The pioneering professional
Swinner HEILA WILLCOX was not the first female winner-that was Margaret Hough in 1954 but she was ahead of her time in her rigid methodology (which still holds good today) and professional attitude to what was then an amateur sport; she certainly gave no quarter to rivals. In 1959, she beat David Somerset (later the 11th Duke of Beaufort and Badminton's host), who worked full time as an art dealer. This was despite his children, including the present Duke, jumping up and down beside the showjumping ring excitedly yelling at her: 'Go on, knock one down!' Willcox's hat-trick of wins (1957-59) remains a record, so difficult is it to produce a horse for this famously challenging competition, let alone win it. However, she had a tetchy relationship with team selectors and was forever resentful of missing out on an Olympic place. Women eventers were barred from the Games until 1964 and there was a view among some of the hierarchy that they were more likely to burst into tears if they fell off, although a less likely cry-baby than Willcox would be hard to find.
A stroll in the park
ANNELI DRUMMOND-HAY'S facile victory on Merely-a-Monarch in 1962-she won by 42 points-is still considered the blueprint for an equestrian sport that tests the all-round partnership of horse and rider. The COUNTRY LIFE reporter, Phyllis Hinton, wrote that they looked 'as if they owned the world' and Drummond-Hay later admitted that it felt like pothunting.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 08, 2024 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 08, 2024 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Tales as old as time
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It's alive!
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There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
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