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BACK NEXT Chapter 8 The Turning of the Tide Page 53

The Guests at a dinner in honour of Henty Cotton's Open Victory
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).

The 'Queen Mary' at Long BeachIt 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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