Guag

October 2013

Back on course EXCLUSIVE Bernard Gallacher enjoying life at Wentworth weeks after the heart scare that nearly killed him

I know myself

The transformation of Selina: from luscious beauty to fearless iconoclast

For me, food is love

Raymond Blanc reveals the family connections which make cooking a pleasure

I never liked sex

What Christine Keeler admitted over afternoon tea at The Savoy‌

Produced and published by Lyonsdown, who take sole responsibility for the contents

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October 2013

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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How I see it... Monica Porter

I

t was recently revealed that Dorset is the county with the highest proportion of married couples. Based on figures from the 2011 national census, it appears that, for some reason, fewer people get divorced there. This news delighted me because my married son Adam and his wife live in Dorset and it’s great to think that their choice of location boosts their chances of a successful and enduring marriage. Which is something I didn’t manage to have with Adam’s father; we divorced many years ago.

The biggest social shift in the past quarter-century has been the emergence of divorce almost as a norm. Yet I remember when there was still a stigma attached to it. When my younger son Nick was at prep school there were only two other boys in his class from “broken homes”. Through some strange, nameless process the three boys were drawn to each other and formed a separate little grouping, a sort of “outsiders’ club” – subconsciously, of course.

Fast forward a couple of decades. Nick is in his mid-twenties and telling me about his new girlfriend, explaining that her mum lives in one town and her dad in another. “So her parents are divorced?” I ask. “Yup,” he replies. “Aren’t everybody’s?” From outsider to everyman in one generation. That’s change, all right.

There’s been another change too, for me personally. In the light of my current circumstances of having a married son, I’ve been revising my whole perspective on divorce. Whilst going through it myself,

Together or not, why unstinting love is the real key to a happy family life I never considered the collateral emotional damage to the older generation: my parents and parents-in-law. But now, knowing how devastated I’d be if Adam’s marriage hit the rocks, I can appreciate how they must have felt.

Not least of it is concern for the welfare of the children involved. The divorcing person is consumed by what this major step means to his or her life, not fully aware of the impact it will have on the kids. I know better now. And I wouldn’t wish it on my two adorable little grandsons.

Do I regret getting divorced? Nope. I still believe it was the right thing to do. And who would wish back the bad old days when so many were trapped in miserable marriages because of the difficulties of leaving them?

What’s more, the resilience of the human spirit is a wonderful thing. My sons weathered the divorce storm. Today they are contented, well adjusted, thriving. In a family, “broken” or otherwise, unstinting

“Who would wish back the bad old days when so many were trapped in miserable marriages?”

love goes a long way. That is the sine qua non.

A few years ago, a survey found that Bournemouth was the happiest place in the UK, with 82 per cent of people questioned saying they were happy with their lives. This too was excellent news because… yup, you guessed it. It’s in Bournemouth that Adam and his family reside. I’m beginning to love surveys and statistics.

Now I just have to figure out what it is about Bournemouth that makes people happy. I mean, the Côte d’Azur it ain’t. As I am reminded every time I take a dip. Brrr…

October 2013

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Get up and go

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King of Cool 2 But can a TV remake of The Great Escape do justice to McQueen and co?

website dedicated to Steve McQueen, says: “It was just one of those magic films where all the elements fall together perfectly. A perfect ensemble cast, down to the smallest roles, a perfect director in John Sturges who knew how to bring the best out of his actors – particularly McQueen, a wonderful and inspirational music score and, of course, a fantastic story of ingenuity and courage in the face of terrible dangers. Plus the motorbike scene!”

Wright, though, is concerned any remake would not live up to the original. “There are some great actors out there who could do the role justice, but I don’t think they will have that McQueen magic,” he said. “McQueen was one of a kind. I suggest anyone who takes his part should try to make the role their own, bring their own unique charisma, but don’t try to emulate the king of cool.

It won’t work.”

The film, based on a non-fiction book written by the Australian PoW veteran Paul Brickhill, The Great Escape tells the tale of how 76 men escaped the Luftwaffe-run Stalag Luft III prison camp in German-occupied Poland via a 330ft tunnel, 30ft below ground. Although the escapees miscalculated the length of the tunnel, which resulted in the recapture of 73 of them, 50 of whom were subsequently shot by the Gestapo, the story lives on as one of the most courageous escape attempts of World War II. Although the film was originally to be shot in California, Sturges couldn’t find anywhere in America he thought adequately resembled a Bavarian forest. In the end, he settled on filming in Fussen in Bavaria, five k i lomet res nor t h of t he Austr ia n border.

In honour of the halfcentury anniversary, an exhibition celebrating the filming of The Great Escape is being held in the Fussen Town Hall, from October to January 2014.

By Nina Reschovsky

T

h is yea r ma rk s t he 50t h anniversary of one of the most celebrated prisonerof-wa r f i l m s i n h i s tor y, T h e G r e a t E s c a p e . T h e 19 6 3 classic, starring Steve McQueen, is best known for the iconic scene in which he attempts to ride his motorbike over a barbed-wire fence while being chased

by Germans, and remains a Christmas television stalwart.

With apt timing, the BBC is now in the early stages of developing a remake of the wartime adventure. The remake, which is set to be a mini-series, is being developed

by GK-TV in conjunction with Open Circle, a small American firm founded by ex-Lionsgate executive Craig Cegielski.

Although no casting information or release date has yet been announced, Alex Schondorf, a movie-marketing executive with a long experience in the Hollywood film industry, is a fan of the project.

He said: “I could see Brad Pitt, Jeremy Renner or Russell Crowe playing Steve McQueen’s role of Virgil Hilts.

Maybe even Daniel Craig would make my top choice. Either way, those are tough shoes to fill.

“The Great Escape set the mark as one of the first well-executed action films. You can’t look at a heist film and not think of this movie. It’s absolutely relevant to audiences today, who thirst for strong filmmaking with a great narrative. And the all-star cast led by Steve McQueen doesn’t hurt. It’s the type of film that sucks you in, making it easy to watch over and over again.”

