The Postcard
A postcard that was published by E. T. W. Dennis & Sons Ltd. of London and Scarborough. The card, which was printed (although not very well) in Great Britain, was posted in Peebles on Friday the 17th. August 1951 to:
Miss M. Armstrong,
7, Hill View Road,
Orpington,
England.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"16th. August 1951.
Am having a very nice
holiday. Spent several
days in Harrogate and
came up here yesterday.
Have done quite a lot of
driving.
There is certainly a lot
doing here.
Tennis, swimming, dancing,
table-tennis, putting and
badminton. Went in for a
tennis tournament this
morning and going in for
a putting match after tea.
Very energetic!
Thanks for P.C.
Love Valerie."
Fugitive from Montreal
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 17th. August 1951, the film Fugitive from Montreal (French: L'Inconnue de Montréal) was released in France.
It is a 1950 French-Canadian drama film directed by Jean Devaivre, written by Charles Exbrayat, and starring René Dary, Patricia Roc and Paul Dupuis.
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer tries to prevent a former wartime comrade from France becoming mixed up with criminal activities.
The film was released in Canada on the 17th. November 1950.
Jonathan Ruffer
The day also marked the birth of Jonathan Ruffer.
Jonathan Garnier Ruffer is a British City investor, art collector and philanthropist.
Jonathan Ruffer - The Early Years
Jonathan Ruffer was born in London, and lived from an early age in Stokesley, North Yorkshire. He was educated at Marlborough College, and graduated from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1972.
Jonathan Ruffer's Career
Ruffer started as a stockbroker, before becoming a barrister. He is now a Bencher of the Middle Temple.
He worked in corporate finance for Schroders, and for Dunbar, a private bank, from 1980 to 1985. He was also on the board of Dunbar Fund Management, from 1981 to 1985.
He was then on the board of CFS (renamed Rathbone plc) from 1985 to 1994. He was on the board of Odey Asset Management from 1992 to 2005; Fuel Tech from 1994 to 1998; and Electric & General Investment Trust from 2001 to 2011.
In 1994, Jonathan co-founded Ruffer Investment Management Limited. The firm was renamed Ruffer LLP in 2004 and is now based at 80 Victoria Street in London. Ruffer was its CEO from 1994 to 2012, and has been its chairman since 2011.
The firm managed £15.4 billion on behalf of its clients in 2012–2013. In 2014, it had 199 employees with additional offices in Edinburgh and Hong Kong.
Jonathan is a research fellow at St John's College, Durham.
Jonathan Ruffer's Philanthropy
Ruffer credits William Rathbone VI as a source of inspiration for his philanthropy. He believes that nobody needs more than £20 million. However, he is critical of William Temple's Christian socialism.
He served as chairman of the Good Shepherd Mission in Bethnal Green from 1998 to 2008. He has also supported the Church Urban Fund.
Jonathan expressed an interest in reviving County Durham through philanthropy in 2012. That same year, he donated £1 million to the Durham Foundation.
In 2013 he donated £15 million to preserve Auckland Castle, the historical palace of the Bishop of Durham, through the Auckland Castle Trust, of which he is the chair. This included the preservation of 12 paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán, present in the palace since 1756. These would otherwise have been sold.
In 2013, he donated £18 million to restore the Bishop's Palace and create a museum on the history of Christianity and faith in Great Britain.
The restoration project was completed in 2019, and the Castle was scheduled to re-open to visitors in November; three new restaurants for visitors were added, with one in operation by early November 2019.
In 2019, he worked with Sotheby's James Macdonald (an expert on the Spanish school) to assemble a collection displayed at the Spanish Gallery.
He has endowed the Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants at The Art Fund, which gives £75,000 to curators every year.
Ruffer gave an estimated £160 million to the development of Bishop Auckland in 2020. In total he has given one third of his wealth to the development of the town.
Ruffer has since opened;
-- The Miner's Art Gallery, to showcase the local miner's work
-- The Northern Museum of Archaeological Importance
-- The Spanish Gallery
-- The Auckland Tower
-- The Auckland Project
-- The Auckland Castle
-- The Deer Park
-- Eleven Arches
Most recently Weardale Railway which will provide a direct link from Killhope Lead Mining Museum to Bishop Auckland.
Jonathan Ruffer's Art Collection
Jonathan collects Spanish old masters, which can be viewed in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland which opened in 2021.
The Gallery contains works by El Greco, Murillo, and Juan Bautista Maíno, among others. He also owns paintings by Thomas Gainsborough.
Jonathan Ruffer's Personal Life
Ruffer is married to Jane Sequeira, a doctor, and palliative care specialist. She is a descendant of Isaac Henrique Sequeira (1738-1816), a Portuguese Jewish doctor, who was painted by Thomas Gainsborough, one of his patients, and that oil painting now hangs in Madrid's Museo del Prado.
An Anglican, Jonathan has been described by the Financial Times as "a committed evangelical Christian" and by The Yorkshire Post as "a devout Christian." He is a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Beefsteak Club. As of 2014, he had an estimated wealth of £380 million.
