The American June 2015 Issue 744 by Blue Edge Publishing Ltd.

THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE

June 2015

Est. 1976

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Magna Carta 800 NFL Draft & Free Agency Match Play Golf Kyle Riabko Reimagines the music of Bacharach

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Issue 744 June 2015 PUBLISHED BY SP MEDIA FOR

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Departments: News, Article ideas, Press releases: editor@theamerican.co.uk Advertising & Promotions: advertising@theamerican.co.uk Subscriptions: theamerican@blueedge.co.uk The Team: Michael Burland, Content Director + Motors, Music & Sport michael@theamerican.co.uk Sabrina Sully, Content Director & Community Contact sabrina@theamerican.co.uk Daniel Byway, Content Executive dan@theamerican.co.uk Virginia E Schultz, Food & Drink (USA) virginia@theamerican.co.uk Michael M Sandwick, Food & Drink (UK) mms@theamerican.co.uk Mary Bailey, Social mary@theamerican.co.uk Alison Holmes, Politics alison@theamerican.co.uk Jarlath O’Connell, Theater jarlath@theamerican.co.uk

©2015 Blue Edge Publishing Ltd. Printed by Manson Group Ltd., www.mansongroup.co.uk ISSN 2045-5968 Main Cover: Magna Carta courtesy Salisbury Cathedral, Knight courtesy British Library; Circular Inset: Kyle Riabko; Square Inset: Jay Ajayi, Boise State © AP-Otto Kitsinger

@TheAmericanMag

hrough 2015 there are hundreds of events to celebrate Magna Carta, the document that underpins the great democracies of the United Kingdom and the United States of America, but this month is the big one! Matthew Barzun, the US Ambassador gives his take on it (page 5), and we look at King John’s role on page 12. Check out the official Magna Carta website for all the events, like the Houses of Parliament’s LiberTeas (see page 14), and how you can get involved. Americans more than welcome! Do you regularly visit our website, www.theamerican.co.uk? Here are some great reasons to drop in: competitions that aren’t in the magazine, fun stuff like our favorite videos and photos, taken by ourselves and from around the internet, webonly interviews and articles, and tons more specially-selected Diary Dates. Email me to opt in to our fortnightly newsletter, which has even more competitions and alerts. Finally, did you know you can subscribe to The American for just the cost of the mailing? Why not get a copy sent to a friend or relation starting with our July issue in time for Independence Day? Give us a call! Enjoy your magazine (and the website!), Michael Burland, Content Director michael@theamerican.co.uk

Among this month’s contributors

Ambassador Barzun Matthew Barzun compares the development of Magna Carta with that other vital import into America from the old country: whisk(e)y

Lord Bew The eminent historian is Chair of the House of Lords Advisory Group for Parliament’s Magna Carta 800th anniversary celebrations

Lydia Bailey Brit or Yank? Dipping or Dunking? Lydia finds that being Half and Half can bring distinct advantages and add color (colour?) to her life

Read The American online at www.theamerican.co.uk The entire contents of The American and www.theamerican.co.uk are protected by copyright and no part of it may be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information in The American is accurate, the editor and publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or any loss arising from reliance on it. The views and comments of contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers.

June 2015 1

The American

in this issue... 6 12 14 16 17 18 20 22

Historic Spitfire auctioned for charity Magna Carta 800th this month Celebrate Liberty with LiberTeas COMPETITION Magna Carta Exhibition Lusitania: centenary of the disaster Travel and the Tanager Strangers in a strange land - expat advice Half and Half: the pros of cultural dualism 4 News 8 Diary Dates 24 Food & Drink

2 June 2015

24 32 38 40 43 46 50 52

London Coffee: better than American? Paul Brady, the songwriterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s songwriter Dustbowl Masterpieces UK debut Kyle Riabko Reimagining Bacharach NFL Free Agency Highlights NFL Draft Review Matchplay, the truest form of golf? Formula-E hits London 55 US Social Groups

36 Arts

62 A-List Products & Services

42 Theater

64 Coffee Break

Tuesday 16th - Saturday 20th June 2015

R AC I NG LIKE N OW H E R E ELS E AMER I CA’S H OR SE CA L I FO R N I A CH R O ME H EADS AN I N T E R N AT I O N A L CA ST FO R R OYA L A S C O T 2 01 5 With over 300 years of spectacular heritage under the patronage of twelve monarchs, some of the world’s finest Flat racing and a reputation for style, a day spent at Royal Ascot is a day like nowhere else. This famous Berkshire turf has played centre stage to the greatest thoroughbreds on earth. Yeats, Frankel and Black Caviar have all etched their names into sporting history here. With “America’s Horse,” California Chrome headlining this year’s Group One races, be at the heart of the activity. For your chance to win tickets for this one of a kind occasion visit www.theamerican.co.uk or secure your place by booking your tickets at ascot.co.uk Tickets £27 - £80 per person Fine Dining from £250 per person +VAT

The American

PHOTO: © HEIDI LAUGHTON

NEWS YOUR EMBASSY Visa Interviews Rescheduled

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Immigrant Visa Unit at the Embassy in London cannot conduct any immigrant or fiancé(e) visa interviews in the morning in May and June. All appointments scheduled for the morning have been rescheduled to 1pm on the same date. Information to help you prepare for your interview is available at london.usembassy.gov/iv/attending_interview. html. You should plan to arrive outside the Embassy for 12:30pm. You can present your original appointment letter and/or a printed copy of the email rescheduling the time.

Embassy on Instagram

Do you use Instagram, the online photo and video sharing site? The US Embassy in London now has an official site at instagram.com/usa_in_uk

New Embassy - New Window

The new US Embassy in Battersea, South London, is starting to look like a real building, with the installation of the first window. Construction is on target for completion in 2016.

4 June 2015

Spirit Hawk Eye

pirit Hawk Eye is a special exhibition at the American Museum in Britain (near Bath) celebrating contemporary American Indian culture. A series of portraits reveal aspects of present-day Native cultural practices reflecting “the traditional influences and remarkable stories and celebrates the colorful, reverent, spiritual, artistic and enduring elements of tribal communities,’” according to Heidi Laughton, the photographer behind this exhibition. The Museum boasts a collection of Native American artefacts and crafts which tell the story of this chapter in the history of the United States. Embedding From left: Boris herself Johnson, within Mayor theofculture, London; Laughton Peter Rosengard; photographed people of historian Simon Ambassador Matthew Barzun and Admiral, West different ages andSchama; backgrounds drawn from the Apache, Navajo,Lord Comanche, Paiute, Iowa, Hopi, Zuni, and Chumash tribes. Her goal was to capture different facets of life and to focus on people who are inspirational to Native youth, creating a very positive story and a series of remarkable and arresting images. Several of the individuals photographed are coming to the UK for the first time from July 16 to 25 as part of an in-house residency, including Sarita McGowan of the Iowa Tribe (pictured above) who will demonstrate the beautiful Northern women’s traditional buckskin dance and talk about the history and culture of the Ioway. Comanche artist Nocona Burgess explores contrasts between vivid color and dark surfaces in a ‘Painting Outward’ workshop and the visionary Alan Salazar, a children’s storyteller, will talk about Chumash and Tataviam history. The Museum hosts one of the finest collections of decorative arts outside the US set in a series of Period Rooms to illustrate life for early Americans from the 17th to 19th centuries. The collection comprises over 200 historic American quilts, exceptional Shaker furniture, exuberant Folk Art paintings and sculptures, Native American objects, and Renaissance maps of the New World. Visitors may also explore the extensive grounds, including the Arboretum of American trees, and regular special exhibitions.

Ambassador Matthew Barzun PHOTO COURTESY FULBRIGHT COMMISSIONKJGBKFG PHOTO © ANDER MCINTYRE

Magna Carta, 1776 and All That

n May 11, US Ambassador Mathew Barzun gave the British Library’s Eccles Center’s 20th annual Douglas W. Bryant Lecture. He commented on research by Sir Robert Worcester, chair of the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee, renowned market researcher and columnist in The American, whose firm Ipsos MORI polled 17,000 adults across 23 countries on their awareness of Magna Carta. The UK came top, with 79 percent of people saying they had heard of it Then came the US on 65 percent. “So we came in second,” said Mr Barzun, “or first if you don’t count the home country.” Mr Barzun discussed Magna Carta’s immense influence on America. “My own great x10 grandfather, John Winthrop [who founded Boston] knew that a stable society was built on a fundamental law and as Governor of Massachusetts he called

for a law that was ‘in resemblance to a Magna Charta. So it began even before we were a country.” The spirit of Magna Carta was there in each former colony’s state constitutions, and in the US’s federal constitution. It has been cited in more than 100 Supreme Court opinions. The Court’s monumental doors show a bronze depiction of King John sealing Magna Carta at Runnymede. He compared Magna Carta to another creation America imported from Britain: Whiskey, and the stages to producing it. Whiskey requires Fermentation, Distillation, and Maturation. Magna Carta’s equivalents are its original 1215 form, “a confusing, bubbling soup of fermenting anger, distrust, hope, faith, belief, passion, rights, and wrongs... not a theoretical tract, but a practical document conceding concrete remedies for real, daily abuses [which] evolved over the years.”

In America, it was distilled by Thomas Jefferson and his peers who wanted the same rights and liberties as their British cousins. The Declaration of Independence Jefferson drafted echoed Magna Carta. Maturity took longer as the USA dealt with slavery, the property requirement to vote, women’s suffrage, “virtual apartheid in much of America” and the exclusion of LGBT communities. Recent troubles in Ferguson and Baltimore are part of an ongoing process. Mr Barzun concluded by toasting “the barons of 1215: the accidental, dysfunctional, yet wonderful parents of Magna Carta… the generations after, who distilled their ideas into the cultures, customs, and constitutions we have so fortunately inherited, …and we acknowledge too all those engaged today in the hard, daily grind of making good on that inheritance wherever they are, in whatever way they can. And the spirit I toast them with is, of course, a glass of whiskey.”

June 2015 5

The American

American Collector Sells WW2 Spitfire For Charity

n immaculately restored RAF Spitfire is being auctioned July 9 by an American philanthropist and art collector. 2015 is the 75th anniversary of the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. Only two original specification Mk.1 models are still flying, both belonging to Thomas S. Kaplan. He is selling Spitfire P9374 at Christie’s London, the proceeds going to the RAF Benevolent Fund and Panthera, a wildlife conservation charity (estimate: £1.5-2.5m; $2.25-$3.75 m). Mr Kaplan is also donating Spitfire N3200 to the Imperial War Museum Duxford, the wartime home of the US 8th Air Force’s 78th Fighter Group. “I wonder what happened to my Spitfire and I wonder if anyone will ever find it?” asked P9374’s pilot, Flying Officer Peter Cazenove, after he was shot down during the battle of Dunkirk. He crash landed onto Calais beach on May 24, 1940, brought down by a single bullet fired from a Dornier 17 bomber. Before the belly-landing Cazenove radioed that

6 June 2015

he was OK, and: “Tell mother I’ll be home for tea!” Instead he was taken prisoner and his ‘Spit’ was lost deep in the sand. Cazenove was later a veteran of the ‘Great Escape’; coincidentally one of P9374’s eight RAF pilots was the Commanding Officer of 92 Squadron, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell: ‘Big X’ of the ‘Great Escape’. In 1980 the wreckage was disinterred and sent to the Musée d’l’Air at Le Bourget, Paris, then to various collections until the parts eventually ended up with the Aircraft Restoration Company / Historic Flying Ltd. at Duxford. Twelve engineers have spent three years carrying out the most authentic restoration of an original Mk.1 Spitfire to date, incorporating many original components. Mr Kaplan said: “When my great childhood friend, Simon Marsh, and I embarked upon this project, it was to pay homage to those who Churchill called “the Few”, the pilots who were all that stood between Hitler’s darkness and what was left of civilization. The upcoming events

PHOTO © JOHN DIBBS

of July 9th are, more than anything else, concrete gestures of gratitude and remembrance for those who prevailed in one of the most pivotal battles in modern history. The return to Duxford of N3200, which was itself piloted by the heroic Commander of RAF Duxford, is an act of love for Britain that began with my and Simon’s mutual passion for aircraft and desire to enshrine a British legacy. The sale of P9374 for charity is likewise an opportunity to share that passion with others and to benefit causes that have moved me since boyhood. The RAF Benevolent Fund represents a way to honor that breed who gave so much for Britain when its existence was imperiled. In a more similar way than one might realize, we are also highlighting my family’s consuming passion, the conservation of the world’s imperiled wild cats. As history tells us all, there comes a time when one simply has to step up...to act with passion, and to remember with gratitude the few that actually do.”

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The American

List your event in The American: email editor@theamerican.co.uk or call us on +44 (0)1747 830520

Royal Albert Hall presents

Highlights of The Month Ahead

Live

There’s much more online at www.theamerican.co.uk

Royal Albert Hall Friday 12 June, 7.30pm Saturday 13 June, 2.30pm & 7.30pm

Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Various, UK magnacarta800th.com Through 2015 The anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta is a commemoration of national and international significance due to its central place in the history of the UK, the USA and beyond. See the website for a wide range of events and activities. The main official ceremony takes place on Runnymede Meadow on June 15.

Jackie Mason Live: Ready to Rumble Breakfast at Tiﬀany’s, Live Music Adelphi Theatre, Strand, London WC2 Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, Film withwww.livenation.co.uk June 1 to 6 London SW7 2AP live orchestra One of the greatest stand-up comics of all www.royalalberthall.com time, Jackie Mason’s brand new show will June 12 to 13 Call: 0845 401 5005 feature his trademark pungent satire, and Experience the timeless romantic royalalberthall.com brilliant observation, with a particular eye comedy like never before, for the Anglo-American political scene, screened on the world’s most pop culture and current events. famous stage, the iconic Royal

Philharmonia Film Orchestra Conductor Justin Freer

PRODUCED BY

Albert Hall, as Henry Mancini’s Academy Award-winning score is performed simultaneously by a live orchestra and choir. The classic Blake Edwards film, based on Truman Capote’s bestselling novella, stars Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, a deliciously eccentric New York city playgirl who catches the attention of her new neighbour, struggling writer Paul Varjak (George Peppard). This world premiere of Breakfast at Tiffany’s Live, including the Oscarwinning song ‘Moon River’, will bring the film to vivid life.

8 June 2015

Polo in the Park Hurlingham Park, Fulham, London www.polointheparklondon.com June 5 to 7 More than 100 years ago, Hurlingham hosted weekly polo fixtures. Now Polo in the Park kicks off with ‘Chukka Friday’, with afternoon polo matches, including the first England International match there in 75 years. Corporate guests can dine in style at the exclusive Hurlingham Club before an afternoon of high-octane polo action followed by afternoon tea. Also a Luxury Shopping Village.

Epsom Derby Epsom Downs, Surrey www.epsomderby.co.uk June 5 to 6 The greatest flat race in the world for over 200 years, at the spiritual home of flat racing. Derby Day attracts the biggest sporting crowd in the UK and a TV audience of 600 million but nothing compares to being there! World Custard Pie Championship Maidstone, Kent www.worldcustardpiechampionship.co.uk June 6 Inspired by Charlie Chaplin, this is a beacon in the calendar for anyone who loves a good custard pie fight. Is The American Century Over? Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE www.lse.ac.uk June 9 Prof. Joseph S Nye looks at the US’s position in the world, and asks if the emergence of nations like China signals that we are approaching a post-American world? Bramham Horse Trials Bramham Park, Wetherby, Yorkshire www.bramham-horse.co.uk June 11 to 14 The family home of the Lane Fox family for the past 300 years, Bramham is one of the most popular and successful equestrian events in the country. Gregynog Festival Gregynog Hall, Tregynon, Powys, Wales www.gregynogfestival.org June 12 to 28 This year Gregynog’s theme is ‘Revolution’,

Democrats Abroad UK celebrates American Independence Day

One of the biggest Independence Day picnics in the UK! Americans and their friends can relax, kick back and enjoy great entertainment, amazing US food and drink, plus themed activities for the whole family 

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The American

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Tony and Grammy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Jim Dale brings his critically acclaimed show to London this May, following huge Off-Broadway success in New York. One of the world’s great stage entertainers, singer, dancer, comedian, Shakespearean actor and raconteur Jim takes audiences on a journey through an unequalled career, from performing as the youngest professional comedian on the British Music Hall stage, to joining the National Theatre, 11 Carry On ﬁlms, Broadway triumphs in Scapino, Barnum and Me and My Girl, to his uproarious experiences narrating all seven Harry Potter audiobooks for the US market.

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in particular French music and musicians at the 200th anniversary of Waterloo.

crafts, food and livestock competitions.

Trooping the Colour The Mall, London SW1 www.royal.gov.uk June 13 To celebrate The Queen’s official birthday, the Guards and Household Cavalry march along The Mall to Horseguards Parade for a spectacular parade.

Mary Cassatt - An American In Paris The Bristol Folk House, 40A Park Street, Bristol, Avon BS1 5JG www.bristolfolkhouse.co.uk June 20 A course to find out more about American artist Mary Cassatt, who though born in Pennsylvania spent much of her adult life in France.

Man v Horse Race Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, Wales www.green-events.co.uk June 13 Riders compete against runners on a 22 mile course over farm tracks, footpaths, forestry roads and moorland. In 2004, for the first time in history, a man beat the first horse and claimed the £25,000 prize. The last 7 years have been dominated by the horse - who will win in 2015?

Grand Medieval Joust Eltham Palace and Gardens, Courtyard, Eltham, Greenwich, London SE9 5QE www.english-heritage.org.uk June 20 to 21 Experience the thrill of the Grand Joust at Eltham Palace, and enjoy jesters, music, dance, falconry displays and even a ‘knight’s training school’ for the kids.

Cosford Air Show RAF Cosford, Nr Wolverhampton TF11 8UP www.cosfordairshow.co.uk June 14 A great selection of historic and modern military and civilian aircraft, from helicopters to jet fighters. Craft fairs, demonstrations, and access to the RAF Museum Cosford, which features a collection of War Planes from America, Britain, Germany and Japan.

Chalke Valley History Festival Salisbury, Wiltshire SP5 5ET www.cvhf.org.uk June 22 to 28 Annual festival covering a whole variety of British history, includes discussions, lectures as well as immersive living history encampments, a warbird airshow, a First World War living history trench, and more for the family to enjoy and to learn from.

The US and the rest of Us University of York, Heslington, York YO10 www.yorkfestivalofideas.com June 17, 2015 Peter Conrad, author of the book How The World Was Won discusses the expansion of Americanization, and asks if the world is beginning to become culturally “de-Americanized”?

Glasgow Jazz Festival Various, Glasgow www.jazzfest.co.uk June 24 to 28 Soul, jazz, funk, blues, Latin and R&B! Confirmed are Gladys Knight, Frank Sinatra Jr, Jarrod Lawson, Taylor McFerrin and The Family Stone.

Royal Highland Show Ingliston, Edinburgh EH28 8NB www.royalhighlandshow.org June 18 to 21 The best of rural Scotland, including

Wimbledon www.wimbledon.com All-England Club, London SW19 June 29 to July 12 The world-famous tennis competition that the pros all want to win. Have your strawberries and cream at the ready!

