DANA POINT, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Historic Le Mans racers and famous collectible car marques will be
featured during the 30^th anniversary Dana
Point Concours d’Elegance®, June 23-24, at the St. Regis Monarch
Beach resort in Dana Point, Calif. With more than 250 American and
European vehicles on-site, the event will honor “Legends of Le Mans:
Racing in the ‘60s” and Shelby American’s 50^th anniversary.

“We’re creating one of the greatest show fields ever in Southern
California,” said Jeff Spellens, Dana Point Concours president. “A trio
of racers from the Golden Era of Le Mans will sit near examples from the
Nethercutt Museum. Nearby, legendary Shelby’s will be parked close to
Ducati’s that raced decades ago. We’re bringing history to life.”

From the collection of 2012 Dana Point Concours d’Elegance Automotive
Icon Award recipient Bruce Meyer is a 1961 Ferrari 250 SWB that won
its class at Le Mans. Placing third overall, this classic won the
Manufacturer’s Championship for Ferrari. Meyer will also exhibit the
first Corvette to compete in the 24 hour endurance race and a 1962
Shelby Cobra, the first production Cobra ever built.

Recipients of the coveted Best of Show award last year, the
Nethercutt’s will return with three beautiful vehicles from their
private collection, including a front-wheel drive 1930 Ruxton. A 1932
Ford 18 hot rod originally built by legendary hot rod builder Tom
“Itchy” Otis, and a 1932 Ford Atterbury roadster hot rod built by Dick
“Magoo” Megugorac will both display on the golf links.

To honor 50 years of Shelby American, the Concours will highlight
vehicles from the manufacturer, including a Nightmist Blue 1967 GT500.
Restored to factory-specifications, it is fully documented and was one
of only four delivered to Spain for the festival of Seville in 1967.

Other featured classics that will be on display during the Concours,
includes:

• a 1956 Jaguar Factory Team Longnose D-Type that is one of six long
  nose D-Types constructed during 1956 as a factory team car, and
  carries the serial-number of XKD604;
• a 1953 Kurtis Kraft 500 M designed by Frank Kurtis and manufactured by
  Robert McCulloch, and is one of only nine still known to exist today;
  and
• a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 220S Cabriolet that features a six-cylinder
  engine and was hand-built at Sindelfingen.

Guests can purchase tickets online
or at the gate. Exhibitors can download a registration form and send to
the appropriate chairman by logging on to www.danapointconcours.org.

About Dana Point Concours d’Elegance

The Dana Point Concours d’Elegance® is a volunteer-run, 501(c)(3)
not-for-profit organization, with excess proceeds supporting local
Southern California charities. The event is presented primarily with
Full Classic® Cars from the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA), and
other non-classic classes. The Dana Point Concours® organizing committee
aspires to create a premier automotive event that showcases the rich
Southern California automotive heritage. For more information, please
visit www.DanaPointConcours.org.

“The main challenges for the company, in this financial year of 53 trading weeks, will be the continuing cost pressures resulting from government legislation, including recent increases in excise duty, business rates and carbon tax,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company, which has over 800 pubs across Britain, said its total tax bill in the current financial year would be about half a billion pounds, up nearly 50 million pounds from last year.

“All of the economic benefits of our expansion are currently being levied by the government as taxes – an unsustainable situation,” added the firm, which expects to open around 40 pubs this year and a further 20 to 30 in 2012/13.

Chairman Tim Martin, who founded Wetherspoon with the opening of a single London pub in 1979, had said in March the company was re-evaluating its strategy in the wake of increases to excise duty, business rates and carbon tax. At the time, Martin did not rule out the prospect of the pubs firm scrapping expansion plans altogether.

During the third-quarter, like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks to April 22 were up 2 percent, while total company sales rose 8.4 percent.

Wetherspoon said operating margin during the period was 8.1 percent, down from 9.3 percent in the first half. The company expects margins to improve in the final quarter, but warned that second-half margins would still be lower than the first half.

“We continue to be slightly more cautious about the potential outcome for the current financial year,” the group said.

The company is currently expected to post a full-year pretax profit of 67.4 million pounds, on sales of 1.2 billion pounds, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll.

Shares in the company closed at 408.4 pence on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Adveith Nair; Editing by Neil Maidment)

“Feeding people has always been my way of comforting and caring for the ones I love,” Jane Webster writes in her new book French Ties.