It is not only the movie professions who understand the timelessness of the film. Darren Wright, who runs a fan

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(Above) Steve McQueen as Hilts; (left) Daniel Craig, Russell Crowe and Brad Pitt are potential choices to reprise the role; (right) coescapees Donald Pleasence, Richard Attenborough and James Garner

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October 2013

Get up and go

By Roderick Gilchrist

O

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

nce, when Selina Scott was the anchor of News at Ten, she escorted Diana, Princess of Wales, who she knew a bit, on a royal visit around the testosteronecharged offices of ITN. Not many women worked in media newsrooms in those days, whether television or newspaper, and as they were leaving Diana, always flirtatious, glanced one last time at the ranks of laddish reporters, uncompromising sub-editors and mannish executives and cheekily asked: “Selina, which one is your boyfriend?”

What was recorded in the privacy of the elevator taking the two out of the building was lost in a gale of girlish giggles, but this exchange was duly reported in the papers confirming Selina’s image, which she came to hate, as “The Golden Girl of Television”.

But the papers missed a more meaningful aside by Diana to Selina when they both attended a gala at the Royal Albert Hall. Selina recalls: “Diana said a little coyly to me, ‘People say you look like me’.”

Not an unnatural observation as they were both blondes, and attractive young women; very much, in their different ways, media darlings of the moment.

Selina’s reply was instructive. “I said to Diana, ‘Well, I was here first’.” Meaning that, as the more senior of the two, it was a case, if anything, that Diana looked like Selina, not the other way round. It was in its way a breath-taking declaration of Selina’s independent state of mind and quite a break from the servile manner in which commoners are supposed to speak to royalty. Not that Diana minded. She laughed. It was another bit of fun to her.

For most of her career Selina camouflaged this feisty personality behind glamorous model-girl looks and that mellifluous voice with its flute-like allure that seduced many an on-camera interviewee into surrendering confidences. Prince Andrew was so besotted when she was hosting the evening chat-show Wogan on the BBC back in the Eighties he asked on air for her telephone number.

So it was thought-provoking that when the Corporation was being attacked for outdated, ageist, sexist attitudes to women presenters, chucking seasoned professionals overboard in favour of autocue-dependent bimbos, Education Minister Michael Gove sparked a provocative debate when he said he would rather watch Selina Scott than Holly Willoughby.

In a way this debate crystallised the metamorphosis of Scott from luscious if seemingly passive beauty to fearless iconoclast. In recent years she has become not only an agitator at the barricades of social change but ironically cast into conflict with the very industry that made her a national figure.

For her pains she has been rubbished by television bosses who wished she would stop throwing a searchlight on the

Find us online: mygetupandgo.co.uk

The Big Interview Selina Scott on Princess Diana, walking her dogs – and why too many TV executives are still living in the Dark Ages

I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees iniquities of the broadcasting world, as well as lickspittle scribblers in the press, and advised that her frequent attacks are no help to her television career, where presenters with controversial, outspoken views are often treated as lepers. Indeed that old gargoyle, late film director Michael Winner, compared her to one of the witches in Macbeth!

Selina was “radicalised”, as it were, five years ago, when she sued Channel 5 for breach of contract after they offered her a job which they later reneged on. She won an apology and damages of £250,000.

Selina says: “I was told if I went ahead

with the action I would be contaminated and nobody would hire me. But I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees. It was the kind of rejection I had suffered at the hands of both the BBC and ITV over the years.

“I and others like me have experienced a disregarding, casual maiming which leaves women with their confidence and careers in tatters but which is done in a sly, almost Machiavellian way. It seems to be conducted by whispers in corridors. It is insidious, cowardly and unworthy of the great traditions of British broadcasting,

Selina at the Classical Brit Awards this month wearing a black gown

by Catherine Walker; (top right) with Princess Diana at ITN’s London offices in 1982

October 2013

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ExpertFocus

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Don’t let the downturn put a downer on retirement With low interest rates and inflation, retirement is looking increasingly fraught – but there is a solution…

which has a duty to reflect the way society is, not the Stepford Wives version of it.

They used to say at the BBC that when a woman’s age exceeds her bra size she is history. And it was true.”

Women everywhere found an echo of this in their own lives, and wrote to Selina by the sackload supporting her stand. Her campaign ignited a groundswell of opinion which now increasingly sees more women being given responsible on-air presenter roles on serious programmes, making them role models to younger generations.

T

he irony is that, despite her new revolutionary image, and at an age when many former female telly stars of her generation are willing to settle for comfortable daytime TV, the work continues to pour in. She was recently offered more than £100,000 to appear in the next series of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, has just been seen on ITV guest presenting the Classical Brits, and appears next month in a week’s episodes of Countdown.

Her show Treasure Houses, a glossy 3D series about the great stately homes of England, reruns on Sky and her book about Majorca, where she has a holiday home, continues to sell well for HarperCollins. “I think my most stimulating time was when I worked for one of the big networks in America,” she says. “I went undercover on one assignment to report on the killing of elephants for their tusks in Africa, which led to a world ban on ivory sales. This was back in the Eighties when we didn’t really know this was happening. The poaching nightmare hadn’t been reported. It’s my regret that this kind of programme, which was broadcast coast-to-coast in the States, was not seen in the UK. I think it would have changed perceptions about me.”

Blessed with phenomenal energy, she has in recent years poured her vitality into a parallel career as a successful businesswoman, providing socks and other woollen garments to celebrities and public alike from the adored Angora goat herd on her 200-acre farm in the old North Riding of Yorkshire. When Prince Charles stalks stags on the Scottish moors it is always in Selina’s socks. She has also found time to become a Doctor of Letters at Hull University.

Today the fresh, country-girl looks have matured into the kind of senior beauty that drives Frenchmen mad. Think of a younger Catherine Deneuve. Selina’s outdoor life has given her such a glow of health it makes you think she could take on Jessica Ennis. She’s so fit she was even offered a Playtex bra commercial recently, quite a compliment for a 60-year-old!

Like Emily Brontë she can be seen most days striding across the Yorkshire moors, with her two dogs Nip and Kiki racing ahead.

She says: “I’ve planted woods, built a lake, conserved hedgerows, protected bird life, salvaged an ancient wall and rugby-tackled my goats when they don’t behave themselves. I’m up at dawn and physically on the go all day. It’s kept me fit. I never have to go near a gym and I sleep like a log. I’ve reached an age when I know myself. I don’t have to settle for second best.”

