AIR_January'2012

Issue eIght | January

2012

Johnny Depp

Produced in International Media Production Zone

worl d ’s W hy the aid p st e h hig k s of a c tor thin y d ay r e v e g n quit ti

the wild one Why Marlon Brando was the true instigator of rock ‘n’ roll

Jeremy hackett the self-styled Mr Classic on dressing men of distinction

king creole What makes saint Lucia the Caribbean’s most treasured island?

Vineet bhatia how the Michelin-starred chef transformed the perception of Indian food

Watch in white high-tech ceramic and 18K white gold. 130 baguette-cut diamonds (est. TCW: 6.4 carats), 12 baguette-cut black high-tech ceramic indicators. Self-winding mechanical movement. 42-hour power reserve. www.chanel.com

Contents / Fe atures

forty six here’s johnny Tinseltown’s most bankable star talks character choices and his daily desire to quit Hollywood.

thirty two how marlon brando invented rock ‘n’ roll Was Elvis really responsible for the birth of rock ‘n’ roll? Jon Wilde makes the case for Marlon Brando.

forty best of british AIR smartens up its act for a chat with the expertly-attired male fashion mogul Jeremy Hackett.

forty four canvassing opinion Rob Orchard seeks out professional opinion on the increasing interest in high-value art investment.

Tel: 00971 4 364 2876 Fax: 00971 4 369 7494 Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from HOT Media Publishing is strictly prohibited. All prices mentioned are correct at time of press but may change. HOT Media Publishing does not accept liability for omissions or errors in AIR.

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Contents / regul ars

fifty six gastronomy AIR heads for class at the world’s most renowned cooking schools and Vineet Bhatia on his mission for Indian food.

sixteen radar

fifty motoring

What’s on and what’s new this month, featuring a $15,000 original Banksy artwork that’s yours to steal.

John Simister enjoys a spin in the revamped 911, while Ted Macauley’s Jaguar turns a famous head.

Editorial Director John Thatcher

tWenty four timepieces

sixty five golf

Advertisement Director Chris Capstick chris@hotmediapublishing.com

Why AIR’s fallen for the Hermès Cape Cod Grandes Heures, and where to go to truly experience Patek Philippe.

The products guaranteed to add yards to your drive and expert advice on how to hit into strong wind.

Group Editor Laura Binder laura@hotmediapublishing.com

tWenty six home

sixty six travel

Designers Sarah Boland Adam Sneade

What to buy at Bonham’s Gentleman’s Library Sale and why floors are best dressed by The Rug Company.

While Arifa Akbar heads for the idyllic beaches of Saint Lucia, Laura Binder lists a few thrillseeker must-dos.

Production Manager Haneef Abdul

tWenty eight critique

seventy six What i knoW noW

We’ve waded through the column inches of cultural critique to present this month’s hits and misses.

What night owl Marc Merran has learned from a life spent on the right side of the velvet robe.

Managing Director Victoria Thatcher

Group Advertisement Manager Cat Steele cat@hotmediapublishing.com Advertisement Manager Sukaina Hussein sukaina@hotmediapublishing.com

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Gama aviation

January 2012

Welcome onboard

I’m delighted to welcome you to the December edition of AIR, Gama’s in-flight magazine.

I hope you’ll enjoy learning more about our global business aviation group and the services we provide as you browse through the pages.

Gama is one of the world’s largest business jet operators – we have nearly 80 business jets operating all around the globe. Established in the United Kingdom in 1983, we’ve grown to have bases throughout the Middle East, Europe and North & South America, as well as operating licences issued by the UAE, UK, US and Bermudan Authorities. As well as providing aircraft management and charter services, the group also provides aircraft maintenance, avionics design and installation, aviation software, aircraft cleaning and leasing services to a wide range of clients.

Gama’s expansion in the Middle East continues to progress well, our regional fleet has grown significantly over the past twelve months with the arrival of a number of aircraft, including the Bombardier Global XRS and the Airbus A318, along with the continued development of our regional footprint and services.

Business aviation remains one of the best tools available to corporations and individuals who want to make time for themselves, and it’s been pleasing to see a resurgence in charter flights in 2011 – the world is travelling for business again and developing much needed revenue for the global economy.

Thank you for choosing Gama – welcome on board.

Dave Edwards Managing Director Gama Aviation

Contact details: charter.mena@gamagroup.com gamagroup.com

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Gama aviation news

Gama aviation announces expansion into saudi arabia Jeddah will be Gama’s second Middle East base

Gama Group MENA FZE, part of the Gama Group, the global business aviation services company, announced during the Dubai Air Show 2011 that it is to expand its services into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With Imitiaz Company for Aviation Services LLC as a strategic partner in Saudi Arabia, the new joint venture company, to be known as Gama Aviation, plans to be operational in 2012 from Jeddah, Saudi’s second largest city and a vital centre for commerce and tourism.

The Imitiaz Company, which is headquartered in Jeddah, is headed by some of the Kingdom’s most experienced aviation professionals.

This is an expansion in the Middle East for the Gama Group, a long established aircraft charter, management and maintenance business company now in its 29th year, which set up in Sharjah and Dubai three years ago. The company will specialise in aircraft management and aims to operate charter services under its own Saudi GACA Part 135 Air Carrier certificate. The next step will be to add aircraft maintenance and consultancy services, replicating the company’s expertise in Europe, USA and the Middle East. Gama’s first base will be at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport, where it will employ around five people in the start up phase. Gama Aviation in Saudi Arabia will be overseen by Gama’s Regional Managing Director, Dave Edwards.

“This is a significant announcement for Gama and is the culmination of a substantial period of planning and negotiation,” said Gama CEO Marwan Abdel Khalek. “We are delighted to have Imitiaz LLC as our strategic partner in this venture, which will bring to Gama many years of experience in the Kingdom. Breaking into the important Saudi market, the biggest market for business aviation in the Middle East, is a huge achievement and a long held wish of Gama. This milestone reflects a considerable amount of hard work by the team at Gama and our ability to demonstrate how the Gama culture and business model could be adopted in Saudi. ” Gama Aviation obtained its UAE GCAA Air Operator’s Certificate in February 2010 and now supports 25 staff and five managed aircraft at both Sharjah International and Dubai International Airports, including an Airbus ACJ318 which joined the fleet last month. Gama is on track to

obtain its UAE GCAA CAR 145 maintenance approval and is working to develop a new 12,000 sqm hangar facility at Sharjah, which will provide hangarage and maintenance facilities for business jet aircraft in the region. It will also be home to a new Fixed Based Operation.

About Gama Group Gama is a global business aviation services organization, founded in 1983 in the UK by Marwan Abdel Khalek and Stephen Wright. The group employs over 300 at bases across Europe, the Americas and the Middle East and operates over 80 business aircraft. The group’s companies and affiliates hold EU-OPS, FAA Part 135 and UAE GCAA Charter Certificates, FAA Part 145 Maintenance Approvals, Part 21 Design and Manufacture Approvals and offer business aircraft charter, management, FBO, maintenance, valeting and aviation software services. The Group is headquartered at Farnborough Airport in the UK, with its Americas headquarters in Stratford, CT and its and its Middle East and North Africa headquarters at Sharjah in the UAE. All three bases are Wyvern approved for their commitment to improving aviation safety. The group operates aircraft throughout the world and has over 30 worldwide operating bases.

asia firmly in gama group’s sights for 2012 Gama Group, the business aviation charter, management and maintenance company, is planning to establish its next base in Asia, CEO Marwan Khalek confirmed at the National Business Aviation Association tradeshow in Las Vegas. “We are building the foundations now with a view to getting established in Hong Kong in the first half of 2012,” he said. The intention is simply to replicate Gama’s successful business model in the region and mirror the quality, ethos and service offering of the international network currently centered in Europe, the Middle East and the USA. Hong Kong will be the company’s fourth continental/regional base complementing operations in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

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500,000 Hours 200,000 Flights 28 Years

Gama Aviation Limited Business Aviation Centre Farnborough Airport Farnborough Hampshire GU14 6XA United Kingdom Tel: +44 1252 553000 Email: charter.eu@gamagroup.com Gama Aviation FZC Building 6EB Office 550 PO Box 54912 Dubai Airport Freezone Dubai United Arab Emirates Tel: +971 4 609 1688 Email: charter.mena@gamagroup.com Gama Aviation, Inc. Airport Business Center 611 Access Road Stratford

www.gamagroup.com

CT 06615

Business Aircraft Management, Charter,

United States

Maintenance, Design and Installation,

Tel: +1 800 468 1110

FBO Services, Valeting and Aviation Software.

Email: charter.usa@gamagroup.com

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Gama aviation news Gama aviation’s middle eastern fleet Grows with the addition of the airbus a318cj

Gama Aviation’s european charter fleet grows with the addition of two more aircraft Gama Aviation FZC, the business aviation charter and management company, has added a new business aircraft type to its UAE-based fleet – its first Airbus. The Airbus ACJ318 was added to its UAE operator’s certificate in October. Configured with a 14 seat VIP configuration, the ACJ becomes the largest aircraft in the company’s Middle East fleet and for Gama globally, its 11th manufacturer type.

The new aircraft is being operated and managed by Gama on behalf of a private owner, based out of Sharjah International Airport.

“We welcome the increasing involvement of experienced companies such as Gama Aviation with the growing fleet of Airbus corporate jets, which are the new top-end of the market because they deliver the widest and tallest cabin of any business jet,” says Airbus Corporate Jets Vice President Francois Chazelle.

Gama Aviation obtained its UAE GCAA Air Operator’s Certificate in February 2010 and now manages five aircraft on behalf of Middle East based clients at both Sharjah International and Dubai International Airports. Gama Aviation is on track

to obtain its UAE GCAA CAR 145 maintenance approval and is working to complete its new 12,000 sqm hangar facility at Sharjah which will provide hangarage and maintenance facilities for business jet aircraft in the region. It will also be home to a new Fixed Based Operation.

“Our new Sharjah facilities represent a major investment for Gama in the region and will afford our customers significant cost benefits. Sharjah is also a great fuel stop destination between East and West,” said Managing Director Dave Edwards.

Gama formed a new company, Gama Support Services FZE, in readiness for the commencement of maintenance services at Sharjah. Initially, the approval will allow the company to undertake line maintenance support on its growing fleet of aircraft, thereby mirroring its capabilities in Europe and the USA, as well as the potential for base maintenance of business jet types.

Significantly across its bases in Europe, Americas and Middle East, Gama is now Wyvern-approved for its commitment to improving aviation safety.

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Farnborough, UK-based Gama Aviation has just introduced a Cessna CJ2+ to its managed charter fleet, new onto the UK register. Together with the imminent addition of a 13-seat Falcon 2000, its European charter fleet now totals 28 aircraft, 11 of which are based in the UK. Its success in winning tri-zone Wyvern approval across its three continental bases – Europe, USA and the Middle East has had a strong effect in boosting cross-continental client sharing, according to Commercial Manager Paul Cremer. It has helped gain more international clients – in Russia, the Middle East, including Royal family members and music tour arrangers, for example. Gama offices in the regions share clients to ensure a consistent level of service and local knowledge means the clients are assured of attention to detail. Gama clients have a fleet of 83 aircraft to experience, based out of Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Continental USA. Client interface has also been strengthened by the arrival of Trevor Jones as Director of Client Services – a new role.

Image: The Rolling Stones, London, 1963. The Rolling Stones are pictured here during rehearsals for ABC television’s ‘Thank you Lucky Stars’.

RadaR

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Picture This Celebrity snapper Terry O’Neill has devoted over half a century to capturing the famous on camera and the pick of his work – plus some exceptional, previously unseen pictures – are on show at Proud Chelsea, London, until January 23. Screen Sirens & Rock Rebels, a Terry O’Neill retrospective, spans the decades and contemporary cultural spectrum, with particular emphasis on stars shot at defining moments in their careers – this picture of The Rolling Stones captures their debut TV appearance. “I’ve spent the past two years going through my archive, literally hundreds of boxes of negatives, and I was amazed how many iconic images there were that I’ve never printed or shown”, said O’Neill. “It was like opening a time capsule I buried 50 years ago.” proud.co.uk

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RadaR > If you’re looking for inspirational travel tips to kick start the New Year in style, a newly launched, invite-only website, excursionist.com, offers a range of highly inventive itineraries that can be booked at the click of a button. They include a private viewing of Nefertari’s tomb in Luxor (now permanently closed to the public), tiger trekking in India, polar exploration and an afternoon spent at Didier Ludot, arguably the most famous of Paris’ vintage fashion stores.

As a private guest of Didier, who has built his incredible couture collection over decades, you’ll be shown Coco Chanel’s famous petite robe noire (little black dress) as well as other rare pieces designed by the likes of Dior (pictured below), Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and Lanvin – many of which are available to buy there and then.

Didier Ludot is one of many world-renowned experts in their respective fields who have personally curated each of the itineraries offered on excursionist.com – world record holders, celebrity chefs, and Emmy award-winning filmmakers among them – while users are also able to combine several short experiences across a number of countries to create a tailor-made, multi-faceted tour. Bon voyage.

