A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1933, Page 5 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN ROYAL HOLIDAY PROPOSALS. PRINCE OF WALES IN FRANCE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, Sept. 1. I It is typical of the Prince of Wales’s independence that, at a time when most of his friends have gone to the North to shoot grouse with the prospect of fishing and stalking later, he has decided to spend his holiday in the South of France. He has never cared for shooting or fishing, and, now that he has virtually given up hunting, golf is his chief out-of-doors recreation. Even when he visits Balmoral, he spends much of his time on one of the Deeside courses, although none of them is in the first rank. He likes visiting Glamis Castle with the Duke of .York, for there he has half a dozen fine courses within easy reach— Carnoustie, Barry, Monifieth, and Montrose—to say nothing of St. Andrews, which is just across the Tay. “Push Like Hell

The Duke of York has gone North, after 24 hours spent with his boy guests at Southwold, and will join the Duchess and his two daughters at Glamis Castle. He enjoys being at Southwold, where he can do as he likes, and dress as he likes, which is not possible on more formal occasions. He quite regards himself as “one of the boys,” joining in all their games and sports with real gusto. On one occasion a leader invited him to referee a game. “No fear,” was . his prompt reply, “I’m playing.” During this game, in a moment of enthusiasm, the captain of the team shouted to him, “Push like hell.” The Duke and Duchess have one or two interesting engagements in the north, one being a visit to the Isle of Skye. This will be a great event for the islanders,, for they have not had a Royal visitor for many long years.

Poet’s Royal Visitor. Whilst at Cowes for the yacht racing, Queen Mary paid several informal calls on Isle of Wight celebrities. One afternoon the Queen, with Lady Shaftesbury, Sir Derek Keppel and Mr. Gerald Chichester, took tea with Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Noyes at their charming home near Ventnor. The poet is a; next-door neighbour of Admiral Lord Jellicoe, and his lovely island garden, with its ponds and flowering banks, excited the. Royal visitor’s admiration. It is interesting to recall how the Isle of Wight—officially part of the county of Hampshire—has Inng been a favourite resort and residence with distinguished Englishmen of letters. Tennyson was, of course, an outstanding example of this preference; but he and Lord Byron were by no means the only opes. There is, except in holiday moriths, something peacefully sequestered about “the island.”

The McCormack Wedding. * There will be an interesting innovation at the wedding of Miss Gwendoline McCormack when she is married to Mr. Edward Pyke. Her father, Count John McCormack, the famous tenor, has, I hear, arranged to sing the Benedictus of the nuptial Mass at the ceremony. Miss McCormack herself possesses a beautiful voice, though she has not achieved her ambition of singing with her father in grand opera. Any disappointment she may have felt in this particular has no doubt been alleviated by her multitudinous interests. She has a host ■of friends, has a host of hobbies, and is one of the best all-round sportswomen in society. Her Irish friends had hoped that the wedding would take place near her father’s residence in but for various reasons this has not been possible. Mutual Admiration.

In Italy the popular view is that the English are the handsomest race in Europe. There are, say some of their best critics, no other actors or actresses at present on the stage to compare for good looks with ours. But a discriminating friend, who had an opportunity of meeting General Balbo’s air armada, and most of its crew, declares that they are the handsomest men, particularly the junior officers, she ever encountered in bulk. So much was she impressed by them that she formed the opinion that Mussolini had caused them to be picked mainly for appearance, and in order- to make a good impression wherever they landed on their record flight. Perhaps the dashing Italian uniform, which even in the case of the infantry of the line is far more chic than our own, may have a little to do with this view. The Italian “kepi” is the most operatic of any Army.

Back to Henry VIII. Lord Northampton, who has recently been celebrating his 48th birthday, links up George V and Henry VIII. His ancestor, Sir William Compton, was a favoured courtier of Henry VIII’s reign, and the present title holder owns large estates in crowded London suburbs, like Islington and Finsbury. He also possesses three fine old country seats—two in England and one in Scotland. These English stately homes are Compton Wynyates, a magnificent Tudor mansion in Warwickshire that Shakespeare must have admired, and Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire. His Scottish home is in Rossshire. Lord Northampton, who married the second daughter of the Marquis of Bath, is a scientific agriculturist, and his time is devoted mainly to the upkeep and farming of his estates. Most of the year he spends at Castle Ashby, in the shire from which his title derives.

Laughing Waters. It is no new thing for peers and peeresses to open shops in the West End of London. What is more, they generally contrive to make a success of it. But it is a decided innovation to find one noble lord and his wife opening a roadhouse adjacent to one of the great motoring roads out of London. Needless to say, it is equipped with the inevitable swimming pool. But the swimming pool in this instance is no mere artificial affair; it has been planned as part of the trout pond in the grounds of the noble lord’s estate. Boats, also, are allowed on the water, and by night the whole scene is brilliantly flood-lit. The brilliant illumination certainly brings out the scenic beauty of the spot, though it is said that the noble lord's primary idea was to prevent the possibility of any boating .accidents consequent on young couples

