Sussex Style August 2015

AUG 2O15

GOODWOOD HOTEL KEEPING TRADITION ALIVE DAVID LEVINE THE MAN WHO SHOT THE

198Os

Michael Ball...

DENISE BLACK ROCK BAND TO CUCUMBER

A LIFE ON STAGE

A UG 2015 | SUSSEXST YLE. CO M | 1

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A UG EA 2015 B IRC H RD, S T| BSUSSEXST OU RNYLE. E CO M

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1980s glamour

Legendary 80s imagemaker David Levine opens up his archive

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contents

On the cover

The Goodwood Hotel - photo

by Stephen Haywood

106 Interior notebook

This month’s must-have products

10 Editor’s letter 12 Out and about in Sussex

O ur round-up of top events

20 Brighton mums

What’s it like to have an empty nest?

22 Schoolgate confidential

The joys - and traumas of the family holiday

24 Laura Jandac

The tooth fairy dilemma

26 Dan Raven

The 1980s and nuclear war hysteria

28 Emma Caulton

The loss of a foodie institution

32 Denise Black

The Emmerdale star on her eclectic career and Brighton

36 Isabella Blow

Tracy-Ann Oberman on designer Isabella Blow

40 Sweet Dreams (are made of this)

How music shaped the 1980s

46 The man who shot the 1980s

photographer David Levine

76 Food news

Chill and cream teas

78 Raise a glass

Beautiful Kingscote vineyard

82 Farmward bound F arm shops we love

112 Architectural delights

Essential buildings to visit this summer

116 Finance

Budget tax changes for home owners

117 Martin Amis’s Money

52 In bloom!

84 Goodwood Hotel

60 Inger Moss

86 Spicy salads

120 Eve Ferret: cabaret queen

88 In season

124 Paul Burston

90 Sussex’s finest

127 Book club

92 1980s movie magic

128 1980s childhood

Vibrant, flower power fashion

1980s fashion disasters or dreams?

62 Beauty notebook

Become a golden goddess this summer

64 Faux bronzing

The ultimate guide to fake tans

67 Health and fitness

W hat Jane Fonda taught us

70 Michael Ball: a life on stage The theatre legend

Saskia V Droz, manager of the Goodwood Hotel

Just add chilli!

A chilli fiesta

Publisher’s top bars

Were the 1980s the last

The book that defined the 1980s

A 1980s icon

1980s hair disasters

golden age of cinema?

96 King of Scuplpture

The Sculpture Park’s Eddie Powel

Revisiting 1980s best sellers

Alex Hopkins remembers

130 Minxy Mann Yeager

Packing for her jollies

inside

The man who shot the 1980s

David Levine came to London in the 1970s to seek his fortune. By the end of the 1980s he was one of the city’s most celebrated photographers, capturing iconic shots of international music stars. He opens up his archive to Sussex Style.

A 1980s childhood

Falling for Isabella

Tracy-Ann Oberman this year took on one of the greatest roles of her career: doomed fashion editor Isabella Blow, in a stage play based on designer Alexander McQueen’s life. She reveals how she grew to understand and love “Issie”.

Alex Hopkins was born in London and grew up in Watford, but it was the summers and Easters spent in Sussex and Surrey that shaped his childhood. In an excerpt from a forthcoming memoir, he recalls long, happy days in the countryside with his father and grandparents.

In this issue...

Eve Ferret

Cabaret artiste extraordinaire Eve Ferret first made a name for herself as a child of Punk, performing at such legendary London clubs as The Blitz. She talks to Alex Hopkins about a surprising career renaissance and why she’ll always be linked with Sussex.

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King of Sculpture

Furiously in bloom

The height of summer is here and the flowers are furiously in bloom. This month’s fashion shoot pays homage to the magnificent countryside that surrounds us. Get inspired with this vibrant, intoxicating display of colours.

Eddie Powell has had numerous businesses over the years, but his world famous Sculpture Park in Churt, on the Surrey-Sussex border, is without a doubt his favourite.

He shares his fascinating life story with us on a tour of the magnificent park.

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Welcome...

The 1980s... a truly iconic and life-changing decade. A time for big spenders and even bigger shoulder pads, blockbuster films and superstars.This month Sussex Style pays homage to possibly the most glamorous era of them all.

We kick things off by meeting the man who photographed the Eighties. David Levine – who now lives in Hove – was the image-maker behind such stars as Boy George and Iggy Pop. He talks to us about the horror of press pits and why he’ll never retouch a picture.

Denise Black is one of the the country’s most respected actresses. She’s recently returned to Emmerdale and was seen last year in Cucumber. She talks to me about the joy of Queer as Folk and why there’s no place like Brighton.

We continue our Eighties theme with Michael Ball, who takes to the stage in Chichester this month in the much awaited Mack and Mabel. He chats to us about Eighties musical theatre and why musicals are just as good as drama.

This month we’re delighted to welcome back Tracy-Ann Oberman as a contributor.

The former EastEnders star talks candidly about her experiences playing doomed hat designer Isabella Blow in the stage play based on the life of Alexander McQueen.

She reveals how she prepared for what is possibly her most challenging role yet.

All this plus delectable recipes, top health and beauty tips, a stunning fashion shoot, culture, and inimitable advice from your favourite columnists. So sit back, unwind, pour yourself a glass of champers and stay chic.

Alex Hopkins EDITOR IN CHIEF ALEX HOPKINS SUB EDITOR DAVID BENNUN CREATIVE DIRECTOR BETH DONSON PRODUCTION/STUDIO MANAGER LINDSAY TRUFITT PR DIRECTOR CLAIRE WATERS BEAUTY EDITOR SARAH MANN YEAGER FOOD & DRINK EDITOR SAM BILTON HEALTH & FITNESS EDITOR BEN MARSHALL PUBLISHER SEÁN KANE HEAD OF FINANCE RICHARD JUDD COMMERCIAL MANAGER JACQUELINE NICHOLSON ADVERTISING MANAGER MICHELLE DE LA MOTTE-RICE ACCOUNT MANAGERS ANGIE HULST, JOSIE KELLY CONTRIBUTORS PAUL BURSTON, EMMA CAULTON, BEN COPPER, LAURA JANDAC, CLAIRE JONES-HUGHES LAURA LOCKINGTON, INGER MOSS, TRACY-ANN OBERMAN, DANIEL RAVEN, JO WHITE FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER ANDY TAN FASHION DIRECTOR ANAT DYCHTWALD INTERN TISH MOON PUBLISHED BY GREEN DUCK MEDIA LTD • SUSSEX STYLE™ • COPYRIGHT 2014-09 • ISSN 2049-6036 SECOND FLOOR, AFON BUILDING, WORTHING ROAD, HORSHAM, WEST SUSSEX, RH12 1TL T: 01403 801800 M: 07528 521988 SUSSEXSTYLE.COM FACEBOOK.COM/SUSSEXSTYLEMAGAZINE TWITTER.COM/SUSSEXSTYLEMAG

All rights reserved. except for normal review purposes, no part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. No artwork or editorial content may be used in any other form or publication without the publisher’s consent. Every care is taken in the preparation of this magazine, but the contents are only meant as a guide to the readers. The proprietors of this publication ARE publishers, not agents or sub agents of those who advertise therein. They cannot be held liable for any loss suffered as a result of information gained from the publication. Copyright 2015 Green Duck Media Ltd - Sussex StyleTM

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John Lewis at home and Waitrose Now together in Horsham

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SUSSEX There’s so much going on in Sussex in August. Take your pick from days at the races, summer music festivals, medieval jousting and remarkable aerobatic displays

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IMAGES. 1. LADIES’ DAY, SUPPLIED BY BRIGHTON RACE COURSE.5. ARUNDEL LIVING HISTORY DAY: RRMPHOTOGRAPHY.COM. 6. THE HORRORS, SUPPLIED BY THESEITGEISTAGENCY.COM

out & about in

sussex events

1. Brighton Race Course – Ladies’ Day, Thurs 6 Aug Grab those hats and go glam for an afternoon’s racing. Add Pimms and Champers and a £2,000 cash prize for the best dressed lady and you’ve got the ultimate outing. brighton-racecourse.co.uk 2. Worthing Birdman, Sat 15 – Sun 16 Aug This flight competition for human-powered flying machines is unmissable. Expect the most complex flying machines competing for either charity or the £10,000 prize should a birdman manage a distance of over 100 metres. Crazy and great fun! worthingbirdman.co.uk 3. Pashley Manor Lily Time, Finishes mid-August Possibly one of the most tranquil summer experiences in Sussex. Saunter past hundreds of lilies in over 40 varieties. We know you’ll come away relaxed. Gardens are open Tues – Sun. pashleymanorgardens.com 4. Loxwood Joust, Sat 1 – Sun 2 Aug Don your armour and parade along to Loxwood meadow for mediaeval antics, jesters, and stories of Sussex dragons and executioners. loxwoodjoust.co.uk

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5. Living History Day at Arundel Castle, Tues 4 Aug While you’re in the medieval frame of mind, why not take a trip to beautiful Arundel castle for fencing, archery and more tales from the swashbuckling past? arundelcastle.org

6. Forgotten Fields, 7-9 July

Real ale, world foods and camping at this summer music festival, featuring Basement Jaxx, Levellers and Razorlight. forgottenfields.co.uk

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sussex events

7. International Film Festival, Thurs 13 – Sun 30 Aug Celebrate the best of celluloid over 18 days of premieres, previews and special events as Chichester hosts the SouthEast’s biggest film festival. chichestercinema.org

8. Sussex Guild Craft Show, Thurs 6 – Sun 9 Aug Enjoy the best traditional and contemporary craftwork and head over to Michelham Priory for a staggering variety of stalls, demonstrations and activities for children. thesussexguild.co.uk 9. The Fat Controller, Thurs 6 Aug Stunning Drusillas Park has long been a Sussex favourite. Now the legendary Fat Controller – Sir Topham Hatt - seizes control of the famous railway. drusillas.co.uk 10. Shoreham Air Show, Sat 22 – Sun 23 Aug August is definitely the month for air extravaganzas! Brace yourself as The Royal Air Forces Association at Shoreham put on a breathtaking five-hour display of aerobatics. shorehamairshow.co.uk

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WORLD-CLASS OPERA ON YOUR DOORSTEP

Isn’t it time you met the neighbours?

You’ll be amazed by what you can experience at Glyndebourne.

Unexpected costumes, extraordinary stories and world-class singers are all just around the corner. So join us this summer, we would love to meet you.

Book now, visit glyndebourne.com/learnmore or call the box office on 01273 815 000.

TICKETS FROM £95 AVAILABLE FOR: BRITTEN

THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA 5 July – 19 August Fiona Shaw’s award-winning production of Benjamin Britten’s haunting masterpiece.

HANDEL

SAUL

23 July – 29 August Handel’s epic choral masterwork marks the Glyndebourne debut of Australian director Barrie Kosky.

RAVEL

DOUBLE BILL 8 – 30 August Danielle de Niese returns in Laurent Pelly’s magical take on two sparkling short operas.

Frog from Ravel Double Bill

Be part of an extraordinary performance AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 15

sussex events

11. Eastbourne Airbourne, Thurs 13 - Sun 16 Aug Each year Eastbourne hosts the world’s biggest free seafront air show. Grab your spot on the beach as the RAF Red Arrows and international display teams do their thing. Also includes parachute displays and wingwalkers.

12. Chilled in a Field, Fri 31 July – Sun 2 Aug Enjoy local produce, cocktails and real ales while listening to great music at this child-friendly camping event. It’ll be held at a secret Kent location near the Sussex border. chilledinafield.net

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13. Perseids Shooting Stars, Fri 14 Aug Perseids are formed when specks of dust burn up in the atmosphere as the earth passes through debris left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle. Gaze at them at this open evening event at Herstmonceux’s Oservatory Science Centre. the-observatory.org 14. West Dean Chilli Festival, Fri 7 – Sun 9 Aug Sussex hosts the UK’s largest chilli festival with 150 stallholders selling plants, seeds and sauces – as well as beer and ice cream to soothe the inevitable hot tongue. Check out this month’s food pages for top chilli recipes. westdean.org.uk 15. International Guitar Festival, Sun 15 – Wed 19 Aug West Dean College hosts an open day full of guitar concerts.

Expect super recitals, exhibitions, masterclasses and stalls. westdean.org.uk 16. Arundel Festival, Sat 22 – Mon 31 Aug Arundel comes alive with a vibrant mix of music, arts, drama and street entertainment. There really is something for everyone here. arundelfestival.co.uk

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IMAGES: 11. EASTBOURNE AIRBOURNE: MARK JARVIS. 12. CHILLED IN A FIELD: RACHEL OTTERWAY. 14. WEST DEAN CHILLI FESTIVAL: WEST DEAN COLLEGE. 17. ART WORK BY JESSICA ZOOB, IMAGE SUPPLIED BY LEWES ARTWAVE

eastbourneairshow.com

17. Lewes Artwave, Sat 22 Aug- Sun 6 Sep A showcase of Lewes’ finest artwork by experts and novices. Stroll through small rural studios and large galleries, and buy directly from the artists. artwavefestival.org

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sussex events

A little further afield…

Inside and outside, we’ve got it covered 1. David Byrne’s Meltdown, Southbank Centre, London, 4 July – 4 Oct The Oscar, Golden Globe, Obie and Drama Desk awardwinning musician known for his eclectic collaborations, and as co-founder of seminal new wave band Talking Heads, curates the 22nd Meltdown. southbankcentre.co.uk

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2. Buckingham Palace summer opening, London, until 27 Sep Last year Buckingham Palce welcomed more than 62,000 guests to garden parties, State visits, receptions and investitures.

Now it’s your turn to take a tour of the magnificent State rooms. royalcollection.org.uk

3. Cowes Week, Isle of Wight, 8-12 July With 40 daily races, up to 1,000 boats and 8,000 daily visitors, this is one of the longest-running regattas in the world.

4. Baypoint Festival, Kent, 29-30 Aug This annual festival is located just a stone’s throw away from East Kent’s sandy beaches. Over 70 artists will be providing the soundtrack for what promises to be a very memorable weekend.

To list your event email info@greenduckmedia.co.uk

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BUCKINGHAM PALACE: PETE SPIRO/SHUTTERSTOCK

cowes.co.uk

Red Arrows Skyhawk A•T Atomic Clock Synchronisation World Time in 43 cities

citizenwatch.co.uk

citizenwatch.co.uk

©2015 Citizen Watch Company The RAF Red Arrows logotype is a trademark of the UK Secretary of State for Defence and is used under license.

Royal Air Force, Red Arrows

Inspired by Brufords, Arndale Centre, Eastbourne, BN21 3NW. 01323 410264 www.inspiredbybrufords.com AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 19

brighton mums

A full-time school mum

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IMAGE CREDIT: BIKERIDERLONDON/SHUTTERSTOCK

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But it wasn’t as simple as waving goodbye at ussex-based Jess, Nancy and THIS SEPTEMBER 9am, then collecting at 3pm. “My youngest had Claire are typical mums playing the work/life tug-of-war. With CLAIRE JONES-HUGHES FROM a very long settling-in period of random halfhour sessions. She had been attending pre-school fingers stuffed in several pies BRIGHTONMUMS.COM half-time for a full year, and was well prepared (work, study, volunteering), they SENDS THE LAST OF HER for school. I tried to insist on her going full-time are constantly trying to find a way BROOD TO SCHOOL. WHAT from day one, but was refused.” of life where family fits with projects important IT’S LIKE TO HAVE A Hove mum, Claire Cornthwaite, also had to their self-development – and bank balance.

WEEKDAY EMPTY NEST? to manage a long settling-in period when her “When my eldest had just started reception youngest child started school. Self-employed and I still had my youngest at nursery parttime, I ambitiously tried to start up a band (an echo from the pre-mum as a hypnobirthing practitioner, she kept her business going while her days), but found it too difficult (and expensive) to juggle,” says Jess daughter was in reception, to allow herself better availability for the Plant, a part-time NHS administrator who also runs her own charitable split school runs between her eldest and youngest daughters. She also completed some part-time courses. “This gave me the introduction to children’s organisation called Monday’s Child, with two other mums.

So when her youngest started school, she attempted to spread study before I embarked on my university degree,” she tells me, “plus I herself sensibly across the new pattern of hours. “My original plan was could support my youngest as she was introduced to full-time education. to stay part-time at the NHS and have the rest of the week to myself (I She had only ever been in childcare mornings so it was a big change for know – crazy talk.) However, the charity happened, so one day is now us both.” Her strategy paid off and now she’s comfortably studying fullvoluntarily spent working with children and many of my evenings are time for a BA (Hons) in Education. “I would never have been able to spent lesson planning and doing related admin for that.” So this means partake in teacher training while my children were younger due to the she immediately filled up the time freed by both daughters being at hours I need to be in lectures and in placements.”

But before I sign up for winter term at the Open University to school and then some? “Yes. Insanity, pure and simple,” she admits.

Like many mothers, Nancy Carter from Portslade, ran her own complete a Masters, what would our Sussex mums advise other mums business when the children were small so she could flex her hours rather moving into this phase of parenthood?

“Whatever you use this time to do, look at this as a new chapter,” than deal with complex childcare arrangements. When her youngest daughter started school last year, she took on a new challenge as advises Jess. Nancy warns, “Even if you’re lucky enough to have a day communications officer at Sussex University, five minutes’ drive from ‘off’, don’t assume you’ll have loads of time. Spend it wisely.” Jess adds, the school. “I couldn’t wait to get into work with grown-ups,” she “You never know, you might even find some of the ‘old’ you buried underneath that big ol’ layer of ‘mum’.” I look forward to meeting her. enthusiastically explains.

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school gate confidential

The family holiday fib

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IMAGE CREDIT: SUNNY STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK

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crafts, sports and games. Great idea, except when hen a mum is asked if some parents over-use it. A friend of mine told the family had a good me that at her resort in Portugal last summer, the time on holiday, the WHEN A SCHOOL GATE answer will rarely be, PARENT CROWS ABOUT A pool area was a like a scene from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, not a child in sight. “We were one “It was more trouble FABULOUS FAMILY HOLIDAY, of the only families that appeared to spend than it’s worth.” She IT’S A LIE. A TRIP DURING significant time together,” she said. “I saw one wants to perpetuate the myth that splurging all SUMMER BREAK IS mum put her headphones on and sink into her that hard-earned cash was a good investment. book when her kid was heading in the direction The annual pilgrimage to spend quality USUALLY EXPENSIVE, time together over an obligatory two-week CHAOTIC AND STRESSFUL of her sunbed!” She felt that the families were experiencing two completely different holidays period always starts with good intentions but rarely lives up to expectations. Because across the academic year, amidst at the same location. What is the point of that?

Which is maybe why families turn to camping holidays. Aside from the cycle of school drop-offs, clubs and activities, those two weeks away together comprise the most time you’ve spent with each other. It’s the budgetary advantages (14 nights at a campsite doesn’t cost half a round-the-clock parenting, nuanced hourly with whinges, sibling fights, year’s worth of mortgage payments), from my unscientific gathering mealtime dramas and declarations of boredom. The children’s need to of parents’ anecdotal experiences, kids amuse themselves better. Many be constantly amused and monitored obliterates any time parents think campsites are spacious, allowing the kids freedom to roam in plain sight.

Campsites have a lot of rules, which mostly exclude large groups of they will get to themselves to read a book or absorb some local culture.

Perhaps mums lie because there’s an element of not wanting to fail at youngsters, so generally you’re safe from idiots. But not from camping broadening their children’s horizons. There’s nothing more intimidating snobs. They lug every gadget money can buy in a family wagon with a than a picture of Victoria Beckham, on some beach, looking healthy and trailer or roof rack. Their tent is twice the required size, and they fill it fabulous, surrounded by her kids. Clearly all mums would achieve great with tent furniture: wardrobes, kitchens, inflatable sofas. I kid you not.

