Our party returned to Paris to celebrate. The Penfold company had
let it be known that if any of us did well in the tournament we were
to ‘push the boat out’ and the company would stand the cost. We took
them at their word and in due course they received a bill for £134
from their French Manager. That was a huge amount in those days and
they never asked us out again! I was on a £50 win bonus from Penfold
at that time, so I did quite well out of them on that trip, but the
spree in Paris cost me the opportunity to play in the Belgian Open
when they abruptly withdrew sponsorship. The winner of that
tournament with a total of 282 was one of the runners-up at
Chantilly, Auguste Boyer.
Charlie Ward had returned to the Hotel earlier in the evening and
was sound asleep by the time we eventually rolled up. He was not
amused when we roused him from his slumbers by peppering his window
with stones until he came down and let us in.
During my stay at the hotel I went to the manager and complained
about the hordes of flies around the WC. “What time was that?” the
manager asked. I answered: “Half an hour ago, about 11.30”. “Ah oui,”
said the manager, “you should have waited a little longer, then they
would have been in the dining room.” Continental travel was not so
comfortable as it is now, but there were a lot of laughs along the
way.
I eventually arrived home in Birmingham with a bundle of francs in
my pocket - very late, very dirty and very tired. I opened the door
and called to my wife, “I’m home”, to be greeted with, “Come and
kill this damned moth, it’s been flying round for ages”, she
couldn’t stand the little creatures. – French Open Champion! Happy
days!!
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