Oh, Mr Rigsby!

The magnificent not-yet-a-Dame Frances de la Tour is 80 years old today!

All hail.

Aa-aa-Armani

Officially the most successful Italian designer ever (his fortune is estimated at five billion pounds!), Signor Giorgio Armani celebrates his 90th birthday today.

As famous for underpants, watches and accessories as for his sharp suits, his has been the style of choice for generations of stars of music, sport and the silver screen, politicians, dignitaries and even the Milanese police force.

Facts about Signor Armani:

• He was born in the northern Italian town of Piacenza, of Armenian and Italian descent.
• After military service as a young man, he became a window dresser at La Rinascente department store in Milan.
• Having worked on a freelance basis for myriad designers including Zegna, Cerruti and Loewe, the first pieces he designed under his own name were a series of leather bomber jackets in 1970.
• While building his fashion empire, he also designed costumes for more than one hundred films including American Gigolo and The Untouchables.
• When in 1975 he brought out a womenswear line using men's fabrics, he set the wheels in motion for the "power dressing" look that became synonymous with the 80s.
• Among his many commissions, he designed the costume worn by Spanish bullfighter Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez, the suits for the England football team (twice), and the cover of a book of gospels for the Pope.

So world-famous is Giorgio Armani, he's name-checked in loads of songs, from rap to pop to musical theatre. Not least, this one (a further tribute to another celebrant of a milestone birthday this week, Mr Neil Tennant):

Pet Shop Boys - Paninaro

Giorgio Armani (born 11th July 1934)

A Legend

"I've never been intimidated by other actors because I'm an actor. I'm not in awe, but I certainly have respect for other wonderful actors."

"America is now obsessed by stars in an unhealthy way. They don't actually deserve this kind of attention. They're only actors - not scientists who are triumphing over cancer or doing some other wonderful thing."

"The longer you live, I believe, you learn so much about life that you have more to give."

"I don't wake up and say, 'Gee, it's a nice day, and I'm a legend.'"

We have another centenary to celebrate today - and the celebrant is, for a change, very much still with us!

The radiant Eva Marie Saint (for it is she), in her seven-decade career, starred opposite myriad fine actors - including Marlon Brando (in On The Waterfront), Cary Grant and James Mason (North By Northwest), Paul Newman (Exodus), Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (The Sandpiper), and many more - and held her own against all of them. Now she is one of the very few survivors of that classic Hollywood era, outliving them all...

A stunning and talented woman.

Eva Marie Saint (born 4th July 1924)

I am always touched by your presence, dear

Miss Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, 1 July 1945)

All hail!

A Cinematic Chameleon

Meryl Streep is 75 years old?! Gulp.

All hail!

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...