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Love All at Wimbledon
Love All at Wimbledon
26th June 2008
A night under canvas for a day in Centre Court
Walking past Wimbledon Park you might think there’s a big Cub Scouts' outing, or possibly a new solution to the housing problem. But check your diary and you’ll soon realise that this is Wimbledon fortnight, two weeks of tennis championships when the whole country prays that Andy Murray won’t pull out with a sore thumb… or knee… or back… or whatever and actually wins the whole major Grand Slam. Slam dunk.
Ah yes, the gentle twang of felted rubber on cat gut resounding over SW19 can only mean one thing, the annual tennis love-in is upon us. The new tented village populated with mad keen tennis fans has drawn comparisons to Glastonbury, though presumably without the Hare Krishnas and LSD. But that aside, the temporary tented home to hundreds of tennis nuts has done away with one Wimbledon tradition – the queues.
As much a part of the famous tennis tournament as the covers going on, strawberries and cream, and seeing Cliff Richards in the stands, the lengthy queues are quite legendary. But this doesn’t mean they’ll be missed.
This year, those waiting to get into the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club had another surprise in store, Amanda Holden showing them her knickers. That Athena poster has a lot to answer for. Apparently, the 'Britain’s Got Talent' judge had been getting lessons from our old sporting hero Tim Henman, especially for the event – well, now that he’s hung up his trainers he’s got sod all else to do.
Even if you don’t like tennis for the other 50 weeks of the year, Wimbledon still manages to excite the crowds. Not only can you see some world class action, it’s also a great excuse for putting your feet up and watching a bit of telly. So what if you don’t know what ‘deuce’ means, there are plenty of other things to look at. For the men, there’s an abundance of long legged, taut and toned tennis totty to keep them glued to Centre Court. Female watchers are well advised to keep an eye on Rafael Nadal. His bicep hugging sleeveless tops may not be to my taste but I have girlfriends who admit to melting at the mere flex of his upper arms.
When I was at Queen’s the other week, for example, a friend recounted how she bagged herself one of Nadal’s wristbands when he flung it, post-match, into the crowd. Slightly embarrassed, she admitted that – after one too many Pimms – she’d elbowed aside old ladies in her desperation to bag his soiled sweat band, shouting “It’s mine!”. But she still has it. Framed. Surprisingly, it doesn’t smell of BO, or so she assures me.
All the South Bank’s a Stage
The South Bank of the Thames is set to get another theatre to add to its already flourishing arts scene – the National, Old Vic, Young Vic, Royal Festival Hall and Shakespeare’s Globe provide an impressive line-up of venues but there are big plans afoot to transform County Hall into the Greater London Theatre. Used to staging farces in the time when the Greater London Council resided there, the new arts centre will have to put on a good show to compete with its prestigious neighbours but with new writing and outdoor productions on the agenda, it’s already got the bohemian spirit going on.
Computer Crash
We all know that Facebook has the potential to cause trouble, whether it’s being ‘poked’ by your ex or photos of that drunken office party being ‘tagged’ to all and sundry, but this really is taking it to a whole new level. Police officers (18, no less) joined a Facebook group called ‘Yes, I’ve had a polco!’ – polco, obviously, standing for police collision – and posted photos and messages about their spectacular crashes. Disciplinary action has been taken with four of them given ‘words of advice’ - presumably, something about road safety in London and how car crashes aren’t really that funny. Surely that was covered early on in their careers.
Certainly Modern, but no Tate for Battersea
For those of us who love the industrial look of Battersea Power Station (me! me!), the thought of turning it into something resembling a rocket launch pad (meant to be a glass chimney, I think) makes us turn our noses up at the newness of it all. That the building will produce renewable energy is bandied around to get us all on side but this is really just to cover up the ‘mixed use development’ (shudder) that the businessmen are planning – a hotel, luxury apartments, shops, even a Tube line going straight into the building. What’s wrong with art galleries in disused power stations, anyway?
