Royal Ascot
Hats at Royal Ascot. Photo by Lizi G/flickr.
Today we go horse racing, and we meet people with lots of money and no dress-sense!
Ascot is a small town, south-west of London, and close to the royal castle at Windsor.
In 1711, Queen Anne went horse-riding from Windsor, and “discovered” Ascot. She decided that it was exactly the right place for horse races. So the poor folk who grazed their cows or their pigs on the land had to move, and there has been a race-course at Ascot ever since.
There are race meetings at Ascot throughout the year. In the summer, the races are “on the flat”, which means that the horses simply run round the race course. But in the winter, the racing is “over the fences”, which means that the poor horses have to jump over fences as well as race round the course.
The greatest race meeting of the year is called Royal Ascot, and it is one of the grandest social occasions of the year, at least for people who care about grand social occasions. Royal Ascot is taking place this very week, from Tuesday to Saturday, and I see from the Royal Ascot website that there are still a few tickets left. Before you rush off to buy a ticket, however, here are a few things which you should know about Royal Ascot:
One, it is expensive. You will pay about £60 per person per day for a grandstand ticket. You cannot actually buy a ticket for the poshest area, the Royal Enclosure. To get a ticket for the Royal Enclosure, you have to know the right people.
Two, the Queen will be there, and lots of other royals and celebrities, and if you are lucky you may see some of them.
Three, Ascot racecourse is very concerned that people should wear the right clothes. Morning coats and top hats are good. Jeans, t-shirts and trainers are bad – very bad. (If you do not actually own a morning coat or a top hat, you can hire them from a company called Moss Brothers. In other countries, do you have to hire clothes in order to watch a horse race?)
Four, the hats are more important than the horses. Ascot is famous for the extraordinary hats that the ladies wear. Many of these hats are masterpieces of structural engineering. There is a link on the website to photos of some of this year’s finest hats.
Five, eating and drinking is almost as important as the hats. Last year, race-goers at Royal Ascot drank 60,000 bottles of champagne and ate 11,500 boxes of strawberries.
Six, the horse racing does not really matter, but if you are interested an Irish horse called Yeats won the Ascot Gold Cup yesterday. Second was another Irish horse, and third was a French horse. English horses don’t win at Ascot, just as English tennis players don’t win at Wimbledon.
But I had forgotten. Our economy is in recession. People are feeling poorer. Many people have lost their jobs. Surely, this year people will not spend lots of money on champagne and silly hats?
And, yes, there are fewer people at Ascot this year than last year. Champagne sales are down. And one newspaper reports that the Queen’s granddaughter, Princess Beatrice, was seen at Ascot wearing a £90 jacket from Topshop and a pair of shoes which cost only £65. Oh, horror! Times are definitely hard!
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Comments (27)
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26 August 2009
Thanks Peter. Great job.
Your podcasts includes interesting subjects beside of the good grammatical points and I belive that they are one of the most amazing podcasts regarding English learning on the web.
Thanks again.
4 August 2009
hi peter,
i'm liked so much the podcast about racing horse in Ascot very usefull for my pronuciation in english.i would like you do the podcast about this michael jackson .what's your opinion about this artist or king of the pop.for us and for will be chilling.thank
3 August 2009
nice story
11 July 2009
Hello Peter,
Thank you very much for your effort to those who are learning English. And i am also one of them. I listen to your podcast regularly and it's very useful in my study in English. By the way why don't you make a podcast on this year Wimbledon Championships because it includes a series of interesting things for the people. I believe you could well manage to do this podcast very interesting.
With regards
Bathaw
10 July 2009
Hei Peter, I hope you are Ok. We are a group of friend that we meet(in Canary Island) to listen your lovely storys and we miss you. Please come back early. Thank you for your dedication.
Bye, Bye.
10 July 2009
Dear Peter,
I miss you very much, and I check the website every day, hoping you are back.
How is you going? Please give us a piece of message saying you are fine.
Best wishes.
Ji
9 July 2009
Dear Peter
I hope you are well. May be, are you taken a few holidays. However, We are all waiting for your interesting stories about your country.