“Making bread has taught me that life cannot be hurried, and that slowing down can be transforming.”

Webster’s love affair with food was made evident among home cooks after she wrote her first book, At My French Table, which told of her family’s journey from Melbourne to Normandy. Yet it started much earlier than that.

Webster has studied French gastronomic history and has partaken in many culinary classes throughout Australia, France and Italy.

She also ran the French cafe La Gare in Armadale, Victoria, during the early 1990s and, in 2007 – two years after her move – she started The French Table cookery school.

The Melbourne mum of four now spends her time between Australia and France, hosting cooking classes over the European summer.

Before moving to France seven years ago, Webster and her husband, Pete, had been dreaming about buying a house there for some time.

“We were talking about it one night and I said to Pete, ‘I don’t want to wake up at 73 and say why the hell didn’t we do that?’,” Webster tells AAP while back in Australia recently.

In French Ties she writes: “We’d become obsessed with the idea of living in the French countryside, of learning a new language and traditions, and of giving our children a new perspective on the world.”

In 2005, they decided it was time to take the plunge. The relocation, she says, brought the family closer, and they found a sense of harmony in the French countryside that they’d found difficult to maintain in Australia.

The move has given Webster a chance to slow down and get back to basics.

“I love the pace of life over there,” she says. “It’s very laid-back.”

When asked why many Australians, including author Sarah Turnbull and photographer Carla Coulson, are attracted to the French lifestyle, Webster says it’s because we’re reverting to simple living.

In Normandy, where she lives in a chateau, she says everyone is obsessed with the next meal and with eating seasonal produce.

In French Ties, she shares her favourite recipes such as duck with blackberry sauce and celeriac puree; plum tarte tatin; and roasted quail with fresh figs.

She also offers a glimpse into the French way of living – keeping house, restoring a kitchen garden, indulging her passion for antique fairs and visiting markets.

Going to a market is a daily ritual and Webster’s favourite is Le Marche Place Saint-Marc in Rouen’s historic town centre. On Sunday mornings she moves up and down each aisle so not to miss anything and often returns home with creamed honey, a slab of pain d’epices (a traditional spiced cake), watercress and hand-picked lettuce, among other produce.

Webster never bores of her market trips.

“When I’m in Melbourne, I visit the farmers’ markets that are becoming increasingly popular, but I have to admit that nothing quite compares with the village markets of France. I guess hundreds of years of tradition are difficult to replicate.”

Angry with Scotland’s King John Balliol for supporting France, King Edward I of England sought to punish the recalcitrant Scots and bring them to heel, moving north with an army in the early days of 1296.

Edward and his army ignored attacks by the Scots on England’s northern villages, reached the wealthy Scottish port town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in late March and sacked it, reportedly killing thousands, almost everyone there. Edward then took his army toward Edinburgh.

At the Earl of March’s castle in Dunbar, Edward met and defeated Balliol’s army on April 27, 1296. It was the only significant battle between armed troops in the campaign of 1296. The Scots balked at backing their king, and by July, it had capitulated.

At Balliol’s formal surrender, he was stripped of his vestments of royalty; the red and gold arms of Scotland were ripped from his coat, and he earned the name of “Toom Tabard” (empty coat). He and his son were sent into captivity, and Edward led his victorious army back to London. In its train were the Stone of Scone and other Scottish national treasures.

The Stone of Scone, an oblong block of red sandstone, was reputedly brought to Scotland by Fergus, the first king of Scotland, from Ireland and used for his coronation around 330 BCE. Until returned to Edinburgh Castle in 1996, the Stone of Scone rested in the base of the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey. It has continued to serve its coronation role in the crowning of British monarchs since it was fitted in King Edward’s chair.

The Scottish submission lasted less than a year. The Campaign of 1296 served as the opening of the First War of Scottish Independence, and Edward’s easy victory over the incompetent Balliol was followed by difficult campaigns. Sir William Wallace and Andrew Moray rallied the Scottish nobility and led Scotland resistance to English rule. Scotland achieved its independence from England in 1328 — though it was short-lived, and a Second War of Scottish Independence started in 1332. It lasted until 1357, and Scotland retained its independence.

As the Scots might have said to their southern neighbors, “You’re a wee scunner!” and “Awa’ an bile yer heid.” Which, loosely translated, means, Quit your whining, and get lost!

— Frank Daniels III