Earlier this month, Selina starred at the Classical Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall, where she outshone Myleene Klass in a stunning black gown covered in diamantes by Catherine Walker. The photographers, as always, went crazy when she appeared on the red carpet looking fabulous. They know it’s where she belongs. www.selinascott.com

Rex/David Fisher, PA Images

INDUSTRY VIEW

Diana said a little coyly to me, “People say you look like me”

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e are increasingly told that retirement should be thought of as a process rather than a one-off event.

Unfortunately too few of us are heeding these warnings and taking control of our financial futures.

Scores of us are reaching the point in our lives where we expect to stop work, but if we are going to realise these aspirations then the planning for life after work has to start now.

Against the current economic backdrop in the UK, is it any wonder that the prospect of retirement fills as

“Many approaching retirement are looking for the peace of mind in an investment product which targets a level of risk they are comfortable with” many of us with trepidation? As we near the end of 2013, interest rates remain low and inflation looks set to increase. This double whammy means those approaching, at, or already in retirement face the worst possible scenario. Low interest rates hamper retirement income growth, effectively leaving people with much less than they expected. And at the other end of the spectrum, inflation and, in particular, the rising cost of daily staples such as food and fuel constitute a far bigger share of spending for the over-55s than they do for any other group in society.

The fact that we are all living longer is, of course, a reason to be cheerful, but the financial implications of an ageing society shouldn’t be overlooked. We all need to think about how we best preserve our income for the future.

But what if there were a way to safeguard savings? What if savers could mitigate some of the economic risks at play and have access to savings solutions or products that

would offer a guaranteed level of income in retirement? Whereas previously such ‘guarantees’ would have been the preserve of those in a defined benefit pension scheme and therefore in line for a retirement income based on a percentage of their salary today, unit-linked investments can offer a potential solution to more and more.

According to Aegon’s Simon Skinner, “The reality of longer life expectancy, coupled with continuing low interest-rate environment and inflationary pressures, is creating the worst possible scenario for retirees. As a consequence many people approaching retirement are looking for the peace of mind in an investment product which targets a level of risk they are comfortable with and which suits their needs.”

Aegon’s Secure Lifetime Income Plan offers investors a minimum guaranteed annual income and the opportunity to lock in a higher retirement income through its unique ‘monthiversary’ feature.

The product, aimed at those aged between 45 and 79, is suited to those investors who want to preserve their retirement income and who are keen to benefit from any market increases.

Investors have the opportunity to increase their guaranteed lifetime income; meaning, as the name suggests, there are 12 opportunities – for each year of the plan – to lock in any growth in income.

“These products have been designed with what we understand the needs of our customers to be, and our research tells us that is the chance to safeguard against risk as much as possible and to protect their hard-earned retirement income,” adds Skinner.

For more information contact your financial adviser or visit www.unbiased.co.uk

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October 2013

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Get up and go

Theatreland

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Roderick Gilchrist

My afternoon at The Savoy taking tea with Christine Keeler

I

ExpertFocus

’ve never forgotten my afternoon with Christine Keeler. It cost my thenemployers at the Daily Mail £5,000 to arrange a newspaper stunt publicising Scandal, a breezy 1989 film about the Profumo affair in which Keeler was the colt-legged catalyst.

She was played by Joanne Whalley and there were posters all over Britain at the time of the actress recreating the celebrated, black-and-white photo of a naked Keeler, legs wrapped around that Heal’s tubular steel chair.

I took a riverside suite at The Savoy and the two women arrived for a photo session, to chat about the film, Profumo – and sex, of course – all over afternoon tea. I didn’t know what to expect of the nation’s foremost scarlet woman, but the Keeler who walked through the door wasn’t anything like the Keeler of my imagination.

She wore an elegant dress, black gloves

and light make-up, spoke quietly and seriously, and observed Sunday school manners. Only her snaggletoothed grin from behind scarlet pillow lips hinted at the sexual hinterland that once made her irresistible. She behaved with an almost regal poise.

Joanne Whalley wore clothes that looked as if they had come from Oxfam, had dirty fingernails, interrupted rudely and generally was a pain in the behind. She lived up to her name by having nothing interesting to say about the character she played. Keeler was the real lady at The Savoy and told me with complete candour: “I never liked sex. With men there was always an understanding that at some point I would take my clothes off.

I liked proper relationships but there weren’t many of those. Lovemaking with Profumo was unmemorable. It was all over so quickly.

Stephen Ward? He never procured men for me. He was innocent. But the police

frightened me into saying things.” All great copy for a mid-market newspaper.

Now Andrew Lloyd Webber has written a musical – entitled Stephen Ward – about the Profumo affair, which premieres in the West End in December and has cast little-known former child-actress Charlotte Spencer as Keeler, who I trust will bring more

conviction to the role than Whalley.

Lloyd Webber is focusing on Stephen Ward, the society osteopath who committed suicide before he could be convicted at the Old Bailey of living off immoral earnings.

It was Ward, of course, who introduced Keeler to Profumo at Lord Astor’s Cliveden estate after the Tory war minister famously

MHA – helping you get more Award-winning care providers from later life focus on choice and fulfilment INDUSTRY VIEW

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magine being able to see into the future – to know what’s in store for you and your family in the years ahead. None of us can do this, but we can all make plans that will help preserve our independence and ensure that even if we need considerable care and support, we can still enjoy quality of life in our later years.

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For more information on how we could help you or a loved one visit www.mha.or.uk or call 01332 296200

October 2013

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Rex Features: Mike Forster/Daily Mail, Sharok Hatami, Dan Wooler

(Lef t) Christine Keeler with Joanne Whalley (right), who played her in Scandal, at The Savoy in 1988; (Above and inset) Keeler in 1964 in the aftermath of the Profumo scandal; (Below) Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose upcoming mus ical Stephen Ward premieres in December, with Mandy Rice-Davies

became dazzled by the sight of her swimming sans costume. It’s now accepted he was set up by an Establishment desperate for a scapegoat to hang.

Don Black is the lyricist. He is a wonderful writer and has an Oscar on his mantelpiece for Born Free. But I have a nagging feeling Lloyd Webber’s old collaborator Tim Rice would be a better fit.

Tim is more journalistic, best illustrated by Evita, and would, I am sure, have created an illuminating text on this dark passage in Britain’s post war history.

