Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Karabiner]

Are you getting another Beemer, tikay? Or have you decided on something else?

I believe he is getting one of those Smart cars recommended by Greenpeace as part of his "Save The Moles" campaign.

SAVE THE MOLES!

Ralph, you've jogged my memory. Did you know - from your scallywaggy London days - a geezer called Harry Diamond? He died last week, his Obit was in The Times, he seemed a right character. And where was the top photo taken, any idea? The dark-haired bloke could almost be you, 50 or 60 years younger, in fact.

That is Lucien Freud with Francis Bacon, so have probably just walked out of a pub, best guess around Soho.

It looks rather like the corner of Frith St. and Old Compton St. slap bang in the middle of Soho as Mr.J says.

it could even possibly be right outside Frith St. snooker club which was in the basement, Tommy Steele used to come down there and play Kalooki some afternoons.

[Claw75]

Mini Quiz Time. On Jimmy's wiki page it says he studied at Ernest Bevin College (my dad's old school). On Tony Meo's page it says he and Jimmy were schoolmates, so presumably he went too.  Another very famous student went to that school, but was a few years above my old man. Anyone want to have a stab (that's not a clue)?

I give up. Gissaclue. Was it Chompy?

not quite as famous as Chompy.

Clue 1:

at school he would have been known as Mark Field, but we all know him by a different name.

I was going to say Marc Bolan but wasn't he Mark Feld?

yes probably - it was a red herring - not a mistake at all

[tikay]

I used to walk to school every day past the tree Bolan and girlfriend hit in the mini where he died. It's still covered in notes, flowers etc to this day

Interestingly the tree is on the top of an embankment just past a bridge that runs above the rail line into Waterloo, by Barnes station

At last, some interesting content. We need to know more, Rich. All Network Rail Bridges have an identification code, for maintenance purposes. We need that bridge number.

[Claw75]

Are you getting another Beemer, tikay? Or have you decided on something else?

I believe he is getting one of those Smart cars recommended by Greenpeace as part of his "Save The Moles" campaign.

SAVE THE MOLES!

Ralph, you've jogged my memory. Did you know - from your scallywaggy London days - a geezer called Harry Diamond? He died last week, his Obit was in The Times, he seemed a right character. And where was the top photo taken, any idea? The dark-haired bloke could almost be you, 50 or 60 years younger, in fact.

That is Lucien Freud with Francis Bacon, so have probably just walked out of a pub, best guess around Soho.

It looks rather like the corner of Frith St. and Old Compton St. slap bang in the middle of Soho as Mr.J says.

it could even possibly be right outside Frith St. snooker club which was in the basement, Tommy Steele used to come down there and play Kalooki some afternoons.

I'm going to have to get my oar in again here. Tommy Steele is actually my grandad's cousin, although he didn't know him as he was on his dad's side and he had little to do with his dad after he walked out on them while my grandad was still a baby.  A couple from the East end recently opened up a pie and mash shop in the sleepy sussex village where my mum now lives, and she and my nan got nattering to them and turns out they too are related to Mr Steele. Didn't get any free grub off them tho.

[Claw75]

At last, some interesting content.

sigh!

[TightEnd]

I used to walk to school every day past the tree Bolan and girlfriend hit in the mini where he died. It's still covered in notes, flowers etc to this day

Interestingly the tree is on the top of an embankment just past a bridge that runs above the rail line into Waterloo, by Barnes station

At last, some interesting content. We need to know more, Rich. All Network Rail Bridges have an identification code, for maintenance purposes. We need that bridge number.

I am afraid I do not remember it. Slack, I know, but at that age I was only just memorising Rothmans Football yearbooks

Interestingly again, my son and I had a competition in the car tonight, who could name Pi to the furthest number of decimal places. A fun weekend awaits.

[Claw75]

who could name Pi to the furthest number of decimal places. A fun weekend awaits.

that's an easy comp to win. if your opponent only knows eg 8 you can just make the rest up for a convincing victory

[byronkincaid]

I was astonished, during the SPT day at Luton last week, quite taken aback.

I did a bit of commentary before I had to get back to the Studio for the big TP show.

Dealer says "all-in & a call" & I dash across to the Table, microphone in hand. Excellent - EXCELLENT - one of the Celebs - Spencer Oliver (see last night's Diary entry) is in the hand. He has  . His opponent - who I am stood behind, so I have not seen his face - turns over........

