Feature
Sixty years and counting
In the first of a series commemorating the FCC’s 60 Years in Hong Kong, Arthur Hacker writes a succinct social history of the Club... and remembers almost everything.
H
aving spent over half my life propping up the bar of the Best Little Watering Hole in the World could be the reason why I was asked to write a social history of the first 60 years of the Club in Hong Kong. As the old song goes: “We’ve been together now for 40 years, An’ it don’t seem a day too much...” I was introduced to the FCC by Paul Dougherty, a colleague of mine at Government Information Services. In those far-off days GIS stood for “God is Speaking” and editors of the local newspapers actually knew the name of the director. Paul edited the government annual report for three years. GIS would not allow him a credit, so he surreptitiously slipped one into the index. Paul suggested that we dropped into the FCC for a couple of swifties and “rip off a few drunks at poker”. The dealer’s choice rule inspired one berserk inebriate to shout “double blind baseball” when everyone was completely blotto. The winner, “Lucky” Kev Sinclair, had an unlucky day because nobody ever paid him a cent. The FCC then occupied the top floor of the Hilton and was about to move to Sutherland House. I joined in 1968 after it moved. Before the Club moved, for a while there was no FCC so the poorer members patronised the Blue Sky Bar in the Wanch that unwisely gave journos credit.
SOME SCENES FROM “LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING” WERE SHOT AT CONDUIT ROAD. THE FCC REJECTED THE OFFER BY THE OWNERS TO BUY THIS SPLENDID MANSION FOR A MODEST HK$125,000. THIS MEANT THAT A FEW YEARS LATER THEY WERE KICKED OUT OF THE OLD BUILDING, WHICH FETCHED HK$10 MILLION 10
THE CORRESPONDENT
The majority of these hacks worked for The Star, a scurrilous rag, and spent their evenings in the Sky inventing tomorrow’s news stories. If they didn’t pay up on time, bargirl Brandy Nancy would storm into newsroom and demand payment. The Star was owned by the explosive Graham Jenkins, formerly of Reuters, who was a Board member when the club had its first permanent home at 15 Kotewall Road in 1949 where the 11 founding members set up shop. They were joined later by Liao Chien-ping, who was with the Club in 1943 when the first FCC opened in Chungking, and Ronnie Chow (Chiao Chin-chen), barman from the Shanghai days. Post-war the FCC had been based first in Nanking and then Shanghai where it occupied the top six floors of Broadway Mansions. When Shanghai got dangerously jumpy the club packed its bags, sold its assets and retreated with dignity to Hong Kong. Kotewall Road soon became too small and in 1951 the old Mok stately home at 41A Conduit Road became the clubhouse. Former president David Roads married his beautiful wife Pacita in one of its numerous rooms. He described this era as the heyday of the club. It was David who scooped the other journos with the “Human Yo-Yo” story of Michael Patrick O’Brien who stowed away on a ferry from Macau to Hong Kong. Not allowed to land in the colony and also refused entry in Macau he bounced like a yo-yo ‘twixt the two ports for 11 months. Throughout this saga patriotic Irishmen demanded a fair deal for this unfortunate son of Erin, until it was revealed that O’Brien’s real name was Stefen Ragan, he had been born in Budapest and deported from the USA after serving seven years for armed robbery. The movie “Ferry to Hong Kong” is based on this story. Some scenes from another film, “Love is a ManySplendored Thing”, were shot at Conduit Road. The FCC rejected the offer by the owners to buy this splendid mansion for a modest HK$125,000. This meant that a few years later they were kicked out of the old building, which fetched HK$10 million. The less said about Li Po Chun Chambers – the next venue - the better. The club went broke. It was President Guy Searls who moved the FCC to the top floor of the newly opened Hilton hotel. His timing was perfect. Foreign hacks were arriving en masse
Club Vistas: The “loo with a view” – the gentlemen’s toilets in Sutherland House in the 1970s (above, photo: Ian R. Lloyd) and the terrace of 41A Condiut Road in the mid-1950s.