Dateline

Knightsbridge, London

Clamped Down in Front of Harrod’s

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A LONDON ICON and one of the most famous stores in the world, Harrod’s was sold a few months ago for £1.5 billion to the Qatari royal family. Family members showed up to visit their new flagship store recently and, rather than using Harrod’s £10 valet parking service, parked their cars before the front doors on congested Brompton Road—one a Lamborghini Murcielgo LP670-4 worth £350,000 and the other a Koenigsegg CCXR (one of only six in the world) worth, yes, £1.2 million. A conscientious traffic warden dutifully ticketed the robin’s-egg blue vehicles and had wheel clamps applied in front of a curious and appreciative crowd. It’s not thought that the owners had difficulty ponying up the release fee and fine of about &dollar;200.

New York, New York

Queen Addresses UN General Assembly

FOLLOWING Her Majesty’s nine-day tour of Canada, the Queen paid a whirlwind visit to New York this summer—her first visit to the Big Apple since 1976. In her first address to the UN General Assembly in 53 years, the Queen applauded the United Nations for its accomplishments since 1957 and urged countries to work together on world problems such as climate change and global terrorism. The monarch also laid a wreath at Ground Zero, where Her Majesty declared that the horror was “the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” She also opened a Garden of Remembrance in Hanover Square honoring the 67 Britons killed in the 9/11 attack.

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

And Just in Passing

Just Wintering Over, Thank You

Scientists from the British Trust for Ornithology have solved the mystery of where English nightingales migrate for the winter. Using a high-tech geolocator, they tracked a single bird on its 3,000 mile migration down the coast of West Africa to southern Senegal. In spring, the nightingale returned to lovely Norfolk.

Huge Hoard of Roman Coins Discovered

A cache of more than 52,000 Roman coins from the third century was discovered this summer in a Frome, Somerset, field by a metal detecting hobbyist. Buried just a foot below the surface in a huge jar some 18 inches across, the 350-pound hoard is one of the largest ever finds of Roman coins in Britain.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

And Just in Passing

Turner Masterpiece Sets a Record

J.M.W. Turner’s Modern Rome—Campo Vaccino fetched a new auction record for the English landscape painter of almost £30 million at Sotheby’s London. David Moore-Gwynn of Sotheby’s commented, “For collectors, it ticked all the boxes—quality, superb condition, provenance and freshness to the market.” The painting was sold by the family of the fifth Earl of Rosebery after having been on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland for the past 30 years.

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Estate for Sale After Almost 1,000 Years

The estate at Cleobury Mortimer, near Kidderminster, is thought to have been given to a baron by William the Conqueror as a reward for his services. Now, the 1, 300-acre Shakenhurst Hall estate, complete with six farms, 12 houses and cottages and the Grade II listed Georgian mansion is being offered for sale for the first time at an asking price of £12 million.

COURTESY OF BALFOURS LLP

Holmfirth, Yorkshire

Summer Wine Empty After 37 Years

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THE WORLD’S longest running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine, has reached the end of its run after 37 years and 31 series. The venerable BBC comedy hit that began in 1973 put West Yorkshire’s Home Valley on the tourist map and survived decades of changing tastes in television viewing. The misadventures of three elderly men with too much time on their hands in the Yorkshire village of Holmfirth (most famously, Compo, Clegg and Foggy) showed generations of Britons that older people can have outrageous fun. At its peak, more than a third of the British viewing audience regularly followed the show.

Edinburgh

J.K. Rowling Donates £10 Million

THE HARRY POTTER author has given £10 million to establish a multiple sclerosis research center at the University of Edinburgh. Named for her mother, who died of MS complications, the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic will also focus on neurological conditions including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Rowling’s gift is the largest single donation ever to the University of Edinburgh.

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Colchester, Essex

Seasick Mayor Scuppers Tradition

©MICHAEL BRACEY/ALAMY

©AMORET TANNER/ALAMY

THE OPENING of Colchester’s oyster season has been marked by a ceremony headed by the mayor since Tudor times. Traditionally, the mayor in full regalia toasts the monarch with gin and gingerbread and then helps dredge up the first catch of the year before proceeding to sample Colchester’s famous crustacean. For the first time since 1540, however, this year’s mayor, Sonia Lewis, will hold the ceremony on land—because she gets seasick. Eh, as for that, Mayor Lewis will pass on the oysters as well because she can’t stand them.

Holderness, Yorkshire

A Bumper Crop for British Archaeology

UNUSUALLY dry early summer months created conditions this year that have unveiled the outlines of more than 200 new historic sites across Britain. Revealed by what experts know as crop marks, the faint outlines of long buried structures emerge when the shallow top soil over them causes crops to grow at a slower rate. Some 60 previously unknown prehistoric sites in Yorkshire’s East Riding were discovered in a single day. A Roman army camp in Dorset is also among the year’s important finds. An English Heritage senior investigator enthused, “It’s hard to remember a better year.”

