Look at what I spotted when I popped into the Electric on a Monday morning for Elevenses!
The Girl at the Bar of the Folie Bergeres
The Connaught, Zedel's, Napolean's Death Mask, Literary Salons and The Electric
Amicia de Moubray had a party to launch her latest book '20th Century Castles' at the baronial gothic splendour of the mansion at Two Temple Place, down on the embankment just along from The Savoy.
Two Temple Place
I went along as a guest of Mary Killen and was delighted to bump into Sir Peregrine Worsthorne and his wife Lady Lucinda Lambton. I have hardly seen them both since I drove down to Aix En Provence in a Bentley Mulsanne Turbo convertible, stopping as guests of Olivier Krugg one night and the monastery at Vazeley the second night. We stayed with Isobel Strathmore and had a lovely time until the car met with a large stone on the rockery in the garden which punctured the sump and put a very sudden end to the road trip. Bentley, of course handled it beautifully.
Hugh St Clair was down from Norfolk and it was very good to see the artist Julian Barrow, his wife Serena and Julian's brother, the author Andrew Barrow, whose son I fought painting to on the island of Mallorca 18months ago. The wine and canopes did not run out and it was so crowded that Mary stood at the top of the stairs by door greeting and chatting.
Zedel's Brasserie
The following day I had the pleasure of seeing Mary when we met for a lunch she had arranged at Jeremy Kings new joint called Zedel's in Piccadilly; and what a jolly affair that was too. Joanna Johnston, the costume designer who was up for an Oscar for her brilliance in the film Lincoln, joined us along with Hugh Betts from Maggs Bros in Berekley square.
I very much like the ambiance of this new and buzzing establishment...reminding me of the Brasserie St Georges in Lyon....large refectory type layout full of people in the serious business of feeding and talking...the result is a pleasant 'White noise' that gives the same back drop as a successful wedding reception. The secret is to always have the 'fixed price' menu. A glass of red is something like £3.50, a small tumbler of Lillet is £3.00 and so too is a creme brûlée....it seems slightly unbelievable.
Stephen Mackenzie is the new general manager....having come just two weeks ago from the Bar Boulud underneath the Mandarin Oriental. He very graciously complimented us ( as they say these days) the puddings (the tarte au pommes is worth a bit of pain) and that was a kind and thoughtful gesture.
After lunch we set off let a well refreshed troupe of Flanneurs to take in the sights as we went along. We stumbed upon the Cafe Royal and Tim, the head concierge dropped everything to show us around.
The Grill at the Cafe Royal which is one of the legendary dining rooms in London, frequented by Oscar Wilde.
It is rather fabulous in it's opulence. The main suite is still under construction and judging by what they have done so far, has a breath taking potential. The wooden panelled suite has the feelings of a grand country house or the guest room at Arundel Castle...the double glazing of a miraculous quality blocks out the traffic and drama of Regents Street outside.
From there we walked on through Mayfair and talking about inspirations for costume design, slipped through Browns Hotel from Albermarle Street to Dover Street and into Philip Mould's Gallery for an idea.
Phillip, famous for his books and TV shows, including the Antique Roadshow happened to be in. I have known Phillip since day one of public school. We were in the same house, interviewed for the same regiment, went to the same University and lived in the same cottage as students.
Philip talked us through a full size portrait of the Countess of Pembroke....a painting of a beautiful woman full of allegory reflected in her clothes which are symbolic of that moment in life. From there we strolled across to Hugh Betts office at Maggs Bros.
Maggs Bros
Maggs Bros is situated on Berkeley Square in a mansion that is said to be the most haunted house in London and is the size of a small prep school. It is a wonderful establishment and you might not be phased to meet characters from another era browsing around it's magnificent collection of antiquarian books and prints.
Hugh Betts of Maggs Bros in His Office
With a flourish Hugh produced an item that has just come into his possession......lifting from under his desk a container that is normally used for carrying feline creatures to the vet...Hugh unpacks the contents, separating it from it's bubble wrap and old newspaper padding. Behold the death mask of Napoleon....
Whilst it was an improvement on Hugh's general appearance.....it really is a fantastic piece of history and one of only two made by his physician within two hours of his death. Mary and Joanna said they were surprised at how handsome he was.....certainly had noble features.
We finished up with mugs of tea and biscuits in the kitchen in the basement....it was a bit like going to see your tutor at University.
That evening I was lucky enough to be invited to a very lovely dinner party at the Chelsea Arts Club, thoughtfully and generously thrown by the artist Nicola Reed and her husband James. The were 16 of us including Ralph Ward Jackson, who introduced me to Nicola. The food and atmosphere were conducive to a characterful and very amusing evening...
Early Members of The Arts Club
Typical Afternoon at The Arts Club
The following day Ralph Ward Jackson Hosted a lunch for 5 at Bucks Club on Clifford Street, just off Savile Row. Being dim I left the house without thinking earlier in the day and it dawned on me that I was not appropriately dressed for lunch in such an establishment...
I think that is the poet Roger McGough on the right with the spectacles and earring....I know he should be poet Laureate and he performed Lilly the Pink back in the early '70s. This is in the Chelsea Arts Club..
The wonderfully stylish Richard James came to the rescue....situated opposite the club but on Savile Row, they gallantly produced the suitable attire for lunch in a gentleman's club and dressed me with the kit on loan and all I had to do was stroll across to join Ralph and his guests. Bucks serves delicious club food and the potted shrimps followed by rabbit pie was juicy and good. The wine was a fine and generous choice and the setting would be perfect for a costume drama....
Talking of which the costume was returned to Richard James straight after the last brandy.
The club is where the famous Bucks Fizz was invented (the drink - not the group of the same name from Sweden who sprang to fame with Waterloo when I was at Prep School in the 70s)
What a change lunch was the next day...minimalist Japanese food at Samosun with Ambrose Carey and John Corry ....very neat and clean and I felt like I had arrived to have my appendix out rather than eat tempura and sushi.....which, incidentally, was masterfully prepared and quite exquisite. The hot Saki was great too.
Samosun on Albermarle Street, Mayfair
The next day my friend the cameraman Gavin Northover joined me for drinks at Gordon's Wine Bar. I was at school with the 5 Gordon boys and they are each quite remarkable in one way or another. Later we had a good beef Casserole dinner at the very reasonable Cotes on Charing Cross Rd....it was an all too rare opportunity to catch up with a dear old friend who I hadn't seen properly since his wedding in Southern Spain in the lemon groves followed by the dancing in the moonlight some 18 months ago!
Over the week end the owner and landlord of my local - the Brown Dog in Barnes - to celebrate his 40th birthday. The party was actually in the Tree House a few hundred yards away. I made a guest appearance as a barman for a short period, to add to the chaos.
40th Birthday Party
We ended the evening at the Halfway House till the early hours.
Sunday evening was spent welcoming my friends Jodi and Brindy Hamstra to London. We met at the Mayfair Hotel for champagne and canapés. We walked Brindy round the corner to the Dover Street Arts Club to meet her friends before Jodi and I took a cab to the Abingdon in Kensington and a very well prepared dinner.
I left Jody far too late for a Sunday night and she and Brindy took off for a 5 day wine tour of Bordeaux.
Vivienne Westwood and Matthew Williamson offices were a pleasure to deal with on a Monday morning and the talk that evening, organised by Sophia Koopman by the fabulous creator and sculptor, Richard Wilson. Richard is RA and world famous for his striking creations.... It was an intimate talk in the private dining room at Annabel's with a set dinner afterwards.
You might remember his crude oil installation at the Saatchi Gallery....
And his amazing and thought provoking installation in a disused building in Liverpool. The rotating disc was a triumph and he recounted the story about arriving in the city only for the taxi driver to insist that he took Richard to see what was the most attractive site in the city...the very same installation that Richard had installed.
It was a brilliant talk and utterly exciting to learn about his commission and inspiration for his new sculpture...Slipstream....that is going to be installed in the new Terminal 2 building at London Heathrow. Once done it will be the largest sculpture in Europe at 89 metres long.
Afterwards we dined quite well in the famous dining room where the 'the middle age meet the middle east'...it hasn't changed a jot since I first went there in 1973 as a guest of the Jebbs ( whose father designed the interior)
ANNABEL'S......nothing has changed ( apart from the ownership!! )
On Tuesday I went to the Pheonix on Smith Street before meeting my friend Chiggles and going on to the Phene Arms in Chelsea....now a very chic uber gastro pub. There I was very surprised to bump into Hugo Taylor of Made In Chelsea fame!
Hugo hasn't changed and was utterly charming.
Wednesday night was the brilliant Damian Barr's salon at Shoreditch House. I have just read Damian's rather brilliant memoir/autobiography called Maggie and Me...a wonderfully funny and delightfully endearing work that has been selected to be book of the week for Radio 4.
The Legend, Damian Barr
Damian's guests....who he interviewed some some aplomb included Rupert Thompson, author of This Party's Got to Stop...
Rupert Thompson And Lionel Shriver, Author of Let's Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver
Both read racy scenes from their new books and afterwards we had dinner in the club. It was very nice to bump into David Gilmour and his stunning wife, Polly Samson.
On Thursday morning I had a 7.30am breakfast meeting at The Connaught..the company was excellent, the service polite but the kippers were very grey and dreary.
Brekka at the Connaught
After a couple of meetings I was free to join my friend Murray Shanks for a good lunch at Kensington Place.. We met up again later in the day at the Electric House Club on Portobello Rd, where we were joined by Desmond MacCarthy and the stellar concierge from the Savoy, David Young....
Desmond owns the magical Wiveton Hall in North Norfolk. We quite possibly drank the place dry by the time we left. It was lovely to meet Thyra October and the fabulous dress designer, Alice Temperley
Wiveton Hall, North Norfolk
Desmond's pile that has seen some simply lovely week ends and summer holidays.
Portraits of Royals to Richard James and Balfour Castle
Nicky Philipps was in fine form over coffee in her house on a beautiful spring morning....the only one we have had so far this year..on Tuesday...in her lovely house and studio in South Kensington. On Wednesday she was graciously showing us around some of her portraits at the open day of Sara Stewart's new Gallery, Fine Art Comissions, on Duke St, St James...Bang opposite the Cavendish Hotel.
Nick Bashall actually started to work on a portrait of OLLIE (from 'Made in Chelsea' fame) and in 1.5 hours produced a remarkable picture. They are conjurers these portrait painters.Pink Champagne flowed and there had been a regular stream of friends and clients throughout the day.
Roberta Moore staged a wonderful collection of art at 45 Albermarle Street... just across Piccadilly. Ralph Ward Jackson was there to support his old friend and she put on a lovely show.
Made in Chelsea, Ollie
Paul Benney
Nicky Philipps with her famous picture of the Princes hanging in the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery
PR talking to Paul Benney at the gallery 'open day'
On Thursday morning the mince and potatoes at the Dean Street Townhouse was perfect for a wet and autumnal-feeling day after elevenses on the Norman Foster designed roof-top of the ME Hotel in the strand. Mike Ellis, the charming and effortlessly good host made us feel totally at home with a very good Portuguese red wine to go with the nosh...brilliantly balanced.