Of course, it's all rigged - well it is Sky - & Vilain binks the 2 on the river to bust Spencer, much hilarity, "& a round of applause for our busted Guest please" I blather. Only then do I realise that Villain is....byronkincaid! He was the LAST person I ever expected to see at a SPT, but I was delighted, really, so pleased to see him having a fun day.

AndrewT & his bro, who plays over there as Uzi-Lover, were also both present.

As was, in fact, "TheMackem/BlackCatLee/Lee Harrison", long ago banned by blonde & currently chat-gagged by SP, too. So unlucky, gettng Banned left right & centre. Oddly, I never even saw him. Maybe just as well, saved a scene. It's weird, he is a lovely - really lovely - guy "Live", but wholly obnoxious Online. Most odd, the way peeps change when they get on the internets.

nice to see you. very friendly atmosphere, blonde bash like. interesting to see the sky poker demographic, most women I have seen at a tournament.

[tikay]

I was astonished, during the SPT day at Luton last week, quite taken aback.

I did a bit of commentary before I had to get back to the Studio for the big TP show.

Dealer says "all-in & a call" & I dash across to the Table, microphone in hand. Excellent - EXCELLENT - one of the Celebs - Spencer Oliver (see last night's Diary entry) is in the hand. He has  . His opponent - who I am stood behind, so I have not seen his face - turns over........

Of course, it's all rigged - well it is Sky - & Vilain binks the 2 on the river to bust Spencer, much hilarity, "& a round of applause for our busted Guest please" I blather. Only then do I realise that Villain is....byronkincaid! He was the LAST person I ever expected to see at a SPT, but I was delighted, really, so pleased to see him having a fun day.

AndrewT & his bro, who plays over there as Uzi-Lover, were also both present.

As was, in fact, "TheMackem/BlackCatLee/Lee Harrison", long ago banned by blonde & currently chat-gagged by SP, too. So unlucky, gettng Banned left right & centre. Oddly, I never even saw him. Maybe just as well, saved a scene. It's weird, he is a lovely - really lovely - guy "Live", but wholly obnoxious Online. Most odd, the way peeps change when they get on the internets.

nice to see you. very friendly atmosphere, blonde bash like. interesting to see the sky poker demographic, most women I have seen at a tournament.

Thanks Byron.

The demograph on SP is very unusual in many ways, & at SPT Events, up to 30% of the field are female. I assume they are attracted by my presence.

Anyway, as I said, lovely to see you there.

Your ears should be burning too, they are all talking about "the nutcase with 7-2" on the other Forum.......Obv, I'm defending you.

[tikay]

Are you getting another Beemer, tikay? Or have you decided on something else?

I believe he is getting one of those Smart cars recommended by Greenpeace as part of his "Save The Moles" campaign.

SAVE THE MOLES!

Ralph, you've jogged my memory. Did you know - from your scallywaggy London days - a geezer called Harry Diamond? He died last week, his Obit was in The Times, he seemed a right character. And where was the top photo taken, any idea? The dark-haired bloke could almost be you, 50 or 60 years younger, in fact.

That is Lucien Freud with Francis Bacon, so have probably just walked out of a pub, best guess around Soho.

Good spot.

You & Ralphy boy may enjoy this obit of Mr Diamond. An interesting character (knew all about bus routes, too...), to say the least. A great obit too, not a bit sychophantic as so many obits are, - "he couild be positively nasty on occasion". Something of a fixture in Soho, it seems. Quite a relationship with Lucien Freud, too.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6981170.ece

[lazaroonie]

...and the same web page - which is a rather odd thing, seemingly devoted to Ladbrokes (I never realised they had closed their Paddington Casino - & took an £11 MILLION write down on it over just 2 years, lol!), I spotted this, relevant because we were discussing Betfair recently.....

Betfair launched on Oaks Day in June 2000, with a mere 36 people striking bets on the fillies' Classic at Epsom. Since then it has grown into the most influential betting platform in the British market. One of its innovations was to give punters the chance to bet after a race has started, right up to the end of the event. Sure, other bookmakers had experimented with in-running betting, but none could offer, as Betfair could, the chance to bet immediately at the click of a mouse......