> Renowned Italian firm Stil Bertone has designed memorable concept cars for the likes of BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mercedes Benz, but it’s this car, The Pandion, created to mark the centenary of Alfa Romeo, that has really captured the imagination of car enthusiasts across the globe. Last month the 4.7 litre, 450 CV 8-cylinder-powered sportscar spent a few weeks on public display at a garage showroom in Dubai, and this month it could well grace your own parking space, following news that Bertone would consider selling the one-of-a-kind car to someone of a suitable profile. Interested? Us too. bertone.it

> It’s said that Marilyn Monroe’s famous, signature sashay was the result of her having half an inch cut from the heel of one shoe. Whether that was simply the stuff of Holywood legend will be revealed later this year, when the screen siren’s shoe collection goes on public display in Florence. The entire collection (including the ruby red pair she wore in The Seven Year Itch) was recently bought by the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo and will show from June. museoferragamo.it - 18 -

Juan to watch

The celebrated culinary skills of German chef Juan Amador (he’s of Spanish origin) will be showcased on a permanent basis in Abu Dhabi as of February, when his Amador Restaurant and Cellar opens at the city’s five-star Park Rotana hotel. Hailing from the same school of thought as Ferran Adrià and Heston Blumenthal, Amador’s molecular creations are truly exceptional, marrying myriad tastes, textures and cuisines and earning him 3 Michelin stars to boot. As such, the sampling set menu to be offered here is a certifiable must-try.

Fancy moving into a celebrity’s former home?

This little lot is available now…

Rent

Oprah TV Queen Oprah Winfey’s Beaux Arts-style Chicago apartment is available to rent for $15k a month. She paid $5.6 million for it back in 2006.

Buy

Obama The winter vacation home of the Obamas – known lovingly as The Winter White House – is available to rent for what is a cool $75k per month.

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Sinatra Frank Sinatra owned a Californian estate in the 1950s, renting the attached guesthouse to one Marilyn Monroe. It’s yours for $12 million.

Zellweger The star of Bridget Jones shunned the bright lights of Hollywood for a remote farm in Connecticut in 2003, but now wants out for $1.5 million.

RadaR

> Three of the most prominent and powerful figures in the worlds of design and contemporary art – Anouska Hempel, Kay Saatchi, Ivor Braka – have come together to offer an eclectic assortment of fine furniture and artworks at Christie’s on January 17. The lots, which number over 350, all hail from the trio’s personal collections (Saatchi’s contribution comes from the home she had in London in the 90s), and amount to a fantastic opportunity to add a unique piece to your home. Included among them is a 2004 Damien Hirst etching (pictured, estimate $8,00011,000). christies.com

> The world’s number one polo player, Adolfo Cambiaso (pictured), will captain the UAE in a sixteam tournament to be held at Dubai’s Desert Palm

by Per AQUUM from 7-13 January. The Royal Salute UAE Nations Cup is an annual event attended by His Grace, the Duke of Argyll, and competed for by teams from United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Hungary, Pakistan, Brunei and the Rest of the World.

All matches, the final included, are free to view from Desert Palm’s Polo Lounge, though you’ll be wanting invite-only access to the viewing terrace, where you’ll sit aside His Grace. peraquum.com

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b r av o

Luxury

car

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RadaR

> Who says crime doesn’t pay? Book a room at one of Melbourne’s Art Series Hotels (there are three in choice locations across the city) and you’re positively encouraged to make off with Banksy’s famous No Ball Games artwork, which will be hanging somewhere inside one the hotels (until January 15 the print will move about each of the hotels, keeping budding Thomas Crown’s on their toes). If successful you get to keep the $15,000 signed and authenticated artwork; if caught red-handed you simply hand it back over for the next person to try their hand at thievery.

The inspiration for this hotel-promotion-with a-difference is a 2007 incident, when a group of bandits stole a section of wall simply because Banksy had stenciled around the words No Ball Games which were printed on it. They then offered their loot on eBay for the princely sum of $30,000. artserieshotels.com.au

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Timepieces

Time Honoured Lange CEO, Wilhelm Schmid, reveals his personal favourites from the A. Lange & Söhne collection of timepieces

S

ince it premiered in 1994, the Lange 1 has been ‘the face’ of A. Lange & Söhne.

With its striking dial design and its patented outsize date it gained global fame virtually overnight and garnered a host of product awards.

Today, the Lange 1 symbolises the artistry of Lange, embodying the skills and know-how of an entire dynasty of watchmaking that was founded

by Ferdinand A. Lange more than 165 years ago. At the same time it represents our tireless quest for the perfect timepiece.

Unlike hardly any other watch, the Lange Zeitwerk stands for uncompro­m ising­clarity.­The­first­ mechanical wristwatch with a truly eloquent jumping numeral display always provides an unambiguous reading of the current time. With a soft click and no perceptible delay, the

display advances from one minute to the next within fractions of a second until the watch initiates the big jump at the top of the hour. It is truly an impressive spectacle depicting time.

When­the­first­A.­Lange­&­Söhne­ watches of the new era were presented in 1994 the world of precision watchmaking had suddenly changed.

The watches from Saxony set new standards with their distinctive style, new technical ideas and the highest craftsmanship. One of them was the Tourbillon­Pour­le­Mérite,­the­first­ wristwatch to combine a fusée-andchain transmission with a tourbillon.

To my mind it delivered the ultimate proof that A. Lange & Söhne had regained its position at the top of international­fine­watchmaking.

The Datograph attracted global attention when it premiered in 1999, mainly because of its superior technical features and the unparalleled harmony of its dial.

With a power-reserve indicator, a proprietary oscillation system and an enlarged case, the new Datograph AUF/AB still is, I believe, a real reference piece of craftsmanship, aesthetic appeal, and functionality.

Then just last year we enriched the Saxonia watch family with a slender newcomer: Measuring merely 5.9 millimetres in height, the Saxonia Thin is the slimmest watch ever crafted by A. Lange & Söhne. With a case diameter of 40 millimetres the two-hand timepiece has the most elegant proportions and a harmonious presence on the wrist. But despite its purist design, it is recognisable as an A.­Lange­&­Söhne­watch­at­first­sight.

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> 2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, and by way of celebration Piaget has created a new high-jewellery watch line (totalling 24 pieces) that fully incorporates the symbols so prevalent in Chinese culture – chief among them is of course the dragon.

The line’s unique, hand-crafted designs will likely appeal to the burgeoning Chinese market, and that, coupled with its limited production run, should seemingly qualify these watches as a good investment opportunity. piaget.com

The long and short of it We’re huge fans of Hermès’ Cape Cod Grandes Heures watch. Its style smacks of sophistication and it’s available with a choice of three different dials – the numbers on each placed at a different point. So why it may seem that the day is running away from you at one point, you’ll think you’ll have all the time in the world a little later on. How does it work? Well, a toothed oval wheel system conducts the hour hand, with its gear shaped in a way that can speed up or slow down its motion. While it does this, the minutes and seconds tick by at a constant pace to keep exact time.

Our advice? Opt for the dial with the pronounced gap between numbers one and two, so it seems like your lunch break will run and run… hermes.com

> New for 2012 from Baume & Mercier – and available to preorder now – comes the enhanced, sport-chic Capeland, the design of which takes its cues from a 1948 single push-piece chronograph and the easiness of seaside living.

The aesthetic improvements on this updated version of the muchloved watch include a black domed dial with contrasting gilt hands, tachymeter scale, and a beautiful, ecru-stitched alligator strap. baume-et-mercier.com

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> Patek Philippe has crafted exceptional timepieces since the 1800s. Watch Art Grand Exhibition, which takes place at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah from January 24-27, offers a fascinating insight into the company’s feted, time-honoured design techniques and recreates elements from its Geneva headquarters, workshops and museum, providing a unique, behind-thescenes look at what makes Patek Philippe the collector’s watch of choice. patek.com

InterIors Top Table If your study could do with a facelift, there are few smarter (or well-made) tables than this; the Atlas Scrivania design from the exquisite Italian glassspecialists, FIAM. While its slim-cut desktop cuts a 20mm thickness, its legs are its unique selling point: 20mm cuts of hand-sculpted glass, each connected atop the next. It’s almost a shame to put anything on it…

Available at Western Furniture, UAE.

Sara CoSgrove

AIR’s columnist, Harrods’ head of design, tells why floors are best dressed by The Rug Company When I begin to work on an interior scheme I always start by thinking about textures and how they complement each surface, in order to create the ultimate end result.

Needless to say, flooring is one of the crucial elements to get right, so, when The Rug Company arrived in Harrods a few months ago I was delighted to have them right here on my doorstep. Over the past few years the international demand for their stunning handmade and unique product has exploded (they now have stores in over 13 countries), resulting in their rugs not only being considered as a fantastic interior design feature, but as a real work of art.

As a client, I relish their flexibility; they can cater to almost any style, interpreting a huge range of genres, including ethnic, rustic, slick contemporary, vintage and classic.

They also have over 47 of the world’s best designers on board – including Alexander McQueen, Paul Smith, and Vivienne Westwood – who contribute to their collections.

In tandem with this, when I have needed something completely unique to fit a certain space, the bespoke service that they offer is invaluable.

At Harrods, we have recently designed two bespoke styles of rugs for a project in the UAE, one of which bears an exquisite floral motif and uses a mixture of wool and silk. Such bespoke pieces are a great buy.

a Fine Find Distinguished gents caninserta by gone era into homethis month by partaking in Bonham’s famed Gentleman’s Library Sale, scheduled for January 18 at New Bond Street, London. Such sales are something of a favourite among auction devotees, and this event is set to revisit atime of the eccentric pleasures of the landed gentry, with lotitems plucked from private collectors and historic estates. Items worth raising your paddle for include rare 19th century artworks and beautifullycrafted accessories, (notably a Victorian-era crocodile skin gentleman’s travel bag). Though we’d suggest dedicating some of your spend to an exceptional George III mahogany library armchair – a fine pew if ever there was one. bonhams.com - 26 -

a Cut above the rest Because it’s the finer details that can make all the difference while entertaining at home, the Julia Knight Collection’s debut outside of the US (and arrival in the UAE) is well worth a look. It’s her serve-ware that caught AIR’s eye: created through the ancient art of sand-casting, it marries handmade aluminum with handpainted, jewel-toned enamels infused with crushed Mother of Pearl. “My driving ambition is to create designs that insist on attracting your eye with their unexpected beauty – a beauty that transforms the everyday into something simply and completely wonderful,” enthuses Knight. High gloss, food-safe and functional; silver service never looked better. Available in the Fine Dining department, Bloomingdale’s Home, Dubai.

L.A. Art Show January 18–22

An art fair is rarely as glamorous as this; the largest of its kind on the West Coast, USA, and one that’s renowned for drawing star-studded spectators – Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez among them. Be one of the collectors and enthusiasts to flock to sun-drenched Los Angeles (there are certainly drearier spots for a show), where paintings, sculpture, prints and over 100 galleries participate under one roof – making buying easy and time-efficient. This year, its 18th annual show will see the event split into two showings: The Los Angeles Fine Art Show: Historic and Traditional (HAT) and the LA Art Show: Modern & Contemporary (MAC), presenting everything from Old Masters to pieces at the very cutting edge. lacclink.com

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Critique

Film Haywire

Dir. Steven Soderbergh An all-star cast (Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas) appear in this stunt-fuelled action/ thriller which sees a government assassin (Gina Carano) seek payback after she’s betrayed on a dangerous mission.

At best: “Carano really lives up to her nickname ‘Conviction’ in her first feature role.” Premiere magazine.

At worst: “This uber-stylish treat may have low nutritional content, but the… combat fight scenes… are simply seductive.” Screen International.

The Iron Lady

Dir. Phyllida Lloyd Meryl Streep assumes the role of Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s first and only female Prime Minister in this personal account of one of the 20th century’s most influential women.

At best: “Streep delivers a nomination-friendly – and physically pretty much spot-on – performance…”

Screen International.

At worst: “Glosses over the politics in favor of a glib, breakneck whirl around her career and marriage.” Variety.

Carnage

Dir. Roman Polanski Film great Polanski’s razorsharp comedy revolves around parental differences after a playground dispute brings two very different sets of parents together – and verbal carnage ensues.

At best: “Scathing and funny and cynical about contemporary society and the hypocritical way we live…” New York Observer.

At worst: “No one makes sense in this world of glittering mockery.”

Entertainment Weekly.

War Horse

Dir. Steven Spielberg After Albert’s beloved horse is sold to the army to partake in World War I, the young man enlists and the bitter-sweet tale of friendship and sorrow that follows chronicles their dramatic paths through a raging battle.

At best: “Genuine in its emotion, unflinching in its reality, epic in its grandiosity, effective in its performances, and imaginative in its storytelling.” Daily Telegraph.

At worst: “The filmmakers slip into sentimental-land a little too often…” Purple Revolver.

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Books As the new literary year begins, the usual wave of uninspiring, cash-in autobiographies has been crashing over the bookshelves. As publishers start to run out of anyone with any sort of legitimate claim to fame to approach (can it be long until they begin simply stopping people randomly in the street and asking them to sign away their life rights?), they’re turning to the likes of Stacey Solomon, 21-year-old X factor contestant and winner of UK TV programme I’m a Celebrity in 2010. Her magnum opus, My Story So Far, may mark the true nadir of the genre, containing the sentence “My dad used to video everything, so we have films of us brushing our teeth all through childhood”.

Happily, though, among the cavalcade of memoirs there have been a few gems, one of which is Making Haye, the authorised biography of boxer David Haye, written by Elliott Worsell. He has worked closely alongside Haye for the last eight years, and it shows – as Gareth Davies puts it in The Telegraph: “Worsell gives a warts and all account of becoming a scribe, then an adviser to Haye before his most telling nights. A great read, beautifully written.”

Away from the bio-sphere, bookworms have been getting excited about Umberto Eco’s new outing, The Prague Cemetery, a twist-heavy tale of conspiracy theorists in the 1800s, filled with intrigue and dastardly deeds.

