So, I suppose from the age of five, when I had my first bet on the Grand National (there was a grey horse; almost white, called Nicolaus Silver) and I put two old pennies on it and then 20 minutes later I had half a crown. This thread reminds me of the time I posted on the Betfair forum a spoof report a week before the 2010 Supreme. Unfortunately the disasters are always more interesting than the winners in a sense, because everyone's had winners. This year will be the 45th year I have been going to the Festival, without missing a single day. Fearless in his views, his courage lay in the fact that unlike the rest of us he felt no overpowering need to be loved. From the get-go, as our cousins across the pond say, the odds on bay gelding set out seemingly determined, like some recalcitrant child thundering across a beach intent on demolishing every sandcastle in sight, to blast his way through each hurdle rather than follow the conventional approach of rising on the take off side and landing on the other. Or, as the person in question would put it, Which great equine wordsmith, scribe if you will, was noticed at the start of those four glorious days in March at the epicentre, in the place of refreshment named for Willie Mullins great mare, imbibing one of many and certainly not the first of the great continental drinks. It was agony when I was surfing because my body couldn't process the saltwater I was swallowing. "The other day I said to him 'my family gave me the tools and you've taught me about the work to use them on'. "So they put me on a morphine drip for a fortnight. He was awarded a Military Cross for his actions in the battle. Every day in the 10 days up to the meeting, lots of horses start dropping out due to injury and then all those months of planning and years of planning can easily go up in smoke it is not a window of opportunity, its an arrow slit, and everyone is wanting to all fire through that arrow slit all at once. Was there ever a word of complaint? From 1962 to 1975 he was managing director, and from 1969 to 1975 deputy chairman. She was just 17 when she went to Rada in 1962. Good as his word he strode in and sat at the end of the table. Tales from the Betting Ring. He was known as The Vast Samoan and he was an enthusiast for, I believe, they call spliffs these day. But it was done vast ego aside because he cared above all for you and I. Other starring roles soon followed: Elizabeth Fanshawe in Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) on television, widely considered to be one of the best Frankenstein films; the title role in 10 50-minute episodes of Anna Karenina, a 1977 BBC television epic co-starring Eric Porter as Karenin and Stuart Wilson as Vronsky; and Liz Rodenhurst in A Bit of a Do (1989) adapted from the Yorkshire novels of David Nobbs, with David Jason and Gwen Taylor. Mulching and Watering Down joined the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1938 in London and was posted to Mandatory Palestine. I once had a very good win there on a horse called Taberna Lord who was also trained by Jim Wilson, who had the incalculable disadvantage of a claiming jockey on top by the name of Luke Harvey who wasnt even as bad then as he got later on! Award-winning racing writer and broadcaster Alastair Down talks about the early days of his life falling in the love with the game. He talks about how an ante-post gamble at Cheltenham on Nortons Coin went astray, even though it won at 100/1. But John never wanted a funeral. Nicola Pagett, left, with Jean Marsh, in the ITV series Upstairs Downstairs. In the spirit of the 3am Girls, heres a Wicked Whisper. And why The Booby? "Eventually the doctors said there was just one more antibiotic they could try and that I should get Jimmy to come down to be with her as well. In my considered opinion, cynically carbuncled as it has become by many heavy blows over the years, the bloody horse just cant jump. The old roar had grown husky but the heart still pulsed vibrant. Meeting Alastair Down. It is not like 40 years ago when it was for people who wore tweed next to the skin. He also explains his love of Cheltenham including an hilarious account of the time he was gifted a box for the day. He asks me if I feel better on balance taking them. It won at top weight and I remember running into Jim a day later and he grunted at me to say hello as he always does; and I said to Jim, Just to say, Ive been driving a Ford Fiesta but next week Ill be driving a Saab Turbo thanks to you!. They were very good about it.". More Joe Maplin than racing`s finest wordsmith IMHO. I will leave you to speculate on how the past encounters of either party determine their interpretation of the word virgin; suffice to say the riders found it dead and sticky. The 24-year-old, who is Britains youngest MP, said she has been advised by her doctor to take several weeks off for her health to improve. Interesting comments but I still rate Alastairs journalistic skills and thought he was excellent on the RP chat the other night.Nobody uses War analogies to describe Horses racing round a field quite like Mr Down himself. It is likely the Taunton stewards were powerless to resist the happy force of nature that is hurricane Bryony. "Now Fat Al, I am two glasses ahead of you but I am sure you will catch up.". As he once exultantly explained a definition he had read: "A dim, flightless bird ridiculously easy to catch.". "Getting me off the morphine was a massive problem. "It was awful. In 1969 and 1970 he served as the president of the BP Oil Corporation, the company's American subsidiary, and negotiated its merger with Standard Oil of Ohio. V sad to hear of Alastair Down's battle with Alcoholism after spending 28 days in US booze clinic, but what a true man to write such an