Hove 2009
When Francis I., King of France, made his feeble invasion of England in 1545, the French landed at Hove and did some slight damage. On July 18, 1545, admiral Claude d'Annebaut, with 200 ships and 26 galleys of the French navy, made his descent upon the Sussex coast. He landed, among other places, at Brighton, and an old print recording the attack shows houses burning at the coast, with the town beacon afire, and the men of Aldrington and Hove marching to the assistance of their neighbours.
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale (National Navy) and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. Although the History of the French Navy goes back to the Middle Ages, when it was defeated by the English at the Battle of Sluys and, with Castilian help, managed to beat the English at La Rochelle, its history can be said to effectively begin with Richelieu under Louis XIII.
A major event for the French Navy was in China, when France took part in the Second Opium War along with Great Britain, and in 1860 French troops entered Beijing. China was forced to concede more trading rights, allow freedom of navigation of the Yangzi river, give full civil rights and freedom of religion to Christians, and give France and Britain a huge indemnity. This combined with the intervention in Vietnam set the stage for further French influence in China leading up to a sphere of influence over parts of Southern China.
The Phoenix army is in its infancy as this is the fourth tour of duty that they have embarked on. The invasion of Hove and the South Coast by the red of Phoenix came amid a great a pomp, ceremony and fanfare that suits the occasion at hand. The Red Afro Wig & Duck Hat were dusted off and now have becoming the Symbols of Tour. Phoenix lost the opening game against Hastings, the next against Middleton was rained off and won the last against Hailsham. Read more in the match reports.
Although it could be argued that France has lost it’s position of unrivalled power in the fashion industry to newer and trendier fashion houses from Italy and the US, the same cannot be said about French perfume. With a pedigree of 300 years of making fine French perfumes, France is still home to many of the world’s best selling perfumes. Whether it be the classic perfumes made by Channel, Yves Saint Laurent and Lagerfeld or the younger more avant gard perfumes of Jean Paul Gautier and French connection.
The word perfume used today derives from the Latin "per fumum", meaning through smoke. Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and was further refined by the Romans and Persians. Although perfume and perfumery also existed in India, much of its fragrances are incense based. The earliest distillation of Attar was mentioned in the Hindu Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita. The Harshacharita, written in 7th century A.D. in Northern India mentions use of fragrant agarwood oil. The world's first recorded chemist is considered to be a woman named Tapputi, a perfume maker who was mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia.
The motto of the French Navy is Honneur, Patrie, Valeur, Discipline ("Honour, Fatherland, Valour, Discipline"). These words are found on the deck of every ship of the Navy. Phoenix combine these words of strength and create their own essence of ‘Cricket’ which is unarguably second to none. Phoenix flourish with obsession, Eternity, Escape, Truth and Euphoria allowing for a Flamboyant, Invigorating and Stimulating Fragrance.
The Hove Tour was a fun filled event that allowed everyone to open up and bond more tightly than ever before. This has been the funniest tour with jokes flowing as the guys monkey-ed around for four days. The message from Grandmaster Flash comes to mind, So lets rap:
Dont push me, cause I’m close to the edge
Im trying not to loose my head
Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Phoenix's Tour Highlights
Batting – Ali’s maiden fifty for Phoenix
Bowling – Anup’s Hattrick and seven wickets in just seven overs.
Catching – Anup’s caught & bowled that won us the game versus Hailsham.
Fielding – Jason’s excellent stumping straight out of the book of keeping wicket as written by Alex Stewart.
'The Father of the Nation' award goes to Nad for his Mahatma Gandhi look.
'The Graham Norton' award goes to Rowdy for his outfit on Friday night.
‘The Ryder Cup’ award goes to Indi, Jason and Sanj who won 4&2 against the youngsters
‘The Lord of the Flies’ award goes to Tushar, Gindi, Rahul and Anup for sleeping amongst the flies after their room was decorated with chinese takeaway.
'The Bruno' award goes to Jason for his dance moves that attracted much appreciation from the men.
'The Zee & Rowdy' award goes to Rowdy and Ali who were constantly bickering morning, noon and night.
‘Thanks for Coming!’ award goes to Sanj who conceded a ton of runs without taking a wicket.
'I would if I could but I can’t so I won’t even though I should' award goes to Fabian for the reasons he couldn’t come back.
'The Churchill' award goes to Zee who just nodded and said Yes to all questions.
'Mr Competition' award goes to Gindi who would compete at everything even who slept first.
'The Tour Guide' award goes Indi as he took the guys for an hour walk to Brighton and no one saw or bought a thing.
'The Romeo & Juliet' award goes to Jason and Sanj for their kiss and make up.
'The Taxi' award goes to Sanj who only walked from the hotel room to the breakfast table without complaining.
'The Funniest Cuss' award goes Anup who goes to Jason, who was going on about his past greatness, whether these achievements were made before or after Christ.
'I look f*cked' award goes to Teetotal Rahul who managed to looked more worse for wear than those who were hammered from the night before.
'Three Amigos’ award goes to Jazz, Rowdy and Ali since they were stuck like glue.
'I am not hungry’ award goes to Rowdy who managed to finish his and everyone’s chinese takeaway.
'I have no space in my car’ award goes to Tushar who didn’t take no baggage so that his ironed shirt would not get wrinkled on the back shelf of his car.
'The Indecent Proposal' award goes to Rahul who was asked for his services by a woman in her seventies.
'The Mike Tyson' award goes to Jason who managed only to hit 10 on boxing bag machine.
'The Restraining Order' award goes to Jazz who was a real threat during the Bikini contest.
'The Bhabhi' award goes to team who all cheated at some point during the card games.
'The KFC' award goes to team who constantly ate fried chicken.
'Can you Adam & Eve it' award goes to Indi who was on his own for the first time without Shiv.
'Blazing Saddles' award goes to Sanj who should have listened to Nad advice.
'Bad Boys' award goes to Anup who kept on saying ‘We ride together. We die together, Bad boys for life’ at every opportunity.
Phoenix on tour are a team full of laughter and comedy. To quote Mark Twain (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910), " Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place."
So another tour came & passed and yet again Phoenix showed their true colours and infected everyone involved with laughter, spirit and the sense of being a family.