The Guardian’s Peter Conrad – who has Eco down, rather nicely, as “Dan Brown adorned with a PhD” – describes it as a “rambling, ramshackle picaresque novel” in which “the bilious Captain Simone Simoni slithers across Europe in the pay of one secret service after another, claiming personal responsibility for the calumnies that provoked most of the political crises of the 19th century.” While the book has drawn criticism from some quarters for its refusal to come to concrete conclusions, most agree it is a grand read from a grand author – as Lisa Appignanesi writes in The Independent: “Eco is a comic master and, in his 80th year, his irreverent intelligence, if not always his plotting or scabrous taste, remains bracing.”

When it comes to non-fiction, meanwhile, there has been plenty of praise for former US diplomat John R Schmidt’s The Unraveling, an expert primer on Pakistan’s political history and future. As Noori Passella put it in The National, Schmidt “charts the progression of terrorist encounters in the country, stemming from religious and sectarian clashes... chipping in his own two cents on how such crises could have been averted from becoming the full-blown catastrophes documented by the press nowadays.” If you think Pakistani politics doesn’t have much relevance to your own life, think again – as Drew Bratcher says in The Washingtonian, “The book’s final chapter, in which Schmidt lays out what could happen if jihadists were to take control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, will have you riveted.”

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Critique

Image: Picasso, courtesy of AGNSW; MoMa

Art

The recently-launched exhibition of Diego Rivera murals at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is commanding a lot of attention. Originally shown at the launch of the museum back in the 1930s, these five murals were produced by Rivera in just six weeks, with the help of two assistants, and depict themes of revolution and class struggle. They brought unprecedented crowds to the museum 80 years ago, and are still relevant today. As Karen Rosenberg writes in the New York Times: “some of the paintings seem ripped from today’s headlines. In The Uprising, protesting laborers are brutally suppressed by uniformed soldiers; the stratified New York cityscape of Frozen Assets tops a bank vault with a crowded homeless shelter.” Writing in the New Yorker, Peter Schjeldahl is particularly taken with Frozen Assets too. “It can seem a mere polemical illustration”, he says, “but, given thought, it becomes a distillation of history with a carefully measured, unexhausted potency. It doesn’t tell us what to think, only what must be thought about.”

Down Under in Sydney, Picasso fans have a special treat on offer at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on

Art Gallery Road until March 25. Taking advantage of the Musée National Picasso in Paris’ need to clear out works while it installs a new roof, the AGNSW has emptied its ground floor of Australian art and replaced it with a spread of works from the great Spanish master. There’s a huge spread of canvases on display, including works from all the big periods – including Blue, Cubist, Rose and Neoclassical.

It’s a seriously big deal for Sydney, and crowds have been flocking. As Alan Miller says in The Berkshire Review: “Amidst recent debate over whether the ‘blockbuster’ art show is dead, alive, dying, waning or mutating, it takes a blockbuster to appreciate the value of a blockbuster.”

Another museum which is taking advantage of its strong international links is the Prado in Madrid, whose new exhibition El Hermitage en el Prado brings over 180 works from St. Petersburg’s Hermitage museum to Spain. As Antonio Lucas writes in El Mundo, this is “one of the most ambitious exhibitions in recent decades in the institution”, and features everything “from the ‘dowry’ gold of fourth century Scythian jewelry and Siberia to the decorative arts (including rock crystal and diamonds from Karl Fabergé), and from the treasures of the czars to the great masters of painting, running from Titian to Malevich”. Make sure not to miss it the next time you’re in the Spanish capital.

Finally, this is your last chance to catch the powerful Gerhard Richter: Panorama retrospective at the Tate Modern in London, which closes in January. As Laura Bushell of ArtSlant puts it: “The world is divided into those who think painting is dead, and those who continue to do it anyway. German master painter Gerhard Richter is defiantly in the latter camp, and Tate Modern’s extensive survey of his fifty-year career at the easel shows this in spades...

As a lesson in what painting is, what it can be, and how it relates to the world we live in, Panorama is essential.”

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Image: The Comedy of Errors

Theatre

Comedian Lenny Henry doesn’t always get the kindest reception from critics, so it’s refreshing to see him being praised to the skies for his latest departure – playing Antipholus of Syracuse in director Dominic Cooke’s The Comedy of Errors at London’s National Theatre. Caroline McGinn, theatre critic of Time Out London, says that Henry “is superb in Shakespeare’s shortest, most farcical comedy. The funnyman brings pathos and gravitas as well as comic relief.” The play is set in ancient Ephesus and modern-day London, and the Evening Standard’s Henry Hitchings says there’s “a distinct air of pantomime as the emotional mishaps mingle with ghastly puns and gags about flatulence. Yet Cooke finds more pathos than is usual, and the conclusion is genuinely touching.” One for your diaries – it runs until April 1, 2012.

Meanwhile, in the south of the city, at the Southwark Playhouse, an exceptionally ambitious theatrical staging of Dianne Wynne Jones’s book Howl’s Moving Castle is taking place, narrated by none other than Stephen Fry. If you caught the Oscar-baiting 2004 film adaptation, you’ll know how big a project getting this on stage must have been. Overall it seems to have been a success – the simplest of backdrops, a castle shown in silhouette, is the basis for a whirlwind imaginative tour. As Gary Naylor of Broadway World says: “Davy and Kristin McGuire’s team have created thousands of images to project on to that expanse of whiteness, transforming it into a study, a witch’s home, a wasteland, a mountainous Welsh landscape, even Egypt’s

Valley of the Kings. Thus does the castle move and thus are special effects married perfectly to both an aesthetic sensibility and narrative obligation.”

Over at the Cort Theatre in Midtown West, New York, all eyes have been on Alicia Keys’ first outing as a Broadway Producer, with Stick Fly, the comic story of a wealthy African-American family riven with issues about wealth and race. It has been a great success outside of the Big Apple – as Jonathan Mandell of The Faster Times puts it: “the secret to Stick Fly’s successful track record may be that the play can be seen in three different ways – as a guilty-pleasure soap opera, as an entertaining comedy, and as an insightful discussion of the interplay between race, class and gender in America.” Not everyone is convinced the it’s a winner, however – The Hollywood Reporter says it “comes up short as both comedy and dysfunctional family drama”, although it does feature “a breakout performance from up-and-comer Condola Rashad.”

Finally, in Paris, all the praise is for an old classic – Molière’s ‘L’École des Femmes’, running at the ComédieFrançaise, which tells the story of scheming protagonist Arnolphe, and his attempts to prevent the object of his affection from marrying another man. Armelle Heliot of Le Figaro describes the play as “a tragedy that makes us laugh” and says: “We will never tire of Moliere’s masterpiece, or of basking in the glow of his genius. But it’s rare to be seized so deeply by the complexity of the characters as in this production by Jacques Lassalle.”

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How Marlon Brando Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll On the afternoon of July 2 2004 I was, like everyone else, absorbing the news that MarlOn BrandO had passed away the previous day.

Then the phone went. On the line was a friend whose love for Brando’s best work burned as intensely as my love for Brando’s best work...

WoRds: Jon wilde

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T

o begin with, the conversation was much what you’d expect from two people who’d heard unwelcome news that left them with too much to say and no earthly idea where to begin.

“You heard?”

“I heard.”

“He’s gone.”

“He’s gone.”

For ten minutes or so, that’s about as articulate as it went. Until the friend said something that, in lending the news about Brando a range and a certain dimension, suggested a way forward for the conversation that was ultimately to last deep into the early hours of the following day. It was a conversation mostly about great men who make the impossible seem inevitable, then somehow come undone. This is what the friend said to kick it all off: “Y’know what? This is like when Elvis died. It’s that big.”

You might figure roughly where I’m going with this when I remind you that the week of Brando’s death coincided with the 50th anniversary of the suddenly miraculous moment that is widely, almost universally accepted as the moment that gave birth to what we know as rock’n’roll. The moment when Sam Phillips heard Elvis Presley and his two sidemen “goosing up” an Arthur Crudup number called That’s All Right in the Sun Studio and had the good sense to know that what he was hearing was what he’d been looking for all along.

There are those who argue that Elvis gets too much credit for pulling the pin on the cultural grenade that was to detonate in the Fifties and continue blowing a hole through time right up to the present; and that the likes of Chuck Berry, Little Richard and a long roll-call of others receive too little in the way of historical recognition. Maybe so. But, if you’re looking for a single figure who both symbolized the insurgent urges of that time and who was possessed of the devastating charisma to impress himself on the consciousness of a whole generation, then Elvis is surely your man. Unless, this is, you’re prepared to look back a little further and consider the catalytic, combustible force that was the young Brando.

As Brando exploded onto the screen in 1951’s A Streetcar Named Desire, he did so with the force of pre-history. When he stood at the foot of that winding staircase in a sweat-drenched tee-shirt and yelled, “Stell-aaaah”, with such

beautiful storm-tossed anguish, it was a moment as imperatively rock’n’roll as “Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom.”

To start making sense of such a revelatory moment (and Brando in Streetcar is nothing if not one long revelatory moment), we might start with his acting performance in that movie which, by universal assent, redefined the approach to and the meaning of screen acting. By the time Streetcar came to the screen, he’d spent nearly three years honing the role of Stanley Kowalski on the New York stage where his performances would famously earn ovations lasting as long as 30 minutes. By common consent, what was witnessed on that stage was the beginning of something for which there was no known precedent.

Let it be said that Brando was not the first actor to bring to the screen the style known as The Method, the internalised acting technique developed by Stanislavsky in the 1920s and popularised in New York in the 1940s.

Montgomery Clift, for one, had got there before.

But Brando was the first to mine the Method’s furthermost possibilities and, if anything, transcend them. Some of the best actors of the time were known to go and see Streetcar on stage in an attempt to figure out exactly how Brando did it – as if what Brando did could be learned just by looking at him long enough. Every last one of them went away scratching their heads, none the wiser. Meaning that, sometime before Streetcar transferred from stage to screen, The Method had become Brando’s method and that Brando’s method was such a radical break with tradition that it made most actors that had come before him look as though they were doing little more than reciting lines whilst trying not to bump into the scenery.

Just as nobody had seen anything like Brando on a stage before, then sure as hell nobody had ever seen anything like him up there on the screen. Previous screen stars had been, as the late Anthony Quinn once pointed out, “proper, clearcut and unambiguous, almost without exception.” Those exceptions including Bogart, Cagney and Welles we can safely presume. As the director Tony Kaye remarked after Brando’s death, “I think he invented reality on film.”

To judge Brando purely in terms of his acting would be akin to sizing up Elvis only in terms of a chord progression and a vocal inflection. To understand the revolutionary impact of Brando in Streetcar, we are obliged to look beyond the performance itself and accept the fact that Brando, on the back of Streetcar, became a kind

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of centripetal force, drawing towards him the restless energies and inarticulate, unfocussed yearnings of the time and giving them suck and shape; all of it as instinctive as the radioactive waves of a cell gravitating to its nucleus. Simply, Brando became the Fifties’ first icon of social rebellion and he became so three years before Sam Phillips enjoyed his wild “Eureka!” moment in the Sun Studio. Brando was the Fifties first fantasy figure and what he promised was something far more potent than freedom itself – the fantasy, the illusion of freedom.

Consider the famous moment in 1953’s The Wild One when Brando, as the leatherclad motorcycle gang leader, brute coolness personified, is asked, “What’re you rebelling against, Johnny?” and replies with the surly open-endedness of the prototypical streetcorner upstart, “Whattya got?” Back in the early Fifties, there was plenty for a would-be rebel to pick from. Everything that Kerouac had in mind when he wrote about, “everybody looking at the same thing and thinking the same thing at the same time,” in On The Road. Everything that was smug, narrow, moderate, ordered, restrained, temperate. Everything contained within a suburban picket fence existence, everything that suggested a flat, eventless horizon. Everything grey and boring and carefully buttoned down.

Everything that unremittingly conformed.

Everything that suggested limits imposed by convention. In that indelible “Whattya got?” moment, Brando managed to articulate the most pressing need of an entire generation. A need to kick against everything that Holden Caulfield meant by “phoney” in The Catcher In The Rye. Along with a need to obliterate all the fear that was in the air.

Because there was genuine fear in the air back then. There was the kind of fear inspired

by Commie witch-hunts, the Cold War and The Bomb, engendering a faintly comical post-war mania for security and suspicion. But that fear was more like a paranoid shadow, thickly gathering but still at a distance. Up closer, the most fearful outside enemy was difference – anything different, anything too ambiguous, anything too impatient for change. And it was Brando who brought that promise of how different things could be to the very centre of the culture. When he ripped into the Fifties with Streetcar and then raised the bar on his talent even further with On The Waterfront, he emblematised everything – raw honesty, nonconformity, a limitless sense of liberation – that society did not.

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Elvis would follow him and would fuse similar sensibilities on an even grander scale. But, even at his most creatively eruptive (his Sun period from 1954-1955), Elvis never succeeded in totally convincing as an authentic rebel. That’s not to say he was not a transcendent figure; he was.

It’s just that, with Elvis, you could never quite lose sight of the good ol’ boy with the perfect manners who loved Jesus and worshipped his mom and who would almost certainly liked to have had his rebellion without ever leaving home. One look at Brando in any of his early movies and you were left in no doubt that he was the real deal – that there was no manufacture in that convulsive rage, that primeval sexuality and that swaggering rebellion which more often than not looked as if it had no cause except itself though anything else that cared to stick to it could do as it damn well liked.

