THE daughter of the late Sir Laurens van der Post was
stabbed in a daytime attack by a man suspected of being
a stalker, she disclosed last night.
Lucia van der Post, whose father, the explorer and writer,
was a mentor to the Prince of Wales, was found slumped
and bleeding in a West London street on Thursday
evening. The side of her face had been slashed by a man
who robbed her of £180 and her house keys.
The travel journalist and former women's editor of the
Financial Times said: "I'm not sure who it was but the
police are convinced that I was stalked."
It is not the first time that Ms van der Post, 60, has been
the victim of crime in Kensington, where she lives with her
husband, Neil CrichtonMiller. She said that she had been
burgled "four or five times" in the past couple of years
before she had a new security system installed.
Police believe that a man followed her to Marks &
Spencer in Kensington High Street after she had bought a
newspaper at the local Underground station. He is thought
to have waited until she was laden down with shopping
bags and then pounced.
Ms van der Post said at her five-storey townhouse: "I'd
been to buy a paper, and had been to the bank the day
before, so I had some money. I took longer than usual to
find my coins in my purse so maybe that's when he saw
me. I took a very long time to take the money out.
"It was about 6.30pm and I went to Marks & Spencer to
buy some supper. I had two big bags and when I got to
Kensington Church Walk I felt my little bag with my purse
in it slipping. My last memory was putting down my two
shopping bags to pick it up. That is the last thing I
remember. It was all such a shock. It happened so
quickly."
Ms van der Post, whose face is badly swollen and
marked with stitches, said that she knew nothing of the
incident until she was found by her lodger. "The lodger
who lives on the top floor of my building went to get my
husband and then I went to hospital."
At the casualty department of Chelsea & Westminster
Hospital she was given stitches in her face. Scans taken
yesterday morning showed that her brain was unaffected.
"That was my biggest worry," she said.
Last night the mother of two was recovering at home with
her family. A stream of wellwishers and delivery vans
bringing flowers arrived at her house in the evening.
A number of well-known personalities are among those
who have been victims of crime in Kensington. Sir Frank
Williams, the motor racing boss, and his wife had
£100,000 worth of jewellery stolen when they were
mugged in South Kensington last year.
The chef Anton Mosimann and his wife were robbed at
knifepoint in the same area. The broadcaster Robert
Robinson was recently beaten in his Chelsea home as
raiders took his watch.
Ms van der Post's friends were last night determined to
make a stand against violent crime in her neighbourhood.
One close friend, who asked not to be named, said that
he had written to Michael Portillo, the local MP,
demanding that something be done.
A spokeswoman for the Prince of Wales said that he had
been made aware of the incident yesterday morning.
"Whether or not he has responded is a private matter for
him," she said. Ms van der Post refused to say whether
one of her floral gifts was from the Prince.
Regarded as the Prince's guru, and the author of 30
books, Sir Laurens famously took the Prince on a
four-day walking tour in the Kalahari Desert. Sir Laurens,
who died in 1996, encouraged the Prince to read Jungian
philosophy.
~*~
Royalty's lamprey returns to
Thames (UK Times)
BY NICK NUTTALL, ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT
ONE of the ugliest but best
connected fish in the world may be
spawning again in the Thames for
the first time in living memory.
Scientists and fishermen have found
evidence that the sea lamprey, a
surfeit of which is said to have
killed Henry I, and which has been
prized as a baked dish by other
monarchs, is breeding as far
upstream as Barnes.
The discovery, the latest sign of the river's recovery from
the dark days of the Victorian era and early 20th century,
when it was so polluted anyone falling in could be fatally
poisoned, has been made by Environment Agency staff.
Steve Colclough, a fisheries expert with the agency, said
yesterday he had stumbled across three sea lampreys on
the foreshore at low tide, near Barnes railway bridge,
while on a walk between Chiswick Ait and
Strand-on-the-Green.
The fish were dead but "there were eggs all over them and
on the ground", he said. A further six dead sea lampreys,
again with eggs in evidence, were found later near by.
He said the dead lampreys were not killed by pollution.
"They classically die after they have spawned. The high
river flows this year have meant that the Thames is
particularly clean, which may explain the sea lamprey's
spawning." He said the agency has issued an alert and sent
pictures of sea lampreys to river users, including fishermen
in the Thames estuary between Southend and
Leigh-on-Sea.
Sea lampreys are ugly and distinctive fish, he said. They
resemble eels, grow up to 90 cm long, are blotchy pink
and black, and have round, sucker-like, mouths which
they use to catch prey, such as other fish. They have
seven gill holes on each side of the head and their eyes are
said to look like those of cats.
Fishermen have reported recently catching small numbers
in the lower estuary below Canvey Island. Mr Colclough
said: "It looks like they are massing in the lower estuary
and are getting up as far as Barnes to spawn." The sea
lamprey, rare in Western Europe, is one of the threatened
species in the Government's Biodiversity Action Plan.
The Thames was officially declared a dead river in the
1950s because of the levels of pollution. But the decline of
heavy industry and clean-up operations, including £950
million spent on sewage treatments works by Thames
Water, have been followed by a steady return of river life.
Mr Colclough said: "The estuary now supports 118
species of fish, but only six spawning species. The sea
lamprey looks like we now have seven."
Lampreys became popular among British monarchs,
possibly because of their gamey taste, due to their
blood-sucking diet of fish. During Lent, meat was
forbidden so the lamprey proved a popular alternative.
Exactly how a surfeit of lampreys killed Henry I in 1135 is
unclear, but his ill-fated act was the result of mourning for
William, his drowned son.
Lampreys remained popular at court, particularly in Tudor
times. Even the present Queen was treated to a 42lb
lamprey pie for her Coronation.
~*~
Queen Mother takes part in army ceremony(Yahoo: Ananova)
The Queen Mother has been on duty again, two days after watching the pageant in her honour in
London.
She braved soaring temperatures to take part in a long-standing engagement at the base of one of the
Army regiments of which she is honorary colonel-in-chief.
The Queen Mother, who will be 100 next month, was at the Robertson barracks in Swanton Morley,
Norfolk, to watch the presentation of a new ceremonial plaque to the 9th/12th Royal Lancers.
She arrived by helicopter from Clarence House and walked 20 yards across the parade ground with the aid of two sticks to a
covered podium from which she watched the traditional ceremony.
The Queen Mother saw the regiment receive a new guidon - its ceremonial battle colours which are renewed about every 25
years.
The visit had been inked into her schedule before Wednesday's pageant had been organised and Army chiefs were delighted
that she was able to attend.
The Queen Mother stepped from the covered podium to walk to the parade ground, where she made a short speech to the
regiment, on parade in front of her.
"I am delighted to be able to come to visit again," said the Queen Mother, who last visited the barracks two years ago.
"I entrust this guidon into your safekeeping. I know that you will guard it with courage and devotion. I send you my very best
wishes."