Buying & Selling USA Stamps, Covers & Postal History MIDPEX STAMP SHOW - July 4 Warwickshire Exhibition Centre Fosse Way, Leamington Spa CV31 1XN

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The American

Magna Carta Bad King John ... or Good King John? A

s the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta approaches on June 15th, one of its key protagonists remains a divisive historical figure. King John reigned between 1199 and 1216, and depending on who you speak to, he was a) the tyrant who caused the untenable situation which led to demand for the great charter, b) the man who agreed to it and bound freedom and liberty into law, or c) the person who subsequently tried to dismiss the whole thing and caused the First Baron’s War. King John’s historical involvement in Magna Carta has led to a huge range of different interpretations of his character at the time. One of the questions the Magna Carta 800 Committee Chairman Sir Robert Worcester is asking in a lecture at Worcester Cathedral on May 28th, is whether or not “Bad King John” in fact did some good in the end. There’s no right answer on history’s view of King John, but it’s fascinating to explore the literary, theatrical and historical interpretations of his role and determine your own view. This year isn’t lacking in opportunities to explore those sources, either. Worcester Cathedral is King John’s resting place, and along with an exhibition on the King this year, in 2016 the Cathedral is hosting a series of informative events

12 June 2015

to commemorate 800 years since King John’s death in 1216 (www. worcestercathedral.co.uk). Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London is also presenting a rare chance to see Shakespeare’s play King John on the famous stage from June 1st to 27th, whilst the City of London’s free walking tours aim to provide an insight into King John via his City connections. Another must see event for those aiming to judge the character of King John is a unique ‘Trial of the Barons’ which is set take place at Westminster Hall on July 31st. The mock trial will see King John as a prosecution witness, and former Clerk of the House of Commons, Sir Robert Rodgers (now Lord Lisvane), as the witness for the Barons. A distinguished panel of judges including the Hon. Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, will hear the case and render their verdict! As our modern Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, attends Runnymede on June 15th for a special event to commemorate 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta, it’s interesting to think back to the same day in 1215, and wonder if “Bad King John” really was that bad at all? From top: King John; signing Magna Carta (he sealed it); Magna Carta Trails map

To ﬁnd out more about King John and Magna Carta yourself, see our event guide on this year’s commemorations at www.theamerican.co.uk

1 – 27 june

king john by William Shakespeare

««««« Daily Express

#KingJohn #MagnaCarta

A co-production between Shakespeare’s Globe and Royal & Derngate, Northampton

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The American

Celebrate your Liberties with a LiberTea

Magna Carta is celebrating its 800th anniversary throughout 2015. Lord Bew, Historian and House of Lords Chair of the Speakers’ Advisory Group for the 2015 Anniversaries, speaks about Parliament’s plans to commemorate Magna Carta

n England in the 13th century there were two great constitutional developments: the establishment of Magna Carta (1215) and the emergence of parliament, led by Simon de Montfort’s representative (1265). Magna Carta embodies principles which have underpinned the establishment of Parliamentary democracy, as well as the legal system, in the UK and around the world: limiting arbitrary power, curbing the right to levy taxation without consent, holding the executive to account, and affirming the rule of law. Montfort’s parliament of 1265 more particularly marks the start of Parliamentary tradition. It has a unique resonance with Magna Carta as it built on these principles and included representatives chosen by both the towns and shires to discuss events of national concern – something that ultimately paved the way for the emergence of the House of Commons. Magna Carta has a global presence. The fundamental concepts of liberty, which had their beginnings in Magna Carta, influenced the early American colonists and informed the new republic’s new constitution. The idea of a higher law – one that could not be altered, either by

14 June 2015

and education resources; work with partners on bespoke locally-based projects, talks and debates; deliver ceremonial events and support conferences. You’ll find full details on our website at www.parliament.uk/2015

executive mandate or legislative acts – was embraced by the leaders of the American Revolution and is embedded in the supremacy clause of the US Constitution. Throughout American history, the rights associated with Magna Carta have been regarded as among the most important guarantees of freedom and fairness, and they have continued to underpin legal training.

Parliament in the Making

The Houses of Parliament, along with the people of the UK, are commemorating both the Montfort parliament and Magna Carta anniversaries in 2015. Through a year-long programme, entitled Parliament in the Making, since January 2015 Parliament has been and will continue to commission arts and cultural projects; create UK-wide participatory opportunities; develop new learning

Magna Carta manuscripts in the House of Lords On Thursday 5 February, the four surviving original copies of Magna Carta were displayed in the House of Lords, bringing together the documents that established the principle of the rule of law in the place where law is made in the UK today. 200 school children from around Britain (pictured) had the opportunity to see the four copies of the 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts loaned to Parliament for one day by the organisations that hold them on a permanent basis; two from the British Library, one from Salisbury Cathedral and one from Lincoln Cathedral.

LiberTeas

Join in the national moment Monday June 15 marks the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. To commemorate, as part of a special day of national commemoration entitled LiberTeas, on Sunday June 14 the Houses of Parliament

The American

School children view one of four copies of the 1215 Magna Carta in Parliament © ROGER HARRIS, HOUSE OF LORDS

and the National Trust are asking the nation to take a moment to celebrate, debate and reflect on those rights which we very often take for granted but which people throughout history have campaigned to make happen or fought to preserve. That day, the whole nation is invited to take tea at 3pm! LiberTeas is the only opportunity for local communities across the UK to simultaneously commemorate Magna Carta’s 800th anniversary. Could you host an event? You can use the opportunity to commemorate Magna Carta or another historical date or democratic person that inspires you such as the Chartists or Churchill, or you can take the chance to debate future changes. Signing up is easy (registration is open until midnight on June 13) and you will find lots of event ideas, inspiration and guidance at www.lib-

erteas.co.uk. There are lots of events taking places across the UK. Ranging from street parties, community picnics, film screenings and talks, to afternoon teas, fairs and tea dances, here are a few highlights: LiberTeas at Malton Assembly Rooms, Malton. 2-4pm. Enjoy afternoon tea and cake in the Georgian surroundings of The Assembly Rooms, followed by two short talks by a Liberty Dame from the United States: ‘How Magna Carta influenced the American Constitution’ and ‘Two legal Eagles – what would life be like without Liberty?’. Magna Carta & the US Constitution LiberTeas East India Club, London. 1-2.30pm. An informal brunch, lecture and discussion led by Lt Col Glen L. Bower, JAG USAF (ret), regarding the importance of Magna Carta on the Consti-

tution of the United States. The Great Debate Chartwell National Trust, Westerham, Kent. 1-4pm. At the former home of Sir Winston Churchill, two local teams will debate the motion: ‘We should compromise our privacy for the sake of security’. Judged by a celebrity panel of judges, there will be opportunities for the audience to participate too!

Join the conversation

Tell us what liberty means to you, which liberty you treasure most, and what your plans for Sunday June 14 are on social media: #LiberTeas | @LiberTeas2015

Visiting Parliament

Houses of Parliament tours are available every Saturday and on most weekdays in August and September. www.parliament.uk/visiting.

June 2015 15

The American

WIN!

British Library

TICKETS TO THE EXHIBITION OF THE (800th) YEAR!

Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy at The British Library 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB Until September 1 Explore 800 years since Magna Carta was sealed Over 200 exhibits including medieval artworks and weaponry, 800 year old garments, modern interpretations and satires and video interviews with public figures including Aung San Suu Kyi and Bill Clinton tell a revealing story of how Magna Carta has become a global symbol of freedom and challenge the myths that surround it.

Together for the firs

t time in history:

COMPETITION

The American has 5 pairs of tickets to Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy for the winners of our competition. Just answer the following question: Which Prime Minister proposed giving an original Magna Carta to the USA as thanks for its support of Britain in World War Two? ANSWER A) Winston Churchill B) Clement Attlee C ) Margaret Thatcher HOW TO ENTER: Email your answer and contact details to theamerican@blueedge. co.uk with MAGNA CARTA in the subject line; or post to: MAGNA CARTA, The American, Old Byre House, Millbrook Lane, East Knoyle, Salisbury SP3 6AW, UK; to arrive by mid-day June 30. You must be 18 years old or over to enter this competition. Only one entry per person per draw. The editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision is ďŹ nal. No cash alternative. You are responsible for any travel, accommodation or other expenses. Background : Salisbury copy of the Magna Carta COURTESY SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

16 June 2015

www.bl.uk/magna-carta-exhibition Sponsored by Linklaters

The American

Lusitania: Life, Loss, Legacy

he sinking of the world’s most famous ship, the “jewel in Liverpool’s crown” on May 7, 1915, sent shock waves around the globe and was instrumental in the United States’ entry to the First World War. It was a calm sunny day on May 7, 1915 when the luxury Cunard liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a U-Boat off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. The 31,550-ton ship sank in just 18 minutes with the loss of 1,198 lives. Only 761 people survived. Germany had issued a warning that all Allied shipping, including Lusitania, would be valid targets. The action by U-20 sparked revulsion in Britain, and also in New York, where Lusitania had been a regular visitor. A new exhibition in the ship’s home town marks the centenary. Among the moving mementoes on show at the Merseyside Maritime Museum are a lifejacket, a shoe belonging to a small child and letters from survivors, as well as stories

from families devastated by the loss. When the exhibition opened last month a service of remembrance was held at Liverpool Parish Church near Pier Head on May 7, the anniversary of the sinking, followed by a walk of remembrance from the church to Lusitania’s massive propeller, on the quayside at the Albert Dock between Merseyside Maritime Museum and Museum of Liverpool. Visitors can also see a variety of objects associated with the social and commercial history of the port of Liverpool. Highlights include model ships, maritime paintings, colorful posters from the golden age of liners and even some full sized vessels. Another major exhibition, Titanic and Liverpool: the untold story, tells the story of Liverpool’s links to that other ill-fated liner.

(right) Margaret Ballantyne, who perished in the tragedy

June 2015 17

The American

Travel and the Tanager I

n this Tanager Talks, Liz and Dick Turner, a retired couple from London who spent a number of ‘expat years’ in the USA, talk about their love of bird watching and their particular fascination with the Tanager. It all started in Central Park in the ‘70s. That’s where Liz and Dick developed a passion for watching birds. It is a little known fact that Central Park attracts migratory swarms of birds who stop off to rest on their northwards journeys. Initially attracted by the thousands of Warblers who pass by in May, this is where they first came across a Tanager. From New York City, the Turners were able to visit other parts of the USA on birding trips including Florida and Arizona. But it was a visit to Trinidad and Tobago where they discovered the delights of tropical birding which has been “depleting our bank balance ever since”. Aside from seeking out and watching birds they also enjoy the history and culture of the countries they visit. Dick said the most fascinating country they visited was Ethiopia. Its geographic location, in the Horn of Africa, and its highlands create a unique environment for a multitude of special birds. But it is the history, dating back to 2,500 BC and encompassing Christianity and Judaism, as well as the beautiful architecture, that really captured his imagination. The destinations they return to again and again are Mexico and India because of the culture, the warm reception and, of course, the

18 June 2015

excellent birding opportunities. Both countries are also relatively safe and easy to travel in. When asked how they put their trips together, they use a ‘courses for horses’ approach. For more challenging travel destinations such as Madagascar, they use local operators who they often find through specialist birding websites such as www.birdingpal.com. For a destination like Australia or Mexico, they do it themselves. What they don’t do is use large tour companies. “We use local organisers so the money stays in the community instead of supporting smart offices in Mayfair.” To the great delight of everyone at Tanager Wealth Management, Liz and Dick consider the Tanager to be a very special and extraordinarily beautiful bird. Liz says the birds “look like Disney has gone beserk and invented a multi-coloured,

vibrant bird”. Recently on a trip to the legendary birding destination, Manu Road in Peru, they were fortunate enough to be one of the first people in the world to see a newly discovered Tanager that has still not been properly classified. “We sort of think of it as our Tanager” says Liz. To hear the full interview packed with wonderful travel anecdotes, Tanager descriptions and lots of good advice please visit www. tanagerwealth.com/tanagertalks-2. You can find the complete set of Tanager Talks on iTunes by searching for Tanager Wealth. PHOTO: MAGNUS MANSKE

We diagnose and treat allergies and can continue allergy shots in London (subject to compliance with UK regulations)

The American

Strangers in a Strange Land P

atricia Cassiday and Donna Stringer explore the issues and answers for Americans facing international relocation. Part 1: “Living in a foreign culture is like playing a game you have never played before and for which the rules have not been explained very well. The challenge is to enjoy the game without missing too many plays, learning the rules and developing skills as you go along” L. Robert Kohls John and Lauren accepted a promotional move from the US to southern France, relocating with their two young daughters. After two years they happily agreed to a two-year extension. What made this such a successful move for this young family? First, they understood that they were going into unknown territory and prepared: they took French classes as a family, researched schools so that within days of arriving the girls were in a school and making friends, and explored the surrounding neighborhood. Before moving they talked about what they were looking forward to, what they thought they would miss, and what they were nervous about. After moving they connected with other families - expats and French - to find people with whom they could share experiences and from whom they might find answers to things they did not understand. They had

20 June 2015

weekly discussions about what they had learned, what they liked about their new home, and what they didn’t understand. Together they made this an adventure. Our cultural values, beliefs and assumptions are the basis for our understanding of the world. It is only by venturing from the familiar into new cultural settings that we become aware of our own cultural preferences. Living in a “foreign land,” suddenly the behavior we have taken for granted, at both the personal and professional level is not producing the same results. Since most of our behavior and assumptions are unconscious, learning to be successful in a new culture requires conscious attention and suspending our judgements while trying to understand this new place. Adjusting to a new culture is different for each individual. If you are reading this article, you have already begun that process. Some struggle with the initial transition while others make a smooth shift, only to become frustrated several months later. Complicated issues like arranging for financial exchanges, locating housing or schools for children, and understanding business processes can take mental and emotional energy. Even things as simple as trying to have shoes repaired or have a duplicate house key made can turn

into a series of unfortunate misunderstandings resulting in disappointment, frustration, even defeat. Being patient and flexible will result in success and new understanding. Understanding that cultural adjustment is essential to expatriate success, it is important to reflect on individual experiences then talk to others about challenges. “Not knowing”, being wrong and allowing for mistakes can be especially challenging for high performing expatriates who are accustomed to succeeding quickly and easily. Reflecting on lessons learned will contribute to ongoing success. Seeing both successes and failures as a part of the cross-cultural learning can go a long way in the development of “cultural agility”. A culturally agile person is culturally “self-aware”, and has a good grasp of the host country’s historical influences, values, beliefs and assumptions. With this knowledge and the support of trusted “cultural mentors”, you can use the best of both your home culture and the host culture to have a great experience. Patricia and Donna’s book 52 Activities for Successful International Relocation contains advice on reducing the “culture shock” for families and executives relocating abroad. See nicholasbrealey.com

D ST EN E WE ©T H

TCHINSON ©KEVIN HU

Half and Half Street cred, bad rep, and warm beverages: Lydia Bailey describes what it’s like growing up half American and half British.

s I dipped my biscuit into my tea, I watched a look of amusement spread across my friend’s face. ‘What?’ I asked him, stumped as to why he was giving me such a face across the table. ‘That is so British.’ This was one of all too many moments growing up in New York with one British parent and one American, when something I had accepted as completely normal turned out to mark me as distinctly foreign. I spent the next few days asking my friends at my (American) college if they would dip x baked good into y warm drink - I was on a mission to prove that dipping was about as American as a Starbucks cake pop. But despite my confidence, many of my friends told me that dipping is completely a British thing (with the exception of dunking a donut into coffee, as per the popular chain here). This statement put dipping into the same category as saying ‘rubbish bin,’ putting cream on scones, and other things that I never knew were British - until someone told me.

22 June 2015

While in general I was surprised by the things that tagged me as British, other times I was conscious of them, and able to use it to my own benefit. For example, I distinctly remember a time early in my career as an American kindergartener. I was sitting at the table in art class working on a drawing of a sunflower and chatting with my peers - and, incidentally, having trouble pronouncing the word ‘idea.’ (It kept coming out ‘idear’). The other children insisted that there was no ‘r’ on the end of it. Feeling ashamed, I paused for a moment of reflection, and then delivered the following line: “No. That’s how you say it in England.” My peers were awed by this and accepted it in complete faith. Something about having a stake in another country’s culture marked me as special. Wiser. And I was already on track to use this to my advantage. My accent declined over years spent in American schools, but when I entered high school, it was still discernible enough that after class, people would ask me where I was from. The general format of this question was, ‘Are you British or something?’ When the question went unasked, other theories about my origin

developed, and placed my heritage in countries as far off the mark as Sweden and Brazil. But regardless, the slight accent seemed to make me more listened to in the classroom, and more likely to be chosen to read at Chapel. The English accent is among a select few that seem to get students preferential treatment rather than scorn. Of course, my cultural dualism didn’t always help me. One of my teachers once marked me down on a paper because I spent ‘colour’ wrong - that is, I spelt with a ‘u,’ as I had been taught growing up. Later that week, the teacher called me an Anglophile in class, thinking that out of some teenage passion for Jane Austen, I had adopted British spellings. Apparently, she was not as perceptive of the slight differences in pronunciation as my curious peers. Needless to say, I was irritated. There was, however, a brief period of outright Anglophilia. After a trip back to London to visit family, I became fascinated with Anglo Saxon history. I think I was looking to find some kind of truth about myself by knowing the intimate details of my fatherland’s history. Growing up half and half, I felt like something of a universal outsider, not fully belonging to either culture. But despite family legends of nobility, attempts to trace my exact origins were fruitless, both factually and emotionally. As a twenty year old, any remnants of an accent (or claims on Britishness in general) are less impressive to my peers. People are less easily beguiled by the hazy impression of England as a land of superior taste. In other words, the street cred that comes from being half British has declined with age. As a college student, it extends into my life only in

The American

moments where I get to say things like, ‘I’m really into the London DJ scene right now,’ with an implicit credibility not accessible to my allout American peers. But perhaps more powerful than my experience of being British in America has been my experience of being American in Britain. While being English was if anything slightly cool among my peers in America, being American seems to be looked down upon in England. This hasn’t manifested in any all too obvious ways during the substantial time I’ve spent in London and the surrounding areas. Rather, it exists as what Americans think British people think about Americans. Google, ‘Things British People Do,’ and what comes up instead are long lists of ‘Things British people hate about Americans,’ ’10 Things Americans do that drive Brits nuts,’ and other such titles. Americans grow up immersed in the idea that European people hate them - which is complicated as someone who is raised in a half and half household. At first, my impulse for dealing with this problem while on our frequent trips to London was to emphasize that I’m not really American. To say at every opportunity, ‘we’re visiting family,’ or ‘My dad is from here,’ to distance myself from the bad rep I feared my accent - in London understood as American - would bring me. Even as I’ve grown up, I have the impulse to let the British tones take over my voice while I’m in London to disguise my outsider status. As a young adult, I tend to pick and choose which aspects of each culture I identify with, sculpting a kind of cultural collage. British humor, American optimism. London music, New York fashion. Likewise, I find myself try-

ing to distance myself from the less pleasant stereotypes of each culture: when American laziness comes up, I shift into British mode. When people start talking about British hygiene, I like to think I’m distinctly American. But in reality, I exhibit positive and negative traits of each culture in ways as unpredictable as which way I end up spelling ‘colo(u)r’ on a given day. Ultimately, it’s been confusing growing up with a sense of not wholly belonging to either place. It doesn’t feel as glamorous or sophis-

ticated as my peers often comment that it appears. But rather than thinking of myself as neither fully British nor fully American, I instead try to focus on the advantages it gives me: I could write a dissertation comparing the London tube and the New York subway. I get to celebrate victories for both the Yankees and Arsenal. Best of all, I can tell you all about the advantages of both morning coffee and afternoon tea... and the appropriate treats to dip in each!