In the meantime Sally (Prideaux) is planning a house party to celebrate her big birthday at Balfour Castle at the end of April.
Balfour Castle....more romantic than Camelot
With wonderful gourmet food too..
Twenty of her special friends will be there....it is a splendid place.
Lunch with Ros Galliani and the Luxury Channel at Morton's in Berkeley Square threw up some interesting and sparkling ideas. The is a lot going on in this area of operations. Stefan Lindblom was over from Stockholm to help with my website and arrange things with Richard James for a photoshoot. We have some lovely clients who are coming to meet some of London's leading fashion designers for a talk about their ideas and inspirations. One of the exciting things about this project is that you get to know some of your heroes!
What with the drinks in Morton's and the early evening Sambuca shots in the Guinea on Bruton Mews ( courtesy of Michelle and the Arab Bank) it has been a diverse and stimulating week.
Start the week at the V&A
Finally we have a real spring morning....sitting in the in the courtyard garden of the V&A and I feel like I am in Sienna or Florence or Rome. It is a beautiful day and especially nice as it is a Monday morning after a w/e caring for my father in Barnes. Every so often we have wonderful days and lovely times; this is one of them......
Kind Hearts and Coronets, the Savoy and Cardinal Wolsey
After a rather wonderful elevenses at the College of Arms, exploring the designs and sketches for the coat of arms drawn up for such vaguely familiar characters from history such as Cardinal Wolsey, Paul MaCartney and Kate Middleton..... Under the expert guidance of Sir Henry Paston Bedingfeld, Norry and Ulster King of Arms, I felt the presence of history. It also has a touch of Kind Hearts and Coronets about it.
Sir Henry runs the very impressive College with great aplomb and style. It has been on the same site since before the fire of London. You almost expect to find Samuel Pepys scribbling in his diary in one of the wooden panelled rooms. Sir Henry's family home in Suffolk was built by one of the Bedingfeld family in 1482, and he still lives there....put another way, the family have been there since about 10 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America. That causes some astonishment whenever it is mentioned and especially when I take in my friends from the States.
A pleasant walk along Sir Peter Bazalgette's splendidly engineered embankment took me to the Savoy and the reviving services of Erik Lorincz in the American bar. Cocktails are always best around 5pm. My drinking partner on this occasion was the witty and thoughtful Richard Godwin with whom I sampled the new bar B.Y.O.C a couple of weeks ago.
There are few things more fun, reassuring or revitalising than world class cocktails in the company of a good friend. That said, whilst I love a cocktail, I don't much like a cocktail party..."Cocktail parties are the memorial services of the geriatric set' said Harold MacMillan; here is Richard's account of the drinks in the Evening Standard :
http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/foodanddrink/the-spirits-heres-to-the-bartender-8514281.html
When it comes to most things, he puts it all far better than I ever could.
Sir Henry runs the very impressive College with great aplomb and style. It has been on the same site since before the fire of London. You almost expect to find Samuel Pepys scribbling in his diary in one of the wooden panelled rooms. Sir Henry's family home in Suffolk was built by one of the Bedingfeld family in 1482, and he still lives there....put another way, the family have been there since about 10 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America. That causes some astonishment whenever it is mentioned and especially when I take in my friends from the States.
A pleasant walk along Sir Peter Bazalgette's splendidly engineered embankment took me to the Savoy and the reviving services of Erik Lorincz in the American bar. Cocktails are always best around 5pm. My drinking partner on this occasion was the witty and thoughtful Richard Godwin with whom I sampled the new bar B.Y.O.C a couple of weeks ago.
There are few things more fun, reassuring or revitalising than world class cocktails in the company of a good friend. That said, whilst I love a cocktail, I don't much like a cocktail party..."Cocktail parties are the memorial services of the geriatric set' said Harold MacMillan; here is Richard's account of the drinks in the Evening Standard :
http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/foodanddrink/the-spirits-heres-to-the-bartender-8514281.html
When it comes to most things, he puts it all far better than I ever could.
Pan European cocktails, Albrecht Drurer etchings at the British Museum and Burberry's Fashion Show and Burberry
This time of year is usually quiet and maybe even lame for me, a time to plan and reflect and prepare for the coming months ahead. This year the last three weeks have been slightly different.... It is a small world and since the start of the year I have been able to explore and taste a measure of it.Put simply, a lot of travel and meeting new people....as well as an unusually large number of new cocktail bars and speakeasies and all in a number of different cities and countries and all in a matter of days.
In Roma, I loved the JERRY THOMAS PROJECT (cocktail bar and lounge) - a kind of Blue Grass meets Marrakech joint with a very cool cast of barmen located down a side street in the centre of Rome. Antonio Parlapino and Leonardo Leuci have created a very cool dive indeed and I was made to feel most welcome when I arrived alone ...and equally again on another night when I arrived with a small party. My Roman hosts were very impressed to be introduced to such a cool bar in their own city by a first time foreigner. The Sazerac cocktails were just as they should be and made for best night-cap after a good dinner following a day spent exploring an already magical city.I am ashamed and amazed to admit that this was my first visit to Rome. As a traveller and amateur foodie - quite apart from being raised as a Catholic in school run by Benedictine monks - it seems almost impossible. Of course it didn't disappoint. Everything that could be written about Rome has been done so. Apart from the art, architecture and love of life ( they seem to have it all) one of the great things about Italy is that you know every day you are going to eat well...for brekka, lunch and dinner; whether you are in a pension or stopping at a fuel station, you will eat well. What a lovely life enhancing thought that is.I of course loved the Vatican and the Pantheon but my favourite is the Basilica St Clemente...quite near, but easily missable, the Coliseum. Mind you, these fabulous treasures were a far cry the night clubs and strip joints.... that you could go...to if every bit as ancient. I had a lovely dinner with Hannah Roberts, the intelligent and very attractive Daily Mail correspondent who has taken up a new post in the city.
Back In London I enjoyed the new Worship Street Whistling Shop cocktail bar as a guest of Erik Lorincz, who was guest barman for evening before going on to spend a couple of hours with his wife at the wonderful Asian-speakeasy-meets-lounge bar, OPIUM on Gerrard St in Soho. Right next door is the Experimental Cocktail Club...another speak easy with a draconian door policy. Once in, both are well worth the visit and since I seem to have been a few times in as many days, the doormen nowadays couldn't be more obliging. I loved the oriental take on the classic cocktails. Richard Godwin of the Evening Standard took me along to a preview of the B.Y.O.C bar in Convent Garden....a really novel concept of a hideaway that you bring your own booze...pay an entry fee and they provide the mixer (Dan from Milk and Honey ) and the mixers, with all the trimmings. A great place to spend time catching up with a good friend full of good conversation. I like good conversation, it leads to good ideas. Richard is full of both.
In Stockholm I loved the warm hospitality of the fire-hydrant-red Miss Voon Bar ......right in the middle of town at Sturegaten 22, and overlooking the park. The warm hospitality of the clever barman, Boudy Ghostine, who made me and my guests so welcome, contrasted with the minus 4 degrees outside. A great spot to take yer misses after you collect her from the coolest and probably most stylish hairdresser in Stockholm, Gustavo Björkman, who can be found just up the way at Sturegaten 26. It is a city of great conversation as the revellers....everyone of them attractive...are good humoured, approachable and out to enjoy themselves in a civilised and very attractive manner.I loved the vibe of the city of Stockholm. Gentle and interesting architecture - saffron and terracotta coloured buildings, vast expansive waterways, an impressive and inhabited palace as well as a number of parks - all under a heavy blanket of snow. The contemporary houses appear functional and perhaps a little plain until you enter them. Then you find them as cosy as hell after the sub zero temperatures outside. Moreover, each house seems to display an attractive lamp in the window or maybe a candle burning in a tin either side of the front door...often you find that in shops too. It provides for a nice warm welcome....almost like the ones we put out for Santa when we kids...an overall scene that is picturesque.I sat gossiping and taking in the scene with my host and business colleague, Stefan Lindblom, in various Fika's around the different islands.
Mind you I didn't learn about the uniquely Swedish tenet that "lagom är bäst" which is a guiding principal and so explains so much about their character and their culture....you have to look that one up!It is amazing how hospitable and kind hearted the Swedish can be. An attractive race, well built and effortlessly athletic (what people call fit and ripped nowadays) and many of the women Amazonian, ....the kind of everyday looks that would have your average British lads' eyes out on stalks....and that is just at the entry level. Glance into a shop early evening and even the girl cleaning looks like a-model-in-waiting. Why Barcelona should be the favoured place for a Laddish stag week end when this is surely nivarna, I'll never know. Perhaps it has something to do with the prices....the average glass of house wine is £10-15!
The BAFTAS and the LONDON FASHION WEEK supplied wonderful mixes of adventure with italian truffles and pasta at Cecconi's, in the company of Koreans and every other race. We learnt about Henry VII's crown made by Harry Collins and now in the chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace ; watched Real Tennis under instruction from Lesley Ronaldson, explored the crown jewels in the Tower of London and sought out sealing wax from a supplier in the East end of London.
The Wolseley served up delicious sea bass and Le Caprice delivered on Lunch before a spectacular show from Burberry. Ben Safra from head of VICs from head office, assisted by Gogo Cheng from Hong Kong, took us to dinner at L'autre Pied in Bloomsbury and a group of VICs (very important customers) and other guests were royally entertained yet again.The print room at the British Museum yielded up it's treasures...the Rembrandts and Albrecht Drurer etchings and prints were expertly explained to us by Annabel Howard and the Elgin Marbles were vividly brought to life by Kate Bryon, head of contemporary at the Fine Art Society....all followed by a very good lunch on the top floor of the National Portrait Gallery. Eleven guests travelling from eight different countries.
I was reminded of the chop houses of Chicago when I had dinner at The Palm with Mark Palmer, travel editor of the Daily Mail....the steaks are better than normally found in London and I was relieved that they can cut them down to the size you want before cooking them. The barmen knocked up a pertinent Gibson's and was generous with the onions...they are very really served with enough...it's the sort of sipping cocktail that you want to eat rather than just drink.
Over in Soho, the Old Fashioned served at the Groucho appeared suspiciously swiftly on the second round ......which kind of confirmed my suspicion that they were made with a premixed syrup but my old school friends Ollie Butcher ( over from LA where he has been working with Liam Leeson) and Murray Shanks (now a high court judge here in London) .........{note to self - wish I had paid more attention in class} were consoled by the steak and kidney pudding at Soho House finished off with excellent Sazeracs back at the Experimental Cocktail Club on Thursday.Finally, the Bassoon Bar at the Corinthia served up the most delicious hot toddies for my cough and cold followed by an Old Fashioned with a hint of truffle. My new friend Arfi Lamda, of Slumdog Millionaire fame, and his producer friend Laura Wu, were enjoying the scene with the COO of the hotel, Liam Lambert. Liam has run some of the most iconic and prestigious hotels in the world and Arfi was thrilled to learn that his own brother in law, an executive chef, had cooked at the wedding of Liam's daughter last year in Bombay!
