Taking the Harlequins to new heights with launch at Shard

The mighty Harlequins may be based out in Twickenham but its stars schlepped across to the Shard for an 8am launch to their season yesterday, with sponsors DHL Express and Adidas joining along for the ride. With the ‘Quins often referred to as the City Slickers, chief exec David Ellis thought the view was fitting.

 

“It’s a great venue, we love it here – we hear there’s some office space downstairs, too,” he joked (Who knows, we could we see a City move for the south west London team?). There were certainly some winces from the crowd when Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea described 27-year-olds as “old, senior players”. DHL Express UK chief Phil Couchman explained was happy to show his age: “If you go back 30 years, a lot of the lads joining the company in London were Aussie and Kiwi rugby players, so the rugby culture has always been there,” he told The Capitalist. As an Aussie himself, he would know.

 

https://twitter.com/QuinsRugbyUnion/status/494424612193579008

 

■ WE WONDER how Destination Maternity is feeling this week, having been rejected by Mothercare a few days ago in its efforts to take over the ailing retailer. No doubt it’s still smarting, but there’s no point in crying over spilled milk, eh? Well, maybe there is when it turns out to be $1.2m worth of milk. It emerged yesterday the takeover bid had cost the US retailer a whopping $1.2m. “Primarily for legal and other professional fees,” said the company. “We believe that there was a strong strategic rationale for the combination of these highly complementary businesses.” Indeed, judging by Mothercare’s share price since it was called off, investors agree. The Capitalist contacted Mothercare to see if it was flattered by the sum the US firm had spent but it had no comment. Mum’s the word, we suppose.

 

■ IT LOOKS like those copies of Guinness Book of Records and that book of jokes from 1987 in your toilet will be starting to gather dust soon – reading might not be our favourite privy-based pastime any more. Mind Candy, the gaming whiz behind Moshi Monsters, has found that Brits love to play mobile games in the loo. We now play mobile games in the loo more than we do when we’re commuting or walking down the street, according to the research. The only time we enjoy playing mobile games more than the toilet, is just before we go to sleep. What are we supposed to do with all of those coffee table books we get for Christmas now?