Daily, I have the habit to look at your site, but no nothing more for already many weeks.
Your site has become a kind of drug for me.
Greetings from France
André
6 July 2009
exelent page
2 July 2009
Thank you very much for making this podcast. I listened to it before I went to sleep yesterday and I found it pretty interesting. Those podcasts do help me improve my listening skill and give me some knowledge about Britain. Hope to see more podcasts from you.
29 June 2009
Peter, definitively you have a big humor sense! Your comment about the royal families's clothes was very funny!
29 June 2009
Maria – I have made a podcast about Stonehenge – see http://www.listen-to-english.com/index.php?id=423.
29 June 2009
Hi Mr Peter !
Here's a great idea for a podcast : CRICKET !!!!!!!
29 June 2009
hi Peter, thanks for your help, could you make a podcast about the Stonehenge?
28 June 2009
Hello Mr Peter !
Thank you for your podcasts, wich are very usefull. Could you make a podcast about "tongue-in-chek", or about the british sense of humour please ??
27 June 2009
now I'm only able to make a simple thank for your podcast because of my english is not well for making a suitable thank to you…
your podcast are very useful for my learning english I have repeated each of them several times.they are either useful and enjoying and in this way I could learn about birmingham and england more..and this podcast is good like another..
26 June 2009
Where are kevin and Joanha?
24 June 2009
Hello Peter, it was a fine story full funny hats and rules:-) Your podcasts are best, I am very glad that I get to know more and more about Britain. Thank you Dáša from Czech
23 June 2009
it is so much..
22 June 2009
Horserace brings royal style in britain-lovely. To me it's interesting to view people who wear royal clothes (coats and wide-brimmed hats) riding racehorses. But unluckily, only rich and royal families and relatives can afford to go to horserace.
I'm not sure if economy crisis prevents the aristoratic from spending money because when the economy will improve as expected they will also waste money.
22 June 2009
I want to thank u v much.it is v useful to us .I hope to see u.plz put your picture.i hope to hear more about BRITAIN.it is a beatiful thing to have your own way to express.again thank u.i hope u enjoy your time .Have a good health susanne and rasha from Eygpt.we invite u to visit Eygpt
22 June 2009
I want to thank u v much.it is v useful to us .I hope to see u.plz put your picture.i hope to hear more about BRITAIN.it is a beatiful thing to have your own way to express.again thank u.i hope u enjoy your time .Have a good health susanne and rasha from Eygpt.we invite u to visit Eygpt
21 June 2009
At the winter in 2006 I was participant of camp for people who want to learn drive horse. There was lots of snow. Specially I remember sleds ride which were pulling by horses. When we finished we made big bonfire and fried sausages over fire. It was great time.
20 June 2009
I love beautiful and nice animals such as horse, it is one of useful animal that work for people and people ride the horse and before automobiles are invented to carry people and their equipments, all the horses due this for everybody.
I am interesting in horse race not only for fun but also for riding though in our country it isn't possible for me to do because there aren't any sites available for everyone to do. The horses are very expensive and also holding and keeping them is costly too.
20 June 2009
Where are the animal rights advocaters? Surely horse races are against animal rihgts. They should be baned. people sholud use their ability for fun. runnig and making diffrent activities are more good than watching a horse race for royal family.
20 June 2009
Dear Ji, thank you so much —English spelling is so difficult. My mum and me — together we made huts in the forest.
I wiil never forget the difference between hut and hat.
(Learning by doing)
I try do improve my English — every day I am writing some lines from Peter‘s potcast.
I wish you a good start in the sommer!
Beatrice
20 June 2009
Dear Beatrice,
You mum made hats not huts.
19 June 2009
Dear Peter,
reading your podcast I have forgotten the time.—I looked
at the beautiful pictures from a Morning coat, the Top
Huts, the women huts. — I really had al ot of fun. I will show the pictures to my mother — as a young girl she learnt to make huts. I am sure, she will like the photos
very much. (My mother is at the age of 91.)
The possibility to hire cloths by the company called Moss Brothers is very interesting — I studed the rules how a gentleman have to be dressed. thank you Peter,