On a camping trip last year our children made friends with the kids things on a family trip with a one-percenter’s budget.

And some middle-class mums clearly do have a budget for holiday from the neighbouring pitch. They were caravan people, the worst kind help. I was recently both alarmed and impressed at a couple of mums who of holiday snob in my view. They invited us over for drinks one evening. posted a Facebook status seeking to add someone to their Glastonbury I foolishly asked about their beloved van. We got the guided tour and a entourage purely to look after the children. “Looking for someone to commentary that seemed to last all night. Their van had all mod cons, come with us and babysit during the evenings, we will pay the going rate, a bathroom with a shower, a flat-screen television, a coffee maker and elaborate sun loungers, “because we have the space in the van, you see” – provide ticket, food and accommodation,” one of them pleaded.

A less expensive option for parents to get some “me-time” on the clearly a dig at our tightly packed vehicle with a roof box. We did smugly family holiday is to book somewhere with a resort-run kids’ club. They observe that each night they would silently eat their dinner around the deposit their children from as early as 8am in some locations for a day of flat-screen TV, watching soaps. So just like home. But in a field.

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mum on the run

Storm of the teeth

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IMAGE CREDIT: RADHARANI/SHUTTERSTOCK

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trick if there is one that just won’t fall out). We s a new parent, the weight on A PARENT’S DUTIES ARE duly wrapped the unattractive item in tissue and your shoulders is immense.

ENDLESS, SAYS placed it under his pillow. Excitement had not I remember the sudden LAURA JANDAC, AS SHE been at this height since Christmas Eve. realisation I was now the PREPARES TO BECOME I gave it a couple of hours, then went upstairs only thing standing between TOOTH FAIRY armed with the cash and tried to get my hand my son and certain death. under the pillow. Uh-oh. Movement. I stepped I had to keep him alive, fed, watered, warm and safe. I was his everything. This didn’t come completely naturally at back, gave it a minute then went in again. Eyes wide open, “Hello first. While still in the hospital, he was giving his lungs a workout, so Mummy.” Abort mission. Pretending to give him a goodnight kiss, I a midwife offered to take him off my hands. 15 minutes later he was retreated and thought I would wait until I went to bed. Good plan... if returned, swaddled up to his eyeballs, deep in sleep. In awe and keen to you remember.

The following morning I was woken by a distraught boy telling me learn, I asked what she’d done. “Fed him,” she replied. Wow I thought. that the Tooth Fairy hadn’t come. He was beside himself. I had gone to Top tip.

As time goes on you relax a little. Pressures are still there but they are bed knackered, as always, and completely forgotten. My husband had constantly changing. My son is now six and my role is that of listener, done the late-night check, so I had blissfully drifted off to sleep unaware adviser and chef. I need to give him advice on tactics in the playground of the carnage I was going to wake up to.

Quick thinking was needed. I looked at the clock. 6.30am – earlier and on why girls say what they say, and to provide healthy and nutritious meals at the drop of a hat when there’s nothing in the fridge. Not too than normal. Mmm. I explained that maybe he had got out of bed too early for the Tooth Fairy. She is probably running late. Perhaps if he went much to trip me up at this stage. Or so I thought.

There is, however, a new role that has landed in my lap that I clearly back to bed she would come. Unapologetic for turning the situation around so it was now the fault of a six-year-old, I tucked him back into wasn’t prepared for. The job of the Tooth Fairy.

When children start to lose teeth, those teeth drop out on virtually a bed and in the style of Paul Daniels swapped the tissue for the money.

Half an hour or so later an ecstatic child came running in clutching daily basis. They go from a full set on Monday to a gappy mess by Friday, often shedding two at a time. The going rate is now £1 per tooth, so his first £1. Relief was etched all over his face (and mine.)

I was saved this time, but wonder what my next responsibility get saving. Such is the value of a full set of gnashers, I am surprised that will look like. Is it OK for the Tooth Fairy to run late? What if Father children aren’t being mugged for them in the playground.

My son lost his first one to a large piece of corn on the cob (a handy Christmas got lost or the Easter Bunny was on a diet? It could happen.

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dan raven

Nuke ‘em all

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IMAGE CREDIT: BUCYFON/SHUTTERSTOCK

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much has changed, but we live underwater”) e couldn’t move for mushroom clouds in HYSTERIA ABOUT NUCLEAR might yet prove horrifically accurate.

Before I go any further on the subject of the 1980s. Whether WAR DEFINED THE 1980S. environmental catastrophe, though, let me just you were a CND OUR FEARS WERE NEVER say, “Oh God, you’re probably right, sorry I took activist preparing a REALISED – BUT, WARNS the p**s” – because I don’t doubt that, sooner pamphlet about just DAN RAVEN, THE WORST or later, we lousy human parasites will end up how thick Ronald Reagan was, or a rightCOULD YET BE TO COME draining this delightful clod on which we find wing tabloid journo trying to warn the nation ourselves of all its beauty and strength. But come that the Russians wanted to steal away our precious adverts, the solution was clear: whack a picture of a dirty great on, look around you – not quite at the ark-building stage just yet, are mushroom cloud on it and let your readers’ panic-stricken imaginations we? I’m not saying that the sea levels aren’t rising, but even David bloody do the rest. It even became a running joke among underground comic Attenborough will tell you that it’s happening at a rate of something like artists to randomly insert a mushroom cloud image as the final panel a quarter of a bloody centimetre a year. Is that honestly scarier than the of any story they would otherwise have been unable to think of a half- prospect of being summarily vaporised like a death-row Klingon without decent ending for (usually accompanied by some cute caption along the a moment’s warning – and, if not, are you completely sure it’s something lines of “OH NO – NUCLEAR WAR!”). Although this was clearly just you should be trying to give your children sleepless nights about?

Far be it from me to engage in a futile my-childhood-was-scarierthe result of drug-induced laziness on their part, it really seemed to sum up the bleak surrealism of the situation: the panels of your life might well than-yours feud (look for me on Twitter – I won’t be there), but I do think be proceeding in an orderly sequence, but at any time – at any second it’s a bit weird that we seem to have forgotten about nuclear weapons.

– there could be a blinding flash of white light that prevented you and Because they are still being produced, and the Internet makes it likelier than ever that they will eventually fall into the hands of someone who everything you’d ever known or heard about from existing any more.

From the perspective of we clever folk living here in the 21st century, doesn’t necessarily have global security in mind. There’s a reason why all this panic now looks faintly absurd; it’s almost obvious to us now that that twinge you feel about Iran is only a vague one: deep down, we all nuclear war was never going to happen, if only because we can see, with sense that this is just posturing from a backward regime that wants to hindsight, that neither Russia nor America was being ruled by a suicidal present itself as some sort of global playa. But what about ISIS, eh? How maniac at that particular time. We may still experience the odd vague long will it be before some talented young nuclear scientist joins those twinge of terror about Iran, but for the most part it seems we’d all much jihadi brides in the race to cross the Turkish border – and how many rather worry that Busted’s sage prediction about the year 3000 (“Not genuinely suicidal maniacs will be waiting for them on the other side?

C o o l e r s , G l a s s R a n g e , P l a s ti c R a n g e

food

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I

t was hard to be veggie in the 1980s. Vegetarian options on menus were rare and there were few of the now familiar Italian eateries serving pasta and pizza.

But there was Cranks (now defunct), a great cafe and so-called because that is how veggies were then regarded. And then there was Food For Thought. Most lunchtimes back then would find me queuing outside this low-key, laid-back, hippy-ish veggie restaurant/takeaway in otherwise chic Neal Street, Covent Garden.

I went back recently and they were still serving their cheap, steaming bowlfuls of stuff like Kashmiri cauliflower dhal or stir-fried vegetables in tamari and ginger sauce, followed by solid slabs of flapjack, washed down with tap water in school canteen glasses. It was just the same – diners squashed in cheek by jowl at shared tables in the cramped cellar eating space, all elbows and Oops, Sorry smiles.

But as I write this, Food For Thought is opening for its last day. And I am in mourning. Mourning the loss of a foodie institution that was not only a significant part of my life in the Eighties, but influenced my eating preferences to this day. It’s the end of the foodie world as I know it.

Will we see its like again? A notice on their website says: “For more than 40 years Food for Thought has withstood the corporate march, refusing to be processed, packaged or pocketed. For as long as was viable we have remained resolutely independent, offering food that is unashamedly home-spun and handmade and providing a place to work

that is a celebration of the individual and the spontaneous. We have no appetite for any other Food for Thought... We have enjoyed cooking beans, but there is no fun when the entire focus is on counting them.

To continue in Neal Street would require compromising the principles on which it has been run.”

What has this to do with Sussex? There’s a local connection.

Brighton’s landmark veggie restaurant Food For Friends was established in 1981 by Simon Hope, formerly of Food for Thought. Since 2004 it’s been run by Ramin and Jane Mostowfi, who brought it up to date with a more gourmet ethos. A sign of the times. Veggie is now not only mainsteam, but fashionable.

I get that. Even Simon Hope has reinvented himself as part-owner of a gastropub – The Crabtree in Lower Beeding – albeit one with good veggie dishes. (Moroccan aubergine, anyone?) But there’s a bigger story here. I still hanker after the affordable, quirky and innovative establishment now in danger of getting priced out by high rents and business rates, and being replaced by a landscape of bland brands. What’s happening in London, pushing all the interesting stuff out, could happen in Sussex. (I’m thinking of you, Brighton.) Foodie creatives are already adapting. This food scene is kept going via supper clubs (check out Sussex Style’s own Sam Bilton), pop-ups and street stalls. All very imaginative. But impermanent. You have to be in the know to find where it’s happening. Food For Thought was accessible to everyone. And not just a load of old lentils.

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IMAGE CREDIT: OKSANA ALEKSEEVA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Does the loss of a foodie institution mean the death knell for other quirky independents?

Emma Caulton is concerned

W E L O V E .. .

The sleek contrast of our Suffolk kitchen painted in Charcoal with Elcot tiles in Salt, and our Littleton wicker basket Neptune Hailsham, BN27 1DQ, 01323 849 483, info@neptunehailsham.com

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Denise Black: “The future’s unknown, but I want to fill it with as many exciting and chellenging projects as possible”

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Denise Black

FROM ROCK BAND TO CUCUMBER

IMAGE: RUTH CRAFER

Brighton resident Denise Black is one of the country’s best loved actresses. She talks to Alex Hopkins about soaps, Queer as Folk and playing dark, mysterious women “Fun” is a word that Denise Black uses a lot. And indeed so much about the actor – who has recently returned to screens as Joanie Wright in ITV’s Emmerdale – radiates a sense of enjoyment. She’s gregarious, relaxed and repeatedly bursts into a full-bodied laugh as we talk about her TV roles, which have included Bad Girls, The Bill, Casualty, Coronation Street and, most recently, Benidorm.

Black is clearly relishing the revival of single grandma Joanie. “She’s lost all her money and been taken in by the Dingle family,” she explains. “Her tendrils are already going out. Trapped by the Dingles!” she laughs. “We’ll have to see what happens next.”

Emmerdale is Black’s second soap. She first took ITV by storm between 1992 and 1996 (with a return in 2007) as hairdresser Denise Osbourne in Coronation Street.

“That was huge fun,” she says. “I got lucky. The producer said there were two ways of introducing a character. You never know which is going to work.

One of them is wham-bam and you fill the screen with that person. The other is to softly sneak them into the community. Denise went wham-bam – and then got involved with Ken Barlow which, of course, was another wham-bam!”

It’s hard to imagine anyone sneaking Black into a TV series. Bursting with charisma, she has genuine presence. Yet perhaps Black’s most important role to

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IMAGES: ARISTO: CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE. ROBIN HOOD: BBC

Left: in Aristo at Chichester Festival Theatre, pictured with Robin Soans. Right: in Robin Hood, filmed in the Czech Republic.

date – Hazel, the mother of a gay teenager, in 1999’s groundbreaking Queer as Folk – began relatively quietly.

“Hazel was only written into the first two episodes when I started,” Black recalls. “There wasn’t much of her then. We were discussing where she would go. I remember arriving to meet Russell [T Davies, the writer] with purple hair after he sent me the script. I loved her straight away.

“It was quite tense at first. I think we knew we were doing something ground-breaking. There was a fair amount of pressure on everybody, but least of all Hazel as she was kind of fun. In the second half things relaxed a lot. When it first went out nobody made much of a fuss. It went a bit silent, but as the years have gone on we’ve seen how people felt so much affection for it. Now it’s recognised for what it is: a really fab series.”

At a time when it was more difficult for young gay men to come out to their parents, Black’s fierce, exuberant performance as the accepting mother to 15-year-old Nathan Maloney broke boundaries.

“I think there was acceptance amongst people, but not so much in the media,” Black muses. “It was unspoken and the series outed it into popular culture.”

This year Black returned as Hazel in Russell T Davies’ follow up to Queer as Folk, Cucumber, a series looking at the lives of mature gay men in Manchester. She jumped at the opportunity.

“I was filming Benidorm when Russell contacted me. His emails always begin with ‘Darling!’ I read the script on the spot and replied ‘Oh, yes please.’”

The violent conclusion to Cucumber – in which Lance, one of the main characters, is beheaded with a golf stick by closeted gay man Daniel – shocked audiences and critics. Hazel appears as a ghost, for just 10-minutes, to warn Lance not to go home with Daniel. It’s a chilling yet deeply tender moment and Black’s performance is mesmerising.

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“It’s perfectly written,” she says. “Although I have to say that when I saw it I was so stunned at how it looked that I almost forgot I was in it.

It was so beautifully visualised.

“Russell wanted it to work for people who hadn’t seen Queer as Folk and didn’t know who Hazel was. She was just supposed to be some woman who was able to see things in the future and be there for you.

Like a guardian angel. It’s funny because I used to say that Hazel was my guardian angel. She was such fun to play and have around in my life.”

Now 57, Black has had an eclectic career. Born in Hampshire, she studied Psychology at university and decided that she wanted to act while travelling in Gibraltar and the West Indies after she’d graduated.

She started making a name for herself in the 1980s as a stage actress, appearing with Josie Lawrence and Kate McKenzie at the Newcastle Playhouse in La Pasionaria. The three young women formed a group called Denise Black and the Kray Sisters, which Black describes as a “harmony group”. They spent three years solidly touring. Black’s little known love for music would see her going on to form a rock band with a 1960s feel. She played festivals until she became too busy with TV work, and then at age 50 she began to write her own songs. Now she says all she does by way of music is play her autoharp, but she doesn’t rule out a return to music in the future.

The Eighties was also filled with a variety of theatre and TV work.

She appeared in Oldham Coliseum’s The Threepenny Opera and through her friendship with Josie Lawrence on the Channel 4 shows Saturday Live and Josie. Everything from Chekhov to The Calendar Girls and Shakespeare followed. Does she prefer theatre or television, I ask.

“The thing about live work is that if someone comes to that gig they forever more know you can do that other thing. You make friends with those people. I really liked it – travelling up and down the country

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Left: Denise Black in To The Ends Of The Earth, filmed in South Africa, seen here with Sam Neill / BBC. Right: Denise Black as Joanie Wright in ITV’s Emmerdale.

gained her Equity card in 1980: straight theatre, rock band, TV and even a stint touring as Mother Superior in the hugely successful Sister Act. Buoyant and focused, she’s embraced each opportunity. Looking back now, has her career gone in the direction that she expected? Does she find herself content?

“No darling! I’m entirely frustrated and am desperately hoping one day soon to make it.” She lets out another laugh, but this time there’s an edge to her voice that suggests she is serious.

“Really?” I press.

She laughs again.

“Nothing has changed really, except I’m older. The future’s unknown, but I want to fill it with as many exciting and challenging projects as possible. I’d love to do more film – I’ve only done one. I’d love to do a sitcom. I could go on. Let’s see what comes up next.”

Denise Black tells us about her favourite Sussex spots:

“I wanted to move to Brighton for a long time and finally got here 10 years ago. I absolutely love it.

“I adore Sheepcote Valley in the Downs. It has the most amazing vistas. I’m also at Brighton Marina a lot. Café Rouge is a favourite.

“The Chilli Pickle Indian restaurant is the best by miles. Their food is laced with love. It’s divine.

“The café at Emmaus in Portslade is very special. Emmaus provide community housing for people who have been homeless. There’s a wonderful emporium full of antiques. The café is in an old convent. It’s so tranquil.

“The fish market in Shoreham is superb. The best place to get fresh fish and perfect for me because I love cooking. So I suppose my absolute favourite place is home.”

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IMAGES: TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH: BBC. EMMERDALE: ITV

and meeting new people. That’s exciting in itself.” And what about the challenges of each medium?

“Oh, they’re incredibly different,” she says. “At this moment I’m back on telly and have got a nice settled flat in Brighton. I clock into work and Emmerdale guzzles stories. But you have to be disciplined. It’s a long working week.”

The TV work began in 1990, when Black was cast as a prostitute in Casualty. She lets out a roar of laughter when I mention it.

“I found it on the net. I’m not sure it’s there because of the quality of my acting. I think it’s more because it’s a stocking site.”

A what site?

“You know, for people who watch stockings as opposed to performances!”

Both Denise Osbourne in Coronation Street and Joanie Wright in Emmerdale are strong, independent women. Does Black feel that she has always been cast in these type of roles? Is she attracted to such characters?

“It’s a funny one, isn’t it? What you need as an actor is an arena.

I’d done Casualty and The Bill and was playing a murderess in an 18th century Newport jail in a play called The Art of Success when I got the call from Granada for Coronation Street. I went for a casting and on the way out the woman said, ‘Dark and mysterious women,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got a niche now: I’ll be playing dark and mysterious women.’

I’m not quite sure that is my niche anymore – it changes as you grow older, but at least it gives you some work. From there a character defines you and it’s a strange, uncontrollable kind of a journey. You’re not in charge of it and with luck somebody who is reading a script and needs to do some casting thinks, ‘Denise may be good in this part,’ and then hopefully you get it. That’s how it works.”

Denise Black’s career has taken many unexpected turns since she

culture

Blow

IMAGES: SPECULAR

Isabella Blow was one of the most influential and fascinating figures in fashion.

Tracy-Ann Oberman, who played her on stage, pays tribute

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I

once saw the great Kevin Bacon being interviewed about his career; both the highs and lows. He was very honest about not only his own career but also the trajectory of actors in general. “Hey man,” he levelled about acting jobs, “It’s one for the meal and one for the reel.”

I loved that expression because it perfectly sums up the position that most actors find themselves in at some time or other – sometimes a job ticks the financial box, sometimes the prestige one; and sometimes a role comes along that just personally resonates and excites the imagination.

Earlier this year I was sent a script of a new play by James Phillips about designer Alexander McQueen and asked if I would like to play the part of his friend and mentor Isabella Blow. The producers weren’t sure if I knew much about her; would I like some background material sent over? No need! I knew a lot about style icon Issie Blow – she was one of those figures who had hovered over fashion and media (in her outlandish outfits, Philip Treacy hats and blood-red lipstick) for most of my formative years, and she had always fascinated me. Here was an opportunity to immerse myself in a character and find a way of becoming her.

The wonderful Stephen Wight had been cast as Lee “Alexander” McQueen and after a brutal haircut proved to look the image of the man he was playing. I on the other hand, with my long mane of blond thick hair and statuesque curvy figure, didn’t come close to resembling tiny Isabella, with her large pale blue eyes, dark cropped bob and self-described “combine harvester teeth”.

