Boat Race - A Pleasuring Surprise !
(This year won by Cambridge, yesterday Saturday March 24th 2018)
Now such a part of the sporting calendar that it is simply referred to as the Boat Race. The race originally being from Westminster Bridge to Putney Bridge first held in 1829.
Now The course covers a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) stretch of the Thames in West London, from Putney to Mortlake. Members of both teams are traditionally known as blues with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue
Over 250,000 people watch the race from the banks of the river each year. In 2009, a record 270,000 people watched the race live. A further 15 million or more watch it on television.
In 1958, Oxford rowers staged a mutiny against their coach Edwards, who imposed strict rules about behaviour and dress. Some of the most talented rowers announced that they wanted to form their own team, and then race off with Edwards's team to see who would face Cambridge.
Oxford's College Captains refused to let the new team form, and Cambridge's president said he would only race the original team. Three of the dissidents returned, and Oxford went on to win the race.
In 1987 there was another disagreement in the Oxford team, after an American rower was dropped from the team. The other American team members refused to row and withdrew from the team just six weeks before the race.
Comedian & Actor Hugh Laurie rowed in the Cambridge Blue Boat in 1980. His father Ran Laurie had been in the team between 1934 and 1936 and won a Gold at the 1948 London Olympics.
Hugh Laurie's team narrowly lost in an exciting race with clashes of blades and the collapse of the Oxford bow man. This was Laurie's only Boat Race before he discovered the 'footlights' and went into acting.
At which he is very talented and versatile. He plays Doctor House in the long running TV series. Played memorable funny roles and various comic characters in the Black Adder TV series. My favourite episode – Speckled Jim. I’ll see if it is on YouTube for you.
This is a clip from Speckled Jim with Hugh Lawrie as the blundering hopeless defence counsel
Captain Blackadder is court-martialled for killing a pigeon and George (Hugh Laurie) provides counsel for the defence. Funny clip taken from the classic BBC comedy Blackadder.
In addition, he is a top jazz pianist. Is there anything he’s a duffer at?
Every member of the Boat Race crews trains for approximately two hours for every stroke in the race. It takes about 600 strokes to complete the course - so that works out at 1,200 hours over six months, training seven days a week
Subsequently he became a celebrated photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair and later married Princess Margaret
He writes - "I have many happy memories. In my day as a cox, to keep our weight down we used to shovel malt in a brewery in a steamy atmosphere, wearing several sweaters.
You could lose a stone in a hour, though the only problem was that you usually put it straight back on when re-hydrated. (Probably by the product of the brewery)
The boats were different then - we had to use our own voices as there were no microphones or megaphones and it was all to do with timing to get the crew moving and accelerating together.
Thankfully we won the 1950 Boat Race, because for a cox there is nothing worse than losing, as you will inevitably be blamed.' (And thrown in !)
John Snagge was the BBC's commentator on the Boat Race for decades, until his retirement in 1980. He operated from a boat chugging along behind the teams, an angle which in a close race made it hard to see who was leading. During the 1949 event he even said at one point:
At Dukes Meadows, on the north bank of the river, were two flagpoles, one with a light blue flag for Cambridge, the other with a dark blue flag for Oxford. A man was employed to raise and lower the flags according to which team was prevailing.
Obviously being at right-angles to the action he had a much better view, so for that section of the race Snagge used to watch the flags rather than the boats and do his commentary accordingly.
At a party after his retirement, John Snagge was told that the flag operator was present. He went up and complimented the man on his actions. ‘You must have been very good,' he said, ‘to keep an eye on the teams and raise and lower the flags at the same time.'
Interesting post about the Boat Race. I recently read that Steven Hawking was involved in boat racing in his college days.
I like the Black Adder clip! I have heard of the show but don't know if I've seen many episodes. This video reminds me of Monty Python a bit.
Thank you Kenny. I'd forgotten about Stephen Hawking's days at Oxford,and that he was a cox for the university boat club,but apparently showed no interest in coxing for the first boat.
I should have remembered,although I didn't see the film'The Theory of Everything' but I read many reviews, which told of his early years and education at Oxford.
For instance - Being a crew coxswain changed both Stephen’s personality and his social life. He became a popular member of the ‘in crowd’, enjoying parties and participating in boisterous practical jokes after strenuous rowing practices….”
You're right about Blackadder having a Monty Python feel. I read somewhere that Richard Curtis and Ben Elton,the writers,were influenced by the Python style of humour.
You bring back nice memories as I had to cycle the thames path over ten years seeing all the athletic men in the rowing boats. And after having read Beerbohms's Zleika Dobson I liked this daily view even more.