open piece abo Alastair Down, beating the drink and the mark of a man - forum.sports-pro.co.uk I think the Government would be wrong to stand in the way [of licensing psychdelic treatments] if the trials prove successful.. People assumed he was a bigot but that he never was. I think it would be very hard to do, he says. I can tell you we had something of a day! 2014 - 2017. He talks with some pessimism about the future of racing, touches on the use of the whip, his prediction being that it will be banished. ", She laughs: "It should have been a ten-day ban but I pleaded ignorance and everything else I could think of and it was reduced to seven. Hes popular with a minority who like him and like his style, but there is a majority there to defeat him which is split every which way.. Take a trip down memory lane as. When she won her first 10,000 race she bought Mum a new Aga. One is a marginal decision, the other a post-pub rite of passage for over-thirsty youngsters. Never been a Down fan, but then I wouldnt be I wasnt a fan of Jeffrey Bernard or that whole raffish, rakish, persona he seems to style himself upon. Georges Celeste - Bedspread Set. $24.00 - $109.00. Award-winning racing writer and broadcaster Alastair Down talks about the early days of his life falling in the love with the game. I really miss the days of skulduggery! He knew that the bookmakers regarded you and I as cannon-fodder but nobody else stood up to the red resentment of the guns like John McCririck. When I came out I couldn't for the life of me find the car. Warwick has a strong reputation in the UK for research and excellent links with industry. Over the last couple of years I have watched an oh-so-steadfast friend corrode and erode from the inside, a man dying before one's very eyes. Getting Started She says: "What's the point of living a life if not to create memories?". In 1945 he resumed working for Anglo-Iranian and was based in Iran until 1947, and then in London until 1954. And yet here we are, however many years later, listening to Unite warning Keir Starmer not to shift from Jeremys very popular policies otherwise theyll stop funding Labour. She hates not being in control of her own body and had worked so hard to make herself a physical athlete. Even the faintest tinny echo of 'poor me'? Interview: ALASTAIR DOWNIn this four-part interview the five times HWPA Racing Writer Of The Year and Channel 4 presenter talks about his life in racing, his early days on Fleet Street, working on course, TV presenting, his love of Cheltenham and in particular the Festival. Having suffered from clinical depression for decades, seen his two older brothers die prematurely, one of whom had severe schizophrenia and the other enduring a self-destructive life, and dealing with his sons descent into alcoholism while his daughter quit university due to anxiety, it is little wonder that Alastair Campbell spends much of his time these days campaigning on mental health issues. Nobody else can. "I did plenty of pony racing and show jumping and had quite a lot of time with Nick Skelton learn, learn, learn.". On 4 October 1947, Down married Maysie Hilda "Bunny" Mellon (19? With Johnson I dont know if its deliberate or being strategic, but if you get away with small things, you can get away with bigger things the next time and he has got away with quite a few big things and thats made him realise I can get away with a lot., Prince Harry talks of shame families feel over failing to spot mental health problems in loved ones. On the table in a bucket of vast proportions, a magnum of champagne. Researchers first started investigating whether psychedelic drugs could be used to treat depression in the 1950s and 1960s, but it petered out the following decade due to regulatory restrictions. But its hard, really hard.. Details of his life were hard to garner and it was always my feeling that he was forced to rise above something of an unhappy childhood. Eventually after ma-in-law's 80th entreaty he said he would be there in a minute. John McCririck: his use of tic-tac attracted attention. After the Gold Cup I had about three people ring me up and tell me they had had the best days betting of their lives so they didnt know it was meant to run in the other race! Often, even in deepest Devon, it is customary to inherit a little something from your granny but Bryony has already bequeathed a gift in the other direction. You learn a lot just watching them. Back to Bryony's young life, which continued to follow the archetypal rural idyll. Extraordinarily, given the years which followed, Jeremy Corbyn gets a solitary mention in almost 800 pages and only because Campbell happened to be sharing a BBC media tent with him giving an interview on the day Miliband resigned. The problem is what it doesn't say, My mother has Alzheimer's - these are 10 foods we both eat to protect brain health, Isabel Oakeshotts betrayal of Matt Hancock is the final nail in the coffin for trust in media, Ed Davey: 'We are locked out of my learning disabled son's savings - the Government won't help', If 'disappearing' WhatsApp messages are embedded in Whitehall, scrutiny will vanish too, Boris Johnson still considering trying to bring down Rishi Sunak's Brexit deal, Do not sell or share my personal information. In this final part Alastair talks about his writing, advice from John McCririck, improving your vocabulary, his friends in the game, his love of the foot soldiers in the industry. I was giggling for some reason and complaining that my trolley had a wonky willie, which is not much use. Of how many can that be said? "Now Miss Frost, we need to talk to you about your use of the whip. . She has been to London just three times and was not over-impressed. 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