Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Who & what is Ben Stiller?

[boldie]

Who & what is Ben Stiller?

A comedy actor who is only funny if you're American.

[tikay]

Who & what is Ben Stiller?

A comedy actor who is only funny if you're American.

And Claw likened me to him because?............

Is he uber-cool, or something?

[boldie]

Who & what is Ben Stiller?

A comedy actor who is only funny if you're American.

And Claw likened me to him because?............

Is he uber-cool, or something?

Why do women say anything?  You do wear a suit as well as he does though.

[Claw75]

Who & what is Ben Stiller?

A comedy actor who is only funny if you're American.

Oi - dodgeball is an awesome comedy film! Just thought you looked a bit like him in that picture Tony. For the record, I think he's quite handsome

[Karabiner]

Tikay - I've just read up on Robert Standish Sievier      .....     some life story!

If a film was made with that content for a fictional character, everyone would say it's too farfetched to be true!

Real life often puts a 'good story' to shame   ............

I have 3 books on Sievier, one being a first edition of his Autobiography, & it's (allegedly) signed by the Man himself. Of all my antiquarian books, that is one of my favourites. Oddly, I later read 2 biographies of him which were much better written, but told a totally different story! He was a very convincing man, but a very crooked one.

Sceptre, well he trained that horse like no man ever trained a horse, giving her 4 mile gallops twice daily, & racing her in big races all over England & France. Remember, getting a horse to an "away" meet in those days was not easy. And she'd run two or three times at a single Meeting. I was never quite sure if he was a genius or an idiot when it came to training, but who else could produce a racemare who could do this?

In 1902, she ran a close second in the Lincolnshire Handicap in March, with RS having backed her to win £32,000. Note that (for non horse-racing peeps) Classic horses don't run in handicaps, especially in March - & deffo deffo deffo not carrying 6st 7lbs....

Weeks later, amazingly, she won the 2,000 Guineas, which is open to colts & fillies, but generally only Colts run in it. She was a filly. (In Horse Racing, pound for pound, colts or horses are better than fillies & mares by a few lbs). A near miracle. Two days later, guess what? She won the 1,000 Guineas! I'm not aware of any other filly that has done that double.

It's the same with the Derby & the Oaks - the former is for Colts (but fillies can run in it) & the latter for fillies only. She ran in the Derby, but  an interrupted preparation cost her dearly, & she "only" ran 5th, behind the legendary Ard Patrick. Two days later - yep, you got it - she ran in the Oaks. And won it cosily. (Or as Piggott might have said, "cothily"). So, three Classics already!

Next she went to Paris for the Grand Prix de Paris, (beaten), then to Royal Ascot (ran TWICE, 4th & 1st in the Coronation & St James Palace Stakes), Goodwood (ran twice, 4th in the Sussex Stakes, won the Nassau), then went to Donny and won the St Leger - her 4th Classic! - & ran again two days later in the Park Hill but was edged out.

Meanwhile, Sievier had been gambling recklessly (he used Sceptre as his main gambling medium, but backed anything & everything), & tried to sell her to raise funds. Nobody would buy her, of course, as Sievier had ruined her. To get out of the hole, he ran her in the Lincoln again the next March (carrying 9st 1lb now!) & there was a huge gamble on her, but she could only manage 5th.

Now, that is THE most remarkable story of a racehorse ever ever ever imo.

So when I say it pales into insignificance behind the tale of Robert, it says it all.

Interestingly, chat yesterday was about poker players who play poker well. Well, RS was a very gifted billiards player, (Billiards was THE game then, not snooker), & he gambled hugely on his prowess at the table in Gentlemens Clubs, & in fact, one such grim/gamble landed him in Court in a case against a member of the aristocracy.

Later he fled England for Australia, got up to his old tricks again (once a grimmer, always a grimmer), was soon in Prison, & then a murder went off for which he was the only suspect.

Subsequently, his life began to get more interesting.........

Of all the sporting tales, Ben Johnson, Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, Ali, Gazza, Besty, Senna, da de da, none comes even close to Sceptre & Robert Standish Sievier.

I'll look out the author of the Bio about him, & the Title of the Book, & Post it here. Read it.

In the year when Sceptre won four of the five Classics, when it lost The Derby there was upraor in the ring with all and sundry claiming that the race was a fix, imagine that !

[tikay]

Tikay - I've just read up on Robert Standish Sievier      .....     some life story!

If a film was made with that content for a fictional character, everyone would say it's too farfetched to be true!

Real life often puts a 'good story' to shame   ............

I have 3 books on Sievier, one being a first edition of his Autobiography, & it's (allegedly) signed by the Man himself. Of all my antiquarian books, that is one of my favourites. Oddly, I later read 2 biographies of him which were much better written, but told a totally different story! He was a very convincing man, but a very crooked one.

