'And Plastic Servery Unit Burns

Issue number 103 Spring 2019

PLASTIC

SERVERY

’AND

BURNS

UNIT

GIFT SUGGESTIONS FROM THE SECRETARY’S OFFICE

Decanter

The East India Club directory

16 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LH Telephone: 020 7930 1000 Fax: 020 7321 0217 Email: [email protected] Web: www.eastindiaclub.co.uk

£85

Ties

The East India Club

Silk woven tie in club colours. £20

Cut glass tumbler

Engraved with club crest. £30

The East India Club – A History

DINING ROOM Breakfast

by Charlie Jacoby.

Monday to Friday Saturday
6.45am-10am 7.15am-10am
8am-10am

An up-to-date look at the characters who have made up the East India Club. £10

Sunday

Lunch

Monday to Friday Sunday (buﬀet)
12.30pm-2.30pm 12.30pm-2.30pm
(pianist until 4pm)

Bow ties
Scarf

Saturday sandwich menu available

Tie your own and, for emergencies, clip on. £20

£30

Dinner

Monday to Saturday Sundays (light supper)
6.30pm-9.30pm 6.30pm-8.30pm

The Gentlemen’s Clubs of London

New edition of

Table reservations should be made with the Front Desk or the Dining Room and will only be held for 15 minutes after the booked time.

Compact mirror

£22
Anthony Lejeune’s

classic. £28

Pre-theatre

Let the Dining Room know if you would like a quick supper.

Hatband
V-neck jumper

Lambswool in burgundy, L, XL, XXL. £55

£15

AMERICAN BAR

Monday to Friday Saturday
11.30am-11pm
11.30am-3pm & 5.30pm-11pm noon-4pm & 6.30pm-10pm

Cufﬂinks

Sunday

Enamelled cufﬂinks with club crest,

Members resident at the club can obtain drinks from the hall porter after the bar has closed.

Notelets

chain or bar. £24.50

EAST INDIA ROOM

Monday to Friday. Light food and wine menu. Use of electronic devices on silent is permissible.

£3.75

SMOKING ROOM & WATERLOO ROOM

Polo shirt

Monday to Friday

Tea and coﬀee from 9am

Light menu 10am-10.30pm
Drinks 11am-11pm
Light menu 10am-10pm
Drinks 11am-10pm

In red or black, L, XL, XXL. £28

Weekend

Mug

BILLIARDS ROOM

£14

Open to members from 9am to midnight. Pass keys will not be issued after 11pm.

GYMNASIUM

Open to members from 6am to 10pm. Suitable attire must be worn.

Chocolate mint creams £8
Blazers

£395 (navy) £350 (sports)

BEDROOM CHARGES (from 2019)

Includes early morning tea, English breakfast, discretionary £5 per person per night contribution to the staﬀ fund, and VAT. All bedrooms are non smoking.

Waistcoat
Club shield

£160
£35

Napkin hook

£40

Members & immediate family

Single ensuite

£127 (£77*)

£106 (£66*)
£85 (£56*)

Golf balls

Single with small shower Single without facilities

Titleist golf balls. Bearing club crest. £29 per dozen

Double or twin room for single occupancy Double or twin room for double occupancy St James’s Suite
£173 £187 £302

Reciprocal members & guests

Golf tees

Single ensuite

£166 (104*)

£145 (£92*)

Blazer buttons

Tin of 50 ‘personalised’ East India golf tees. £7.75

Single with small shower

Double breasted. £50 Single breasted. £35

Double or twin room for single occupancy Double or twin room for double occupancy St James’s Suite
£208 £228 £356
* Special rate on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays

Post and packing for non-breakables from
£3. Breakable items are for collection from the club instead of posting.

MEMBERSHIP CARDS

Members are required to carry their membership cards at all times when visiting the club, and present them on arrival. It is essential that they are produced when signing for charges to accounts.

Umbrellas

Short. £20 Long. £25

CLUB WINE:

See page 17 for details

Rugby ball

£25

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EAST & WEST – SPRING 2019

The chairman reports on the health of the club, with special praise for the wine committee’s buying policy and thanks for its buying power. However, as yet, the club’s cellars do not extend under the gardens. Perhaps that will change.