June 2015 23

The American

London Coﬀee Festival by Peter Lawler

e Americans think pretty highly of our ‘cawfee’. And I think it’s safe to say we’re known around the world for it. My parents had coffee with most meals. I mean as a drink. With their food. But coffee in America and coffee in Europe are two very different concepts, as I was to find out when I moved to London. I got hooked on macchiatos and moved on to ‘flatties’ with the antipodean coffee revolution in London. How was I to know that the rest of the world regards American java as weak and watery, that the single most tasteless drink that you can get on a Starbucks menu outside of the States is an Americano, or that really strong coffee does not need to taste bitter to be real? It’s been a long and hard road, in which I have ordered many an espresso on visits home in the backwoods of Northeast Pennsylvania, and received many a saccharine, caramel, undrinkable cup of

24 June 2015

syrup. As my coffee tastes change, I have to admit it is hard to equal anywhere in the homeland the standard of finely caffeinated beverages to be had here in London. It is with this refined view of what coffee could be that I attended the annual London Coffee Festival, a celebration of all things java and how far they’ve come here in the capital. From pairings with chocolate to a sense of style to fit the connoisseur, this event is a fantastic multisensory experience to delight your palate and offer you a rich variety of just how far the humble bean has come since London opened its first coffee house back in 1652. The first thing you notice when you enter the festival is how much value you can get out of your entrance ticket, having paid for your two hour slot to meander around the fast-paced and buzzing atmosphere that takes up every inch of the venue of the vast Old Truman

Brewery space on Brick Lane, with trade manufacturers of coffee machines, home grown roasters, coffee companies, musicians, a VIP lounge with delectably strong coffee based cocktails, an astroturfed area to laze, and clusters of stalls crowded with chocolate companies, tea companies and even snack companies looking to promote their wares. My brother made fun of me last summer for seeking out a flat white in the fine independent coffee shops of DC, but this smoothly milky, espresso drink hailing from half a world away really is well worth questing for. But there is no need to hunt at the festival. Baristas with quick and efficient movements stationed behind massive, space age-looking Rancilio and La Cimbali coffee machines like engines set for interstellar travel fall over themselves to offer you a complimentary cup a joe. Independent London based coffee shops get three hour

The American

slots in the festival to promote their particular style of cappuccino and latte artistry and our first velvety smooth subtly flavorful coffee was from Barber and Parlour, based in Redchurch Street, perfectly executed and going down ever so easy. Next it was on to a Lindt-sponsored and Starbucks-copresented chocolate and coffee pairing seminar, a chance to gather thoughts, to be educated and to imbibe a drink or two married with the perfect confection. Entertaining and educational, these seminars range from chocolate to coffee tasting all day long. Our second free flattie came from The Coffee Works Project based in Islington and was divine. The process intrigued me. More a science than an art, these consummate professionals measured temperatures digitally and refused to serve anything that deviated from within a hair’s breadth of the

right degree appropriate for any given blend. Good science made for great coffee. They used equipment by Seattle-based Slayer - death metal fans for sure, but also makers of fantastic coffee machines. It is undoubtedly the place to stock up on all your caffeinating gear as well. Made Decent Coffee have become one of the festival’s mainstays, with special prices and demonstrations on the technically sophisticated Chemex coffee maker, producing coffee that beat Folgers to the last drop every time for high quality drinkability. Other highlights included The Coffee Art Project, in which in a week before a national election you were offered a chance for a different kind of vote: for your favorite coffee-related creatively-inspired work. My favorite was a piece based on Immanuel Kant. Apparently the German philosopher was mad for coffee and impatient when it wasn’t served on time. Also Trafalgar

Square-based Pall Mall Hairdressers, because you’ve got to look good when drinking in a stylish cafe, and because they cut my hair really well. All this plus the world barista championships, you say? What could be better? It wasn’t all glamor. The food was comforting (between schnitzel rolls and risotto burgers for vegetarians), but not diverse or innovative and it wasn’t particularly pleasant being asked by security to move on even though there was nowhere to sit. I get it, it was street food, but a crowded venue with lots of stalls ain’t exactly street, know what I mean? All in all though, a coffee lover’s paradise, definitely worth a return visit next year. I don’t think I can handle that many expertly made coffees more than once a year! www.londoncoffeefestival.com Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL Next year April 7 - 10, 2016

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The American

31 High Street, Stockbridge, Hampshire SO20 6EY 01264 810833 www.thegreyhoundonthetest.co.uk Reviewed by Michael M Sandwick

The Greyhound on the Test I

f you have a fantasy about English country life, this would probably be it. Stockbridge is the heart of Hampshire. Rolling hills, marshes, woods, thatched cottages and The River Test. And it’s the real McCoy. Plenty of amenities for tourists without becoming a ‘twee’ version of itself. In the middle of it all is this gem of a country inn. Between the high street and the banks of the river, The Greyhound is everything we Londoners dream about for a weekend getaway. It’s old, well preserved, cosy, comfortable and tasteful without being posh, with great beds and best of

26 June 2015

all, fabulous plumbing! Scads of hot water in the ginormous overhead shower. Well, maybe not best of all. That accolade goes to the kitchen, with service coming in a very close second. The staff are brilliant. Genuinely friendly, laid back and gracious, they take care of your every need as if it gives them pleasure. Skills they surely learned from the owner, Lucy Townsend. She has chosen her staff with care. The kitchen is no exception. Chef Neil Cooper has done a remarkable job. His food is innovative, beautifully presented and packed with flavor. This, at the age of

28. Watch his space! Stockbridge mushrooms with crispy sage on toast (£12.50) was simple, and simply delicious. The mushrooms were cooked down enough to augment their flavor while still keeping them juicy. I could have made a meal of it. A glass of Chilean Merlot (£5.95) was a good pairing. Treacle cured salmon, lemongrass and ginger puree, radish and pickled beetroot (£9.95) was a fab combination. The zing of the puree really complimented the slightly candied salmon. The full body of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (£6.95) was

The American

Above: some of the scrumptious food and wine on offer Below: wellies for a country stroll, and a comfy bed for the night

another perfect match. My guest was a vegetarian and was thrilled with the options. He declared that the chickpea, spinach, tomato, aubergine and coriander curry (£15.95) was the best he’s had. It was very tasty indeed and the crispy onion bhaji a great garnish. It was however, served lukewarm. My only complaint the entire stay. Roasted duck breast, duck leg dumplings, duck tea, enoki and pak choi (£23.95) was outstanding. Paired with an Australian Pinot Noir (£8.75) it couldn’t have been better. The breast cooked perfectly and the dumplings another thing I could

have made a meal of. Confit ravioli. I’ll steal that! The duck tea was a blissful broth. I thought I detected a hint of anise but wasn’t sure. Having no spoon, I drank some straight from the serving pot! A sharp-eyed waitress caught me out. “Sooo, I guess you liked it”, she said. It’s my job!!! Desserts were little works of art with taste to match. Passion fruit panna cotta with white chocolate honeycomb and mango (£6.95) was an extravaganza of texture and flavor. The mango puree added to the visual composition, but couldn’t stand up to the bolder flavors. The candy was out of this world.

Chocolate mousse, orange, yoghurt ice cream and chocolate soil (£7.25) was not as bold but still very well done. The yoghurt had a lovely nuance while the orange didn’t quite come through. My favorite pudding wine for chocolate is Mas Amiel Maury, a Grenache from Roussillon. Happily, it was on the menu (£7.95). Perfect. A great sleep followed by a lovely breakfast and a walk along The Test in a pair of wellies provided by the house ended my Cinderella outing. I had left Waterloo at 1 and returned the following day at 3. That’s what I call working around the clock!

June 2015 27

Slices of Authentic Peking duck

The American

www.shikumen.co.uk/shepherds-bush Soft Shell Crab in Almond Butter Egg Sauce

Dorsett Hotel, 58 Shepherd’s Bush Green, London W12 8QE

shikumen S

hikumen is a far cry from Chinatown. Not just geographically; it defies a number of assumptions about what it means to go out for “a Chinese”. For a start, it is located in a beautifully restored grade II listed building. No Chinese lanterns here. The minimalist decor is sleek and modern, filled with warm wood and leather. Room dividers, like wooden gates, create intimate spaces in the vast dining room. It is elegant. So too, is the food. What struck me right away, was how my taste buds were automatically prepared for an onslaught of salt. Equating Chinese food with dishes drowned in soy sauce is false assumption number two. Here the emphasis is on the natural sweetness of food. Although startling at first, this was a revelation. Dim sum is one of the many specialties. The steamed 8 piece platter at £9.50 was superb. Sweet, delicate seafood in colorful wrappers with 2 savory dipping sauces. The prawns were especially good, crisp and

28 June 2015

succulent. Soft shell crab in almond butter egg sauce (£11.50) was another wonderful departure from the usual chili and salt version. The natural sweetness of the crab was brought forward by the addition of almonds. Authentic Peking duck was impossible to resist. Half a duck at £26.50 was served in two courses and more than ample. The first was the classic version, sliced and served with pancakes, Hoisin sauce, spring onions and cucumbers. It was expertly carved a few feet from our table. I wished it had been presented to us first as it was half done before I realised what was happening. It was served beautifully and the combination of flavors is so good, it is obvious why this dish is a classic. A few bits of crispy skin were served with powdered sugar! This took the sweet idea a bit too far for me but it was interesting how the sugar brought out the taste of the duck in a completely different way. In the second course,

Reviewed by Michael M Sandwick the duck was shredded and served with crispy noodles. Tasty, but not in the same league. Fried Scallops with macadamia nuts (£16.50) was another, perhaps even better example of how seafood and nuts work so well together. Sweet & savory, soft & crunch. Stir fried asparagus, lotus root, mushroom and pumpkin (£8.80) was a wonderful combination. As unusual as it was delicious. It’s not often I get to eat lotus root and I would have liked more of it. Ponzu ice cream was delicious but lacked a bit of punch. Green tea pudding was a lovely, rich Japanese crème brûlée. The slight bitterness of the tea offset the sweet caramel. The service brings Shikumen even further from Soho. It is refined. Friendly, attentive and never harried, a lovely change from being hustled on Gerrard Street. Shepherd’s Bush has nearly become synonymous with Westfield and power shopping. Now it seems, it is a place for power eating as well!

The American Ash crusted loin venison

Reviewed by Michael M Sandwick

9 Cursitor Street, London EC4A 1LL www.thechancery.co.uk

THE CHANCERY

hile my little sis was visiting, we played a game called “perfect pair”. Salt and pepper, gin and tonic, big brother and eternal youth…you know, the usual. At the end of the week, we found a new perfect pair. Graham Long and Sylvain Gergeaux, the dazzling duo that run The Chancery. Long heads the kitchen and Gergeaux oversees the dining room and wine list. Both began their careers under the tutelage of Gordon Ramsay and have since continued in the world of Michelin stars. This is Long’s first role as head chef. A stunning debut, enhanced by Gergeaux’s charm and expertise. The dining room is very simple, in the style of a brasserie. White linen and globe pendant lights with colorful splashes of flowers. Formal, but relaxed. The menu is based on seasonal food from local purveyors. The à la carte menu offers 2 courses at £39.50 or 3 for £46.50. At £68, the tasting menu offers the best value. We chose this option with a flight of Secret wines for £95. If you are feeling extravagant, the Treasury wines up the price to £135. There are however plenty of beautiful wines to choose from, by the glass or bottle, with gems in every price class.

A slug of Krug Grande Cuvée and some crusty bread was a great start. Heirloom carrots, radicchio, crème fraîche, black quinoa and coriander was the first of 7 wonders. At first I thought, £68 and I get carrots??? Wrong. Carats! These were solid gold. Garnished with delicate poppy seed wafers and served with a wonderful, slightly blushed Pinot Grigio from Friuli. Raw marinated scallops with cucumber jelly, avocado cream, sesame filo and shiso dressing brought Long’s recent experience from Hong Kong to the table. Lovely, delicate flavors, fused together without overpowering the scallops. A glass of Portuguese Viognier was full and slightly syrupy. A good balance to the dish. Pan seared foie gras, blood orange, sherry jelly, sunflower seeds, brown bread and bitter leaves is the dish I will request on my death bed. Sheer joy. It was cooked perfectly, melting on the tongue like butter and the blood orange was inspired. A Pinot Gris didn’t quite have the body or the touch of sweetness I expect from an Alsatian wine. Fresh and smoked Cornish haddock, Jersey Royals, fresh peas, ventrèche bacon and watercress missed by a hair. Oversalted potatoes, a

small but noticeable mistake from an otherwise flawless kitchen. The full bodied Pinot Noir from Oregon with hints of black cherry, was a surprisingly perfect pairing. Ash crusted loin of venison, complimented by sweet beetroot, dates, walnuts and the savory, parmesanlike quality of dried goats cheese was a brilliant composition. The chocolate and spice of a 2009 Barolo was another super wine which we continued to enjoy with a great selection of British cheeses. Charred pineapple with pink grapefruit parfait and honey jelly was fabulously bitter. Rather than drowning it in sugar, Long embraces the bitter quality of the grapefruit and it is wonderful. As if cheese and one dessert were not enough, there followed a chocolate, caramel and peanut tart with yoghurt sorbet and malted peanuts. Gilding the lily I believe, but gild it was! I will never think of peanuts as a common bar snack again. Malted, they are divine. A sweet Chenin Blanc from the Loire was a lovely pudding wine but didn’t work with chocolate. Perfect pairings are hard to come by. Long and Gergeaux are damn close. Bread and butter!

June 2015 29

17 – 20 Kendal Street, London W2 2AW www.kurobuta-london.com

Kurobuta K

urobuta is a rare breed of pig, originally from Berkshire. Scott Hallsworth is a rare breed of chef from Australia. At his restaurant I hoped that I too would feel like a rare breed. I didn’t. I ate just like a plain ol’ pig! Hallsworth does amazing things with Japanese cuisine, both conventional and new, but he has totally changed the dining experience. The serene atmosphere of the traditional tatami room has been replaced with the vibrancy of a typical English pub. The din is a bit much for me. Eating and shouting isn’t my favorite combo. But the buzz is fantastic and so is the food. Hallsworth’s food is sometimes described as Japanese junk food. It is anything but. It is sophisticated and extremely inventive, with prices that are nowhere near junk. More like AAA. Two Green Bastards (£19) got us in the mood. Gin, melon and cucumber. Lovely, fresh combo. Sweet potato and soba-ko fries with jalapeño and kimchee mayo and flamed edamame beans with sake, lemon, butter and Maldon salt (£4 each) were both wonderful bar snacks. Unfortunately, the very

30 June 2015

IMAGES ©PAUL CLARKE

Wagyu beef

TheAmerican American The

Reviewed by Michael M Sandwick

Marble Arch

salty beans made it impossible to appreciate the delicate dish that followed, a tuna sashimi pizza with truffle ponzu, red onion and green chillies (£10). Taste buds have difficulty recovering from salty snacks. Something to ponder. Baby shrimp tempura (£10) were a lovely consistency. The shrimp are fresh, not frozen. Another rare breed. It gives them a divine crunch. Jerusalem artichoke chopsticks (£7) are a lovely inspiration though the accompanying truffle ponzu dip was just a bit thin. Sticky miso grilled aubergine with sesame seeds (£8.50) was like candy. Perfectly cooked, succulent, with great balance of sweet and savory and the same can be said for komba roasted Chilean sea bass with spicy shiso ponzu (£18). Wagyu beef sliders, steamed bun, crunchy onions, pickled cucumber and umami mayo for a whopping £19 were a disappointment. For that price I expected X Factor, and I didn’t get it. The beef was excellent but the portion was small and the accompaniments didn’t give me a taste bud rush. The two dishes that did were roasted scallop with yuzu truffle

egg sauce (£12) and tea smoked lamb, smoky nasu and spicy Korean miso (£15.50). These were absolute knockouts. Two scallops with a sensational Japanese hollandaise were two bites of heaven and the lamb was spicy, gooey, salty, smoky… level after level of taste sensation. Mochi ice cream (£7) was a bit of a miss. Small scoops of coconut, ponzu and mango ice wrapped in gelatine was beautifully presented and tasty, but rubbery. Ice cream should melt in the mouth. This turned to gum. Pistachio cake with chocolate mousse and red currant sorbet (£7.50) was worlds better. The flavors worked well together. A bit of crunch on the cake would have added some needed contrast but otherwise a lovely dessert and the plating was fabulous. The servers are all very bubbly and engaged in what they are doing. Filled no doubt, with the energy of the place itself. Two excellent carafes of Rocky Mountain Sake, a bottle of water and two teas kept us hydrated. All in all, £185.50 for junk food. A rare breed indeed. Oink!

The American

Cellar Talk Complaints, Complaints

t takes 2,000 steps for the average person to walk a mile. Less than 5,000 steps in a day and you’re considered sedentary. 6,000 supposedly helps in easing and even preventing knee pain in osteoarthritis sufferers. Women who walk 7,500 steps a day have a 50% lower chance of depression. 10,000 and the daily total is associated with lower blood pressure and reduced risks of diabetes. A friend and I discussed this as we walked home from a wine tasting. Our job is to taste and spit wine - easy enough when you’re drinking some plonk that is better off dumped down the drain, but spitting out a premier cru or any high ranking wine is far more difficult and that night we had been tasting exceptional Italian wines. Which was the reason we were taking the long long walk to both our homes and counting each step along the way. A wine with a flaw is not difficult to taste and it doesn’t need an expert. If it smells like your basement, rotten eggs or nail polish, there is definitely something wrong. If you are a woman and you justifiably complain about wine that has gone off, the sommelier will sometimes subtly suggest, even in this day and age, that you don’t know what you’re talking about. That hap-

©ZDENKO ZIVKOVIC

By Virginia E Schultz

pened to four of us females once, two of whom owned a winery! Even after we had the bottle replaced he acted as if he was doing us a favor. On the other hand, oftentimes when someone complains, the drink is fine and the customer is a novice who doesn’t know about wine, as I saw in a restaurant not long ago. The sommelier, who knew the woman vintner I was with, brought us the bottle for her opinion and we both agreed there was nothing wrong. However, at the other table we could hear the man bragging about how he “knows wine and is never cheated by a dishonest sommelier who thinks he knows nothing”. In most restaurants, the somme-

lier can be your friend. Let him know your price range and what food you’re ordering. However, if you’re in a three star Michelin or some other top ranking restaurant, be prepared to pay more. It not only costs them to ship it from the winery, but there is also the cost of storage in a proper temperature regulated cellar. One last note. I’ve been asked if there is an etiquette to holding a wine glass properly. Firstly, take hold a glass by the stem or base, not the bowl. It may look as if you’re being snobbish, but it avoids fingerprints as well as your body temperature affecting the temperature of the wine. It also makes it easier to swirl and look at the wine.

WINE OF THE MONTH Big Table Farm Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2012 Oregon/red $35 - $45

you find it, buy this American Pinot ItofNoir2022. as you can drink it now, right up Ideally I’d hold off for two to

three years. Only 755 cases were made. It has a very ‘raspberry and strawberry pie’ taste and in fact, I’m saving my bottle to drink with just that when those fruits are in season. The perfect way to end a dinner. June 2015 31

The American

PAUL BRADY P

aul Brady is an Irish folk musician ...Rewind, that doesn’t really work. Paul Brady is a musician, singer and songwriter who doesn’t fit genre-boxing or boundaries, geographical or artistic. Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland but right on the border with County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. Studied at University College in Dublin and now lives in the Irish capital, but he’s resided in London and New York. Perhaps we should say he’s Transatlantic (he’s also a star of the Transatlantic Sessions TV programs and albums, with traditional musicians from the US, Canada, Ireland and Scotland). What does he feel he is? I feel Northern Irish. I identify strongly with where I come from, but I don’t make a fetish about it. I really like it, and the people there. It has great potential for the future. Does your music come from a family tradition? My father was a primary school teacher, very interested in music. He was also a good amateur actor and put on productions. In another generation he might have been a professional but in those days you kept the steady job. It was relatively recently that people in my part of the world had access to third-level education without paying for it so they realised what a boon it was, and made sure their kids didn’t turn their noses up at it. So I went to UCD and studied French, Gaelic and Archaeology, but I never felt that the academic life – or even a nine to five life – was right for me. That created some tension!

32 June 2015

Music was in my genes. And as I grew up it was a reliable friend – more reliable than some of my actual friends! I found that the structures and architecture and emotions within were something I could control. I loved it from day one. The first music I heard was from my parents’ generation, from the ‘40s and ‘50s, American swing and music from the movies, and we heard the British media and Radio Luxembourg. It was later I went into traditional Irish music - although it was all around me as a child, I took it for granted. In my late teens, in Dublin in the ‘60s, I was swept up in the upsurge of interest in folk music. Irish musicians are prone to say that there wasn’t a folk revival in Ireland because it never died out, but it was never on the airwaves either. It took Americans like Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Joni Mitchell to get the media in Ireland to look at our own music. You’ve won awards for folk music, made folk records, played in folk bands, but you’re not really a ‘folkie’? My years in folk music from ‘68 to ‘80 were, in retrospect, a kind of aberration – a hugely enjoyable one, and informative and educational, and I met most of my long-term friends at that time, but it was only ever going to be one chapter in my life because there was so much other music I wanted to get involved in. At the end of the ‘70s one of my contemporaries from the folk scene Gerry Rafferty came out with ‘Baker Street’ and it was a ‘Eureka’ moment. I thought, I’ve spent a long time singing about people 200 years ago, now I want to write my own songs.