As they say: it's a small world.
But then again, I wouldn't want to walk across it....
In Roma, I loved the JERRY THOMAS PROJECT (cocktail bar and lounge) - a kind of Blue Grass meets Marrakech joint with a very cool cast of barmen located down a side street in the centre of Rome. Antonio Parlapino and Leonardo Leuci have created a very cool dive indeed and I was made to feel most welcome when I arrived alone ...and equally again on another night when I arrived with a small party. My Roman hosts were very impressed to be introduced to such a cool bar in their own city by a first time foreigner. The Sazerac cocktails were just as they should be and made for best night-cap after a good dinner following a day spent exploring an already magical city.I am ashamed and amazed to admit that this was my first visit to Rome. As a traveller and amateur foodie - quite apart from being raised as a Catholic in school run by Benedictine monks - it seems almost impossible. Of course it didn't disappoint. Everything that could be written about Rome has been done so. Apart from the art, architecture and love of life ( they seem to have it all) one of the great things about Italy is that you know every day you are going to eat well...for brekka, lunch and dinner; whether you are in a pension or stopping at a fuel station, you will eat well. What a lovely life enhancing thought that is.I of course loved the Vatican and the Pantheon but my favourite is the Basilica St Clemente...quite near, but easily missable, the Coliseum. Mind you, these fabulous treasures were a far cry the night clubs and strip joints.... that you could go...to if every bit as ancient. I had a lovely dinner with Hannah Roberts, the intelligent and very attractive Daily Mail correspondent who has taken up a new post in the city.
Back In London I enjoyed the new Worship Street Whistling Shop cocktail bar as a guest of Erik Lorincz, who was guest barman for evening before going on to spend a couple of hours with his wife at the wonderful Asian-speakeasy-meets-lounge bar, OPIUM on Gerrard St in Soho. Right next door is the Experimental Cocktail Club...another speak easy with a draconian door policy. Once in, both are well worth the visit and since I seem to have been a few times in as many days, the doormen nowadays couldn't be more obliging. I loved the oriental take on the classic cocktails. Richard Godwin of the Evening Standard took me along to a preview of the B.Y.O.C bar in Convent Garden....a really novel concept of a hideaway that you bring your own booze...pay an entry fee and they provide the mixer (Dan from Milk and Honey ) and the mixers, with all the trimmings. A great place to spend time catching up with a good friend full of good conversation. I like good conversation, it leads to good ideas. Richard is full of both.
In Stockholm I loved the warm hospitality of the fire-hydrant-red Miss Voon Bar ......right in the middle of town at Sturegaten 22, and overlooking the park. The warm hospitality of the clever barman, Boudy Ghostine, who made me and my guests so welcome, contrasted with the minus 4 degrees outside. A great spot to take yer misses after you collect her from the coolest and probably most stylish hairdresser in Stockholm, Gustavo Björkman, who can be found just up the way at Sturegaten 26. It is a city of great conversation as the revellers....everyone of them attractive...are good humoured, approachable and out to enjoy themselves in a civilised and very attractive manner.I loved the vibe of the city of Stockholm. Gentle and interesting architecture - saffron and terracotta coloured buildings, vast expansive waterways, an impressive and inhabited palace as well as a number of parks - all under a heavy blanket of snow. The contemporary houses appear functional and perhaps a little plain until you enter them. Then you find them as cosy as hell after the sub zero temperatures outside. Moreover, each house seems to display an attractive lamp in the window or maybe a candle burning in a tin either side of the front door...often you find that in shops too. It provides for a nice warm welcome....almost like the ones we put out for Santa when we kids...an overall scene that is picturesque.I sat gossiping and taking in the scene with my host and business colleague, Stefan Lindblom, in various Fika's around the different islands.
Mind you I didn't learn about the uniquely Swedish tenet that "lagom är bäst" which is a guiding principal and so explains so much about their character and their culture....you have to look that one up!It is amazing how hospitable and kind hearted the Swedish can be. An attractive race, well built and effortlessly athletic (what people call fit and ripped nowadays) and many of the women Amazonian, ....the kind of everyday looks that would have your average British lads' eyes out on stalks....and that is just at the entry level. Glance into a shop early evening and even the girl cleaning looks like a-model-in-waiting. Why Barcelona should be the favoured place for a Laddish stag week end when this is surely nivarna, I'll never know. Perhaps it has something to do with the prices....the average glass of house wine is £10-15!
The BAFTAS and the LONDON FASHION WEEK supplied wonderful mixes of adventure with italian truffles and pasta at Cecconi's, in the company of Koreans and every other race. We learnt about Henry VII's crown made by Harry Collins and now in the chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace ; watched Real Tennis under instruction from Lesley Ronaldson, explored the crown jewels in the Tower of London and sought out sealing wax from a supplier in the East end of London.
The Wolseley served up delicious sea bass and Le Caprice delivered on Lunch before a spectacular show from Burberry. Ben Safra from head of VICs from head office, assisted by Gogo Cheng from Hong Kong, took us to dinner at L'autre Pied in Bloomsbury and a group of VICs (very important customers) and other guests were royally entertained yet again.The print room at the British Museum yielded up it's treasures...the Rembrandts and Albrecht Drurer etchings and prints were expertly explained to us by Annabel Howard and the Elgin Marbles were vividly brought to life by Kate Bryon, head of contemporary at the Fine Art Society....all followed by a very good lunch on the top floor of the National Portrait Gallery. Eleven guests travelling from eight different countries.
I was reminded of the chop houses of Chicago when I had dinner at The Palm with Mark Palmer, travel editor of the Daily Mail....the steaks are better than normally found in London and I was relieved that they can cut them down to the size you want before cooking them. The barmen knocked up a pertinent Gibson's and was generous with the onions...they are very really served with enough...it's the sort of sipping cocktail that you want to eat rather than just drink.
Over in Soho, the Old Fashioned served at the Groucho appeared suspiciously swiftly on the second round ......which kind of confirmed my suspicion that they were made with a premixed syrup but my old school friends Ollie Butcher ( over from LA where he has been working with Liam Leeson) and Murray Shanks (now a high court judge here in London) .........{note to self - wish I had paid more attention in class} were consoled by the steak and kidney pudding at Soho House finished off with excellent Sazeracs back at the Experimental Cocktail Club on Thursday.Finally, the Bassoon Bar at the Corinthia served up the most delicious hot toddies for my cough and cold followed by an Old Fashioned with a hint of truffle. My new friend Arfi Lamda, of Slumdog Millionaire fame, and his producer friend Laura Wu, were enjoying the scene with the COO of the hotel, Liam Lambert. Liam has run some of the most iconic and prestigious hotels in the world and Arfi was thrilled to learn that his own brother in law, an executive chef, had cooked at the wedding of Liam's daughter last year in Bombay!
As they say: it's a small world.
But then again, I wouldn't want to walk across it....
Two funerals this year and it's only Early February
The first day back to work after the Xmas break found me attending the funeral of the mother of one of my sisters oldest friends. France's Ogden was in her eighties and was loved, mourned and buried by a lifetime's collection of family and friends. The weather was shockingly foul, with us having to wait 20 mins standing in the church before following the coffin, as the storm raged outside at 11am. It was a bleak and for boding start to the first working day of the year. 'The heavens had to open to let her in you see....' I whispered to the daughter Jane.
Yesterday my niece, Rachel Renouf , was gathered at around 5am. She was 36 years old and had been battling leukaemia for 18 months with the courage and conviction that was something to watch. Rachel came to see her grandfather for lunch about four months ago. Having been one of so many uncles and aunts I had become rather distant. At that lunch though, I saw an amazing and inspiring young women. We talked about her son, her life, life in general, fear, fear of dying and hopes for the future. So moving was her honesty and courage, I asked her if she would share he story with others by way of an interview in the press.
That never happened and I am comfortable with it as the story is so searingly honest and personal it didnt need to be told in the papers, though Rachel would have been pleased if it had given some one hope.
Later in the day, I took my 88 yr old a father to be with them. We had a few hours with her mother and father and all of her 8 brothers and sisters, cousins, nephews and nieces and her own son Dylan, six years old. I know something of grief, having lost my mother at 18 years old - that was over 30 years ago and I had forgotten it's depth and profundity. We sat in a group forming a mutual outpouring of feeling and emotion. The exhaustion, disbelief, sunken eyes, pain, bewilderment and fear. The spontaneous embracing and hugging. The questions. The need for understanding, trying to make sense and the fear. The Feeling of utter loss in people so young.
I was more proud of my family than ever before....raw in their grief the showed love and compassion, vulnerability and courage.
Music was played in her honour, songs that she had written or sung, recorded onto myspace. Impulsively her six year old boy stood up and took to the floor and started to dance. He danced, raptured in the music, with skill and verve...passionately and full of life. We each marvelled at the picture of his mummy that we saw in the flash of his eyes, the smile and the energy and the cheek. We were being visited by his mother and we were each transfixed.
Pray for this family, each and every one of them as they come to terms with their loss. Their lives are changed for ever. Rachel will never be forgotten.
The funeral is ahead of us and I know it will be a celebration as well..
Yesterday my niece, Rachel Renouf , was gathered at around 5am. She was 36 years old and had been battling leukaemia for 18 months with the courage and conviction that was something to watch. Rachel came to see her grandfather for lunch about four months ago. Having been one of so many uncles and aunts I had become rather distant. At that lunch though, I saw an amazing and inspiring young women. We talked about her son, her life, life in general, fear, fear of dying and hopes for the future. So moving was her honesty and courage, I asked her if she would share he story with others by way of an interview in the press.
That never happened and I am comfortable with it as the story is so searingly honest and personal it didnt need to be told in the papers, though Rachel would have been pleased if it had given some one hope.
Later in the day, I took my 88 yr old a father to be with them. We had a few hours with her mother and father and all of her 8 brothers and sisters, cousins, nephews and nieces and her own son Dylan, six years old. I know something of grief, having lost my mother at 18 years old - that was over 30 years ago and I had forgotten it's depth and profundity. We sat in a group forming a mutual outpouring of feeling and emotion. The exhaustion, disbelief, sunken eyes, pain, bewilderment and fear. The spontaneous embracing and hugging. The questions. The need for understanding, trying to make sense and the fear. The Feeling of utter loss in people so young.
I was more proud of my family than ever before....raw in their grief the showed love and compassion, vulnerability and courage.
Music was played in her honour, songs that she had written or sung, recorded onto myspace. Impulsively her six year old boy stood up and took to the floor and started to dance. He danced, raptured in the music, with skill and verve...passionately and full of life. We each marvelled at the picture of his mummy that we saw in the flash of his eyes, the smile and the energy and the cheek. We were being visited by his mother and we were each transfixed.