Lloyd Webber provided his famous friends with a 45-minute preview of Stephen Ward recently at his Watership Down mansion.

The composer has one of the finest art collections in private hands but guests entering the hall were greeted by a sketch of a beautiful Bardot-era French actress they didn’t recognise, drawn by an unknown hand.

The artist was, in fact, Stephen Ward himself, in great demand in the late Fifties by fashionable society. Lloyd Webber is so obsessed by Ward he hunted down the only drawing by him he could buy, and there is no doubt the exposure of the Profumo story to new generations will rescue Ward’s reputation in this,

the 50th anniversary of the scandal.

Of the major Profumo players only Keeler and her fellow topless showgirl Mandy Rice-Davies are still alive. Keeler has spent half a century bitching about Mandy, perhaps because she lives in straightened circumstances while Mandy, who married wealth, enjoys the lush life. Mandy was the star guest at Lloyd Webber’s party.

Today, Christine is unrecognisable from the siren in those old news photographs that dominated front pages even in the year of Kennedy’s assassination, the Great Train Robbery, and the first James Bond film.

Mandy, at 68, conversely still has the foxy personality that captivated the nation. She told me: “Christine and me are forever twinned in the public’s mind, like Cross and Blackwell, but most of my life has been a slow descent into respectability.”

I was once invited to her London home. She offered me a drink. When she opened the fridge I noticed there was no food; only bottles of champagne. Mandy loved to party.

Lloyd Webber is hoping to bring Mandy and Christine together for the first time in half a century. That may be a bigger event than the show itself.

8

October 2013

Get up and go

Back where he belongs

Bernard Gallacher portrait

by Andrew Crowley

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

October 2013

Get up and go

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Bernard Gallacher enjoying life after his heart scare Exclusive by Peter Dixon

W

hen he strolled onto the first tee of the West Course at Wentworth the other day with our photographer in tow, Bernard Gallacher looked a picture of health.

No one would have guessed that, just a few weeks earlier, he had been fighting for his life.

A group of players had teed off and, when they spotted him, wandered over to shake his hand and to wish him well. It was to be that kind of day for the 64-year-old former Europe Ryder Cup captain.

Gallacher was back at his spiritual home, the club he had graced as head professional (and later as captain) for more than 25 years, and everyone, but everyone, was delighted to see him.

Immaculately dressed as always, and with not a hair out of place, the quietly-spoken Scot would stop for a chat one minute, be embraced in the hug of lady members the next, and acknowledge the waves of those driving by.

It was a homecoming in every sense.

Back on August 29, in Aberdeen, as he waited to give an after-dinner speech at the luxury Marcliffe Hotel, Gallacher, one of the finest golfers of his generation, suddenly keeled over. Without warning, his heart had stopped pumping and his life had started to ebb away.

It looked, he was told later, as if he had been floored by a boxer.

When he came round after five days in an induced coma, Gallacher had no idea where he was, or why he was there. It was obvious he was lying in a hospital bed, but why were so many wires sticking out of his body?

“There’s only one thing for it,” he thought to himself, looking down at his chest. “Pull off the wires and let’s get out of here.” He was disabused of the idea, but little did he know that he had just cheated death. For his family – wife Lesley, daughters Laura and Kirsty, the television presenter, and son Jamie – who had been keeping a

bedside vigil, the tears started to flow. Dad was back in the land of the living.

If it hadn’t been for the quick thinking of a group of nurses who happened to be in the room when he collapsed – and the fact that the hotel owned a defibrillator – this most popular of sportsmen would not be with us today.

In layman’s terms, the device kick-started Gallacher’s heart into beating normally again and was used to keep it going when it “conked out” three more times on the way to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. It was touch and go whether or not he would survive. And, if he were to, would he suffer brain damage?

Now he is able to reflect on the scariest moment of his life. His recovery is progressing well. He has had a defibrillator implanted in his chest, which will release an electrical charge if it detects a heart malfunction similar to his previous cardiac arrest, and he is now planning to campaign on behalf of the British Heart Foundation.

“What I suffered was something known as SADS – Sudden Arrythmic Death Syndrome – and I’ll be trying to help the British Heart Foundation to make people more aware of the complaint,” Gallacher told me.

“I dodged a bullet that night and it takes someone lucky like me to make people realise how vital a defibrillator can be in saving your life. I’m going to campaign for clubs and organisations to have such devices on their premises.

And to get people trained into using them.

“Wentworth have four. One in the clubhouse, one in the gym and one at each of the halfway huts. I think most golf clubs should have one around. Everybody has heard of people having heart attacks on a golf course.

If it saved one life, then it would have been worth it.”

The biggest shock for Gallacher was that, prior to his collapse, he had no inkling of a problem. His supreme fitness, however, is what helped to pull him through – a lesson, in particular, for those of us of a certain age.

“It was a bit of a shock for everybody,” he says.

“The doctors weren’t able to say what was going on because they didn’t know themselves. And they weren’t sure if there was going to be any brain damage until I

came around. It wasn’t a normal heart attack. I had a ventricular fibrillation, which meant the heart just stopped beating. I can’t remember anything of the day.

I have complete amnesia.

“It was a very emotional time for the family, though, because they were told to expect the worst – it wasn’t easy for them. But when I woke up, they realised I’d got through it. It was all right for me because I’d not known what was going on. They’d had all the worry when I was in a coma, but I was able to shrug it off.”

Sitting back now, Gallacher says he has been blessed with good fortune. “I feel a very lucky man,” he said. “I’d had no warning at all, but the fact that I go to the gym most days and was as fit as a fiddle certainly helped. The doctors said that if I hadn’t been so fit, I wouldn’t have survived three heart stoppages.”

Asked if his brush with death had given him a new perspective on life, Gallacher – a Scot of the no-nonsense variety – revealed that one of the first things on his agenda was to look again at his will. Flights of fancy, one suspects, could be put off for another day.

“I’m getting my lawyer in to rewrite my will, to make sure that it’s up to date,” he said. “You never think about these things and then it can be too late. You make them when you’re young, but you forget about them and need to write them up properly.”

His aim now, he says, is to get back to work as soon as possible. Golf has been ruled out for three to four months while the chest implant settles down and driving the car is not allowed for six months.

“I hope to do a few golf days, keep working for the radio and write my column for the Sunday Post,” he said. “It’s not a great deal, but I want to get my life back to some normality.”