Were the songs bubbling up, waiting for you to release them? They certainly weren’t bubbling up, I had to go down the mines and dig ‘em out! It was a long process and it coincided with having two very small children, so there were all kinds of very enjoyable impediments in the way of writing songs which I had to get over. The early ‘80s was when I tried to become a songwriter, and since then that’s what I’ve been. You collaborate with other people a lot. What do you get out of that? Well, you get bored with yourself! There’s an upside to being solo, particularity on stage. You don’t have to hold anybody’s hand, and if you make a change you don’t have to announce it to the band. But you’re creating all this stuff so there’s no surprises after the initial creation. Working with other musicians, you get all their stuff coming at you and it’s all new, and it stimulates other parts of you. It’s a process of opening yourself up and letting other people’s fertilising come into you [laughs]. A lot of those people have recorded your songs, including other great songwriters like John Prine, Carole King, David Crosby... have you ever talked to them about what it is in your songs that attracts them? From time to time. I think they like their individuality. I’ve never worked to a formula. Each song I write seems to be in its own place. I’m a big fan of strong melody and my songs are almost like little short stories. I don’t write for other people – well, I’ve done that once. Mark Hudson and I wrote ‘Try Me One More Time’ for Aerosmith. It was the only song I’ve

The American

From top: Kyle with Burt Bacharach The cast of What’s It All About? Kyle Riabko

ever written to order ...they said they loved it, but they didn’t record it! You’ve co-written with over 70 people too, a lot of them Americans. I went to Nashville quite often in the ‘90s, that’s the home of American country songwriting. When I was on major record labels in the ‘80s and early ‘90s everybody tried to pigeon-hole me, but I’m a marketing man’s nightmare. I was never happier than when I was dropped by my final major, Universal, and started my own label. I was never going to break through to daytime radio – I’m not exactly pin-up material. What is it about American music that’s affected you? It’s that golden age of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s when all the music that was coming into America from Africa, Ireland, Scotland, England, South America, Mexico, all coalesced in a big stew and out came rock & roll and all that stuff. We all came under its spell. Bob Dylan said you’re one of the songwriters he listens to long term. That was fantastic. He was playing Wembley Stadium at the time and I got a call to go and meet him there. He wanted to figure out how I played one of my songs, ‘The Lakes of Pontchartrain’, and how I tuned my guitar for it. It was an interesting experience taking Bob Dylan’s fingers and moving them around the fretboard. Surreal, but great fun. I heard Dylan first when I was in the middle of Irish trad music. It took me a while to get into his first album to be honest, it was very different. I thought, ‘this is weird, I’m not sure this is going anywhere’. How wrong I was! Mind you, I’m on record saying

June 2015 33

The American WIN PAUL’S ALBUM

To win a copy of The Vicar 1, go to Street Sessions, Vol. 1, www.theamerican.co.uk

a month we were at the Cambridge Folk Festival.

The Vicar Street Sessions

that U2 would never happen. You lived in the States, but only for a short while. Why not longer? I moved to New York in 1971, with an Irish group, The Johnstons. It was a lost couple of years for me. I was in a cul-de-sac, no money and not in the best emotional state. A bad patch, we all have them. The song ‘Crazy Dreams’ is about that time – it’s about wanting to get back home. When I go abroad and play to Irish people they relate strongly to that song. I moved back when I was asked to join Planxty. In the ‘60s New York had the folk scene, and in the mid-’70s there was the excitement of punk and disco, but when you arrived was it an ‘inbetween’ time for music? That’s exactly it. We played a lot of the venues like Gerde’s Folk City and the Cafe Wha?, down on MacDougal Street, and The Village Vanguard. All the places Bob Dylan started at. But the whole Greenwich Village thing had died out and nothing had come to take its place. Bad timing. Planxty was a supergroup of Irish music – did it feel like that at the time? It did. Christy Moore was leaving – I never quite got to the bottom of that – and it was a huge compliment when they invited me. Within

34 June 2015

Your new album, The Vicar Street Sessions, Volume 1, is music from a series of 23 concerts in Dublin in 2011, with a host of guest stars including Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, Sinéad O’Connor, Curtis Stigers, and Mary Black. That’s unusual. It was a calculated decision on my part not to publicize who was going to appear each night. But it got around Dublin that this amazing thing was going on – ‘Guess who was there last night... Van Morrison’ ‘Who’s on tonight?’ ‘I don’t know – let’s go and see’. It created a mystique around it. It also allowed me to feel I wasn’t exploiting anybody, using their name for my own vanity, because nobody knew who was going to be appearing apart from me and my band. It was magical. There was no rehearsal. Van would fly in and arrive at the gig and we’d have half an hour to learn three songs. No-one knew everything inside out so there was a frisson of nervousness and excitement which makes for great live music. It was nice to stand back and let it flow over you – it was a bit of a dream. Any plans for Volume 2? We recorded 23 nights of music, with a different guest each night so there’s lots more music. But I thought, let’s put out one album and see if people like it, rather than a box set of five CDs that nobody wants! One artist on the album is someone who’s sung your songs and writ-

ten with you – you seem to have a strong relationship with Bonnie Raitt. That is very true. When I first went to America, The Johnstons opened for Bonnie at Tufts University. From way back then I was a fan. You could have knocked me down with a feather when somebody told me later she’d been on British radio jawing on about Paul Brady throughout the whole programme. I had no idea she was aware of me at all. I was in America in 1990 to record my album Trick or Treat in LA, and Bonnie’s bass player Hutch Hutchison, who’s a fan of Irish music, invited me to meet Bonnie at a benefit in Santa Monica. I walked in backstage and Bonnie was talking to Meryl Streep and I thought, hey, I must be in LA! Bonnie recorded some of my songs and we started writing together. In fact she’s in Ireland at this minute on a short vacation, we’ve had a couple of nice days together. Bonnie’s of Scottish extraction, and she’s always been interested in music from the British Isles – she followed the folk scene, the Fairports and all that. And I’ve always been a huge fan of the blues. Her voice is just to die for – at 10 in the morning we’re all croaking and gasping for a coffee, she opens her mouth and this sound comes out – you just want to kill her! Finally, what’s the best thing about being Paul Brady? …There isn’t any one thing. I quite like being Irish. And I like being able to be reasonably successful without paying the awful price of paparazzi hell. I like being an acquired taste.

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The American Far Left: Frederic Leighton, Flaming June, c. 1895. Oil on canvas, 46 7/8 x 46 7/8 inches COURTESY MUSEO DE ARTE DE PONCE, THE LUIS A. FERRÉ FOUNDATION, INC.

Near Left: Frederic Leighton, Flaming June (Study), c. 1895. pencil and white chalk on paper Estimate: £40,000-60,000 PHOTO COURTESY SOTHEBY’S

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD June 8 to August 16

Leighton: Flaming June Frick Gallery, New York June 9 to September 6

Yorkshire-born Frederic Leighton (1830-1896), was one of the most renowned UK artists of the Victorian era. A painter, sculptor, formidable presence in the art establishment, and longtime president of the Royal Academy, he was the only British artist to have been ennobled, (becoming Lord Leighton, Baron of Stretton). But his work fell from favor, largely forgotten in the C20th: his technique, extensive preparatory process, and intellectual subject matter, were at odds with the generation of painters raised on Impressionism, with its emphasis on directness of execution. One of his last works, however, Flaming June, went on to enduring fame. For the first time this masterpiece will hang in New York, after a chequered history. It disappeared for 30 years, only to reappear on a Chelsea

36 June 2015

market stall in 1963, where it sold for £50. After changing hands a few more times it was reproduced on the front cover of a seminal work on Victorian art, rose to fame, and was bought by Luis Ferré, then the Governor of Puerto Rico. It will hang with an oil sketch for the painting, surrounded by the Frick’s four full-length portraits by US expat James McNeill Whistler, Leighton’s contemporary. Coincidentally, the only known head study for Flaming June re-emerged a few months ago, 120 years after it was last reproduced in an art magazine in 1895. The important rediscovery was found on a bedroom wall at the home of the late Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, at her C16th estate, West Horsley Place, Surrey, recently inherited by her great-nephew, himself a British icon, Bamber Gascoigne, who devised University Challenge and presented it for many years. The study will be auctioned at Sothebys, London on July 15th.

This is the world’s largest open submission exhibition, comprising a range of media including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, architecture and film. This year 1,200 artworks will go on display, (winnowed from 12,000 entries), the majority for sale, offering visitors an opportunity to purchase original artwork by emerging and established artists. It will focus on a new layout of the Main Galleries, where rooms will be characterized by vibrant colors designated by this year’s coordinator, Michael CraigMartin RA, who grew up and was educated in the United States. (He studied Fine Art at the Yale University School of Art and Architecture and, on completion of his studies in 1966, he moved to London where he has lived ever since.) His work, which includes painting, printmaking, installations projections and drawing, depicts common place objects. The hanging committee includes Royal Academicians Norman Ackroyd, Olwyn Bowey, Gus Cummins, Jock McFadyen, David Remfry, Mick Rooney, Alison Wilding and Bill Woodrow. The architecture room will be curated by Ian Ritchie RA, and Craig-Martin has also invited the Turner Prize nominated artist, Jim Lambie, to create a signature, multi-colored installation for the RA’s main staircase leading up to the Summer Exhibition.

The American

DON’T MISS ... George Nama - Poetic Images

Maestro Arts, One Eastfields Avenue, London SW18 1FQ to June 25

Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-1789) Liotard Laughing (Self-portrait) c.1770 Oil on canvas, 84 x 74 cm © MUSÉE D’ART ET D’HISTOIRE, VILLE DE GENÈVE PHOTO: NATHALIE SABATO

Jean-Etienne Liotard

Scottish National Gallery The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2EL June 6 to September 13, 2015 then Royal Academy of Arts, London, October 11 to January 16, 2016 One of the greatest yet littleknown artists of the C18th, Liotard (1702-1789) was one of the most sophisticated European artists of his time; a brilliant, witty portraitist, he excelled at pastel, but also drew, painted in oil, created enamels and was a refined miniaturist and printmaker. He also wrote a treatise on painting, was a collector, a dealer, a traveler and an artistic innovator. In the age of Mozart and Casanova, he was a key international figure, whose achievement deserves to be better known - he’s rarely been exhibited. Born in Geneva, he traveled extensively, working in Amsterdam, The Hague, Venice, Rome, Naples and the courts of Vienna, Paris and London. He spent four years in Constantinople depicting foreign residents and developed a fascination with near-eastern fashions and customs. Several works in this exhibition have never been shown in public before.

Lee Miller, Pablo Picasso and Lee Miller after the liberation of Paris, Rue de Grand Augustins, Paris, France, 1944 © LEE MILLER ARCHIVES, ENGLAND 2015

Lee Miller and Picasso

Scottish National Portrait Gallery 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD May 23 to September 6 This fascinating relationship, between the greatest artist of the C20th and the beautiful model and highly influential photographer, spanned 36 years, from their first meeting in 1937 to Picasso’s death in 1973. New York born Miller (1907 - 77), first met Picasso in the South of France and he painted her six times during her stay, creating works such as his Portrait of Lee Miller as l’Arlesienne, featured in this exhibition, and he in turn featured prominently in her photographs of her trip with the British Surrealist Penrose, along with Man Ray, his new partner Ady Fidelin, and her other Surrealist friends such as Eileen Agar, the poet Paul Éluard and his wife Nusch. Over the course of their friendship Miller photographed Picasso more than a thousand times, and the artist, in turn, created a remarkable series of portraits of Lee. Organized by the Lee Miller Archives, based at her home, Farley Farm in Sussex, there are 100 photographs, and rare archival material.

American artist George Nama has collaborated on a series of portfolios of poems and etchings with the pianist and poet, Alfred Brendel and also with the 15th Poet Laureate of the United States and Pulitzer prize winner, Charles Simić. When Alfred Brendel discovered George Nama’s etchings in an exhibition in Switzerland, he bought a portfolio and after meeting the artist in New York, went on to produce three books with him. These portfolios, Devil’s Pageant, Thirteen Angels, and Drawing the Bow and two portfolios by American Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Simić, Invisible World and Eternities, form the basis of the exhibition. Nama has created hundreds of books filled with drawings and collages. The pages are primed before painting with gouache or drawing with charcoal. On June 18th (7pm) Ruth Rosen, one of England’s leading poetry and prose performers, will read a selection of Simić’s poetry featured in Poetic Images at the gallery. George Nama, Charles Simić, Knife IMAGE COURTESY MAESTRO ARTS

June 2015 37

The American

Dust Bowl Masterpieces At Olympia P

aintings by American painters of the Great Depression ‘dust bowl years’ are coming to London thanks to millionaire Rex Sinquefield, who is loaning part of his collection to the Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair this summer - shown in the UK for the first time June 18th to 28th www.olympia–art–antiques.com The great artists of the Midwest include Thomas Hart Benton, Joe Jones, Grant Wood, John Rogers Cox, John Atherton, John Steuart Curry and George Jo Mess. These paintings are from the great era of austerity, making them newly relevant for a contemporary audience. Mr Sinquefield was born in St Louis and raised at the St Vincent Orphanage there. He became director and owner of Dimensional Fund Advisors, and after retiring in 2006 he returned to the Midwest and has since devoted time and energy to local philanthropic ventures. The American asked him why he loves the art of the Midwest ... Where did your interest in art and collecting come from? Rex Sinquefield: Though I didn’t grow up with money, I did grow up appreciating the arts. My mother loved opera; she had it on the radio all the time. As early as my late teens I found myself fascinated with paintings. Admittedly, I did not know much. My

38 June 2015

education focused primarily on business, both at Saint Louis University and the University of Chicago. As my career began to get traction – I was working at the American National Bank and Trust Company in Chicago – I began to buy lithographs through the mail. Inexpensive and mostly by French artists, they allowed me to get comfortable with art hanging on my walls. In Chicago and on trips back to St. Louis, I became a frequent visitor to the museums in each city. I would wander and look and take in the special exhibitions. I did the same as my work took me to cities such as Paris and London. I distinctly remember making it a goal to visit as many art museums in Paris as I could; the number 25 sticks in my head. Some of those experiences made a tremendous impact. The Art Institute of Chicago’s Claude Monet: 1840–1926 exhibition in 1995 captivated me. And one of the best exhibitions that I ever visited was Max Beckmann and Paris, organized by the Saint Louis

Art Museum in 1998. Experiences such as those make you want to collect, and by the late 1990s I had started to do so more seriously. All the while I was reading about art. Study is important. It makes you prepared. Why do you specialize in the Midwest and the dust bowl years? Regionalism speaks to me: The beauty of the land I love; the determination for preservation of it and a lifestyle; the knowledge of its potential destruction. The artists’ fight for freedom. It’s a very American value. There hasn’t been a time before or since that a group of Midwest artists created a political movement through their art. Place is important to me, and in particular, the state of Missouri. I grew up here in St. Louis; it is my home. All the years I lived in California, I remained attached to Missouri. One of my goals is to focus my collection on artists who brought distinction to the region as well as their profession. That really started

The American Left: Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975), Self Portrait, 1924 IMAGE COURTESY REX SINQUEFIELD

Right: Rex Sinquefield IMAGE ©MATTHEW OSHEA

with Benton. This is one area of the collection where I have depth and breadth; the same is true with Joe Jones. I discovered his work a bit later. Between the two of them, the core of my collection settles on two artists who brought Missouri distinction during the Depression era. Is Benton your favorite artist in your collection? Yes, look at his expression in his self-portrait. He dares us to defy him. I have always loved Benton. There is a lyricism to the way that he painted that touches me. One of my favorite paintings is his ‘Persephone’ at the Nelson–Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. I have collected Benton in some depth, including paintings and lithographs and one drawing. His scenes of Midwestern farms and wheat fields are important, but I also have some still lives as well as his finished oil study he painted for the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. Place and history converge in that work, as it does in a more recent purchase, ‘Flood Disaster’. I find this painting amazing and purchased it at auction after a private showing in New York. I knew it had to come back to Missouri. It is Brenton’s interpretation of the devastating flood that struck the western half of the state in 1951. I also have in my collection his iconic self-portrait from 1924/25, the one that was on the cover of Time magazine when Benton was declared America’s regionalist. You’re bringing these wonderful paintings to to London for the first time. They are not well known to British people. Are you aiming to educate them? I suppose so; I want to share my

passion for my love of the Midwest and its values: Freedom, connection to land, independence, space to breathe.... Our audience are Americans who are based in Britain: what would you like to tell them about these artists? There’s no place like home! What do artworks from a previous time of austerity have to say to today’s audience? I don’t look just at the austerity, but at the universal message the art conveys: protection of home and value. I think art has the ability to tap into a collective memory that transcends location. This art is about struggle and hope. Art is a matter of heart for me. I have a political work of Joe Jones, Danger, Building Unsafe, Condemned, Keep Away, that shows a woman evicted from her apartment building during the early 1930s. Arms crossed defiantly, she is not what you would call a beauty, but there is something compelling in her determination. I don’t really care what Jones’s politics were at the time (very Leftist who became a Communist). What Jones did capture – authentically, I think – is the experience of working-class people struggling to make a living during a difficult period in my country’s history.

Some works I own show the land of Missouri that really speak to the beauty of the fields that produced the wheat on which, ultimately, the recovery of the nation depended during that turbulent time. But it is also about the work ethic of the farmers; the resilience of American individualism; the drive to achieve success, economically, politically and culturally. You were raised at the St Vincent Orphanage in St Louis. How did you become so successful? I worked hard. The German nuns in the orphanage taught me discipline; watching my mother struggle to provide for her family, through separating her children and going to work everyday taught me to work hard. I was lucky that I was able to prove an idea that worked. When you retired you could have chosen to live in New York, Paris, London, on the West Coast... or anywhere. Why did you move back to the Midwest? I did live in Chicago and Los Angeles for 30 years. I couldn’t wait to come home. Missouri is the most beautiful place in the world. I’m so happy to be back. The interest in the American countryside and the beauty and the mystery of the land is the common thread that ties my collection together. When I step back, I see an affirmation of my belief in America, the American Dream. With hard work, anything is possible. The lyricism and beauty of the countryside I live in here in Missouri makes that evident every day, and these artists capture that spirit of possibility. It is a matter of the heart for me, and of home.

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The American

What’s It All About? Kyle Riabko Re-imagines Bacharach

young musician was introduced to Burt Bacharach. He dreamed up the idea of arranging the legend’s music for a new audience. A previous theatrical show based around Bacharach and David’s songs a dozen years before (The Look of Love) was a critical and commercial failure so the veteran composer was understandably wary, but then he listened to Kyle Riabko’s work... When The American chatted with Kyle he had just flown into London to prepare for his show, What’s It All About? Bacharach Re-imagined, but he looked cool and relaxed. Cool and relaxed? This is all jetlag, baby! I just flew in from LA where I spend a lot of my time now. Is Los Angeles home? I guess. I’m always hesitant to use that word. I’m from Canada so that’s home too. But I’ve come to love LA. And it’s where my work is. You do a lot of things – how do you describe what your work is? My entry point into the world of entertainment was the guitar so it’s always difficult for me to think of myself as anything other than a guitar player. Burt says the same thing about being a piano player. It’s your muse, you keep having to go back. It’s been a wild and interesting journey, being open to inspiration and seeing where it takes you, to strange corners of the music world. This being one of them. Your first band was called Bluesway Express - did you go back to the

40 June 2015

blues for inspiration? Good research! Actually I was in a band before that called 10-11-12 because those were our ages. That didn’t last very long – we didn’t plan that far ahead! But for me the blues is the essence, the core. I look at music through the prism of blues, which was interesting when I started working with Burt, because he doesn’t. He looks at it through bebop jazz and classical composition. How did those cultural differences lead to your new show? I met Burt in a recording studio. I was asked to sing some demos for him, some new music he was writing. I was there just as a singer, a hired gun, but as we started recording it transcended that and became more of a jam session with Burt and myself. I thought it would be amazing to work with him. I knew a lot of his music, not all of it, then I realized this guy was still waking up every morning and writing new, original thoughts, and he needs to do this to stay vibrant and stay alive. I became fascinated by him, not just as a composer but as a person – the fact that he’s still chasing a perfection that he has in his mind. We all know the ‘60s and ‘70s songs, but people sometimes forget he was a vibrant writer in the ‘80s too with songs like ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ and ‘Making Love,’ the stuff he did with Carole Bayer Sager. As a performer/entertainer/writer, one of the things you live with is the constant unknown – how long can I sustain this, what will it look like in ten or twenty years? When you see

someone who has achieved that, it inspires you to forge ahead. After that session, I was talking with the co-conceiver of this show, my friend David Lane Seltzer, about Burt in general, and David had the idea of looking back at Burt’s entire catalog. I made a demo, a 15 minute chunk of music, and took it to Burt’s place. I was lucky enough that he opened the door, and I sat down in his music room across from him. As I pressed play, I got extremely sweaty! He listened, and he liked it. He called his son Oliver, who was about 18 years old, into the room and told me to play it again, then he watched Oliver’s reaction to someone closer to his age playing his dad’s music. It illuminated what this process is all about – taking something indelible, that lives on forever, and introducing it to a younger audience. How have you adapted the songs? I’ve worked hard to not change the melodic and lyrical content. It’s looking through my bluesy prism. Also, because there’s such a large, incredible mass of hits that he created, I’ve smashed some of them together in places – melodies from one song soaring over another, looking at the catalog as a whole, from a new angle. It’s like putting a different filter on the camera. Unlike many writers, the link between Burt’s chords and his melodies are so tight that you really don’t want to change it. When you do it sounds goofy – even when Aretha Franklin covered ‘Say A Little Prayer’ she took a number of liberties and Burt told me when he first heard it he

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From top: Kyle with Burt Bacharach The cast of What’s It All About? Kyle Riabko

couldn’t stand it although over time he’s come to love it. You just want to revel in their mastery, not change it. The show is performed by seven musicians – we’re bringing two Americans over plus myself, and the rest of the cast are British. The music is all played onstage. There’s an abstract emotional arc to it, there are discoveries along the way, but it’s a non-stop 90 minutes of music. It’s directed by Steven Hoggett who brings his unique approach to movement to the show – in addition to the actors and musicians, he’s made the show move. We rarely have a traditional band set-up with the drums behind and the singer out front, it shifts and moves all the time. It’s not really a play, or a gig, it’s somewhere inbetween – it’s an experience. Did you meet Hal David too? Burt introduced me to him – I was extremely lucky to play him the music too, before he died. Burt himself says that Bacharach isn’t Bacharach without David, and it was nice to see him tap his foot to it. One last question. What’s the best thing about being Kyle Riabko? The opportunities I’ve been given. The constant unknown can be very stressful, but when you succumb to it you get amazing gifts from the world. I would have never guessed five years ago that I would be doing a show with Burt Bacharach and be calling him my friend. What’s It All About? Bacharach Re-imagined is at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London from July 3 to September 5.