Pray for this family, each and every one of them as they come to terms with their loss. Their lives are changed for ever. Rachel will never be forgotten.
The funeral is ahead of us and I know it will be a celebration as well..
the College of Arms and a good lunch
There are few things more civilised than a good lunch. I had two this week. The first was with Sir Henry Beddingfeld. sir Henry is responsible for designing and maintaining the coats of arms awarded to such people as Bercow and Catherine Middleton. I love it when he mentioned to some American Friends that his family house was built by one of his ancestors about ' ten years before Christopher Columbus discovered America'. We started off with a wet and a dry martini made by Swanny at the Merican Bar in the Savoy and then had steak tartare and venison with good wines in the River Room overlooking the Thames. of course I had screwed up the bookings, but they still managed to get us one of the best tables even though it was full. The puddings (I had liquorice brûlée and Henry had a chocolate ball that exploded) were exquisite and the sommelier recommended delicious pudding wines too.
The next day I cooked a lunch for my father and his friends... Baked ham, broad beans, beetroot, fresh horseradish, carrots and mash all washed down with a good Malbac and followed by hot blackberries and vanilla ice-cream and a nice Beaume de Vernise. I have just mad my father some carrot and coriander soup as well as a credible French Onion soup for the week end. I was surprised to see Zac Goldsmith in Waitrose on Sheen Lane whilst shopping for ingredients - think he might have been canvassing rather than shopping...
The next day I cooked a lunch for my father and his friends... Baked ham, broad beans, beetroot, fresh horseradish, carrots and mash all washed down with a good Malbac and followed by hot blackberries and vanilla ice-cream and a nice Beaume de Vernise. I have just mad my father some carrot and coriander soup as well as a credible French Onion soup for the week end. I was surprised to see Zac Goldsmith in Waitrose on Sheen Lane whilst shopping for ingredients - think he might have been canvassing rather than shopping...
Da Vinci, The Long Way Down and the best roast beef in London
The Lady on the Rocks, The Long Way Down, Made in Chelsea and oh, the best roast beef in London.
It is surely one of the most interesting and beautiful exhibitions of the last ten years, covering the 1480s and 1490s (ie pre Mona Lisa) of Da Vinci's career.
Da Vinci believed the artist to be an 'editor rather than merely a recorder', in other words capture nature and beauty rather than depict subjects in simply an illustrative manner.
The two editions of our 'Lady on the Rocks' ( and I'm not again referring to one of Erik Lorincz's cocktails) one now in the Louvre and the other in the National Gallery, London, sit in the same room probably for the first time in their history.....indeed apparently Da Vinci himself never saw them together....
Don't forget to go to the annex of the exhibition which is up two floors and in another part of the Gallery all together....there you will find the story of the Last Supper.
Allow yourself 1.5 hours to do it justice ....it is heavenly and certainly listen to the audio guide....it is a beautiful production.
It is wonderful to see the totally eclectic crowd of visitors all in rapt attention. I have rarely seen such reverence. Other people are always annoying and there is an incessant file past each of the great works but it really isn't too crowded......
I am thrilled that my beautiful niece, Melody Renouf, who I had lunch with today, works at the National Gallery...and we are going to spend some time going around the gallery so I can get to understand it better and I can learn from her about some of the paintings....
I went on Friday and then later to a very good dinner at Bar Boulud at the Manadarin Oriental to meet my old friend Col Ryder.
I would not normally think of going to a 5 star hotel to eat but this place is humming, informal, the food delicious and the service superb. Its fun. And as AA Gill declares, has the best hamburgers in the world....bar none. ( And my, that is a claim).... Renata Ryder, looking beautiful, came and joined us for an after dinner Old Fashioned. A series of cocktails from the American Bar team is a sure guarantee of a classic night out with an old chum. A few of the favourites at the moment are the Sazarak, the Green Park and finally, the Monet.
On Saturday night I was invited to the 1920s themed 21st birthday party of Georgia Gordon at Morden Lodge in Merton. It was lavish and stylish with delicious eats and a mixture of all generations. Simon Gordon talked about his new breakthrough product called Face Watch which the Savoy has signed up to and what a change it makes from running the hugely successful Gordon's Wine Bar. The nephews and nieces that I had partied with in Menorca back in July were also there.
On the way home Charley Boorman told me about his visit to Buckingham Palace the day before.....something to do with a large reception for adventurers and explorers. Ollie, his wife, who was driving us, was very envious as the spouse's had not been to the reception.
Charley told me that apparently Princess pushy ( Princess Michael of Kent) had crossed Africa on a bus as a student, having dyed her hair and got a very deep sun tan to qualify for her place on the bus( something to do with the regulations at the time). She took 2months disguised as a black women, including a stop when she was very I'll. And the bus and passengers waited for three days whilst she recovered in some godforsaken township somewhere.
The Queen said: 'Ah yes, you're the one that goes about on a motorcycle...'. Charley Boorman's latest series is currently on Monday evenings and called Extreme Frontiers ( not sure which channel).
The security police were thrilled that he was the only person in their careers to arrive at Buckingham Palace on a motorbike and had opened a book as to whether he would or not. He said they were jokey and charming.
The next day was Sunday and I was invited to lunch by David Young, Deputy Head Concierge at the Savoy. We were joined at the Holywood Arms by 6 of his friends....and wow has the place changed. the service was amateur and patchy if warm hearted and the waitress pretty. The red wine didn't arrive until we had nearly finished eating and even then only when I went up to the bar to stand in front of the bar man.The decor is gastro-pub chic and though quite high-street interiors, is elegant and smooth. The lighting is too bright.
The roast beef on the other hand was probably the best tasting roast beef I have ever had eating out in London. It looked dark and unattractive but the flavour was intense and delicious. It would have been even better if the horseradish had been freshly made...if ever a roast of beef deserved it home made then this was it! Everyone else enjoyed what they ate and there was no room for pudding.
It was only afterwards that I noticed not one of us had asked for salt or pepper and indeed there was none on offer. Maybe the simple secret of a delicious plate of food is to heavily season it. I do remember the head chef at The Electric once told me that all these cookery shows on TV never admit how much salt goes into food in commercial lichens.......And it was the first time in my life that I have not salted either roast potatoes or red cabbage...even the smallest pinch..... And it left me thinking.
Hugo Taylor from Made In Chelsea greeted me warmly when I spotted him under the heaters outside. I had met him a few years ago as one of the best friends of the son of Isobel Strathmore. It was fun to see him again but now as a celebrity and also in Chelsea,
....whatever your views of the TV show!
It is surely one of the most interesting and beautiful exhibitions of the last ten years, covering the 1480s and 1490s (ie pre Mona Lisa) of Da Vinci's career.
Da Vinci believed the artist to be an 'editor rather than merely a recorder', in other words capture nature and beauty rather than depict subjects in simply an illustrative manner.
The two editions of our 'Lady on the Rocks' ( and I'm not again referring to one of Erik Lorincz's cocktails) one now in the Louvre and the other in the National Gallery, London, sit in the same room probably for the first time in their history.....indeed apparently Da Vinci himself never saw them together....
Don't forget to go to the annex of the exhibition which is up two floors and in another part of the Gallery all together....there you will find the story of the Last Supper.
Allow yourself 1.5 hours to do it justice ....it is heavenly and certainly listen to the audio guide....it is a beautiful production.
It is wonderful to see the totally eclectic crowd of visitors all in rapt attention. I have rarely seen such reverence. Other people are always annoying and there is an incessant file past each of the great works but it really isn't too crowded......
I am thrilled that my beautiful niece, Melody Renouf, who I had lunch with today, works at the National Gallery...and we are going to spend some time going around the gallery so I can get to understand it better and I can learn from her about some of the paintings....
I went on Friday and then later to a very good dinner at Bar Boulud at the Manadarin Oriental to meet my old friend Col Ryder.
I would not normally think of going to a 5 star hotel to eat but this place is humming, informal, the food delicious and the service superb. Its fun. And as AA Gill declares, has the best hamburgers in the world....bar none. ( And my, that is a claim).... Renata Ryder, looking beautiful, came and joined us for an after dinner Old Fashioned. A series of cocktails from the American Bar team is a sure guarantee of a classic night out with an old chum. A few of the favourites at the moment are the Sazarak, the Green Park and finally, the Monet.
On Saturday night I was invited to the 1920s themed 21st birthday party of Georgia Gordon at Morden Lodge in Merton. It was lavish and stylish with delicious eats and a mixture of all generations. Simon Gordon talked about his new breakthrough product called Face Watch which the Savoy has signed up to and what a change it makes from running the hugely successful Gordon's Wine Bar. The nephews and nieces that I had partied with in Menorca back in July were also there.
On the way home Charley Boorman told me about his visit to Buckingham Palace the day before.....something to do with a large reception for adventurers and explorers. Ollie, his wife, who was driving us, was very envious as the spouse's had not been to the reception.
Charley told me that apparently Princess pushy ( Princess Michael of Kent) had crossed Africa on a bus as a student, having dyed her hair and got a very deep sun tan to qualify for her place on the bus( something to do with the regulations at the time). She took 2months disguised as a black women, including a stop when she was very I'll. And the bus and passengers waited for three days whilst she recovered in some godforsaken township somewhere.
The Queen said: 'Ah yes, you're the one that goes about on a motorcycle...'. Charley Boorman's latest series is currently on Monday evenings and called Extreme Frontiers ( not sure which channel).
The security police were thrilled that he was the only person in their careers to arrive at Buckingham Palace on a motorbike and had opened a book as to whether he would or not. He said they were jokey and charming.
The next day was Sunday and I was invited to lunch by David Young, Deputy Head Concierge at the Savoy. We were joined at the Holywood Arms by 6 of his friends....and wow has the place changed. the service was amateur and patchy if warm hearted and the waitress pretty. The red wine didn't arrive until we had nearly finished eating and even then only when I went up to the bar to stand in front of the bar man.The decor is gastro-pub chic and though quite high-street interiors, is elegant and smooth. The lighting is too bright.
The roast beef on the other hand was probably the best tasting roast beef I have ever had eating out in London. It looked dark and unattractive but the flavour was intense and delicious. It would have been even better if the horseradish had been freshly made...if ever a roast of beef deserved it home made then this was it! Everyone else enjoyed what they ate and there was no room for pudding.
It was only afterwards that I noticed not one of us had asked for salt or pepper and indeed there was none on offer. Maybe the simple secret of a delicious plate of food is to heavily season it. I do remember the head chef at The Electric once told me that all these cookery shows on TV never admit how much salt goes into food in commercial lichens.......And it was the first time in my life that I have not salted either roast potatoes or red cabbage...even the smallest pinch..... And it left me thinking.
Hugo Taylor from Made In Chelsea greeted me warmly when I spotted him under the heaters outside. I had met him a few years ago as one of the best friends of the son of Isobel Strathmore. It was fun to see him again but now as a celebrity and also in Chelsea,
....whatever your views of the TV show!