Club diary

April 2019

23 St George’s day dinner

30 Library lecture May

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

6-8 Champagne tour 7 Film club 15 AGM 17 Evening of jazz 21 Gin tasting 23 Company dinner

fter a relatively quiet summer in 2018, hopefully due to the prolonged heatwave and nothing

All East India members are brought up on a club myth, which it is now my sad duty to explode. Sorry, but our wine cellars do not stretch well under St James’s Square. However, I was surprised to see how few other clubs maintain anything like the reserves, in terms of value and numbers of bottles of wines and port that we do. Maybe it should not be surprising as, holding large stocks of wine, sometimes for several decades, requires considerable ﬁnancial muscle.

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more permanent, it was reassuring to see the club so busy again during ‘the banqueting season’ from mid-October to the Christmas closure. As well as the club events, including the winter party and carol concert, Joe and the banqueting team were at full stretch

June

6 Tri clubs summer party

18 Library lecture July

The benefits are tremendous: through the prudent investment policy of the wine committee, we have been able to acquire fine wines en primeur at reasonable prices, hold them for the appropriate length of time, and then offer them for drinking with an acceptable mark-up for the club but at a substantial discount to the current market price. We are immune to the huge inflation in wine prices over the decades.

7 Cricket match vs Chobham

16 Wine tasting 19 Summer barbecue

August

10 Classic cars summer weekend

September 3 Film club

We are not immune to other inflation. When faced with the increase in subscription rates for 2019, by and large members have accepted the rationale that they are necessary if we are to continue to provide our high levels of service and maintain our clubhouse in the appropriate condition. We realise that these increases are unwelcome. However, we continue to look at our peer group of London clubs and I can confirm that the East India remains firmly in mid-table as far as subscription rates apply. At a time when the cost of belonging to a London club is rising everywhere, we believe that we still represent good value for our membership. As ever, the long-term health of the club will be determined by our

11 Library lecture 20 Evening of jazz

23 Lord Mayor’s luncheon

The chairman at the tri clubs carol service

handling the private lunches, receptions and dinners organised by members for their families, friends, alumni organisations or societies with which they are connected. This is the bread and butter for a banqueting club such as the East India. As head of banqueting, Anne is always pleased to help with organising a special event.

It was a fitting finale for Joe, who retired at the year-end after almost 20 years with the club. He will be missed. In Farid, we have an experienced and wellknown replacement who will continue to set standards for friendly and efficient service.

At the end of each year

continued ability to attract

Through prudent investment... we are immune to the huge inﬂation in wine prices

members who make regular use of our facilities and services.

The 2019 club calendar started well, with successful events to celebrate

“

East & West

Editor: Charlie Jacoby 07850 195353 [email protected]

Designer: Chris Haddon 07792 515056 [email protected]

we receive a survey prepared

members and their

Sub-editor: Lucy Sloan

by the Association of London Clubs. It shows comparable data for London clubs across a broad range of metrics. Although of great importance it is fair to say that some of the statistics quoted can be very dry with gross proﬁt margins and average room occupancy rates deﬁnitely an acquired taste. There was one chart however that caught my eye. It measured the wine stocks currently being held by London clubs.

daughters, and Burns night.

[email protected]

”

This summer, England is hosting the cricket World Cup before the Ashes series so the debentures at Lords should prove in high demand as well as the Ascot Box for the Royal meeting in June. Let us hope for another glorious summer and I urge you to look out for upcoming events and take advantage of the club’s many and varied social activities.

Duncan Steele-Bodger, Chairman

Photography: Phil McCarthy. To download or order photography, login to the members’ area of EastIndiaClub.com and select event photography

Printed by: Colour³(ColourCubed.co.uk) Published on behalf of The East India Club by Charlie Jacoby, c/o The East India Club www.charliejacoby.com

Cover photo: the clubhouse from the gardens

3

and the Bar follow. In the summer we are also repeating last year’s four-way match with the Oriental, Reform and China Golﬁng Society at Sandy Lodge. Patrick Duke has done a sterling job arranging our main tour this September to Devon (3-6 inclusive). We are staying in Exeter and playing at East Devon, Thurlestone, Tiverton and Taunton & Pickering, all quality courses. We also plan to enjoy some ﬁne dining at The Angel in Dartmouth. At the time of writing we have only two places left, so if you wish to attend please contact the secretary.

EPICS

Club men

by Ben Hurworth

ur Christmas lunch at the club was the ﬁnal curtain on our 2018 season and allowed us to reﬂect on the past year and look forward to the next. As expected, boisterous carol singing followed good food and wine before we all departed in good spirits.

