Having just, laboriously, finished a book of my own (with a subtitle remarkably similar to Ian’s), it was with a sinking heart that I opened Making the Running.
All too often in the past, the name I. Balding on the same race card, playing field, cricket pitch, or other competitive sporting arena has been, unless of course we were on the same side, an ominous sign for Oaksey, Lawrence, Marlborough, Audax, or whatever flimsy alias I happened to be using.
Apart possibly from J. Francome, Ian is the closest to a genuine ‘all-rounder’ it has ever been my pleasure to encounter. I am told that if you put a pair of skis on him in deep powder snow, the occasional weakness may appear, but equipped with any other sporting implement he becomes, immediately, before your eyes, a graceful, supremely efficient expert.
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