Lily Collins, who played unlucky-in-love Fantine in the BBC adaptation, is used to locking lips with suitors on screen
Jonathan Lynn, who co-wrote the hit BBC comedy Yes Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister, which chronicled the power struggles between hapless politician Jim Hacker and scheming civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby, recalls ringing the Treasury while he was doing his research.
‘Seriously, we rang the Treasury and they said: “We don’t have any economists.” Then we later found out that they had four economists but they were only part-time and had been seconded from other departments.’
Bug takes the sparkle off Sabrina’s big day
Engagement parties should be a time of jubilation, but Tatler cover girl Sabrina Percy found hers to be bittersweet.
Celebrating her forthcoming nuptials to businessman Phineas Page at No Fifty Cheyne in Chelsea this week, she expressed regret at having to push back the wedding due to the coronavirus. ‘I’m not really committing to a date at the moment because of Covid-19,’ she tells me, having planned to tie the knot in June. Phineas, 37, proposed to illustrator Sabrina, 29, on Christmas Day.
The bride-to-be looked pretty in pink as she brandished a sparkler on her ring finger as well as some chunky Dolce & Gabbana bling.
Sabrina Percy looked pretty in pink as she brandished a sparkler on her ring finger as well as some chunky Dolce & Gabbana bling
Mark Ronson used the pain of his divorce from actress Josephine de la Baume to inspire his latest album. And now Josephine, 35, who after the split dated Sting’s daughter Coco Sumner, is penning her own record with band Film Noir. She tells me: ‘Heartbreak is definitely the inspiration for the new music I’m working on. Isn’t that what most records are about?’