And what of the golf?

“I’ll have to get my strength back – I still get very tired and have to rest in the afternoon – but I’m looking forward to getting back to playing as badly as ever.”

One thing that has clearly not deserted him is his gentle sense of humour. Long may it continue.

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10

October 2013

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Get up and go

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You can’t separate food from life, says Raymond Blanc Raymond Blanc pictures

by Andrew Crowley

Life ...there’s more to it with MHA We’re MHA - one of the UK’s leading charitable providers of housing, care and support for older people.

Our approach is different because it focuses on the whole person - body, mind and spirit.

We help more than 16,000 older people at around 200 locations throughout the UK, providing the support they need to live well whether they are fit and healthy or need considerable care and support.

We offer:-

• Pioneering Live at Home networks, helping older people to stay independent for longer whilst living in their own homes • State-of-the-art retirement living with care tailored to individual needs • Award-winning care homes, with high quality nursing and specialist dementia care

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By Bonnie Gardiner

S

trolling through the expansive vegetable garden at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, French chef Raymond Blanc beams under the Oxfordshire morning sun.

Chatting with his gardeners, stopping to taste-test some freshly picked radishes, and grumbling about “bloody rabbits” eating his crops, Blanc clearly feels right at home at his trademark luxury manor hotel, which houses his two-Michelin-star restaurant and cookery school.

“Our cookery school was opened 22 years ago, and I pass on knowledge that my maman passed on to me, that was taught by her own parents and grandparents, and so on,” Blanc explains enthusiastically as he sips coffee on the lawn.

“We had an expression about food – that it be delicious at all times, with seasonality and purity of ingredients, and to love always when she prepared a meal... that philosophy is the cornerstone of what we have done here.”

For years Blanc has been an advocate for healthy eating, hoping to influence British people with his simple cooking techniques

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“We can change this, just like that!” he exclaims, snapping his fingers.

The Blanc Vite cookery class, taught by head tutor Mark Peregrine, specialises in quick, simple meals with fresh ingredients, and has been one of the many platforms on which Blanc demonstrates the value of good food, the basics of good nutrition, and the importance of seasonality.

“The course is fun, and Mark is a wonderful teacher. The moment we have a carrot, you know everything about that carrot, which shop or farm it’s come from, which variety, which climate suits it best, how to grow it,” says Blanc. “Then we discuss how to cut it – should we peel it or not? The texture is important, both in taste and nutrients and how long you should cook it, so you see, that carrot takes on a whole life of its own.”

To Blanc, “seasonality” is still the most clichéd, yet important, subject, and the most misunderstood, though to him it translates as “close to home”.

“The closer to home the better it is – less travel, of course, less pollution. Then of course it’s fresh, it’s in season, and if it’s in season there’s a lot of it. It’s less expensive, better taste, better colour, better nutrients!”

Hoping to pass on this message to younger generations, Blanc encourages readers to practise good nutrition and experience the joy of cooking, while passing on those messages to our children, as we start to slowly become more open to his ideas. Blanc wants people to remember that food, along with sustenance, represents celebration, joy and bonding.

“Twenty years ago, I had to fight so hard here,” he explains. “English gentlemen would sit at the edge of their seat, eat their soup in a funny way and they would talk about the weather. So the first thing I did was to kill this habit at the table to create joy, because how can you have joy in a straitjacket? You cannot! You have pain.”

Blanc feels the greatest mistake we’ve made in Britain is to separate food from life, reducing it to a mere commodity whose only virtue is cheapness, leading to health problems, loss of true craft, and food scandals.

“I’ve really seen that food has sparked the British consciousness more and more – the consumer has had enough and wants to reconnect with food, with truth and authenticity, and the chefs now as well, at

Obituaries Cliff Morgan, who has died aged 83, put some of his extraordinary rugby ability down to playing in his youth for Coedely Coke Ovens XV in South Wales. “Before the game we had to drive a herd of cows from the pitch.

There was little we could do about the cow pats so that is how we learned to swerve and sidestep. Those who failed to develop these skills smelled horribly for weeks.” Many years later when Morgan, pictured, was in Hollywood with actor Richard Burton, the pair astonished staff at the Beverly Hills Hilton by ordering egg and chips, twice.

Alan Whicker, who has died aged 87, and traversed the globe “at least 97 times” was once voted the most envied

11

Raymond Blanc inspects herbs at Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons; (inset) keeping an eye on reporter Bonnie Gardiner

last! Young chefs are connecting with the true values of gastronomy.”

Blanc also embraces molecular gastronomy, a sub-discipline of food science that aims to explore what physical and chemical impact food has and how this changes with the cooking process.

Studying in his late twenties, under Oxford physicist Nicholas Kurti, Blanc became the first chef to champion the more scientific consideration towards food and nutrition, which he delves into further with his latest BBC series How To Cook Well.

Though most UK citizens are creatures of habit, enjoying only around seven or eight routine meals, Blanc says experimenting with simple meals can improve health and bring

man in Britain. He listed “reading airline timetables” among his interests and once caused a stir by saying that if he could take only six objects to a desert island he would choose “two blondes, two brunettes and two redheads”.

When he was offered a cameo in a 1999 film, Whicker was asked by the costume department what he had worn in the 1970s. “You’re looking at it,” he replied.

In 1962 Sir David Frost, who has died aged 74, was seen

by Ned Sherrin doing an impersonation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan at the Blue Angel in Upper Berkeley Street. Sherrin, who was looking for a linkman for That Was The Week That Was, decided Frost was the man to bring satire to late-night

TV, and signed him up on the spot.

Squadron Leader Peter Tunstall, who has died aged 94, spent longer in solitary confinement than any other Allied PoW and was court-martialled by the Germans five times. After he was captured in 1940 and a German officer told him that his war was over, he replied: “It damn well is not.” He later explained: “As far as I was concerned, a different type of war had started. My first duty was to escape, my second was to be as big a bloody nuisance as possible to the enemy.”

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist with The Doors, who has died aged 74, recalled meeting lead singer Jim Morrison in 1965. “I’m sitting on the beach wondering what I’m going to do with myself. Who comes walking down but James Douglas

families together. “Maybe not every day but once a week, together as a family, cook a meal together. One is cooking, the other is peeling, and then as a family you cook a simple Sunday meal. And of course if kids are around, just make them participate in the cooking, they love stirring up the pot, tasting a bit of this and that. It’s great fun for them,” advises Blanc.