O

Canadian Room dinner for the EPICS

dinner speaker at the EPICS annual dinner on Wednesday 20 March. Our golﬁng meetings this year are
Our new year commenced with two black tie dinners, one in the Canadian Room with the Bar GS, the other hosted by our friends at the Caledonian Club, attended by 12 EPICS. Rob Nothman, BBC Radio sports at our old favourites, starting with the spring meeting at St George’s Hill in April with others at Woking, New Zealand and Worplesdon. Matches against the Farmer’s Club, Reform Club, Oriental Club, Caledonian Club, Royal Blackheath, Wrotham Heath
EPICS welcomes new members, young and mature and of all abilities; our programme is posted on the club notice board. If you wish to join, please add your name to the list on the notice board or contact the captain at

[email protected]

broadcaster and producer, was the after-

Sports dinner

Casino evening

o celebrate the club’s long tradition of sporting connections and

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endeavours since its merger with

Low rollers

the original Sports Club in 1938 the sports dinner has been reintroduced. It was held on 3 April (after East & West goes to press), and members of various of the club’s sporting sections were due to attend. he ever-popular casino evening brought out the gamblers among

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the young members. ‘If only it were real cash,’ said some. ‘Thank goodness it isn’t,’ said most. They held the event in the Smoking Room, with professional croupiers and music from the Eriko Ishihara Trio.

EastIndiaman

ick Higham and Patrick Storey have sent in a letter dating from 1878 which details an oﬀer to supply

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mains water to the club. Nick found it in the London Metropolitan Archives. It is a copy of a letter sent by the Grand Junction Water Company, who supplied most of Mayfair, St James’s and Belgravia, offering a price for water supply. The offer (71d per 1,000 gallons) was generous. South of the river, the Southwark & Vauxhall Waterworks was offering to supply the Deaf & Dumb Asylum in the Old Kent Road in April 1878 for ninepence. “Evidently the GJ thought affluent clubmen more deserving of cheap water than the S&V thought disabled children,” says Nick.

The letter in the London Metropolitan Archives

4

Snooker

Shorts

London clubs cup

by Bernard Stirzaker

Rugby lunches

n 2018, and following a signiﬁcant gestation period, the East India Club organised and sponsored for

Brian Harding (centre) presented with the Hoﬀman cup at the East India Club

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the first time the London clubs’ singles handicap competition (the Hoffman cup). A resounding success, it attracted nearly 50 players from the leading London clubs. In November, the semis and finals of this competition were held at the East India Club. Participants were Brian Harding (RAC), Jay Dias (National Liberal Club), Hassan Zamir (East India Club) and Alex Rose (Roehampton Club). Brian and Hassan made it through to the final, which Brian won over three frames. The evening was well attended, with spectators from all of the participating clubs. The Fladgate Partnership (see page 10) co-sponsored the competition and the semis and finalists each received bottles of port. Organising this competition was no easy task and our appreciation is expressed to Alex Bray and his assistant, Claire Johnson.

The snooker room at the East India Club has been refurbished. The tables were dismantled, stripped back, re-polished and returned in early February, when they were re-covered and levelled. The room has been redecorated, the mirrors removed, the store room has become a trophy display unit and the room re-carpeted. Lockers have been relocated and modiﬁcations to the seating made.

In January, the snooker section played a friendly match at the Oxford & Cambridge Club, in March we are travelling to Guernsey to play the United Club in a friendly match for the Channel Islands cup. The annual London clubs competition has commenced, and we look forward to progressing in this event. Club members are welcome to join the snooker section and to participate in our competitions and friendly matches. he club has been holding its rugby lunches, organised by Matthew Ebsworth. On the Friday before

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an international where England is playing, the club invites rugby enthusiasts, to lunch. This picture shows Neil Edwards in full ﬂow, well-known as the only member visible from space.

Railings
Farewell Joe
Chess

he man with the mike – and the remarkable ‘comfort-break’ timings – has retired. Joe O’Farrell left at the

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Good mates

end of 2018 after nearly 30 years’ service. Proﬁled in December 1996’s East & West when he took over as banqueting supervisor, Joe has decided to carry on with life from his home in Spain. The secretary writes: ‘Joe has been a character around the club and members enjoy his cheeky sense of humour. Calm under pressure, his knowledge of members’ events, Twickenham coaches and members’ preferences in the bar has been an asset to the club’s management and will be hard to replace. There have been many appreciative letters from members for the arrangements and service from Joe and his team over the years. He goes with our gratitude for a job well done.

t James’s Garden railings were donated to the war eﬀort during

by Habib Amir

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the Second World War. At last, the good 2018/2019 Hamilton-Russell season of chess was topped by a
‘temporary’ railings installed after the war are to be replaced. The St James’s Square Trust railings project will start work in 2019.