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Imelda Staunton is Momma Rose

PHOTO JOHAN PERSSON

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Book: Arthur Laurents, Music: Jule Styne, Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Savoy Theatre, London WC2 Reviewed by Jarlath O’Connell

onathan Kent’s finely polished production, transferring from Chichester, is amazingly the first West End outing for Gypsy in over 40 years. One of the crowning achievements of the art form, this show from 1959, has that unbeatable combination of Styne’s unforgettable tunes, lyrics of supreme wit and intelligence by Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, which gives us complex characters and which seamlessly blends the dramatic and musical elements. In an age of vapid rock musicals and cynical jukebox shows it’s an object lesson in what a musical should be. On Broadway it has been revived once a decade. Every Momma Rose seems to win the Tony and the part is considered the King Lear of the musical theater. Here, Imelda Staunton, has scaled that mountaintop and totally deserves all her 5 star reviews. Since her last West End musical, Sweeney Todd, her voice has become darker, richer and more powerful. Loosely based on the memoirs of the striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, the show follows the unstinting

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efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform on the touring vaudeville stage. The character Louise is based on Lee, sister June being the child performer who grew up to become the movie actress, June Havoc. Set in the 1920s as the old vaudeville circuit gave way to movies and the less wholesome pleasures of burlesque, the theme of the restless search for show business fame still has a resonance today. Just look at the horrors of Britain’s Got Talent or X Factor. Staunton’s Rose is gloriously multi-faceted. One minute she’s a vamp, zoning in on the good natured Herbie (Peter Davison) as husband material, the next she’s mother hen, cutting deals with impresarios or nicking cutlery from Chinese restaurants. With all that ego, her first moment of self-doubt must end in tears and Sondheim’s great finale number ‘Rose’s Turn’ provides one of the greatest musical soliloquies ever, which Staunton delivers like a tornado. Of course she follows not just Ethel Merman but also Angela Lans-

bury (who was in on first night), Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone in the role. They all shared a larger than life persona and very distinctive singing voices, they were all stars first, actresses second. Staunton though, despite probably being the best actress of the bunch, still doesn’t have that iconic stature. This is a minor carp however because there is currently nobody else in the West End who has that either. Her Rose is a monster, a showbusiness Mother Courage and she doesn’t allow any sentimentality to intrude. This Brechtian plunge goes against the grain of your typical Broadway show but it is what makes this show a masterpiece. It is Styne’s unforgettable tunes though which generate the emotional punch of the piece and Musical Director Nicholas Skilbeck’s new arrangements (with Tom Kelly) are a wonder. This is the best pit band you’ll hear in a long time and they prove that you don’t need to amp it to death to make a connection. Kent has drawn together a perfect cast and Lara Pulver perfectly calibrates Louise’s transformation from shy neglected teen to confident star. With a golden voice, Pulver is going places. As usual in this show however it’s the trio of burlesque strippers, performing ‘You Gotta Get a Gimmick’, who bring the house down. Here, it was great to witness the relish which West End veteran Louise Gold brought to Mazeppa, a woman who stands out in more ways than one.

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Free Agency The NFL’s Free Agency market is the time of year when teams can pick up some bargains to plug gaps in their rosters. It can also spark a bidding war to gain that heavyweight marquee player. Gary Jordan lists the key names that find themselves in new cities this coming Summer:

PHOTO ©WLPEARCE.COM COURTESY OF FSU SPORTS INFORMATION

American Football Conference BUFFALO BILLS

NEW YORK JETS

Buffalo made an early splash in the market acquiring Running Back LeSean McCoy, and then backed it up with a solid trade for Quarterback Matt Cassel. Add into the mix the signing of the much traveled Wide Receiver Percy Harvin and Tight End Charles Clay, they could be lighting up the scoreboard.

If there ever was a team that needed a shot in the arm this was it. Ryan Fitzpatrick will battle it out for the starting QB job, he will be hoping to fire passes to new Receiver Brandon Marshall, and hand the ball off to Stevan Ridley. Two shutdown Cornerbacks are now Jets, Antonio Cromartie and Darrelle Revis.

MIAMI DOLPHINS The Dolphins have been one of the more active teams so far this off season, they acquired one of the most sought after names from the free agent list in Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh. They backed this up with several big name signings on offense including Receiver Greg Jennings, two QBs Josh Freeman and Matt Moore to add a little competition at that position.

DENVER BRONCOS

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

Keeping players was key to the Broncos and when they applied their franchise tag to star Receiver Demaryius Thomas they were doing sound business. Gino Gradkowski will now be the man in the middle of the line snapping the ball to Peyton Manning. Vance Walker and Antonio Smith will help beef up the defensive line.

How do you make the best better? Well Tom Brady (if Tom Terrific beats his ‘Deflategate’ rap) has some new targets to work with in Receivers Kevin Dorsey and Brian Tyms. Jabaal Sheard and Alan Branch have been brought in to add some depth to the defensive line, and they put the franchise tag on Placekicker Stephen Gostkowski.

Always a Dark Horse that never bolts the stable fully, but the signing of Jeremy Maclin was one of intent; the Receiver will be a good fit. Guard Ben Grubbs has come in from New Orleans and Defensive Back Tyvon Branch gives help in that area.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

OAKLAND RAIDERS A slow start to free agency from the team always known for making a splash, but recent signings of Running Back Trent Richardson and QB Christian Ponder raised eyebrows. Bringing in eight players on defense is a good sign, but the biggest name to come in was that of Receiver Michael Crabtree. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS Jacoby Jones and Stevie Johnson are new at the Receiver position; the former should enjoy a new lease of life on the West Coast. The Chargers have also shored up the Cornerback position with Patrick Robinson. BALTIMORE RAVENS It’s been fairly quiet for the Ravens; the biggest move was for QB Matt Schaub, a more than decent back up to Flacco. Most of the time has been spent making sure they keep vital pieces and the re-signing of lead runner Justin Forsett was key, as was the keeping of Defensive End Chris Canty. CINCINNATI BENGALS The Bengals have a decent roster already and one that should do better than first round exits. The

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signing of Linebacker AJ Hawk and Defensive End Michael Johnson will be great for their sometimes soft D. Denarius Moore at Receiver will be useful and a new backup QB in Josh Johnson will push Andy Dalton. CLEVELAND BROWNS Cleveland has added more QB’s to their mix, and Josh McCown could well be the starter come September. He could be passing to new Receivers Brian Hartline and Dwayne Bowe; both will see a lot of playing time. PITTSBURGH STEELERS The team that has been the quietest so far this spring, but at the same time addressing a big need when they got DeAngelo Williams to agree terms. The Running Back will be featured heavily early on in the year after the suspension of Le’Veon Bell. HOUSTON TEXANS Brian Hoyer is the new man at QB. Joining him on offense is Cecil Shorts III, the impact Receiver will look to do just that. On the defensive side JJ Watt has a new teammate that is most welcome in the form of veteran Tackle Vince Wilfork. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS Tipped by many to be the Dynasty team they have picked up some very interesting pieces to their jigsaw. Frank Gore will hope to regain his lost form, and Andre Johnson will be on the end of many Andrew Luck passes. Trent Cole is a good addition on the defensive line, and Nate Irving will have an influence at Linebacker.

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PHOTO©GARY BAKER

The American

Charles Clay moves from the Dolphins to the Bills

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS Defensive Tackle Jared Odrick was the first signing for the Jaguars, maybe a statement of intent as they need to stop leaking points. On offense they have got help on the line through Jermey Parnell, he will get to block for new Running Back Bernard Pierce. TENNESSEE TITANS The Titans have made several key signings on offense. Receivers Hakeem Nicks and Harry Douglas are joined at Tight End by Anthony Fasano. On defense Linebacker Brian Orakpo was their first move in the market.

National Football Conference DALLAS COWBOYS The two biggest names coming into the Cowboys so far have been Running Back Darren McFadden and Defensive End Greg Hardy. Both will hope to have a big part to play for America’s Team. They also wrapped up Receiver Dez Bryant under the franchise tag. NEW YORK GIANTS Big Blue was in need of some fresh blood in their rebuild, and they got Running Back Shane Vereen early as well as Receivers Dwayne Har-

ris and Kevin Ogletree. Linebacker George Selvie has come in to breathe some life into a lacklustre D. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES This team has been all over the news with their moves. Sam Bradford is the new QB, for now at least as Tim Tebow is also back in the NFL. They have lots of new weapons on offense including Running Backs DeMarco Murray, Ryan Mathews. Chip Kelly will no doubt roll the dice again during the Draft. WASHINGTON REDSKINS Another team in urgent need of repair, especially across their defense it seems, as eight new players have been signed to plug gaps. Safety Dashon Goldson, Cornerback Chris Culliver and Defensive Tackle Terrance Knighton are all strong acquisitions. ARIZONA CARDINALS Offensive Guard Mike Iupati was the first to move to the desert, Corey Peters soon followed to help on the defensive line. Until now relatively quiet, so far the Cardinals are amongst the front runners to sign premier Running Back Adrian Peterson, very much a case of watch this space.

PHOTO©GARY BAKER

PHOTO ©MGOBLOG

The American

Ndamukong Suh has moved from the Lions to the Dolphins

DeMarco Murray lands at the Eagles from the Cowboys

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS Lots of off season turmoil by the Bay, and they will want to get to camp quickly to gel in the new crop. Receiver Torrey Smith was quick to join, followed by talented Defensive Tackle Darnell Dockett. Running Back Reggie Bush and wide out Jerome Simpson will add some veteran flavor. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS Opening day of free agency saw a huge move as the Seahawks swooped in for Tight End Jimmy Graham. The defense was bolstered with Will Blackmon and Mister Alexander, both could be fringe players on the Legion of Boom. ST. LOUIS RAMS Could this be the year the Rams bleat harder? Two new QB’s on the scene as Nick Foles and Case Keenum arrive. Another big, literally, signing came when Defensive Tackle Nick Fairley put pen to paper. CHICAGO BEARS After a disappointing 2014 the Bears had to make some solid moves. Receiver Eddie Royal will add insurance in the offense, as will the suitably named Tight End Bear Pascoe. Safety Antrel Rolle heads up eight new members of a hopefully rejuvenated D that also sees Corner-

back Jacquizz Rodgers and lineman Pernell McPhee head to the Windy City. DETROIT LIONS Defensive Tackle Haloti Ngata was an opening day signing which was a move made of necessity with the impending departure of Ndamukong Suh. This has been the only major move in a somewhat quiet Spring, they have also brought in Tyrunn Walker at Defensive Tackle. GREEN BAY PACKERS The Packers have flown very silently under the radar and have yet to actually sign anyone new. Instead they have concentrated on keeping the team together and made sure the likes of Receiver Randall Cobb and Defensive End BJ Raji stay at Lambeau. MINNESOTA VIKINGS Big play receiver Mike Wallace will add some spice to the offense and QB Shaun Hill will prove to be a good backup. Casey Matthews at Linebacker and Terence Newman will add veteran help at Cornerback on the defensive side. ATLANTA FALCONS Atlanta has concentrated on defense bringing in Adrian Clayborn on the line, and Justin

Durant at the Linebacker position. Leonard Hankerson will be a useful addition at Receiver, and veteran Placekicker Matt Bryant is a safe move. CAROLINA PANTHERS After an in-the-end-decent last season the Panthers have just got a little better on offense with the addition of multi-purpose Receiver Ted Ginn, and Michael Oher and Jonathan Martin are welcome needs across the line. Charles Tillman is a strong Cornerback signing. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS Centre Max Unger was acquired when they lost Jimmy Graham to Seattle, and CJ Spiller is a gamble at Running Back. Cornerback Brandon Browner, and Defensive End Anthony Spencer have also been brought in, otherwise it’s been a soft approach to the Draft. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS Linebacker Bruce Carter was a much needed signing on a very leaky defense. Henry Melton will help along that line, as will Sterling Moore at Defensive Back, and Free Safety Chris Conte.

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The American

Richard L Gale rattles through the rookie crop and gives out some 2015 NFL Draft grades

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (Grade B) Headline additions: R1 Jameis Winston, QB, FSU / R2 Donovan Smith, OT, Penn St / Ali Marpet, C, Hobart & William Smith / R4 Kwon Alexander, OLB, LSU / R5 Kenny Bell, WR, Neb / R6 Kaelin Clay, WR, Utah / UDFA Rannell Hall, WR, C Fla / Ryan Delaire, DE, Towson.

Tampa took a franchise QB, then gave him some protectors: Smith is ready to help and could feature for years; Marpet’s a project, but not as much of one as you might think for a guy from a Div. III school. Alexander’s a fly-around tackler, a special teams cert who will soon build his defensive share. WRs Bell, Clay, Hall will be competing for some deep-ball appeal. Delaire is one of a useful crop of UDFAs. They bring a lot to camp, and they can use it – they picked No.1 for a reason.

ome years ago, in the bar of a wedding reception, a vocalist of a rock band explaining to me that to be a lead singer, you had to have the rare gift of being comfortable standing on a table (he did so) and shouting “LOOK AT ME!” (...which he also did). I died quietly of embarrasment while, arms wide, he soaked in the attention ...and illustrated his point. In Jameis Winston, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their lead singer: the swagger of Jagger, certifiable self-confidence, and personality the size of Florida. It’s just what they needed. Whatever the bad boy backstory – shoplifted crabs legs, mutterings of an indifferently-pursued sexual assault probe – the Bucs have an in-state superstar. The talent is evident. As a freshman he assumed command of the Seminoles, and if he dampens maturity concerns to a level where he doesn’t incur the wrath of Commissioner Goodell or the frenzied tutting of the sports press, he has the makings of a great QB. However, while Winston went No.1, the steely gaze of Goodell may have been enough to dissuade teams from selecting other ‘risky’ names. Missouri DE Shane Ray, under the shadow of a marijuana charge, dropped from his perceived Top 10 value until rescued by the Broncos at 23. Similarly, Nebraska DE

Above: There was little real doubt that the Buccaneers were considering anybody other than Jameis Winston, as he and Marcus Mariota went 1-2 to Tampa Bay and Tennessee respectively. No other Quarterbacks went until the 3rd Round. PHOTO: LARRY NOVEY / FSU SPORTS INFORMATION

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The American

Randy Gregory, who failed a drugs test at the combine and suffered swirling rumors about his mental stability, fell from a possible high first round selection to late in the second, landing with a Cowboys team that has a history of working with players with reported mental issues (Alonzo Spellman, Dimitrius Underwood). Those were fortuitous saves for both players, and Josh Shaw, suspended 10 games last year by USC after a bizarre tale of injury during police evasion, found a forgiving home in Cincinnati in the fourth round. However, no team was willing even to gamble a seventh round pick on OT La’el Collins of LSU, one of the top tackles in the draft. With the murder conviction of former Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez still ringing in NFL ears, Collins’ Draft-eve call to speak to police investigating the death of his former girlfriend was news that, even if it emerges he has nothing to do with her death (and at press time, there was no hint he is a suspect), it clearly wiped his draft stock to junk bonds. The first Chicago-hosted Draft in 51 years, with outdoor events and video link-ups across the nation (and even from London) was a huge success. On the other hand, every player whose stock fell through character questions created unwelcome overtones. The fact that some fell so far suggests Goodell’s hardline message to teams is being heard. However, for all of these players, the NFL offers a fresh start. The Draft delivered its own harsh financial realities, and for now, snap judgements are all these draft grades can offer over whether they will be contributors or distractions. Whether second-career success means loudly demanding our attention or keeping their heads down remains to be seen.

All-Pro Picks MIAMI DOLPHINS

(Grade A)

Headline additions: R1 DeVante Parker, WR, L’ville / R2 Jordan Phillips, NT, Okla / R4 Jamil Douglas, OG, Az St / R5 Bobby McCain, CB, Memphis / R5 Jay Ajayi, RB, Boise / R5 Cedric Thompson, FS, Minn / R5 Tony Lippett, WR, Mich St / UDFA Mike Hull, LB, Penn State

6’3” Parker had 855 yards in just six 2014 games. He snatches everything and is on the cusp of being a superstar receiver. If London-born RB Ajayi’s ‘bone-onbone’ knee works for now, Ryan Tannehill’s a very happy flinger, and he gains another decent minder in Douglas. 6’5” 329 lb DT Jordan will be a handful, although he must be pushed to his potential. McCain’s a ball-hawk future starter; Thompson’s more a project, and it’s not yet clear if Lippett is a WR or CB – a useful quandry. Hull is a short sideline-to-sideline tackler. Matched needs? Check. Usable talent? Check. A couple of steals? Check. Roster versatility? Another 8-8 season seems unlikely. NEW YORK JETS

(Grade A)

R1 Leonard Williams, DE, USC / R2 Devin Smith, WR, Ohio St / R3 Lorenzo Mauldin, OLB, L’ville / R4 Bryce Petty, QB, Baylor

Leonard Williams, an athletic 6’5” 300lb monster, has All-Pro, maybe all-time talent – one of the draft’s marquee players. Smith is 6’0”, fast and a cool R2 WR. Mauldin is a high-character pass-rusher who can also play the run. The Jets traded up one place to secure Petty, so they’re serious about the spread QB with starter upside. They also traded for disgruntled ex-Rams RB Zac Stacy, for a sweep of needs from a pint-sized draft class. CLEVELAND BROWNS

(Grade A-)

Headline additions: R1 Danny Shelton, NT Wash / Cameron Erving, OL, FSU / R2 Nate Orchard, DE, Utah / R3 Duke Johnson, RB, Miami / Xavier Cooper, DT, Wash St / R7 Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, CB, Oregon

12 selections included dominating gap-eater Shelton and TFL-gathering Cooper to improve their hopeless run defense, versatile OL starter Erving, QB-worrying DE Orchard, and RB Johnson, whose firework feet are a big play threat. The quality continued all the way to R7 and injured mega-steal Ekpre-Olomu. A fine draft. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

(Grade B+)

Headline additions: R1 Dante Fowler Jr, OLB, Fla / R2 T.J. Yeldon, RB, ‘Bama / R3 A.J. Cann, OG, S Caro / R5 Rashad Greene, WR, FSU / R6 Michael Bennett, DT, Ohio St / UDFA Nick Marshall, CB (ex-QB), Auburn

Hefty (260 lb) Fowler’s up there with Shane Ray as the top edge rushers available, a certain Pro Bowler. Yeldon has impressed slightly less each year since being a freshman, but Fowler, Yeldon, Cann, Greene, and Bennett (the latter two steals) add up to a lot of players who can contribute immediately. At last! cry Jaguars fans.

