I cannot for the life of me understand the fuss in the newspapers about Prince Harry playing billiards in the nude. Isn’t that what most gentlemen prefer to do when relaxing after dinner? It is certainly my practice here at the Hall, as my many guests will remember.
Besides, playing games in the nude used to be norm – and not just in billiards, where the great Walter Lindrum won the first two of his world titles without a stitch on. Competitors in the original Olympics generally wore only frowns of concentration, and when competitive running was first revived in the reign of Charles II the chaps involved thought it proper to dress the same way. It has to be admitted that naked cricket has never caught on particularly widely, but I suspect it all depends which prep school you went to.
There is one point of etiquette I must emphasis: when playing billiards, whether in full fig or the buff, it is Simply Not Done to pot one’s opponent’s cue ball.
Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West 1906-10
Earlier this week in Lord Bonkers' Diary
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