twenty minutes to five
He begged him not to be rash ... . After some careful calculations , which he made upon a sheet of club note-paper , Lyveden came to the conclusion that thirty-three birds in the bush were better than one in the hand . Reckoning a bird at one hundred pounds and Lyveden 's available assets at the same number of guineas , who is to say he was wrong ? At twenty minutes to five on the eve of the Derby , Lyveden handed a protesting Smith one hundred and one pounds , to be invested on Blue Moon -- `` to win only . '' The odd note was to bring Smith his reward . A big bookmaker whom Smith was shaving as usual , at a quarter-past six , accepted the commission , pocketed the notes with a sigh , and gave the master-barber forty to one . Four thousand pounds -- in the bush .