Let's Play Telephone Contest Winner

We’re pleased to announced that the winner of the contest is Louisa Cornell, who submitted the following (most amusing) telephone conversation:
Hello? Maria, dear, I told you never to call me here. I know dearest. I’ll try my best to be home for dinner, but affairs of state and all that, you know. Wait a moment, dear, I’m getting another call. —- Mary! How did you get this number? I mean, aren’t you in rehearsals, dear? No, of course not. Of course there’s not another woman. Who can compare with my lovely Perdita? Tonight? Oh… Uhm … I have another call. Let me call you back. —- Maria, I really need to get to a meeting with – Who? Oh, no of course not, Grace. Maria is my … housekeeper in Brighton. Grace, how did you get this number? What? Tonight? Well, I don’t exactly- I have another call, Grace, dear. You’ll hold? Wonderful. —- Hello? Who is this? Of course this is George! Who else would it be? Oh! Lady Jersey, what a surprise. What? Caroline who? Caroline of Brunswick. I thought you said she looks like a horse and smells like one as well. …. You’ve changed your mind? I see. Well, I am certain the privy council will agree with you. This afternoon? I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing. Getting another call. Let me call you back. — Brummell! You unmitigated ass! I should have known. Who else have you given this number to, you overdressed . . .  All of them? Oh God!
 
Louisa – Email us off line with your snail mail address and we’ll get your prizes in the post to you!


On The Shelf – NOOK Color Kicks Off Our Author Recommendations

I was once out shopping with a friend when I spotted a killer pair of Ralph Lauren sunglasses. When I told her that I really liked them, but that at the same time I already had many pair of sunglasses and didn’t need yet another, she sniffed and pronounced, “My dear, it’s not a matter of need. It’s a matter of want. Buy them.”
While I’ve lived by her words many times over the years, I must admit that I dragged my feet when e-readers first came out. Why buy something that’s the size of a book, that you can hold in your hand and read like a book when you could just read a book? And why pay for a book, when you could get it free at the local public library?
Then, Barnes and Noble came out with the NOOK color, an Android tablet fronted by a 7-inch color touchscreen with 8GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot for cards up to 32GB. It functions as both an e-reader and a web browser. All for $249.00 – much cheaper than an iPad or notebook. Curious, I went on the Barnes and Noble website in order to invesigate and found that it offered lots of capability. The NOOK sounded like a good deal. It sounded like something I didn’t absolutely need, but certainly wanted. And what do you know – Greg took it upon himself to surprise me with one for Xmas. Here are a look at the features:
1. You can download books into the NOOK in seconds. Using the NOOK to read a book is so easy, you don’t even need the instructions. Just tap on a book cover and it opens. A swipe at the corner of the screen turns the page, just like a “real” book. When you’re done reading, turn the NOOK off and when you turn it on again, it remembers what page you were on and opens to it. Downloaded books are stored on your “shelves,” which you can customize. My NOOK shelves are named tbr and done. Yes, tbr, as in to be read. No more tottering piles of tomes by the side of my bed. Still a pile, true, since every book ever written is not offered as a NOOK download as yet and since some books, especially non-fiction titles, were simply not meant to be read in any other format than that of a good, old fashioned hard-bound book. I plan on using my NOOK for fiction only. But that may change.