Even when he was playing essentially brutish characters, Brando invested them with precisely the right amount of wounded sensitivity and therefore made them both wholly believable and intrinsically poetic. Without doubt, he was always in his element when called upon to brood. Of course, he brooded with magnificent introspection in all his most legendary roles (in Streetcar, Waterfront, Godfather, Last Tango and Apocalypse Now). Maybe it’s just that Brando looked tormented even when he was not, just as Dean Martin always looked pie-eyed even when he was stone cold sober.

Even if we knew precisely nothing about Brando’s life, it’s a fair bet that the torment he exuded on screen would strike us as an authentic emotion, that’s to say an emotion drawn directly from his own experience. Perhaps that’s what made him seem so compellingly edgy in the best of his work. The torment was a chief part of the spell that he cast.

There was never any getting away from Brando. Like in the way that it was damn near impossible to have any halfway intelligent discussion about the movies of the past fifty years without finding yourself talking about him and then finding that, as soon as you started talking about him, there was so much to say about him that it was impossible to talk about anything or anyone else.

OK, straight up, his reputation rests on only a handful of movies and he made an awful lot of rubbish. But not nearly as much rubbish as we’ve been led to believe by the obituarists. The actress Julie Harris, who starred with him in Reflections In A Golden Eye, once said, “Marlon was innately brilliant but it was all scattered, almost as if

he’d been told early on that he was nothing and worthless. Yet his work was so beautiful and so pure there was no explaining where it came from. Maybe he didn’t love acting, but his gift was so great he could never completely destroy it.” Which leads you to think that there’s always at least one good reason to watch even a secondstring Brando movie. Because, even when he’s sleepwalking through a part or when he’s acting to an unsalvageable script in a formulaic movie, there’ll be at least one moment, even the tiniest of epiphanies, played out with a teasing turn of phrase or a barely imperceptible gesture, when he’ll reveal some startling truth about the character he’s playing and you’ll be reminded of the mysterious thing that made his genius reputation in the first place.

The commonly perceived tragedy is that Brando made not enough movies commensurate with his enormous talent. The popular wisdom is that Brando simply stopped caring. And, as his friend Billy Redfield once remarked, “To stop caring is the last stop on the streetcar.”

On the face of it, he stopped caring almost as soon as he’d begun. As early as 1947, shortly after Streetcar hit the stage, he could be found expressing his contempt for the craft that he would single-handedly alchemize into an art form worth taking seriously as any other.

“Acting is like slicing baloney,” he remarked to one interviewer. It was the first of many such comments and success only appeared to heighten that legendary contempt. By the mid-Fifties, with his first Oscar already in the bag, he declared, “the only reason I’m making movies is that I don’t have the moral courage to turn the money down.” It was a theme he’d happily return to again and again, describing acting as a con, a lie, a bunch of bull, just another way of making dough.

It’s been argued that once he’d developed such contempt for acting, that contempt robbed him of the will to excel. Only Brando never seemed to know or care when he’d excelled or when he’d delivered a dud. Perhaps the reason he never felt any obligation to transcendence in his work was that he never believed he’d ever achieved it. Plaudits meant nothing to him. Winning an Oscar might be the Holy Grail for most actors but Brando regarded the hullabaloo around the annual ceremony with open bemusement.

For his first Oscar (for Waterfront), director Elia Kazan had to practically keep him locked up in the weeks leading to the nominations to safeguard against him publically denigrating the awards and messing with his chances. By the

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time of his second Oscar (for The Godfather), his bemusement had coalesced into total indifference and he didn’t bother showing up.

Without the faintest suggestion of disingenuousness, Brando would casually denigrate his finest performances. And there’s a possibility, of course, that his pronouncements about his work were a neat way of deflecting attention away from himself. Brando was a proven master at that. Maybe he realised to the full the kind of myth he’d created and wanted no part of it. Maybe he realised how much of a trap that myth had become for him. And maybe he didn’t. What’s for sure is that he never made a secret of the fact of his own unhappiness and the fact that acting, the one route that might have offered a plausible lifeline, had a way of exacerbating that unhappiness. In 1957, in a famous profile Truman Capote wrote for The New Yorker, Brando was quoted as saying that he was already considering retirement, “Because the last eight or nine years have been a mess.

(When you’re an actor) the more sensitive you are, the more certain you are to be brutalized, develop scabs. So you must never evolve, never allow yourself to feel anything, because you always feel too much.”

Last Tango in Paris. “But I’m all washed up,” were his first words to author Mario Puzo when first sounded out about the role of Vito Corleone.

And it’s worth remembering just how far he was considered to have sunk below the cultural horizon at that time. Both Godfather and Tango courted the risk of disaster. The role of Corleone was much coveted. Indeed, Orson Welles later remarked that he’d have happily sold his soul to have had a crack at it. Brando was hired by Coppola despite the studio’s deepest misgivings.

Anything less than a magnificent performance in Godfather would have been viewed as abject failure. And, of course, he turned in one of the transcendent performances of American cinema, a study of power and impotence that once again reminded us that his gift was far richer and farreaching than we thought.

Then came his performance in Tango. If anything, even more transcendent because it was a performance in which he finally cast off all disguises and, with what can only have been a supreme effort of will, reached far deeper than he’d ever previously dared. “Last Tango In Paris required far too much emotional arm-wrestling with myself,” he would say. “When it was finished, I decided I wasn’t ever again going to

He’d been in therapy since 1947, seeking to explore the root causes of his panic attacks and violent rages that led him all the way back to a childhood containing enough emotional abuse from his alcoholic parents to keep a team of shrinks in active service for at least a few lifetimes. In one of those rare moments of selfrevelation he was given to in his rare interviews, he once admitted that it was the neglect he felt from his warring, alcoholic parents that drove him to pretend, to act, in the first place. What soon became apparent is that Brando emerged from his youth in a state of psychic turmoil that helped bring his performances alive, first on stage and then on screen.

It was F Scott Fitzgerald who famously said that there are no second acts in American lives. Elvis had discredited that notion back in 1968 and Brando was to do so six years later, achieving the most unexpected of creative redemptions with first The Godfather and then

destroy myself emotionally to make a movie. In doing that role, I felt I had violated my innermost self and didn’t want to suffer like that anymore.”

There was a great deal more pain to come his way through the Eighties and Nineties as his chaotic personal life appeared to dance with tragedy at every turn until, in 1994, the dance played out in a Shakespearean whirl of murder, suicide and a welter of grief and regret beyond imagining. In the midst of his son’s murder trial, Brando stood on courtroom steps and spoke to reporters. This is what he said. “If you want to know what misery is, just come over to my house.” Then, as I recall, he wept. Perhaps for the first time, he gave us more truth than we wanted.

As Jack Nicholson remarked after his death, “Just as there was painting before and after Picasso, there is acting before and after Brando.”

He really was that pivotal a figure. A man who went unchallenged as the residing movie-acting genius until De Niro came along.

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Images: Corbis / Arabian Eye

‘Brando was the Fifties first fantasy figure and what he promised was something far more potent than freedom itself ’

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Best of British The self-styled Mr. Classic, otherwise known as JereMy HaCkett, on the success of his globetrotting fashion brand for men of impeccable taste

W

hat do you wear to meet a man who spends a fair proportion of his time advising other gents on matters of dress? Should it be something bearing his brand’s name? He can’t critique that, surely. Or will that make me look like some sort of crazed fan? More importantly, why am I beginning to sound like Carrie Bradshaw at her laptop in Sex in the City? Is that what fashion does to people? Forces them to relentlessly propose rhetorical questions?

As it is, when I arrive to meet Jeremy Hackett, founder and chairman of gents’ fashion brand Hackett, at its newly opened store in The Dubai Mall, his only concern appears to be for an antique leather sofa, shipped to the store from London but badly damaged along the way. Just as well, really: my seven-month-old daughter decided to decorate my shirt with a liberal splattering of Weetabix moments before I left the house. But I digress. “You always need a nice environment for people to shop in. Even when I was selling secondhand clothes we made the shop feel as though you were shopping on Savile Row,” says Jeremy, as he rests himself down on a throw that’s been strategically placed over the scuffed sofa cushion. “It’s incredibly important to set the tone.”

It’s a policy that has served his resolutely British brand exceptionally well as it’s carved a niche across the globe.

The Dubai store nudges the number present worldwide to well over 30 (in addition there are over 40 concessions)

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and its footprint will soon be present in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. Not bad for a brand that, as Jeremy aforementioned, was conceptualised from a two-man team selling second-hand clothes in London.

That successful, entrepreneurial venture followed a five year spell on Savile Row, where Jeremy’s enduring ability to understand male styling was honed. “I was basically a salesman, in that I would introduce the customers to the tailor. The thing about tailors is that they’re great craftsmen but not great retailers. I know when something looks good, so I would explain to the customer what sort of suit they should have, and what sort of cloth and how many buttons it should comprise of. If it were left to the tailor they would often choose something ghastly!”

Britain is weaved into the very fabric of the Hackett brand – there are clothing lines themed on Mayfair, polo, rowing and the English countryside, while Mr. Hackett himself sat for our interview looking every bit the distinguished gent despite coming straight from his seven-hour flight. It begs the question of what it is about Britain that’s so appealing to foreign markets?

“I actually think the concept of Britishness, in terms of dress, is probably more appealing overseas than it is in Britain. Maybe it’s because other countries don’t pay such homage to traditions, or even if they do, they don’t carry them out in the same way. In Britain we have dress codes for events which people like to abide to. Take the Goodwood Revival (an annual vintage motor racing festival staged in England); everyone goes to it dressed in 1950s/60s gear.

Everyone makes an effort. But if you go to the equivalent event in Italy, nobody does. There’s no sense of occasion.”

Hackett has embedded itself in such traditional social and sporting occasions, those very much part of the British psyche; becoming the official clothing supplier for the Oxford versus Cambridge Boat Race, and doing likewise for The British Army Polo Team, for whom both Princes William and Harry previously played. But it’s Hackett’s sponsorship of the Aston Martin Racing Team that fuels Jeremy’s passion the most: “It’s my favourite tie up because they lend me a car every couple of months!” he laughs.

Later that evening, as if to drive home the point, he would arrive via the wheel of an Aston Martin Rapide for a party at The Dubai Mall store.

You get the sense that if any country were to lap up this overt Englishness it would be America, so it comes as a surprise to learn that the brand has yet to debut there.

“It’s a tough market, a fantastic market, if you get it right.

We get an enormous amount of US custom at our London stores so there’s definitely an appetite for it and we’ll definitely go there. But we need to feel comfortable that we have everything right first, because it will possibly become our largest market.”

He isn’t, consciously at least, referring to the size of the people in the US when he says that, but as anyone who has bought an American-made shirt marked ‘medium’ and been

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Images: Courtesy of EURO RSCG, Dubai Text: John Thatcher

drowned by it will testify to, things are done on a grander scale in the US. It is, though, a problem Hackett has encountered and overcome when entering other markets.

“When we went to Tokyo we found it tough because of the difference in sizing, and so you learn that you can’t sell the exact same thing in London as you might in Madrid or Tokyo. Things get tweaked and that takes time to understand. We’ve been in France for a long, long time and it’s only in the last three years that it’s taken off for us.”

Despite Hackett rapidly approaching its thirtieth year, its namesake owner remains hands-on in nearly all aspects of the business, including, most surprisingly, that of occasionally serving customers. “I sometimes meet the same customers who I first served 20 odd years ago, helping them out with their choice of trousers or shirts.

The trouble is I have no idea how much any of it costs!” He’s also written a book, Mr. Classic, which pulled together the sartorial musings voiced in his weekly newspaper column, and regularly updates his blog. Then there’s the style advice he imparts to anyone seeking it through the ‘Jeremy Advises’ link on his company’s website – it was knowing he did this that caused my earlier fashion freakout.

Overseeing the brand’s product extensions is another of his duties – you can buy Hackett branded cufflinks, passport holders, hipflasks and an awful lot more. In fact: “any products if there’s credibility attached to them.

Things like pens and bags are quite masculine and easily associated with the brand, but if it were something like, I don’t know, say, Hackett tea… ,” he pauses, before a smile breaks and his eyes widen, “actually, Hackett tea would probably be a really good seller! Of that I have to agree.

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‘Aston Martin is my favourite tie up because they lend me a car every couple of months!’

Art

1.

Canvassing opinion Rob Orchard gets some expert advice on the extraordinary world of high-value art investment

T

he tail end of 2011, the pundits tell us gravely, marked the beginning of a new age of austerity in the West. But nobody seems to have informed the art collectors.

In a single night in November in New York, auction house Sotheby’s sold $200 million of Impressionist and modern artworks over the course of just two hours. The highlight was a painting by Klimt, the ‘Litzlberg am Attersee’, stolen by the Nazis, sold by the Gestapo, and only recently returned to the original owner’s great nephew, who put it up for sale. It fetched $40.4 million, snapped up by an unidentified buyer through a man Bloomberg described as ‘a 42-year-old, gum-chewing Zurich dealer’. A Gustave Caillebotte landscape estimated to go for $12 million went for $18 million, and a portrait

by Tamara de Lempicka sold for $8.5 million, a record amount for the artist.

And then, a week later, Sotheby’s did it all over again.

At a contemporary art sale, it offloaded four paintings

by Clyfford Still for an extraordinary $114 million, almost double their asking price. One of the paintings, with the snappy but somewhat utilitarian title ‘1949-A-No. 1’ was on for $35 million but, pursued relentlessly by four Clyff-hungry bidders, eventually went for $61,682,500.

That’s $8395.60 per square inch. For a work by a man who – and let us be frank with one another, dear reader – most of us had never heard of before embarking on this paragraph.

