Wimbledon was shocked that year when the women competitors wore
shorts, following the precedent set the previous year by the English
Davies Cup player, Bunny Austin, who had discarded his long white
trousers in favour of shorts. However, the ‘All England Club’ was
determined to maintain one tradition – that all clothing must be
white. (That rule remains, but coloured panels are now allowed.)
In September Queen Mary, the wife of George V, was at Clydebank to
launch the Cunard-White Star Line’s ‘Number 534’, which had finally
been completed with the aid of a £9.5 million Government loan after
a four year suspension due to the depression. The name of this
magnificent liner had been a closely guarded secret, from everyone
but the King, until the ceremony. A popular story goes that the ship
was originally to be named ‘Queen Victoria’ until the Chairman of
the line approached the King to ask his permission for the ship to
be named after Britain’s most loved Queen. “My wife will be
honoured”, said the King. The ship was named – Queen Mary. (Cunard
launched their 85,000 ton Queen Victoria in 2007).
It is a nice tale, but the owners gave other reasons for the name.
Whatever the truth behind the naming of the ship might be, the
following story was well documented.
On the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary, at 81,000 tons then the
largest ship afloat, was the famous sporting journalist Trevor
Wignall. On entering his cabin when he arrived on board he found an
enormous golf bag bearing the name of Joe Ezar – one of the great
characters of those days. Joe was a swarthy American with a curious
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