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Conference Delegates from the British Government — Stanley
Baldwin, etc.—that voyage we had a series of events, even to a fire
on board and a collision in fog with a tramp steamer in the St.
Lawrence River.
Other voyages we were also carrying film personalities—Leslie
Howa r d on one occasion hid in my Cocktail Bar to dodge all his
admirers in New Yo r k .
The Wo r l d ' s Cruise of 1932, we had amongst our passengers the
great Bernard Shaw—not a patron of my Cocktail Bar, though.
Barbara Hutton met her first husband, Count Reventlow, on
this ship. Mervyn Le Ro y , the film producer, came around the
world on his honeymoon—I catered for his cocktail parties at each
port, and in Ho l l ywo o d he kindly gave me a free pass over Wa r ne r
Bros.' Studios, and put a huge Packard car at my disposal during
the 3-day stay there.
My brother Al l an came out of the Navy during my service in
this ship, and joined me in the noble art of cocktail shaking.
In 1934 I came ashore and went as Head Bartender at Berkeley
Buttery until Ap r i l , 1936, when I went over to Dublin at the Roya l
Hibernian Hotel until the end of the year. I then returned to London
and took over as Head Bartender at the London Casino until New
Ye a r ' s Eve , 1938.
In January, 1939, I was engaged as Head Bartender at the
Savoy Hotel, where I remained until being called into the Army at
the end of 1940 as a gunner in the Roy a l Artillery.
In February, 1946, I was released from H . M . Service, and within
two weeks I was back with my old friend the shaker, in charge of the
Cocktail Bar, Roya l Clarence, Exeter, until the end of September,
when I left to take over at the A l b a n y on October 1st, 1946. My
brother Al l an , recently released from the Roy a l Navy, was already
engaged at the Club, and once again we became a team. A n d n ow—
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