PEER ENJOYS JOKE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1939, Page 6

PEER ENJOYS JOKE

GRANDSON AS WAITER

Two men smiled as they met at lunch in London’s Berkley Hotel restaurant lately. One was a peer, holder of a barony which dates back centuries, the other a young waiter. Nothing unusual, you say. in a peer and a waiter smiling at each other? Maybe not —except, that the waiter was the peer's grandson. And as Lord Clinton finished his soup his eyes twinkled with amusement as he watched young John Fane, dressed in the black coat and long white apron of a commis, or learner. Tired of doing nothing, Lord Clinton’s grandson has gone to work and takes his coat off to it, too. He is starting in the restaurant business from the bottom. "I want to learn my trade right from the beginning." he told an interviewer, as he bustled about putting clean linen on the tables. "And I feel sure that this is the way to do it.”

"Great fun” is how grey-eyed John describes the situations that arise when his friends come into the restaurant. "My sister came in yesterday with a whole bunch of people, and I had to try very hard to keep a straight face,” he said, with a smile, "but I shall get used to that.

"It's the late hours that make me realise I’m working hard.” Many a morning young Fane doesn’t leave the Berkley until 2.30. and he is very glad that he lives near by in Shepherd’s Market. He intends to be a big noise in the restaurant world. "I shall go abroad as soon as I can to learn Continental methods,” he added. "I want lo know it all.”