The most extraordinary birthday party ever?

Traditionally, a husband might be expected to mark his wife's 50th birthday with some expensive jewellery or a luxury overseas trip.

But Charles Ridley, a multi-millionaire British banker and rugby lover, has arranged for some of the world's greatest rugby players to join him for a game on one of the most beautiful beaches in Africa - and passed the whole thing off as a present to his wife.

Thanks to a combination of pluck, marital diplomacy and spending, by conservative estimates more than £100,000, Mr Ridley has organised one of the most extraordinary birthday parties ever.

On August 29, he will line up on the pristine white sand of Watamu, Kenya, alongside Jason Leonard and Will Greenwood, two members of England's 2003 World Cup winning squad, plus Gareth Edwards, the Welsh scrum-half regarded by many as the game's greatest player.

Former England stars including Jeremy Guscott, Rory Underwood and Victor Ubogu will fly to Kenya, funded by Mr Ridley's generosity.

So too will Waisale Serevi, the great Fijian sevens player, and Willie-John McBride, the captain of the British Lions team that went unbeaten during the 1974 tour of South Africa. The setting is suitably impressive, Watamu's beach being widely regarded as among the most beautiful in the world.