Highlights of the day

We asked a selection of our writers to nominate not the highlights of last year but the New Year i.e. yesterday.

Tom Hollingworth:

I still love every year writing into my diary from the Telegraph Sports Calender the  key events. This year it will be the Ashes though I am disappointed there are no Tests in the north: Jim Laker’s 19 wickets at Old Trafford and Bob Willis steaming in at Headingley in 1981 are powerful memories from those arenas. We have no World Cup nor Euros but there is a World Cup in rugby. The best thing is for another year there are the totemic events: Wimbledon, the Grand National, the Boat Race and thank goodness there has been no tinkering with times and dates that bedeviled the Cup Final and Derby.

Ivan Conway:

The cover of the Argus with Chris Hughton brandishing a Brighton scarf.

Alan Tanner:

It’s been a disappointing Xmas for Fulham but I was pleased Ryan Tunnicliffe was recalled from Blackburn. He is a good player and should be supporting our efforts to get up the division, not the Rovers.

Jakob Celevosky:

I play quite a bit of chess online. One game is with Argentine legend Ossie Ardiles, who usually beats me but in both games I am ahead. My hero is Mikhail Tal, the most attacking player of all time – I sacrificed a knight to unleash a devastating attack which my opponent could not withstand and resigned after 15 moves. The magician of Riga would have been proud.

Robert Tickler:

I enjoyed going ten pin bowling for the first time in 45 years with Jamie and his mother. Despite my rotundity and being unaware I had foot-faulted in my first 3 goes, I was pleased with my performance. Before dinner Jamie was upset when his mother reproached him. ” I don’t like it when mama is out of control, Uncle  Bob. I am never out of control.” When I laughed, he replied sternly “What’s funny about that?” I said “You are a funny little man”. He said crossly ” I wasnt born to be funny”. When I lent back during dinner, the chair collapsed and I was spreadeagled on the floor, which Jamie proceeded to impersonate f0r the benefit of his mother. This time it was I who was not amused.

John Partiger:

I am looking forward to the Open at St Andrews. Who can forget Doug Sanders missing the 4 foot putt? The 18th is the easiest hole on the course as the fairways merge, but the 17th road hole is a true test of golf and nerve.

Stefano Ursolini:

I am enjoying the winter break in Thailand with my partner. Another day on Pattaya beach with cocktails. I am looking forward to coming to London on the 19th February to see Fiorentina at Spurs. Ivan, Rex ,Tom and Alan are all my guests for a top Tuscan meal and chainti classico beforehand.

Daphne Colhard: there was much tension, as with most families over Xmas, with Tarquin and Humphrey getting wasted on New Years Eve. I am heading down to Brighton to meet the girls for a meal at my fave restaurant of the year, 64 Degrees.

Alice Mansfield:

Ken Howard called me at tea time. I said how much I enjoyed his autobiography. He had to spend a week resting on his back and dictated it all then. I said, like Ted Seago, Terence Rattigan and Daphne du Maurier, he suffered the brickbats of being popular and successful. However he was most generous in praising other British artists I greatly admire, notably Jason Bowyer and Bernard Dunstan. I am meeting up with him in the New Year. He is an immensely nice man, deeply knowledgeable on art and a fine artist.