“That’s how they will learn, with fun, not taking it too seriously.

I have eaten so many humble pies, really, how can one be serious? When I first started teaching children, I wanted a school that would be about fun and the celebration of food... because food is love.”

Morrison? I said: ‘Tell me what’s going on?’ And he said: ‘Well, I’ve been living on a rooftop consuming a bit of LSD, and writing songs.’ And I said: ‘Whoa, writing songs. OK, man, cool, like sing me a song.’

“And so he sat down and began to sing. And I said: ‘Man, this is incredible.

Let’s get a rock and roll band together.’

And he said: ‘That’s exactly what I want to do.’ And I said: ‘All right, man, but what do we call the band?’ He said: ‘We’re going to call it The Doors.’ And I said: ‘You mean like the doors of perception; the doors in your mind?’ He said: ‘No, no. Just The Doors.’ That was it. We were The Doors.”

Wrestler Mick McManus, who has died aged 93, developed a lasting rivalry with Jackie Pallo, often played out in bouts on FA Cup Final day in the Sixties

which, according to some, drew more viewers than the football. Each man had a weakness: Pallo hated being pulled by his ponytail; McManus would beg: “Not the ears, not the ears.”

Eddie Braben, Morecambe and Wise’s television scriptwriter during their golden period at the BBC between 1968 and 1978, was the man behind their hugely popular Christmas shows, which became more demanding each year.

As Braben, who has died aged 82, once explained: “The Morecambe And Wise Show became more important than Christmas. The real pressure came when I was sat in front of that typewriter with all those blank pages and nothing happening. That’s when you realised there were 20 or 25 million people looking over your shoulder – all saying ‘Make me laugh’.”

ExpertFocus

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Pioneering surgery offering the gift of sight A safer, more effective alternative to cataract removal

experienced laser cataract surgeon in the UK. London Eye Hospital and Mr Qureshi combine the Femtosecond laser technology with the latest in premium lens implants to give patients freedom from their glasses and contact lenses.

INDUSTRY VIEW

M

illions of British people can look forward to a lifetime of better sight thanks to a revolutionary treatment that has just been launched in the UK, which offers safer, more accurate and less invasive treatment for cataracts.

For many years, cataracts have been seen as an unavoidable sideeffect of ageing. Current techniques for cataract removal, which centre on high-frequency ultrasound to achieve “phacoemulsification”, nevertheless require a 3mm incision with a blade, before the cataract is broken up.

Where the London Eye Hospital differs from this treatment is in the microscopic detail of the procedure.

Using a Femtosecond cataract laser, surgeons create a 3D model of the eye at close to micron levels of accuracy.

Bobby Qureshi became the first surgeon in the UK to use this approach in August 2011 and is the most

The London Eye Hospital

The Patient View Patricia Paul (right) was 33 when she decided she needed to buy reading glasses. A few years later she needed glasses for driving. As she approached her 60th birthday she began to realise that her regular day-to-day vision had

also deteriorated, so she decided to have laser eye surgery to correct her eyesight.

The initial results were impressive, but seven years after the surgery, Patricia noticed that her vision was again deteriorating. This is not uncommon after traditional laser eye surgery since, as we age, the natural lens inside the eye changes, a condition called presbyopia.

This affects almost everybody over the age of 40 and reduces the eye’s ability to focus sharply on nearby objects, so reading glasses are required. Specialist lens implants can treat presbyopia but the surgeon told Patricia that she also had cataracts. This is a clouding of the natural lens in the eye and affects most people from their mid-50s, causing blurred vision which cannot be corrected by glasses. Colours also lose their brilliance and whites are dimmer.

Fortunately, Patricia had recently read about Light Adjustable Lens (LAL) implant surgery, the most technologically advanced implant

now available, with the capacity to be altered after surgery to give the best vision possible without the need for glasses. The LAL, developed in the US by a team of Nobel Prize-winning scientists, is a revolutionary new type of lens that can give a patient “HD vision” after it has been inserted into the eye.

Patricia had Light Adjustable Lens surgery at the London Eye Hospital, and was delighted by the results.

It was performed by Mr Qureshi, BSc MBBS FRCS (Ophth.), consultant ophthalmic surgeon and medical director at The London Eye Hospital.

“Not only was my procedure a complete success, but Mr Qureshi was an absolute pleasure to work with,” Patricia says. “He always took the time to explain everything, and was never in a rush.

I now have the best vision that I’ve ever had. It’s amazing how sharp and colourful everything looks.” +44 20 7060 2602 www.londoneye hospital.com

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How to get the funeral you want Talking to loved ones can ensure your funeral goes the way you want it; (inset) Women’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray

When Fiona Hendry’s husband Raymond died, aged 61, of stomach cancer, one of her regrets was that they had not properly discussed arrangements for his funeral.

She even emailed Radio 4’s Women’s Hour suggesting that they devote some of their programme to the subject. They agreed and so it was, earlier this summer, that Fiona went on to talk to presenter Jenni Murray.

“I had an idea of what Raymond might have wanted (for his funeral) because we had been together for 33 years,” said Fiona. “We had small snatches of conversation but it was too, too difficult. Our days were filled in

trying to look after him – getting him to eat, to drink. It was just too distressing to discuss [funeral arrangements].”

Since her husband’s death, Fiona has put forward the idea of Funeral Fairs, where people could find out more information about death. “It would be a good environment for people to come and talk about different sorts of burial, cremation, flowers, services, poetry, prose, memorial benches, anything like that,” said Fiona. “It would give them an idea of what they might like to create for their own death when the time came.”

Dominic Maguire, from the National Association of Funeral

Directors, agreed. “Death is a subject that is a taboo for many people,” he said. “Regrettably, there are many families making funeral arrangements for people they have loved and lost and they are guessing what that person might have wished for. We would encourage people to lay down, in general terms what they would like before the time comes when it’s required.

“I have seen it so many times that someone arranges a funeral, they guess what the deceased would have wanted and they discover afterwards, perhaps when the will is read, that, rather than be cremated, the deceased wanted to be buried. It has left them emotionally distressed.”

