At lunch last month with three readers, one mentioned Christopher Ondaatje. I had heard that rich Christopher has not got over his not-so-rich brother winning the Booker prize. But I was told that Christopher has another skill besides making a shedload of money as a stockbroker and publisher.
You may know that Christopher was in the Canadian four-man bobsled team at the 1964 Winter Olympics, I didn’t. To digress, I met an engaging Dutch, Winter Olympian over Sunday lunch a couple of years ago. He too is markedly successful at making money. I wonder if you need to be a risk-taker to succeed in downhill-only sports and trading the markets? I think that misrepresents the skills of these two individuals: they just have a lot of adrenalin that they need to work off.
Back to Christopher Ondaatje’s other skill: he has, I was told, finessed the minimum level of philanthropy to get his name on the building. Wiki gives an overview.
Ondaatje is a prominent philanthropist; among the institutions he has helped are: The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Geographical Society, Somerset County Cricket Club, Blundell’s School, The Sir Christopher Ondaatje Devon Cricket Centre at Exeter University, Lakefield College School, Dalhousie University, the National Ballet School, the Royal Ontario Museum (the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery), Massey College in the University of Toronto, Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Chester Playhouse.
The Royal Society of Literature‘s Ondaatje Prize is named after Ondaatje, as is the Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture from the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
He also gave Tony Blair a staggering £2 million for the Labour Party in 2000: why no peerage?
I applaud his philanthropy and his ability to get the most Ondaatjes for his money, others have not been so lucky. The George Bush Centre for Intelligence and the Margaret Thatcher Infirmary both raise a wry smile if you know what I mean. I do my bit as an ultra-small-scale philanthropist and had to clarify something with Kate (my accountant):
Kate: “But that’s a loophole, Christopher.”
Christopher: “Yes, but it’s an open loophole, Kate.” Laughter from Kate.
Good to have my 2017/18 tax return completed in mid July. Kate’s going on a deserved holiday.
Very enlightening — and good laugh going into the weekend (especially the oxymoronic names)