TAKI TALK Memories of a progressophobe (englisch

Memories of a progressophobe

It is said that, given the chance to live at any time in human history, only an utter idiot would choose a time other than the present. On average, humans are healthier, wealthier, nicer, happier, live for longer, are freer and better educated. Alas, I am a progressophobe, a man who hates progress and the modern world. The Gstaad Palace I first moved into was very different to the one we know now. The only thing that remains unchanged is the Prisoner of Zenda-like exterior. Very few of the modern conveniences we now take for granted were available then ― anywhere on earth, that is.

So how can I compare the luxury of today with the almost spartan surroundings of sixty years ago? Easy. Everyone knew each other, the tables in the lounge and in the dining rooms had our name on them, and the winter season especially felt like a very long weekend house party. Oh yes, there was another

Taki Theodoracopulos (born August 11 , 1936) , best known as TAKI , is a Greek-born journalist and writer living in New York City, London and Gstaad. takimag.com

thing too: The ladies who were regulars during the Palace winter season. Ladies like Dolores Guinness, according to Vogue magazine the most beautiful woman on earth. And the Aga Khan’s fiancé, Sylvia Casablancas, like Dolores sadly no longer with us. She knew how to have fun and, to the Aga’s great annoyance, we all chased her while he was at Harvard. There was Fiona Thyssen of course, one of the great beauties of all time, and Nina Dyer, married to Sadruddin Khan back then. And Mercedes de Bedern and, and … I could go on. The prettiest senior girl at Le Rosey was an American. I flirted with her a lot and wrote an essay on Hemingway for her English studies. She rang me at the Palace and told me I was a phony, she had got an F. So I phoned her teacher ― Hemingway is my specialty after all ― and demanded to know why. “Because she didn’t write it,” his answer came before he hung up. I said she was beautiful, I didn’t say she was smart.