THE Pope has been busy canonising deceased folk of late; making them into saints and, in the Monopoly game of death, sending them straight to Heaven, avoiding Hell and passing straight through Purgatory. The Pope should consider the late Max Gau as the patron saint of secret collectors. This misunderstood category lacks a patron saint; a glaring omission that needs rectifying. Let me expand. On 28 November, Bonhams Modern Sporting Guns auction sold the third and final part of Max (soon to be Saint Max, I trust) Gau’s definitive collection of fine (and superfine) Winchester rifles. Monsieur Gau, he was French, spent a quarter of a century buying nothing but Winchesters; collecting them and shooting them. There were 100 in this sale, meaning, this being Part 3, he had about 300 at his death. The foreword to the catalog should serve as his nomination for sainthood in the weapons hoarding category: “The extent of his passion for Winchesters remained a secret from his family, a secret which was only revealed after his passing.” (How I hate that American word – ‘passing’; ‘after he fired his last cartridge’ would have read better). What a glorious epitaph for 25 years of deceit, determination, and massive expenditure. A smuggler supreme. Marvelous!
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Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
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