David Manning, who made the trip from Reading for the opening match, is one fan who believed it is a historic occasion.

BBC: Party time for cricket fans

It was all done in Tony Blair's study with Tony Blair on the phone to President Bush and David Manning on the phone to Condoleezza Rice and the normal Whitehall systems to make big decisions like this broke down and were very personalised in Number 10.

BBC: Clare Short: "We were duped"

Elizabeth Ironside, she learned, is a pseudonym for Catherine Manning, wife of the British ambassador to the U.S. The rights to Garden had reverted to Manning once the book went out of print in the U.K. Lady Manning was thrilled to be published in America, and her husband, Sir David Manning, wound up hosting a book party at the British embassy in Washington, D.

FORBES: Publish or Perish