There are still, it seems, plenty of people ready to invest serious money in oil and canvas. And the job of tracking

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1. Venice, A View Of The Churches Of The Redentore And San Giacomo, Canaletto.

2. Still Life with a Pewter Jug and an overturned Tazza , Jan Jansz. den Uyl. down the artworks they buy falls to the specialists of Sotheby’s, a crack team of art ninjas who scour the four corners of the earth for new masterpieces to slide under the auctioneer’s hammer. One such specialist is Andrew Fletcher, a Director of Sotheby’s Old Masters department, which has sold over $1 billion of art in the last five years.

Fletcher has responsibility for sourcing pictures from Spain and France, a job which involves a lot of visiting beautiful old chateaux and castellos in the hope of striking gold. I ask him about his favourite ever find. “It was in Madrid”, he says, “and it was a work by a Dutch artist called Jan Jansz. den Uyl, called Still Life with a Pewter Jug and an Overturned Tazza. The owners thought it was by a completely different painter, but I recognised it as being by this artist and we sold it for £1.8 million.” As ‘good day at the office’ stories go, that’s a hard one to top.

Before speaking to Fletcher, I asked the editor of a prominent art newspaper what sorts of art people tend to invest their money in. “In the contemporary art market you’ll find a much higher proportion of people buying as a short term investment”, she told me. “It’s much easier because there are a lot more buyers in the contemporary market so it’s a lot easier to make a short term gain than in the more established, less fashionable markets”. And how does Fletcher’s own field stand up in the investment and collecting stakes? “Old Masters is a solid collecting field, one which sees gradual increases but it never deviates”, he says. If contemporary art is the cutting-edge hedge fund of art investment then the Old Masters, it seems, are the gilt-edged bonds.

So what do serious investors look for in art works?

“There are three main criteria”, says Fletcher. “The paintings need to be in great condition, they need to be by a well-known painter like Rembrandt or Van Dyck and they need to be fresh to the market.” I ask my editor friend why this ‘fresh to market’ aspect is so important. “It’s just a quirk of the industry”, she says. “People disregard something that’s been on the market recently as there’s a perception that if a painting has been knocking around a bit it’s not as exciting and therefore not as investable as something that is completely unknown.”

This fetish for the unknown among art investors has led to a boom in ‘private sales’ at Sotheby’s. These are sales in which the auction process is sidestepped – one carefullyselected buyer is invited to view the work and buy it direct.

They’ll pay more than the auction estimate, but it means they can buy without the possibility of being outbid and, crucially, without anyone else knowing about it, so the work retains its ‘market freshness’.

So how do you get into this magical circle in which people invite you to buy unknown artworks by great masters which you may later be able to sell on at a huge profit? “You have to make yourself known to us”, says Fletcher. “Most of the people to whom we offer paintings privately have been known to us previously through their auction activity, that’s the best way of finding people.”

There is no shortage of such people, despite the economic downturn in the West. “The top end of the market is as strong as it’s ever been”, says Fletcher. “It’s really the bottom and the middle of the market which traditionally experience an adjustment during periods of economic instability. When it comes to the big ticket items, many people are still very happy to spend 20 or 30 million dollars.”

Presuming you don’t get a phone call from Fletcher or one of his associates in the next month, inviting you to a private viewing of some little-known Rubens or other, your next opportunity to get involved in the art market is at Sotheby’s Old Masters sale in New York on January 26.

Here you can bid for works by the likes of Lucas Cranach the Elder, Francesco Guardi, Fra Bartolommeo and Simone Martini. AIR’s got its eye on a lovely little Canaletto valued at $5-7 million – if you see our paddle flapping, do us a favour and hold back until the next lot...

‘When it comes to the big ticket items, many people are still very happy to spend 20 or 30 million dollars’

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Here’s JoHnny!

The enigmatic Johnny Depp on the joy of innocence, quitting hollywood and, er, pyjamas Words: Will laWrence

J

ohnny Depp is extolling the therapeutic virtues of his big pyjamas. He’s not wearing them at the moment, you understand, but his bedtime sleeping habits have made an unlikely appearance midway through our conversation.

“You might find this shocking, but I’m not really a pyjama-wearing type of guy,” he offers. “I lean towards insomnia in life, which a lot of us do, and this pal of mine who I’ve made a couple of films with, Julian Schnabel, said, ‘I’ve got just the answer for you.’ He gave me these big baggy cotton pyjamas.” He pauses to flick at one of the curtains of longish hair that frame his face. “And, honestly, I slept about 12 hours. It was like a miracle.” He pauses once again, and leans in conspiratorially, “But you don’t want to abuse pyjamas,” he whispers. “You get used to them and you’re screwed...”

He’s been the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, an otherworldly Willy Wonka, the gap-toothed Mad Hatter and that loveable, dandified purveyor of box-office treasures, Captain Jack Sparrow. Yet arguably the most beguiling character played by the 47-year-old superstar sitting before me is that of Depp himself, the sometime pyjama wearing insomniac actor. Once upon a time, before Captain Jack and the Pirates had conquered the box

office to the tune of $2 billion, he had flitted around on the periphery of the public consciousness, popping up on screen as a fragile, tender-hearted protagonist, regularly encased in a peculiar, macabre or just plain madcap façade – from the fantastically fingered Edward Scissorhands, through Ed Wood, Bill Blake (Dead Man) and Raoul Duke (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), to Ichabod Crane (Sleepy Hollow). Take your pick.

He charmed the critics and delighted his fans, although he rarely scored sizeable commercial returns. Instead, he emerged as something of a mascot for the lost and lonely, a patron saint of waifs and strays. One wag dubbed him “cinema’s very own St Jude”. Once Captain Jack set sail in 2003, however, Depp’s profile changed. His character, and his creation (famously disliked by the Disney executives who got the first look at the gold-toothed pirate) drives the franchise. “The same guys who a few years ago were saying that Johnny is box-office poison,” the Hollywood magnate Harvey Weinstein told me, in the wake of the first Pirates movie, “well, now they’re kissing his butt. But Johnny, he’s so smart. He sees through all that bull.”

Which only adds to the enigmatic actor’s mystique: he’s an A-list star who refuses to conform. He’s a relative stranger to the world of red carpets, big-money romcoms

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‘Depp has always projected a definite cool, as much rock star as movie star’

and high-paying, high-octane action flicks. Indeed, the higher his star rises, the further he seems to melt back into the firmament, emerging for occasional gothic jaunts with his pal Tim Burton and for sporadic departures. He always disappears again quickly, a real-life will-o’-thewisp, truncating his press appearances while maintaining a roving lifestyle with his girlfriend, the French actress Vanessa Paradis, and their two children, Lily-Rose, 11, and Jack, 8. He’s like a modern-day vagabond, albeit one equipped with a beautiful family and sizeable assets – his most recent movies have paid him $20m.

We meet on a biting, sub-zero Paris day, and he arrives a mere 35 minutes late, which, for Depp, is tantamount to being early. “Sorry,” he begins in his warm, considered tone, “but I just can’t be on time. It’s something built into my body that goes against the grain. I don’t know why, but I’ve been late my entire life.” Of course he has: Depp has always projected a definite cool, as much rock star as movie star, with the tangle of bracelets and silvery trinkets that festoons his neck and hands; swirls of greeny-blue ink adorn the musculature in between.

His everyday life, however, is a little more mundane.

He’s (almost) on time today because he has to pick up the kids from their Parisian school. “It’s an important time of year,” he notes, thinking of Lily-Rose and Jack, and impending (no doubt) last-minute shopping sprees.

“And, with two kids, if I don’t come up with the goods on Christmas morning, they’ll beat me.” His face turns grave.

“Seriously, I’ll be in big trouble.”

It is almost six years since I last sat down with Depp, and beneath his glasses and tidily trimmed goatee, he doesn’t appear to have aged at all. (Disappointingly, I’m almost a decade younger than him, yet feel several years older.) Our last full meeting was for the JM Barrie movie Finding Neverland, and Depp seems blessed with some of Peter Pan’s attributes. “I do like the idea of staying a child forever,” he offers at one point. “And I think you really can. I’ve known plenty of people in their later years who were like little kids, had the energy of little children, the curiosity and fascination. I think we can keep that. It’s important we keep that. Innocence and purity, they’re

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things we don’t really have in the world anymore.”

Depp’s press appearances have become rare, but he’s generous once he shows up, impish, almost collusive and surprisingly tactile. It could be an act, but I suspect not: a Japanese journalist receives a hug at one point in the day, while more than one of my peers goes in search of an autograph “for their children” and sees their wish granted. He projects the same warmth and romanticism, a dreaminess, even, that audiences have witnessed simmering in so many of his characters. “Innocence and purity are themes I’m fascinated with,” he concedes, “because, for me at least, growing up in America in the 1960s, there was still some kind of innocence.”

His upbringing was unorthodox, gypsy like; his father, a public works official, moved his family from job to job, town to town. Depp reckons there were at least 30 moves before the family settled in Florida, each one seeing toys, games, furniture and schoolwork left abandoned. “There’s a whole family history of ours out there somewhere.”

Which might explain his attitude to material objects – he’s a bibliophile and collector (welcome diversions during sleepless nights, no doubt), his homes apparently brimming with the interesting and the arcane, including John Dillinger’s derringer pistol and Jack Kerouac’s last typewriter – although he recently told the singer Patti Smith that he doesn’t own them, he’s merely their current guardian.

He says he moved schools so often that he stopped introducing himself to other children. After his parents divorced, when he was 15, there were episodes of petty theft and vandalism, and a year later he dropped out of high school so he could go on the road with his band.

“Being a kid, being a teenager on the road with the band, playing guitar and doing opening-act stuff – that was pretty influential, so that gypsy lifestyle, it became second nature.”

For all the romantic connotations, Depp’s upbringing left him feeling lonely and insecure: “I was miserable, self-defeating.” He hurried into marriage, wedding a make-up artist, Lori Anne Allison, when he was only 20 years old. Their marriage lasted less than three years, and Depp says that, while they had a strong bond, he didn’t fall in love until he hit his thirties. There was a high-profile relationship with Kate Moss in the mid- to late-1990s, but it was a French girl who stole his heart. He runs through the engaging story of how they met, a favourite anecdote of his. “I can remember, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 13 years ago,” he recalls, “being here in Paris at the hotel where I was living. I was doing a film with Roman Polanski, The Ninth Gate, and across the room I saw this woman’s back, and I saw this neck attached to the back, and I was sort of fascinated by it.

“Honestly, it was a very beautiful, sculptural thing, then suddenly the back and the neck turned, and it had a face, and it was Vanessa, and it looked at me, and walked across

the room, and said, ‘Hi, do you remember me?’ I had met her years before, and at that moment, before I even said ‘Hi, how are you?’ I knew it was over – I was done.”

He laughs. “I was in big trouble from that second on.”

Paradis had achieved stardom at just 14 with her worldwide hit song Joe le Taxi before flourishing as an actress and model, but the camera-shy couple has succeeded in raising their children away from the paparazzi’s prying lenses. “My kids have grown up with fame as a part of their life, but they are so cool about it, it doesn’t really faze them,” Depp explains. “Vanessa and I and our kids, we don’t have the same kind of weight on our shoulders that, say, Angie and Brad do. We are able to actually go to a restaurant now and again, have dinner with our kiddies, and, for the most part, people have been very respectful with regards to our life and our kids.” He laughs.

“But we just don’t really go out very much.”

The filming of 2010’s The Tourist saw Depp spend several months in Venice with “Angie and Brad” and their brood.

“My kids were there for a bit as well, and her boy Maddox and my boy Jack were playing video games like savages.”

He says he was astonished by the level of intrusion into his co-star’s life. “To wake up in the morning, have a cup of coffee, then ask your guy how many people are waiting outside, and the answer is 35... That’s tough. Then you get into a boat and go to work, and there are three boats full of paparazzi following her? I wasn’t pressured by it – I kind of got a good laugh out of it, because it’s one of the most absurd and surreal things I’ve ever seen!” And one suspects he’s seen a few.

His most recent film, the Hunter S Thompson adaptation The Rum Diary, was directed by Bruce Robinson, who made the cult classic Withnail and I but hated his one Hollywood venture – 1992’s Jennifer Eight – so much that be quit the business soon after. “He didn’t want anything to do with movies, understandably. Hunter made his exit, and I pursued Bruce like a bandit, a fiend, and we got him.”

Depp uses the word “understandably” when referring to Robinson’s decision to walk away from the industry.

Has he also flirted with the idea of quitting? “Every day!

Every single day.” But he’s still here? “If I feel I can offer something to the film or script, something I could do a little differently from another actor, not the same old thing, then that continues to intrigue me. But this industry is difficult, and it takes a lot to survive with integrity intact.”

Depp points to an old mate, the rocker Keith Richards.

“I can learn from him – he’s a guy who had fame thrown at him before he’d started shaving, and 50 years later he’s still as cool and down to earth as he always was: treats everyone the same. He’s maintained himself, which is a difficult feat in this business.”

Depp shouldn’t worry. It certainly seems he’s done the same – he can go to bed happy and sleep soundly. And, if he can’t quite nod off, well, at least he’s got those baggy cotton pyjamas.

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Motoring

Top Cat If your preference is quality threaded through with fine manners, agreeable looks and style, then search no further than Jaguar’s offering of feline grace and surefootedness in a car

T

he XKR-S supercharged coupé, everything that an Aston Martin is for far less money, answers all the calls for excellence on the move.

