Our Rowing Tales range from the sublime to the ridiculous.Let’s start with ridiculous.

Matt McQuillan, a British International from the late 1990s, recalls a day when he was strolling along the Thames Embankment in Putney, just upstream from London, heading back to the train station in Fulham.

Don’t Mind Me!

As I was wandering past The Duke’s Head, I saw Garry Herbert in a very smart jacket looking out at the river with his little wee arms leaning on the railings, and I thought, “Oh, it’s Garry Herbert! I’ll go and say hello!”

So, I grabbed him around the neck – because, unless I bent down, it was a lot harder to grab anything of Garry. I slapped him on the head and said, “Garry! How are you doing?”

Little wee Garry just looked up at me . . . and from behind me I hear, “Cut!”

I turn around, and there was this massive camera crew with all these sound booms doing background shots for the next weekend’s Boat Race, where Garry would be a commentator.

I patted his hair back down.

“Don’t mind me! . . . Nice to see you, Garry.

Want to get this book. It is in the shop

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