Sceptre, well he trained that horse like no man ever trained a horse, giving her 4 mile gallops twice daily, & racing her in big races all over England & France. Remember, getting a horse to an "away" meet in those days was not easy. And she'd run two or three times at a single Meeting. I was never quite sure if he was a genius or an idiot when it came to training, but who else could produce a racemare who could do this?

In 1902, she ran a close second in the Lincolnshire Handicap in March, with RS having backed her to win £32,000. Note that (for non horse-racing peeps) Classic horses don't run in handicaps, especially in March - & deffo deffo deffo not carrying 6st 7lbs....

Weeks later, amazingly, she won the 2,000 Guineas, which is open to colts & fillies, but generally only Colts run in it. She was a filly. (In Horse Racing, pound for pound, colts or horses are better than fillies & mares by a few lbs). A near miracle. Two days later, guess what? She won the 1,000 Guineas! I'm not aware of any other filly that has done that double.

It's the same with the Derby & the Oaks - the former is for Colts (but fillies can run in it) & the latter for fillies only. She ran in the Derby, but  an interrupted preparation cost her dearly, & she "only" ran 5th, behind the legendary Ard Patrick. Two days later - yep, you got it - she ran in the Oaks. And won it cosily. (Or as Piggott might have said, "cothily"). So, three Classics already!

Next she went to Paris for the Grand Prix de Paris, (beaten), then to Royal Ascot (ran TWICE, 4th & 1st in the Coronation & St James Palace Stakes), Goodwood (ran twice, 4th in the Sussex Stakes, won the Nassau), then went to Donny and won the St Leger - her 4th Classic! - & ran again two days later in the Park Hill but was edged out.

Meanwhile, Sievier had been gambling recklessly (he used Sceptre as his main gambling medium, but backed anything & everything), & tried to sell her to raise funds. Nobody would buy her, of course, as Sievier had ruined her. To get out of the hole, he ran her in the Lincoln again the next March (carrying 9st 1lb now!) & there was a huge gamble on her, but she could only manage 5th.

Now, that is THE most remarkable story of a racehorse ever ever ever imo.

So when I say it pales into insignificance behind the tale of Robert, it says it all.

Interestingly, chat yesterday was about poker players who play poker well. Well, RS was a very gifted billiards player, (Billiards was THE game then, not snooker), & he gambled hugely on his prowess at the table in Gentlemens Clubs, & in fact, one such grim/gamble landed him in Court in a case against a member of the aristocracy.

Later he fled England for Australia, got up to his old tricks again (once a grimmer, always a grimmer), was soon in Prison, & then a murder went off for which he was the only suspect.

Subsequently, his life began to get more interesting.........

Of all the sporting tales, Ben Johnson, Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, Ali, Gazza, Besty, Senna, da de da, none comes even close to Sceptre & Robert Standish Sievier.

I'll look out the author of the Bio about him, & the Title of the Book, & Post it here. Read it.

In the year when Sceptre won four of the five Classics, when it lost The Derby there was upraor in the ring with all and sundry claiming that the race was a fix, imagine that !

Yes, it was widely rumoured that Sievier "stopped" her. I don't believe much that Sievier said, but I rerally think even he would not have done that. But I'm not confident.......

Gamblers who are deep in the hole do the most despicable & God-awful things.

[riverdave]

I was "away" when Michael "One Seat Here" Arnold got sentenced - what a peculiar case that was.

He never struck me as someone who was doing a lot of money at the Cash Table - he was always asleep when I saw him or played with him. Maybe he had another gambling leak, I dunno. He was not the sort of guy who played dreadfully loose & pulled up evey half hour from what I knew of him.

I bet there's a cracking story there. And I don't imagine clink is awfully pleasing for a Gentleman of his vintage, especially given that he's was someone who liked things his own way.

I refer you to my previously deleted post. ;-)

[Murph1984]

Did that woman sitting bottom middle move to Norway and have a daughter called Annette by any chance?

[bobby1]

lol great pics those. Tony, you look younger now than in that picture too.

I love you Phil.

Sorry we never hooked up the other day, I'll reply to the PM soonest, bit of a backlog at the mo!

np mate and I love you too ;o) xx

[tikay]

Did that woman sitting bottom middle move to Norway and have a daughter called Annette by any chance?

Excellent spot. But wrong.

The young lady to whom you refer was  - & I assume still is - called Alison, mother of twins, & a resident of one of Nottingham's upper-class leafy residential areas, St Annes. Alison had a very active social life.

She was the Manageress of the Club. Friday nights were the big nights, for Friday was the Midnight Sweepstake, & we'd all be there until 6 or 7am on Saturday. If we busted out the Comp, we'd just sit & chill, & amuse ourselves playing Throw The Pig (I think it was called) & other nonsense. I'd leave there at 7am & be back for my weekly best of 7 against Steve at 11am. Which eventually I had to refrain from, due to an excruciatingly awkward set of personal circumstances which is hard to rationalise even now, 15 or 16 years on.