It was my transport to Bellagio, Italy, and the splendid Lake Como-side Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, from London, and as fitting a representative of all that is automotive perfection as any other rival in a luxury-carpacked millionaires’ playground.

I do not want this review to read like a eulogy without firm base born of a two-week-long freebie, but it was impossible to fault the twoseater on my 2,000-mile round trip.

Text: Ted Macauley / The Interview People

‘No less a body than George Clooney, a car fanatic, purred over the Big Cat parked alongside his car’ Even as an item of show-offery, parked as I was outside the hotel alongside the Ferraris and Maseratis, the handsome charcoal grey XKR was not overshadowed. It is, in my opinion, the new-wave hit car that will be a moneyspinning lifesaver for Jaguar.

It eased effortlessly and safely through the blinding downpours that hit the autoroute and our snowbound climb over the twisty Alpine roads – and carried me and my wife and her considerable luggage in club-class comfort and space. A supercharged engine, driving through a six-speed gearbox, made astonishingly quick strides along the motorways – and would have taken me onto 190kph if the ever-ready gendarmerie and their radar traps had not been so active on the French section of the trip.

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It is a blistering performer which, even pulling a fairly hefty weight, still outruns most supercar rivals... 0-100kph in a breathtaking 4.6 seconds.

And all with re-assuring sure-footedness. Its memory left me with a smile on my face for days after I had reluctantly handed the car back on our arrival back home.

Sumptuous heated leather seats, electrically adjustable, touch-screen sat-nav and keyless starting all served to underpin Jaguar’s priority to give value for money in a dream of a cabin as comfortable as you could want. There is a confidence-boosting safety set-up of stability and traction control, plus anti-lock brakes that vary the pressure on each wheel and Jaguar’s own Protec-dynamic headrest system which minimises the risk of whiplash trauma.

Okay, it is not cheap but it is still price-tagged a lot less than the prestigious 5.9 Aston Martin Vantage V12 coupe, with hardly any performance differences or interior betterments.

No less a body than Hollywood mega star George Clooney, a car fanatic, who lives parttime on the opposite bank to the Serbelloni and had been dining with his pal Brad Pitt at the hotel, purred over the Big Cat parked alongside his car: “That’s a real beauty, sir, real nice.”

A question I have been frequently asked in my 30-odd years as a motoring correspondent – and one which, I have to say, I usually dodge with aplomb– is: “What car would you buy if you had the money?”

I won’t skirt the issue this time around... a gurgling, growling eye-catcher called the XKR-S.

Price Guide: $152,000 Engine: 5,000cc V8 Power: 542bhp 0-100km: 4.2sec Top Speed: 300kph

Motoring

The Second Coming

T

he new Porsche 911 represents only the second time the breed has had a major revamp in its 48-year history.

Of course there have been myriad evolutionary changes in the meantime, but the core of the original air-cooled car lasted all the way from 1963 to 1996. Now, after 15 years of the water-cooled replacement, it’s time for the third generation.

So there’s a lot of baggage here. Yet trickier is the fact that a 911 is like no other car in the way its imperfections and oddities are the key to much of its charm. No new car design has the engine overhanging the rear wheels, but because the 911’s ancestry goes right back to a VW Beetle, it has to keep the engine in that unlikely place.

Or it wouldn’t be a 911.

What, then, are the engineers to do? Cars have to progress; legislation changes, technology improves, customers must be tempted into new products so the car-makers can survive. So a new 911 must reproduce the golden egg without killing the goose.

This new version has electric power-steering, as many new cars do in a quest to reduce energy consumption. It gives a gain of about 0.37mpg.

Electric power-steering tends to be less good than old-fashioned hydraulic power-steering at telling the driver what is really happening under the front wheels. But one key 911 attribute has always been its talkative steering – so what now? “People always say they like the way a 911’s steering wheel moves in their hands, but it’s a bad idea at 280km/hour on the autobahn so we had to change it,” says project manager Michael Schätzle. “People will always resist change. We had it with the water-cooled car, but we said now the engine won’t overheat, it’s quieter and the air-conditioning works properly, so what’s not to like? The same will happen this time.”

Everything else is new, apart from the PDK double-clutch gearbox option and the engines,

although the latter gain both power and frugality. Most fundamental is the bodyshell, 100mm longer in the wheelbase with shorter overhangs and a lower roofline. The front wheels are further apart, and all the outer panels are aluminium, helping make it 45kg lighter.

Straight away you know you’re driving a 911, but it feels a slightly bigger car, as the windscreen is further away and you’re hemmed in by a high centre tunnel. This height partly explains why the normal handbrake lever has gone, replaced by an inappropriate electric parking brake, which makes manoeuvring a manual 911 unnecessarily awkward. The flatsix engine sounds deeper and smoother than before, and the 3.8-litre Carrera S I’m driving produces 400bhp instead of 385. The regular Carrera’s engine has shrunk from 3.6 to 3.4 litres, yet has gained 5bhp to make 350. Both emit usefully less CO2.

The S is sensationally rapid, be it as a sevenspeed PDK or, in a world first, a seven-speed manual. That’s almost too many ratios for a manual, and in seventh the lever leans drunkenly to the right, but it means you have sportingly close ratios and a relaxed cruising gear.

As for the handling, it is close to sublime.

The front wheels grip as though guided by a giant Scalextric slot, the rear have colossal traction powering out of a bend, and you can hold a gentle drift without fear of a spin. And that steering? It’s perfectly functional, but the backchat has gone and some of the 911’s tactile imprint with it.

Objectively speaking, the new 911 is a better car, and it remains the best thrill-giver you can buy at the price.

Price Guide: $111,520 Engine: 3,888cc Power: 400bhp 0-100kph: 4.1sec Top Speed: 302kph

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Text: John Simister / The Independent / The Interview People

Why fans of a 911’s ‘talkative’ steering are going to have to let go...

1.

Gastronomy

Global Gourmet Every fancied yourself as a master of haute cuisine?

Sharpen your skills at one these feted cooking schools…

Jean GeorGe’s Culinary Master Course Trump International Hotel & Tower, New York

1. Christophe Martin, head chef at L’Andana.

2. L’Andana, Italy.

3. Moroccan dishes from Peggy Markel’s culinary course.

4. Nobu’s cheesecake.

5. Raymond Blanc (far right) and Mark Peregrine at Le Manoir.

Just two people are permitted to have two-on-two time (one hour, to be precise) with the Michelinstarred Jean-Georges Vongericten and his executive pastry chef Johnny Luzzini, at a price tag of $9,000. The class takes place inside Vongericten’s famed Jean-Georges restaurant, one of only five NYC eateries to hold three Michelin-stars, and is a worth-everydollar hour for seasoned gourmands – though Vongericten has it that “the course is for any guest who loves food, no matter what their skill level.”

The lesson itself is very handson and the choice of what to cook is yours – recipes can be plucked from the kitchens of each of Jean George’s New York restaurants: Matsugen (Japanese), JoJo (Mediterranean), ABC Kitchen (organic and local), Spice Market (Asian), Perry Street (New American) and Jean-George (French). The most impressive dish you’ll master? “Most of them,” smiles Vongericten, “but the one that sticks out in my mind is my tuna tartar dish. Students always love it and the techniques taught can be used in many variations. People are often amazed by the how much flavour can come from cooking a vegetable a certain way.”

While an hour is hardly a strain on the senses, your $9,000 also allows you to make the most of the Trump International Hotel & Tower – three nights in an Executive Park Suite,

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breakfast at Nougatine, a three-course meal at Jean George’s (plus a bottle), and signed copies of the cookery books you’ll need to do it all again at home – or perhaps just pass on to your private chef… trumpintl.com PeGGy Markel’s Culinary adventures Jnane Tamsna, Marrakech Eating your way through Morocco on Peggy Markel’s culinary tour is a quest that marries authentic techniques, tools and ingredients with an inspiring setting. “Jnane Tamsna [a private Palmeraie guesthouse, just outside Marrakech] is designed with brilliant, bohemian-chic interiors

by Meryanne Loum Martin, a wellrespected French designer,” tells Markel. “The surrounding gardens are organic and its local gardeners use the traditional vernacular style of irrigation, growing not only food for the estate, but herbs, citrus, and olive trees for oil.”

The scheduled nine-day trip won’t see you confined to the, albeit chic, Jnane Tamsa, though – there are a further two food-inspired sites to venture to: “One is a Berber Kasbah in the mountains that sits right under Mount Toubkal, the highest in the Atlas range,” says Markel, “while the other is on a deserted beach, south of Essaouira. In these three settings, you can experience traditional Marakchi cooking, Berber-style mountain cooking, and fish from the coast.”

Back at base, a Moroccan, Muslim and Berber cultural influence sears through each class – time-honoured

Gastronomy ‘bellows’ will have your arms pumping air onto the hot coals of a brazier oven during tagine workshops – and the produce of all that effort will be served (as every daily meal is) in North African pottery, atop a courtyard-set table and savoured along with other just-taught recipes, like warka-topped pigeon pie. peggymarkel.com rayMond BlanC Cookery sChool Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Oxford Chef Mark Peregrine heads the school at large here – a man tutored to faultless form by Raymond Blanc himself. And it’s a school, set in the heart of picture-perfect English countryside (lavender fields, a huge organic garden a rabbit would die for, and sprawling red-brick manor house),

– and that’s before you get your hands on the grounds: “you’ll be invited to Le Manoir’s remarkable organic herb and vegetable gardens to see how our chefs and gardeners work hand-in-hand to produce the very best varieties for the menu,” notes Blanc. lemanoir.com noBu CookinG Class Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai Chef Nobu Matsuhisa was one of the first to latch on to what is now the latest of-the-minute trend in gastronomy – Peruvian cuisine – fused heavily, of course, with refined Japanese fare. At his stylish Dubaibased branch of Nobu, his chef de cuisine Hervé Courtot heads bespoke classes to a handful of attendants.

While you may feel like you’d rather be sat, chopsticks poised, on

garden to indulge in your handiwork, with a glass of something cold, naturally. atlantisthepalm.com alain duCasse CookinG Course L’Andana, Tuscany Alain Ducasse’s only Italy-based restaurant serves up (unsurprisingly for this part of the world) a romantic setting in which to let your creative juices flow. Which seems to have been Ducasse’s utmost desire when opening L’Andana; home to La Trattoria Toscana – the site of his classes. “The Mediterranean!” exclaims Ducasse, when pushed on his choice of setting: “I have endlessly taken in its scents, its sun, its colours and warmth, its generosity, its products. Its diversity has fascinated me, its wealth has

‘In its [L’Andana’s] Michelin-starred kitchen you’ll rustle up dishes in what was the granary of Duke Leopold II’ with a mindboggling array of lessons.

“You do need an acquired skill to attempt most styles of cooking, but many are a lot more simple than you may expect,” notes Blanc. “Each of the courses is hands-on and you will be shown how to create exciting dishes with the maximum of ease, from using a filleting knife on the Fish and Shellfish Course, to selecting the best flour for a variety of breads on the Bread Making course.” Dedicated foodie-followers of Blanc should opt for Mammam Blanc, a class in which you’ll recreate simple fare that the Michelin-star veteran was raised on – among them, Bouillabaisse. Or, wait for the sporadic scheduling of La Cuisine Moderne et la Nutrition, the only class taught by Blanc which will run on strictly limited dates this year.

If your current culinary skill set extends merely to domestic appliances, having free reign of Le Manoir’s two Michelin-starred restaurant will move things up a notch

the dining side of the sushi bar (with super-slick surrounds and a cage-like enclosed lounge area, it’s certainly a tempting thought), the three-hour session that follows is a rewarding lesson in mastering Nobu’s most acclaimed delicacies – among them, signature yellowtail sashimi with jalapenos. The class commences at said sushi bar, narrated by a brief history of sushi and sashimi. If the light-to-the-touch tempura tops your list of favoured Nobu bites, though, you can try your hand at making it, with fresh shrimp, asparagus and mushroom fillings at your fingertips.

Unusually for a Japanese eatery, Nobu’s dessert – cheesecake – is equally revered (little wonder; it melts in the mouth) and Courtot shares the secret behind the lip-licking blend of baked cream cheeses, sour cream and vanilla bourbon from Madagascar.

Come the end of the class you can maneuver dining-side and take a pew in the restaurant’s new Japanese

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inebriated me, its often-arid rigour has seduced me.”

Arrive via its long, cypress-lined driveway and you can understand the man’s enthusiasm: the building itself – apricot-hued, shamelessly Italian and shaded by olive groves – was formerly a Medici Villa used by Grand Duke Leopold II and his court for the summer. “May there exist a better place for starting to cook?” asks Ducasse. He has a point.

In its Michelin-starred kitchen you’ll rustle up dishes in what was once the granary of Duke Leopold II (vast windows overlook ripe vineyards and exposed brickwork and beams create a cosy feel). “You will be able to learn how to make two typically Tuscan dishes, which you can enjoy with paired wines,” muses Ducasse.

“In this way you discover the region according to the sense of taste, acquire specific skills and begin to approach a professional cooking technique.” andana.it

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Gastronomy

Some don’t like it hot Vineet Bhatia is a firm believer that authentic Indian cuisine can be classed as fine dining, with 10 restaurants and two Michelin stars to prove it

I

t’s not every day you get a phone call to tell you that you’ve just won a Michelin star, but Indian chef Vineet Bhatia remembers his first time clearly – he thought it was a joke and slammed the phone down. Granted, calling him at 7.30am on a Saturday morning 10 years ago may not have been the best course of action, but the journalist from the New York Times was eager for a quote to meet her deadline.

