A friend was a member of MCC and could get tickets for test matches and one-day finals. Although tickets wouldn't admit us to the pavilion, it didn't really matter as a day at a cricket match at Lords is an experience to savour.
I recall one match when we were seated near a charming country parson who was accompanied by his middle-aged, single, very well padded daughter wearing a straw hat and an ill-fitting floral dress. At the tea interval my friend suggested we visit a nearby delicatessen which we duly did, bringing back a sumptuous spread.
The food attracted the attention of said parson's daughter and we spent a couple of happy hours plying her with food in return for bottles of Beefeater gin & tonic, of which she had a seemingly inexhaustible supply.
Another friend acquired tickets for a test match against Australia. He worked for the police in the West Midlands and knew the landlord of the Lords Tavern. We parked in the pub's garage and naturally went in to repay the landlord for his kindness. During the course of our drinking session, the doors flung open and in walked members of a West Midland police serious crime squad. More drink followed. I became curious about the role of one member of the squad who seemed a bit slow on the uptake, so I asked him what he did. What he did, he said, was knock the door in when the squad was raiding premises.
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