Stephen and I had a long coffee–break chat on the first day of rehearsal, about the enormous responsibility we both felt about honouring these two British style legends and preserving their memory. We were acutely aware that both “Lee” and “Issie” (to their friends, although Issie NEVER called Lee by his first name, only Alexander, because “it made him sound... more”) had passed over as a result of shock suicides. Issie in 2007 when, after a number of flawed attempts, she finally did take her own life in a slow and painful manner, drinking an enormous dose of weed killer. Lee, already suffering from depression, took Issie’s death incredibly hard. He was inconsolable. The further loss of his beloved mother to cancer shortly after plunged him into despair. He hung himself with his own belt the night before his mother’s funeral, three years after Issie’s passing. The fashion and art worlds were rocked to the core.

Each of them left a huge footprint on the world.

Lee by the sheer breadth, scope, and brilliance of his designs, tailoring and runway “art” shows. Issie through her style, vivacity, ability to discover and promote talent, and sheer presence.

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IMAGES: SPECULAR

“Issie’s love for her Alexander [McQueen] remained with her until her dying day, despite the complications and the disappointments that friendship also brought”

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But how did I go about approaching playing this woman, much loved and much remembered. As an actor I am acutely aware that I am not an impressionist.

I knew my job was not to make people leave the theatre marvelling at what a brilliant facsimile copy of the woman I had managed to achieve on stage. I felt that my job was to find the essence of the woman, a certain truth; a version of Isabella Blow necessarily filtered through my own interpretation, but a truthful interpretation none the less. show and bombarded the young student with calls at There is surprisingly very little film footage of Issie his mother’s house, until he finally gave in and met out there on the web, so much of my research was her. She promptly bought every single piece in his first through reading everything I could get my hands on collection, in instalments over two years. She glimpsed and listening to what other people had to say about her. a young Sophie Dahl crying on the steps outside her Weirdly, people whom I had been house one wet afternoon and persuaded her to become friends with for years turned out a model. She instigated the careers of Julien Macdonald, at Tatler, it was only Isabella who would to have known Issie well. One of Stella Tennant and many more. She was style and drama come up every morning and ask her how the mums at my daughter’s school, personified. “I cannot even speak to someone who does she was. Kindness was her watchword. A whom I adored as a fabulous not wear lipstick,” she would declare. “I feel naked very established designer sat with me in the Yummy Mummy, turned out to without a hat”. bar after a performance, once the play was have been a major part of Lee and I fell in love with Issie. Who gave so much and yet up and running, and told me how Issie had Issie’s world and had spent many often felt so let down and betrayed by her “discoveries”. come up to him at a club one day and said, weekends at Isabella’s marital She enabled them to have a career and to monetise “Well, you’re the most interesting person country estate, Hilles. Another their creativity. Yet she was unable to monetise her own in the room, tell me all about yourself and friend had been at college with particular skill. She was able to build up those she loved how I can help you.”

Lee, and early on in his career, as but was unable to build up herself.

Born Isabella Delves Broughton, she a wannabe young designer, had What I discovered through playing Issie every night was the eldest child of Major Sir Evelyn briefly felt the laser of Issie’s piqued in my black bob, fabulous hats and blood-red lipstick Delves Broughton, a military officer, and interest when she invited him in was a woman who loved life, who loved people, who his second wife, Helen. Issie knew what it for a coffee at her office at Vogue. loved fashion and all who sailed in her, yet was bitterly was to belong to Britain’s highest echelons, Many people told me about her disappointed that by the age of 48 it didn’t seem to yet be part of a family with scandal behind laughter, her need to be centre love her back. Her love for her Alexander remained with it and no money in front of it. She also stage, her passion for anyone and her until her dying day despite the complications and had the life-changing childhood trauma of anything she believed in. And her disspointments that friendship also brought. being the only other person present when warmth. One friend told me that In the play, Issie returns as a ghost and we found her toddler brother drowned in the family when she was a young journalist, (the writer, director and I), that in this fictional version, pond. Tragedy and fear of poverty dogged and effectively an ignored tea girl she had come to terms with herself and her sadnesses.

Issie her whole life. With no financial She was at peace, and it was a little like an anti-Marley’s assistance, she made her own way through ghost had come to visit her Alexander, to show him charisma and force of will. In the 1980s, that perhaps, whilst his death was inevitability, he must she became Anna Wintour’s right-hand choose to live life and live every day to the full. She woman at Vogue, New York. Whilst chaotic certainly did. at keeping budgets and paperwork in check (a flaw that would impact negatively in the McQueen will transfer to the Theatre Royal years to come), she was stylishly flamboyant Haymarket from 13 Aug to 7 Nov. and well-connected, with an enviable eye for upcoming talent. She became part of Warhol’s entourage for a while and close to the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Issie had buckets of charm. She would lose high-profile job after high-profile job (Tatler, Sunday Times Style, Vogue UK) through sheer erraticism. But without her there would be fewer great British fashion icons. She championed Philip Treacy before he had even graduated, asking him to design her wedding headwear; she sat on the floor at Alexander’s graduation

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culture

David Bennun explores how music both shaped and reflected society, culture and politics in the Eighties

T

here was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.” Hunter S Thompson wrote that in 1971, in what is generally considered his masterpiece, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He was looking back at the 1960s, with poetic and somewhat forlorn acknowledgement of how everything he felt it represented had come to naught.

“We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . .

“So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark – that place where the wave finally

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broke and rolled back.”

It’s a beautiful and justly famous passage, and much of its resonance lies in the way it rings true for anybody who has seen their own time of hope and wonder surge up and fall away. It could also, for instance, apply – not in its details, but in its spirit – to the 1980s.

On the face of it, it’s hard to think of two decades less alike in any way you care to mention. We think of the Sixties as freewheeling, bright, exuberant, revolutionary, messy; the Eighties, as sleek, glossy, conformist, materialistic, politically and socially regressive. But, as ever with the past, we know what we receive, what has been handed down to us. A story that has some truth, but is never quite the whole truth; seldom even close.

BACKGROUND IMAGES: SWILL KLITCH/SHUTTERSTOCK. DONATAS1205/SHUTTERSTOCK.

“SWEET DREAMS

(ARE MADE OF THIS)”

There was no one “Eighties” – things are seldom so tidy – but in Britain at least, we can narrow it down to two. One in which the wave surged up; one in which it fell away. In politics, in popular culture, in counter-culture, in the sense of resistance to a new order (not to be confused with New Order themselves; we’ll get to them), the Eighties divides surprisingly neatly into its two halves. And the moment at which the waves breaks and rolls back is one we can locate almost perfectly at the mid-point of the decade: Live Aid. It’s now 30 years since that mammoth event, intended and still thought of benignly. But both in terms of its immediate impact and its legacy, it was a mixed blessing. It raised a large amount of urgently needed money. One cannot put the lives saved by that money onto

a notional balance sheet; that was a good in and of itself, and stands independently of other considerations. But one may look separately at Live Aid’s other effects and ask if they were less than beneficial.

The first and most obvious thing Live Aid did was to change popular music. Not just in terms of how it looked and sounded, although it would do that too, but in a less obvious fashion: in the perception of what it was for.

My favourite club night in Brighton – perhaps anywhere – is called Spellbound. It has been co-run for some years out of the basement of the Komedia by a friend and fellow music writer, Simon Price, who devised its slogan: “The Eighties Night For People Who Hate Eighties Nights.” The Eighties nights those people hate are

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The Douglas Stannus Gray Studio Collection Born in Clapham in 1890, Stannus Gray was accepted by the Royal Academy in 1908, where he was a favourite pupil of John Singer Sargent.

Growing up in the last years of Queen Victoria and the ‘Long Edwardian summer’ before the First World War, Gray was not swept along with modernism like his contemporaries Hitchens, Brockhurst and Nevinson, but was more influenced by the likes of Forbes, Lavery and Sargent, all of whom taught or exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy.

In 1914 Gray was enlisted in the 2nd London Regiment, and his life was jettisoned into the horror of the trenches. On his return to civilian life, he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1920 with a work entitled ‘Trench Casualty, Flanders 1918’. Thereafter he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

In 1925, on a trip to the South of France, he met and fell in love with Miss Kathleen Chambers of Lincoln, who featured in many of his paintings during a lean period in his finances when he could not afford to pay models. They married after a six year engagement in November 1931, and his daughter Virginia was born in 1933.

Figure Painting Outdoors Estimate £1,000-1,500

Gray was elected to the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1926, and to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1933. In his later life his health suffered increasingly, but he continued to paint with the assistance of his daughter until his death in1959. His obituary in The Times praised his skill and stature as a portraitist, continuing the tradition of Sargent in style and technique.

The collection includes portraits, self-portraits, interiors of both his Clapham and Sussex homes, garden scenes, still life works, and a large and splendid view of Lewes Crescent in Brighton. It is being sold at 2pm on Wednesday 9th September and is on view from midday on Friday 4th September

Portrait of Kathleen Chambers Estimate £3,000-5,000

www.bellmans.co.uk • enquiries@bellmans.co.uk • 01403 700858 Newpound, Wisborough Green, West Sussex, RH14 0AZ

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familiar enough – they are the nights which recall the decade in its most shallow and tawdry form, as something of a cheap joke.

Spellbound, conversely, treats the Eighties as a British pop-cultural pinnacle. Most of the music played is British – not, I suspect by design, but simply because there was such as astonishing amount of great pop created in the country at the time – and very little of it post-dates Live Aid. Price is clear on why. His “Eighties” is one that runs from the appearance of Tubeway Army on Top of the Pops in the summer of 1979 and all but ends in 1985. It takes in Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees (from whose song the club’s name is drawn), The Cure, The Smiths, Magazine, Duran Duran, Adam And The Ants, Kate Bush, Soft Cell, Killing Joke, PIL, Japan, Depeche Mode, New Order... and that’s not the half of it. When you look at that diverse roster of great bands – spanning post-punk, electro, proto-

industrial, Goth, Indie, art pop – and consider most of them were chart regulars, it reminds you what an extraordinary time this was for UK pop music. Only 20 years previously, in the mid-1960s, had it been simultaneously so experimental, so globally influential and so exciting – and if anything, the first half of the Eighties transcended that period for the sheer variety and quantity of imaginative ideas coming down the pipe.

More than that, the counter-cultural spirit which animated so much of what appeared in the charts was reflected in politics and discourse. Margaret Thatcher was in power, but she was far from unopposed, both in the political classes and across the country as a whole. Today’s rather feeble political consensus – not just that the argument is over, but that there really is no argument to be had in the first place, and that free-market conservatism of some stripe is the only possible ideology of government – was unthinkable in the

IMAGE CREDIT: DONATAS1205/SHUTTERSTOCK.

“In politics, in popular culture, in counter-culture, in the sense of resistance to a new order, the Eighties divides neatly into two halves”

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“When you consider that most of its diverse roster of great bands were chart regulars, it reminds you what an extraordinary time this was for UK pop music”

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EURYTHMICS One of the odder footnotes to this account of the Eighties concerns Eurythmics, whose career almost perfectly parallels the course of the decade. In 1983 they broke through as an electro duo with the hit Sweet Dreams, a record which in its originality, soulful severity, whiplash immediacy and sheer uncanniness was entirely and brilliantly of its moment. With the album of the same title, and the follow-up, Touch, they established themselves as one of those acts which the Eighties produced in miraculous abundance: both artistically invigorating and commercially successful, not so much bridging the gap between the two as finding it unnecessary even to acknowledge there might be one.

Yet by 1985 they had morphed into a full, guitarheavy group – one that would have suited Live Aid very well, had their scheduled appearance not been cancelled owing to a throat problem suffered by Annie Lennox. Of their subsequent five albums, four were plodding and ever more grandiose affairs – and one, their masterpiece, Savage, was a wonderful anomaly, an electronic record powered by cold fury and a relentless spirit of invention. No other group managed to represent both sides of the Eighties so completely.

EURYTHMICS IMAGE: FEATUREFLASH/SHUTTERSTOCK. VINYL IMAGE: BEGA/SHUTTERSTOCK

era of the miners’ strike. Then, there was still a clear philosophical choice, there were still battles to be fought and there were still plenty of people willing to fight them.

It would be absurd to say Live Aid changed that. Its effect on pop was one thing – it was a major catalyst for what one might call the stadiumification of pop music. Everything that was small, leftfield, subtle, eerie and eccentric would be swept away by it, and replaced with clumping giants such as U2 and the Eighties marque of Queen. Live Aid somehow did to popular culture the reverse of what the asteroid in the Alvarez hypothesis supposedly wrought in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event: it wiped out all the quick, clever, swiftly evolving creatures and left the dinosaurs roaring triumphantly over their now unquestioned domain.

In other ways, its effect was less immediate but more serious.

The intentions of those who organised it are not in question: they sought to do a necessary good, urgently, and to help people whose plight was desperate. One cannot argue it was the wrong thing to do, nor blame those behind it for any unintended and indeed unforeseeable consequences. Chief among those consequences was it fed into an attitude then developing momentum, and now scarcely questioned in political orthodoxy, that to help those in need is the duty of charity rather than the state. Bob Geldof jumped in because he was, quite rightly, appalled that a thing such as the famine in Ethiopia could happen without effective intervention from the powers that be.

Two years after Live Aid, Margaret Thatcher produced her infamous quotation that, “There’s no such thing as society.”

One often hears it claimed that, set in its context, this line means something different to what it is usually taken to mean. But look up its context, and it is hard to see how. “No government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours.” Geldof and company were trying to look after our “neighbours,” but only because no governments were stepping up as they should have. From that moment, to the proliferation of food banks in our country now, one can trace a direct line. Of course, this is not the fault of Live Aid. What Live Aid did, quite inadvertently, was to crystalise an unspoken, maybe even unwitting belief that to help the needy was a feelgood option for a mass of individuals rather than a collective necessity to be mandated to the state.

Thus did the Eighties roll upwards to their midpoint, and back down again thereafter. 1985 was not so much their high water mark as the rock against which they broke. And in the 30 years since, we have experienced nothing remotely like them.

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19 80 s

Photographer David Levine worked with the wildest pop stars of the 1980s. He talks to Alex Hopkins about being the image-maker of the decade, the horror of press pits and why he’ll never retouch a picture

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“Boy George. Let’s talk about Boy George,” David Levine says decisively. I’ve just asked the photographer – celebrated for capturing iconic 1980s images of a pantheon of international stars – what appeals to him in a subject. “They have to be difficult,” he continues. “And I don’t mean that in a bad way. They have to have an edge. George could turn up and be difficult – and not for any other reason than he had a million things on his mind. Back then he was one of the biggest pop stars on the planet.”

Levine, who now lives in Brighton, is used to working with huge stars. He has shot everyone from ABC to The Cure and Kylie Minogue. His work has appeared in magazines all across the world. Few people better understand the demands that are placed on celebrities; indeed, Levine would be disappointed if they weren’t temperamental. “It helps if they’re in a bad mood. I don’t want fluffy kittens. I want someone who might scratch you, because I’m like that. I’m lovely until you upset me,” he warns, with a smile. This sums Levine up: he’s warm, gregarious, but also direct and under no illusions about the industry he works in: “To be in this business you have to be a bit thick-skinned and step over someone if you have to.” I concur, as we both laugh.

Recently, Levine released an iTunes book documenting his work: David Levine Exposed 1977 – 1987: The Man Who Shot the ‘80s. It’s the first time that he has opened up his vast archive. In the words of Boy George: “David Levine is one of those photographers who was in the right place at the right time and has written his work into history.” But how did this wild journey begin?

Levine’s first memory of a camera dates back to when he was six, taking pictures of a dog in a garden His uncle was a keen amateur photographer and his own interest developed from there, but he was never quite sure what (no pun intended) to focus on.

This changed when he discovered music.

“I had a mobile disco at 14,” he says, “so I think it was inevitable that I’d go into music photography, but that didn’t happen straight away. I came to London and lived with an aunt

PHOTO: ©DAVID LEVINE

THE MAN WHO SHOT THE

profile Boy George is among the pantheon of 1980s luminaries to have graced David Levine’s studio

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This page: ABC. Opposite, top: Boy George. Bottom: Mel and Kim

“A subject has to be difficult.

To have an edge. It helps if they’re in a bad mood. I don’t want fluffy kittens. I want someone who might scratch you”

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PHOTOS: ©DAVID LEVINE

profile

She took me to the labour exchange to register for work at 16.

The guy I spoke to was an idiot. I explained my background and that I’d moved from the country and he responded with, ‘Another one come to London because he thinks the streets are paved with gold.’ I just stood up and walked out. My aunt didn’t follow and I was waiting outside the room where I could hear her laying into him. She was a feisty one!”

But the labour exchange employee did listen: a week later Levine received an appointment card sending him to his first job.

He began working for a firm in Cricklewood, driving film to a processing lab. It wasn’t long before he was hanging around the lab and eyeing up the rolls of film with wonder. He began chatting to “a real moody” Glaswegian photographer whom he finally helped out on a Saturday job. He never went back to the company in Cricklewood. He would work with his new mentor for the next four years. It was here that he learnt about beauty lighting, which would influence the rest of his career. Work with stylists such as Andrew Collinge, Vidal Sassoon and Trevor Sorbie followed.

As with so much that happened in the Eighties, the move to music photography occurred organically. Levine started visiting music venues where he’d shoot the bands. He attended Camden club The Music Machine and mingled with Steve Strange and his contemporaries. “Being young and reasonably attractive helped,” he admits. Levine is full of intriguing anecdotes from this mad time and jumps off into one now.

“I photographed Madonna, actually. She came over to England and did a couple of secret gigs just to test things out. This was the very early Eighties. It was interesting. Within two years of that she was huge. It just goes to show what a bit of PR and clever management can do,” he laughs.

Many of the Eighties figures I’ve interviewed seem to tell the same tale: nothing was planned back then; everything seemed… dare I say it… considerably easier? He responds without hesitation.

“Well, it was about being out and around, going to clubs and networking instead of sitting at home on Facebook as everybody does now. You have to get out and show your face.”

A valid point, but would photographers working today have the same level of access that he enjoyed?

“It’s more difficult now because you can’t get anywhere as close to the bands,” he concedes. “Most venues have a press pit and you need a pass to get into it. They let you stay for three songs.

It’s ridiculous. This three-song rule was introduced by George Michael. He did a gig at what was the Hammersmith Odeon and used to get a lot of stick in the press, so had all the photographers chucked out of the press pit after the first three songs.

“Now the venues do it automatically. And it’s not the bands asking for it to happen. Although some do. And I can understand that – if you’re a big band and you have 26 photographers in the pit that’s just annoying, but I won’t shoot a band now unless I know them and on the basis that I have a triple A pass, which means they can’t chuck me out of the pit.”

This unprecedented level of access is testament to Levine’s status in the industry. After three songs all other photographers leave the pit, but Levine stays on. “Then I can do my job properly,” he says. “But I’m surreptitious. The band don’t know I’m there. It’s so different to how it was. I remember shooting Iggy Pop’s first London gig at The Music Machine. I was up front and totally squashed with people trying to use my camera bag, which was over my shoulder, as a leg up on to the stage. It was a proper fight. Insane.”

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profile

Levine went on to develop his signature lighting style, which he describes as “beauty lighting… dreamy and romantic.” He laughs as I remark that it has been widely copied.

“It was about taking the best parts of beauty lighting and adding an edge. I surprised myself at how quickly I achieved this. Camera control is very important. It’s about learning the techniques. That makes me sound like a technical geek and I’m not technical at all.

“I cut corners wherever I can and I never read a manual on how something works. I just pick something up and give it a go.

That way you are more in touch with the equipment; you get a feel for it.” Levine was one of the first photographers working in London to embrace digital photography. Like everything, he says, it was about trial and error.

