When I quit my job in The City in the mid-60's, I took a very poorly paid post as the Manager of a small independent Art Gallery in Devonshire Street, W1. It was called 'The Fine Art Gallery'.
Living in Central London in the mid-60's was a lot of fun. It was a period of great change (Swinging London, etc) and 'celebs' seemed to be everywhere.
At the Gallery itself I met quite a few interesting people, but there were three who were probably more remarkable than all the others put together.
Firstly dear Brian Sewell (above). Brian was a good friend of my boss Nicholas (Miklos Vilag), and he would come to the Gallery quite often. His plumiest of plummy accents was quite extraordinary; he must have worked hard on it for years. He was both comically pompous, and extremely knowledgeable. I rather liked him.
Secondly someone that almost everyone will have heard of; Paul McCartney. Paul was dating Jane Asher at the time, and she lived just around the corner in Harley Street. He would often spend a while in the Gallery before the allotted hour of his 'date'. I did have my photo taken with him, but my idiot boss Nicholas didn't have any film in his camera. What a plonker; I was furious.
Thirdly was probably the most memorable. My friend Camille Honig phoned and said quite simply "Don't leave the Gallery on any account". I was alone at the Gallery when he turned-up a little while later accompanied by Igor Stravinsky. I chatted with him for about ten minutes; firstly in English, then for no apparent reason in French. I don't recall what we spoke about; I was probably too overawed. Nicholas was furious that he'd been out, and hadn't met him.
I later moved to SW3 where I ran my own antiques business. Chelsea in those days was overflowing with celebs (and probably still is), and one thought nothing of it. But I always felt like shouting out loud "Hey everyone, I've met Stravinsky".
Yes, I know this is terrible 'name dropping', but I don't care. When you've met and talked to someone like Stravinsky, you want to shout it from the roof tops.
I would have liked to see Paul McCartney in person. I remember the Beatlemania days when many of his female fans hated Jane Asher because they all dreamed of marrying him themselves.
ReplyDeleteHe gave me a lift once too, in his Mini.
DeleteI've always been fascinated by Brian Sewell's accent, he's even posher than the Queen!
ReplyDeleteHe was very funny. He made no attempt to hide the fact that his accent was 'over the top'. No-one spoke like that!
DeleteI bet Stravinsky went around saying "Well, I have met Lord Cro, dontcha know"
ReplyDeleteUntil his dying day!.
DeleteIt could be like a card game. You met Stravinsky but I met The Queen Mother, Jimmy Saville and Lulu who kissed me. Was Stravinsky a tennis player?
ReplyDeleteHe made a racket rather than played with one!
DeleteVery droll
DeleteI do my best!
DeleteI used to laugh at Brian Sewell's accent it was so obviously fake, and wondered what his natural accent was.
ReplyDeleteMost people today and particularly the younger generation would be unimpressed by your name dropping Cro, unless they had been on some dreadful celebrity TV. They would be unlikely to have even heard of either Brian or Stravinsky and Paul McC. is probably considered to now be a very old man!
Yes, I suppose they're all figures from the past. Strav... who?
DeleteAnd even more impressive, they met You! We change every life we touch in some way.
ReplyDeleteWeren't they lucky! I don't think I've been in the company of true celebs long enough for any influence to have taken place. But there's still time.
DeleteI do not believe I've met anyone of real importance and fame. You ran in great circles to meet and even chat with these individuals. In my experience, people that work on their accents are generally striving for something they are not.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Sewell himself, he said he always spoke as he did, although I have difficulty believing him.
DeleteBack in the Sixties I did a lot of protocol work as part of my job so meeting 'important' people was part of my job but rarely, in all honesty, did many stick in my mind. Oddly in 1965 I was responsible for looking after the guests in the green room at a concert at the Liverpool Philharmonic. The only guests I recall were Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth because I was alone with them for longer than expected and much to my surprise they were very chatty and friendly. It may have had something to do with the fact that my instructions were to make sure they got on stage but was responsible for the drinks cabinet.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago I met their son Alex or Alec, he later went on to play with Dave Brubeck. Nice guy.
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