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landmark victory for the Oriental &
East India Clubs Chess Society as it took a 4-2 victory over defending champions the RAC at their Pall Mall club house. Our board one, Samuel Franklin, beat Roger Emerson, the 60+ category British chess champion, and Yaroslav Voropayev beat Richard Farleigh, an former investor on Dragon’s Den who has played chess for Bermuda and Monaco in the Chess Olympiads. Luke King and Peter Haddock also beat their RAC opponents. This result was achieved against a strong team without the presence of our normal board three, four and ﬁve.

Polo

he polo section is introducing beginner lessons. Ben Tangney will run instructional chukkas for

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novice players. Interested? Please contact the secretary.

Ascot box

Congratulations to our humble team that has begun to mark its place in the top position of London Hamilton-Russell chess circle. At time of writing, we are ranked joint ﬁrst position with the Athenaeum Club.

The season began with victory over the Reform Club. In that match, the Oriental & East India Clubs combined chess team scored 6-1.

e still have a royal Ascot day available, on Saturday 22 June, using the club’s box. Normally

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£4,750+VAT, we are prepared to consider an oﬀer. The box holds 12 for a sitdown meal and 18 for a buﬀet. Catering costs are additional. Please contact the membership secretary.

Joe receives the thanks of the committee

5

‘I have to assume that there is a very real chance that Putin will have me killed some day. If I’m killed, you will know who did it. When my enemies read this book, they will know that you know.’

Red Notice: How I became Putin’s Number One Enemy

hen the murky worlds of Russia’s maﬁocracy and global high

admits he did not foresee the Russian bond default in 1998 and Hermitage Capital lost 90% of its capital. He managed to build the fund back up in the next few years. Hermitage produced high returns and, before its demise, Browder had US$4.5 billion under management. He made a fortune for his investors, and part of his success came from exposing corruption in the Russian markets. Browder says that a strategy of exposing corruption worked well while Putin was gaining power, since it cleared away some of the oligarchs that were in his way. But once Putin

Bill Browder talks to members and guests at the library lecture

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ﬁnance collide, you would think it would end in murder. It did. Bill Browder, who delivered the club’s library lecture in February, is founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management. He was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. Since 2009, when his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was murdered in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government oﬃcials, Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia’s endemic corruption and human rights abuses.

keep Putin in power by getting US Congress and later the European Parliament to pass ‘Magnitsky’ laws. These freeze the foreign assets of Russians who were involved in the Magnitsky’s death. The bad guy in the story is Putin. A dishonorable mention goes to democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry who fought to derail the Magnitsky bill. Putin reacted with fury, putting Browder and the late Magnitsky on trial for tax evasion, the ﬁrst trial of a dead man in Russian history. Browder says he has had death threats, kidnapping threats, and a politically motivated Interpol red notice, which alerts police worldwide about internationally wanted fugitives, requesting they be ‘provisionally’ arrested. Despite the inherent dangers, his justice campaign for Sergei Magnitsky continues. “The world needs to know what happened to Sergei Magnitsky,” says Browder. “Red Notice exposes how the Russian government has become a criminal enterprise with all the powers of the state, and with Putin at the helm there is no limit to the depth of depravity of the regime. I have to assume that there is a very real chance that Putin or members of his regime will have me killed someday. Like anyone else, I have no death wish and I have no intention of letting them kill me. I can’t mention most of the countermeasures I take, but I will mention one: this book. If I’m killed, you will know who did it. “

Bill Browder (left) and library committee chairman St John Brown

His book about his experience in Russia is a kind of insurance policy, and his lecture tour the same. The more public he is about his woes with Russia, the less likely they are to come after him, he reckons. was established as kleptocrat-in-chief, Hermitage Capital’s investment strategy was no longer tolerated.

Damn Twitter and bloody Brexit

The Russian government and remaining oligarchs decided to take action against him. Before they shut him down, however, he pulled his fund’s assets and employees out of Russia. Then they came after his lawyers. Two of Browder’s lawyers successfully escaped Russia, but one, Sergei Magnitsky, refused to be bullied. He was arrested, tortured and died in prison.

Red Notice reads like a thriller but is

he club has been unwillingly sucked

into the Brexit debate. What looks

a non-ﬁction account of corruption in

Putin’s Russia. Bill Browder is an American businessman whose grandfather was general secretary of the American Communist Party. Kicking over the traces, he went to Russia to be a capitalist. Browder’s hedge fund, Hermitage Capital, was at one time the largest foreign investor in Russia. It had its low points. Browder