“I jumped in with both feet. I knew the cameras were being developed. Fleet Street had the first ones, but they cost around £30,000 and took the same quality picture that you’d get on a smartphone today.”

When Levine first began taking a digital camera to shoots clients were apprehensive. They had no idea where their photos would end up. He continued to work on film, but also digitally, so he had a whole year of practising the new method before it was more universally adopted. He shot his last roll of film in around 2005. Does he think digital has made photographers lazier?

“Yes, of course. I’ve seen stuff that horrifies me. Growing up with film I come from the school that says a mistake is expensive.

Now people just shoot and they know they can use Photoshop.”

Has he ever used it?

“Absolutely not. I don’t retouch my work. I still shoot the same way I did with film and I shoot for a finished image from camera. Obviously if someone has a horrible red spot on their nose I get rid of it, but I don’t consider that retouching. Retouching is when you get a slightly larger person and you squash them to make them look three dress sizes smaller.”

Just like the strong-willed aunt who fought his corner at the beginning of his career, Levine is unafraid of making a stand on what he believes in. He details how he got sacked from a very large magazine corporation because he refused to Photoshop teenage girls into the “heroin chic” look. “There was a heated conversation, I walked out and I never worked for them again and I don’t care,” he concludes.

It’s the kind of uncompromising perspective that has shaped Levine’s career – and which he continues to take: he published his book through iTunes in order to maintain creative control.

He now lectures at the London College of Fashion, where he tries to cultivate the same fierce, independent spirit in his students.

“I tell them this: learn the rules of what it is you’re doing and once you know what the rules are then you know how to break them. It’s by breaking them that you’re going to be different to the person sitting next to you.

“It was possibly easier to do this back in the Eighties, but there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t do it now. You just have to have the nerve and say, ‘Fuck it, I’ll do it my way.’ Any type of creative needs that.”

Top: David Levine.

Bottom: Adam Ant

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PHOTOS: ©DAVID LEVINE

“ It was about being out and around, going to clubs and networking, instead of sitting at home on Facebook”

fashion Simone Rocha dress, £1459, available from farfetch.com and Django; stola, £1680 available from djangobydjango.com

Flowers are the ever-popular theme of summer fashion, and there’s more on which to feast your senses than the familiar floral prints and motifs

In bloom

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fashion

This page: Claes Iversen couture dress (price upon request) available from cleasiversen.com. Opposite page: Dorhout Mees couture silk and heavy knit dress (price upon request) from dorhout-mees.nl

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fashion

Temperley London long Arazzi strappy dress, ÂŁ1,495.00, available from temperleylondon.com

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fashion

This page: Addy van den Krommenacker jacket available from addyvandenkrommenacker.nl.

Opposite page: Django dress, ÂŁ4600, available from djangobydjango.com.

Photography: Andy Tan @pimthomassen.nl. Fashion Direction: Anat Dychtwald @anneliestan.com.HMU Stef Ralbovski @anneliestan.com. Model: Merel @michamodels.nl

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inger moss

“Eighties fashion was outrageous, bizarre and madcap. It was all about making a statement.”

Grand, glam & unapologetic INGER MOSS TAKES A LOOK AT 1980S FASHION TRENDS. WAS IT REALLY ALL SHOULDER-PADDED GLORY AND LYCRA HIDEOUSITY?

“Five-foot-ten and long-legged like her mother, it is rather as if a charming young giraffe had wondered into the royal enclosure.” Vogue, May 1981 Lady Diana, getting married to Prince Charles in 1981 (an event watched by an estimated 750 million people), wore a puffy meringue dress with a 25-metre trail. This started what would eventually secure her role as an icon in 1980s fashion history. During her engagement period Lady Diana went from a Sloane Ranger, wearing frilly ruffled high-neck blouses, pearls and floral skirts, to embracing the “Dallas” look.

, Super bitches

Another Eighties American soap, Dynasty, brought us Joan Collins and Linda Evans in power suits and padded shoulders, designer logos, glamorous evening dresses with sequin embellishment, and hair bouffant and heavily styled, along with bright, heavy make-up and big, glitzy, ostentatious jewellery. Never have we seen two women so glamorous battling it out in their attempts to strangle and drown each other.

For the love of lycra

The aerobic madness was another big fashion influence in the Eighties, with Jane Fonda wearing a neon leotard and leg warmers in her fitness videos, and the 1983 film Flashdance introducing Lycra and other bodyconscious fabrics to create a look that women soon adopted into their 60 | S US S E X S T Y L E . C OM | AUG 2 0 1 5

everyday wear. It was about pairing leggings with a baggy sweatshirt worn off the shoulder, ripped sweatshirts, elastic head bands and track suits – preferably velour!

Like a Virgin

Music continued, as it had in the 1970s, to exert a big influence on fashion. Madonna introduced possibly the most copied and sought-after Eighties look, using lingerie as outer wear, short skirts over leggings, fishnet gloves, long layered strings of beads and pearls, and untidy bleached hair with dark roots held back with hair bows.

Queering it up

Vivienne Westwood’s design development from punk to New Romantic was first seen in “The Pirate Collection” presented at her fashion show at Olympia in London in 1981. This was clothing with references to historic eras accompanied by streaky bold eyeliner and spiked hair.

Fashion barriers were broken by such gender-bending music legends as Annie Lennox, Boy George, Duran Duran, Adam Ant and David Bowie.

There was a lot to love and indeed a lot to cringe at when it comes to Eighties fashion. It was outrageous, bizarre and madcap; it was all about making a statement: “If you got it flaunt it and you can have it all”. It was about rebelling against everything “normal” and breaking out of pre-determined moulds. No other decade has managed to attract the notoriety associated with the Eighties and, thankfully, we can still see the influences today.

IMAGE CREDIT: EVERETT COLLECTION/SHUTTERSTOCK

A meringue princess

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WITH A PLETHORA OF BEAUTIFUL LIMITED EDITION SUMMER COSMETICS APPEARING ON COUNTER, WE HAVE SEARCHED OUT THE BEST TO TURN YOU INTO A GOLDEN GODDESS, A BRONZED BEAUTY OR ANY SHADE IN BETWEEN

For the true scent of Summer look no further than Estee Lauder’s Bronze Goddess collection. Layer on its three formulas: Whipped Body Ceme £29, Shimmering Body Oil £29 and Eau Fraiche Skinscent £47 for sensuously sun-kissed skin.

If you prefer a creamy texture, Clinique’s Chubby Stick in Curvy Contour £19 will give you cheekbones to die for with its easy-to-blend goof-proof formula.

Add a slick of Bare Minerals Pop Of Passion oil balm £16, its indulgent oil-rich formula, hydrates, nourishes and delivers plush colour in eight wearable mouth-watering shades.

Inspired by Philip Kingsley’s love of Portofino, this new take on his world famous cult product Elasticizer, £31.50, is a deep moisturising pre-shampoo conditioning treatment infused with 100% natural neroli, geranium, lavender, rose and orange oils; just what your frazzled holiday hair is crying out for.

Charlotte Tilbury’s Filmstar Bronze & Glow £55 in Sun Tan & Sun Light will give you a glow and will garner admiring glances with its iconic Norman Parkinson packaging.

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WE LOVE MAIN IMAGE: OLGA PINK/SHUTTERSTOCK

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mmer u s s 0

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Spring is all about renewal and there’s no better time to reinvigorate your body. Posh Beauty Salon & Medi Spa has everything you need to give you that beautiful glow for the year ahead.

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ounded on a passionate belief in high quality treatments and impeccable customer service, our hand-picked team of expert therapists and medical practitioners are committed to providing both pampering and the latest in non-surgical aesthetic skin care.

We all have things that we’re not happy with about our bodies. When it comes to revitalising your skin we offer a comprehensive range of treatments from microdermabrasion and chemical peels to indulgent facials.

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AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 63

skincare

GO FAUX FOR BRONZING GET THE SUN-KISSED LOOK WITHOUT SUN-FRAZZLED SKIN, WITH THE SUSSEX STYLE GUIDE TO THE BEST FAKE TANS ON THE MARKET

3 2 4

1

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1. James Read Express Bronzing Mousse £30.00 Best for: Instant gratification seekers.

From the king of faux tans. Apply with a tanning mitt in circular motions on freshly exfoliated and moisturised skin to achieve a healthy golden glow in just 60 minutes!

2. TanOrganic Self Tanning Oil £24.99 Best for: Environmentalists and those with sensitivity issues as it contains no synthetic colours, fragrances, parabens or preservatives. This deeply moisturising citrus-scented oil is best used after a bath or shower to replace your usual body product.

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3. Tanworx Instant Glow Wash Off Tan £16.95 Best for: Commitment phobes. If you’re still not sure faux tan is for you, then this British-made skin-smoothing, streak-free formula will deliver a golden tan that simply washes away with soap and water.

4. Clarins RadiancePlus Golden Glow Booster £19.00 Best for: Skincare mavens, devoted to a particular brand of skincare. Simply mix in three drops and it will work in unison with the antiageing/moisturising/ hydrating results of your preferred day cream,serum or lotion.

5. BeautyLab Hydrating Tan Extender £18.00 Best for: maintaining your faux glow. This light, gorgeously fragranced lotion will make the most of your fake tan by keeping skin hydrated and extending the time between tanning product applications.

MAIN IMAGE: LIV FRIIS-LARSEN/SHUTTERSTOCK

Once a sign of the poor agricultural worker toiling in the fields, a tanned skin suddenly became de rigueur when Coco Chanel decreed it the epitome of health and beauty in the 1930s. Madame C accidentally tanned while staying on the French Riviera and the sun-kissed look became an overnight status symbol. In those days SPFs were unheard of and sunbathers frazzled their skins with liberally smeared olive oil.

Nowadays we are all aware of the irreversible damage the sun can do; wrinkling our complexions, ageing the skin and triggering melanomas.

Instead of spending hours baking in the sun and harming your skin, why not fake it with our top picks of the best faux tans available.

T

he go-to girl for top-to-toe perfection” is how UK glossy, Glamour magazine, described Posh Beauty’s founder Jude Hill. Fashion bible Vogue says, “Jude’s high quality spray tans will leave you with a flawless glow” We asked this leading expert in faux tanning how to prepare, maintain and extend the best a bottle has to offer.

Nothing quite compares to the uniform, even coverage of a professionally applied spray tan but if you follow Jude’s tips and enlist the help of a willing friend to assist with those hard to reach areas, you will be assured of the best home applied faux tan ever.

“Before a tan exfoliate and moisturise as much as possible which will give the best base for the tan and help it to last longer and fade evenly.” Jude says it is best to use oil-free exfoliators to avoid a residue on the skin that will stop the tan developing properly.

“Do not wax or shave for at least 24 hours before faux tanning,” stresses Jude, “as the solution does not absorb well into recently depilated skin, especially on the legs where the product may streak and often gets caught in the follicles causing the appearance of little dots.’

It goes without saying that your skin should be free of make-up, fragrance, deodorant and body lotion as this will create a barrier.

“Once applied don’t fiddle or faff with it for at least eight hours; wear loose clothes that will not rub against the skin and steer clear of the gym or anything that will cause you to sweat, as this will make it streak too,” advises Jude, who also stresses the importance of not touching the tan or rubbing in any creams, lotions, perfumes or deodorants.

Most tans reach their optimum after eight hours; if you tan in the morning there will be no marked sheets to contend with!

‘It is important that you wash the tan residue off gently but thoroughly, no rubbing or scrubbing, using a shower gel. If you don’t remove the excess it can make the tan look streaky.’ Jude then suggests that you pat the skin dry then apply plenty of oil-free moisturiser to prolong the life of the tan.

AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 65

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health and fitness

?

What can we

learn from

JANE FONDA In 1982 the actor, anti-war campaigner and civil rights activist Jane Fonda released what is still one of the most popular exercise videos of all time. Ben Marshall talks us through it

IMAGE CREDIT: JAGUAR PS/SHUTTERSTOCK

T

he Jane Fonda Workout featured a then 45-year old but nonetheless staggeringly youthful Fonda leading us through a series of stretches, jumps and dance moves she dubbed “aerobics”. The video was an instant hit and spawned first a series of follow-up videos, then a whole industry in which implausibly beautiful middle-aged women, with no real qualifications in exercise or nutrition (other than exercising and eating), offered advice on how to train and what to eat.

The message was the medium: to look like Jane all you needed to do was eat like Jane and work out like Jane. We no doubt owe Calgary Avansino, and other celebrity nutrition gurus, to Jane Fonda’s efforts.

Watching these videos more than 30 years later, you are struck by two things. Firstly, the truly awful clothes (pink Lycra, furry headbands, leggings, terrible tight poodle perms), and secondly, that Jane, whilst being entirely unqualified, was actually handing out some pretty sound advice. Sure, very few of us were ever going to end up looking as good as her, but if we took on board much of what she said we would end up looking as good as we ever could.

Jane did not invent aerobics. Both the term and the specific exercise method were developed by a guy called Dr Kenneth Cooper, an exercise physiologist, and Colonel Pauline Potts, a physical therapist, both of the United States Air Force. Dr Cooper, an avowed exercise enthusiast, was personally and professionally puzzled about why some people with excellent muscular strength were still prone to poor performance at tasks such as long-distance running, swimming, and bicycling. In other words, how could someone who looked like an Adonis be extremely unfit? He began measuring systematic human performance using

health and fitness

“Jane Fonda, did not invent aerobics, but whilst being entirely unqualified, she was actually handing out some pretty sound advice”

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Ask Ben

Dear Ben, Will eating several grapefruits a day help me burn fat?

Carol Burgess, Haywards Heath Hi Carol, The short answer is: no. It is true that grapefruits have been discovered to contain enzymes that do actually attack fat. However you would have to eat 40 grapefruits in a single session to get any fat-burning benefits out of them. Even if such a thing were possible, it would in no way be desirable. The amount of sugar you would consume - roughly 5000 grams - would easily outstrip any benefits accrued.

At present there is a group of scientists at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem working to isolate and synthesise the fat-burning chemicals in grapefruit. Since such a discovery would undoubtedly make them all multi-millionaires they are working at quite a pace; however, I am told they are still quite a few years off. So until then, stick to a balanced diet with plenty of green leaves. And eat grapefruit too – it makes a very tasty breakfast.

IMAGE CREDIT: EVGENY KARANDAEV/SHUTTERSTOCK

a bicycle ergometer, and measuring sustained performance in terms of a person’s ability to use oxygen. In 1968, he published Aerobics, which included exercise programs using running, walking, swimming and bicycling. The book came at a time when increasing weakness and inactivity in the general population was generating the perception of a need for increased exercise.

Dr Cooper’s discovery – that physical strength is not necessarily an indicator of physical fitness - has proven to be hugely important.

Modern exercise programs try to build both. Most male gym rats concentrate purely on the former (they want to look big and couldn’t care less if they can’t run for a bus) and most female gym-goers focus solely and often unwittingly on fitness (running, using a cross trainer, bicycling etc) and wouldn’t go anywhere near a weights room for the utterly unfounded fear they “might bulk out.” (Ladies, not without steroids, you won’t).

Aerobics gets the heart and lungs to work and as part of a balanced exercise program isn’t just a good idea, it’s absolutely imperative. Of course, nowadays we don’t call it “aerobics” as that brings to mind the dreaded pink Lycra. Instead clever trainers like Shaun T have massively upped the intensity and renamed it Crossfit.

Shaun T’s most famous and successful workout is known as Insanity, and can be followed, like Fonda’s work, by buying the video, or rather the DVD or Blu-ray discs.

Essentially, the object is much the same: to get heart, lungs and muscles all working at once. The format is simple: six very intense workouts a week, each between 30-60 minutes and involving bodyweight resistance and high-intensity cardio training, with lots of abdominal work thrown in. This way of training is known as Max Interval Training, to distinguish it from the more sedate High Intensity Interval Training.

Max Interval training is like the worst of all worlds (in a good way).

It doesn’t just spike the heart rate for a very short time, but keeps it elevated for as long as possible before you either have to reduce the intensity or fall over half-dead.

So instead of doing burpees or squat jumps for just 20 seconds, then resting for 10 seconds, as you might in off-the-Richter-scaleintense Tabata classes, Insanity requires you to go at just a little under “flat out” for 3-5 minutes at a time instead.

What’s more, the breaks between those blocks are minimal – you get time for a little sip of water, 30 seconds to catch your breath, and then you’re off again.

It’s painful, yes, but it’s quick and effective, whether done at home or (my preference) in company. Just beware: Insanity can be addictive for some and is therefore a slippery slope to overtraining. If you do it, you must, I repeat MUST, take one full day off a week. The muscles need time to sleep and food to rebuild. Oh, and seriously with this one, consult your doctor before embarking on this. Aerobics as practised

by Shaun T can be a very quick route to physical perfection, but it is hugely demanding.

One more thing: please leave the Lycra indoors.

Book a styling appointment at: 2 Victoria Street Brighton BN1 3FP Tel: 01273 757 258 maudbysophiecorbett.com

AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 69

theatre

Michael Ball

A LIFE

ON STAGE Michael Ball made his name in 1980s musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. He talks to Alex Hopkins about his latest show Mack and Mabel, in Chichester, and why musical theatre is no different from straight theatre

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ichael Ball is suffering from hay fever. It’s nothing serious, he reassures me, but irritating. “Better this week than next though,” he laughs. As I write Ball is preparing to open (on 13 July) in Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Mack and Mabel, taking the star role of silent movie producer Mack Sennett. The show tells the story of the impresario’s tortured love affair the beautiful – and doomed – film star, Mabel Normand, played by American actress Rebecca LaChance in her Chichester debut. Ball, of course, is no stranger to Chichester.

In 2011 he played the title role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, opposite Imelda Staunton. The production would later transfer to the West End, where Michael Ball has made his name as arguably the UK’s top musical theatre actor. Ball’s excitement at tackling Jerry Hermann’s score is palpable – as is his delight in returning to Chichester.

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IMAGE: BRUNO PASSIGATTI/SHUTTERSTOCK

The 1980s was the age of the block buster musical.

Michael Ball was the star of the era, appearing in The Phantom of the Opera and other legendary shows

theatre Michael Ball and the company of Mack and Mabel in rehearsals at Chichester

“There’s something quite magical about the place,” he tells me.

“Since the theatre revamp – both front of house and backstage - it’s particularly amazing. It’s like a creative cocoon. You feel very safe and looked after. The best way I can describe it is as a bubble where you can do really fine work. Audiences are so receptive. It also helps that my mum lives just minutes away and that West Wittering Beach is one of the best in the country. What’s not to love?”

Ball is exceptionally easy to talk to. He’s full of energy, warm and grounded and his love for musical theatre is infectious. He made his West End debut in 1985 in Les Miserables and his loyal fan base has followed his every move since. Talking to him, it’s obvious why: he’s very likeable.

“The 1980s was the time for British musical theatre,” he recalls in his rich and soothing voice. “We were conquering the world. The wonderful talents – writers, directors, designers – were changing the face of musicals and for me, as a young actor entering into business, it couldn’t have been a more thrilling and creative time. We were breaking new ground.”

Les Miserables has, of course, gone on to becoming the world’s longest running musical. I’m interested to know what creative input Ball had in the show. Did he have any idea that it would become a phenomenon?

“The whole cast had a huge creative input. When we arrived only half of the show was written and bits were being added all the time.

When we all get together now there’s an incredible bond and it’s fascinating to see the little choices that we invented on character or look in the rehearsal room being reproduced all over the world.”

But, Ball stresses, the company were under considerable pressure.

When the show first previewed it was an astounding four and a half hours long. Major cuts were required. Then came the poor reviews.

Audiences changed this: they came from day one and stood and cheered, word of mouth creating the first “people’s musical”.

