And thinking of sleazy creative journalism, the most entertaining novel on the subject is Donald Westlake's "Baby, Would I Lie?" Also good on country music.
Prince William led his team to victory at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club on the weekend, scoring four goals. Among those who paid $400 apiece to watch were several Hollywood stars who previously thought chukkers was the name of a bar.
This sudden, if brief, focus on polo reminded us of the time a "Vancouver Life" editor asked "What sport do the right people play?" We assured him it was polo. This led to a splendid article more or less related to polo called "How I Survived the Beer Strike." The author was Manville Rathborne III, who still swings a mean mallet.
Polo was invented as a kind of war-like contest in Persia. In some parts of the world, the sport has not lost that quality. A globetrotting friend reports watching a match in Afghanistan where the usual wooden ball was replaced by an enemy's wrapped and shrunken head.
As far as we know, this was not the case in Santa Barbara on Saturday, but "News of the World" is no longer around to tell us.
No comments:
Post a Comment