Gossip From London

Southland Times, Issue 21428, 24 June 1931, Page 5

Gossip From London

(From Our Correspondent). London, May 16.

Youth is growing air-minded. Just as their grandparents wanted to ride bicycles and their parents wanted to drive cars, so the younger generation wants to learn to tty. Every clay some parent—usually mother—-is confronted with a request: ' Please can 1 learn to fly I” Just as in the early bicycle and early motor days, the parental toot drops heavily, only to be relaxed gradually until permission is given to join a tlymg club, and have some lessons.

At Brooklands School of Flying pupils are learning ad the time. A dozen joined during, last week, and among those who made their first flight in a dual control machine was Aliss rsnbel MacDonald, who for a long time has shared the enthusiasm of her, lather for air travel. She went down to Brooklands to inspect the aerodrome and went for a trial lesson. Alter half an hour she was able to fly the machine straight and level. She has no intention of going in for flying seriously and taking her pilot’s certincate. Every month the membership lists at the flying clubs increase, mostly with the names oi young people. Women fliers are increasing at the rate of one to every eight men. These young folk do not all belong to what used to be called “The wealthier classes.” Many of the young men and women who take off from the London Aeroplane Club at Stag lane for an hour or two’s spin on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon are wage-earners tied to a desK 54 days a week. An entrance fee of three guineas and a like amount for a subscription was their first cost. After that they paid two guineas an hour for tuition with a dual control machine aiid later one guinea an hour solo. It has cost them trom £3O to £35 to qualify for their “A” pilot certificate. Now they are able to enjoy flying at an all-in cost of £1 per hour, including petrol, oil and insurance charges. Charges vary at various clubs. At Hanworth Bark aerodrome the cost of qualifying for an “A” certificate is about £4O, after paying club membership fees. Machines can be hired at £2 an hour after qualification, and after a certain number of flying hours at 30/-. To take the “B” certificate involves 100 hours’ solo living and a cost of something like £2OO. '

An increasing number of new fliers are buying planes of their own. A new plane costs anything from £4OO to £BOO, and a second-hand one from £350 upwards. Private machines are garaged at Hanworth Park Aerodrome from £3 a week. * * * * In The Row. When the children who are now in the country meet in Rotton Row again in a few weeks’ time they will be intensely interested in one another’s progress since their last riding lessons in London. During the winter they have had the chance of attending the Children’s Meets that almost every Hunt now has, which usually are prefaced by the M.F.H. with a talk on riding and the etiquette of fox-hunting. The many little acquaintances of the Hon. Gerald Lascelles, Princess Mary’s younger son, are longing to know whether he can jump yet. He only had his first lessons in riding last summer, but showed such aptitude that, with the practice he and Lord Lascelles get on their very own ponies at Harewood House, he should have made great strides. Lord Lascelles now goes hunting. Princess Elizabeth, so far, only has a Shetland pony, on which she is walked about ♦ * * * The Newest Dance. The newest dance band, Mr Ronnie Hart and has Canadians, who have come to Giro’s is formed of genuine musicans. They have discarded jazz, although no doubt they have that pulsating, tumultous stuff in reserve. They are introducing a slower rhythm which is not what is generally called "The Blues.” Maybe it will take time for the dancing public to get used to it. Mr Shirley Snell, an accomplished ballroom dancer, said that the slow movement grew on one and gave the music more meaning. It seems to be another experiment in the attempt to replace the foxtrot, which has been supreme for 15 years or more.

Gardenia Complexions. Many of the lovely complexions seen in London ball-rooms this season will owe much to the winter trips that so many well-known Society women took to the West Indies. Lady Louis Mountbatten, Ladv Brecknock, Lady Diana Duff-Cooper are among those who found sunshine and new recipes for the preservation of beauty. A famous specialist in Beauchamp-place has just finished adapting and perfecting from the receipt of a West Indian chemist a new liquid powder. Rubbed lightly into the skin with the finger-tips, this new powder gives the matt “gardenia-like” complexion characteristic of West Indian and South American beauties.

“Combined Entertaining.” The experiment of “combined entertaining,” put into practice by Lady Louis Mountbatten yesterday, when she lent Brook House for the first “Aeolus” concert, proved a great success. Many London hostesses are anxious to revive the musical party this season in its Edwardian grandeur, but few can afford the fees for the finest artists. A number of musical hostesses have, therefore, banded themselves together to give a series of musical tea-parties, the fees of the artists being met by subscription. Lady Louis Mountbatten, in a black suit trimmed with white pique and a black, brimless, fancy straw hat ornamented with a semi-circle of white camellias, yesterday received the. guests at tea, which preceded the concert. There is a pleasant rivalry between hostesses to see who can produce the most delectable eatables for their guests. Lady Mountbatten is evidently a believer in the attractions of brown bread, for at her party we had every sort of sandwich made with it. One brown bread “dish” in particular vanished at record speed. It consisted of large juicy pieces of asparagus rolled in the thinnest possible slices of brown bread and butter.

Windsor's Green Corridors. Green is not a colour usually associated with Royal castles, but, I hear, the Queen has chosen a particularly pleasing shade of this colour for the decoration of the long corridor at Windsor Castle. The corridor, which runs from the Edward 111. Tower, past the Royal apartments in the Victoria Tower, to the Brunswick Tower, has now been finished, and carpets, curtains and papers, all of the same delightful tone, give it a most restful appearance, especially when contrasted with the crimson-carpet-ed corridors of other parts of the castle. As a matter of fact this is not the first occasion on which the Queen has made effective use of green in decoration. Some time ago her own private sitting-room at Sandringham was carried out in jade green. The green room is appealing again to modern taste, and has the jnerit of providing a restful background and a good setting for flowers.