Can you add anything to our on-line article about the history of guarding?
The advantage of having the piece on-line rather than printed is that we can add to it, rather than see it in print and wish we had known this or that fact, after publication.
For instance, the Jockey Club’s efforts to safeguard the integrity of British horse racing is nothing new. In the May print issue, we report (‘An affair in the stables’) how the Horseracing Regulatory Authority was subject to a media storm on the eve of the Grand National in April, over claims that a reporter from The Sun got close enough to one of the favourites for the race to be photographed with the animal, and potentially nobble it.
Readers with long memories may recall the film (and the novel by Graham Greene) Brighton Rock that stemmed from the gangs that roamed around race courses between the world wars. A Major Wymer, a decorated veteran of the First World War, was appointed by the Jockey Club in 1925 to organise a private security force. largely made up of former police officers, it (to quote an obituary of Major Wymer in 1941) smasehd the race gangs that infested race courses.
So much for the good old days when you could leave your (stable) door unlocked?
The guarding history article link is below – if readers have any ideas or lines of inquiry to offer, please e-mail.