2. The NOOK has built-in wifi that allows you to browse the web. The only thing that’s a tad difficult to do is to click on individual results, as the screen is pretty small. There’s a plus (+) and minus (-) icon that comes up fairly intuitively in the lower righthand corner of the screen that allows you to magnify the screen when you’re performing a function that requires data entry. And you can call it up any other time you need it. Having web capability in an e-reader is a plus – you can shop for more book titles, check your email, Google to your hearts’ content, etc. It’s handy, especially when on the road.
3.  NOOK’s built-in MP3 player lets you listen to audio books. Boy, did I get excited over this one! I cannot wait to do this – I can “read” and do needlework at the same time – oh, joy! But now we open another can of worms – can I download any audiobook? And a cursory browse on the web shows that I may be able to download e-books, including audio books, from my public library. Technology begets further technology and now I’ll have to spend time investigating these options, but it’s nice to know they’re available.
4. You can subscribe to magazines and each issue is automatically delivered to your NOOK each month. Or you can buy single issues. Have yet to try this . . . . as with non-fiction books, I think reading magazines in this format may take some getting used to.
5. The NOOK’s LendMe function means that books can be shared once with a friend who also has a NOOK at no cost, for up to 14 days. From the B and N website: “NOOKcolor makes it easy to borrow books from friends for up to 14 days. Just pull up your list of contacts, then browse a friend’s NOOKcolor library to choose the book you want to borrow. Within seconds, NOOKcolor will send an email to your friend with a request to borrow that book. Once they give the ok, the book will appear right on your NOOKcolor in seconds ready for you to download and enjoy.” This sounds pretty exciting, until you realize that the number of lendable books is fairly limited. While I have current titles on my tbr shelf (Ruth Rendell’s Portobello), and have even pre-ordered titles, (such as Maeve Binchey’s Minding Frankie, due out on March 1), only two of the titles on my shelf have a LendMe icon – The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer (my cost – .99) and Barchester Towers by Trollope (my cost – $1.99). LendMe might not be as fabulous as I first thought. Even Austen’s Pride and Prejudice isn’t lendable.
6. The NOOK is supposed to last 8 hours on a charge. The more you use the web, the more power you use up. Even when used just for reading, I find a single charge lasts around 6 hours.
As an e-reader the NOOK color is fabulous. How did I get by without it? True, I’m now spending money on books that I would have gotten free from the library, but then again, I’m not 187th on the list for new releases. Even so, I’m sure I’ll still be borrowing books from the library, the old fashioned way, but the NOOK is a useful tool and a wonderful addition to my bookshelves.
Understandably, the appearance of my NOOK has prompted much book browsing for me of late, in addition to reflections about favorite authors whose work I haven’t read in a while. And Victoria has a Kindle, which she uses often. She and I met at a Barnes and Noble store here in Florida recently and&nbsp
;spent some time discussing favorite authors, old and new, and we’ve decided to bring you our author recommendations in forthcoming On The Shelf posts, beginning on January 31st. It is our fondest hope that you’ll find a few new favorites amongst them, too.

The Royal Wedding on the Telly

With just 90-something days to go till the Wedding of the Year/Decade, you can bet that news outlets and television stations on both sides of the pond, and elsewhere, are plotting their strategies and schedules for the weeks and days leading up to the big event at 11 a.m. on April 29th. So far, TLC is the only channel that’s given out any information on their royal line up – during the five days leading up to royal wedding, TLC said on Wednesday that it will air specials featuring archived and other footage, interviews and a round-table discussion with experts on royalty. The U.K.-themed week, in partnership with ITV Studios, also will include a show focusing on both British and American hoarders and “extreme” collectors of royal memorabilia. One hopes they’ll focus on the lady featured in our right sidebar and not on, er, one.

TLC also plans live coverage of the wedding, with a condensed version of the event set to air April 30-May 1. But you won’t have to wait till April – beginning next month, TLC will show “The Queen,” a new two-hour special that explores romance, weddings and divorce among members of Queen Elizabeth II’s family. The special will air Feb. 13 (9 p.m. EST). The program will be preceded by repeats of two specials about William and his fiancee: “William and Kate: A Royal Love Story” (7 p.m. EST) and “William, Kate and Royal Weddings” (8 p.m. EST).

For TLC, home of “Four Weddings,” “Say Yes to the Dress” and other wedding-themed shows, the week long coverage is intended to enhance viewers’ “overall royal experience” of the Westminster Abbey ceremony, said programming executive Nancy Daniels.

“This is without question the most widely anticipated wedding in a generation,” Paul Buccieri, ITV Studios America president and CEO, said in a statement, promising American viewers “intimate access to this landmark event.”

Right . . . . . Just you, me and a couple of million others . . . . . Reports are that Rupert Murdoch’s British Sky Broadcasting Group is negotiating with royal officials to show the nuptials on television, and the talks, which involve the BBC, also are said to include a plan to possibly shoot the ceremony in 3-D and broadcast it to cinemas throughout the world. Which will delight the folks at Royal Caribbean Cruises, who plan to broadcast the wedding live across all 40 ships in their fleet on 29th April.

Stay tuned . . . . . .