“At first we didn’t even know if it would transfer to the West End,” says Ball. “But then we quickly realised that something extremely special was happening between the audience and us on stage and the momentum grew from there.”

Les Miserables redefined what a long-running musical was. As Ball explains, prior to 1985 an exceptional run was around four years.

These days if a show runs for two years it’s not considered to have done particularly well – largely thanks to the momentous shadow cast by Les Mis. Ball has his own opinion on what constitutes a hit musical.

“In my head a hit is something that makes back its money. Some shows are so expensive that they can run for a decent amount of time 72 | S US S E X S T Y L E . C OM | AUG 2 0 1 5

and still not recoup their investment.”

Like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, I remark.

“Yes,” responds Ball. “That’s a perfect example and one of my favourite shows of all time.”

The show opened to much fanfare in 1993 with Patti LuPone in the lead role of Norma Desmond and Kevin Anderson cast as her young lover, Joe Gillis. I’ve always been intrigued whether Ball wanted that part. He says that he did the original London workshops, but that Lloyd Webber and director Trevor Nunn wanted an American cast. The show would then famously close for several months to incorporate changes from the award-winning Los Angeles production. When it reopened Ball then had the opportunity to play Joe Gillis.

“It’s one of the only regrets I have – that I turned it down,” he admits. “The other area of my career was taking off with TV and recordings, and if I’m honest a little bit of me was saying ‘I wish you’d asked me the first time.’”

Ball would go on to play the role in a 2004 version of the show at The Cork Opera House, opposite Petula Clark. “So I got it out of my

IMAGES BY MANUEL HARLAN

“One of the only regrets that I have is turning down the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard, but I’d later play the part opposite Petula Clark in a concert at the Cork Oper House, so I got it out of my system“

system,” he laughs.

But back in the 1980s Ball was often first choice for a new role.

After Les Miserables he went on to create the part of Alex in Lloyd Webber’s 1989 Aspects of Love. The song Love Changes Everything, which reached number two in the UK singles chart will, I suggest, always be his signature song. How does he feel about that?

“Well, it did change everything,” he smiles. “It took me from being a juvenile lead in musicals no one had ever heard of outside of the very small arena that’s musical theatre and put me on the national stage. It was a really heady time.”

Ball’s name began to sell tickets. In 1987 he took over as Raoul in The Phantom of The Opera (a new draw was needed after Michael Crawford, who had played the title role, went to Broadway). Has he ever felt the pressure of star billing?

“I just do the job. I’m a really firm believer in the discipline of the theatre. I have a great laugh, but when you’ve had as much experience as I’ve had I think it’s important to pass on the information to up and coming actors. I was lucky to have that when I started – and people who AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 73

theatre Left, Michael Ball and the company rehearse a scene from Mack and Mabel. Right: Michael Ball with his co-star, Rebecca LaChance, who plays silent movie queen Mabel Normand

kept my feet on the ground. I learnt very quickly that you can go off the rails in this business.

“Musicals are so bloody hard. The glamour of the opening night is all very well, but after that you’ve got to do eight shows a week for however long. You can’t live it up, I’m afraid.”

During the 1980s Ball won the hearts of legions of housewives with his dimple-chinned, cute, boyish looks, but in recent years he has taken ever riskier choices in roles. Perhaps his most surprising turn to date came in 2007 when he dragged up to play Edna Turnblad in the West End premier of Hairspray. He was rewarded with an Olivier and his voice is full of joy as he recalls the experience.

“I had the best ever time. Hairspray is one of the greatest shows. I remember seeing it on Broadway and looking at Harvey Fierstein doing the role and thinking I would do anything to do that, but I knew that no one would ever cast me. They wouldn’t think of me doing it.”

Off the back of Hairspray’s success Ball branched out further, playing Sweeney Todd – firstly in Chichester and then London. Ball predicted the lukewarm, if not outright hostile reception to the casting announcement, and vowed to prove the naysayers wrong.

“Sweeney is the King Lear of musical theatre. I knew that if, for example, The National Theatre were to do it then I wouldn’t even be sixth choice. The only way I could make my dream come true was to take the project to Chichester.”

Sweeney Todd composer Stephen Sondheim had seen Ball in one of his other shows, Passion, and “knew I would be alright, I think,” Ball modestly adds. The key was getting Imelda Staunton to co-star. He chose his moment when she was on his radio show and a record was playing.

She said yes. Chichester became the perfect testing ground for the show.

“You feel comfortable to do your best work there,” Ball says. “There are not the sort of awful commercial constraints that there are if you’re going straight into the West End.” Ball’s huge success in commercial West End extravaganzas has made him a figure of derision by theatre snobs over the years. In 2007, to the outrage of some critics, he became the first musical theatre star to front a Prom concert. He laughed the vitriol off. What does he have to say in response to those who claim that musicals do not measure up against straight theatre as an art form?

“The best person to answer this is Imelda [Staunton],” he says firmly.

“Imelda is one of our greatest actresses – Oscar nominated, winner of Baftas and Oliviers for straight theatre and she’s gone into musicals and there’s no difference. It’s just harder.

“It’s about the language we use. Take Shakespeare: that’s not everyday language and in a musical you’re acting but not using everyday 74 | S US S E X S T Y L E . C OM | AUG 2 0 1 5

IMAGES BY MANUEL HARLAN

“Some musicals are fluffy, silly and lovely and so are some plays, and some are as profound and as important and challenging and intriguing as any play that’s ever been written, so I see no distinction“

language either. You’re using music to convey story and emotion. Some musicals are fluffy, silly and lovely and so are some plays, and some are as profound and as important and challenging and intriguing as any play that’s ever been written, so I see no distinction.”

Mack and Mabel is, in Ball’s opinion, such a musical: a complex tale of human relationships. The subject matter is universal.

“I really hope people take Mack and Mabel to their hearts,” he says. “And judging by where we are so far, it’s really exciting. It’s just a question of whether audiences buy into the story. And I think they will.”

Audiences have been buying into brand Ball for decades now. In addition to his numerous theatrical credits, Ball has had radio shows, his own TV series and made hundreds of concert appearances. Then there are the 19 studio albums he’s brought out. What will happen after Mack and Mabel?

“I’ve truly got no idea,” he says. “I’ll be doing another studio album and am involved in developing a TV drama. But after that, who knows?

That’s the great thing about this business. I might never work again,” he laughs. That, I remark, is certainly never going to happen.

AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 75

food news

STRICTLY CHILLI FIESTA

Strictly Come Dancing’s Brendan Cole helps West Dean celebrate the 20th anniversary of their annual chilli fiesta, running a salsa masterclass on Sunday 9 August. Also starring will be Levi Roots (of Dragon’s Den and Reggae Reggae Sauce fame), who will appear both with his band on stage, and at the Cookery Theatre over the the weekend.

With plenty of Latin music, family entertainment and over 180 stalls offering quirky gifts, food and chilli-themed produce, the fiesta promises spicy fun for everyone.

For full information and to book online visit: www.westdean.org.uk/chilli

WHAT’S COOKING Sam Bilton has news of a Chilli Fiesta, cream teas, ginger beer, and how to keep your eyes (and other bits) safe from chillies

THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM FOR CAKE National Cream Tea Week starts on 10 August. Visit the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at London’s Atheneum Hotel, or try The Ritz’s Chocolate and Salted Caramel Fudge cake. You can even take afternoon tea on a Routemaster bus.

In our own county, top hotels South Lodge and The Spread Eagle will also be offering tea-time delights.

For further details visit afternoontea.co.uk

Sussex Style loves…

HOW DO YOU STOP THE CHILLI HEAT LINGERING ON YOUR FINGERS? Anyone who has touched their eyes (or any other sensitive part of their body, for that matter) after chopping up hot chillies will know how painful it can be. The solution? Wear disposable latex gloves. They’re also useful for dealing with beetroot and any other messy kitchen jobs.

At last a drink that packs a punch but that is guaranteed not to give you a hangover. We love this spicy ginger beer that originated in France.

Low in sugar, it combines ginger, tonic and hot pepper to make a refreshing non alcoholic drink.

And if you want to give it a bit more oomph, then it makes a great mixer too.

Available from bisonbeer.co.uk £2 for 250ml bottle

KITCHEN DILEMMA

As a new regular feature, each month I will be answering our readers’ kitchen conundrums. So if you have an unidentified object in your weekly veg box or a “how do you?” question, email your dilemma to info@greenduckmedia.co.uk 76 | S US S E X S T Y L E . C OM | AUG 2 0 1 5

IMAGE CREDITS: WEST DEAN GARDENS.

PIMENTO GINGER BEER WITH A CHILLI KICK

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SUNDAY CARVERY

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RAISE A GLASS

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The cookery school runs a range courses tutored by chefs including Jethro Carr from the Kitchen Academy and Peter Bayless, a previous MasterChef Champion.

Other activities include foraging, clay pigeon shooting, fishing and birds of prey experience events.

Christen’s aim was simple. He wanted to create a brand that embodied respect for the English countryside, our nation’s heritage and pay homage to the fine food and drink we produce in our country. Christen and his team have spent seven years developing the business. Kingscote currently produces three still white wines and winemaker Owen Elias and his team are working on an additional still white wine and their first sparkling wine.

Discover more about Kingscote’s wines and cider on one of their vineyard tours. You may want to begin with a Taster Tour on which you will have an opportunity to see the vineyard and winery and experience a tutored tasting of their wines. They also offer Gourmet Vineyard Tours which include a 2 course lunch or the afternoon tea.

Sadly, Christen passed away earlier this year after a series of strokes leaving a wife and four children. But his legacy lives on and his family and colleagues intend to continue the work he began. A fitting tribute for a visionary man.

IMAGES SUPPLIED BY KINGSCOTE ESTATE

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Sam Bilton discovers that Kingscote Vineyard has more than fine wine to offer

wenty years ago, few people would have thought that England could produce quality wines, let alone something that could take on the gold standard of Champagne for the best sparkling wine in the world. Yet Christen Monge, a creative director for the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, recognised the potential in the South-East of England to produce premium wine, and was astute enough to buy the 150 acre Kingscote Estate in 1998 in order to create a vineyard and a venue for outdoor pursuits.

The estate is on the site of a former Roman iron ore works and overlooks the Weir Wood Reservoir. A leafy lane meanders gracefully through ancient woodland past farmhouses and underneath the Bluebell Railway until it reaches the winery, which also incorporates the Monge family home, holiday cottages, a shop and a 15th-century barn that houses the Kitchen Academy Cookery School and is available to hire for events.

“Kingscote Estate is much more than a vineyard – it’s a food and drink education and experience destination,” explains Stuart Scholes, CEO of the East Grinstead Business Association. “The estate offers quintessential English country pursuits in a valley steeped in history.”

fine wine KINGSCOTE COOKERY SCHOOL

KINGSCOTE ESTATE WINES

The Kitchen Academy at Kingscote Estate offers a range of courses where you can learn everything from how to make traditional Gujarati cuisine to cooking game or even brushing up on your cooking skills prior to university. Although many of the courses are aimed at adults of all abilities, from novices to experienced cooks, the school also has days designed to appeal to children and families.

“Children love to cook and hardly need any encouragement to get involved,” explains Jethro Carr, one of the chef tutors and owner of the Kitchen Academy mobile cookery school. “The journey of discovery you and your child can have when cooking together is really fun.”

This summer Jethro ran a children’s Italian cookery class which allowed the children to create a feast including a tomato risotto, hand-made pasta and strawberry tarts. The cookery school is also planning to host family days where the children are expertly guided through recipes whilst their parents enjoy a tour of the vineyard and a wine tasting. At the end of the session children and parents will enjoy the food together.

Bacchus Chardonnay A delicious blend of English Bacchus and Chardonnay grapes makes up this bone-dry blend.

Crystal bright with crisp dry acidity. Lightly aromatic and floral nose from the Bacchus with backbone and structure from the Chardonnay.

Fat Fumé A unique and delicious lightly oaked English Bacchus.

Light green-gold in colour. The nose is clean, rose petal, subtly spicy. The palate is dry and rich, peach, ripe gooseberry and lime in a delightfully complex riot of flavours. A long citrus and spicy finish.

The Bacchus Made from the ripest Bacchus grapes.

A dry, rich and refreshing wine, the colour of new mown hay. Distinctively classic grassy and nettle nose. The palate explodes with floral and citrus flavours with a lingering crisp finish.

For more information on the vineyard tours and cookery school visit kingscotevineyards.com or call 01342 327535.

The late Christen Monge (main picture, right) and the team who will be carrying on the work he started at Kingscote Vineyard and its cookery school

AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 79

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Defining colonial splendour

The award-winning Ship Hotel is the jewel in Chichester’s crown, offering unparalleled luxury and impeccable cuisine

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he Ship Hotel is an independent boutique hotel, bar and restaurant with an unrivalled location in the very heart of Chichester, West Sussex. A stunning Grade 2 listed building blends a wealth of original Georgian features with modern day opulence. The hotel has been awarded 4 stars and one rosette for culinary excellence by the AA and has a rich heritage as the former residence of Sir Admiral George Murray that has inspired much of the stylish interior and the restaurants name.

With 36 en suite bedrooms and a private luxury cottage, the Ship has a dedicated team to ensure that every stay is an exquisite experience. With six different bedroom themes each of the rooms are designed around a famous play showcased at the very local and renowned Chichester Festival Theatre. The private cottage, Number One Chichester lives up to its name providing immense luxury and can turn a great holiday into a very special one. Featuring all the luxuries you’d expect from five star accommodation, the cottage is stylishly designed and features a secluded private terrace, sitting room, beautiful bedroom and bathroom and a dining room.

Number One has an immense wow factor.

Located on the ground floor of the hotel, Murray’s restaurant offers a truly wonderful dining experience. With its alluring colonial splendour full of cosy, soft tones, the restaurant perfectly compliments your choices from the exciting, seasonally changing menus. An array of original and special dining experiences are always available currently Alice in Wonderland afternoon tea, “Cocktail & Cabaret” evenings and their own Mixology club further excite a memorable visit. When in Chichester Murrays is a must!

Easily the most glamorous bar in Chichester. The Captains bar oozes style and warmth; from the moment you enter the fabulously decorated bar you immediately feel totally at home.

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The Ship Hotel – North Street, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1NH Tel: 01243 778000 theshiphotel.net

AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 81

food

Living off the fat of the land is now that much easier thanks to southdownsfood.org which will find your nearest local produce outlets for you

FARMWARD BOUND FINDING YOUR LOCAL PRODUCERS JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT EASIER. SAM BILTON SHOWS YOU HOW

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f like me you live in Sussex, you’ll know what a resplendent area of the country we enjoy. Whether you’re based in the east or west, you’re only a short distance from the South Downs National Park.

From the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters to acres of fertile farmland and ancient woodland, the South Downs has so much to offer its residents and visitors. One of the jewels in this national park’s crown is its food and drink. This beautiful corner of England is host to 80 regional cheeses, 50 breweries and 20 vineyards, plus some of the best beef, lamb and seafood you’ll find in the UK. In an ideal world we’d all have the time to traipse across the county visiting various local producers on the way. But we don’t (or if you do, then lucky you.) The problem can be finding one place that stocks lots of local products, like a farm shop. Of course,

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they do exist but locating them is not always easy. Quite rightly these farmers spend most of their time and effort concentrating on producing their wares. Marketing and social media are not necessarily at the forefront of their minds. So how can they let you know they exist and what they have to offer?

New web portal southdownsfood.org has been launched with an interactive food finder to help you do just that. Any food business within a ten-mile radius of the National Park – from country pubs and farm shops to farmers markets and wine tasting – can register their business on the website for free and add to the calendar of upcoming foodie events for tourists and locals to plan their leisure time.

So now there’s nothing to stop you finding a farm shop to stock up on your delicious local produce.

FARM SHOPS WE LOVE… Charlie’s Farm Shop Pulborough - charliesfarmshop.co.uk Crossbush Arundel - crossbushfarmshop.co.uk Grange Farm Crawley Down grangefarmcrawleydown.co.uk Great Park Farm Catsfield - greatparkfarm.co.uk Holly Gap Farm Isfield - hollygapfarm.co.uk Holmansbridge Barcombe - holmansbridgefarm.com Middle Farm Firle - middlefarm.com New House Farm Faygate - newhousefarmshop.co.uk Offham Farm Shop Offham - offhamfarmshop.co.uk Old Spot Piltdown - oldspotfarmshop.co.uk Rushfields Poynings - rushfields.com Sharnfold Stone Cross - sharnfoldfarm.co.uk Townings North Chailey - towningsfarm.co.uk Westons Itchingfield - westonsfarmshop.co.uk

WEDDINGS / RESTAURANT / BEDROOMS / MEETINGS

Dining at Pelham House ~ Delicious and seasonal Pelham House focuses on simple and delicious food, using good quality seasonal and locally sourced produce. We offer a variety of regularly changing menus.

The restaurant is the perfect setting for a special lunch or dinner. We also have several additional dining rooms which seat between 4 and 120 guests private dining.

Pelham House has a carefully selected list of wines and cocktails to complement our menus.

Diners can choose the historic Panelled Room, the charming Garden End Room or to dine alfresco on the stunning south facing Terrace.

Our Gallery menu is available from 10:00 until 22:00 for brunch, bar snacks, light meals and pre-dinner drinks and afternoon tea between 3pm and 5pm.

The Restaurant is open daily from 12:00 for lunch, and 18:00 for dinner.

To Book, or for any enquires please contact Pelham House: AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 83 p: 01273 488600 e: reception @pelhamhouse.com

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THE GOODWOOD HOTEL KEEPING TRADITION ALIVE

Saskia V. Droz is relishing her new role as manager of The Goodwood Hotel. Alex Hopkins talks to her about impeccable service and the traditions of one of the country’s finest estates 84 | S US S E X S T Y L E . C OM | AUG 2 0 1 5

indulgence

o say that Saskia V. Droz is excited about managing The Goodwood Hotel is an understatement. The hotelier, who trained in her native Switzerland, came over to the UK in 2007 and began working for the respected chain Malmaison. She’s worked in hospitality almost all of her life and was immediately attracted to the Goodwood estate’s rich, very English traditions.

“Obviously, coming from a chain background to Goodwood was very different,” admits Droz, who previously managed Malmaison’s hotels in Newcastle and Poole.

“There was a very strong brand identity with the last hotels I worked in and Goodwood is, of course, completely privately owned.”

The Goodwood Estate is vast and not only includes the 18th century stone hotel building, which comprises 91 rooms and suites and a state of the art health club, but a golf course, aerodrome, horse racing course and the fabled racing track, which in September will host the annual Goodwood Revival. The emphasis that owner Lord March places on the estate’s glamorous history was an immediate draw for Droz.

“Lord March is so passionate about the entire estate,” she enthuses. “He continues to play a pivotal role in all the different sports it hosts and the general running of the facilities.

That sense of history is very close to my own heart and I understand how important it is to protect it.”

As soon as Droz visited the hotel she recognised its potential. She saw it as her job to convey her own passion for excellent service to her team.

“It doesn’t matter what building you’re in,” she explains, “you can dress a hotel up with the best furniture and the latest trends, but if the people aren’t there to follow up with the service then the guests will see the difference.

Delivering superb hospitality is what counts.”

Droz’s personal definition of “excellent service” is “about surprising the guests, exceeding expectations. This can be about small things, but the basics must be there: you need to be friendly, polite and efficient.”

Every member of hotel staff is responsible for providing this service, she explains. If a personal trainer should encounter a guest in the corridor, he or she will go beyond their duty to show the guest to their room or carry their bags. “As soon as people come through the door we want them to feel completely relaxed,” she adds.

Lord March continues to be involved in many decisions about the hotel – in terms

of design and even the look of some of the uniforms. His attention to detail is second to none, says Droz, and has served as a fine example to her.

