Town mouse on sporting heroes

Town is the place to look for current British sporting heroes, observes Jessica.

Town mouse; country life
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(Image credit: Country Life)

London is on a winning streak. Wimbledon fortnight was as wet as ever, but the weekend of finals brought not only sunshine after what seemed like 40 days and nights of rain but our first British winner in 20 years, Jamie Murray, one half of the mixed doubles' winners. I thought he also did something to turn round the poor impression the rest of the world has of our men as gauche Lotharios, with touchy-feely behaviour with his (tennis) partner between serves (prompting giggles even from the sports commentators). News is also just in that the organisers of the Tour de France 2007 were delighted with London as the host of Stage One of the race and are likely to come back in 2012, to tie in with the Olympics.

The chance to cheer the new British cycling hopeful, Mark Cavendish, was worth the traffic chaos that ensued. Even a lad from Stevenage (in the suburbs of London, so I'll just squeeze him in), Lewis Hamilton, has been speeding round the F1 tracks, British flags waving him on. If you want a sporting hero, it seems, the town is the place to look. Me? I'll be on the sofa, watching the highlights.

Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.