Do You Know About the Forsyte Saga?

While Downton Abbey has recently premiered on Masterpiece Theatre, we thought we’d tell you about another great period drama, The Forsyte Saga. Whether, like me, you prefer the older version (1967) or the new (2002), settling in to watch the Forsyte Saga is like snuggling up with a brandy in front of the fire – comfortable, cosseting and considerably entertaining. Like all good costume dramas, the Forsyte Saga provides romance, drama and skull duggery based on a series of three novels – The Man of Property, In Chancery and To Let -and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by author John Galsworthy, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932. The twenty-six episodes cover the history of the aristocratic Forsyte family between the years 1879 and 1926. You should be aware that the 2002 version only covered the first two of Galway’s novels and only ran for seven episodes. The plot revolved around the feuds and machinations of the Forsyte family and their London merchants’ business, with each episode culminating in a melodramatic cliffhanger ending. Together with the fact that the original version was filmed in black and white, the series has a decidedly “soap opera” feel to it, and we say Bravo!

The Forsyte Saga chronicles the ebbing social power of the upper-middle class Forsyte family through three generations, beginning in Victorian London during the 1880s and begins with Soames Forsyte (right, played by Eric Porter), a successful solicitor who buys land at Robin Hill on which to build a house for his wife Irene and future family. Little does he suspect (at first) that Irene has only married him for his money. Beneath his very proper exterior lies a core of unhappiness and a string of brutal relationships. Eventually, the Forsyte family begins to disintegrate when Timothy Forsyte, the last of the old generation, dies at the age of 100. Soames’ cousin Jolyon abandons his distraught wife and won’t see his children again for some years, whilst architect Philip Bosinney, besides having an affair with Irene, plays fast and loose with Soames’ money while building him a house.

A much darker and condensed version of the novels appeared in the movie That Forsyte Woman (1949), which starred Errol Flynn as Soames, Greer Garson as Irene, Walter Pidgeon as young Jolyon, Robert Young as Philip Bosinney and Janet Leigh as June.
 

In his novels, Galsworthy documented a departed way of life, that of the affluent middle class that ruled England before the 1914 war. Galsworthy’s masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women. Honestly, you’ll find yourself cheering for the good guys, absolutely loathing Soames and losing patience with the aristocratic ladies who fail to hear you yelling at the screen, “For God’s sake, speak up, walk out, do something!”

One of our favorite acresses, Susan Hampshire (Monarch of the Glen), plays Fleur in the original version.
The series attracted no less than six million viewers on its first showing and when repeated on BBC1 the following year, a staggering 18 million people tuned in. The success of the series, which won a Royal Television Society Silver Medal and a BAFTA award for Best Drama, prompted the BBC to plough further resources into similar blockbusting “costume” dramas, a strategy that led to the production of such series as The Pallisers and Upstairs, Downstairs.

You can watch a bit of Episode One here.

Spencer House

All of us are familiar with the name Spencer in the British aristocracy, e.g. Lady Diana Spencer, aka Diana, Princess of Wales;  Winston Spencer Churchill; Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire;  the Earls Spencer. It’s an old and historic name and family.  Spencer House was the London town house built in the 1750’s by the 1st Earl Spencer; it is now owned by a corporation (headed by Lord Rothschild, to whom we must give thanks for its preservation and  care). In the BBCTwo series by Amanda Vickery on Georgian Taste, the house and its principle rooms and furnishings were described as the epitome of Georgian style and elegance. The Spencer House website is here.


It isn’t always easy to find the entrance. Though the west facade faces Green Park (above), you must wander around in the cluster of streets west of St. James’s Street.   There are several little twists or turns to take, but don’t despair if you don’t  find it right away. The scenery is delicious — and though there are few pedestrians or autos, the people watching CAN be excellent.  Watch for top hats– these will be the doormen  at the hotel!


One day, on my way to Spencer House, I took this picture of a perfect
house in a row of 18th century buildings.  It shows the torch snuffers on the lamp poles, for the footmen to extinguish their guiding torches after travel at night. Also, the fan light above the door would serve as an address before there were numbers on the houses.  The picture of the unique fan light would be shown on your invitation to identify the proper venue!

