Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 4

Wn WVl 1r K- If1 KVENINQ STANDARD SATURDAY 1IAT 30 1M1 THE DIARY Lord Beaverbrook 83 yesterday sits flanked by Sir Winston Churchill and the Prime Minister at the birthday party which Lord Rothemm gave for him last night See first story words? Are they not Sir Sony Legge-Bourke Tory Isle ft Compliment Lying jade IS history an exact science Or is it a lying jade The argument has been raging in Coventry this week where the Corporation has put forward a documented historical heresy The gist of it 'a that Lady Godiva did not ride through the streets oi the city wearing nothing but her long brown hair Mr Mervyn Miles the public relations officer has been making a foray into the archives and claims that the lady made the Journey decently covered The whole thing could have been filmed by the BBC without a single viewer ringing up to complain Lady Godiva was supposed before Mr Miles began brushing the dust off the documents to have ridden naked to save the citizens of Coventry from the heavy taxes levied bv her husband Earl Lcofric The new theory is that Leofric being a man of piety merely challenge-! her to ride stripped of her finery and jewels like any ordinary taxpayer Didn't born cakes Mr Miles will have to weather a sizeable storm from those of us who resent the way history is losing its nursery charm the way professionals start bv saying no Alfred burn the cakes and go on from there They tell us Robin Hood was not generous to the poor and kind to it is doubtful whether he even existed Harold was not killed by an arrow in the eye he was simply butchered by the Norman horsemen in the normal way Dick Whittington had no use for cats Dick Turpin did not ride from London to York in a single day Black and white Richard III according to a powerful modern school of historians was an honourable English gentleman of the sort the Athenaeum Club is constantly electing The man who smothered the princes in the Tower was the wicked usurper Henry VII And the old story that George I failed to attend Cabinet meetings because he spoke no English was a tale cooked up by Horace Walpole 60 years later to keep his memoirs readable If you believe it ask A Taylor History like so many other things is not what it was Historians have to make a living and while they are at it they may as well sever the fact from fiction But they must not be surprised if in the process the colour fades and the splendid Cecil de Miile spectacular of English history turns into a black and white docu-mentary issued by the Central Office of Information Lord beaverbrook proprietor of the Daliy Express Sunday Express Evening Standard and Glasgow Evening Citizen has not for a long time so thoroughly enjoyed himself as he did at his 83rd birthday' party last night Lord Roth erm ere chairman of Associated Newspapers gave the party a dinner for 16 Including Lord closest friend Sr Winston Churchill followed by a reception for 200 at Warwick House his beautiful place in St Lord Beaverbrook usuaKy likes to be in bed early but with so many friends and well-wishers from every walk of life about him he did not leave the party until after midnight Nevertheless he was awake and immediately busy with his hundred £id one interests at his usual hour which is a good deal earlier than most this morning tribute An especially felicitous tribute to him was made by Mr Macmillan the Prime Minister at the-party He worked under Lord Beaverbrook during the war and he said it was from him that he learned the secret of leadership of men Mr Michael Berry editor-in chief of the Dally Telegraph was another guest And the Peterborough column In his paper this morning says: "The dinner was unique In so far as the false diene that newspaper dog does not eat newspaper dog having died at the same time as newsprint rationing it was celebrated by every national newspaper save one It is many years too early to say 'We shall not look on his like again' but neither do we at the present Uncanny skill Lord Rothermere said: have known Lord Beaverbrook for 44 years and during these years he has gained my affection and respect grasp of journalism and his uncanny skill In the conduct of newspapers 'Is known to all The fact that he was over 40 when he first bought the Dally Express and turned a dying newspaper Into the Immensely successful newspaper It Is today Is not sufficiently understood men have learned a 1 new trade so well so late In life but he Is today the Grand Old Man of Fleet Street and I am proud to be able to give this party In his honour" Something new The Grand Old Man himself praised his friend Roy Thomson proprietor of the Sunday Times He also pulled his leg a little about the famous Sunday Times colour supplement has taught us something new in Journalism Roy said Lord Beaverbrook has taught us we may have colour without advertisements or alternatively advertisements without Turned down Tj'OR the second time this A year the Labour Party has rejected a prospective candidate He Is Mr Illtyd Harrington a Hackney school teacher who was nominated by the Kent miners to stand for Dover This means