Thursday, March 15, 2007

175 years

I attended a dinner to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Carlton Club last night. Baroness Thatcher, or the Bronze Lady as she is now called, was there as were Bob Geldof and his father. Bob Geldof senior had been a chef at the Carlton in 1935! The guest speaker was the Marquess of Salisbury whose ancestor, the Second Marquess had founded the Club with some friends in the Thatched House tavern on 10 March 1832. He said he'd been looking through the archives at Hatfield House for some reference to it but the only document he could find was a note from the Duke of Wellington apologising that he was going to be late for one of the meetings.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Of all the astonishing things you have written in this blog [and there are many ] this takes the biscuit !

Someone actually apologising for being late for a meeting ! This will soon seem so bizarre, as people will now 'drop you a text' at 5 minutes notice to tell you that 'something has come up' and they will not be joining you. I had a friend who once cheerfully admitted that regardless of whether she had made a prior engagement to meet someone, if a better offer came up in the meantime she would drop the original offer like a hot potato... Bring back etiquette !

9:50 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

175 years sounds like a long time, but to put into perspective, the Bristol Old Vic theatre is 250 years old sometime in the next year. Not a surprise to anyone who has sat in their cosy seating...

And I noticed from another blog, referring to the Cheltenham Gold Cup that the 'De La Bere Hotel' is based in a 15th Century Tudor building. Gosh ! Now I don't feel quite such an old codger...

7:06 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't help but imagine Geldof senior as some kind of 'prototype' for Gordon Ramsay, except his swearing would rhyme with 'heck' if you get my gist.

7:23 pm  

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