Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

Green groweth the holly, 
So doth the ivy. 
Though winter blasts blow never so high, 
Green groweth the holly......


Seasonal greetings, not too difficult this week, near as I can figure it, the most likely answers seem to me to be:

Q1. Ipswich

Q2. Alexander Obolensky

(NB, for question 2, The rugby player's full name and title were given in some references as 'Prince Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky though he was also known as 'Obo' and 'The Flying Prince').


Pretty sure that this week, from the initial clues given, the quest takes us to the marvelous county of Suffolk, specifically to an edifice called 'Freston Tower' on the south western bank of the river Orwell. The description of the tower in the references I checked matches the one in the puzzle, ie it is six storeys high, has 26 windows and an observation platform . The tower was built circa 1758/9, possibly as a viewing point for the wealthy merchant who is believed to have constructed it, to see his ships as they approached the port town of Ipswich. I have not yet found an old poem connected with keeping the seas around that area clear.

A captain who was born in the Ipswich area and who commanded the Discovery on a voyage to Jamestown, was John Ratcliffe (aka John Sicklemore). There are several captains listed for this ship on various voyages and dates but he seems to be a good fit.

I found several sources which claim that Ipswich has thirteen medieval churches and the football team, who's fans are known as 'The Tractor Boys' was founded c1878 and became professional c1936. A manager of Ipswich Town FC, appointed c1955 and who played his international debut against Switzerland c1948, was Alf Ramsey.

A rugby player, born c1916 and buried in Ipswich, was Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky. He was not only what is known in the trade as a Rurikid prince (a Russian who's family fled the Bolsheviks and became British) but also a very brave aviator who was killed at the young age of 24, when his Hurricane hit a rabbit hole on landing during a training flight. It was said that as he had been taxiing at the time, he had undone the safety harness and was catapulted out of the cockpit and broke his neck. Obolensky, from the sources I checked, did indeed score seventeen trys against Brazil. There is said to be a statue of 'Obo' at Cromwell square, in Ipswich. The Eastender knows Martlesham Heath well and IIRC, there was a very nice boozer called 'The Douglas Bader' in the locale, though an excellent pint of Woodforde's Wherry, could also be had at 'The Fat Cat'.

A thespian who may have made his debut in Ipswich (c1741) in a play called 'Ooronoko' (aka 'The Royal Slave') was a chap called David Garrick. I found a reference to a pantomine he took part in which was called 'Harlequin Student' or 'The Fall of Pantomime with the Restoration of the Drama'.