Travelsleuth's July Diary; Athletes, Oars and Jockeys

July is the height of the British summer season with people taking advantage of the expected clement weather and long hours of daylight. As well as the annual equestrian favorites listed in the July Diary for England, the month sees championship competition and festivals in athletics, motor racing, rowing and cricket.

A special Golden Jubilee highlight for July is the XVII Commonwealth Games which will be opened by the Queen on 24 July in Manchester. The Games are heralded as the most significant multi-sport event to be held in Britain since the Olympics of 1948 which were held at the now defunct Wembley stadium in London. These will be the largest ever Commonwealth Games with athletes from 72 nations competing for Gold in 14 individual sports and three team sports. Women are competing in all sports other than boxing wrestling and the rugby football sevens.

The sound of bat striking ball can be heard on village greens across the country this month as the local team play host to their arch rivals from a neigboring village; a quintessentially rural scene that has been played out every summer from May until September across the shires of England for a century or more, a countryside idyll beloved of poets from Rupert Brooke, who died in WWI and the late Sir John Betjeman, Poet Laureate.

This year both Sri Lanka and India have sent teams to compete against England in a series of five-day 'test matches' and in knock-out one-day matches. The knock-out final is played at Lords, the most famous cricket ground of all, on 13 July, and England play India there in a five-day test match on 25 - 29 July. Byron played here in 1805 in the Harrow side against Eton and wrinkled cricket enthusiasts with long memories for such esoteria will have noted that this will be the 70th anniversary of India's first ever test match at Lords, when their side led by CK Nayudu lost by 158 runs to an England side captained by DR Jardine.

Cricket was exported to all parts of the then British Empire in late Victorian times. It had a devoted following in USA, notably in Pennsylvania during the 1880s and 1890s.

The magnificent Royal Doulton cricketer W.G.Grace jug produced in 1989 is available from Pascoe & Co, Miami

Athletes, Oarsmen & Jockeys

Henley Royal Regatta
DATE: 3 - 7 July, 2002, 2 - 6 July, 2003.
VENUE: Henley Reach, Regatta Headquarters, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 2LY

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