Is it the Greatest Show on Earth? Well it’s got all the ingredients, including spectacular shopping, pantomime, drama, performing dogs, big jumping horses, tiny galloping ponies and even some clowns, but most of all it takes place in one of the most elegant locations you can imagine and in a city that celebrates Christmas like nowhere else in the world.
The London International Horse Show has stolen the hearts of the British public for generations, loved for its constancy and class and for some of the best Christmas entertainment you can find.
The magic begins as you are standing on the platform waiting for the train that will take you right to the doorstep of the Grand Hall at Olympia station. You feel a bit like young Harry Potter waiting for the train that will take him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and you wouldn’t be at all surprised if Julie Walters’ character, Mrs Weasley, arrived and ordered everyone to line up and walk through the nearest pillar!
The magic continues as you step into the Grand Hall itself, famous for its stunning Victorian architecture, magnificent galleries and barrel-vaulted roof. Erected in 1886 by Andrew Handyside of Derby it was once said to be the largest building in the kingdom covered by one span of iron and glass, and in 1907 it opened its doors to the good and the great of English society who paid a hefty £415 sterling to enjoy the very first London International Horse Show fixture which ran for 10 full days. It evolved into the Royal International Horse Show which continued at Olympia until the outbreak of World War 2 but the event, which this year celebrates its centenary, owes its survival to the efforts of one family who have created the phenomenon we know today and who have every reason to be proud of their legacy.
Having disappeared from the calendar for many years the show was resurrected in 1973 by the much-loved Raymond Brooks-Ward, but it was not without some strong marketing which included dragging his sons Simon, Nick and James into the street where they handed out free tickets to anyone willing to attend. “I think we sold 300 seats in that first year” recalls Simon who is now Show Director, “but now we pull a crowd of over 80,000 with our three performances a day! You will find people coming here who go to no other show in the world - it is a real family event” he points out.
“It’s about entertainment and theatre as well as sport” explains Brooks-Ward, long-time show-master at Olympia and Royal Windsor who directed the equestrian Olympic disciplines in Athens in 2004, is currently designing the Olympic Equestrian Park for the London Games in 2012 and who recently joined the new Wellington Equestrian Partners team venture in Florida which is expected to turn the American show circuit on its head.
World class show jumping, including the sixth leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping series which takes place next Saturday afternoon, is central to the Olympia experience but Brooks-Ward knows how to pull at the heart-strings and leave spectators clamouring for more. “This year as well as celebrating the wonderful history, we are going to look forward as well” he explains. “Archive footage dating back to the 1920’s, projections onto huge screens on the hall’s gable ends, big screens, well-known narrators and a musical score will take the audience through the glorious past, the present and we intend to make Olympia in the future. It is a massive theatrical and presentational effort” he says.
A designer from the West End has ensured that the theatrical twist is maximised, and everywhere there is a party atmosphere. Especially in the gallery boxes where black-tie is the order of the day and lords, ladies and gentlemen are wined and dined in style, while over in the champagne bar the Christmas spirit is positively over-flowing!
There’s a kind of Richard Curtis feelgood-movie thing going on all around you - a sense that Hugh Grant could come ricocheting around the corner at any moment while that other bumbling character from “Four Weddings and A Funeral” - the awkward, shy, labrador-loving Tom - is everywhere to be seen…. As is actual “Four Weddings” actor Simon Callow who actually does play a major role as he lends his actual voice to the finale…..
It’s fun, it is horses and children and Christmas and London and a unique chemistry that only one show in the world can create…..it’s Olympia, Actually……and it’s happening all this week…..
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