CLUB GOSSIP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 13 July 1929, Page 8

CLUB GOSSIP

WATCHES OVER ROYALTY BY A LONDON CLUBMAN In liis “Detective and. Secret Service. Days,” Stir E. T. Woodhall, who, formerly of Scotland Yard and the Secret Service, is now a private inquiry agent, has good stories to toll of his watches over Royalty. The Prince of Wales, lie believes* “takes a positive delight in throwing shadowei's off the scent.” Far worse, though, was the German Crown Prince, of whom Mr Woodhall tells the following : Two of us shadowed him ono day when he made three distinct attempts to throw us off. He drove to tlio Bank of England. Quick as lightning, knowing that there were two doors, I left my friend at the one by v which he entered and dodged round to the other—just in time. The Crown Prince had walked straight through the* Bank—in at ono door and out at the other. He had a friend with him upon, that occasion, a Baron whose name I forget. My friend was left behind, of course, and I followed alone. Next lie went to Charing Cross Station on the Embankment, dodged through with his, friend, and look another taxi. I still kept him in view.

Then he played an exceptionally good card. He drove to Oxford Circus Station and booked tickets for himself and his friend and descended to the trains. I followed. He waited until the train had stood a second or so, then he and hi s friend stepped, in; 1 got, into the coach behind. The doors clanged, and jilS.t then the Prince and his friend darted up and just, got through the doors 3 as the train began to move. 1 jumped to the door of my carriage, but ifc was closed, and the conductor had his hack to me. I was a prisoner to the next, station. I looked along the platform as the train gathered speed, and there; an amused grin on his face, was the ex-Crown Prince.

THE PRINCE’S GOOD FORTUNE Asa Secret Service agent in the Great War Mr Woodhall narrowly escaped death, by the explosion of a shell which crashed into a derelict farmhouse some yards distant. He hurried on, and happened upon tho Prince* of Wales standing near a wall. It appears that h 6 had left his cal' in what he considered • to be a place of comparative shelter —that is to. say, he had left it protected by a thick wall that had been left standing. He had gone out a little way, and. on his return,"was horrified to find that both the vvall and the car had been blown to atoms. A few seconds earlier and lie would have been killed! I wonder how/many narrow escapes from death the Prince has experienced. There have been times when he would seem to attach little value to his life, so “dare-devil” has he been, particularly in the hunting-field. Yet. however narrow may be his “shave*,” he always “come s ‘ up smiling.” In one of his albums of photographs is a portrait of the driver, of a railway train which was derailed when the Prince was travelling in it- in Australia. The Prince climbed through a broken window in his compartment and remarked to Admiral Halsey, his comptroller and the organiser of the tour, “Well, at any rate I’ve at last done something that is not in the programme.” HIS WINNING WAYS As an interesting article in “Time and Tide” reminds us, the Prince is “always doing something that is not usually in the programme of a Crown Prince, and it is invariably a useful tiling, well suited to the times.” Take, as instances, his visit not long ago j;o the distressed mining area in Durham; and his encounter with Mr A. J. Cook, the lied miners’ secretary, whose prejudice lie overcame by his manifest

sincere sympathy with and deep feeling for the out-of-work colliers and their families. His unconvcntionality is one of tho. Prince's charms. He is not a “higli-hor.se” Prince, conscious of his exalted position, with a big sense of his own superiority, and with airs of bored condescension. He is, as much as lie can 1 be, one of the people, witli a manifest desire to do what lie can f.or, others. There is not ft more- fjpjptr lar figure of a man in the country. Wherever he goes his smile; if nothing else, leaves a lasting impression. “Time and Tide” characterises the Prince ns “ a typical voting man of the sporting, limiting, nou-ihtellcctunl set.” Non-intellectual lie may lie in that lie reads very little, but he possesses a remarkable knowledge and a very retentive memory, and lie learns from whoever lie may encounter in his daily round of duties, recreations, and pleasures. And he is not an epicure, a lover of the pleasures of the table. He is' restless, in hard training all the time, fond of exercise, early vising, movement, and the simpler pleasures. A chef is wasted on him. He likes nothing but the plainest foods, and not too much ot' them; and sometimes, when he is going to a theatre, or a fight, he will miss dinner (though lie has just conic hack from a.hard day’s hunting), have a sandwich and a cocktail, and comp back to eggs and bacon and a whisky and soda. DEAN “DICK” Congratulations innumerable have been showered upon the Rev. H. It. L. Sheppard, formerly of St, Martin’s-in* the-Field, upon his elevation to the Deanery of Canterbury. He had long been “starred” for promotion in the Church, and lie wijuld have received a high appointment ere this, doubtless, if-it had not been that he has suffered much from asthma and has been obliged to receive special attention at bis home in Godalming, Surrey, and abroad: Everyone, surely, who possesses a wireless Set knows; “Dick” Sheppard, as lie is popularly called, loyes his voice, and appreciates his matter. He will win success at Canterbury by his uneonventionality, his humanness, his buoyant cheeriness. No “gloomy” Dean will he be. He is an optimist of the first water, with an alarming' faith. He believes firmly in the Church keeping abreast with the times, but “not until there is a Church like some great cathedral, in which there is a multitude of side-chapels where the one God is worshipped in different ways by dif-ferently-minded people, and yet all are within One Church, is there any hope of Christianity prevailing.” Such is the outlook of Canterbury’s new Dean, whose virile personality, abounding enthusiasm, and vivid, outspoken words, assure the Canterbury diocese of an absence' of dullness, prosiness and boredom. The Archbishop and Dean “Dick” are old friends. When Dr. Lang was Bishop of Stepney ' Mr. Sheppard was a young curate at Oxford House. Mr Sheppard was seized by illness and his condition was grave. The Bishop visited his' friend as soon as he was allowed io do so. “Hello!” was Mr Sheppard’s greeting. “Dear old Bip; I knew you would come to see me.” Fancy, an unfledged curate styling his Bishop, “Dear old Bip”! BOY SCOUTS MEMORIAL CAMPING GROUND The new camping’ ground of- the Kingston and District Boy Scouts at Oxshott covers an area of six acres, and is to be used- as a permanent camping and training ground by these' Scouts, / who now number over 1200. It is a'; memorial to the 70 Scouts of Kingston and district who lost tlieif lives in the Great War. A bronze memorial statue of a Boy Scout will stand on the camping ground. The total cost of the scheme is £IOOO.