One recent development which is proving increasingly popular is the socalled Death Café. Sue Barsky Reid, a qualified and experienced psychotherapist and counsellor from Chester, is a strong supporter. “At Death Cafés people drink tea, eat cake and discuss death,” she explains simply. “Our aim is to increase awareness of death to help people make the most of their (finite) lives. To date we’ve had over 200 Death Cafés in nine countries. These have been consistently wonderful events with far more laughter than tears.”

13

APERSONALVIEW Jean Silvan Evans A funeral plan is a good excuse to talk about yourself.

After all, a funeral should be the one thing in life and death that is all about you. It seems a shame, therefore, that so many people never get the chance to be part of it while they can still enjoy it.

It always seems sad when the love and longing that surfaces at a funeral has not been shared with the person at the centre of the day. Talking about a funeral plan with family and friends when death is still a distant prospect starts to fill that gap.

It seems, too, to help those left behind to cope with the loss. They have been part of the planning, perhaps in choosing music or passages for reading, perhaps in knowing the right flowers to give or charities to support.

For many, death is still the great unmentionable. But it is also the great inevitable. Talking about it at a time when emotions are cool helps to celebrate rather than mourn the life

and can bring people closer. It can, actually, help people talk about life – so often another great unmentionable! To talk about what is important now – not just to the older person whose funeral is being planned but to the younger people, who will carry out the arrangements.

And what a gift that is.

A chance to wonder about what really matters in life and living. A look ahead to what you might like to look back on – not something young or even middle-aged people often think about. It’s a conversation that can make a difference to a life that is far from death.

Another benefit is the way talking about a funeral plan, when death is still far away, can somehow demystify death, even help to make it part of life.

It can lead to laughs, perhaps to some tears but, in the end, to good, happy memories that can uplift people when the death does come and carry them through the funeral with the sure knowledge that this was how their loved one wanted it.

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You can own your future It’s time to wake up to the benefits of renting a property INDUSTRY VIEW

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inding a practical solution that matches the quality of your retirement living dream may be easier said than done – and renting may not automatically spring to the top of your list of possible solutions.

However, increasing numbers of UK retirees are discovering what their counterparts in America and Australia found out a few years back – that renting your retirement home offers many advantages over continued property ownership.

Even more are discovering how you can continue to benefit from both.

Hawthorns Retirement has brought its highly successful American formula for retirement living to the UK at Eastbourne, Clevedon and Braintree.

A flexible lifestyle These developments, in a nutshell, offer you continued independent living, none of the worries of home ownership and

total flexibility to change your lifestyle at a month’s notice should circumstances dictate. And all this is achieved by renting your retirement home at The Hawthorns.

Your monthly rental includes all your many monthly expenses including all your meals and snacks, utility bills,

Hawthorns offers the added benefits of security and companionship housekeeping, maintenance – even a free minibus to take you to the shops and back. If you sit down and calculate what you are spending on all those items living in your own home, the rental fees appear very reasonable indeed.

As well as the financial argument, life at The Hawthorns offers the added benefits of security, companionship and the flexibility of handing in just one month’s notice of your decision to leave.

While many residents fund this idyllic retirement lifestyle from the proceeds of the sale of their home, many others opt to rent out their own property and fund their new-found lifestyle from the rental income, maintaining their property as part of their estate.

For Alan and Jean Ward, the decision to move to The Hawthorns in Braintree was swift in the extreme. They saw an advert for the development in a paper on a Sunday morning, visited in the afternoon and signed on the dotted line the next day following a second visit.

Quick decision Their decision to rent out their existing property rather than sell it was almost as quick, as Alan explains.

“Jean has Parkinson’s, I suffer with arthritis and the thought of not having to worry about shopping, cooking and all the other home maintenance chores suddenly sounded so appealing.

We loved The Hawthorns the moment we stepped inside so it was an easy as well as swift decision.

“I have to admit my initial thought was to sell our own home, a threebedroom detached bungalow in Tiptree, but after a chat with our son we realised it made more sense to rent out our bungalow. The rental income from that subsidises our rent at The Hawthorns and enables us to enjoy not only a fabulous but an affordable lifestyle.

“Of course, it makes complete sense at the moment to rent out the bungalow. With the housing market in the doldrums, I can wait two or three years for prices to pick up and then consider selling it and getting much

Residents can enjoy an independent lifestyle without the worries of home ownership more capital for it – very appealing.

“What’s more, we always know we still have our old home should we ever wish to return to it – which I have to say is highly unlikely, the way we feel about life here,” said Alan.

0800 077 4656 www.hawthornsretirement.co.uk

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round

Your testing ten

Picture these Name

paintings famous artists their

1

What were Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt the last people to do?

2

Name the three states in the USA which contain four letters.

3

What links The Mystery Of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, and The Love of The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald?

4

Jerome K Jerome wrote Three Men in a Boat. What does the K stand for?

5

Only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still exists. Which one?

6

How is Barbara Millicent Roberts better known?

7

What is the name of the blind Benedictine monk who is meant to have invented champagne?

8

James T Kirk was captain of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek. What does the T stand for?

9

Where was Leonardo da Vinci born?

10

Which literary character has a landlady named Mrs Hudson?

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and

A

AandQ

We supply the answers – but can you guess the questions?

B

C

1) Utah, Omaha, Sword, Gold and Juno.

2) “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

3) Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy.

4) Sir Edward Borough, John Neville, Henry VIII and Sir Thomas Seymour.

The last laugh

D

ANSWERS. Testing Ten: 1) Walk on the moon, in December 1972. 2) Ohio, Iowa, Utah. 3) They are all unfinished novels. 4) Klapka. 5) The Pyramids of Giza. 6) Barbie. 7) Dom Perignon. 8) Tiberius. 9) Vinci, near Florence. 10) Sherlock Holmes. A&Q: 1) What were the code names of the five beaches selected for the D-Day landings in the Second World War? 2) What is the closing line of George Orwell’s Animal Farm? 3) Who were the four US presidents assassinated while in office? 4) Who were the four husbands of Catherine Parr?

Picture round: A) Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh. B) Girl With A Pearl Earring, by Johannes Vermeer. C) The Scream, by Edvard Munch. D) Night Watch, by Rembrandt.

