The Boat Race 1982 fellow at St Hugh's was persuaded back into the crew by the Oxford boat club president Nick Conington. Rankov was rowing in his fifth consecutive Boat Race, alongside Steve Foster whom he supervised in classics. Oxford's crew also contained the Clay twins, Robert and Hugh. River conditions were calm: Jim Railton of "The Times" described the course as "a smooth and flat Queen's highway from Putney to Mortlake." Michael Muir-Smith was the umpire for the race, for which Oxford were "heavily favoured". They won the toss and elected to start from the Surrey station. A good start from the Light
Putney East Putney ward in second place. Excluding the "Putney Exchange" in a survey by the New Economics Foundation of 27 London high streets in 2005, Putney's ranked fifth most "cloned...[meaning] offering identikit shopping with little local character". The Thamesfield ward in Putney has London's highest Australian and New Zealand communities. The Member of Parliament for Putney is Justine Greening of the Conservative Party, who has served as the MP for the constituency since the 2005 general election; and was subsequently re-elected at the 2010, 2015 and 2017 general elections. Greening has held five Cabinet-level positions under the premierships of both