( EQUESTRIAN CHARACTERS remembered ) ECCENTRICALLY BRILLIANT!


Angus John Giffard Irvine By Charley Snowdon


With thanks to George Irvine


othing fills me more with merry wonderment than exploring the bodacious characters of our true English eccentrics and the late Angus Irvine was undeniably one of the best.


N


When I read the opening paragraph of Angus’s eulogy I could easily relate the words to my own late mother, “There are certain people amongst us, that because of the way they choose to live their lives, become beacons of hope for all the rest of us, Angus had an uncanny ability to share his enthusiasm for life….it was contagious.” A great hunting man, Angus once hung on a cliff edge in France after suffering his third serious neck break of his life. “You know what will get him going”, suggested an old hunting friend. “Play the hunting horn by his bedside.” The family had nothing to lose at that point and so the hunting horn was played down the phone from England and Angus’s eyebrows raised for the first time. Angus later viewed his neck breaks as a ‘mere inconvenience’ and promptly brushed any concerns aside. As a young man, Angus joined the army where there were plenty of opportunities to race and play polo before going on to become a city Stockbroker. “Originally Dad wanted to be a farmer or a vet but figured that perhaps a path in finance might be a way of becoming that farmer”, recalled his son George. Stockbroking also meant that Angus could continue his commitment to racing and would often leave the city after a long day’s work to head to the famous Fairlawn yard in Kent to ride out the following morning. Angus would stay in a very basic room where the heating was provided by the racehorses stabled directly below. Angus’s love of racing did not stop there, and he would frequently take his own horse into the city early in the morning and park the horsebox


adjacent to the Bank of England. During his lunch hour, Angus would pop out to feed the horse before finishing work and heading to an evening meeting in Essex. Back in the 1950’s, an adrenaline fuelled Angus convinced his boss to let him visit a company near Liverpool where the Grand National just so happened to be taking place the same week. His boss arrived himself to watch ‘The Big Race’ and was amazed to see Angus’s name amongst the list of jockeys riding a horse called Double Crest! “After the business meeting Dad, spent the evening in a Turkish bath to get his weight down and then backed himself at 10-1 to ‘get around’ and then achieved his objective!’” recalled George fondly. Angus also had an infectious sense of fun. “On one occasion Dad delivered us off to the hunt ball in the horsebox to return at 3am to pick us up dressed as a policeman! He immediately hit the dance floor and was promptly surrounded by beautiful girls all asking to be arrested!” laughed George. “Driving home he was given the blues and twos by a police car. The officer asked what Dad was carrying in the back and Dad replied ‘sheep’, whereupon a lot of bleating and baaing came from the back! The police officer asked, “and are your sheep all wearing seatbelts officer?” Dad answered “of course!” and somehow, he was ushered back home to the farm. During Angus’s latter years he could often be found following hounds with a polo stick under each arm to aid his walking. “Never judge a book by its cover was a very relevant saying with Dad”, said George. “Hats and coats became functional friends at the expense to fashion and I will never forget when he came to collect me from school in a rusty old Hilman Avenger with wheat sprouting from it’s handbrake, dressed in an odd pair of gumboots and a


22


MARCH/APRIL 2019


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