In a draft littered with OT-OG converts, Brandon Scherff topped the class... drawing Robert Gallery comparisons PHOTO © JEFFREYBECKERPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

DETROIT LIONS

(Grade B+)

Headline additions: R1 Laken Tomlinson, OG, Duke / R2 Ameer Abdullah, RB, Neb / R3 Alex Carter, CB, Stanford / R4 Gabe Wright, DT, Aub / R5 Michael Burton, FB, Rutgers / R6 Quandre Diggs, CB, Texas / R7 Corey Robinson, OT, S Caro

In a Draft of limited trades, the Lions bought into the mid-rounds, and swapped R1s with the Broncos to add vet OL Manny Ramirez, then chose Tomlinson, the first career-OG of the draft. Big-winged 6’7” OT Robinson was a long-time Gamecock starter. There’s a right-now feel about them. RB Abdullah, forgetten in the GurleyGordon mix, brings character, catches, gameday speed. Wright, Carter, Diggs... there’s no projects here! PITTSBURGH STEELERS

(Grade B+)

Headline additions: R1 Bud Dupree, OLB, Kentucky / R2 Senquez Golson, CB, Miss / R3 Sammie Coates, WR, Aub / R4 Doran Grant, CB, Ohio St / UDFA Reese Dismukes, OL, Aub / BJ Finney, OL, K-State

Troy Polomalu, Ike Taylor, Jason Worilds, all gone, so the Steelers used 6 of 8 picks on D, including athletically superior pass-rusher Dupree, small ball-hawk Golson and quick-twitching trouble-hunter Grant. This draft was no home-run, but OL needs were met with steal UDFAs, including Rimington Award winner Dismukes. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

(Grade B+)

Headline additions: R1 Marcus Peters, CB, Wash / R2 Mitch Morse, OL, Missouri / R3 Chris Conley, WR, Georgia / Steven Nelson, CB, Oregon St / R4 Ramik Wilson, ILB, Georgia / R5 James O’Shaughnessy, TE, Illinois St / UDFA Donatella Luckett, WR, Harding

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The American

Start-Quality SAN DIEGO CHARGERS

(Grade B)

Headline additions: R1 Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisc / R2 Denzel Perryman, ILB, Miami / ...and some other dudes

Perryman is a blue-collar run-stuffer, but this draft’s all about Gordon, who is a game-changer. He came close to breaking Barry Sanders’ single season rushing record, including 408 yards against Nebraska, and has real good receiving skills. Remember how Super Bowllosing QB John Elway became Super Bowl winner with Terrell Davis? That’s why they didn’t trade Philip Rivers. HOUSTON TEXANS

Marcus Mariota: high character, athletic, accurate... but maybe a little on-the-run moxie.

Headline additions: R1 Kevin Johnson, CB, Wake / R2 Benardrick McKinney, ILB, Miss St / R3 Jaelen Strong, WR, Az St / R6 Christian Covington, DT, Rice / UDFA Kurtis Drummond, DS, Mich St

PHOTO © AL CASE, TRAVELJAPANBLOG.COM

Morse is short-armed, Peters was thrown off the Huskies, Nelson attracts penalities, Wilson lacks coverage, and Conley’s... a Star Wars fan. However, Peters’ previous coaches raved about him – maybe he has on-an-island skills alongside the ’tude – and there’s a scrappiness running through Morse, Nelson and the tall, speedy Conley (and hey, what’s wrong with geeks?). Quick-cutters O’Shaughnessy and Luckett could be small-school finds. Don’t go to sleep on this draft – it is a good one. CINCINNATI BENGALS

(Grade B+)

Headline additions: R1 Cedric Ogbuehi, OT, Tex A&M / R2 Jake Fisher, OT, Oregon / R3 Tyler Kroft, TE, Rutgers / Paul Dawson, ILB, TCU / R4 Josh Shaw, DB, USC / R6 Derron Smith, FS, Fresno

There are asterisks here: Ogbuehi’s ACL, Smith’s Hernia, Dawson and Shaw’s character. However, Cincy never did worry so much about those things. Instead, they landed the next generation of starting tackles (with time to get them ready), the best all-round TE in the draft, a worker of an ILB, a cut-price starting DB... And matched need. GREEN BAY PACKERS

(Grade B+)

Headline additions: R1 Damarious Randall, FS, Az St / R2 Quinten Rollins, CB, Miami (OH) / R3 Ty Montgomery, WR, Stanford / R4 Jake Ryan, OLB, Mich / R5 Brett Hundley, QB, UCLA / R6 Aaron Ripkowski, FB, Okla / UDFA Malcolm Agnew, RB, S Illinois / John Crockett, RB, ND St

In Randall and Rollins the Packers have two future starters. Montgomery is a KR threat, but drops too many as a WR. LB Ryan and FB Ripkowski have Packers feel. Some UDFA RBs boast pass-catching skills. There’s good character all over the place. Inconsistent Hundley will build into a No.2 roll. Quietly, this is a nice haul of players.

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(Grade B)

Willowy CB Johnson will lock up one corner very soon, ex-high school QB McKinney may be Brian Cushing’s replacement (and the role fits), and 6’2” 217 lb Strong will return the very cheap R3 investment with tough catches in traffic. Covington is a forgotten man after his 2014 injury, but he is a backfield stuffer. Freebie Drummond was the Big Ten DB of the Year – a steal. NEW YORK GIANTS

(Grade B)

Headline additions: R1 Ereck Flowers, OT, Miami / R2 Landon Collins, SS, ‘Bama / R3 Owamagbe Odighizuwa, DE, UCLA / R5 Mykkele Thompson, S, Texas / R7 Bobby Hart, OG, FSU

6’6” 325lb Flowers played LT, is probably a right-side run blocker here. Underpriced Hart, Odighizuwa, Thompson are nice depth. The Giants traded up to the top of R2 to take fast run-and-pass tackling S Collins (cost R2 + R4). BALTIMORE RAVENS

(Grade B)

Headline additions: R1 Breshad Perriman, WR, C Fla / R2 Maxx Williams, TE, Minn / R3 Carl Davis, DT, Iowa / R4 Za’Darius Smith, DE, Kentucky / Javorius Allen, RB, USC / R6 Darren Waller, WR, GTech

Targets! Perriman is a DB-panicking drive-maker, Williams is a third-generation NFLer who can make big plays, and Waller was a nice-size (6’6”) look-see. Allen could be in just the right system to figure as a receiver. SAN FRANCISCO 49ers

(Grade B-)

Headline additions: R1 Arik Armstead, DT, Oregon / R2 Jaquiski Tartt, SS, Samford / R3 Eli Harold, DE-OLB, Virginia / R4 Blake Bell, TE, Okla / Mike Davis, RB, S Caro / DeAndre Smelter, WR, GTech

Needing D, the 49ers took three early; Harold will be an early contributor, Tartt and 6’7” Armstead may take a shade longer to adjust, but will be long-term starters. Huge-handed Smelter could be real investment. QB-TE Blake ‘Belldozer’ Bell is a goal-line wrinkle. Last 7 selections were 6 offense and a punter. Er... ILB, CB urgency?

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

(Grade B-)

Headline additions: R1 Andrus Peat, OT, Stanford / Stephone Anthony, ILB, Clem / R2 Hau’oli Kikaha, OLB, Wash / R3 Garrett Grayson, QB, Col St / R5 Davis Tull, OLB, Tenn-Chatt / Tyeler Davison, DT, Fresno / UDFA Bobby Richardson, DT, Indiana

Superbowl roster long-gone, many here will stick. Best is big and quick ILB Anthony, but Kikaha led nation in sacks. Grayson’s career trajectory, style equals obvious Brees understudy. Peat, at pick 13, slightly overdrafted, but he’s ready for Brees, not Grayson, as RT, RG, maybe LT. Didn’t address WR, TE needs. Snagged a major freebie in UDFA DT Richardson to improve terrible run-D. DENVER BRONCOS

(Grade B-)

Headline additions: R1 Shane Ray, DE, Missouri / R2 Ty Sambrailo, OT, Col St / R3 Jeﬀ Heuerman, TE, Ohio St / R4 Max Garcia, C, Fla / R7 Trevor Siemian, QB, NW / UDFA Jordan Taylor, WR, Rice

Coach Kubiak drafted JJ Watt, so treat sackmeister Ray’s selection with respect. In this case, I’m more impressed by his football demeanor than his misdemeanor – he’s a wrecker. Sambrailo needs to bulk up a little (6’6” 310) but he’s a genuine LT. Garcia was a must-pick after trading Manny Ramirez. Broncos took three CBs late. Add Siemian to the dogfight to be Manning’s understudy. CAROLINA PANTHERS

(Grade B-)

Headline additions: R1 Shaq Thompson, LB, Wash / R2 Devin Funchess, WR, Mich / R4 Daryl Williams, OL, Ok. / R5 Cam Artis-Payne, RB, Aub

6’4” 232 lb Funchess is a dangerous WR-TE hybrid. Cameron Artis-Payne will soak up some of DeAngelo Williams’ old carries. Shaq Thompson was a reach in R1 and may be a LB-S tweener. Williams was a 3-year starter at OT, probably an OG here. All keepers, but a small draft. TENNESSEE TITANS

(Grade B-)

Headline additions: R1 Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon / R2 Dorial Green-Beckham, WR, Missouri / R3 Jeremiah Poutasi, OG, Utah / R4 Angelo Blackson, DT, Aub / R5 David Cobb, RB, Minn

Mariota: 6’4” 222, smart, fleet of foot, quietly confident and careful, proven. Doesn’t always read the blitz, and didn’t play in prototypical NFL offense, so patience required. He’ll have a good line, with 6’5” 335 lb Poutasi added here. Mariota’s clean off-field rep is offset by 6’5” 235 lbs Green-Beckham, a high school superstar who unraveled in college. Cobb is a surefire contributor. Atlanta Falcons

(Grade B-)

Headline additions: R1 Vic Beasley, OLB, Clem / R2 Jalen Collins, CB, LSU / R3 Tevin Coleman, RB, Indiana / R5 Grady Jarrett, NT, Clem

IF you ignore needs at TE, and an urgent OL, this was a nice draft. LB Beasley is a nightmare for enemy QBs, Collins has the size, speed to be a ten-year starter. If RB Coleman is given a gap, he can break off massive gains, TDs. Good value, as is undertall quick-shift DT Jarrett.

The American

ST LOUIS RAMS

(Grade B-)

Kevin White of WVU, now of Chicago. Expect an instant impact, fantasy fans!

Headline additions: R1 Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia / R2 Rob Havenstein, OT, Wisc / R3 Jamon Brown, OT, L’ville / Sean Mannion, QB, Oregon St / R6 Bud Sasser, WR, Missouri / UDFA Malcolm Brown, RB, Texas.

PHOTO BY BEN QUEEN, COURTESY WVU

If healthy, Gurley’s a franchise rock-pounder. His arrival had Zac Stacy demanding a trade; UDFA RB Brown will also see time. 6’6” QB Mannion will be a fine backup... or more. Havenstein’s a good run-block RT. The Rams took 4 OLs; might have spared more thought for defensive needs, though. A tad one-dimensional.

Bench-Warmers

WASHINGTON REDSKINS

Dorsett’s the kind of pocket-rocket catcher Andrew Luck will exploit mercilessly – wasn’t a need but they couldn’t say no. Smith is like having the same guy on defense. Interesting selection of two Stanford DLs. Parry may be around longer. A stocking-filler draft.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

(Grade B-)

Headline additions: R1 Brandon Scherﬀ, OT, Iowa / R2 Preston Smith, OLB, Miss St / R3 Matt Jones, RB, Fla / R4 Jamison Crowder, WR, Duke / Arie Kouandjio, OG, ‘Bama / R5 Martrell Spaight, OLB, Ark

Washington didn’t do much early at DB, but OL Scherff could anchor the right side for a decade, and Kouandjio is another rushblocking slab of OG. I like the thought of Jones surging forward behind these guys for goallines and third downs. 6’5” 271 lb Smith, a career DE, figures as a big 3-4 OLB here. Potential PR Crowder and SECleading tackle-terror Spaight were nice fillers. OAKLAND RAIDERS

CHICAGO BEARS

Desperately needing defenders, the Bears took just two, and neither excite me. However, Langford is a fast back, Grasu may be the next Roberto Garza, and Kevin White is just manna from heaven for Jay Cutler – 4.35 40, 6’3” and can simply take over games.

Headline additions: R1 Amari Cooper, WR, ‘Bama / R2 Mario Edwards Jr, DT, FSU / R3 Clive Walford, TE, Miami / R7 Dexter McDonald, CB, Kansas / UDFA Josh Harper, WR, Fresno

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

(Grade B-)

Headline additions: R2 Frank Clark, DE, Mich / R3 Tyler Lockett, WR, K-St / R4 Terry Poole, OG, San Diego St / R4 Mark Glowinski, OG, WVU

Matched needs, ignored value. Slot gem WR Lockett (ex-Chief Kevin’s son) separates well. Of two ex-OTs, Glowinski looks like the keeper. Clark, a stud passrusher booted off the Wolverines following a domestic violence arrest, is a risky pick for a draft with no R1. Signing 34-year old ex-Green Beret Nate Boyer as an undrafted free agent doesn’t quite counterbalance that. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

(Grade C+)

Headline additions: R1 Nelson Agholor, WR, USC / R2 Eric Rowe, CB, Utah / R3 Jordan Hicks, OLB, Texas / R6 JaCorey Shepherd, CB, Kansas

Agholor replaces Jeremy Maclin, and the Eagles tripledipped at CB to solve that hole. 6’1” Rowe played CB as a senior, but could answer the call as FS, where he played three years. JaCorey Shepherd plays CB with former-WR savvy. Hicks bleeds football, but gets banged up too

(Grade C)

Headline additions: R1 Kevin White, WR, WVU / R2 Eddie Goldman, DT, FSU / R3 Hroniss Grasu, C, Oregon / R4 Jeremy Langford, RB, Mich St / UDFA Shane Carden, QB, E Caro

(Grade B-)

Cooper was a rare WR finalist for the Heisman, and won the Biletnikoff Award. Had 124 catches... on Alabama! A sure-thing selection. Edwards’ fluctuating weight makes him less of a sure thing. The physical Walford looks like a no.2 TE. Added a host of day 3 LBs who will factor into special teams. UDFA Harper has chain-moving potential that could see him on a gameday roster.

(Grade C)

Headline additions: R1 Phillip Dorsett, WR, Miami / R3 D’Joun Smith, CB, Fla Atl / Henry Anderson, DE, Stanford / R5 David Parry, NT, Stanford / UDFA Donald Celiscar, DB, W Mich

DALLAS COWBOYS

(Grade C-)

Headline additions: R1 Byron Jones, CB, UConn / R2 Randy Gregory, OLB, Neb / R3 Chaz Green, OT, Fla / R4 Damien Wilson, ILB, Minn

often for that R3 pick. They wanted to trade up for Marcus Mariota, but other needs made that too expensive. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

(Grade C+)

Headline additions: R1 Malcom Brown, DT, Texas / R2 Jordan Richards, SS, Stanford / R3 Geneo Grissom, DE, Okla / R4 Trey Flowers, DE, Ark / Tre’ Jackson, OG, FSU / Shaq Mason, C, GTech / R5 Joe Cardona, LS, Navy

11 picks, but Belichick’s crew pretty much obsessed on their D-line early, Brown and Grissom both capable of playing all over the rotation in 2015, and Flowers in the run-halting mix. Then to the O-line, with two runblocking mid-rounders and a long-snapper. MINNESOTA VIKINGS

(Grade C+)

Headline additions: R1 Trae Waynes, CB, Mich St / R2 Eric Kendricks, ILB, UCLA / R3 Danielle Hunter, DE, LSU / R4 T.J. Clemmings, OT, Pitt / R5 Stefon Diggs, WR, Maryland / R6 Tyrus Thompson, OT, Okla

Vikes matched needs. With 10 picks, took 3 OTs: Clemmings is a future starter, Thompson a decent protector. Butkus-winning tackler Kendricks and 4.31-speed Waynes are rock-solid Pro Bowlers. This just doesn’t seem a step-forward draft. In three years’ time this could look like great, but there’s too many projects for now.

I’m concerned. Instinctive standout CB Jones is coming off shoulder surgery. Gregory has rumored mental issues and Dallas didn’t exactly get long second careers out of Spellman or Underwood, plus Gregory was needed due to Greg Hardy’s 10-game suspension. The Cowboys snagged good OL depth in Green, but this draft class has the potential to evaporate. BUFFALO BILLS

(Grade D)

Headline additions: R2 Ronald Darby, CB, FSU / R3 John Miller, OG, L’ville / R5 Karlos Williams, RB, FSU / R6 Tony Steward, OLB, Clem / Nick O’Leary, TE, FSU / R7 Dezmin Lewis, WR, C Ark,

The Bills lost half a draft through past considerations (eg. Sammy Watkins, Bryce Brown), then used their first pick on a CB they didn’t need, took a risky RB, and overspent on a mid-round LB. Classic Buffalo.

Richard L Gale has been a contributor to The American’s sports section for ten years and is a former Editor. He is now helping to bring Halo: Fleet Battles to the tabletop and his unusual twitter mix of wargaming and football can be found @1STandGEEK .

June 2015 49

The American

The Match Game Royal Dornoch 5th Hole PHOTO ©JOHN HASLAM

“Match play is the truest form of golf.” Why do you agree or disagree with this statement? That question ought to be part of the final exam at PGA Tour Qualifying School, says Darren Kilfara.

n the wake of the new-look WGC Cadillac Match Play event, won brilliantly if not always convincingly by Rory McIlroy at Harding Park in early May, I’d like to extol the virtues of match play and also bemoan the reality that many Americans have never considered the above statement, let alone rejected it. Americans are conditioned to believe stroke play is real golf and match play is a betting game involving separate front- and back-nine wagers and double-or-nothing presses. More than 95 percent of all televised golf is conducted at stroke play. The USGA handicapping system creates a scorecardand-pencil mentality in which your performance on every hole must be quantified, even if you only play

50 June 2015

nine holes on a lazy summer evening. Back in the States, “What did you shoot?” is an acceptable question in every clubhouse bar. I used to be like this. My opponent would concede me a meaningless putt, six or eight feet from the hole for a losing bogey, and I’d blithely write a ‘5’ on my card as though that number meant anything. I played an amazing match on the Old Course against a local one-handicapper when I was a student in St. Andrews, and instead of exulting in a thrilling one-up victory and the many excellent shots I made along the way, I chose to remember that I’d shot 71 and broken par for the second time in my life. That number, like the USGA handicapping system as a whole,

utterly fails to account for the relative difficulty of changing conditions: is a 71 on a calm day and a course with receptive greens really more worthy than a 76 on a windy day or an 85 in a hurricane? (At least the British CONGU system sets a Competitive Scratch Score to judge how difficult a course has played on a given day before adjusting your handicap.) I still love competitive stroke play, but I’ve come to love match play even more. Stroke play is fundamentally a lonely, individual game, but match play – even singles match play – is inherently collaborative: you have to play the man as well as the course. The same 20-foot putt should be approached very differently if you have two

The American

Gold score card PHOTO ©ÉAMONN LAWLOR

MATCH PLAY FOR YOU putts to win the hole than if you must make it for a half. I’ve played matches in howling gales where the challenge lay in taking seven shots on a hole to beat my opponent’s eight; on such days “par” is a myth and proper scorekeeping can be embarrassing, but match play makes every shot meaningful. I also love that there are no eagles or triple-bogeys in match play: no one hole can make or ruin your round, and every hole won or lost has equal value. Every so often – usually at the Ryder Cup but occasionally at other marquee events like the Cadillac Match Play – we are reminded how awesome match play can be. Many Americans can’t or won’t absorb that reminder, but as I myself have

discovered, this malady isn’t permanent: you too can go out with a buddy or enter a club match play competition, keep your wallet and writing implements permanently holstered, and experience golf as it was in the beginning and more often ought to be now. You might be surprised how free you’ll feel. US expat Darren Kilfara formerly worked for Golf Digest magazine and is the author of A Golfer’s Education, a memoir of his junior year abroad as a student-golfer at the University of St. Andrews. His latest book, a novel called Do You Want Total War?, is also now available online at Amazon and elsewhere.

number of great clubs in Britain host open events for golfers of varying degrees of ability which involve 36 holes of stroke play qualifying followed by a match play stage (the latter sometimes includes a consolation event for non-qualifiers). Four of the best in Scotland are listed below, and others are available elsewhere; these tend to be very popular, so you may need to wait until next year to enter them, but I’ve had a blast playing in the events at Cruden Bay and Royal Dornoch and would encourage you to look these up and give them a go!