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A mathematician and a management adviser were being chased by a lion. The maths man made some quick calculations and said: “We may as well stop. We can’t outrun the lion.” The management adviser kept running and said: “I’m not trying to outrun the lion – I’m trying to outrun you.”

Companionship for older people this Christmas Spare a thought for the isolated and elderly this festive season INDUSTRY VIEW

T

o help combat isolation and loneliness among older people during this season of goodwill, the charity Abbeyfield is launching its annual Coping at Christmas campaign. Abbeyfields across the UK will be open and will invite individuals to spend time at our supported sheltered houses and care homes for a free festive meal, or even an overnight stay.

A number of celebrities, including actor Geoffrey Palmer (left), are helping to raise awareness by acting as spokespeople for the campaign. Geoffrey quoted the latest research which shows that over 2.5 million older people across the UK are not looking forward to the season of goodwill*.

Living alone or feeling lonely is something that is sadly accepted and not discussed; people generally become accustomed to their own company. However, in the run-up to Christmas, when there is a barrage of cheery festive advertisements depicting happy times shared with family and friends, the sense of isolation and loneliness that usually goes unnoticed can be magnified. With

over half a million older people due to spend Christmas Day alone, it is not a surprise that 49 per cent of those over the age of 65 would choose “having company” above anything else as their Christmas wish this year.

Recently Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt commented on the fact that failure to offer friendship to the isolated and elderly is a national shame.

As the Abbeyfield Coping at Christmas initiative begins, we would like everyone to consider someone that they know to be living alone without much contact with others to either bring this campaign to their attention, visit our website to find out more about the nearest participating house, or contact us on 0845 052 3553.

This year Abbeyfield is hosting a pledge page on its website which underpins the charity’s belief of providing support for older people who might be alone or lonely – it is hoped that the pledges will encourage people within the community to be more aware that others might be alone this Christmas.

Nearly 60 years ago, Richard Carr-Gomm founded Abbeyfield, a charity that was set up to provide companionship and housing for older people who lived alone or were lonely. Today, Abbeyfield has over 500 houses in the UK providing housing, support and a wide range of quality services with companionship still very much at the centre of what we provide.

It is a sad reality that in this day and age, charities and agencies similar to Abbeyfield are still trying to raise awareness of the struggles older people face and the very real impact of loneliness.

You can share Abbeyfield’s view of care and support for older people by pledging one of the following.

My Kindness By giving the gift of kindness and compassion to someone who may be alone this Christmas – perhaps the elderly gentleman struggling in front of you in the Post Office or the frail lady trying to pack her bags in the supermarket?

I pledge to be more considerate and patient of older people this Christmas ❑ My Support A Christmas gift of £5 or more could enable an isolated older person to visit us at Christmas, provide a home-cooked Christmas meal and help cover the cost of an overnight stay

at an Abbeyfield House during the festive period.

I pledge £5.00 ❑ £10.00 ❑ £15.00 ❑ to help Abbeyfield make an older lonely person’s Christmas a better one My Time Please take a moment to help older lonely people in your community by visiting an elderly neighbour, sending them a Christmas card or offering to help with their shopping. They will be so grateful not to have been forgotten.

I pledge to share my time at Christmas to make an older person’s Christmas happier ❑

The campaign has already received the backing of a number of MPs, other charitable organisations and local authorities charged with taking care of the elderly around the country, who agree that the scheme provides an invaluable lifeline for older people.

0845 052 3553 Register for the pledges at www.abbeyfield.com *Source ONS for statistics

October 2013

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Nina Reschovsky

The city that never sleeps: New York in 48 hours

T

High Line Park, New York; (inset), Greenwich Village street signs

he must-see list for New York first timers is vast: Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Fifth Avenue – the list goes on. So having visited NYC more than a few times, I decided in my 48 hours in the city that never sleeps I would skip the most obvious tourist attractions to head to places off the beaten track.

As tour guide, I enlisted my friend Lauren, born and raised in New York and who now lives in the trendy West Village, Manhattan.

Together, we set out to tackle as many of the more obscure sights as possible, with the haste for which New Yorkers are famous.

Bright and early on my first morning, we went for a brisk walk to the High Line, a onemile linear park built on a disused elevated railway line in the Chelsea and Meatpacking districts. Redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway, the High Line was inspired by the Promenade Plantée in Paris, a public park that follows the old Vincennes railway.

Boasting spectacular views of the Hudson River and city skyline, the High Line even has lounge chairs set out along the edge of the path for visitors to use. Lauren and I stopped

at a couple to admire the view and soak up some morning sunshine.

Hungry for lunch, we headed for Chelsea Market, once the headquarters of the National Biscuit Company in the 1890s. A long indoor arcade now filled with restaurants, pop-up food stalls and craft stores, Chelsea Market looks a bit like an antiquated theme park and evokes a lost industrial culture.

Wanting to do a bit of shopping after lunch, but opting to forgo the crowded stores on Fifth Avenue, we ambled back to the West Village – once the centre of beatnik culture, but now one of the chicest parts of town. Featuring quaint cobblestone streets and elegant brownstone townhouses, it’s home to countless vintage stores and boutiques. On our way back, we stopped at the historic Jefferson Market Courthouse, a lovely building in Venetian Gothic style.

Formerly the site of a women’s detention centre, it now serves as a branch library.

That evening we stayed in the West Village for dinner, an area also widely known for its diverse cuisine. We dined at a small, charming, contemporary American restaurant called Annisa, which means

“women” in Arabic. Combining both Asian and French cooking techniques, the food was exquisite. In homage to its name, Annisa’s wine list is comprised of wine produced solely by female vintners.

The next morning we were off to the northern edge of Manhattan to visit The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) dedicated to the art and architecture of medieval Europe.

Set in Fort Tryon Park, the museum and its garden offer breathtaking views of downtown Manhattan; inside is a collection of approximately 3,000 works of art dating from the ninth to the 16th centuries.

That afternoon we ventured to what GQ calls the “coolest city on the planet”, Brooklyn. After stopping for a slice of New York pizza (folded in half, in true New Yorker fashion), we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, taking in famous sites such as the Statue of Liberty and Governors Island on either side.

After two jam-packed days, I finally understood why New York is called the city that never sleeps. Needless to say, I slept the entire way home to London.

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