Also nearby, The Stafford Hotel

Someday, I want to stay at the Stafford, a truly elegant establishment now part of the international Kempinski chain. I admit to entering its portals once to have a drink in the bar. Delicious.

Here’s a floor plan of the house. According to the guidebook, the house retains its essential Georgian neo-classical bones though it has been remodeled, renovated, updated and conserved many times over its many years.  The basic layout was the design of John Vardy(1718-1765), a pupil of William Kent (1685-1748). The west façade facing into Green Park is almost entirely his work (as restored), and as such, it is one of the finest, most authentic examples of Imperial Roman architecture and one of the first built in 18th century England.

The ground floor contains the Entrance Hall, a morning room, library, and the principle dining room.  The entrance hall is described as austere, in muted colors, with classical decorations based on Greek or Roman foundations.  The relief over the fireplace portrays Antonius, a favorite of the emperor Hadrian, and one of the first pieces the 1st Earl Spencer purchased.  Vardy is suppposed to have been responsible for most of the ground floor, with James “Athenian” Stuart taking over for the design and decoration of the first floor.



The ante room, left.  Many of the furnishings and architectural details of Spencer House, such as fireplace surrounds,  were removed to the Spencer country estate of Althorp during times of war or when the family leased out all or part of the building.  Thus, some of the present furnishings are original, others exact copies of the originals, others similar to the originals, some purchased for the renovation, completed in 1989, and many more pieces on loan  from the royal collection, the National Trust, the VandA, or other sources.

The Palm Room with its gilded columns and palm fronds is thought to be much as Vardy designed it, although many others have worked on the house. The chairs and benches are exact copies of Vardy’s; the originals are now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Medici Venus, in the central apse, was a very popular sculpture in the 18th and 19th centuries, one of the most graceful and beautiful statues copied or based on the Greek original, thought to be by 4th century B.C. master sculptor Praxiteles. Replicas can be found in stately homes, palaces, gardens, and museums worldwide. This copy was made by in white marble by Francis Harwood in 1765.

On the first floor, or piano nobile, the main rooms were meant to be impressive, yet welcoming; elaborate, yet comfortable; stunning, yet comprehensible to those who had enjoyed a classical education (as one might expect all who qualified to enter here to have had).  The imposing Great Room is used for balls, for dining, or receptions. One can hardly imagine what luminaries of British politics and  society  graced it.  Again, if only walls could speak. What did the Duke whisper to the Countess? And what did the Prime Minister confide to the Prince? And was that the dowager over there, winking at the handsome footman? My, my.
Great Room Ceiling medallion detail, right. The first floor and many of the details of the building were turned over by  1st Earl Spencer to James “Athenian” Stuart (1713-1788) well before the house was finished.  And just a few years later, Henry Holland (1745-1806), who also was responsible for Brooks Club, various versions of Carlton House and the Marine Pavilion, redid some of the rooms.  Both of them, as well as subsequent architects, basically respected the neo-classic character of the building, never resorting to Gothic or Oriental fads.

The Painted Room is the piece de resistance of the entire structure, executed by Athenian Stuart and fully restored to his designs. One of the most celebrated 18th C. interiors in Europe, the Painted Room actually changes according to variations in the light, both natural and artificial. The work took Stuart six years to complete; the designs celebrate the triumph of love, in honor of the happy marriage of the 1st Earl Spencer and his wife, Georgiana, nee Poyntz (parents of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire). On one panel, Venus is supposedly a portrait of the 1st Countess.

Here is another view of the Painted Room with different lighting and an angle which shows the ceiling, one of its most attractive features.  Many of the paintings and sculptural features of the room are based on themes related to love and marriage from ancient Greece and Rome. Intertwining  circles and vines are related to wedding rings, for example.  Roses, wreathes and flower garlands relate to the same premises.

Another view of a detail of the Painted Room, showing the figures of loving couples from mythology and the elaborate decoration which covers the walls and ceilings.


Needless to say, this would be the perfect setting for a wedding, and the current owners would be delighted to arrange one.  Just be sure the groom is a billionaire.


Now all you have to do, to prove your excellent Georgian taste, is to plan your special event, such as a grand ball, at Spencer House. Please don’t forget to invite Kristine and Victoria. We’ll be sure to attend!
And put the pictures right here.