Open Challenge Cup – Cruden Bay, July 7-10 Carnegie Shield – Royal Dornoch, August 9-15 Eden Trophy – St. Andrews, August 10-14 Craw’s Nest Tassie – Carnoustie, September 7-12

June 2015 51

IMAGE ©AL STALEY, COURTESY FORMULA E

The American

Formula E arrives in London By Daniel M Byway

here has always been talk of a Formula One race with the iconic backdrop of London. But it’s actually the fledgling electric-based series, Formula E, that’s got there first. It may not have the glitz, glamor and fame of Formula One, but Formula E is every bit as technically innovative and has all the elements necessary to light up the capital when it stages its inaugural London ePrix in Battersea Park this June. Formula E is the world’s first single-seater, fully-electric category – a sign of the motor industry’s shift towards electrical over fuel powered vehicles. The Championship’s first season began back in September 2014 with a race around China’s Olympic Stadium in Beijing, and the series has since seen events in Malaysia, Uruguay, Argentina, two rounds in the USA (Miami and Long Beach), and a race around the

52 June 2015

famed Monaco track. With races in Berlin and Moscow also scheduled, London’s two rounds represent the season finale, and promise to play host to a great weekend on June 27th and 28th. Formula E may not have headline names like Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso, but followers of motorsport will likely know most of the drivers, and some of the legendary teams. Two US teams are present on this season’s grid, in the form of Andretti Formula E, led by CART legend Michael Andretti, and Dragon Racing, owned by Jay Penske of IndyCar ownership fame. The Andretti team in particular has fielded cars for American drivers Scott Speed and Marco Andretti this season, as well as Matthew Brabham (American/ Australian), grandson of the three time F1 world champion Jack

Brabham. Among other drivers in the series, Formula One quality racers including Jean-Eric Vergne, Lucas di Grassi, Nelson Piquet Jr, Sebastian Buemi, Jarno Trulli and Nick Heidfeld have all featured this season, proving what a competitive grid Formula E has to offer. Formula E may not have the evocative sounds of motorsports with internal-combustion engines, but the cars look spectacular, and the racing is feisty. The 2.922km anti-clockwise Battersea Park circuit should, according to British driver Sam Bird, offer spectators “fast racing with plenty of action and overtaking.” With the US Embassy being constructed just across the way in Nine Elms, perhaps June is the perfect time to scout out the area with a well-timed ‘Business Trip’ to Battersea?

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The American

Drew Galloway talks to Josh Modaberi

rew Galloway began wrestling when he was just 15 years old but his love for the sport began way before then. “It’s all I ever wanted to do, I can’t even pinpoint a time where I wanted to be a wrestler, I just knew wrestling is what I was going to do my entire life,” Galloway exclusively told The American. “I was looking for wrestling schools when I was 11-years-old, and finally when I was 15 my mum agreed to let me go to Portsmouth which is 12 hours from where I lived in Ayr, Scotland. “That’s when my training began and about a year later we began the independent Scottish wrestling scene, which has evolved into something incredible with Insane Championship Wrestling.” Insane Championship wrestling is the premier wrestling promotion in Scotland and have had a number of tours of the UK. Galloway is the company’s champion and he can’t believe how far it has come. “When I made my return to ICW and the lights came on and I pulled the hood back, I looked around and I couldn’t believe the building was

54 June 2015

packed with 1,500 people.” he continued. “The original ICW documentary on the BBC, they would have been happy with a couple of 100,000 views and they ended up breaking 1.3 million. Everybody involved was blown away.” Galloway really made a name for himself when he signed for the WWE alongside two other British stars, Ireland’s Sheamus and England’s Wade Barrett. “I will never forget it, I was in the ring with all of the agents and stuff and John Laurinaitis who was head of talent relations at the time asked me to take a walk with him,” the Scottish grappler said, “and he told me he was thinking about taking me over to America, and I replied “I’m thinking about letting you”, it was pretty unbelievable. “I then found out Wade had just signed as well, we then spoke to Sheamus who hadn’t spoken to John yet so we told him to go talk to him and he offered Sheamus a deal as well. “None of us could believe what had just happened and we went and celebrated straight away by having a beer at the concession stand in the arena.” WWE’s chairman Vince McMahon cut a promo that Drew will never forget, naming Drew as ‘The Chosen One’ and a future World

Champion. However the wrestler from Ayr believes he still has something to prove to the fans as to what Vince saw in him. “I couldn’t process it, I didn’t know it was going to happen, “he added. “I got told Vince was going to go out before me when I was in the gorilla position to do a promo and I watched from behind the curtain thinking, what the heck is going on. “Something like that had never happened before and is never going to happen again. When people look back in history and see him endorse me it was just unbelievable. When the guy who has created the modern day wrestling scene endorses you like, it’s amazing. “Since leaving WWE the reputation I’ve built on my own back, and now being in TNA, hopefully I’m showing the world what Vince saw in me is still there and was just lying dormant but I’m making sure it comes out now and I’m not going to be happy until I’m the best wrestler in the entire world.” Drew made his TNA debut in his home country of Scotland during the company’s annual UK tour and he has made a real impact in the few months he has been with TNA stepping up to MVP and the BDC by bringing in his own group of wrestlers, The Rising. When asked what goals Drew has in TNA his answer is simply to win the World Title.

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Grampian Houston Association Secretary: Bill Neish, 01224 484720, wineish@sky.com 5 Cairncry Avenue, Aberdeen, AB16 5DS

Royal National Lifeboat Institution Head Office, West Quay Road, Poole BH15 1HZ 0845 045 6999 www.rnli.org.uk

International Community Church (Interdenom.) Pastor: Rick Andrew 01932 571820 Chertsey Hall, Heriot Road, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 9DR Office: 13 London Street, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 8AP churchoffice@icc-uk.org www.icc-uk.org

The Royal Oak Foundation Sean Sawyer, 35 West 35th Street #1200, New York NY 10001-2205, USA 212- 480-2889 or (800) 913-6565 ssawyer@royal-oak.org www.royal-oak.org

Junior League of London President: Suzy Bibko; Office Admin: Ruth Linton CAN Mezzanine , 49-51 East Road , London N1 6AH Tel: 020 7499 8159 jrleague@jll.org.uk www.jll.org.uk Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation 19 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT. Tel: 020 7713 2030 info@jdrf.org.uk www.jdrf.org.uk Liberal Jewish Synagogue 28 St John’s Wood Road, London NW8 7HA Services 6.45pm Fri., 11am Sat. First Friday each month service is 7pm with a Chavurah Supper. Please bring non-meat food dish to share. 020 7286 5181 ljs@ljs.org

St Andrew’s Lutheran Church Serving Americans since 1960. Whitby Road & Queens Walk, Ruislip, West London. Services: 11 am. 020 8845 4242 pastorvan43@hotmail.com www.standrewslutheran.co.uk, www.lutheran.co.uk T.R.A.C.E. P.W. Reuniting children with GI fathers and their families. Norma Jean Clarke-McCloud 29 Connaught Avenue, Enfield EN1 3BE normajean78@hotmail.com www.tracepw.org

Lions Club International Lakenheath & District 105EA, 15 Highfields Drive, Lakenheath, Suffolk IP27 9EH. Tel 01842 860752 www.lionsclubs.org

United Nations Association, Westminster Chairman: David Wardrop 61 Sedlescombe Road, London SW6 1RE 0207 385 6738 info@unawestminster.org.uk www.unawestminster.org.uk www.wethepeoples.org.uk

St Anne’s Lutheran Church stannes.stagnes@gmail.com www.stanneslutheranchurch.org.uk

USA Girl Scouts Overseas – North Atlantic gsmembership@usagso-na.org www.usagso-na.org

Methodist Central Hall Westminster, London SW1H 9NH 020 7654 3809, church@mchw.org.uk www.methodist-central-hall.org.uk North Am. Friends of Chawton House Library US Office: 824 Roosevelt Trail, #130, Windham, ME 04062 +1.207 892 4358 UK Office: Chawton House Library, Chawton, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1SJ 01420 541010 www.chawtonhouse.org

SOCIAL American Club of Hertfordshire President: Lauryn Awbrey 63-65 New Road, Welwyn, Herts AL6 0AL 01582 624823 amclubherts@aol.com American Expats of the Northwest of England The Ruskin Rooms, Drury Lane, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 6HA. expatsnw@gmail.com

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American Professional Women in London Rebecca Lammers, Flat 9 Hanover Court, 5 Stean Street, London, E8 4ED 075 3393 5064 abwinlondon@gmail.com www.meetup.com/American-Business-Women-inLondon American Society in London c/o The English Speaking Union 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5ED info@americansocietyuk.com 020 7539 3400 American Stamp Club of Great Britain Chapter 67 of the American Philatelic Society. Hon. Publicity Secretary: Stephen T. Taylor 5 Glenbuck Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6BS. 020 8390 9357 AWBS International Women’s Club [formerly American Women of Berkshire & Surrey] PO Box 10, Virginia Water, Surrey GU25 4YP. www.awbs.org.uk info@awbs.org.uk American Women of Surrey PO Box 185, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3YJ. www.awsurrey.org The American Women’s Club of Dublin P.O. Box 2545, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 IRELAND www.awcd.net awcdmembers@gmail.com American Women’s Club of London 68 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3LQ. 020 7589 8292 awc@awclondon.org www.awclondon.org

Canadians & Americans in Southern England 023 9241 3881 contactcase@casecommunity.com Canadian Women’s Club 1 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 4AB Tues–Thurs 10.30-3.30 0207 258 6344 info@canadianwomenlondon.org www.canadianwomenlondon.org

New Neighbours Diana Parker, Rosemary Cottage, Rookshill, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 4HZ. 01923 772185

Chilterns American Women’s Club PO Box 445, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 8YU membership@cawc.co.uk www.cawc.co.uk

North American Connection (West Midlands) PO Box 10543, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands. B93 8ZY 0870 720 0663 info@naconnect.com www.naconnect.com

Colonial Dames of America Chapter XI London. President Anne K Brewster: AnneBrewster@hotmail.com

Petroleum Women’s Club of London www.pwc-london.co.uk

Daughters of the American Revolution Walter Hines Page Chapter Diana Frances Diggines, Regent dardiana@hotmail.co.uk www.dar.org

Petroleum Women’s Club of Scotland pwcscotland@yahoo.co.uk www.pwcos.com Pilgrims of Great Britain Allington Castle, Maidstone, Kent M16 0NB. 01622 606404 sec@pilgrimsociety.org

The East Anglia American Club 49 Horsham Close, Haverhill, Suffolk CB9 7HN 01440 766 967 eaacexpats@karej.co.uk English-Speaking Union Director-General: Jane Easton Dartmouth House, 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5ED. Tel: 020 7529 1550 esu@esu.org Hampstead Women’s Club President - Betsy Lynch. Tel: 020 7435 2226 email president@hwcinlondon.co.uk www.hwcinlondon.co.uk

Limerick International Women’s Organisation www.limerickiwo.com limerickiwo@live.ie

High Twelve International, Inc. Arnold Page High Twelve Club 298 Secretary, Darrell C. Russell 01638 715764 russelld130@btinternet.com

Anglian Shrine Club Recorder/Secretary: Allan David Warnes “Koloma House”, Warren Avenue, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NP 01328 862001, 07860187333, VOIP 08714084364 Skype batman4499adw allan@allandavidwarnes.co.uk www.anglianshrineclub.co.uk

Northwood Area Women’s Club c/o St John’s UR Church, Hallowell Road, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 1DN 01932-830295 info@northwoodareawomensclub.co.uk www.northwoodareawomensclub.co.uk

Daughters of the American Revolution St James’s Chapter Mrs Natalie Ward, 01379 871422 nattyward@aol.com or UKDARStJames@aol.com http://mysite.verizon.net/jean.sutton/main.htm

American Women’s Club of Central Scotland P.O. Box 231, 44-46 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4BF info@awccs.org www.awccs.org

Americans in Bristol Tim Ellis 07572 342483 Twitter @americansinbris americansinbristol@yahoo.com www.facebook.com/groups/USEXPATSINBRISTOL

Membership is £10 per month. info@knightsbridge-village.com www.knightsbridge-village.com

The Inter-Cultural Society of London Contact: Dr Kenneth Reed, 01753 892698, kjreed37@yahoo.co.uk ticsl.org Kensington & Chelsea Men’s Club John Rickus, 70 Flood St., Chelsea, London SW3 5TE. (home): 020 7349 0680 (office): 020 7753 2253 johnrickus@aol.com

Association of American Women of Aberdeen PO Box 11952, Westhill, Aberdeen, AB13 0BW email via website www.awaaberdeen.org

kcwc (was Kensington & Chelsea Women’s Club) President: Anna Groot, president@kcwc.org.uk Membership: potential@kcwc.org.uk www.kcwc.org.uk Facebook /kcwc.kcwc Twitter @kcwc_womensclub

British Association of American Square Dance Clubs Patricia Connett-Woodcock, 87 Brabazon Road, Heston, Middlesex TW5 9LL, 020 8897 0723 tricia_baasdc@btinternet.com www.squaredancing.co.uk

Knightsbridge Village Private invitation-only network for discerning mothers in Knightsbridge, Kensington and surrounding areas. For a limited period The American’s readers are invited to join online with this key: american2014.

Propeller Club of the United States – London, England propellerclubhq.com Royal Society of St George Enterprise House, 10 Church Hill, Loughton, Essex IG10 1LA. +44 (0) 20 3225 5011 info@royalsocietyofstgeorge.com www.royalsocietyofstgeorge.com Order of the Eastern Star #45 Washington Jurisdiction District #9, RAF Lakenheath sogb45@yahoo.com elizabeth.jackson.tripod.com/sogb St John’s Wood Women’s Club membership@sjwwc.org www.sjwwc.org Thames Valley American Women’s Club PO Box 1687, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 8XT. 01628 632683 membership@tvawc.com www.tvawc.com UK Panhellenic Association Contact Susan Woolf, 10 Coniston Court, High St. Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex HA1 3LP. 020 8864 0294 susanrwoolf@hotmail.com W.E.B. DuBois Consistory #116 Northern Jurisdiction, Valley of London, England, Orient of Europe, Cell: 0776-873-8030 mjack36480@aol.com

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MILITARY 290 Foundation (UK Confederate Navy memorial) Ian Dewar, President, 2 Thompson Drive, Middleton on the Wolds, East Riding, Yorkshire YO25 9TX 01377 217 442 290admin@onetel.com sites.google.com/site/290foundation

AFJROTC 073 Lakenheath High School. Tel: 01638 525603 Air Force Sergeants Association UK POC Timothy W. Litherland CMSgt, USAF (ret). Chapters at RAFs Alconbury, Croughton, Lakenheath, Menwith Hill and Mildenhall. timothy.litherland@outlook.com www.hqafsa.org American Legion London Post 1 Adjutant: Christopher Shea, 10 Ivel Bridge Road, Biggleswade, Befordshire SG18 0AB 07501-062-882 info@amlegionpost1london.org.uk www.amlegionpost1london.org.uk

Western UK Retiree Association President: R. Jim Barber, MSgt (USAF), Ret 01280 708182

EDUCATIONAL ACS International Schools ACS Cobham International School, Heywood, www.acs-england.co.uk AFJROTC 20021 Principal.AlconburyHS@eu.dodea.edu Alconbury Middle/High School RAF Alconbury, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE17 1PJ, UK. www.alco-hs.eu.dodea.edu AlconburyHS.Principal@eu.dodea.edu

Society of American Military Engineers (UK) UK address: Box 763, USAFE Construction Directorate: 86 Blenheim Crescent, West Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 7HL London Post. President: W. Allan Clarke. Secretary: Capt. Gary Chesley. Membership Chairman, Mr. Jim Bizier.

American Institute for Foreign Study 37 Queensgate, London SW7 5HR 020 7581 7300, www.aifs.co.uk info@aifs.co.uk American School in London 1 Waverley Place, London NW8 0NP 020 7449 1200, www.asl.org admissions@asl.org

US Army Reserve 2nd Hospital Center 7 Lynton Close, Ely, Cambs, CB6 1DJ. Tel: 01353 2168 Commander: Major Glenda Day.

Brookwood American Cemetery The American Battle Monuments Commission Superintendant: Craig Rahanian. 01483 473237 Brookwood, Woking, Surrey GU24 0BL www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/ brookwood-american-cemetery

American School of Aberdeen Craigton Road, Cults, Aberdeen. 01224 861068 / 868927.

US Air Force Recruiting Office Bldg 239 Room 139, RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk IP28 8NF 01638-54-4942/1566 phillip.guffa@mildenhall.af.mil

Commander in Chief, US Naval Forces Europe US Naval Forces Europe-Africa - US Sixth Fleet www.c6f.navy.mil, CNE-C6FPAO@eu.navy.mil Eighth Air Force Historical Society Gordon Richards/Michelle Strefford UK Office, The Croft, 26 Chapelwent Road, Haverhill, Suffolk CB9 9SD, 01440 704014 www.8thafhs.org Friends of the Eighth Newsletter (FOTE News) Chairman: Ron Mackay, 90 Elton Road, Sandbach, Cheshire, CW11 3NF, 01270 767669

58 June 2015

Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Commander: Ernest Paolucci, 00 33 (0)1.42.50.96.34 24, rue Gerbert, 75015 Paris, France

Reserve Officers Association London Col. B.V. Balch, USAR, 72 Westmoreland Road, Barnes, London SW13 9RY memberservices@roa.org www.roa.org

British Patton Historical Society Kenn Oultram 01606 891303

Joint RAF Alconbury/Molesworth Retiree Affairs Office 423, ABG/RAO, Unit 5623, RAF Alconbury, Huntingdon, Cambs., PE28 4DE, rao@alconbury.af.mil 01480 843364 (Tues only 10:30-14:30)

Marine Corps League Detachment 1088, London, England. Commandant Mike Allen, Creek Cottage, 2 Pednormead End, Old Chesham, Buckinghamshire HP5 2JS detachment1088@mcl-london-uk.org www.mcl-london-uk.org

Navy League of the United States, United Kingdom Council Council President: Steven G. Franck steven.franck@googlemail.com www.navyleague.org

Bentwaters/Woodbridge Retirees’ Association President: Wylie Moore. 2 Coldfair Close, Knodishall, Saxmundham, Suffolk, IP17 1UN. 01728 830281

USNA Alumni Association UK Chapter Pres: LCDR Tim Fox ’97, timfox97@hotmail.com Vice Pres: Miguel Sierra ’90, mrsierra@chevron.com M’ship: Bart O’Brien ’98, bartonobrien2@yahoo.com Secretary: Matt Horan ’87, matthoran@btinternet.com

Military Officers’ Association of America www.moaa.org msc@moaa.org

American Overseas Memorial Day Association To remember and honor the memory of those who gave their lives in World War I and II, whose final resting places are in Europe. info@aomda.com, aomda.com

Madingley American Cemetery Cambridge The American Battle Monuments Commission Madingley Road, Coton, Cambridge CB23 7PH 01954-210350 www.madingleyamericancemetery.info damian.lappin@madingleyamericancemetery.info

Joint RAF Mildenhall/Lakenheath Retiree Affairs Office Co-Directors Dick Good & Jack Kramer Unit 8965, Box 30, RAF Mildenhall, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, IP28 8NF 01638 542039 rao1@us.af.mil

Retired Affairs Office, RAF Alconbury Serving Central England POC: Rex Keegan Alt. POC: Mike Depasquale 423 SVS/RAO, Unit 5585, Box 100, RAF Alconbury, Huntingdon, Cambs PE28 4DA. 01480 84 3364/3557 Office Hours: Tuesday and Friday, 10:30am–2:30pm RAO@Alconbury.af.mil. Emergency no. 07986 887905

Benjamin Franklin House 36 Craven Street, London WC2N 5NF. 020 7839 2006 info@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Boston University – London Graduate Programs Office 43 Harrington Gardens, London SW7 4JU. 020 7244 6255, www.bu.edu/london

2nd Air Division Memorial Library The Forum, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1AW 01603 774747 www.2ndair.org.uk 2admemorial.lib@norfolk.gov.uk

British American Educational Foundation Laurel Zimmermann, Executive Director BAEF, 520 Summit Avenue, Oradell, NJ 07649 USA (201) 2614438 www.baef.org

USAF Retiree Activities Office Director: Paul G Gumbert, CMSgt (USAF), Ret 422 ABG/CVR, Unit 5855, PSC 50, Box 3 RAF Croughton, Northants NN13 5XP 01280 708182 422abg.rao@croughton.af.mil

BUNAC Student Exchange Employment Program - Director: Callum Kennedy, 16 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0QH. 020 7251 3472 www.bunac.org enquiries@bunac.org.uk

US Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) UK Chapter President: Allison Bennett, bennett.ac@gmail.com Facebook: Kings Point Alumni - London/United Kingdom

Butler University, Institute for Study Abroad 21 Pembridge Gardens, London W2 4EB 020 7792 8751 www.ifsa-butler.org/england-overview.html

The American

Centre Academy London 92 St John’s Hill, Battersea, London SW11 1SH Tel: 02077382344, info@centreacademy.net www.centreacademy.net

Harlaxton College UK Campus, University of Evansville, Harlaxton Manor, Grantham, Lincs. NG32 1AG. 01476 403000 harlaxton.ac.uk. Huron University USA in London 46-47 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 4JP Tel +44 (0) 20 7636 5667 folu@huron.ac.uk www.huron.ac.uk

Centre Academy East Anglia Church Rd, Brettenham, Ipswich, Suffolk IP7 7QR Tel: 01449736404 admin@centreacademy.net www.centreacademy.net

Institute for the Study of the Americas Director: Professor James Dunkerley. Tel 020 7862 8879 americas@sas.ac.uk www.americas.sas.ac.uk