Since Droz arrived at the hotel, last July, she has begun to implement important changes. One of the biggest challenges, she found, was that the estate caters to such a variety of customers: sportsmen who use the health club, golfers, families, business people attending conferences and very high-end customers who come for all of the festivals.

Then, of course, there are Lord March’s guests.

“People’s demands are very different,” adds Droz. “We need to be extremely quick at reacting and understanding them.

“When I came on board, some of the restaurants didn’t have a proper identity, so we’ve changed that. The bar and grill – which is near to the revamped health club – now include a healthy menu for people who are really into their fitness, but at the same time we offer a great variety of steaks and burgers which come from the estate’s farm.”

Droz finds it difficult to say which tradition she loves best. “There are just so many,” she laughs. But of the major events – which attract international visitors – she says that the Qatar Goodwood Festival (held this year from 28 July -1 August) is probably her favourite; however, typically for her she is already thinking of ways that guests’ experiences can be improved.

“I’m conscious that some guests may not have had the best day at the races – their bets may have failed, their horses not come in. It’s our job to ensure that the rest of the day – after the races – goes superbly for them. That’s the next challenge.”

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salad bowl ‘Tis the season for salads and Sam Bilton finds there’s nothing better than spicing things up with a bit of chilli. Try these delectable recipes from The Salad Bowl, by Nicola Graimes, published by Ryland Peters & Small, with photography by Matt Russell

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food

Spiced chicken with white beans & chilli dressing

Peppadew are slightly sweet, piquant chillies with a good level of heat without being mind-blowingly hot. Bottled jalapeños can be used instead, if you have difficulty finding peppadew.

Serves 4 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large yellow pepper, seeded and thinly sliced 300 g canned drained haricot beans, rinsed 200 g vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, halved 1 banana shallot, thinly sliced 2 handfuls of basil leaves, torn 2 handfuls of coriander leaves 1 pitta bread, toasted until crisp and torn into pieces Chilli dressing 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil freshly squeezed juice of 11⁄2–2 limes, depending on how juicy they are 2 peppadew chillies in vinegar, drained and finely chopped 1⁄2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of clingfilm and flatten with a meat tenderizer or the end of a rolling pin until they are of an even thickness, about 1.5 cm/1⁄2 in. Mix together the paprika with 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, shallow dish. Season, add the chicken and spoon the marinade over the top until evenly coated.

Heat a ridged griddle pan over a high heat until hot. Turn the heat down slightly and char-grill the chicken in two batches for 7–10 minutes, turning twice, until cooked through and blackened in places.

Leave to rest and cool slightly for 5 minutes, then slice into strips.

Meanwhile, to make the dressing, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Taste and add the extra lime juice, if needed. Season and set aside until required.

Put the pepper, beans, tomatoes, shallot and half the herbs in a large, shallow bowl. Spoon over half of the dressing and toss to coat everything. Top the salad with the chicken, remaining herbs and crisp pitta pieces and spoon the rest of the dressing over it.

READERR OF F E The Salad Bowl will be available to Sussex Style readers for the special price of £10.99 including postage & packaging (rrp £14.99) by telephoning Macmillan Direct on 01256 302 699 and quoting the reference GLR CM9

Chilli prawns with avocado dressing

Avocados make a deliciously creamy dressing when blended with tangy lime, fresh coriander and fromage frais. If it seems a little thick for spooning over the prawns, loosen with a spoonful or two of water. If fresh peas are out of season, use cooked frozen garden peas that have been refreshed in water.

Serves 4 4 handfuls of torn Little Gem lettuce 1 red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced 50 g sugar snap peas, sliced diagonally 3 spring onions, thinly sliced diagonally 100 g shelled fresh uncooked peas 350 g shelled cooked king prawns 1 red chilli, seeded and finely sliced Avocado dressing 2 avocados, peeled, halved, stoned and chopped freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes finely grated zest of 1 lime 6 tablespoons fromage frais or ricotta cheese 2 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander leaves, plus extra to serve 1⁄2 teaspoon dried chilli sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the avocado dressing, put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Add a little water to loosen, if needed, and season well.

Arrange the lettuce leaves on a large serving plate, top with the red pepper, sugar snap peas, spring onions, peas and king prawns. Spoon the avocado dressing on top before sprinkling with the sliced chilli and extra coriander, if you like.

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in season

In Season...

Chillies

Send the summer thermometer soaring with all things chillirelated – then cool down with soothing fennel-based dishes

P

ossibly the most diverse fruit on the planet, these capsicums come in various shapes, colours and strengths, ranging from the mild mannered peperoncini to the mouth-searing Carolina Reaper. So unique is their pungency they even have their own scale to measure their heat, known as Scoville units.

Sadly, the variety of fresh chillies available to most of us is somewhat limited but you can buy an excellent selection of dried chillies online, such as the smokey chipotle, which is a must in a classic chilli con carne. Fortunately, chillies are easy to cultivate at home in a container, so if you fancy something a bit more unusual, why not try growing some yourself? You can pick up seeds at your local garden centre or buy starter kits from southdevonchillifarm.co.uk.

Fennel

With its aniseed flavour, fennel is one of my favourite summer vegetables. As well as its taste I love its versatility. Fennel is quite a gregarious

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vegetable and is happily paired with a multitude of ingredients. For something comforting I like to cook it sliced with cream and Gruyère in a gratin. Uncooked in a salad, combined with juicy orange segments and salty black olives, it makes a great accompaniment to a pan-fried duck breast. It’s never out of place in a rich tomato sauce which can be ladled over freshly cooked pasta. I’ve used just such a sauce in a recipe for chorizo and fennel meatballs on my blog, comfortablyhungry.com. Give it a go.

Tomato and basil sauce will seem quite dull once you’ve tried it.

HOW TO BE A CHILLI HEAD Chilli aficionados will love this book by Brighton-based food and travel writer Andy Lynes. It tells you everything you need to know about how to grow chillies, where the best chilli festivals in the world are held, and even how to market your own chilli sauce.

How to be a Chilli Head (Portico, £9.99)

Three fantastic developments, one fantastic area!

Rocky Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 4RW

Renfields, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 4UG

Rocky Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH17 7SF

The Beeches at Rocky Lane is a beautiful collection of exquisitely designed new 3, 4 & 5 bedroom homes. Located in a flourishing new community in the sought after area of Haywards Heath.

Crest Nicholson is proud to introduce the latest chapter in the success story that is Bolnore Village, a stunning new collection of 2 bedroom apartments and well appointed 3, 4 & 5 bedroom houses.

Woodside is a gorgeous collection of new 2, 3 & 4 bedroom homes located near open green spaces and lush woodland in the sought after area of Haywards Heath in West Sussex.

Marketing Suite open daily 10am - 5pm & until 7pm Thursday

Marketing Suite open daily 10am - 5pm & until 7pm Thursday

Show Home open daily 10am - 5pm & until 7pm Thursday

4 & 5 bedroom houses from £579,950

2 bedroom apartments & 3 bedroom houses from £269,950

3 & 4 bedroom houses from £364,950

crestnicholson.com/thebeeches

crestnicholson.com/talltrees

crestnicholson.com/woodside

01444 229781

01444 456957

01444 221130

www.crestnicholson.com Photography shows typical Crest Nicholson interiors featuring optional upgrades at additional cost. Prices correct at time of going to press.

Exterior photography is taken at a similar Crest Nicholson development and is indicative only.

bars

The Wisborough – Wisborough Green The locally-sourced menu, seasonal game dishes, fine wine and beer meet the highest demands for both classic and innovative ideas. But, what is perhaps more important, is how they bring your food to the table.

Vegetables from their own acre of kitchen garden, meat from their own herd, flock and drove, and game directly from the South Downs. A proper British countryside pub, serving the very best produce. thewisborough.com

Rocking Horse - Worthing At this authentic, modern Cocktail / Wine Bar You’ll encounter a team constituted of sharp individuals offering true hospitality in a quirky, yet clean and comfortable environment. They serve outstanding cocktails and a carefully selected wine list.

Rockinghorse.co.uk

PUBLISHER’S CHOICE

The Rose and Crown, Fletching Described as having “the biggest range of Happy Hour cocktails outside the West End”, the Rose & Crown, a family owned pub, nestled in the village of Fletching, offers a bar with a distinct difference, with a range of local spirits and craft beers sitting alongside Harvey’s of Lewes and sparkling wine from Bluebell Vineyards. A trendy pub with a trendy team. roseandcrownfletching.com

Sussex’s Finest

This month Sussex Style’s publisher gives his pick of the county’s finest bars. Whether you’re after a relaxing drink with family or some celeb watching, we’ve got it covered The Lion & Lobster, Brighton Spread over three floors, including a pub area, regency restaurant and a hidden roof terrace, this is the perfect spot to while away a few hours, whether you’re looking for a relaxing drink, fantastic home-cooked food or both. A rabbit warren of nooks and crannies, crammed with an eclectic collection of bits and pieces awaits. A truly unique place, stepping into The Lion & Lobster feels like meeting an old friend. www.thelionandlobster.co.uk 90 | S US S E X S T Y L E . C OM | AUG 2 0 1 5

The Captains Bar, The Ship Hotel, Murrays Chichester Easily the most glamorous bar in Chichester. The Captains bar at Murrays Restaurant oozes style and warmth; from the moment you enter the fabulously decorated bar you immediately feel totally at home. While you rub shoulders with celebs, try their extensive cocktail list, great wines or even sample a choice of their 10 different gins. theshiphotel.net

The Star Inn – Rusper With low hanging roof beams and a large open fireplace, The Star Inn has become a popular destination of choice for those visiting the quaint village of Rusper. It offers a wide variety of homecooked meals, including a favoured Greek selection and an great specials board.

Then of course there’s the great drinks selection - satisfying to say the least! thestarinnrusper.co.uk The Bolney Stage, Bolney The Bolney Stage offers an exciting place to meet up with friends and it is just off the A23 in Bolney Village. Expect fresh, honest food, well kept local Ales and a cellar full of fine wine. This is a great place to sit by the fire in winter or on the terrace in Summer. www.bolneystage.hcpr.co.uk

The Wheatsheaf – Plummers Plain Traditional family owned unique pub set in the heart of the countryside, serving a variety of home-cooked food, fine wines, cask ales coffees and cocktails all day.

Enjoy alfresco dining on the terrace with outside bar or step down to the acre of grass area with beautiful woodland views and large children’s play area. thewheatsheafplummersplain.co.uk

The Bull – Ditchling The Bull is one of the oldest buildings in Ditchling village, Friendly, knowledgeable staff led by young manager Molly Raftery, will find you a table or guide you to the bar. Here they keep 5 cask ales, including ‘Bedlam’ from their very own brewery, along with eight independent craft beers and over 20 wines. Ideal for visitors to the nearby South Downs National Park. thebullditchling.com

Publisher’s Choice: to be featured in Sussex’s Finest email sean@greenduckmedia.co.uk AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 91

film

198Os THE LAST

GOLDEN AGE OF CINEMA Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Wall Street… just some of the movies intricately linked to the 1980s – the last decade truly represented by its films, argues David Bennun

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BACKGROUND IMAGE: DENNIRO/SHUTTERSTOCK. RUTGER HAUER IMAGE: DAVID FOWLER/SHUTTERSTOCK.

R

ock’n’roll, in its many guises, has been with us for 60 years, in which time it has come to serve as a ready signifier for the time in which it was made.

Cinema has existed for almost twice that long, and has, if anything, served the same purpose to greater effect. A song can give you an instant, Proustian hit – a jolt of contemporaneity – but cinema literally offers you a picture of the moment.

Or it did, until around 20 years ago. Obviously, the films of the last two decades still resemble and speak of their time.

Yet somehow they do not seem emblematic of it. Perhaps it has something to do with the creeping homogeneity of cinema – samey blockbusters on one side, samey faux-indie flicks on the other. Perhaps cinema as a whole has somehow become detatched from the anchor that used to hold it to its moment.

But whatever the reason, it is hard to imagine that same powerful evocation holding true in the future for much of the cinema made between the mid-1990s and now.

The most recent era in which that connection was so strong as to seem unbreakable was the 1980s. Not only that, but the Eighties was the last era in which cinema seemed not merely to follow but to lead and help define our sense of the moment. In the Eighties, cinema wasn’t just cinema – a series of films, products in a medium. It was, collectively, The Movies – something integral to the life of the times, to feeling part of the world, rather than simply being entertained; although of course, one didn’t know it at the time. The idea was to be entertained. The rest came along without a conscious perception of it.

Try, for instance, to imagine the Eighties without Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982). Released in the third year of that decade, it

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe...”

Rutger Hauer

did not create what would become recognised as the Eighties’ aesthetic entirely on its own, but it crystalised it perfectly. It was glossy. Its darkness was deep, its lights were dazzling. It had an industrial harshness, a metallic smoothness. Above all, it was synthetic rather than organic. It was on that distinction that the entire premise of the movie rested: artificial people, indistinguishable from the “real” ones to all but the most expert eye – and the question, of course, became: in what way were they not real?

Rutger Hauer’s justly famous speech (“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe...”) highlighted the human sensitivity of this android, this replicant, a manufactured man, a magnificent Frankenstein ready to kill his creator to avenge his own mortality. Thus Blade Runner gave us not only a look, and a sound (Vangelis’ doomy film score would go on to be a major influence on electro and dance music), but also a concept to grapple with; when artifice cannot be told from nature, what then may be considered artificial? So much of Eighties music, art, literature and cinema would contend with this idea, but it was never done more memorably than here.

As an aside, it’s worth asking how many actors have appeared in as many gamechanging films as Harrison Ford. The true star of Star Wars – at least, the true human star – he not only played the title character in Blade Runner, but had taken the lead role the year before in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which could hardly have been a more different movie. If Blade Runner was

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film

“There is no escape.

Don’t make me destroy you” Darth vader

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“The Eighties was the last era in which cinema seemed not merely to follow but to lead and help define our sense of the moment”

There was no aspect of life, it seemed, that the movies didn’t touch upon, and indeed somehow encapsulate, in the Eighties; no demographic for which they did not cater. Writer and director John Hughes became a genre to himself, with a series of films that clicked wonderfully into the sensibilities of their teenage audience and resonate to this day even with those who didn’t see them first time around: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”), Pretty in Pink, Weird Science and – perhaps the nearest thing to a Rebel Without A Cause of its day – The Breakfast Club (1985). This ensemble piece was anything but subtle; its five principal roles were designed to ensure that any watching youngster would find a counterpart up on the screen; a “princess”, a “brain”, a jock, an outsider, a ne’er-dowell. But it didn’t need to be. Subtlety would probably have ruined it. It is rivalled only as a key feelgood flick for Eighties teens by John G. Avildsen’s The Karate Kid, a kind of adolescents’ Rocky. Both were fist-pumpers of the first water – literally so, in the closing shot of the former and throughout much of the latter.

Is it mere nostalgia to think that the movies of the Eighties captured and continue to represent their age in a way that those of more recent times have not and will not? It is trite to say that only time will tell; but of course, nothing else can. However I could have named dozens more titles that wonderfully evoke that decade, and I struggle to think of more than a handful from, say, the Noughties of which I can say the same.

BACKGROUND IMAGE: DENNIRO/SHUTTERSTOCK. DARTH VADER IMAGE: STEFANO BUTTAFOCO/SHUTTERSTOCK.

a sinister, existentialist film noir anticipating a bleak and seedy dystopian future, then Raiders of the Lost Ark was the most joyous of nostalgia. It harked back to a time of uncompromised heroics (Ford’s Indiana Jones may have been rough around the edges, but he was as honourable and wholesome as the same actor’s Rick Deckard was conflicted and brutal), and of clear moral divisions (the villains in Raiders were Nazis; it wasn’t clear at all who the villains in Blade Runner were, or even if there was anybody who wasn’t one of some kind or another.) In the early years of the Reagan presidency, it was possible to look at Raiders as summarising the Gipper’s own vision of what he thought America had been and could be again, and at Blade Runner as representing what his critics feared he was going to make of it. (A sequel is planned for Blade Runner, featuring Ford in the same role; let’s hope the results are better than the prospect.)

A more literal take on Reagan’s America was offered towards the end of his presidency by Oliver Stone in Wall Street (1987), a blunt moral fable which forever established the stereotype of the ruthless, amoral financier in the character of Gordon Gecko, and his notorious “Greed is good” speech – a creed which still informs political life today. It has been said of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four – perhaps a little too neatly, but it is a nice turn of phrase – that it failed as a prophecy because it succeeded as a warning. In truth, it probably did neither; all the same, one might reverse the formulation and say of Wall Street that it succeeded as a prophecy because it failed as a warning. It also gave us one of the most brilliant turns in the career of Michael Douglas, a kind of anti-Harrison Ford, whose most admirable quality lies in being one of the few leading men willing to play genuinely nasty.

Your LocaL Independent KItchen StudIo

the Kitchen people 61 the high Street, Lindfield West Sussex rh16 2hn tel: 01444 484 868 email: paul@kitchenpeople.co.uk

www.facebook.com/kitchenpeople AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST@kitchenpsarah YL E . CO M | 95

culture

King THE

OF SCULPTURE

Eddie Powell has run many successful business over the years, but his internationally celebrated Sculpture Park in Churt has become his passion. He takes Alex Hopkins on a tour

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The range of material displayed at The Sculpture Park is staggering. Here: Skaters, by Michael Marriot, £3,750 each

IMAGES COURTESY OF THE SCULPTURE PARK

I

’m quite lazy,” confesses Eddie Powell as he drives through the rolling Surrey countryside. Powell, the mastermind behind what’s widely considered to be the world’s most eclectic exhibition of sculpture, is referring to his own work as a sculptor, which he carries out under the name of Wilfred Pritchard.

Looking at Powell’s collection it’s difficult to agree with his typically modest statement. The work is wonderfully varied and impeccably crafted. His signature piece is the skeleton, often made out of bronze and cast in a variety of macabre and witty poses which summon up the delicate balance between strength and fragility. Many of these delightfully playful pieces can be found in his 10-acre Sculpture Park, in Churt, which he will drive me to later on in the day.

But for now, our first port of call is Powell’s shop, Miscellanea of Churt, a fascinating emporium catering to every conceivable interior design need. Powell has had the business since 1980 and even used to live in the deceptively small white cottage which is now packed with bathrooms, kitchens and accessories that range from 14th-century Mediaeval to 21stcentury High Tech.

“It’s as good as anything you’ll see in London,” he mutters, as he introduces me to the shop’s manager Leigh Courtnage, to whom he credits the business’s success. “We’re after anything that gets a ‘wow’ from the customer,” he continues as we saunter through a maze of some of the finest and most bizarre furniture I have ever encountered.

I’ve been with Powell for just half an hour now and am as intrigued by his personal story as by his shop. Outwardly, he’s unassuming: he speaks in a soft, Welsh accent and seems to take everything in his stride. But it soon becomes apparent that he’s one of life’s characters. There’s a mischievous glint in his eye. He’s a serial entrepreneur who has run everything from a hotel to the only bathroom company in the country that continues to offer suites in every imaginable colour. What drives him, I ask. “The search for contentment, I suppose,” he muses. “I’m an obsessive trader. I think I have a bit of OCD with that, actually. Not a day goes by when I haven’t bought or sold something.”

As we talk he is preparing for one of the biggest sales of his career – a major auction of his personal collection of sculpture and photography. Many pieces have appeared in his Sculpture Park. “I get so inundated with people wanting to display their work in the park that unless I sell work off I have no room,” he explains.

