IT was as a result of ...

[Michael Grove]

 the publication of a piece on the Technology Page of the Financial Times,

 following the launch of the BBC Microcomputer based Interactive

 Videodisc Authoring System, that the office of the Aga Khan contacted me

 to arrange a meeting to discuss their potential educational use of same. 

 A visit to Acorn Computer in Cambridge was organised and I arranged to

 meet the Aga Khan's envoy at his hotel in London for breakfast, prior to

 driving him to a meeting with Acorn Directors, on the morning of the 9th

 February 1983.  Upon arrival, I was shown to his table, to be greeted most

 respectfully, by a gentleman who was clearly disturbed. Tears ran down his

 face as he then related to me that it was his responsibility to attend to the

 well being of the Aga Khan's stable in Eire and that last evening, the now

 famous Shergar had been kidnapped.

 It was, however, "still important" for him to continue with the arrangement

 to travel to Cambridge and be in a position to report back some more

 positive news to the Aga Khan. Following a successful tour of Acorn

 Computer and a demonstration of the Videodisc Authoring System, I

 returned him to his hotel and wished him well for his dealings with

 everything. As has often been my experience • with regard to the unforeseen

 circumstances of events such as this • that they do not always conclude with

 the most appropriate result, for a diverse combination of reasons; and perhaps

 it was the lack lustre reception of the two Acorn Computer founding directors •

 whose minds at the time were well entrenched in the Acorn Research Machine

 project in the final meeting • which was at the heart of the reason why we

 heard nothing further from the Aga Khan Foundation. 

 This was further compounded, subsequently, during an IDA tour of Eire, 

 viewing potential sites for the building of an Interactive CD/DVD/BLU-RAY

 manufacturing facility. It was as we had just completed the viewing of one

 site and were leaving for a return trip to Dublin for the night, when, to the

 sound of a workmen's radio playing U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm 

 Looking For", we were told that one of the IDA cars had broken down and

 arrangements had been made for our party to be shuttled to a nearby

 railway station, to catch the train to Dublin. During a discussion with the

 IDA representatives on the way to our destination, one of them out of the

 blue said in conversation: "that over there is the Aga Khan's stud where

 Shergar was taken from."  

In Memoirs of a Racing Journalist, author Sidney Galtrey quotes from a letter in which the Aga Khan wrote "It was entirely due to Lord Wavertree and my personal friendship for him that I started to race on the English Turf. I would probably never have been known as an owner west of Suez had he not, during and after my visit to Tully in 1904, urged me to take up racing in England." Later on, this same influential friendship would lead the Aga Khan to purchase land and start breeding in Ireland.

Despite his relative unfamiliarity with the English racing scene, the late Aga Khan III was no stranger to thoroughbreds. His family had been associated with horses since 6th century Arabia, and his grandfather established a stud and stable in India in the 19th century.

 

 As [IT] happens no further thought was diverted to THE IDEA of a plant in Eire

 because a much better opportunity arose in an arboretum close to Belfast

 Airport in the North, but alas having ticked all the boxes, the go ahead for  

 the project was established, to be then totally scuppered 'at the last fence'

 so to speak, when a dumper truck driver crashed his vehicle though the wall 

 of Philips Clean Air Development Centre and damaged all of the unique set of

 specialised video recording equipment available, that was essential to the

 go ahead and success of the project.  

 

.

[Michael Grove]

   Record win: Shergar wins the Derby by 10 lengths in 1981 

   two years before his kidnapping. Shergar's 10-length victory under

   teenage jockey Walter Swinburn is a record that few Derby winners

   have come close to threatening.

   

   The Aga Khan has admitted the sadness he feels that his brilliant

   colt Shergar never had a chance to prove himself as a stallion. But the

   man whose silks were carried by the iconic Derby winner 30 years

   ago claims he never considered withdrawing his racing and breeding

   operation from Ireland after Shergar was kidnapped by the IRA and

   subsequently died. Shergar, who had been syndicated for £10million,

   covered 35 mares in his first year at stud but was abducted shortly

   before his second season. His remains have never been found.

   Never forgetting that the first ARM chip, the Acorn RISC Machine

   (which was later changed and referred to Advanced RISC Machine),

   was developed by a advanced research and development team at

   Acorn Computers, a pioneering developer of microcomputers in the

   UK. At the time Acorn was one of the leading names in the British

   personal computer market.

[Michael Grove]

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[Michael Grove]

[IT] was back in 2018 that Her Majesty the Queen    

RIP hosted a dinner at Windsor Castle to mark the

Diamond Jubilee of His Highness the Aga Khan   

at which The Prince of Wales, [NOW] King and The

Duchess of Cornwall, [NOW] Queen consort, as well

as The Duke of York, The Princess Royal and Vice

Admiral Sir Tim Laurence were present.

The Aga Khan was accompanied by members of his family, his brother Prince Amyn Aga Khan, his daughter Princess Zahra Aga Khan, his eldest son Prince Rahim Aga Khan, Prince Rahim’s wife Princess Salwa, and the Aga Khan’s younger sons, Prince Hussain Aga Khan and Prince Aly Muhammad Aga Khan. The event acknowledged historic linkages between the Ismaili Imamat and the British Monarchy and longstanding connections between the Ismaili Community, the institutions of the Aga Khan Development Network and the United Kingdom. The Aga Khan, was bestowed the title “His Highness” by Her Majesty the Queen in 1957 the year of his accession as hereditary leader of the Shi’a Ismaili Muslims, and was created Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2003.