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Journalism of Courage
Count Laszlo De Almasy, a mysterious explorer of Africa on whose life the central character of Michael Ondaatje8217;s book, The English Patient, was based, and played by Ralph Fiennes in the Anthony Minghella film, was actually captured on film.
The reels of film, shot by cameraman Rudi Mayer, were discovered in an apiary in his garden in Austria by his son Kurt, and have been restored into a 110-minute documentary film, Across Africa in an Automobile. It shows the real Almasy on a 1929 expedition from Mombasa to Cairo.
8220;And it is very strange how in The English Patient he moves in exactly the same awkward way as Almasy.8221;
Declining fortunesAnn Iverson, chief executive of the fashion house Laura Ashley, who is responsible for the company8217;s radical change of image in the last couple of years, is in trouble along with her company.
Laura Ashley, once famous for its floral designs, was forced to shut down two of its Welsh factories recently, with a loss of 190 jobs a fall-out of the steadily declining fortunes of the company. The share prices of the company have plummeted to a quarter of what they were a year ago amid allegations that the campaign to shed the company8217;s traditional image, initiated by Iverson, has backfired.
Iverson, who was brought in by Laura Ashley8217;s widower, Sir Bernard Ashley, to turn around the company8217;s failing fortunes, set about changing the company8217;s traditional image of winsome chic with a predominance of florals and frills and bringing it in line with the power dressing of the Nineties. The demure, empire-line frocks covered in meadow flowers disappeared off the rails overnight, replaced by 8220;modern classics8221;.
This commitment to chuck out the chintz was reiterated in an ad campaign which ran in the United States earlier this year 8220;Say it without flowers8221;.Iverson is coming under increasing pressure to explain her Acirc;pound;1 million pay package as the company continues to flounder.
Switching jobsMarcelle D8217;Argy-Smith, who made the archetypal glossy magazine editor at Cosmopolitan, with declarations like 8220;when in doubt buy shoes8221;, has taken charge of the more sedate Woman8217;s Journal. Fifty-year-old Smith left Cosmopolitan in a blaze of publicity after a mutual agreement8217; with the managing director of the magazine, Terry Mansfield. Smith had said they had had 8220;wonderful moments and terrible half hours together8221;.Cosmopolitan and Woman8217;s Journal are hardly one of a kind, while the former concentrates on sex and relationships, the latter is aimed at what is described as the no-age woman8217;. In reality this would mean women between 35-55 who have probably sorted out their relationships. The Journal is more interested in clothes that fit the fuller woman, but all that may be about to change. 8220;It8217;s a magazine for the grown-up woman, and she interests me enormously,8221; says Smith. 8220;I now have a fabulous chance to draw in these women, talk to them8230;turn them on8230;.8221;
Designer clonesNicole Kidman8217;s embroidered cheongsam Os-car gown designed by John Galliano for Christian Dior, Courtney Love8217;s slinky silver sheath Versace gown and Sigourney Weaver8217;s burgundy silk number designed by Rodriguez for Cerruti, are no longer exclusives. The chance to dress like a Hollywood goddess is being made possible for all and sundry by ABS, a California design company, which is currently wowing Americans with its OscarWatch collection, a range of glitzy gowns that are glamourous lookalikes of the most coveted gowns worn at this year8217;s Academy awards ceremony at a fraction of the original cost. According to Allen Bruce Schwartz, who came up with the idea: 8220;A new breed of actresses, the likes of Patricia Arquette, Gwyneth Paltrow and Clare Danes, has changed the fashion game in Hollywood. The look is about simplicity and elegance no more schmaltzy clothing.8221; He doesn8217;t care much for what people think of him, nor has he time for people who spend Acirc;pound;3,000 on a designer dress. 8220;Stupid! Trend suckers,8221; is all he can say for them. And no doubt most of his clients agree.
End of glory daysSir Lawrence Olivier8217;s favourite haunt for 13 years, the Old Vic, one of Britain8217;s most venerated and cursed theatres, is once again in trouble. The theatre has been put up for sale to the highest bidder, 15 years after two Canadians snatched it from under the noses of office developers and kept it alive. The theatre, was built in 1818 by speculators avoiding West End rates and hoping the fashionable people would travel south of the Thames. They never did, and the Old Vic survived only by cramming 4,000 people into an auditorium that holds 1,000 today and suffered riots, fires and financial scandals. The National Theatre set up shop under Sir Lawrence Olivier in 1963 and the next 13 years were the Old Vic8217;s glory days. John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Richard Burton and Vivien Leigh all stepped on its boards, But after the National got its own home on the South Bank, the Old Vic was once again threatened with closure until the Canadians took it over. Today, if no purchaser emerges, the theatre could go dark8217; or even be redeveloped, into some fear, a theme park.