“I said I don’t have a Michelin star,” Bhatia recalls, “and she said, yes you do, please don’t hang up again, you really have. So I said, but the guide is not out yet, and she said, well I have the press CD on my computer and it has your details. I gave the interview, and afterwards I am wondering how this must have happened.”

The secretive process behind deciding Michelin stars is enough to baffle anyone, with reviewers visiting your restaurant anonymously, but it could be argued that awarding the

accolade for Indian cuisine – back in 2001 at least – is just as confusing.

To some people, dishes like dahls and curries are not exactly high end, but Bhatia argues that this interpretation is based on a common misconception about Indian food – in reality there is just as much sophistication and technique behind it to challenge the cuisine of any other nation, although when he first arrived to the UK in 1993 this was a point that was very hard to get across. “It was a challenge back then, as if I made things that I considered classic, they would not go down well,” he says. “So if I made an authentic rogan josh or a dansak, nobody would understand, because they were so used to the tarnished image of that kind of food.”

It is hard for Bhatia to pinpoint exactly how this view of Indian food had evolved, but he was surprised by what he saw. Restaurants mainly served thick gravy-like curries, it was often considered fast food and

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‘It’s about the joy of the flavours you get when eating that is most important to me’

Gastronomy

served with chips, and rather than a complexity of flavours it was the spices and potential heat that were responsible for the food’s appeal – resulting in the inevitable macho stigma of trying to eat the hottest dish possible. If Bhatia was going to change things, he would have to be clever about it. “I found that I could still make a rogan josh – a slow cooked knuckle or shank of lamb with Kashmiri spices – and people would eat it willingly, so I just stopped using the authentic names,” he smiles.

“I also tried to push the boundaries a little, especially with presentation.

If you present it well, it is accepted more and people come to understand the food. So my focus became making the food look beautiful as well as authentic.”

The approach worked, and years later Bhatia was able to convince a couple of investors to help him open his first London restaurant, Zaika, which within 18 months had garnered its first Michelin star and that controversial early morning phone call. But from there, things really took off. Bhatia broke away from Zaika and launched his own Indian fine dining concept, Rasoi, in 2004 – with additional branches later in Geneva and Mauritius. And within 18 months of opening in Switzerland, the phone rang again, as Bhatia claimed another Michelin star, making him the second UK chef after Gordon Ramsay to win for a restaurant in a foreign country.

While Rasoi remains his core brand, these days Bhatia’s name can be found attached to 10 restaurants in cities worldwide, including Riyadh, Dubai, Doha and Mumbai. He is in talks to provide food to business and first class customers of a major airline, and has ideas to open other restaurants in Abu Dhabi and even Libya. “Rasoi is our showcase,” he says proudly, “while the other restaurants match

Images: Courtesy of Vineet Bhatia Words: Chris Anderson

1. Vermicelli lobster.

2. Lamb with goats cheese khichdi.

3. Tawa chicken and beetroot.

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the requirement of that market. All offer Indian food of good quality, but the levels of technicality varies. Rasoi is very much fine dining, the luxury end, very refined and sophisticated, andat the other end you have Saffron Lounge, in Doha, which is trimmed down, more relaxed, so the food is not as intricate, but that does not stop you from getting a fine product. It is what that market wanted, something with mass appeal but also traditional.

Maharajah in Saudi Arabia is different again, tailored to the Arab way of eating with food all served at once.”

An arsenal of highly acclaimed restaurants and a couple of Michelin stars must come in handy when making your point that Indian food should be championed and not simply labelled as fast food. And while the name and approach of his restaurants may vary, the underlying philosophy remains the same for Bhatia. “It’s about the joy of the flavours you get when eating that is most important to me,” he says, mentioning a number of his trademark dishes that have helped lead the way – tandoori smoked salmon, biryani with a flavoured crust and chocolate samosas among them.

But while he is looking to educate as part of his ethos, Bhatia admits there are still elements of Indian cuisine that are so complex they surprise even him. “I made a TV show for the Fox Network in India last year, Twist of Taste,” he reveals. “We travelled to 13 iconic food cities in India, looking for authentic food. I discovered a dessert made entirely out of eggs, like a fudge, and there was an art to it. Even when I tried to make it myself, I couldn’t.”

Bhatia’s passion for authentic Indian food is obvious, but you have to wonder, is it the success that is the result of his educational desires, or is it in fact the other way around? We’re sure he has an opinion. Just don’t call him at 7.30am on a Saturday to ask.

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Gastronomy

Guess who’s cominG to dinner?

Michelin star toting Frenchman Alexis Gauthier handpicks the diners for his ultimate night in…

Sade

Alexis Gauthier is Chef Patron of London’s Gauthier Soho, the critically acclaimed, Michelin-starred restaurant which showcases his exciting approach to modern French cuisine. Earlier in his career he worked under the legendary Alain Ducasse at Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo, and won his first Michelin star at Roussillon in the London district of Pimlico.

Phil Collins

Roger Moore

Woody Allen

Ho Chi Min

Her latest album, Love DeLuxe, has been played every day in my restaurant since we opened back in May 2010.

What I’d Serve: Foie gras royale, with port reduction jus and parmesan jus. Because it is suave & smooth- with an intense red and sweet flavour I think he’s the world’s best musician.

When I heard In The Air Tonight for the first time, I truly believed this guy had come from heaven.

What I’d Serve: Black truffle risotto.

A safe, dependable, predictable dish but dead delicious, too.

The best Bond of the lot and the most faithful to Ian Fleming’s fictional character. A suave, sophisticated Englishman.

What I’d Serve: Golden Louis XV. Pompous, affected and the best. True to the original. The golden dessert.

He’d be at the table in order to give a wonderful after dinner speech in his 1970s’ New York stand-up style.

What I’d Serve: Baba au rum.

Slightly tipsy with plenty of character and personality. Never harms anybody.

French educated, father of Modern Vietnam and and passionate chef who trained under the great Escoffier in London.

What I’d Serve: Tournedos rossini.

It’s a symbol of French decadence - rich, heavy but yet very refined.

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Golf Go the distance If you struggle to go long from the tee, help is at hand in the form of these three essential items…

How To MasTer awkward Lies Lesson #4 Hitting into windy conditions

Any time that you experience a strong wind while setting up your stance, it is very important to adjust yourself so you can control the rhythm and tempo of your subsequent swing. Firstly, try to choke down on the grip slightly, before moving your stance so that the position of the ball is further back. Doing this correctly should see your hands slightly ahead of the ball at address.

As you swing the club think of returning to the point of impact, with your hands in front of a slightly de-lofted club head, and as you strike through ensure to take more club than you would normally play, and hit it about 70% of normal strength. Finally, hold the finish low and curtailed to stop the ball climbing into the wind.

Practice by hitting up slope. Cyril Rozes, PGA Professional, Dubai Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.

Your driver’s head need not be the size of a watermelon for you to hit longer drives.

The compact head of the Titleist® 910D3 has a fast-face insert which can increase the speed of the ball by around 10%.

Nike’s Power Distance balls are optimised for higher swing speeds. Inside you’ll find a high-velocity core, outside a specially-formed dimple pattern; both of which combine to lengthen the distance of your drive.

You aren’t going to hit long if you’re all a wobble when swinging. Callaway’s XTT LT Saddle Shoe incorporates a wealth of technological tricks, the pick of which offers rocklike stability to your stance.

have you played here yet?

RoyaL goLf MaRRakesH, MoRocco

Play a round at this long-established club – it dates to 1923 when it was created at the behest of the Pasha of Marrakesh – and you’ll follow in the footsteps of Messers Churchill and Eisenhower. But more than just a chance to retrace such famous steps, this club packs in three courses and 27 holes from which you can select 18 and plot your own course based on how challenging a round you fancy. Or you can play each individually. It’s all set amid lush parkland and surrounded by palm, orange, eucalyptus, and olive trees, though the best sight of all is the stunning High Atlas Mountains which provide a picture-perfect backdrop to every shot. royalgolfmarrakech.com

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Travel

Thrill Seeking?

Adrenalin-pumping activities the world over to get your pulse racing...

01. Heli-skiing, Alaska Off-trail, downhill, and on untouched terrain – if you’re a virgin to heliskiing, you’ll be setting both skis down on unspoilt snow from, you guessed it, a helicopter. And there are few better spots to try it than Alaska – pros cite its long, nearvertical slopes, powder-white snow and stunning vistas as world class.

02. Downhill mountain biking, Nepal The diverse landscape of the

Nepalese foothills is revered for its trekking opportunities, but biking is one way to really get your kicks in the region: make for Jomson, a town that sits at a height of 2,800 (a trip best made by plane or cable car), then plunge down the Kali Gandaki Gorge, which runs below it – as the deepest gorge on the planet, it’s quite a rush.

03. Swimming with whale sharks, Philippines While it’s not strictly ‘dangerous’ for humans, there are still few more jaw-

Arctic Ocean

Alaska

Nepal

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Philippines

Indian Ocean

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Pacific Ocean

01

dropping moments than coming faceto-face with the planet’s largest fish in the open sea. At their biggest, the whale shark is 14 metres in length, with a 1.5 metre-wide mouth and a weight of 1,500kg. A heart-in-themouth moment is all but guaranteed.

floes, or delve deeper into the glacial waters where marine life comes in the form of seals, penguins and (if you’re lucky) whales. But it’s the underwater colours that will really catch your breath – along with the temperature, of course...

04. Ice diving, Antarctica If scuba-diving experiences are beginning to meld into one, an icepenetrating dive into Antarctic waters will certainly prove enlightening.

Opt for a shallow dive along the ice

05. Bull riding in Texas Rodeos are a time-honoured tradition in cowboy-strewn Texas, so if you fancy your chances at staying put on a flailing bull, you’ll be in good company in the Wild West. Your

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Texas

Atlantic Ocean

06

Brazilian Patanal

Antarctica

Southern Ocean

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04

mission: ride a wild bull, with one hand on a rope about its chest, for as long as you can. And when you do fall (and you will), make a hasty exit.

06. Piranha fishing, Brazilian Patanal For fishing enthusiasts, throwing a line to the world’s deadliest fish (and eating it afterwards) is certainly an extreme take on an otherwise peaceful pastime. Just one tip: keep your fingers clear from their snapping mouths as you reel them in.

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1. Harvard.

2. Statue of John Harvard.

3. View of the town from Cambridge riverside.

4. Lobster dinner.

5. Fenway Park.

6. The Ritz-Carlton, Boston.

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Travel

Boston

Image: Corbis / Arabian Eye; Ritz-Carlton. Boston

Beantown is New York’s sassier, smarter sibling, offering a friendlier, more liveable version of the Big Apple...

Boston was founded by English Puritans in the early 17th century, and has been so influential in the region since then that it is unofficially known as the capital of New England.

A century and a half after the city’s foundation, it was the dumping of tea in Boston’s Harbour (the ‘Boston Tea Party’) which lit the touchpaper for the American Revolution and the War of Independence.

These days, Boston (known as ‘Beantown’ by its inhabitants) is defined by its thrusting business, cultural and media sectors, its sporting prowess and its enduring rivalry with New York, just a short train ride away down the coast.

The city is strewn with reminders of its colonial past and its role in rejecting rule from London – to visit them all, just join the Freedom Trail, a three mile path across town marked out in red brick. It passes 17 stops in all including the Old Statehouse, the first capitol building in the new Commonwealth.

But there’s much more on offer in Beantown than just lashings of history – the city’s art and culture scene is among the best in the States. Prioritise the Museum of Fine Arts, currently showing a superb Degas exhibition, and home to permanent collections spanning painting, photography, prints, textiles and jewellery. The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library and Museum at Columbia Point is another winner, offering a real insight into the former president, with many of his personal papers, photos and videos on display. And it would be a shame to leave without an evening of theatre or

music at the Boston Opera House, a gorgeous gilt-and-red-plush affair that attracts international talent.

So where to stay while you’re in the home of US sitcom Cheers? If you’re looking for five-star, then go straight for the W Boston, an ultra-slick property in the heart of the theatre district, offering amazing cityscape views. Or, the Ritz-Carlton, Boston for its masculine interiors and all of the Ritz brand’s signature luxuries.

For something a little more boutique-y, meanwhile, book in at Fifteen Beacon (xvbeacon.com), a high design spot nestled in a 1903 beaux arts building and home to Mooo restaurant, the most prestigious steakhouse in town.

While we’re on the subject of food, you’re going to love the meals on offer in this city. Fresh, creamy clam chowder, lobster club sandwiches, fried clams, superb steaks... it’s a gourmet paradise.

Union Oyster House, America’s oldest restaurant, located on Union Street (unionoysterhouse.com) is a favoured lunch haunt – they do a killer chowder, and the crab cake sandwiches are pretty unmissable too. In the evening, head over to Hamersley’s on Tremont Street in the South End, which has been run by chef Gordon Hamersley for over two decades and is known throughout the city for its signature roast chicken.

When you’re done sightseeing, checking out the art and indulging in the world’s best chowder, there’s one more thing you need to do: attend a Boston Red Sox game. The city’s baseball team is legendary, and has played at its home stadium of Fenway Park since 1912: get tickets for a game and even if you don’t know what’s going on in the diamond (it’s second only to cricket in the tortuousness of its rules), you’ll have a good time – games are a family-oriented, social event and everyone chats with their neighbours; so take up the chance to mingle with genuine Bostonians.

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Before you leave…

Visit the famed Ivy League university Harvard, where a trio of sights await…

Harvard Natural History Museum The Great Mammal Hall and the Zoological Galleries are particularly worthy of note in this mammoth museum – keep eyes peeled for its centuryold collection of stuffed animals from Africa.

