Nicky Henderson has been recognised in the New Year Honours list with the Queen making him a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order. Henderson has been one of the most successful jumps trainers for nearly 40 years, claiming four championships, in 1985-86, 86-87, 2012-13 and last season. The 67-year-old first took out a licence in July 1978, having previously been assistant to Fred Winter. His longevity has been recognised by Britain's longest-serving monarch - a renowned lover of horses and racing - with the honour, which is a "personal gift of the Sovereign" awarded to "those who have served the Queen or the monarchy in a particular way". Henderson told Press Association Sport: "It was a very nice surprise. We've been very fortunate. I trained for the Queen Mother and then the Queen for a number of years and it's a great honour to receive this. "We've had a lot of fun and all her horses are home-bred. I know it gives Her Majesty an awful lot of pleasure with horses like Barbers Shop and all that family. "It's been a pleasure and an honour to train for the Queen and I'm very honoured." Henderson has won virtually every major prize in the National Hunt calendar, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle, but has yet to win the Grand National, while he has had success on the level too, including at Royal Ascot. He is the winning-most trainer at the Cheltenham Festival, with 58 victories to his credit, and can look forward to this season's meeting after Gold Cup fancy Might Bite and reigning champion hurdler Buveur D'Air boosted their claims with big-race victories at Kempton on Boxing Day. One of the first horses Henderson trained for Her Majesty was Barbers Shop, whom she inherited from the Queen Mother. He was a smart performer, winning the Future Stars Chase at Sandown in December 2008. The best of his four appearances at the Cheltenham Festival was his second place in the Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase in March 2008, although he was a creditable seventh to Kauto Star in the Gold Cup in 2009. Take To Heart, Comely and Sunshade have all been royal winners from the Henderson stable this season. The aforementioned Sunshade will attempt to take her unbeaten record to four and boost her paddock value when she goes for the Listed totetrifecta Mares' Novices Hurdle at Taunton on Saturday afternoon.
While on the subject, I see we now have a Sir Ringo Starr and a Sir Barry Gibb. I've never heard of the first bloke, but Bazza grew up and went to school in Redcliffe, as did I. I never got to meet the boys, but hey, what's new? I remember as a child, waiting for the Queen to make a pit stop at an especially built dunny (which had a heated seat, so the rumour went) but the good lady just rushed on by. I don't quite know what made the council thing Her Majesty would need the services of a public toilet, but the thoughtfulness certainly impressed a knock kneed, big eared kid. So you see, missing out is not new to me. My thoughts on the day have played heavily in my mind over the decades, and I've often wondered what happened that fateful afternoon. Why HM passed on by like so. It got to the point where I just had to do something about it all. I decided to contact Buck House. And no emails for me either, it would be by mail, and in my best cursive hand writing. For a moment or two, I ruminated on the idea of a scented envelope, but quickly gave it the big swerve. I didn't want to lead the lady into making any awkward assumptions about my intentions. After all, I was raising the delicate subject of a missed meeting at a newly erected, out of the way, brick ****house on Oxley Avenue. I had to play as straight a bat as possible. It took me several days to finally phrase what I wanted to say. I proof read the missive a dozen times over before committing it to a pristine envelope. I made sure that it was one I had to lick to seal. All at once a pall cast itself upon me. I was shocked to the bone. Why had I chosen an envelope to which I had to commit my bodily fluids? Strange things began to happen. Why was I suddenly thinking of other bodily fluids I could have used? Paranoia began to take hold. What have I done? Why am I doing this? Would they sniff the envelope? I hastily shredded the the letter and bolted into the dunny to flush it all away. For the next few hours, all sorts of terrible thoughts filled my mind. Not so much about the letter, but about my fragile hold on sanity. Bottom line is, I eventually did put pen to paper and posted it away. I figured that if Her Majesty was to respond, it would probably take some time. She must have a bit to do I had supposed. How wrong was I? Barely eight days later, there came a knock at the door. It was a policeman. I **** myself. He asked who I was. I said I was who I was. He accepted that I was who I said I was, and smartly handed over a piece of mail. I'd like to tell you all in detail about the contents of the letter I received, and of course who had sent it, but protocol forbids the passing on of private information that pertains to a certain individual. I will however relate a small piece of news. One that will I'm sure fill you with warmth. The person concerned did indeed know of the hard work involved in the construction of said building, and took all steps to make sure that the public monies spent on the project, were not wasted. I can reliably report that a certain husband was secretly ordered out his Roadie Roadhouse motel room in the wee hours of the morning to officially open the site. After cutting the ribbon, nature called, a log was dropped, and relief was enjoyed by all. Talk about a lady with a care for the common man. P.S. Bazza Gibb doesn't know it, but he has me to thank for his gong. Liz had never heard of the Bee Gees. She thought it some kind of African rectal fungus.
when i worked on restoring our local pier way back in the early eighties , we had a visit off Big eared charlie , lockdown of the area ensued , and yes a special thunderbox was on site , they are so paranoid about somebody getting hold of royal faeces they go to extreme lengths to ensure this can't happen , the vulnerability of people on toilet ! i was not allowed to meet with said royal and was confined to the mess room guarded by two wardrobe size special branch , who refused to engage in conversation ......a strange day ....
I never thought about what happens to the royal crap Rude. I suppose it would fetch a handy price on Gumtree.
shows the strange way that the establishment thinks , here we have lot 45 , a royal blue turd , varnished for posterity ........... nuts mate ,
Last year 52% of those who voted said no to being ruled by unelected foreigners. In the interests of consistency and properly ensuring our democracy I am looking forward to the referendum on the monarchy. It is, after all, what the public want...