Monet, Money, The Savoy
Popped into the Savoy with the Journalist Jonny BEARDSALL. Jonny was keen to sample the magnificent cocktails I keep banging on about.
We had some samples of his stunning fur hats beheaded with the real heads of English and French partridges that sell for £1900 plus in very exclusive stores...very much appreciated by the beautiful Laura who works for Boodles on the ground floor.
Brett Perkins, Communications Director, then told us about the Monet on display in the Monet Suite on the sixth floor. After a wet martini and an Aperol Spritz from Eric Lorincz we took the lift and went to view the pastel. En route Kiaran MacDonald, General Manager, explained that Monet's paints had been held up at customs so the page was sent out to buy some pastels. The result is the picture we looked at. A very pretty pastel in sky blue of Wterloo Bridge. It belongs to Simon Shore of the Trinity House gallery who was sitting the as a informative and interesting chaperone. Apparently he painted some 26 pictures from the hotel
It is simple but stunning and for those interested it has a cool one and a half million pound price tag....
Erik heard about the picture and realising the gravitas of the poignancy of Monet revisiting the Savoy, in a matter of minutes, created two stunning and wholly original cocktails...one light and fresh and totally 'au plein aire' as an aperitif and another Cognac based as a digestive. Both superb.
Now I am reflecting on it over a Sazerac made buy Ladislad Piljar which is a work of art in itself. I'm also hoping that Laura from Boodles will come and join me, though I don't want to annoy the charming David as I had wonderful lunch with both of them yesterday...
We had some samples of his stunning fur hats beheaded with the real heads of English and French partridges that sell for £1900 plus in very exclusive stores...very much appreciated by the beautiful Laura who works for Boodles on the ground floor.
Brett Perkins, Communications Director, then told us about the Monet on display in the Monet Suite on the sixth floor. After a wet martini and an Aperol Spritz from Eric Lorincz we took the lift and went to view the pastel. En route Kiaran MacDonald, General Manager, explained that Monet's paints had been held up at customs so the page was sent out to buy some pastels. The result is the picture we looked at. A very pretty pastel in sky blue of Wterloo Bridge. It belongs to Simon Shore of the Trinity House gallery who was sitting the as a informative and interesting chaperone. Apparently he painted some 26 pictures from the hotel
It is simple but stunning and for those interested it has a cool one and a half million pound price tag....
Erik heard about the picture and realising the gravitas of the poignancy of Monet revisiting the Savoy, in a matter of minutes, created two stunning and wholly original cocktails...one light and fresh and totally 'au plein aire' as an aperitif and another Cognac based as a digestive. Both superb.
Now I am reflecting on it over a Sazerac made buy Ladislad Piljar which is a work of art in itself. I'm also hoping that Laura from Boodles will come and join me, though I don't want to annoy the charming David as I had wonderful lunch with both of them yesterday...
Kensington Palace and Vivienne Westwood
Kensington Palace is staging a fairytale installation in the 16 rooms that are open to the public. It is unlike any museum I have ever been to before. The idea is to help you identify the 7 princesses that have been associated with the Palace from Mary onwards...
It is an arcadia, peopled by actors dressed in Vivienne Westwood who are out to identify and detect changes and secrets that emerge as a result of the reconstruction work that is currently going on. Some of the interior design is breath taking and the thought and originality of the elaborate display can be thrilling.
Over and above the actors the janitors are called "explainers" and they are astoundingly well informed.
Have a look at the wind dial in the long gallery, so beautifully decorated by William Kent in the late 17th Century. The wind dial has a map of England with a big and elegant arrow pointing to the direction of where the wind is coming from.....incredibly important information in those days
It is an arcadia, peopled by actors dressed in Vivienne Westwood who are out to identify and detect changes and secrets that emerge as a result of the reconstruction work that is currently going on. Some of the interior design is breath taking and the thought and originality of the elaborate display can be thrilling.
Over and above the actors the janitors are called "explainers" and they are astoundingly well informed.
Have a look at the wind dial in the long gallery, so beautifully decorated by William Kent in the late 17th Century. The wind dial has a map of England with a big and elegant arrow pointing to the direction of where the wind is coming from.....incredibly important information in those days
Craig Brown, Hamleys of Regent Street and driving on empty
My great friend Stefan Lindblom arrived on a visit from Stockholm. Stef used to manage Richard James on Savile Row and is now working in Sweden. At the same time I had some friends staying at the Berkeley Hotel.
Ollie Kieran Jones joined us for dinner at the Dean Street Townhouse...where we celebrated Stefan's birthday with the classic dish of mince and potatoes. Hamlets of Regent Street and Westminster Abbey did not disappoint us in the build up to Christmas.
Craig Brown did a fantastic reading of his new book about remarkable moments in history when the most improbable people meet each other. Craig is very bright and funny with a brilliant delivery. I sat with his wife, Frances Walsh and with Olinda Adeane who had driven down from Suffolk having forgotten her wallet and a kind stranger in Finchley put £20 of petrol in her car...
The Trump Tower, American Dairy Farms and The Cipriani
It's been a strange time lapse since I returned from the States.
Having sampled the very best that Chicago has to offer....in four days I tested: Roka....exquisite Asian nibbles and Saki, Benny's, the Tavern on Rush, Smith and Wollensky's (treated to oysters + Lobsters by Stephen Scarr), Gibsons (where I sang My Way after too many cocktails), Piano Terzo (where I rapped with the group HoddiiboysTV.....yup)' the Purple Pig and finally Ralph Lauren (tasted the delectable Perch).
We drove in Jodi's off roader Cadillac out to the Hamstra Golf Club and savoured classic hot dogs before Greg Hamstra explained his plans for all the earth moving and additions to the course.
After lunch Tony Bos took me on an intense and extensive tour of his world famous dairies. It was simply fascinating to see what he had built up over his lifetime. The sheer scale of his farms is awe inspiring... Something like 20'000 cattle being milked three times per day in an automated milking parlour built by Greg Hamstra.....who is now taking his designs to Russia.
Tony was very generous with his time and information, giving me a full afternoon, and explaining his visitor centre and cheese making plant. Afterwards Mary Beth Bos served us delicious wine. Jodi Hamstra took me to her lovely country home to admire her lovely paintings before driving me back to the city and out to dinner at Roka.
I was able to quickly pop in to see Stephen Scarr's empire and then the offices of Norm Bobins and meet Ann his secretary who had become a friend over emails and phone calls.
I arrived in London to go straight to a wonderful Thanks Giving lunch at the Savoy. My guests were Olinda Adeane and the lovely Connie and Natale Rusconi. Olinda introduced me to the Rusconi's when we drove to Venice a couple of years ago.
Natale Rusconi is the hotel legend that ran the Cipriani for some 40 years or so. It was an exquisite and long lunch with charming and amusing anecdotes. A lot of the staff remembered serving him over the years and I believe Natale was touched by the warmth and attention he received.
Having sampled the very best that Chicago has to offer....in four days I tested: Roka....exquisite Asian nibbles and Saki, Benny's, the Tavern on Rush, Smith and Wollensky's (treated to oysters + Lobsters by Stephen Scarr), Gibsons (where I sang My Way after too many cocktails), Piano Terzo (where I rapped with the group HoddiiboysTV.....yup)' the Purple Pig and finally Ralph Lauren (tasted the delectable Perch).
We drove in Jodi's off roader Cadillac out to the Hamstra Golf Club and savoured classic hot dogs before Greg Hamstra explained his plans for all the earth moving and additions to the course.
After lunch Tony Bos took me on an intense and extensive tour of his world famous dairies. It was simply fascinating to see what he had built up over his lifetime. The sheer scale of his farms is awe inspiring... Something like 20'000 cattle being milked three times per day in an automated milking parlour built by Greg Hamstra.....who is now taking his designs to Russia.
Tony was very generous with his time and information, giving me a full afternoon, and explaining his visitor centre and cheese making plant. Afterwards Mary Beth Bos served us delicious wine. Jodi Hamstra took me to her lovely country home to admire her lovely paintings before driving me back to the city and out to dinner at Roka.
I was able to quickly pop in to see Stephen Scarr's empire and then the offices of Norm Bobins and meet Ann his secretary who had become a friend over emails and phone calls.
I arrived in London to go straight to a wonderful Thanks Giving lunch at the Savoy. My guests were Olinda Adeane and the lovely Connie and Natale Rusconi. Olinda introduced me to the Rusconi's when we drove to Venice a couple of years ago.
Natale Rusconi is the hotel legend that ran the Cipriani for some 40 years or so. It was an exquisite and long lunch with charming and amusing anecdotes. A lot of the staff remembered serving him over the years and I believe Natale was touched by the warmth and attention he received.
old School friend, lobster and Chicago Chop houses from Trump Tower
When I toured the States in my year off ( ok 1978) I was slightly overwhelmed by so many things; and I still am some 35 years later. One of the things was the astonishing warmth and generosity. And that still exists.
Jodi and Greg Hamstra have been warmth personified. They have opened up there home to me, introduced me to their friends, wined and dined me and shown me their favourite places.
Yesterday we walked to the art store for Jodi to buy some gold and copper leaf that she is inspired to use in her painting. On the way back we overheard the first Xmas carols. We popped into a vast art gallery to admire a local artists work...the sales girl didn't like me... 'no photos please!' she yelled, looking at my camera. 'yes' I said 'I saw the sign in the lift....I thought it meant no photos to be taken in the lift' . Well she didn't get it and were happy to leave to meet Greg in the Purple Pig which is cozy and fun and I sank an Aperol Spritz...
I strolled across the Plaza outside the Trump to meet Stephen Scarr who is now living and working in Chicago. He owns the Internet company INFO.COM that actually provides my email address. I met him and his simply gorgeous daughter Georgia who is 8 and bright and self entertaining and pretty and intelligent.. We lunched at Smith and Smolenski on State St and over looking the Chicago river. En route I was bother by a hobo who was so entertaining and charming that when he asked me for money for a cup of tea I had no hesitation about not having change for a sizeable note!
After bloody marys and a feeble old fashioned we gossiped about school days, our lives and life in general over oysters, lobster tails and delicious home made bread and good white wine.
Jodi came to join us for the last half hour and the whole lunch and conversation was simply wonderful.
We got back to Trump tower just as Mary Beth, Tony and Jacqueline Bos were alighting from their gleaming White totally British made Bentley Flying Spur .....which takes some style in the centre of Chicago.
We headed up to the 86th floor for champagne and then down to the Rebar in the hotel below for cocktails... The citizens of Chicago marched past with the massed bands, mickey mouse and god knows what to celebrate the lights festival...the starting gun for Xmas shopping. We had the best seats in the city for the final fire work display.
A short stroll at 8pm to Bennys Chop House on Wabash. Now there are chop houses and chop houses......this was elegantly packed with dark suited and elegant people....a kind of look that Ralph Lauren enjoys. The starter was Altantic crab and lobster and the main was a selection of steaks the like of which I have never seen before. The waiters description and soliloquy about the aged meat was such a performance it was like an aria from an opera.
