Rude politicians We asked for recollections of the Royal Smithfield Show from the London years and we ve not been disappointed. Andrew Gilmour, who was on the show board for a few years and chairman for two years in the 1990s, recalled when The Queen Mother, in her capacity as show president, came to Earls Court every year. She was always the host at the show lunch and various eminent agriculturalists and politicians were asked to the lunch. Andrew said of one visitor: On his arrival, I was asked by the then Scottish Agriculture Minister, John Sewell – this was before devolution – what time the lunch would finish. I said that I didn’t know, but that it would be when Her Majesty decides to leave.