Betfair was born in 1998, when Andrew “Bert” Black met Ed Wray at a party and expounded his idea of a person-to-person betting website. Both men had backgrounds in the City - Black had managed a hedge fund and Wray had been on the trading floor for JP Morgan. It was a time of boom and bonuses, so when they decided to try the idea, raising the capital wasn't a problem.

Black, now 45, has always been a punter. If someone else had begun Betfair, he would be betting with them. As it is, he is co-founder of a company that last year had a revenue of nearly £240m and a profit of £30m. Betfair has 1,350 employees and what chief executive officer David Yu describes as “more transactions than all the European stock markets put together”. It has branches worldwide (but not in the United States, where internet gambling is illegal). Black himself owns a string of racehorses.

When I first started going racing regularly, in the mid-80s, bookmakers obtained their initial prices - known as the “tissue” - from odds compilers. The big firms had their own tissue men but the racecourse bookies tended to rely on private individuals. Now, Betfair supplies the “tissue”, with players offering backs and lays on the site the night before.

And it has created a new kind of gambling careerist. “Now my skill is being able to predict the fluctuation of the markets,” says Paul, “and that is down to my history as a punter. I can work out what the punters are going to back, what horses are going to shorten, and what are going to lengthen in price; which jockeys and trainers they follow and which ones they reject. Most of my bets lately have been on market moves.”





 

Fair play to Mr Black - such a simple idea, born, presumably, of lateral thinking. And that growth, in 9 or 10 years, must be almost google-like.

I bet the bookies wish he never thought laterally......

i have often wondered why people dont do the same thing with currency. people buy and sell holiday money all the time, and get royally ripped off for it, with the difference between the buy and sell tourist rates. surely if people got together they could all do much better out of it.

[tikay]

Just perusing anotther obit, this jumped off the page. It could not be more improbable, all things considered. Who was the obit about?

......and realised, too, that he could not continue working for Beaverbrook. Their relationship had been temporarily damaged when ********  fell in love with Beaverbrook’s mistress, a Yugoslav ballerina......

The juxtaposition & context of the people involved is almost unimaginable.

[RED-DOG]

It stumped me for a while, but I have the measure of him now.

[Claw75]

It stumped me for a while, but I have the measure of him now.

is it a cricketer called Mr Tailor?

[Karabiner]

Tooting I think

yup both from Tooting, as are both my parents. One of my aunts used to knock about with Jimmy back in those days, and Tony Meo lived a few doors away from me when I was growing up.

Really?

He was, even then - he'd be 16 or 18 I think, a little oder than Jimmy I seem to recall - very dapper, very smart, almost dandy-like. He was one of Barry Hearn's first ever signings at Matchroom, just after SD, but Jimmy went another route.

yeah this would have been early 80s-early 90s - he was slightly older than my parents. That was in Morden rather than Tooting (bit posher like, when you've made good, coz it's technically in Surrey innit). Tony lived in a big extended semi with his family and we lived in the mock tudor terraces backing onto it

just had a look on wiki and both are a bit younger than I realised - actually a couple of years younger than my folks. Everyone looks old when you're 10 tho

Jimmy White born 1962 - that adds up, so he would have been 12 or 13 when he was dossing round the poker halls & I first encountered him.

I used to play snooker at Victoria snooker club/hall for a few years  but around 1981 it was closed down and all of the players moved a mile or so South of the river and took up residence in Wandsworth snooker club. By some strange quirke of fate the tables were shipped to Nottingham and took up residence in the place where i believe you used to play Tony. I always had a hankering to go and seek out my old favourite table #2 on which i was rarely beaten in those olden days, but like many things I never got around to it.

Wandsworth snooker club was a fantastic place and it opened up a kaleidascope of new avenues for a gambler such as I. Jimmy White and Tony Meo were regulars there, Jimmy was about sixteen then. They were both "Bob's boys". Bob Davies was a cab driver who had an eye for raw snooker talent and had a stable of young players that he used to back for decent money. Steve Ventham was another terrific young player in his stable who made the final of Junior Pot Black losing to John Parrott before fading into obscurity. I remember him massacring me the one time I made the mistake of playing him for money.

Others that I met there took me into poker. Steve Jermyn was another decent player but he also dealt poker at a club on the edge of Soho called The Mazurka, just off Windmill Street which I was invited to attend. The game was run by the legendary Ted Iles and it would be true to say that the day I first stepped in there my poker education began in earnest.