The Dorchester in London has been reimagined by design talent like Martin Brudnizki and Pierre Yves Rochon. Come for Liberace's mirrored piano, stay for the Champagne selection at the new Artists Bar.
Hugo Vickers Hodder & Stoughton £25
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At the age of 28 in 1979, Hugo Vickers was commissioned to write the biography of the flamboyant photographer, designer and aesthete Sir Cecil Beaton.
Vickers paid two brief visits to the 76-year-old Beaton, and had just finished writing him a thank-you letter when the news came through that he had died. So Vickers’ first act as biographer was to attend his subject’s funeral.
Over the next five years, Vickers buzzed around the world interviewing Beaton’s friends and enemies – two categories that came with a large overlap. These frenemies were, for the most part, camp, wealthy, waspish, posh, arty and elderly: many of them had been born in the 19th Century.
The bonkers baron whose life was a pursuit of hedonism: He inspired the wildest character in the BBC s new drama, but from dyed doves and dogs in pearls to riotous parties, Lord Berners was even barmier, writes ALISON BOSHOFF
The 14th Baron of Berners was a true bon vivant of the early 20th century who entertained everyone from Salvador Dali to Evelyn Waugh
He made such an impression on Nancy Mitford that she based Lord Merlin, the outrageous aesthete in her 1945 novel The Pursuit Of Love on him
Berners adored pranks and practical jokes, and once even placed an advertisement in The Times newspaper offering two elephants for sale
February 19, 2021 Share
1943 wartime landscape painting of Winston Churchill, British prime minister, gifted it to U.S President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is likely to fetch up to $3.5 million at an auction next month.
Churchill painted the “Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque” in Marrakech following the January 1943 Casablanca Conference, which both the leaders attended. Churchill then took Roosevelt to Marrakech to view the sunset over the Atlas Mountains.
Winston Churchill painted the painting for Roosevelt. The painting not only implies their friendship but also reflects special affiliation between Britain and America. The other factor is that Churchill regarded his North African view better than all his other paintings.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - A 1943 landscape painted by Winston Churchill and which the wartime British prime minister gifted to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is expected to fetch up to $3.5 million when it is sold at auction next month.
Churchill painted “Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque” in Marrakech following the January 1943 Casablanca Conference, which both leaders attended. Churchill then took Roosevelt to Marrakech to see the sun set over the Atlas mountains.
The work is to be sold from Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie’s Jolie Family Collection, with an estimated price tag of 1.5 million pounds - 2.5 million pounds ($2.08 million - $3.47 million).