The Club served THE most delicious sausage cobs (in Nottingham, bread rolls are called "cobs", wtf?), but if we asked for one at 11.45pm, - we could see they had plenty behind the counter - she'd say "no, we are sold out today".

"But you have some, we can see them" we'd say.

"No, they are tomorrow's stock, so you'll have to wait another 15 minutes, until midnight"........

I think she must have been a Solicitor or an Accountant in a previous life. These folks are often (not always, I defensively add as my get-out) incredibly intelligent, but lack even the merest modicum of common sense. In my experience, common sense & intelligence are rarely found in the same individual.

Sorry for the rambling reply, but I fancy this was your first Post on this Diary, so I felt the need for a Mantis-esque reply.

[Longy]

Did that woman sitting bottom middle move to Norway and have a daughter called Annette by any chance?

Excellent spot. But wrong.

The young lady to whom you refer was  - & I assume still is - called Alison, mother of twins, & a resident of one of Nottingham's upper-class leafy residential areas, St Annes. Alison had a very active social life.

She was the Manageress of the Club. Friday nights were the big nights, for Friday was the Midnight Sweepstake, & we'd all be there until 6 or 7am on Saturday. If we busted out the Comp, we'd just sit & chill, & amuse ourselves playing Throw The Pig (I think it was called) & other nonsense. I'd leave there at 7am & be back for my weekly best of 7 against Steve at 11am. Which eventually I had to refrain from, due to an excruciatingly awkward set of personal circumstances which is hard to rationalise even now, 15 or 16 years on.

The Club served THE most delicious sausage cobs (in Nottingham, bread rolls are called "cobs", wtf?), but if we asked for one at 11.45pm, - we could see they had plenty behind the counter - she'd say "no, we are sold out today".

"But you have some, we can see them" we'd say.

"No, they are tomorrow's stock, so you'll have to wait another 15 minutes, until midnight"........

I think she must have been a Solicitor or an Accountant in a previous life. These folks are often (not always, I defensively add as my get-out) incredibly intelligent, but lack even the merest modicum of common sense. In my experience, common sense & intelligence are rarely found in the same individual.

Sorry for the rambling reply, but I fancy this was your first Post on this Diary, so I felt the need for a Mantis-esque reply.

Agreed, they always have a nice bunch of flowers outside the pubs, street corners etc in St Anns.

[GreekStein]

Wiii even before I read Longy's reply I got the bit about St. Annes.

Whoosing 0 - 1 Cos

[tikay]

I had a right good mate at the Club who I used to play 4 or 5 frames with every single night. We played a cross between billiards & snooker, it was all about laying & extracting oneself in & out of exquisite snookers. Easy pots were not to be taken, they resulted in huffy tuts, the idea was NOT to pot easy stuff, but play ultra ultra defensive, & frames could exceed 90 minutes on occasions.

We split the cost of the table, paid for each others drinks & food & were great mates. We never met outside of snooker, but we were as close friends as it's possible to be.

He came in one day with a face as long as a seaside donkey. Trouble at home, he needed money desperately, he could not pay a Court Fine, & was faced with 28 days inside, the wife was going apeshit, the kids were all in tears, da de da. Could I help? How much? - £200. Of course.

I never used to carry that sort of cash in those days, I said I'd go to the Bank the next day.

The 'phone rang at 9am the next morning. "You got that money yet Tony?" he asked. "No, the banks not open yet" I replied. He was stressed out, it had to be paid by Noon, can we meet at the Bank? Yeah yeah.

I get the money, he's waiting outside. He's droolingly grateful, "anything I can do to return the favour, just say, anything".

"Just pay me back as soon as you can. I won't mention it ever (it's embarrassing so to do, yes?), glad to have been able to help".

The weeks & months passed, we still met & played 4 or 5 frames every night. No sign of the cash. It's starting to niggle now, a year on. And he's feeding the slots every night. Hmm.

Time moves on, no money, so eventually, & with some awkwardness, I raise the matter. He goes off on one, big time, "what sort of mate are you?".

Eh?

We fall out, & never speak again. Every time we see each other it's awkward, we avert eyes, there's that atmo.

£200 was no big deal to me, & that never troubled me overly. Having my leg lifted did.

Amazingly, I never learned my lesson, & I've fallen for the same stunt time & time again.

I wonder where you draw the line betwen "kind" & "a soft touch", & do people prey on this?

[tikay]

Wiii even before I read Longy's reply I got the bit about St. Annes.

Whoosing 0 - 1 Cos

Very good!

Shame you missed the other three.