Alan Peppard

When restaurateurs Robert Colombo and Billy Solomon built The Club in the Centrum, they wanted a place that was – well – clubby. A place where Winston Churchill would feel at home.

And that's exactly what happened Wednesday night.

Winston Churchill, grandson of the late British prime minister, arrived at The Club with his wife, Belgian-born jewelry designer Luce Churchill, to dine with some Dallas power couples.

Mr. Churchill is the son of Randolph Churchill and his first wife, Pamela Digby Churchill, later Pamela Harriman, Bill Clinton's ambassador to France. For nearly 30 years, the current Winston Churchill was a member of Parliament.

But he was in Dallas supporting his wife, who was here on jewelry business.

Among those dining with the Churchills were Dallas oil woman and hotelier Caroline Rose Hunt with Fort Worth oilman Charles Simmons; developer George Poston and his wife, Carol; former Dallas Museum of Art chairman Irvin Levy and his wife, Joan; businessman Roy Sheldon and his wife, Lynn; and interior designer Laura Hunt.

While the Churchills dined inside, restaurateur and poloist Norman Brinker and his wife, Toni, were being honored at a party on the patio of The Club. The Brinkers are honorary co-chairs of the May 3 Polo on the Lawn party at the Las Colinas Polo Club, a benefit for the Family Place, a shelter for victims of domestic violence.

Founder of the Willow Bend Polo & Hunt Club, former chairman of the U.S. Polo Association and victor in both polo's U.S. Open and USPA Gold Cup, Norman is one of the great champions of American polo.

At the end of the evening, Toni and Norman revealed that in addition to previous gifts to the Family Place, they were donating $10,000 to the shelter in honor of Polo on the Lawn co-chairs Dena and Vaughn Miller.

While at his Crawford ranch last weekend, President Bush wasn't the only big Republican in the state. The Republican National Committee had a meeting at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas with the party's presumptive nominee, John McCain. Both Gov. Rick Perry and cyclist Lance Armstrong were part of the conclave.

Speaking of the Four Seasons, the EDS Byron Nelson Championship will be there Wednesday through April 27. As always, the place to see and be seen will be the legendary Pavilion.

This year, the chic watering hole has been moved close to the No. 2 tee box. A VIP section has been added, and the weekend hours have been extended so bands such as Emerald City and Professor D can perform.

Didja know: Actor Tim Matheson, who played Otter in Animal House and Vice President Hoynes on The West Wing, was also the voice of Jonny Quest in the 1960s cartoon of the same name?