The boys of Druries, one of the boarding lodges at Harrow, will be seeing more of their housemaster at weekends.

Before Padraig Harrington teed off at the B&H International Open at Wentworth this week, before he sorted out his clubs or assessed the course, before he went through his mental exercises to focus on the goal ahead, he ensured that there was a good supply of pens in his bag.

As speeches go it wasn’t exactly Churchillian. Sir Alex Ferguson stood on the pitch at Old Trafford after his team’s last home match of the season and waited for the great waves of affection tumbling from the stands to quieten.

The teenager rolling across the concourse at Tokyo station was the epitome of Japanese cool. A fuzzy busby of hair dyed ginger, straggly goatee, big trousers and, to complete the look, a designer combat jacket. On the sleeve of the jacket was buttoned — in the manner of the Stone Island label favoured by British football hooligans — the all-important logo. It read ”This Will Make You Sweat”, the mark of an apparently au courant designer label here. As a brand name, you feel, it may need some work if it is to penetrate the English market.