Mary Beth produced two bottles of Chateux Margaux 2004 from her stunning Fendi bag with a great smile and a not too demanding corkage of $50 for the two. We talked ranching and vintage cars and Tony promised me a peek at his new old car collection when I visit Fair Oaks on Monday.
We staggered back to the hotel for a night cap and despite all this I manage to get a relatively early bed at 11.00
Jodi and Greg Hamstra have been warmth personified. They have opened up there home to me, introduced me to their friends, wined and dined me and shown me their favourite places.
Yesterday we walked to the art store for Jodi to buy some gold and copper leaf that she is inspired to use in her painting. On the way back we overheard the first Xmas carols. We popped into a vast art gallery to admire a local artists work...the sales girl didn't like me... 'no photos please!' she yelled, looking at my camera. 'yes' I said 'I saw the sign in the lift....I thought it meant no photos to be taken in the lift' . Well she didn't get it and were happy to leave to meet Greg in the Purple Pig which is cozy and fun and I sank an Aperol Spritz...
I strolled across the Plaza outside the Trump to meet Stephen Scarr who is now living and working in Chicago. He owns the Internet company INFO.COM that actually provides my email address. I met him and his simply gorgeous daughter Georgia who is 8 and bright and self entertaining and pretty and intelligent.. We lunched at Smith and Smolenski on State St and over looking the Chicago river. En route I was bother by a hobo who was so entertaining and charming that when he asked me for money for a cup of tea I had no hesitation about not having change for a sizeable note!
After bloody marys and a feeble old fashioned we gossiped about school days, our lives and life in general over oysters, lobster tails and delicious home made bread and good white wine.
Jodi came to join us for the last half hour and the whole lunch and conversation was simply wonderful.
We got back to Trump tower just as Mary Beth, Tony and Jacqueline Bos were alighting from their gleaming White totally British made Bentley Flying Spur .....which takes some style in the centre of Chicago.
We headed up to the 86th floor for champagne and then down to the Rebar in the hotel below for cocktails... The citizens of Chicago marched past with the massed bands, mickey mouse and god knows what to celebrate the lights festival...the starting gun for Xmas shopping. We had the best seats in the city for the final fire work display.
A short stroll at 8pm to Bennys Chop House on Wabash. Now there are chop houses and chop houses......this was elegantly packed with dark suited and elegant people....a kind of look that Ralph Lauren enjoys. The starter was Altantic crab and lobster and the main was a selection of steaks the like of which I have never seen before. The waiters description and soliloquy about the aged meat was such a performance it was like an aria from an opera.
Mary Beth produced two bottles of Chateux Margaux 2004 from her stunning Fendi bag with a great smile and a not too demanding corkage of $50 for the two. We talked ranching and vintage cars and Tony promised me a peek at his new old car collection when I visit Fair Oaks on Monday.
We staggered back to the hotel for a night cap and despite all this I manage to get a relatively early bed at 11.00
Private Box on the world, personal shopping and Mexican Market
The view from my four poster bed in the penthouse of the Trump Tower is other worldly...you sit like Zeus among the clouds and of course it is difficult not to cast judgement on the mere mortals below.... It is like a private box on the world, the place where the demigods after party perhaps...
Below consists of the most fashionable bar in the city and boutiques such as Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton etc. I am totally surprised that these particular branches are not as glittery as those in London..but to be fair Burberry is in a pop up location whilst it waits for it's new 8 storey shop to open.
Jodi and I sipped 'mimosas' ( personal shoppers Buck Fizz)whilst we waited for her Burberry concierge/personal shopper to go through the selection of garments that she had put aside especially for her. Jodie hasn't had the chance to visit the store for 6 weeks and there is a lot of cool new season stuff. It's the Burberry Haute Couture collection and I confess to being new to this level of personal service in a store. And I can assure you it is personal. The lady has Jodi's taste and interest at the forefront of her mind...and she appears spot on. Whilst there Jodi's special coat arrives from London, bought straight off the catwalk.....the staff gather round to admire it. It is sensational and as we walk down Michigan Avenue we are stopped time and again with compliments. Mobiles are used to take photos and a fashion blogger enthuses. the streets around are full of excitement and preparations for the parade tomorrow.
After cocktails and lunch at The Tavern on Rush one trendy young man stops us and is thrilled to tell us he had just seen the coat on the fashion blog and takes a picture of us to send to the editor to share the news... Even the security guards nod in approval..
Cocktails in the Rebar, dinner in a very stylish and young crowd Mexican restaurant called Mercardito which means (little market) and we devise means outdoor market because the air con is so high that leave early to warm up back at Trump...the barman there, Joel, has the potential to follow Erik Lorincz to the title.........one day
An early night and at last sleep comes. I wake up in the early hours with my glasses and book on the floor and the lights on low..
There is a an email from my friends in London saying that they loved our lunch at the Savoy (was iit really just yesterday) and unlike the Caprice, the hotel is definitely on their 'return' list.
We've got lunch with an old school friend, Stephen Scarr, drinks with Iris Childress, my client who lives here and really looking forward to seeing Mary Beth and Tony Bos for Champagne and fireworks from the best view in town! Maybe The Donald himself will grace the bar with his presence..
Below consists of the most fashionable bar in the city and boutiques such as Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton etc. I am totally surprised that these particular branches are not as glittery as those in London..but to be fair Burberry is in a pop up location whilst it waits for it's new 8 storey shop to open.
Jodi and I sipped 'mimosas' ( personal shoppers Buck Fizz)whilst we waited for her Burberry concierge/personal shopper to go through the selection of garments that she had put aside especially for her. Jodie hasn't had the chance to visit the store for 6 weeks and there is a lot of cool new season stuff. It's the Burberry Haute Couture collection and I confess to being new to this level of personal service in a store. And I can assure you it is personal. The lady has Jodi's taste and interest at the forefront of her mind...and she appears spot on. Whilst there Jodi's special coat arrives from London, bought straight off the catwalk.....the staff gather round to admire it. It is sensational and as we walk down Michigan Avenue we are stopped time and again with compliments. Mobiles are used to take photos and a fashion blogger enthuses. the streets around are full of excitement and preparations for the parade tomorrow.
After cocktails and lunch at The Tavern on Rush one trendy young man stops us and is thrilled to tell us he had just seen the coat on the fashion blog and takes a picture of us to send to the editor to share the news... Even the security guards nod in approval..
Cocktails in the Rebar, dinner in a very stylish and young crowd Mexican restaurant called Mercardito which means (little market) and we devise means outdoor market because the air con is so high that leave early to warm up back at Trump...the barman there, Joel, has the potential to follow Erik Lorincz to the title.........one day
An early night and at last sleep comes. I wake up in the early hours with my glasses and book on the floor and the lights on low..
There is a an email from my friends in London saying that they loved our lunch at the Savoy (was iit really just yesterday) and unlike the Caprice, the hotel is definitely on their 'return' list.
We've got lunch with an old school friend, Stephen Scarr, drinks with Iris Childress, my client who lives here and really looking forward to seeing Mary Beth and Tony Bos for Champagne and fireworks from the best view in town! Maybe The Donald himself will grace the bar with his presence..
Dover Sole at the Savoy for lunch followed dinner in the Trump Tower
It's funny that when you're 47 and going to a fiftieth birthday party you feel slightly awkward and a little uncomfortable....a kind of feeling bought on by faint pity and chronic panic that you don't have long yourself. But then when you are fifty two you feel that the host is young, a whippersnapper with the best years ahead of them...
Last night I went to Ambrose Carey's party in Kensington Square, in the same beautiful house that hasn't changed even a light bulb since my first party there in 1981. Everyone looked the same just older, more rounded shoulder and shorter gait perhaps. Ambrose was at Norwich University (UEA) in the early 80s and he is the one that has changed the least. He probably still rides a bicycle. Joanna Zengelis is just as cute and tall and slender as she always was. David and clare-lesley Morgan (he is my dentist and a great friend) were there with Murray Shanks (Clare Lesley's brother) who I met on the marble staircase at Worth Abbey, our Benedictine School in Sussex in 1973. The party is wonderful, pretty and picturesque with lots of champagne, good wine and delicious food.
In the garden the artist Giles Wood managed to get through three Sharwara wraps, (chicken, lamb and falafel) from the pop up Maroush tented restaurant., joking that you get a free mini-cab home if you swallow the lot. His wife Mary Killen helped the entrepreneur Charlie Skinner with his social dilemma of finding himself partnered with a transvestite at his dancing classes and the journalist Matthew Bell good naturedly confided that his friends were horrified that he was out at a 50th.
We danced in Ambrose's old bedroom, which is a beautiful studio in the garden. It has never seen so much action. It is so spacious and elegant it was more like being in LA than W8.
17th November
This morning I helped my 88 yr old father re hang most of the paintings in his house and packed my bags for a long week end trip to a party in Chicago.
Then I headed to the Savoy River Room for lunch. It was very nice to bump into Tony McHale, General Manager of the Mandarin Oriental who was meeting Kiaran McDonald, General Manager of the Savoy, for lunch.
I was hosting a lunch for the writer Charlotte Metcalf and two of her guests from the States. Over sherry in the American Bar they expressed their dismay at the new Caprice and also Greens, where they used to eat once a week......neither iconic restaurant offered ANYTHING they or their guests would want to eat. This made me feel a little uncomfortable as their host.
The Dover Sole in the River room was their testing plate and thankfully a resounding success. It really was superb.....as was the wine recommended by the sommelier, light balanced and fruity but crisp.
Sergio arrived on cue to get me to the airport for the 5.15 American Airline flight to Chicago.
The visit to the 'windy city' is not 50th but a celebration based around the Christmas lights being switched on. Unusual I know, but We are to view it from a private dinner on the 88th floor of the Trump Tower downtown. My hosts are Jodi and Greg Hamstra...Jodi has just spent the last week end in London with me having a ball for her daughter Brindy's early 21st celebration. We are going to be joined by Tony and Mary Beth Bos, who are dairy farmers producing 2 million pints a day in Indiana. I met them when I he'd the pleasure of looking after them in London 4 years ago. We are going to get a tour of their farms and cheese making facilities which will be fascinating. One new calf is born every few minutes on their ranch. I will definitely be having White coffee at elevenses tomorrow
I am writing this on the plane over the the Atlantic somewhere south of Iceland. The service is tolerant chic. My stewardess is like Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin. Surly to her sergeant and on the verge of letting you have it. Unfortunately she looks like the sergeant - the object of her contempt, not Goldie.
The drinks with dinner are $7 per time whatever you have and you have to pay with a credit card each time. After a brief chat i am the first passenger to have an account. The seats are wider than normal but the service and attitude is thinly disguised 'cattle class'. And I still have 7.5 hrs to go. First class looks like A&E or at least sick bay and business class like an Internet cafe...