Central Bureau for Educational Visits Director: Peter Upton, The British Council , 10 Spring Gardens, London SW1A 2BN, 020 7389 4004. Wales 029 2039 7346. Scotland 0131 447 8024. centralbureau@britishcouncil.org

International School of Aberdeen 296 North Deeside Rd, Milltimber, Aberdeen, AB13 0AB 01224 732267 admin@isa.aberdeen.sch.uk www.isa.aberdeen.sch.uk

Council on International Educational Exchange Dr. Michael Woolf, 52 Portland Street, London WIV 1JQ Tel 020 7478 2000 www.ciee.org contact@ciee.org

International School of London 139 Gunnersbury Avenue, London W3 8LG. 020 8992 5823, mail@ISLschools.org www.islschools.org

Ditchley Foundation Ditchley Park, Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxon OX7 4ER Tel 01608 677346 www.ditchley.co.uk info@ditchley.co.uk

International School of London in Surrey Old Woking Road, Woking GU22 8HY, 01483 750409, www.islsurrey.com mail@islsurrey.com

Dwight School London Formerly North London International School 6 Friem Barnet Lane, London N11 3LX 020 8920 0600 vrose@dwightlondon.org www.dwightlondon.org

Ithaca College London Centre 35 Harrington Gardens, London SW7. Tel. 020 7370 1166 www.ithaca.edu/london bsheasgreen@ithacalondon.co.uk

European Council of International Schools Executive Director: Jean K Vahey Fourth Floor, 146 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9TR 020 7824 7040 www.ecis.org ecis@ecis.org

Marymount International School, London Headmistress: Ms Sarah Gallagher George Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT2 7PE 020 8949 0571 info@marymountlondon.com www.marymountlondon.com

European-Atlantic Group PO Box 37431, London N3 2XP 020 8632 9253 justinglass@btinternet.com www.eag.org.uk

Missouri London Study Abroad Program 32 Harrington Gardens, London SW7 4JU. 020 7373 7953. web_office@umsl.edu www.umsl.edu/services/cis/

Florida State University London Study Centre Administrative Director: Kathleen Paul 99 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3LH. 020 7813 3233 intprog1@admin.fsu.edu www.international.fsu.edu/london Fordham University London Centre Academic Coordinator: Sabina Antal 23 Kensington Square, London W8 5HQ 020 7937 5023 londoncentre@fordham.edu www.fordham.edu Fulbright (US-UK Educational) Commission Dir. of Advisory Service: Lauren Welch Battersea Power Station, 188 Kirtling Street, London SW8 5BN 020 7498 4010 www.fulbright.co.uk Halcyon London International School Co-educational International Baccalaureate (IB). 33 Seymour Place, London W1H 5AU +44 (0)20 7258 1169 , hello@halcyonschool.com halcyonschool.com

Regent’s University London Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NS. 020 7486 9605. www.regents.ac.uk exrel@regents.ac.uk

Richmond, The American International University in London Queen’s Road, Richmond-upon Thames TW10 6JP Tel: +44 20 8332 9000, enroll@richmond.ac.uk www.richmond.ac.uk Schiller International University Royal Waterloo House, 51-55 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8TX. Tel. 020 7928 1372 www.schillerlondon.ac.uk admissions@schillerlondon.ac.uk Schiller International, Wickham Court School Layhams Road, West Wickham, Kent BR4 9HW. Tel 0208 777 2942, Wickham@schillerintschool.com www.wickhamcourt.org.uk

Sotheby’s Institute of Art Postgraduate Art studies, plus day /evening courses 30 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3EE Tel: 0207 462 3232, info@sothebysinstitute.com www.sothebysinstitute.com Southbank International Schools Kensington and Hampstead for 3-11 year olds; Westminster campuses for 11-18 year olds. 020 7243 3803, admissions@southbank.org www.southbank.org Syracuse University London Program Faraday House, 48-51 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AE, sulondon.syr.edu TASIS England, American School Coldharbour Lane, Thorpe, Nr. Egham, Surrey TW20 8TE. 01932 565252, england.tasis.com ukadmissions@tasisengland.org UKCISA - Council for International Education 9-17 St. Albans Place, London N1 0NX 020 7354 5210 www.ukcisa.org.uk University of Notre Dame London Program 1 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG 020 7484 7811, london@nd.edu http://international.nd.edu/about/notre-dameglobal-gateways/london-global-gateway Warnborough University International Office, Friars House, London SE1 8HB. Tel 020 7922 1200 www.warnborough.edu admin@warnborough.edu Webster Graduate Studies Center Regent’s College, Regent’s Park, Inner Circle, London NW1 4NS, UK. 020 7487 7505, webster@regents.ac.uk www.webster.ac.uk Wroxton College Study Abroad with Fairleigh Dickinson University, Wroxton, Nr. Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 6PX 01295 730551, www.fdu.edu admin@wroxton-college.ac.uk

ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS Alliant International University (formerly United States International University) England Chapter Alumni Association Chapter President: Eric CK Chan chane@regents.ac.uk c/o Regents College London, Inner Circle, Regents Park, London, UK. www.alliant.edu Amherst College Bob Reichert, RAreichert26b@aol.com Andover/Abbot Association of London Jeffrey Hedges ‘71, President 07968 513 631, hedgeslon@hotmail.com Association of MBAs Leo Stemp, Events Administrator Tel 020 7837 3375 (ext. 223), l.stemp@mba.org.uk

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Babson College Frank de Jongh Swemer, 020 7932 7514 babson.alumni@btinternet.com Barnard College Club Hiromi Stone, President. 0207 935 3981, barnardclubgb@yahoo.co.uk Berkeley Club of London Geoff Kertesz berkeleyclublondon@gmail.com http://international.berkeley.edu/LondonClub www.facebook.com groups/223876564344656/ www.linkedin.com/groups/Berkeley-ClubLondon-4186104 Boston College Alumni Club UK Craig Zematis, President +44 7717 878968 BCalumniclub@gmail.com www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/BTN/cpages/ chapters/home.jsp?chapter=41&org=BTN Boston University Alumni Association of the UK Will Straughn, Snr International Development Officer, University Development and Alumni Relations, 43 Harrington Gardens, Kensington, London SW7 4JU 020 7244 2908 020 7373 7411 bstraugh@bu.edu Brandeis Alumni Club of Great Britain Joan Bovarnick, President http://alumni.brandeis.edu office@alumni.brandeis.edu Brown University Club of the United Kingdom President: Tugba Erem. Communication: Patrick Attie Alumni Club & Liaison: Vanessa Van Hoof Brown Club UK, Box 57100, London, EC1P 1RB contact@brownuk.org www.brownuk.org Bryn Mawr Club Lady Quinton, President. Wendy Tiffin, Secretary/Treasurer, 52 Lansdowne Gardens, London SW8 2EF wendytif@ukgateway.net Claremont Colleges Alumni in London Hadley Beeman, hadley_beeman@alumni.cmc.edu Colgate Club of London Stephen W Solomon â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;76, President 0207 349 0738 swsolomon@hotmail.com Columbia Business School Alumni Club of London 6 Petersham Mews, London SW7 5NR www.cbsclublondon.org londonadmin@gsb.columbia.edu Columbia University Club of London london@alumniclubs.columbia.edu www.alumniclubs.columbia.edu/london Cornell Club of London nmt4@cornell.edu www.alumni.cornell.edu/orgs/int/London Dartmouth College Club of London alumni.dartmouth.edu www.dartmouth.org

60 June 2015

Delta Kappa Gamma Society International sandra.blacker@outlook.com,www.dkggb.org.uk

NYU Alumni Club in London Jodi Ekelchik, President alumni.london@nyu.edu alumni.nyu.edu

Delta Sigma Pi Business Fraternity London Alumni Chapter. Ashok Arora, P O Box 1110, London W3 7ZB 020 8423 8231, bertela@yahoo.com www.dspnet.org

NYU STERN UK Alumni Club www.stern.nyu.edu/portal-partners/alumni sternukalumniclub@hotmail.com fjrodrgo@yahoo.com

Delta Zeta International Sorority Alumna Club Sunny Eades 01543 490 312 SunnyEades@aol.com www.deltazeta.org

Ohio University Alumni UK & Ireland Frank Madden, 01753 855 360 frank@madant.demon.co.uk www.ohioalumni.org

Duke University Club of England rpalany@gmail.com, a.sagar@promemoriauk.com www.dukealumni.com/alumni-communities/ regional-programs/groups/london

Penn Alumni Club of the UK w ww.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/UPN/cpages/ home.jsp?chapter=4&org=UPN pennalumniuk@gmail.com

Emory University Alumni Chapter of the UK Matthew Williams, Chapter Leader 079 8451 4119, matthew.eric.williams@gmail.com www.alumni.emory.edu

Penn State Alumni Association pennstatelondon@gmail.com www.alumni.psu.edu

Georgetown Alumni Club Alexa Fernandez, GeorgetownLondon@Yahoo.com UKHoyas@gmail.com , alumni.georgetown.edu

The London Association of Phi Beta Kappa phibetakappalondon@gmail.com www.pbkldn.org www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=5117368 @phibetakappaldn

Gettysburg College Alumni London Britt-Karin Oliver, brittkarin@aol.com alumni@gettysburg.edu www.gettysburg.edu/alumni2

Princeton Association (UK) membership@princeton.org.uk princeton.org.uk

Harvard Business School Club of London admin@hbsa.org.uk www.hbsa.org.uk

Rice Alumni of London Kathy Wang 07912 560 177 a lumni.rice.edu kathyw@alumni.rice.edu, suzanne.boue@rice.edu

Harvard Club of the United Kingdom president@hcuk.org, membership@hcuk.org www.hcuk.org Indiana University Alumni club of England ukhoosiers@gmail.com www.alumni.indiana.edu/clubs/england

Skidmore College Alumni Club, London alumni.affairs@skidmore.edu w ww.skidmore.edu/alumni www.facebook.com/SkidmoreCollegeAlumni

KKG London Alumnae Association londonalumni.kkg@gmail.com w ww.kappakappagamma.org

Smith College Club of London smithclubgb@gmail.com www.smithclubgb.org

LMU Loyola Marymount Alumni Club London Alumni Relations: heather.wells@lmu.edu 310.338.4574 http://alumni.lmu.edu

Stanford Business School Alumni Assn. UK alumni@gsb.stanford.edu alumni-gsb.stanford.edu/get/page/groups/ overview/?group_id=0038990048

Marymount University Alumni UK Chapter President: Mrs Suzanne Tapley, 35 Park Mansions, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7QT. 020 7581 3742 www.marymount.edu/alumni MIT Club of Great Britain reenan@alum.mit.edu greatbritain.alumclub.mit.edu Mount Holyoke Club of Britain mhcbritain@gmail.com sites.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/wp/ukclub Notre Dame Club of London ndlondon@alumni.nd.edu http://london.undclub.org/

Syracuse University Alumni UK SUalumniUK@syr.edu sulondon.syr.edu/about/sualumniuk.html www.facebook.com/SUajlumniUK Texas Tech Alumni Association - London Chapter Scott Dewar 077754 35877 sdewar2@gmail.com www.texastechalumni.org/chapters Texas Exes UK (UKTE) England: Carra Kane 0778 660 7534 carrakane@alumni.utexas.net Scotland: Corey Cripe coreycripe@gmail.com www.fornogoodreason.com/UKTEMain.htm

The American

Texas A&M Club London london@aggienetwork.com www.aggienetwork.com/club-page/londn The John Adams Society johnadamssociety@gmail.com www.johnadamssociety.co.uk Tufts - London Tufts Alliance tuftsalumni.org Londontuftsalliance@yahoo.com UConn Alumni Association uconnalumni.com UnitedKingdom@UConnAlumni.com UMass Alumni Club UK President, Renu Singh, renu.singh@alumni.lse.ac.uk umassalumni.com University of California 020 7079 0567 london.universityofcalifornia.edu alumni@californiahouse.org.uk University of Chicago Alumni Association rupalyp@gmail.com, w ww.uchicagouk.org University of Chicago Booth Alumni Association President: hbunuan@chicagobooth.edu www.chicagobooth.edu/alumni/clubs/uk University of Colorado Alumni alumni.colorado.edu/cu-in-london allyson.frusciano@colorado.edu University of Georgia Alumni Association 07919 057 538 nealjohnsonuk@yahoo.com www.alumni.uga.edu/alumni/index.php/site/ chapters/london_chapter

US Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) Alumni UK Chapter www.usmma.edu/alumni bennett.ac@gmail.com Facebook: Kings Point Alumni - London/United Kingdom USNA Alumni Association, UK Chapter President: Tim Fox ‘97 timfox97@hotmail.com Facebook - USNA Alumni Association, UK Chapter Vassar College Club Sara Hebblethwaite, President 020 8788 6910 contact@vassarclubuk.org www.vassarclubuk.org Warnborough Worldwide Alumni Association 01227 762 107 www.wwaa.info/wwaa.htm admissions@warnborough.edu Washington University UK Alumni Club Steven Leof, steven@leof.co.uk alumni.wustl.edu/Community/Pages/London.aspx www.facebook.com/groups/WUSTLLondon Wellesley College Club www.wellesley.edu/alumnae/groups/clubs/intlclubs/ wellesley_uk_club WCLondon@alum.wellesley.edu Wharton Alumni Club of the UK 020-7447-8800 www.whartonclubuk.net Williams Club of Great Britain Ethan Kline: ethankline@gmail.com, alumni. relations@williams.edu, alumni.williams.edu Yale Club of London President, president@yale.org.uk Secretary secretary@yale.org.uk www.yale.org.uk

University of Illinois Alumni Club of the UK Amy Barklam BUS 1994, President, 07796 193 466 amybarklam@msn.com www.uialumninetwork.org

Zeta Tau Alpha Alumnae Kristin Morgan 07812 580949 kristinamorgan@gmail.com www.zetataualpha.org

University of North Carolina Alumni Club unclondoncochairs@googlegroups.com alumni.unc.edu

CIVIL WAR SOCIETIES

University of Michigan Alumni Association 0788-784-0941, jesscobb@yahoo.com alumni.umich.edu University of Rochester/Simon School UK Alumni Association Julie Bonne, 0118-956-5052, alumni@rochester.edu julie_bonne@yahoo.com, www.rochester.edu/alumni

American Civil War Round Table (UK) Civil War historical soc., sandra-bishop@hotmail.com www.americancivilwar.org.uk Southern Skirmish Association (SoSkan) The oldest American Civil War Re-enacting Society outside the USA. membership@soskan.co.uk www.soskan.co.uk

ARTS

University of Southern California, USC Alumni Club of London Walter Ladwig, President usclondon@gmail.com www.usclondonalumni.org

American Actors UK 07873 371 891 admin@americanactorsuk.com www.americanactorsuk.com

University of Virginia Alumni Club of London uvaclubs.virginia.edu/group/uvaclub-of-london londonuvaclub@yahoo.com 020 7368 8473

Savio(u)r Theatre Company Britain’s American theatre company www.saviourtheatrecompany.com

SPORTS English Lacrosse Wenlock Way, Manchester M12 5DH 0843 658 5006 info@englishlacrosse.co.uk www.englishlacrosse.co.uk British Baseball Federation / SoftballUK 5th Floor, Ariel House, 74a Charlotte Street, London W1T 4QJ 020 7453 7055 www.britishbaseball.org British Morgan Horse Society 01981 500488 admin@morganhorse.org.uk www.morganhorse.org.uk Ice Hockey UK 02920 263 441 ihukoffice@yahoo.co.uk www.icehockeyuk.co.uk Inﬁnity Elite Cheerleading (founded by CAC) 077 9132 0115 infinityelite@yahoo.co.uk www.facebook.com/InfinityAllstars Herts Baseball Club Adult & Little League Baseball www.hertsbaseball.com Lakenheath Barracudas Swim Club Open to all military affiliated families. laken.barracudas@yahoo.com www.barracudas.moonfruit.com LondonSports American flag football, baseball, basketball and soccer, boys/girls, 4-15 all nationalities, new or experienced players. www.londonsports.com vll@me.com London Warriors American Football Club info@londonwarriorsafc.co.uk www.londonwarriorsafc.co.uk

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We rely on you to keep us informed. Every eﬀort is made to ensure that these listings are correct but if your entry requires amendments please tell us. Send profiles, news or articles about your organization for possible publication in The American. email sabrina@theamerican.co.uk, tel +44(0)1747 830520 Twitter @TheAmericanMag

June 2015 61

The American To find out whether you’re eligible to advertise your products and services here, and for rates, call Sabrina Sully on +44 (0)1747 830520. You’ll reach Americans living in and visiting the UK as well as Britons who like American culture and products. Jaffe & Co., incorp. American Tax International

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COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY Anji Holland and Associates

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Certified Public Accountants specializing in tax planning and preparation, retirement planning and consulting for American expatriates and foreign nationals. Also offer a program to assist human resource professionals in serving the needs of the their expat employees. 1776 N. Pine Island Road, Suite 316, Plantation, Florida, USA 33322 +1 954-332-1345 sr@krcpas.us www.americantaxhelp.com

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62 June 2015

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The American EDUCATION

LEGAL

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REAL ESTATE RE/MAX Property Group

Property to buy or rent in Notting Hill Gate: 7 Kensington Mall, Notting Hill, London, W8 4EB Contact Javid 07511-895090 or via website www.remax.co.uk

VISAS & IMMIGRATION US Visa Solutions - Law Office of Janice A. Flynn

MEDICAL

Castle Education Consultancy Ltd

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NOTARIES

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Edward Young LLP (inc. Kober-Smith & Associates) is a full practice Notary Public in London. We can solve your problems. Full notary service. 9 Carlos Place London W1K 3AT (nr US Embassy) Appointment only. 00 44(0)20 7499 2605 notary@NotaryPublicInLondon.com www.edwardyoung.co.uk

US-licensed immigration lawyers advising on US citizenship, green cards, visa and US entry issues. Honest, straightforward advice and a high level of bespoke service. Third Floor, 6 & 7 Hatton Garden, London EC1N 8AD UK +44 (0)20 7092 6830 US +1 (312) 361-0581 Janice@usvisasolutions.co.uk www.usvisasolutions.co.uk Twitter: FlynnUSVisaLaw

WEDDING PLANNING Extraordinary Days Events

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Coﬀee Break Answers

SOLUTION 1

1. Jerry Springer; 2. Tottenham Court Road; 3. Putney Bridge; 4. Wood; 5. White; 6. b) The Rose Family; 7. Father’s Day (3rd Sunday in June). It was started at the church in Spokane, Washington, in 1910 at the request of Sonora Dodd. While hearing a church sermon about hearing the story of the accident at Central Methodist Episcopal Church and with Mother’s Day newly recognized, Sonora felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition as well, her own father had raised the children after the death of her mother in childbirth. She approached the church and suggested her father’s birthday, June 5, but they chose the 3rd Sunday in June instead; 8. a) Mayflower Line; 9. Sir Tom Jones; 10. b) TS Eliot; 11. Alaska – and it’s still the State record; 12. Waterloo.

June 2015 September 2013 63

The American

Coﬀee Break QUIZ ➊

Which US chat show host was born in East Finchley Underground Station, London, during a WW II blitz raid?

➋

Which London Underground Station features in American Werewolf in London when an unfortunate commuter is chased by the protagonist?

➌

At which London bridge does the annual Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race start?

➍

What tennis racket material was last used at Wimbledon in 1987?

➎

What color were the Wimbledon tennis balls before they turned yellow in 1986?

➏

Strawberries are a member of what family? a) Magnolia b) Rose c) Geranium

➐

Which June national observance “Day” became permanent in 1972, after a mining accident in 1907?

➑

The railway line between Manningtree and Harwich, Essex, is known by what name? a) Mayflower Line b) Pilgrim Line c) Bounty Line

5 2 7 3 4 6 5 6 7 3 4 9 2 4 9 2 5 8 2 1 4 5 9 6 3 1 7 8 It happened 100 years ago...

➓ June 26th, 1915: Vivienne Haigh-Wood married

which US poet at Hampstead Registry Office, London? a) Robert Frost b) TS Eliot c) Ezra Pound

It happened 100 years ago...

⓫

June 27th, 1915: Which US State recorded its highest ever temperature of 100°F (38°C)?

⓬

June 18th, 1815: Napoleon and France were defeated at which Battle with the British?

It happened 75 years ago...

➒

June 7th, 1940: Famous British singer, Thomas Jones Woodward was born – by what name is this international star more commonly known?

It happened 200 years ago...

Quiz answers and Sudoku solution on page 63.

64 June 2015

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