"Sandy" McLennan 1860-1943, a gifted mathematician with a good memory, from 1890 based his family in London and from there he had a life around the world mixing with the rich and famous, including some of the greatest gamblers of his time. He took many voyages between Britain and New York.
He was a close friend and gambling partner of the famous "plunger" Riley Grannan and also of the jockey (and gambler) Tod Sloan. It is Tod Sloan who is credited with having changed the way jockeys "sit" during a race: the so called "Monkey on a stick" style, with short stirrups.
He was often sharing suites of rooms in some of the grandest hotels with his gambling friends.
He not only travelled to New York, but also to Paris, Monte Carlo, Northern England, Cuba, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles etc.
As a younger man in Australia he had a number of adventures and met men who would go on to be world champion boxers. He reflects on boxers' lives and culture. He would meet them again in different parts of the world: Jim Hall, Ted Pritchard, James J Corbett, Charles Mitchell, Bob Fitzsimmons, James J Jeffries and many more.
He met and befriended many actors and others in the theatre world: Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, DeWolf Hopper, Nat Goodwin, Sarah Bernhardt, Frank Lawton and others. His memory for the poems of Robbie Burns opened many doors. He met and became close friends with John Rockefeller Senior, the richest man on earth, who proposed that Sandy and himself should spend their twilight days together.
He played golf in many parts of the world - including a month in Colorado with Walter J Travis - who is credited with sparking the interest in golf in the USA.
On one hand of poker cards he lost £12,000 to an American champagne millionaire - taking inflation into account, about $3,400,000 in today's money.
Known in his home town as "The man who broke the Bank at Monte Carlo", these extraordinary personal memoirs, written in his own hand, were preserved for many decades by his grand-daughter Olive in London.
He wrote some of the memoirs under his nom de plume: Alec Hassell.
Published for www.clanmaclennan-worldwide.com/genealogy