And Just in Passing

Britons Head for the Seaside

Separate reports by the Office for National Statistics and Sheffield Hallam University provide complimentary results. First, visits abroad by UK residents fell by 15 percent over the last year. Meanwhile, Britain’s seaside tourism is growing strong, with the industry supporting more than 200,000 jobsand contributing £3.6 billion to the economy.

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Loch Ness Monster Matter Settled

Two rival Loch Ness Monster tourist attractions located only 100 yards apart on the lake at Drumnadrochit have resolved a contentious legal dispute after two days of deliberation at Inverness Sheriff Court by agreeing to change their names. Henceforth, they will be known as the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition and Nessieland Castle Monster Centre. Glad we’ve got that straightened out.

Clarence House, London

Royal Austerity Hits The Prince

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FOLLOWING the Queen’s call for greater royal frugality and a show of “recessionary restraint,” the Prince of Wales has cut in half his bill for entertaining. In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the Prince and Duchess of Cornwall played host to 9,396 guests at 115 Clarence House receptions. They managed to slash costs by switching from three-course dinners to finger buffets and drinks parties. As a result, entertainment costs were trimmed to a modest £252,000.
Altogether, Prince Charles’ expenditures (including the allowances for Princes William and Harry) decreased by almost £2 million last year from £12.5 million to £10.7 million. The majority of the Prince’s budget goes to wages for his staff of 149. Meanwhile, the heir’s tax bill increased this year to almost £3.5 million.

Dishforth, Yorkshire

Roman Industrial Estate in Yorkshire

COURTESY OF HIGHWAYS AGENCY

EXTENSIVE highway works on the A1 have uncovered a Roman water-powered flour mill and a series of large timber buildings that processed food and livestock and brewed beer for the nearby Roman fort at Healam Bridge and for legions traveling along the Dere Street Roman road. Heritage team leader Blaise Vyner summarized: “We know a lot about forts, but to excavate an industrial area with a mill is really exciting.”

And Just in Passing

Saatchi Donates Gallery to the Nation

Art collector Charles Saatchi has announced that he is giving his permanent collection of more than 200 paintings as well as the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea to the country. The gallery will be renamed the Museum of Contemporary Art. Saatchi’s desire is that“…the museum always be able to display a living and evolving collection of work, rather an archive of art history.”

Enthusiastic Municipal Workers Get Carried Away

Sally Baker parked her Peugeot on Little Quay Street in Manchester, because it had unrestricted parking. While it was there, workmen came along to put down double yellow lines. They hoisted the woman’s car in the air and painted underneath it. They replaced the car over the yellow lines … then gave her a parking ticket.

And Just in Passing

Funniest Joke at the Fringe

This year’s winner of the Dave award for the funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is Tim Vine. Gleaned from the amazing array of 883 comedy shows that took place during the month-long festival, Vine’s one-liner from his stand-up show, The Jokeamotive, somehow beat out thousands of gags: “I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again.”

King Arthur’s Round Table in Chester

Researchers claim to have uncovered the secret of King Arthur’s round table. A team led by historian Chris Gidlow believes that Arthur’s court likely convened in the circular space of the Chester Amphitheatre, a “table” holding up to 10, 000 people. The City of the Legions of the ancient accounts may have been Chester—the original Camelot.

PHOTOLIBRARY

Wells, Somerset

630-Year-Old Wells Cathedral Tradition Ended

SINCE THE 1380s, the Wells Cathedral Clock has been wound by hand. The world’s oldest continually-working mechanical clock is powered by three 700 pound weights, winched up on a pulley system. The historic clock is wound three times a week and takes about an hour to wind. It is a ceremony that has continued uninterrupted since the 14th century. Since 1919, five generations of the Fisher family have had the honor and the chore of winding the 24-hour astronomical clock in the cathedral transept. With the recent retirement of longtime winder Paul Fisher, however, the mechanism has sadly been replaced with an electric motor.

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Christie’s, London

Althorp Baubles Net £21

THE MUCH anticipated three-day Christie’s auction of bric-a-brac from the Althorp attics yielded a better than expected windfall for Earl Spencer. Art, porcelain and furniture were supplemented by sale lots of kitchen copper jelly molds and World War I military uniforms. The Rubens painting A Commander Being Armed for Battle fetched just over £9 million, and the Spencer State Chariot sold for £133, 250. Proceeds from the aristocratic yard sale will serve to effect major renovation work at Althorp and to help recapitalize the extensive Spencer family estate.