Change the watch for 1.30pm local time and note that it is 7.30pm London time. Its going to be a long afternoon. That Dover Soul seems a long time away ....
Arriving at the Trump Tower Chicago one is not disappointed. The lift to the penthouse takes less than 30 seconds and the views are stupendous...there before you lies Lake Michigan, Chicago and all Illinois beyond....sparkling and spread out like a dessert but one made of clistening diamonds rather than sand. It's like arriving in Venice for the first time....one can't use an original way of describing the wonder...
Last night I went to Ambrose Carey's party in Kensington Square, in the same beautiful house that hasn't changed even a light bulb since my first party there in 1981. Everyone looked the same just older, more rounded shoulder and shorter gait perhaps. Ambrose was at Norwich University (UEA) in the early 80s and he is the one that has changed the least. He probably still rides a bicycle. Joanna Zengelis is just as cute and tall and slender as she always was. David and clare-lesley Morgan (he is my dentist and a great friend) were there with Murray Shanks (Clare Lesley's brother) who I met on the marble staircase at Worth Abbey, our Benedictine School in Sussex in 1973. The party is wonderful, pretty and picturesque with lots of champagne, good wine and delicious food.
In the garden the artist Giles Wood managed to get through three Sharwara wraps, (chicken, lamb and falafel) from the pop up Maroush tented restaurant., joking that you get a free mini-cab home if you swallow the lot. His wife Mary Killen helped the entrepreneur Charlie Skinner with his social dilemma of finding himself partnered with a transvestite at his dancing classes and the journalist Matthew Bell good naturedly confided that his friends were horrified that he was out at a 50th.
We danced in Ambrose's old bedroom, which is a beautiful studio in the garden. It has never seen so much action. It is so spacious and elegant it was more like being in LA than W8.
17th November
This morning I helped my 88 yr old father re hang most of the paintings in his house and packed my bags for a long week end trip to a party in Chicago.
Then I headed to the Savoy River Room for lunch. It was very nice to bump into Tony McHale, General Manager of the Mandarin Oriental who was meeting Kiaran McDonald, General Manager of the Savoy, for lunch.
I was hosting a lunch for the writer Charlotte Metcalf and two of her guests from the States. Over sherry in the American Bar they expressed their dismay at the new Caprice and also Greens, where they used to eat once a week......neither iconic restaurant offered ANYTHING they or their guests would want to eat. This made me feel a little uncomfortable as their host.
The Dover Sole in the River room was their testing plate and thankfully a resounding success. It really was superb.....as was the wine recommended by the sommelier, light balanced and fruity but crisp.
Sergio arrived on cue to get me to the airport for the 5.15 American Airline flight to Chicago.
The visit to the 'windy city' is not 50th but a celebration based around the Christmas lights being switched on. Unusual I know, but We are to view it from a private dinner on the 88th floor of the Trump Tower downtown. My hosts are Jodi and Greg Hamstra...Jodi has just spent the last week end in London with me having a ball for her daughter Brindy's early 21st celebration. We are going to be joined by Tony and Mary Beth Bos, who are dairy farmers producing 2 million pints a day in Indiana. I met them when I he'd the pleasure of looking after them in London 4 years ago. We are going to get a tour of their farms and cheese making facilities which will be fascinating. One new calf is born every few minutes on their ranch. I will definitely be having White coffee at elevenses tomorrow
I am writing this on the plane over the the Atlantic somewhere south of Iceland. The service is tolerant chic. My stewardess is like Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin. Surly to her sergeant and on the verge of letting you have it. Unfortunately she looks like the sergeant - the object of her contempt, not Goldie.
The drinks with dinner are $7 per time whatever you have and you have to pay with a credit card each time. After a brief chat i am the first passenger to have an account. The seats are wider than normal but the service and attitude is thinly disguised 'cattle class'. And I still have 7.5 hrs to go. First class looks like A&E or at least sick bay and business class like an Internet cafe...
Change the watch for 1.30pm local time and note that it is 7.30pm London time. Its going to be a long afternoon. That Dover Soul seems a long time away ....
Arriving at the Trump Tower Chicago one is not disappointed. The lift to the penthouse takes less than 30 seconds and the views are stupendous...there before you lies Lake Michigan, Chicago and all Illinois beyond....sparkling and spread out like a dessert but one made of clistening diamonds rather than sand. It's like arriving in Venice for the first time....one can't use an original way of describing the wonder...
Bar Boulud, Zuma, American bar Savoy, Whiskey Mist and Boujis all for one 21st in a couple of days
I spent the las few days celebrating a 21st for my friends from Chicago.
The three of them arrived on Thursday at the Mayfair Hotel. After champagne from the beautiful restaurant manager, Kate Mcwhirter, we strolled over to Carol Woolton's book launch held at Asprey's on Bond Street. It was a wonderful party with guestsTheo Fennell and Pippa Small and Gerri Gallagher.
There was no harm in arriving with three beautiful women. One on them was even asked on the spot to model a £60,000 necklace.....not bad as straight off the plane.
I left them to go to Nobu to be looked after by Alex Robertson and Gerri Gallagher and myself went onto the American bar and then the new Marco Pierre White restaurant which is also owned by Piers Morgan.... So you get the tone of the place already. My fish and chips were exquisite, the carpaccio ok and the wine good. Thank god for the company of the lovely Gerri Gallagher who has now gone to New York for her mother's birthday and Thanksgiving!
The next day saw the 21st celebrations continue with the stunning cocktails in their honour by Erik Lorincz as we were all joined by my nephew Sam Renouf. A few pints in The Audley too after a brief visit to see Anne at the new Stephen Webster shop on Mount Street.
Dinner consisted of AA Gills 'best hamburger in the world' at Bar Buloud under the Mandarin Oriental....the service is sweet...totally professional and very warm hearted...then Tamara and Katie Renouf joined the party and we ended up dancing in Whiskey Mist......well, I and the mother danced and the 21 year olds generally looked on.
The following day was lunch in The Electric..very good and leisurely, followed by a wonderful guided tour by Nick Ashley of his new shop, Ashley Stores in Nottinghill. Its a kind of hardware chic store that is opening on Saturday 9th.
We then wentmby Selfridges and then dinner at Senkai as guests of the manager Ian Telford.. The atmosphere and design is wonderful and it was lovely to be served a bottle of Moet Chandon as a present, having not seen Ian since we had lunch in New York.
We went on to Boujis, very mediocre, and poor Thomas Prideaux went out for a cigarette and the racist bouncers would not him back in .
Sunday was lunch at Zuma, looked after beautifully by manger Roman and our waiter Alexis. This 10 year old restaurant is surely the best of the lot...the dry martini's, the Japanese Old Fashioned....the soft shell crab and the yellow fin tuna are enough to bring tears to your eyes....
Finished off with a calm and charming time at The Only Running Footman in Mayfair after drinks with more friends back at bar Boulud who had just got off an airplane from Alnwick Castle where they had been shooting and admiring Pippa Middleton.
What an amazing few days celebration for a fabulous and beautiful 21 year old.
Monday's detox lunch at Ottolenghi in Ledbury road before going to Catherine Hookers party at her Atelier - followed by today's hour and a half at my Osteopath in Arnos Grove have done something to restore my liver and balance.
The three of them arrived on Thursday at the Mayfair Hotel. After champagne from the beautiful restaurant manager, Kate Mcwhirter, we strolled over to Carol Woolton's book launch held at Asprey's on Bond Street. It was a wonderful party with guestsTheo Fennell and Pippa Small and Gerri Gallagher.
There was no harm in arriving with three beautiful women. One on them was even asked on the spot to model a £60,000 necklace.....not bad as straight off the plane.
I left them to go to Nobu to be looked after by Alex Robertson and Gerri Gallagher and myself went onto the American bar and then the new Marco Pierre White restaurant which is also owned by Piers Morgan.... So you get the tone of the place already. My fish and chips were exquisite, the carpaccio ok and the wine good. Thank god for the company of the lovely Gerri Gallagher who has now gone to New York for her mother's birthday and Thanksgiving!
The next day saw the 21st celebrations continue with the stunning cocktails in their honour by Erik Lorincz as we were all joined by my nephew Sam Renouf. A few pints in The Audley too after a brief visit to see Anne at the new Stephen Webster shop on Mount Street.
Dinner consisted of AA Gills 'best hamburger in the world' at Bar Buloud under the Mandarin Oriental....the service is sweet...totally professional and very warm hearted...then Tamara and Katie Renouf joined the party and we ended up dancing in Whiskey Mist......well, I and the mother danced and the 21 year olds generally looked on.
The following day was lunch in The Electric..very good and leisurely, followed by a wonderful guided tour by Nick Ashley of his new shop, Ashley Stores in Nottinghill. Its a kind of hardware chic store that is opening on Saturday 9th.
We then wentmby Selfridges and then dinner at Senkai as guests of the manager Ian Telford.. The atmosphere and design is wonderful and it was lovely to be served a bottle of Moet Chandon as a present, having not seen Ian since we had lunch in New York.
We went on to Boujis, very mediocre, and poor Thomas Prideaux went out for a cigarette and the racist bouncers would not him back in .
Sunday was lunch at Zuma, looked after beautifully by manger Roman and our waiter Alexis. This 10 year old restaurant is surely the best of the lot...the dry martini's, the Japanese Old Fashioned....the soft shell crab and the yellow fin tuna are enough to bring tears to your eyes....
Finished off with a calm and charming time at The Only Running Footman in Mayfair after drinks with more friends back at bar Boulud who had just got off an airplane from Alnwick Castle where they had been shooting and admiring Pippa Middleton.
What an amazing few days celebration for a fabulous and beautiful 21 year old.
Monday's detox lunch at Ottolenghi in Ledbury road before going to Catherine Hookers party at her Atelier - followed by today's hour and a half at my Osteopath in Arnos Grove have done something to restore my liver and balance.
The best Osteopath in London?
Three years ago I broke my shoulder and ended up with 14 three and a half inch bolts and two metal plates screwed into my bones.
Physiotherapy took 6-9 months and whilst most of my flexibility returned it has never been back to normal. This summer I did a lot of swimming and I noticed that from about July my shoulder was sore. It even hurt putting on my jacket.
On Friday of last week I travelled to Norwich and the upper limbs consultant who had operated on me. He is incredibly well respected with a nationwide reputation. One look at the xray and he confirmed that it clearly showed Avascular Necrosis... That means the blood has not been getting to the extremities of the bones during the healing process. The result is decay and that is what is causing the pain.
The next step is to replace the shoulder and that final decision will be made in January. Apart from the shock of such news the prospects are grim.
Upon the recommendation of a friend, actually more of an insistence...I had my first encounter with a cranial osteopath.. Mr Lakhani lives and practices in Arnos Grove. Once u have got there by tube you still have to take a taxi.
The treatment was quite unlike anything I have known before. The skull and face massage was like being gently mugged hater a traffic accident. The flesh was scoured and rubbed. He is 95% blind so there was very little light.
