Does anyone still wear a hat?!

...obviously the attendees at yesterday's Royal Ascot Ladies Day do!

Beaming forth

I love to see the summer beaming forth
And white wool sack clouds sailing to the north
I love to see the wild flowers come again
And mare blobs stain with gold the meadow drain
And water lilies whiten on the floods
Where reed clumps rustle like a wind shook wood
Where from her hiding place the Moor Hen pushes
And seeks her flag nest floating in bull rushes
I like the willow leaning half way o’er
The clear deep lake to stand upon its shore
I love the hay grass when the flower head swings
To summer winds and insects happy wings
That sport about the meadow the bright day
And see bright beetles in the clear lake play
- John Clare (1793-1864)

The festival of Fors Fortuna, Ukon juhla, Sommersonnenwende, Klidonas, Enyovden, Kresna noč, Sankthansaften, Drăgaica, Midsommar, Lithe, Midsummer Day - whatever you call it, it's the Summer Solstice, the longest day.

It's all downhill from here, dear reader...

Ba da ba da da da da da da no more

Farewell Anouk Aimée, one of the most beautiful women ever to appear on screen.

[Read my previous tribute]

Francis Lai - Un Homme Et Une Femme

RIP Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (aka Anouk Aimée, 27th April 1932 – 18th June 2024)

Arise...

...Dame Imelda Staunton! Well-deserved - she's been treading the boards and on our screens for so many years, and in so many roles - "Dolores Umbridge" in Harry Potter, "Mama Rose" in Gypsy, "Mrs Lovett" in Sweeney Todd, "Sally" in Follies, "Lady Bagshaw" in the Downton Abbey film, "Miss Adelaide" in Guys and Dolls, and HM The Queen in The Crown; she also starred in Vera Drake, Peter's Friends, Bright Young Things, My Family and Other Animals, Pride, Sense and Sensibility, Cranford and Midsomer Murders, provided voiceovers for Chicken Run, Paddington and Doctor Who - and much, much more...

A true national treasure. We adore her - and will be seeing her on stage again in Hello Dolly! later this year.

Also honoured: artist Dame Tracey Emin, fashion accessories designer and businesswoman Dame Anya Hindmarch; Sir Alan Bates [the campaigner for justice against the Post Office], historian Professor Sir Niall Ferguson, Royal Ballet choreographer Sir Wayne McGregor, composer Sir John Rutter; Companion of Honour (former PM) Gordon Brown.

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE): writer Monica Ali, satirist, TV producer and writer Armando Iannucci, actor Alex Jennings, Welsh broadcaster Roy Noble, former footballer and fundraiser Graeme Souness, television executive and presenter Alan Yentob; Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE): former TV journalist and correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, former footballer and TV pundit Ally McCoist, and one of my former Scope colleagues and charity executive Ruth Marvel; Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE): Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran, Alternative Miss World founder and designer Andrew Logan, stalwart of "Dictionary Corner" on Countdown for 30 years Susie Dent, Dinnerladies and Corrie actress Shobna Gulati, broadcaster Nick Owen and Heather Small of M People.

Congratulations, all!

King's Birthday Honours list 2024

Making an entrance

Belita in Invitation to the Dance [dir. Gene Kelly, 1956]

Sinuous

It's World Art Nouveau Day, you say..?

Well, if you insist!

Hugely influenced by both the Arts and Crafts movement and the style known as Aesthetisism in the late 19th century, and definitely a la mode in the heady years of la Belle Epoque, a taste for massively over-stylised curlicues, swags and carving, sinuous, sculptural, organic shapes, arches, curving lines, gilding, hammered metal, enamelwork, and sensual depictions of nature emerged at the turn of the 20th century - and the world went mad for it.

Ooh la la!

Time to put the finishing touches to the Pride outfits