I thumb through the auction catalogue as Powell points out some of the artists he most admires. Many of the most eye-catching pieces are his own. I gaze at a sculpture of a foetus (which Powell confirms is real) with images of Adolf Hitler and AUG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E . CO M | 97

culture

“I’m an obsessive trader. I think I have a bit of OCD with that. Not a day goes by when I haven’t bought or sold something. I once popped down for an appointment on Christmas day” Mother Teresa beside it. “Well, it fuels the abortion debate, doesn’t it?” he winks as the car turns another corner, burrowing deep into the Sussex countryside.

Powell first came to Surrey from south Wales in 1975 when he began a course at the Guildford School of Art, which was later amalgamated with West Surrey College of Art and Design to get university status. He finished a degree in photography and sculpture and then “stayed on in this area to take money off the English,” he laughs.

Although Powell says that he wouldn’t define his work in any particular way, the natural world is clearly the dominant influence. A series of images depict animals in captivity as part of a Man and Beast project. Then there are more of his favourite skeleton motif. At this point Powell casually tells me that his park provided all of the sculptures for the 2012 Olympic Games. Where do his ideas come from? “Life,” he succinctly answers and he leaves it at that.

“I’m more excited buying than selling,” Powell says as his Volvo estate turns into the grounds of Summers Place Auctions, in Billingshurst, the company charged with selling his collection. “Yes, I’m actually quite disappointed when I sell. I’d rather own the piece.” But with his business having to turn over a minimum of £20,000 - £30,000 a week this is, unfortunately, not an option. Powell has survived recessions before, and is confident that he will also ride this one out, but “it’s been particularly bad this time around,” he acknowledges.

A large bust of Winston Churchill greets us as we enter the showroom. This, Powell says, is one of the most important pieces of Churchill memorabilia to come on the market. It’s the first time Powell has seen it since it arrived from the foundry and he is noticeably impressed.

“I bought the original plaster about eight years ago,” he says, “but then had to negotiate with the estate of the artist to get posthumous editions done. I’d had six done which we’ll sell worldwide over however many years it takes.” I’m in no doubt that Powell will achieve this. He exudes a quiet confidence – this is a man who gets things done.

The car sweeps out of Summers Place Auctions and back on to the main road. We’re heading for the jewel in Powell’s crown, the business that he is now internationally celebrated for: the Sculpture Park. He owned the hotel opposite the site and when the land went on sale he decided to buy it. Back then he hadn’t decided what he was going to do with it.” It was a whim really,” he admits. “Initially I thought I may build log cabins there to extend the hotel’s accommodation.”

The hotel was sold and the park has taken over. It now houses some 600 sculptures by more than 300 artists, set in 10 acres of arboretum and wildlife-inhabited water gardens. There are two miles of paths, laid out across heathland, and 98 | S US S E X S T Y L E . C OM | AUG 2 0 1 5

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IMAGES COURTESY OF THE SCULPTURE PARK

culture

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IMAGE COURTESY OF MISCELLANEA OF CHURT

“Our shop, Miscellenea of Churt, is as good as anything you’ll see in London.

We’re after anything that gets a ‘wow’ from the customer”

The interiors found in Eddie Powell’s Miscellanea of Churt are eclectic and inspirational

three lakes which are fed by two natural springs. It’s open seven days a week; Powell tells me that he’s been known to pop down there for an appointment on Christmas day. Work, he admits, is not something he switches off – he enjoys it too much.

Nothing prepares me for stepping inside the park. We meander across the rhododendron-framed paths, through tunnels of trees, up and down steps and past the lakes. Around every corner I’m greeted by yet another piece of sculpture. The variety of work is staggering.

Powell is approached by between eight and ten artists a week who want to exhibit in the park. They come from all over the world. He has to turn down 98% of what he is offered.

What is he looking for?

“I’m always wanting to fill another niche in the market and am looking to improve on quality rather than quantity. But I love big sculptures. The bigger the better. We specialise in big awkward pieces that other people are not so keen on.”

The last thing Powell wants are “middle of the road pieces”.

He aims to elicit a strong response from visitors. “It’s about providing a cross section of work that suits everyone. There’s no one particular style. There’ll be things as an individual that you’ll love and those that you hate.”

He stresses that although he is obviously in the business of selling sculpture, he doesn’t just select work because it’s commercial. Yes, there are pieces that he knows will become impulse buys for visitors, but these are “generally not terribly fine art”. Above all, he is looking for something that is visually interesting. What type of pieces sell the best?

“Generally people are fairly conservative,” he says. “They’ll buy something that they can easily identify with: animals, figurative work, nice shapes. The more challenging stuff is more difficult to find a home for.”

The collection of work on display is utterly beguiling. I follow Powell as we walk past greyhounds, flamingos, kicking donkeys and vibrant flowers – made in bronze, steel or stone.

I pause in front of the stark metal framework of what was a student’s room. Elsewhere empty gas cylinders are coated with moss and have become one with nature. In the middle of a lake is a water-spouting monument that resembles a mammoth, urinating vagina. Everything blends in perfectly with the natural surroundings. This is, without a doubt, one of the most tranquil places I’ve ever visited.

Powell leads me to a wooden gazebo where I take a seat next to a giant metal sunflower.

“I’ve had so many different businesses over the years, but this, I think, is the best,” he says, gesturing towards a lake and the tall trees that sit beyond, swaying gently in the afternoon’s warm breeze as birds chirp overhead. “Well, it’s something to A UG 2015 | SUSSEXST YL E.CO M | 101

RENAISSANCE VILLAGES

*Subject to terms and conditions.

EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE OVER 55s*

The

Good Life Set within 30 acres of idyllic private parkland in the hamlet of Faygate, near Horsham in West Sussex, Durrants Village is home to a selection of luxury two- and three-bedroom cottages and two-bedroom apartments exclusively for the over 55s*, centered around a prestigious residents’ clubhouse.

Created by multi award-winning Renaissance Villages – a specialist developer of high quality, age-exclusive villages – Durrants Village is so much more than a typical retirement village; it is a private retirement community.

I

f you’re seeking a luxuriously appointed property within a friendly village community with a superb selection of on-site facilities, then look no further.

If you treasure an active, independent, social lifestyle, with the reassurance of knowing someone is always round to help should you need it, you’ve come to the right place.

Whether you’re already enjoying retirement or continuing to work whilst planning ahead for the future, a new lifestyle awaits you here at Durrants Village.

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I N S P I R AT I O N A L L I V I N G

The stunning new clubhouse is the perfect place for meeting,relaxing, having fun, learning a new skill and generally enjoying your free time – which is what life at one of our villages is all about. www.renaissancevillages.co.uk 103

DURRANTS VILLAGE

*Subject to terms and conditions.

EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE OVER 55s*

A Downsize Not A Downgrade For The Bradleys

It is almost a year since Steve and June Bradley moved into their new home in Durrants Village in Faygate, near Horsham – one of the latest being built by award- winning retirement lifestyle specialist Renaissance Villages.

Having witnessed parents leaving it too late to cope well with downsizing in their advancing years, they were keen to make their own move in good time, while they were still well able to manage the process themselves and deal with the inevitable accompanying upheaval.

DURRANTS VILLAGE FAYGATE WEST SUSSEX RH12 4SJ

W

e had never been to Horsham and found we really liked what we saw, plus we loved the show home.

We investigated and found a great church nearby too – which is very important to us – and so, with all those things in place, we put down a deposit very quickly!”

EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY The Bradleys chose a two/three bedroom home at Durrants Village and were very pleased with the size of not only the bedrooms and en-suite bathrooms but also the living areas. “Most of the houses we had seen with a similar number of rooms were small starter homes and, whilst we wanted to downsize, we definitely did not want to downgrade. The rooms are not only a good size but are all exquisitely fitted. The finish is of a very high standard, which is important to us.”

plus point. Previously we would be working in the garden at weekends and bank holidays and find that we were worn out when going back to work. Now we can enjoy our leisure days knowing that everything is taken care of. We have a small patio with our herb and flower pots, which are our responsibility, and which we enjoy doing, and a seating area and barbecue. We simply love it. We feel as though we are on holiday all the time!”

“We simply love it.We feel as though we are on holiday all the time!”

Steve is still working part-time as a business consultant and says his new lifestyle lends itself well to those who still have a job. Essentially, moving to Durrants Village has given me time more than anything.” Despite still working, as the gardens and grounds are maintained, Steve believes he has more time now to spend with June, who does some voluntary admin work for their church, and they are enjoying getting to know Sussex and Kent. “The fact that we no longer have to do the gardening and general maintenance is such a 104 www.durrantsvillage.co.uk

T O TA L P E A C E O F M I N D Security is also important to the Bradleys – not only when they are at home but just as vital when they are away. Durrants Village is a gated development and as the couple plan to go away for extended periods of time, knowing that they can simply ‘lock up and leave’ is something that greatly appealed to them when they first considered such a move.

The development has opened the fantastic clubhouse this month – a focus of social activities with fitness centre, pool, library, medical centre, games room, meeting room, bar and restaurant. A wide range of clubs and societies will be organised by the residents themselves such as art, table tennis, dancing, bridge, coffee mornings, wine tastings and parties – ideal for those living on their own, as well as couples, looking for company and friendship.

I N S P I R AT I O N A L L I V I N G

STEVE AND JUNE BRADLEY:

“We have seen too many people who have left it too late and then it becomes stressful and overwhelming.

We are so glad we moved when we did.”

“We would highly recommend Durrants Village for anybody who is over 55 * and looking to downsize and enjoy a good lifestyle.”

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT LIFE AT DURRANTS VILLAGE CALL 01293 851935 OUR SALES AND MARKETING SUITE IS OPEN EVERY DAY FROM 10.00AM TO 5.00PM.

IDYLLIC SURROUNDINGS Horsham, with its beautiful surroundings, historic buildings and modern facilities has also been a pleasant discovery for the couple – in recent years it has been consistently named in the top 10 places to live in the UK. In a recent survey Horsham was voted the second happiest town in the UK. It is easily accessed by road. Junction 11 of the M23 motorway is a short drive from Durrants Village, making the popular resorts of the south coast and London easy to reach by car.

For fans of the British seaside, Brighton, Lewes and Worthing are a comfortable drive away and for those who enjoy jetting off to warmer climes, Gatwick and Heathrow airports are also within easy reach. Steve and June have made new friends too – not only at Durrants Village but also through their church, which has given them a new social life and one which is close by.

OUR CURRENT VILLAGES OF LUXURY APARTMENTS AND COTTAGES LOCATIONS INCLUDE:

020 8781 6111

01293 851935

01392 275335

01483 796810

01789 508021

www.renaissancevillages.co.uk 105

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Tel: 01273 831421 Open until 5.30pm, Monday - Saturday 108 | S U S S E X S T Y L E . C OM | AUG 2 0 1 5

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The Ouse Valley Viaduct – also known as the Balcombe Viaduct. Built in 1871, the mammoth structure stands 96 feet high and 1,475 feet long. The viaduct was designed by John Urpeth Rastrick alongside the architect of the London to Brighton railway, David Mocatta. Head to Balcombe Road for stunning views or walk along the footpath from the road to walk directly under the archways.

Royal Pavilion, Brighton As Brighton’s most iconic building and spectacle, the magnificent Royal Pavilion is a must-see, again and again and again. Built as a seaside holiday home for George IV, the exotic John Nash creation has become synonymous with the city and attracts hordes of visitors through its doors every year.

Must-See Sussex Buildings to visit this Summer

Glyndebourne Opera House, Glynde As the official Glyndebourne website states, the opera house in Glynde developed from the personal passions of its founders, John Christie and wife Audrey Mildmay, to a celebrated building of cultural significance. After decades of success, a new opera house was built and opened in 1994 to critical acclaim. The horseshoe-shaped auditorium, which was created using century-old pitch pine, is praised for its inviting atmosphere.

The history of Sussex through the centuries is perfectly depicted by its array of grand buildings, from Roman ruins and medieval castles to Modernist marvels and sprawling estates. Ben Copper from Nutshell Construction gives his top buildings to visit this summer to whet your sense of adventure in our beautiful county Saltdean Lido, Saltdean The majority of Britain’s lido’s were built during the 1930’s, and so follow a distinctly Art Deco design trend that is still loved today.

Despite many closures since the lido heyday, Saltdean Lido, built in 1938, has stood the test of time as a gem overlooking the sparkling waters of the East Sussex coast.

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NigeL French /Shutterstock.com

Charlotte Boulton

Dmitry Naumov / Shutterstock.com

Ouse Valley Viaduct

architecture

Philip Bird LRPS CPAGB / Shutterstock.com

De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea The Grade One Listed De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea is yet another excellent Modernist structure in East Sussex. Opened in 1955, and later refurbished in 2005, the pavilion is now an important contemporary arts centre in East Sussex.

Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Charlton

Brighton Railway Station The majority of visitors

siskinbob.files

to the bustling city of Brighton often overlook the architectural merits of its lofty railway station on their way to the shops and beach beyond. Architect David Mocatta and London & Brighton Railway created the integral transport hub in 1840 in the popular Italianate style of the age.

The cast iron and glasshell, was erected from 18821883, using ironwork delivered by rail, without any disruption to services.

The many historic buildings at this integral museum in Charlton perfectly depict rural life in East Sussex during the past 600 years. Due to their importance, an array of medieval houses and farm buildings were dismantled and rebuilt on site to stand alongside the iconic and contemporary Downland Gridshell Building.

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Situated on Sandy Lane, The Pines is in the ancient market town of East Grinstead in Sussex. Standing halfway between London and the South Coast makes the town extremely accessible by both road and rail with the added benefit of access to Gatwick Airport.

The Pines consists of two detached houses set in generous well screened mature plots.

• Double height tiled entrance hall with oak staircase • Spacious kitchen with all appliances • Three further reception rooms with generous ceiling heights • Master bedroom with Juliet balconies, dressing room and ensuite • Four further bedrooms and three bathrooms • Double garaging with automatic doors £1,195,000 For further information please contact Tel: 01932 837690 Email: info@tkei.co.uk

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finance

Budget 2015: tax changes for property owners IN PART ONE OF A TWO-PART GUIDE, JO WHITE OF SPOFFORTHS LLP EXPLAINS HOW YOU MAY BE EFFECTED BY THESE CHANGES

F

rom 6 April 2016 rent-a-room relief will increase to £7,500 per annum. This is the amount a home owner can receive, tax free, from the letting of individual rooms in their home.

This tax free sum was originally set at £ 4,250.

The increase will also apply where an individual rents out rooms in a guest house or B&B if it is their main home.

Restriction on mortgage interest relief for residential landlords One cost which a landlord is able to use to reduce their taxable profits is mortgage interest. The amount of relief was based on the money borrowed, restricted to the original cost of the property, or the market value of the property when it was first let.

From 6 April 2017 a further restriction will be applied so that landlords will only receive tax relief at the basic rate of tax (20%). This restriction is to be introduced gradually over a period of 4 years from this date, with the full impact being seen in 2020/21.

The tax reduction will be calculated as 20% of the lower of: The finance costs incurred; or the rental profits for the year; or the total income that exceeds the individual’s personal allowance in the tax year. Excess finance costs may be carried forward where the tax reduction has been limited to 20% of the property business.

Abolition of Wear and Tear allowance From April 2016 it is proposed that landlords will no longer be able to claim the 10% wear and tear allowance, currently available where a residential property is let with enough furnishings for a tenant to move in and live there straight away. Whilst currently out for consultation, the relief is set to be removed. Instead landlords will only be able to claim the expenditure incurred. The original cost of supplying furniture is not expected to be allowed but replacing items thereafter will be. The timing of replacement will be important to ensure maximum benefit.

This proposed change sees a move back to the original renewals basis which was abolished in 2013. It is unclear whether these provisions will apply to unfurnished properties but the initial feeling is that it will not, in line with the current rules.

Read more from Jo on changes to property taxes next month.

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culture

GREED, LUST AND AMBITION

David Bennun revisits Martin Amis’ Money, one of the definitive works of 1980s literature

IMAGE; COPYRIGHT VINTAGE, 2005

L

et’s say you are a novelist who excels at style but has difficulties with character. Whose power of observation is razor sharp, but who struggles to use it to locate the heart of a matter. The 1980s, and the triumph of postmodernism, might have been made for you. For here was an era, and a literary movement, where style and focus were all.

Where the very notion of the “real” was rendered redundant. Where anything was permitted because nothing was absolute, the matter had no heart to be located, and human beings could be seen as interchangeable ciphers. Or at least, that was what the literary movement would have had you believe about the era.

If, in short, you were Martin Amis, then this was your moment and Money (1984) was the book to seize upon it.

Money is a brilliant and frustrating book, as are all of Amis’s best novels. It is a book that sums up its time, but perhaps not in the way it intended. But then, how do we know what it intended? Postmodernism and its ally, critical theory, takes intent out of the picture. Nonetheless, we are not obliged retrospectively to take postmodernism on its own terms. So it’s reasonable to think Money was intended to capture the spirit of an era; what it instead captured was the spirit of much of the era’s art, and the way that art looked upon the era.

Money is not subtle, nor did it need to be. Its protagonist is named John Self, and he is - the pun is both deliberate and unavoidable - quite ferociously self-destructive. The novel turns on the idea of the death of the self - call it what you will; the soul, the identity. There is no place for it in the age it depicts. The novel’s subtitle is explicit on this point: “A Suicide Note,” it reads. This, it is plain, is going to be a book not just about doing away with oneself. It is also, and crucially, going to be a book about doing away with one’s self.

John Self directs adverts. Straight away, then, we know that he is a shameless manufacturer of artifice, a panderer for gain to the most destructive human instincts – vanity, avarice and anxiety – a practitioner of what George Orwell described as, “the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.” We know this not because advertising actually is inherently hollow and wicked, but because this is a book about the Eighties and therefore advertising must fill that role. Self is a sinner in a world that has done away with the notion of sin. He is, of course, self-seeking.

A gluttonous drunkard, led by greed, lust and ambition (he seeks entry to the movie industry, perhaps the only business more reprehensible than his own) to his doom, amid a cast of equally shallow, callous and egocentric caricatures.

But isn’t this a kind of moral tale after all, then? To see Self and his story through the finely tempered and wonderfully comical disgust in the author’s eye, does this not require both author and reader to have a moral centre? Well, only if one actually disapproves of Self, rather than merely relishes his self-inflicted plight. Only, again, if one finds a heart in the matter. The upshot of the story is that nothing and nobody is what it or they purported to be. But this is hardly a spoiler. That was plainly the key to the novel all along. It is not so much that money is the root of all evil, more that in Money, evil is rootless - perhaps not even evil at all, because that would require a countervailing goodness.

In some ways, Money resembles another picaresque novel published in the Eighties, but written in the early 1960s: John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy Of Dunces, a book which also sought to capture the spirit of its time. Yet that truly is a moral book, about a moral man. Money is a depiction of what happens, not in a world or a time without morals, but in a literature that attests it is living in such a world. And in that much, it certainly does represent its moment.

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Lady in red: Eve Ferret outside the West End’s Cafe Koha, where she began a new residency this year

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profile

FROM PIMLICO TO PEASE POTTAGE

Ferret, cabaret artiste

and child of Punk, talks to

Alex Hopkins about her memories of the Blitz club crowd and the

rebirth of a very exciting cabaret career

IMAGE BY DEREK RIDGERS

E

ve Ferret is feeling nostalgic. We’re sitting in a small, independent coffee shop near her home in Pimlico as the cabaret artiste – who counts a film with David Bowie among her many credits – recalls her childhood. She indicates a pub just down the road. “My grandparents ran that,” she explains. “In the war my mum was evacuated to Pease Pottage. I’ve always felt a very strong link to Sussex.

“As a child my dad would drive us up to the coast in a soft top car. We’d usually break down, but if we got there we’d have fish and chips in the back seat.