After an hour and twenty minutes the transformation was almost unbelievable.. My left arm Rose to the ceiling in a way that it hadnt done for three years.
Bizarre, novel and completely unexpected....I would recommend this man to any one with a pain in the joints or in need of physiology therapy. Quite simply, he is a magician.
It sorted me out perfectly for my meeting with Julia Marozzi and Charlotte Metclaf and we had tea and champagne at Aspinalls before I rounded off the day taking my father to dinner at The Spencer Arms in Putney where we were looked after Jolyon (Baba) Rebbeck ...
Physiotherapy took 6-9 months and whilst most of my flexibility returned it has never been back to normal. This summer I did a lot of swimming and I noticed that from about July my shoulder was sore. It even hurt putting on my jacket.
On Friday of last week I travelled to Norwich and the upper limbs consultant who had operated on me. He is incredibly well respected with a nationwide reputation. One look at the xray and he confirmed that it clearly showed Avascular Necrosis... That means the blood has not been getting to the extremities of the bones during the healing process. The result is decay and that is what is causing the pain.
The next step is to replace the shoulder and that final decision will be made in January. Apart from the shock of such news the prospects are grim.
Upon the recommendation of a friend, actually more of an insistence...I had my first encounter with a cranial osteopath.. Mr Lakhani lives and practices in Arnos Grove. Once u have got there by tube you still have to take a taxi.
The treatment was quite unlike anything I have known before. The skull and face massage was like being gently mugged hater a traffic accident. The flesh was scoured and rubbed. He is 95% blind so there was very little light.
After an hour and twenty minutes the transformation was almost unbelievable.. My left arm Rose to the ceiling in a way that it hadnt done for three years.
Bizarre, novel and completely unexpected....I would recommend this man to any one with a pain in the joints or in need of physiology therapy. Quite simply, he is a magician.
It sorted me out perfectly for my meeting with Julia Marozzi and Charlotte Metclaf and we had tea and champagne at Aspinalls before I rounded off the day taking my father to dinner at The Spencer Arms in Putney where we were looked after Jolyon (Baba) Rebbeck ...
Duck flighting in Norfolk, a memorial service in Cley, the Wallace Collection, Nobu and Aspinalls all in one autumn week end
I am always disappointed by rail journeys. What I mean is that I secretly cherish the idea of them, every time I buy a ticket and then get on board and am frequently dismayed. It's not always the train operator to blame, though overcrowded carriages are infuriating and even if you 've got a seat youbare all too aware of the envy and discomfort of those standing. It's also the total absence of manners and lack of courtesy, from noisy equipment (called personal) to unwrapping and munching hot food.
I arrived late in Norwich and got the bus to my sister Ursula's house on the Unthank Rd. She kindly took me to the hospital after a delicious breakfast the next day. Mr Patel is the upper limbs surgeon and one of the best in the country. He looked at my xrays and explained that the pain I had been feeling all summer was caused by Avuscular Necrosis on the ball of my shoulder. As it was patchy he wanted to wait three months before deciding to replace the shoulder. Suddenly it's like being in a movie. So much information, unexpected and grave and u are meant to process it....
I took the bus into Norwich centre to meet Desmond at the station and then went with him to exchange his underpants and nightshirt in John Lewis....we did get some odd looks as we spouted off about the party in Annabel's.
The NORFOK CLUB for lunch is something I hadn't done since about 1980. DES as usual blagged his way into the car park by racing through behind an elderly lady who you could see thought we were up to something but she didn't know what.
The dining room was half full of people munching through minced steak pie and roly poly pudding.... "Theres NOBODY here....!" says Desmond to the dining room at the top of his voice...
We had sherry, potted shrimps, Toad in the Hole and coffee. Perfect club food in the perfect club atmosphere.
ITALIAN SHOOTING PARTY AT WIVETON HALL
We drove on up to the coast and had a walk on the beach with Desmonds shooting party.
The following morning The duck flighting woke me at 6.00am. 90 shots in total with a bag of 7 duck. After breakfast I joined them and by the time I left to go to Bridget Howell's memorial service at 11.30am. When I got back at 3.00pm they had added 4 cockerel to the bag.....the same ones that had woken them up at 3.00am.
The memorial service was small, moving and dignified. Bridget Howell had been my landlady 31 years ago. St margrave church in Cley is one of the most beautiful medieval churches in Norfolk.....of which there are 649.....yup, 649!
The family held a delightful lunch in the small village hall afterwards and with the roaring log fire, lasagne and ols friends from the past including Bridget Buxton from Horsey, who I first met in Ardtornish in 1973' and Ron and Phyl Buxton from Kimberley who were also my landlords at Kimberley Hall in 1982! Philip, Clare, Rosalyn and Jamie Howell acted as marvellous hosts. Bridget Howell would have been thrilled.
Jamie and I took the train to London, me for an early night and Jamie off to Annabel's.
The following mmorning I met some friends from Texas at the Berkeley Hotel, toured the Cabinet War rooms, the Wallace Collection, Harrods, Erik Lorincz's cocktails at the American Bar at the Savoy, dinner at Nobu and then a flutter on the Table at Annabels.
Quite a mixed bag of a week end.....
I arrived late in Norwich and got the bus to my sister Ursula's house on the Unthank Rd. She kindly took me to the hospital after a delicious breakfast the next day. Mr Patel is the upper limbs surgeon and one of the best in the country. He looked at my xrays and explained that the pain I had been feeling all summer was caused by Avuscular Necrosis on the ball of my shoulder. As it was patchy he wanted to wait three months before deciding to replace the shoulder. Suddenly it's like being in a movie. So much information, unexpected and grave and u are meant to process it....
I took the bus into Norwich centre to meet Desmond at the station and then went with him to exchange his underpants and nightshirt in John Lewis....we did get some odd looks as we spouted off about the party in Annabel's.
The NORFOK CLUB for lunch is something I hadn't done since about 1980. DES as usual blagged his way into the car park by racing through behind an elderly lady who you could see thought we were up to something but she didn't know what.
The dining room was half full of people munching through minced steak pie and roly poly pudding.... "Theres NOBODY here....!" says Desmond to the dining room at the top of his voice...
We had sherry, potted shrimps, Toad in the Hole and coffee. Perfect club food in the perfect club atmosphere.
ITALIAN SHOOTING PARTY AT WIVETON HALL
We drove on up to the coast and had a walk on the beach with Desmonds shooting party.
The following morning The duck flighting woke me at 6.00am. 90 shots in total with a bag of 7 duck. After breakfast I joined them and by the time I left to go to Bridget Howell's memorial service at 11.30am. When I got back at 3.00pm they had added 4 cockerel to the bag.....the same ones that had woken them up at 3.00am.
The memorial service was small, moving and dignified. Bridget Howell had been my landlady 31 years ago. St margrave church in Cley is one of the most beautiful medieval churches in Norfolk.....of which there are 649.....yup, 649!
The family held a delightful lunch in the small village hall afterwards and with the roaring log fire, lasagne and ols friends from the past including Bridget Buxton from Horsey, who I first met in Ardtornish in 1973' and Ron and Phyl Buxton from Kimberley who were also my landlords at Kimberley Hall in 1982! Philip, Clare, Rosalyn and Jamie Howell acted as marvellous hosts. Bridget Howell would have been thrilled.
Jamie and I took the train to London, me for an early night and Jamie off to Annabel's.
The following mmorning I met some friends from Texas at the Berkeley Hotel, toured the Cabinet War rooms, the Wallace Collection, Harrods, Erik Lorincz's cocktails at the American Bar at the Savoy, dinner at Nobu and then a flutter on the Table at Annabels.
Quite a mixed bag of a week end.....
The fabulous emergency services
With an amazing hangover I went to get some ginger wine for my father to make his 'whiskey macs'.
I was gone for 15 minutes and when I came back I realised that I had left my keys and was locked out. After much knocking, shouting and then screaming....no answer. I could see through the windows and all the lights were on. With a mounting sense of alarm I discovered none of the local key holders were at home.
The fire brigade took less than 5 minutes to arrive. To my mortification it was followed by an ambulance and then two police cars. So 5 firemen, 4 police men and two paramedics carrying equipment ( defribulators, oxygen etc) stood in the street looking up at the house. I was caught between fear for dear Papa and mortification at perhaps wasting their time.
They broke in through the upstairs window, came down and let me in. I rushed through. The house was strangely silent and that was punctuated by the static of the police and medics radios.
No where to be seen. Thank god he hadn't collapsed as feared.....but now even more mysterious....
By now the neighbours and their kids are crowding round, eating sticky buns and gawping....it is half term after all.
Accompanied by a charming Bobby, I trot up the street as we near the end of the street there appears the familiar figure pushing his trolly, so engaged in conversation that he hasn't noticed all the vehicles he is having to squeeze past or the flashing blue lights.
His new nurse had arrived and she was so attractive he'd asked her out for a drink. They were getting on like a house on fire.
The fire chief, policemen and medics all smiled and started to pack up immediately. I was truly mortified.
"look sir" said the chief " don't worry, your father is safe and well......that is the best result you could have had" with a warm smile. " We could charge, but it's like everything in life, it's all about attitude...... And you've got the right attitude. Have a good evening sir".
The window cost me £130 to fix.
The emergency services are quite humbling with their courtesy, professionalism and utter good grace...demonstrating wit, style and tolerance.
I was gone for 15 minutes and when I came back I realised that I had left my keys and was locked out. After much knocking, shouting and then screaming....no answer. I could see through the windows and all the lights were on. With a mounting sense of alarm I discovered none of the local key holders were at home.
The fire brigade took less than 5 minutes to arrive. To my mortification it was followed by an ambulance and then two police cars. So 5 firemen, 4 police men and two paramedics carrying equipment ( defribulators, oxygen etc) stood in the street looking up at the house. I was caught between fear for dear Papa and mortification at perhaps wasting their time.
They broke in through the upstairs window, came down and let me in. I rushed through. The house was strangely silent and that was punctuated by the static of the police and medics radios.
No where to be seen. Thank god he hadn't collapsed as feared.....but now even more mysterious....
By now the neighbours and their kids are crowding round, eating sticky buns and gawping....it is half term after all.
Accompanied by a charming Bobby, I trot up the street as we near the end of the street there appears the familiar figure pushing his trolly, so engaged in conversation that he hasn't noticed all the vehicles he is having to squeeze past or the flashing blue lights.
His new nurse had arrived and she was so attractive he'd asked her out for a drink. They were getting on like a house on fire.
The fire chief, policemen and medics all smiled and started to pack up immediately. I was truly mortified.
"look sir" said the chief " don't worry, your father is safe and well......that is the best result you could have had" with a warm smile. " We could charge, but it's like everything in life, it's all about attitude...... And you've got the right attitude. Have a good evening sir".
The window cost me £130 to fix.
The emergency services are quite humbling with their courtesy, professionalism and utter good grace...demonstrating wit, style and tolerance.