Harvard Coop You can’t go home emptyhanded, and this is the perfect place to pick up those Harvard-branded souvenirs (teenagers will love them).

Harvard Square The atmosphere in this centre of commercial and studential life is palpably hip – filled with cool boutiques and street entertainers, just sit back and soak up the environs.

travel

This cheery port city is a vibrant, no-nonsense metropolis offering an East-meets-West blend of cultures, a blossoming cultural scene and some of the best seafood in the Mediterranean...

Think of the jewels of France and you’ll picture the wide Haussmanian boulevards of Paris; the rugged villages of Brittany; the rose-red, Hispanic-tinged squares of Toulouse; the rolling countryside and glistening rivers of the Dordogne and the beaches of Antibes. You’re unlikely to think of Marseille, a name which often conjures up visions of industry and unrest – hardly the stuff of tourist brochures.

But in recent years, Marseille has undergone something of a renaissance, and now its biggest assets – its superb climate, its affordability, its ancient history, and its mix of cultures – are coming to the fore. As the city gears up to become the European Capital of Culture next year, this is a great time to visit – before the crowds descend and while it’s still possible to explore in peace.

Marseille has an ancient history – it’s the oldest city in France, having been founded by the Greeks some 2,600 years ago. It has a history of protest, independence and dissent – Louis XIV grew so weary of challenges to his rule from its inhabitants that he had a fort built (the attractive Fort Saint-Jean) just to watch over the city.

Later, the revolutionary song which became the French Republic’s national anthem, the Marseillaise, was named after the city. And in the uprisings of May 1968, the residents eagerly took part, creating the biggest strikes and disruptions outside of the capital.

The city’s historic centre is pleasingly strollable: over the course of a couple of mornings you can happily wander your way around the highlights. There’s the seafront itself, the ancient Panier district,

the Museum of Mediterranean Archeology, the small but perfectlyformed Pharo Gardens and the bustling Moroccan quarter, testament to the city’s long-formed links with North Africa (make sure to stop a while to try a pungent mint tea).

When it comes to accommodation, our two top options are the Grand Hotel Beauvau Marseilles Vieux Port (accorhotels.com) and the New Hotel Bompard (new-hotel.com). The Grand Hotel is opposite the Old Port area; beautifully decorated in the best formal Provencal style and with great facilities that draw a roster of big name musicians and writers. The Bompard, meanwhile, is set in a lovely 3,000 square-metre park near the beach and has a rustic feel, a beautiful pool and super-friendly service.

It would be a shame not to pay a visit to the Musée Cantini de Marseille during your trip. It will be a centrepiece of Marseille’s offerings during its year as European City of Culture – head over and you can enjoy Fauvist works from Matisse and Camoin, Surrealist paintings

by Brauner, Masson and Ernst and creations by later names such as Man Ray, Florence Henri and Krull.

But perhaps the biggest star in Marseille is its seriously underrated gastronomic scene. The mainstay of the local cuisine is the bouillabaisse, a wonderful garlic-laced seafood soup made with flappingly-fresh turbot, crab, octopus and langoustines.

And by far the best place to eat is it Chez Fonfon (chez-fonfon.com) at 140, Vallon des Auffes: here you should also try the superb millefeuille of octopus and the fresh oysters served by the dozen. Superb.

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BEFORE YOU LEAVE...

Celebrate Marseille’s most famous exports Olympique de Marseille Winners of the Coupe de France no fewer than ten times, Marseille’s local football team is a source of immense pride in the city: see them play a match at the Stade Vélodrome in the south of the city.

Savon de Marseille The most famous – and most luxurious – soap in the world was traditionally made in Marseille, from pure olive oil. Simply pick a bar up, or take a workshop tour at Savon de Marseille at 66, chemin de Sainte-Marthe.

The Count of Monte Cristo Make time to boat over to the Chateau d’If, the prison set on an island just off the coast of Marseille, which incarcerated n’er-do-wells and political prisoners for hundreds of years, as well as providing the backdrop for much of the Dumas novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.

1. Bouches du Rhone.

2. Woman on Marseille seafront.

3. Arc de Triomphe.

4. Corniche Kennedy.

5. Bouillabaisse.

Images: Corbis / Arabian Eye

Marseille

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Travel

King Creole Saint Lucia’s luxury resorts and idyllic beaches are undoubtedly impressive, but it’s the traditional culture that makes a visit so special

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This your first time to the Caribbean?” asks the driver as he putters his way around the narrow mountain steeps from Hewanorra airport at the southern end of Saint Lucia to its western heartland.

He smiles sagely when I nod. “You’ve come to the most beautiful island first.”

His words might just be patriotic braggadocio, but perhaps there is also good reason to believe him. When the French and British were wrestling for imperial control of Saint Lucia – a battle fought 14 times – it came to be known as the ‘Helen of the West Indies’.

It doesn’t take me long to understand why it was the object of such feverish colonial adoration. In the 45-minute drive from the airport, we take in the island’s range of natural wonders. Saint Lucia has a dazzling amount given its size. A drive-in volcano, sulphur springs and two World Heritage-listed mountains – the Pitons – all streak past the car window in our dizzying trip up bumpy hills and down plunging valleys. There are yard-long flowers hanging by the roadside, with petals the size of dinner plates, lush plants with leaves that look like gigantic outstretched palms, and fields upon fields of cocoa trees. Sudden, swift downpours of warm rain are followed by great arching rainbows that look as if they have been painted on to a perfectly blue sky.

“Oh,” adds the driver, pointing to the towering foliage around us, “we have a rainforest here, too.”

We pass though the bustling town of Soufrière, where food sellers sit beside green bananas, sweet potatoes, yams, dasheen and breadfruit, all laid out on the pavement, and we come to a road so uneven that the vehicle bounces like

a bumper car ride. This is the remote path leading to the hilltop resort of Anse Chastanet, a world apart from the sprawling Saint Lucia of street sellers and ordinary island life. Built high on the jagged coast in the west, it sits at the most luxurious end of the island’s spectrum of resorts, surrounded by the Caribbean idyll of scorched white sands and turquoise waters.

The hotel rooms consist of three-walled suites, opening up to a vista of sky, sea and the Pitons. The effect is thrilling, with the din of birdsong filling the room by day, and the chirp of crickets by night. The shower is exposed to the elements so you can bathe al fresco while looking out onto a sparkling expanse of sea. My room is large and luxurious, and from it I can watch the light dim across the proscenium arch of the sky. The panoramic view, the shower, the four-poster bed, all conspire to create the most romantic of settings – and it is unsurprising that Anse Chastanet, among other resorts on the island, draws large numbers of wealthy honeymooners.

I potter down to the dimly lit beach restaurant, which serves Indian-Creole fusion food. As I eat, I watch distant lightning flashes illuminating the waves. A storm is raging miles out at sea while I sit in the quiet of the beach.

My eyes begin to fill with tears – a combined response to the dramatic show of light and my spicy samosa starter.

However, dreamy as these resorts are, they exist in their own boutique-style bubble, sealed off from ordinary life.

And it’s the island that I have come to see – so we hit the bumpy road once again.

The island’s first French colonisers arrived in 1660.

The British took control in the early 19th century, and Saint Lucia gained independence in 1979. Since then, it has attempted to excavate and reinstate its indigenous culture.

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There has been a conscious effort to look back to the ways of Carib ancestors, from cooking, to dancing, to folk songs and domestic habits, such as washing with stones and making bush tea to relieve ailments.

Before independence, English was the only language spoken at school, but now Creole is taught again.

Of course, more than 300 years of French and British rule has rendered indigenous culture sometimes undistinguishable from imported elements. The Creole language, for example, is French patois, while the traditional dance, Kwadril, is derived from the French Quadrille. The food has elements of Indian and African cuisine – a reflection of the slave legacy.

Creolisation began in the early 1980s and included the inception of a celebratory Creole Day at the end of October, with which my trip to Saint Lucia coincides. The yellow and green bunting announcing Jounen Kweyol flutters across the branches of coconut trees and French colonial wood houses. Some islanders have opened up roadside stalls with yard food such as saltfish, green bananas and rum punch.

Orlando Satchell, an English-born chef who has worked at Ladera holiday resort for 12 years, believes there are serious misconceptions about Caribbean cuisine: “Everyone assumes that Jamaican cuisine is Caribbean, or Creole, cuisine. They assume it is all about rice and peas and jerk chicken. This isn’t the case. Each island has its own tradition.” He describes Creole cooking as the “original fusion food”, collected from a blend of cultures: “It came from the slave ships. Whenever they took a trip from Africa, they picked up different ingredients from ginger to breadfruit to dasheen along the way and cooked with them.”

His own dishes – one of which is named after Saint Lucia’s Nobel laureate, Derek Walcott – blend Creole flavours with an international twist. Examples include lamb with jerk spices and guava jelly, as well as bananas cooked on coals and served with ice-cream, fish spiced with ginger and rum.

Fond Doux, a 135-acre cocoa plantation and holiday resort which looks like a tropical garden of Eden,

Text: Arifa Akbar / The Independent / The Interview People

‘The panoramic view, the shower, the four-poster bed, all conspire to create the most romantic of settings’ Others have hiked to the three official destinations – Laborie, Anse La Raye and Dennery – with vats of freshlymade food and drink. This gigantic street festival is one of many the island celebrates (the Jazz festival every May is the biggest). Creole Day distils the culture of the island as it is experienced all year round – its home-made food, its music played with traditional drums, and its folk songs sung in schools and churches.

Islanders drink coconut water straight out of the shell and the staple food of fish cakes is made in old clay pots and served hot. The island is rich in cocoa, and cocoa tea is brewed and drunk from calabash bowls with a dash of cinnamon. There are loud blasts emanating from the back streets at the street party I attend. Michael, a Soufrièreborn driver, takes me to see the bamboo bursting – the island’s equivalent of fireworks – when a bamboo stick is fitted with a plastic pipe and ignited with a kerosene.

The island’s north, which embraces the capital, Castries, is far more urban, with a faster pace of life. It also includes the historic Pigeon Island, where the British military settled. The western side, however, has remained fairly unspoilt. No fast food outlets along this side of the coast – instead, the big food market bursts with activity. There are heaps of ground provisions – vegetables grown beneath the earth. The exotic fruits on offer include red avocados, and a ‘golden apple’ that tastes much like a guava with spikes in the middle.

showcases yet more of Saint Lucia’s fertile abundance.

Here there are nutmeg, almond and clove trees, bananas, coconuts, Whispering Willows and flowers with names like Ginger Lily, Lobster’s Claw (with 20ft leaves) and Angel’s Trumpet. Cocoa pods can be cracked open and their beans sucked (the locals call them Jungle M&Ms). Guests in the French colonial cottages can go fruit-picking to their heart’s content.

Ti Kaye is a boutique hotel in the west, which overlooks a stunning strip of beach. It is among the less insular resorts, bussing visitors to nearby Anse La Raye for the weekly ‘fish fests’. While these are just occasional outings, Ti Kaye is making an effort to join up the manicured and the real sides of the island. Its cottages are built in French Creole style, with pretty fretwork and a porch with a hammock and rocking chair. You might find yourself sitting there for hours, watching the sun fade in the sky and fireflies streak through the night.

The southern Atlantic coast is rougher than the western Caribbean waters. There are precipitous hills, and then a few miles along, flatlands filled with banana and cocoa trees. But it’s the rainforest that dazzles: densely packed and with a colourful range of birdlife. The island bursts with life and lushness.

Perhaps it’s this diversity that is Saint Lucia’s richest, most beguiling feature: its lush terrain, its eclectic cuisine and its Creole culture.

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Life Lessons

What I KnoW noW

Marc Merran Owner of Mo*Vida

Everything comes to those that wait.

I learned this lesson when opening my first club, Iceni, in London. We really had to go the distance to get our license approved through a long and arduous process of court hearings. I remember saying to my business partner that we just needed to keep persevering and keep going, and we’d get where we wanted to be. Happily for us, in the end it all came good and I was able to start my foray into nightclubs.

The wheels of time turn slow but true. I’ve learned through the course of my career that people will always be attracted back to quality. In the short term, people can be distracted by all the hype and buzz surrounding a new club, but ultimately, the best will always win. Sometimes you need to sit tight and focus on what you’re good at.

The pen is always mightier than the sword.

This is an old adage that needs little explanation: to really get to people you need to go through the proper channels.

Aggression and violence never work.

Turn off the volume and watch what people do. This is one of my favourite expressions.

I find that some people within the industry offer a lot of lip service, and need to tell you what they’re doing to prove their value.

I’m far more interested in what people do than what they say; for me, actions speak louder than words.

I’ve never known paper to refuse ink.

In my line of business I find that it’s all too easy to blind people with brilliant presentations and promises. However, when the chips are down, it’s all about results and reliability – something that I really value in my team.

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Dubai: Mall of the Emirates

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Dubai Mall

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Mirdif City Centre

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Bahrain: Seef Mall

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Al Aali Mall

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Bahrain City Centre

www.piaget-altiplano.com PIAGET BOUTIQUES: Abu Dhabi: Khalidiya Street, 02 667 0010 - Al Manara Jewellery, Hamdan Street, 02 626 2629 Dubai: The Dubai Mall, 04 339 8222 – Wafi New Extension, 04 327 9000 Abu Dhabi: Al Manara Jewellery, Marina Mall, 02 681 0888 Dubai: Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, Atlantis 04 422 0233, Burj Al Arab, 04 348 9000 Burjuman Centre, 04 355 9090, Mall of the Emirates, 04 341 1211