2011
| 5th April | Royal Wedding fever strikes London |
| 23rd February | London's deep pockets |
| 17th February | Let the London Games begin |
| 29th January | Olympic no-brainer |
2010
| 23rd December | Snow causes London meltdown |
| 28th November | London's Big Bang for 2011 |
| 21st October | I predict a riot |
| 26th August | The Maddening Rain |
| 26th July | Holmes sweet Holmes |
| 23rd June | Sun shines on London |
| 23rd June | Loving London's Pub Theatres |
| 27th May | The Cameron-Clegg Civil Ceremony |
| 25th May | Budgy Smuggling |
| 27th April | No Fly Zone |
| 26th April | Mi casa es su casa - and Tesco's |
| 29th March | No Third Runway |
| 19th March | It's not a Library |
| 24th February | Bully Tactics at No. 10 |
| 22nd February | Whine connoisseur |
| 26th January | Carbuncle City |
| 20th January | A Laugh a Day... |
| 3rd January | Stalking in Richmond |
2009
| 29th December | Predictions for 2010 |
| 30th November | London 1 Paris 0 |
| 27th November | Mr Benn, The Wombles |
| 26th October | Posties Strike a Chord |
| 26th October | Frieze Still Pleases |
| 26th September | A River Runs Through It |
| 23rd September | Blogging is Best |
| 26th August | When Saturday comes |
| 22nd August | Bring on the Bikes |
| 27th July | Against the Clock |
| 20th July | View for a thrill |
| 18th June | Let Them Eat Cake |
| 16th June | Only Fools And Horses? |
| 26th May | Come Rain Or Shine |
| 18th May | Embarrassing Expenses |
| 27th April | New Designs on Old Fossils |
| 19th April | City Slickers |
| 26th March | Woody Set for Rematch |
| 10th March | Take a Bow, London |
| 18th February | New Photography Laws |
| 12th February | Glitz and the Pitts |
| 27th January | Setting the Standard |
| 21st January | Too Much for Posh Nosh? |
2008
| 23rd December | January is on the Horizon |
| 20th December | Merry Christmas |
| 26th November | All The World's A Stage |
| 20th November | Surviving the Crunch |
| 24th October | Boris v Jingjing |
| 17th October | Soaps in Pole Position |
| 23rd September | Chips too Chavvy for Chelsea |
| 16th September | The London Restaurant Awards |
| 26th August | No Smoking, No Ducks, No Barbecues |
| 20th August | The Olympics |
| 24th July | Sandwiched Out |
| 17th July | The Show Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady's on Page 3 |
| 26th June | Love All at Wimbledon |
| 16th June | Miller Puts the Heat on Tennant |
| 27th May | Booze Banned on Buses |
| 20th May | Same Again? |
| 23rd April | By George |
| 11th April | Back to the 80s |
| 28th March | How do You Solve A Problem Like Medea? |
| 20th March | Flight Fantastic |
| 20th February | Dark, Satanic Turnmills |
| 6th February | A Diamond in the Drink |
| 21st January | People Wanted for Plinth |
| 14th January | Boo! Hiss! |
2007
2006
2005
2004
| 30th December | Party Pooper |
| 23rd December | The Second Battle of Trafalgar |
| 16th December | Sadie's Year |
| 28th November | Ripper-Watch |
| 21st November | Kinky Boots |
| 14th November | Smoked out |
| 22nd October | Yuppie Meal |
| 15th October | Fines of Fury |
| 8th October | No Twist in the Turner |
| 17th September | Battleships, bloodsports and Batman |
| 10th September | Clique Week |
| 3rd September | Return of the Bard |
| 20th August | Politics Takes Centre Stage |
| 13th August | Crisis in Theatreland |
| 6th August | Journey's End |
| 23rd July | Healing Waters |
| 16th July | Mandela Statue in Doubt |
| 9th July | From Art to Ashes |
| 2nd July | One Hurdle Nearer to Gold |
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