Sussex is special to me. Gawd, I can’t get away from it – I was even born on 14 Oct, which is Battle of Hastings Day.” She lets out a guffaw of laughter. “And it’s been a bloody battle ever since!”

I’ve known Ferret for a few years now, and in that time she has had enjoyed the kind of unexpected career renaissance that many performers dream of, but rarely achieve. No one is more surprised about this than Ferret – a naturally self-deprecating woman with an infectious sense of fun and mischief. Ferret first came to prominence in the 1980s, as a a hugely popular turn at Covent Garden’s notorious Blitz club, with her singing partner, Biddie. She immersed herself in the madcap, avant-garde Eighties scene, working alongside club legends and pop stars such as Boy George, Philip Salon, and Steve Strange. She was – even though she is too modest to admit it – one of the key players in creating the Eighties myth: that intoxicating, slightly dangerous mixture of hedonism and glamour. Ferret saw it all, and then in the 1990s, when her agent went bankrupt, quit it all.

It was acclaimed singer Barb Jungr who coaxed Ferret back into performing.

Ferret was doubtful at first, but after successful gigs at London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern, she has once more conquered the West End, with sold-out engagements at Piccadilly’s premier cabaret venue The Crazy Coqs and, most recently, a show at the St James Theatre.

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profile

Above: on the set of the film Absolute Beginners, directed

by Julien Temple. Right: Eve strutting her stuff at a fashion show for Swanky Modes with guitarist Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols.

Bottom, left, from clockwise: Biddie and Eve, picture by Iain Mckell; an Eve Ferret doll, by davidstewartart.com; in the film Billy The Kid and the Green Baize Vampire, directed Alan Clarke

A short walk to Belgravia led to Ferret being cast in a Wilder movie. “Things like that happened all the time,” she explains. “The opportunities came along if you put yourself out there. It was mental.”

As part of Biddie and Eve, Ferret went on to tour with groups such as Blancmange, Classix Nouveaux and Theatre of Hate. “It was wonderful,” she recalls. “But it was also simple. We didn’t have a lot of money – much like the austerity today – but we made do. We’d grab a lift home on the back of a dust cart in the Strand the early hours. Can you imagine doing that today with all this health and safety nonsense?”

It’s precisely this sense of wide-eyed adventure that Ferret has incorporated into her new act. Clad in her signature peignoir, with her luscious red hair, Ferret’s a striking, larger-than-life figure (with a soaring voice to match), combining quick-fire wit with vibrant covers and self-penned numbers. How would she herself describe her style?

“An eclectic mix. I’m having a laugh, a bit of a cry and giving my point of view on life. Now that I’ve finally found my way of being I don’t want to slip back into make-do, so things are quite out there in the sense that I’m not just singing old standards with a nice frock on.

I can do those and I love them but they’ve also been done by the best.

I’ve started writing my own songs to tell the story of my life as it is now. The show’s like being at a party.”

That festival spirit – everyone laughing and being happy together – has always driven Ferret. It’s what takes her back to Hastings each year for the firework display on her birthday, Battle of Hastings Day. “It’s such a magical occasion,” says Ferret. “And for me seeing the streets lit up with fire like that in the procession symbolises a kind of freedom. That, I think, was the essence of the Eighties that I was a part of – and at the heart of everything I still try to do.”

IMAGE BY DEREK RIDGERS

“I was talking to Gary Kemp about the Eighties the other day,” she tells me, before immediately apologising: “I’m not name dropping, it’s just the way things were then – these were just people around town, people who would turn up.

“We were saying that neither of us really liked that term the ‘New Romantics’. I was still at the Blitz when that era came in. Punk, as far as I was concerned, was over and the defining moment for us was when Charles and Di got married in July 1981. That was the last night of the Blitz – almost like the last night of an era for us.”

It was shortly after this that Ferret met George O’Dowd in Carnaby Street. He told her that he was thinking of doing a record, but voiced doubts, unsure it would be a success. “‘Oh, you never know. Give it a go, George,’ I told him,” says Ferret. “And, of course, he went on to be the biggest star of them all.” But, Ferret quickly adds, “the thing with these people is that everyone thinks they’re unobtainable, but actually they’re very centred. We were all just people looking for the next party – and we still are. It didn’t feel pretentious or fake – it wasn’t.”

Ferret’s own career also took off, but as with so much in the Eighties, it was unplanned. She found herself in Jazzin’ for Blue Jean with David Bowie, Mr Majeika with Stanley Baxter, films including Absolute Beginners and Foreign Bodies, and numerous TV shows such as Blankety Blank and Give Us a Clue. Her joie de vivre and zany presence were a draw. These were, Ferret believes, “much naiver times.”

“With no internet or mobile phones we had to remember numbers. If you said you’d be somewhere, you just turned up. None of this Facebook malarkey.

“You could easily get hold of people. I used to phone up producers and introduce myself. I got through to the casting director of a Bond film and asked to play the baddie. They said I’d be wrong for it, but that they knew someone I should meet the next day…Gene Wilder.”

“Clad in her signature peignoir, with her luscious red hair, Eve Ferret is a larger-than-life figure with a soaring voice to match�

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postcards from sussex

“Any number of bad perms, white dreads or back-combed birds’ nests as sported by Robert Smith of The Cure...”

a mere seven years after Bowie famously killed hey say that if you can remember FOR PAUL BURSTON, THE off his creation. A year later I was posing as a the Sixties, you weren’t really there. Naturally, I’m too young 1980S WERE A HAIR-RAISING New Romantic with an auburn wedge, then dying my hair black in honour of Marc Almond. to remember the decade of TIME. AND EVENTUALLY Then along came Boy George and Marilyn. peace, love and tie-dye shirts.

HIS BARNET WOULD Androgyny was in. Anything was possible.

But I do remember the 1980s, HAVE ITS REVENGE Luckily, I had a neighbour who was a trainee and what I remember most is the hair. hairdresser and happy to experiment on my hair Forget Thatcherism, Spitting Image and the Rubik’s cube. The Eighties was the decade of ridiculous hairstyles. Phil free of charge. One week I had highlights. Then lowlights. The strain on Oakey of The Human League with his asymmetric, androgynous bob. my mother was palpable. So was the strain on my hair. I remember the A Flock Of Seagulls and their gravity-defying, ozone-destroying, heavily time my neighbour peeled off the rubber highlighting cap and half my lacquered hairdos. Not to mention any number of bad perms, white dreads hair came with it. You’d think that would have put me off for life. But I wasn’t easily fazed. Hadn’t a similar thing happened to Toyah Wilcox? or back-combed birds’ nests as sported by Robert Smith of The Cure.

I think of the Eighties as a decade of two halves. The early Eighties I’d like to say that I was far too sensible to have made any of these appalling errors of judgement. But I’d be lying. I was a teenager in the were all about experimentation, reinvention, making a statement. The Eighties and had more than my fair share of hair-don’ts. Between the ages latter half of the decade wasn’t nearly as creative. Teenage girls didn’t of 15 and 19 I changed my hair colour on a monthly basis. One moment want to look like Toyah or Annie Lennox or Siouxsie Sioux anymore. it was jet black. The next it was super blond. Or one of a kaleidoscope They wanted to look like Kylie. For boys it was even worse. Boy George of colours that defied nature and drove my mother to distraction. and the gender benders were out. Jason Donovan and various other Luminous orange. Shocking pink. For one terrifying moment it was squeaky-clean singing soap stars were in.

By this time, I’d left my small town in South Wales to make a life for even green – the result of a bad bleach job on hair that had seen far too myself in London. I grew a quiff, wore faded Levi’s and hung around dive many boxes of Recital.

While most boys my age were competing at football and rugby, bars in Soho, pretending it was the 1950s. I discovered waxy products my motley group of friends and I competed for the most outlandish such as Dax and Black & White. My quiff grew taller every month. My hairstyle. One had very thick, naturally tight curly hair and would spend pillowcases needed washing every other day. Finally, as the decade ended, hours straightening it with crimping irons and super-strength hairspray. I gave my beleaguered barnet a well earned rest. No more dye jobs, back Another, thinning at 17, invented ever more elaborate ways of concealing combing or heavy product. I would go back to my natural brown.

And that, of course, is when my crowning glory decided to pay me his bald patch. (The last time I saw him, a few years ago, his hair had back for all those years of physical abuse. I wish I could say that my hairmysteriously grown back, thicker than it had ever been before. Hmm.) My hairstyles tended to be inspired by my idols. David Bowie was a raising Eighties adventures ended happily, without loss of hair or dignity. big influence. In 1980 I was sporting a bright red Ziggy Stardust mullet, I should be so lucky.

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IMAGE CREDIT: CHRISTIAN BERTRAND/SHUTTERSTOCK

T

Hair today…

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I in 4 women WILL BE affected by domestic abuse at some point in their life.

(Council of Europe 2002)

You are not alone Call RISE 01273 622 822 www.riseuk.org.uk @riseuk Wraparound services for women, children and LGBT people affected by domestic abuse in Sussex.

Visit Domestic Abuse Surgery, Hove Town Hall, Wednesdays 9.00-12.00

Donate text RISE15 ÂŁ5 to70070 2012 3-year accreditation by

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book club

bo

ub l c k o

Riders

by Jilly Cooper (Corgi) Oh my. This is a new imprint of a firm favourite and they’ve even tweaked the front cover, too. (The original had the man’s hand a little lower down.) It’s here that we first meet posh rotter and bounder, Rupert Campbell-Black. He is set against his opposite, Jake Lovell, a brooding gypsy whose magical hands can tame any wild horse – or woman. Set in the gorgeous Cotswold countryside, it is a riot of horses, jokes, and sex. I defy anyone not to love this; it’s an absolute page turner and has enough sizzle to make you gasp. Cooper’s writing is joyous and exuberant and full of puns and jokes, but she can also write tenderly and magically about the English countryside. She claims that Rupert Campbell-Black actually exists, and is based on someone that she met at a dinner party.

Lucky her, is what I say.

THE EIGHTIES WAS A BOOM TIME FOR BOOKS, SOME SO POPULAR THEY HAVE BEEN REISSUED. IF YOU DIDN’T CATCH THEM THE FIRST TIME ROUND, YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT, SAYS LAURA LOCKINGTON

The Secret History

by Donna Tartt (Penguin) This is a dense, beautifully written gem. For decades a film version has been rumoured, but it might spoil what is a near as dammit perfect book. A young man gets in, by means of scholarship, to a snooty Ivy League college in Connecticut. He comes from a poor Mid-West family and is bowled over by what he perceives to be the privileged lifestyle of a particular group of students, all of whom are studying classical Greek under the eye of a rather notorious professor.

Fascinated, he joins the group, gradually distancing himself from everyone else. Then – I can’t give away too much here – the shock of what happens hits home. Hard.

Tartt writes compellingly about the super-rich of America. The first time I read The Secret History I stayed up all night to finish it.

I’ve since bought copies for many friends just so we can talk about it.

The Handmaid’s Tale

by Margaret Atwood (Contemporary Classics) This is a chilling vision for women of the Western world in the not too distant future. One day all banks refuse to issue cash to women. The next step is even more horrific.

Children are taken from families and sent to be re-homed with the rich. Any woman who has had a child, and therefore is classed as a “breeder”, is leased out to rich families who are unable to conceive - all done in the name of religion.

These women are known as “Marthas”, from the biblical story, where Martha becomes a surrogate mother. But a revolution is brewing in the Marthas’ world, and we are in on it from the beginning.

At last we are confronted with secret information that makes us believe that it will be all right in the end. This book is brutal, compelling and instantly believable.

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Happy scenes from the Eighties summers of Alex and his family at his grandparents’ home near Lingfield

“The best times were spent at the house: long, hot afternoons in the sunroom”

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memoir

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BACKGROUND IMAGE: FINDEEP/SHUTTERSTOCK

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8Os childhood For Alex Hopkins, the 1980s were childhood years of seemingly endless summer days

y father loved driving. When he met my mother he had a red Lotus Super Seven sports car, which he’d made from a kit. He was an excellent driver. No matter what happened he always remained calm. He admonished speeding cars as much as he did those he called “crawling grannies”, and navigated the traffic with skill, largely avoiding jams and getting us to our destination ahead of time. When he needed to overtake a car there was no hesitation. He pressed his foot down on the accelerator and with a Roger Whittaker or Dionne Warwick tape blaring, powered steadily ahead. I always felt safe when I was in the car with him.

After my parents married my father bought an orange Datsun Cherry. This was the first car that I ever travelled in. It sat in a layby just outside the front of our house in Mill Way, Watford. In 1985 he got a brand new maroon coloured Vauxhall Cavalier which he’d proudly wash every week. This was the car in which he’d drive us to his parents’ house, The Homestead, for Easter and summer and long weekends.

The Homestead was a beautiful wilderness, set in four acres, just off the Eastbourne road, near Lingfield in Surrey. In my memory, it’s always night when we arrive. The journey has taken longer than it should and my father is fraught and quiet. I sit in the back of the car, next to my brother, sucking a boiled sweet, suffering from travel sickness. The window is open and I smell exhaust fumes as the car suddenly slows down and turns off the main road and into a driveway – a bumpy, halfgravel drive torn up by brambles and stones and weeds.

You can barely see the entrance from the main road – a flickering orange street lamp opposite and glimmering cats’ eyes reflect the car’s headlights to indicate the house’s presence. On either side of this driveway is common land full of ancient oaks and maple trees. It contains a hidden stream somewhere in its dark, swampy earth. The trees’ heavy branches intertwine, the dense foliage overlapping to form a canopy overhead like a huge, black cloak. The car’s wing mirror hits a thin branch, and leaves graze the roof. If you didn’t know there was a turning here you would easily miss it, but my father knows exactly where it is. At the end of the drive, under a dim porch light, my grandmother is waiting for us, a faint smile creasing her face.

The weeks we spent at The Homestead in the 1980s were the happiest times in my childhood. This is because they were happy times for my father. He felt able to relax here, to temporarily step away from the job he hated but would do until he died. His dark, unpredictable moods and silences, which often made me frightened to go near him back in Watford, vanished.

Many days we’d drive into Sussex: to Camber Sands, Bodiham Castle, Hastings. I always knew when my father was planning a trip.

The night before, he’d be examining his AA road map, a cigarette and tumbler of whisky by his side. The next morning, grandma would pack us a picnic hamper and we’d set off no later than 10am. Like everything he did, my father planned these outings meticulously.

But the best times were spent at the house: long, hot afternoons in the sunroom. My mother sits on the left, in the old tattered red lounger, just under a battery-powered monkey that hangs from the ceiling, the plants on the window sill behind her just beginning to wither in the sun that streams through glass that has never been properly cleaned.

My father is in another old sun lounger – green, with a padded head rest, the foam oozing out at the corners. He is just beginning to doze, having finished reading the Telegraph, which still sits crumpled across his knees. An extinguished cigarette lies in a heavy glass ashtray on a small wicker table to his side. The smell of the smoke mingles with the scents of flowers, which drift in from the garden, through the two open doors next to a table covered with a red and black cloth, almost totally obscured with pot plants, small trowels, secateurs and discarded copies of out-of-date magazines, their corners yellowing and turning up with age. My brother and I play in the garden beyond.

Shortly, my grandma will appear, balancing a round metal tray holding tea and coffee and long, cold glasses of Diet Coke. As she moves into the room my father murmurs contentedly and looks up at her, the newspaper rustling against his lap as he adjusts his body to sit upright. Then, reaching for his coffee and lighting a Dunhill, he raises his hands to just above his eyes and squinting through the last of the afternoon’s sun calls out to my brother and me.

“Everything all right, my boys?”

And we turn towards him and smile.

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minxy mann yeager

Glam queen abroad

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IMAGE CREDIT: ARIELIONA/SHUTTERSTOCK

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a glass of Tango and the kind of coral my Aunt t’s 11.30 am and I am lying prone on a Daphne wore as a signature lip tint from 1957 sun lounger poolside in Crete, exhausted.

COUNTLESS LIPSTICKS. until about three years ago.

What used to be spontaneous fun for one, ENDLESS SHOES. OUR This touch of retro-yet-current gorgeousness and occasionally plus one, in the sun is puts me into instant holiday mode and I can now a pre-planned operation minuted MINXY’S OFF ON HER almost smell the sea, suntan lotion and sangria with almost military precision.

JOLLIES. BUT PACKING through the fumes of local traffic.

Back in the heady days of my youth, I LIGHT? YOU’RE JOKING… I trot off home spurred on by the thought always had a holiday wash bag pre-packed and of a restorative gin and tonic. Make no mistake, ready to go; spontaneity was the key and it wasn’t unusual for me to get a bee in my bonnet on Friday and be on a all this beautifying is thirsty work.

I liken this mammoth task of starting at the roots and working my plane on Saturday… have passport will travel.

With age comes wisdom, and the need for a bit more than a bikini, (and the various therapists’) way down from top to toe as something akin a sarong and a winning smile; the holiday prep alone takes almost as to painting the Forth Bridge. begin at one end and by the time you reach long to effect as the holiday. This particular trip took almost a week of the other it is time to start all over again.

Packing now seems to take ages; what used to be a case of chucking primping and preening, packing and prevaricating over what to take and what to leave behind. I have taken clothing, cosmetics and child and left a few things in a bag and making the same sexy shift and sandals work from beach to bistro to bar and beyond no longer seems to work. I husband at home… well, someone has to work to pay for this, I like to start at the top; so I saved up my roots for 10 days longer than DO NOT pack light and, in theory, I am rather partial to making my normal, then sat for almost three hours being tinted and highlighted to accessories match and having the right shoes to go with each little get-up.

I pack the case and weigh it; I then remove half the contents and add turn me into an unnatural blonde. Jonty the tinter was full of delicious gossip, which is surely the chief point in going to the hairdressers. I left the holiday cosmetics… then I have to remove half of what is left in the flaxen-haired and light of wallet. Then came the waxing, threading and clothing department.

I should know by now that at least half the outfits will not be worn general war of attrition between me and superfluous body hair. Virtually a whole day was give over to this onerous task – what was once achieved and three-quarters of the shoes will come back without so much as with a quick flick of the razor now takes a team of experts at The Ministry touching Greek soil. As I survey the contents of my make-up holdall, I Of Waxing most of the day. The effects last longer, and they are the only question the wisdom of packing nine lipsticks and five mascaras… I shall gloss over the rest of the haul that will see the inside of the dressing table place that I can guarantee offer an almost painless bikini line.

These two treatments alone cost almost as much as the holiday…and drawer but not my face.

I lie back on my lounger and contemplate the cocktail list; they that’s before I head off to have my claws sharpened and my hooves honed to smooth and silky perfection. I am reliably informed the shade du are ranged alphabetically. I’ve only got as far as the letter E and jour is Cajun Shrimp, a hue somewhere between Brit-in-the-sun lobster, there’s just a week to go. It’s a difficult job but someone has to do it.

Cooking up a storm at KingscoteVineyards

What more perfect setting than a vineyard in the heart of Sussex could you possibly imagine to find a new cookery school, a place where you come to learn from a team of professional chefs how to hone your own cooking skills? Kingscote Vineyards are proud to announce the arrival of Kitchen Academy offering: Day Courses in a variety of cuisines, Corporate Events, Chef’s Table Evenings and Family Cookery Classes. Kitchen Academy, situated in the stunning 15th century tithe

barn at the heart of the Kingscote Estate, is run by Jethro Carr who for over 13 years has been taking his cookery school around the country gaining an enviable reputation from prestigious locations like Blenheim Palace, Kew Gardens, Abergavenny Food Festival and BBC Good Food Shows. For ‘hands-on’ cookery classes for all ages and at all levels from beginners to experienced cooks looking to broaden their repertoires. Kitchem Academy at Kingscote has it all.

www.KingscoteEstate. com

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