A HOTEL owner won £20,000 when the Queen Mother handed over the
Whitbread Gold Cup yesterday, eight years after he laid a £200 bet that she
would present the prize in her 100th year,.
David Whitbread, the owner of the Keyberry Hotel in Newton Abbot,
Devon, was at Sandown Park racecourse to see her give the trophy to Sylvia
Tainton, the owner of the winning horse, Beau, in the steeplechase.
In 1992 he placed his £200 bet at odds of 250-1 that she would present the
prize when she was 100. Although the Queen Mother does not celebrate her
birthday until August 4, the bookmaker agreed to change the bet to cover her
100th year and promised to honour it up to £20,000.
Mr Whitbread would have won £50,000 had the the Queen Mother
presented the prize next year and the terms of the bet stayed as originally
agreed. An employee at Mr Whitbread's hotel said that he had kept quite
about the bet in the run-up to the race. "The first we knew was when people
started calling us about it," he said.
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India to demand return of
Koh-i-noor
Trushar Barot
INDIA is to demand that Tony Blair returns the Koh-i-noor
diamond, part of the crown jewels for almost 130 years, in a
dispute likely to ignite a fierce diplomatic row.
Last week 25 Indian politicians petitioned Atal Behari
Vajpayee, the prime minister, to make the demand. A
motion before both houses of parliament this week, backing
the call, is likely to be approved unanimously.
"The Koh-i-noor was forcibly removed and taken away by
the then British rulers," said Kuldip Nayar, the MP who
drafted the motion.
The demand gathered momentum after news that Britain was
considering returning the Elgin Marbles and other antiquities
to their place of origin. The marbles have long been an issue
between Britain and Greece. Nayar said Britain could
experience similar tensions with India unless it considered
returning the diamond and other treasures seized during the
raj.
Last night Downing Street said Blair would have to see any
representation before responding, but a culture department
spokesman said: "The government believes the Koh-i-noor
should remain part of the crown jewels."
Piara Khabra, MP for Ealing, Southall, said the issue was
complicated: "The Koh-i-noor has a lot of national sentiment
in India, but many things have changed. There are a number
of treasures in British museums that, if they were returned,
would provoke conflict between India and Pakistan as to
who should keep them."
The Koh-i-noor was part of the booty that Ranjit Singh, the
Sikh warrior, obtained during a 19th-century Afghan
campaign. He was crowned later as the ruler of Punjab, and
his son Dhulip inherited the diamond.
Anna Keay, curator at the Tower of London, where the
Koh-i-noor is displayed, said the British then took
possession: "Dhulip had to surrender the diamond and his
kingdom to the British after their conquest in the Punjab. As
part of the treaty of Lahore he was required to give the
diamond to Queen Victoria."