Taki Taki

Numero uno Numero uno

Broadsides from the pirate captain of the Jet Set

issue 29 January 2005

Gstaad

Sir Roger and Lady Moore braved a snowstorm but made it on time driving from Crans-Montana. Sir Peter Tapsell flew in from Britain, snow or no snow on the runways. The poor little Greek boy had to travel less than a mile, but was the last to get there. While Gstaad was being covered by the thickest snow we’ve had in years, some 50 lucky souls dined with the finest product of this region, the one and only Ruedy Mullener, the uncrowned King of Gstaad and its environs. The occasion was Ruedy’s 80th birthday, and some enterprising young man should try to bottle him and sell him to Hollywood. He might be 80, but he looks 50, skis as if he were 35, and has the sweet nature, humbleness and wisdom of a 99-year-old. For those of you who have never heard of him, Ruedy taught both Roger Moore and me, as well as countless others, how to ski, walks up and down mountains throughout the summer with Peter Tapsell (keeping the latter’s mind clear from the bull he hears daily in the Commons) and has been the numero-uno ski instructor in Gstaad for 60-odd years.

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