considerable embarrassment for the Dover Labour Group The Tories hold Dover but it Is now considered a marginal seat Rueful Mr Harrington told me today: considered a notorious Ban the Bomb campaigner so George Brown (Deputy Leader of the Labour Party) interviewed me last week for an hour He asked me to toe the line and to sign an agreement that would say nothing I fought him very hard" Diamond girl ground Each Swatchelomy Jiggled his mysterious whistle a in his mouth through this tiny instrument the nasel growls of angry old Punch boom Yes its still true: Judy loves Punch the baby loves Punch the clown the devil Jim Crow and Dog Toby all love Punch But Punch loves nobody Punch kills Judy the Doctor and the Constable The Devil comes back es a Crocodile and when Punch throws his baby down the the Croc gobbles up poor Punch Into the theatre GO Mr Charles Clore who has just bought the freehold of the Theatre is to move into the theatrical world He will find it Interesting He is a man of wealth and his public spirit 1s proved by the generous contributions he has lately made to the Weiz-mann Institute in Israel Such a man is bound to be a good iniluence on the theatrical industry he says in a newspaper article generally if protocol is put aside they are very warm-hearted conversationalists" But he found our answers vague and our definitions nebulous and describes how during a downpour he had mentioned to an Englishman that It was raining He said the Englishman first replied: looks like It but quickly had second thoughts and safid: it You need to get acquainted with the way they speak" says the poet Medals of the week WE can only Judge by results The Bank of England has not been raided since the picket was mounted Mr Projumo War Minister Most dockers regard an intellectual as an educated blockhead a square moving in the best circles Lord Stonnam Last time the Income tax was abolished 1816 quite a lot of assessors were unofficially thrown into the Mr Douglas Houghton Lab Sowerby Will the Civil Lord do something to avoid appallingly lonq abbreviated and 1 i WAS delighted to read i A generous tribute to a distinguished former Londoner by Mr John Connell In John It Is in a review of Tudor Jenkins's book The Londoner There is says Mr Connell one eminent diary man who in himself and in his work represents every standard ol decency tolerance friendliness and honour His name Is Tudor Jenkins and for more than 20 years he edited the Londoner's Diary In the Evening The Diary adds Mr Connell and has long been one of we miracles of modem Journalism crisp independent well-informed sharp wltt prejudice yet tingling wJ human feeling it is at on admired and envied Last word TToepital beds are Just JT 1001 things you New Yorker advertisement IIOItKOK STOUY to rnd Chclvca I lower Show week i news that the stall of a orkshirc holiday ramp have decorated their I rent with plastic flowers The trees had failed to bloom All afloat rFWO Tory MPs wjig Com-A minder Robert Grant-Ferris and Dr Reginald Bennett adjusted tneir yachting caps tney stood on Torquay station linos morning "All ashore going ashore" said Dr Bennett Tney had arrived to represent the House of Commons Yachting Uub in a ttfiree-race match with the Torbay Dragon Fleet Wing Commander Grant-Ferris who is cruising in the Aegean later thl3 year with his family is crewing lor Dr Bennett Other MPs racing at Torquay today ani tomorrow are Sir Harwood Harrison (Tory) who has Lord Belstead as crew and Mr Joihn Cronin consultant surgeon who is Labour MP for Loughborough The polite English TEVGENY YEVTUSHENKO -1- the young Russian poet who made such an Impact In Britain recently has been telling Moscow about his Impressions and experiences can compete with the English In their politeness and social manners" Glittering blondes like Mias Annette Lindow do not usually 'spend murk time at home sewing But Miss Lindow is the daughter of Mr 0 Lindow chairman of a firm which makes sewing machines Today she celebrates her 21st birthday by announcing her engagement to Mr Keith Douglas Allen director of a Hatton Garden firm of diamond merchants 300 years of Punch CJAMUEL PEPYS the diarist watched the first Punch and Judy shows in Covent Garden 300 years ago This afternoon about 40 Swat-chelomy (Punch and Judy men) were watching the unveiling of a plaque on the wall of St Church Covent Garden to commemorate introduction to England Punch who was a famous theatrical villain on the Italian stage in the middle ages became a puppet In the 16th century I watched a run through of the puppets on view In the Church gardens this morning Dozen of familiar dolls sprawled in boxes on the Fit the safety belt with the magnetie buej OVER-ACIDITY complete -rths4? fixing An agroBab IpTVvyTo'o btal it relief If you suffer from over-acidity indigestion or In fact any liver disorder you will be well advised to take Vichy Water regularly This natural Spa Water is bottled as It flows from the world-famous French curative springs for the benefit of all those who wish to take the at horns Inqflm Reylc Ltd 19 Worship Street Loodofl 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