Deedes gets hands dirty

Tough times at The Sportsman, or is the betting daily a truly egalitarian operation? The paper’s chairman, Jeremy Deedes, a former Telegraph chief executive, was spotted flogging copies of his latest project at Windsor racecourse recently.

Observers say that he did a sterling job, shifting 42 copies in the hour leading up to the first race.

The identity of the man who put a last minute bet of &£42 on the winner of that race remains unclear.