getting too flirtatious in the gloaming. The lake enjoys the pretty name of “Laughing Waters.” At Drummond Castle. The Earl of Ancaster is retaining his shootings at Drummound Castle and Locheamside this season, and doubtless the tenantry of his Perthshire domain will be welcoming the opportunity of making the acquaintance of Lord Willoughby de Eresby’s bride, the erstwhile Hon. Phyllis Astor. Lord Willoughby, like his father, has selected a wife of American extraction. The Ancaster domains in Central Perthshire are vast, and historic Drummond Castle has. provided a roof for many distinguished guests. This year Lord Ancaster has let His famous deer forest of Glenartney to Mr. Riley Smith. It was here that the Prince Consort ■ shot his first stag—an experience which has been shared in the present generation by some of our younger Royalties. Short and Tight We are already in the midst of autumn fashion activities in the sartorial world. I am told, by a very high authority indeed, that the strong note of the autumn is to be an ensemble one. Hats, bags, shoes, and gloves must conform to the general scheme’ of roy lady s costume. Skirts are to be shorter by at least. 2in., and, if possible, even tighter than now. This will be tragic news for ladies of ample proportions alow and aloft.; But the decrees of fashion, to, their devotees, are ruthless. The tight hip effect necessarily entoils an accentuated, waistline. Hats are to .become even more freakishly bizarre, not to say comic, than at present, and the tendency will be to emphasise the rakish angle at which most women now wear these morsels. The huge cart-wheel hat, is, seemingly, not catching on, and. will be . quietly dropped for the pork pie tilted at an angle of about 95. . r. Tudor Cottages. Though the slump in house , property seems at last to . have been arrested, I am told ,there < is one direction in which prices have always been steadily maintained. People so fortunate as to own Tudor cottages . in the vicinity of big towns seem to be the - happy possessors of real gilt-edged securities. There are still any number of rich people who get tired of . living in. flats and decide to go a few miles;out.of town. But they, insist on having a . character or period house, and. the lengths to which agents go .to get these on their books are rather amusing. :They are too wily to try the experiment of. answering the. advertisement direct Some- of ; them employ “scojjts” whose business it is to watch the advertising, columns, and then, when they see a period, house in the market, write for particulars under the guise of potential buyers. ?. Puppy Dog Trials.

I paid one of .my rare visits to the dog recently, and if T found racing rather boring I got any amount of entertainment from the trials afterwards. Amongst others, two Mick the-Miller puppies were being put through their paces. They both jumped . gloriously,. but . one was very new to his work. Having surmounted the first hurdle ■in - grand style, he changed his mind about following the hair and bolted back again. Realising he had made a mistake he took the hurdle once more and then re-jumped it. By this time the hare was half-way round the arena. Noting its whereabouts, the puppy sprang back over the hurdle for a second time and dashed forward to meet the electric quarry. It was all done with the most airy-fairy grace imaginable, as if life to this young puppy was one long gambol. Heat Wave Symptoms.

The very latest theory is that heatwave summers come in cycles of about 10 or .11 years, corresponding to sun spots that exercise some remarkable influence on our weather conditions. Whether this •is correct or not —and it is true enough that 1911, 1921 and 1933 must be counted as exceptionally fine years—it is obvious that a sequence of heat-wave summers -would soon completely change London’s-habits. Apart from the amazing growth of open-air bathing, and of pools in which to carry on the ritual, half the population seems to be living in bathing : suits. AU the small children, West End or East End, run around all day thus attired, and I noticed to-day that woinen in. the poorer populous suburbs are actually wearing bathing costumes when cleaning-the windows. The only places that have’ not yet- adjusted themselves to tropical conditions are certain?.'cafes, where it is still almost impossible to get a drink that is not tepid. Prince as Gardener.

Everybody- is interested in what the Prince, of Wales does,’ and his sudden enthusiasm.for gardening is causing immense excitement. This enthusiasm, of which we had no earlier indication at all, is manifesting itself particularly in the order given by the Prince for an entirely new lay-out of the gardens at the back of St. James’ Palace. Queen Mary is such a keen lover of flowers and gardens that one might perhaps suspect either a latent inherited tendency on the Prince’s part, or some ma ferial influence brought to bear recently on him. I am told, however, that it is the Duchess of York’s sheer devotion to flowers, especially roses and violets, that is responsible for giving H.R.H. this sudden horticultural interest. I shall watch to see whether the Prince now joins the select band-of which Lord Lonsdale is the unofficial leader, and starts to sport a buttonhole. Peters. The 8.8. C. has been the means of bringing about almost a romantic meeting. Miss Nina Boucicault and Miss Hilda Trevelyan have been rehearsing together at Broadcasting House for a little wireless play. This is the first time these two well-known actresses have played together since they both took part in the first production of Sir J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. That was 29 years ago, at Christmas 1904, and Miss Boucicault was the original Peter, whilst Miss Trevelyan was the first Wendy. To some of us, perhaps because of the great gulf of the War, that seems longer ago even than it is. The first of all the illustrious dynasty of Peter Pans is now white-haired, very like the late Ellen Terry in face, and 65 years old. So, even though Barrie’s immortal hero does not grow up, his impersonators do. What astonishes me most, however, is that the original Peter Pan, by this reckoning, must have been 34 when she played the part. Back to the Tower. Piquant social convolutions are taking place in London. We all know how Mayfair has lost its old residential cach-

et, exchanged its great mansions for huge blocks of flats, and been invaded by the hoofs of commerce. You can buy and sell now in Park Lane, not wholesale but actually retail. But at the other end of the town, near Billingsgate, new flats are also going up, on sites where old factories or breweries once stood. These flats are being taken like hot cakes by gay young Society folks. Merry parties are held under the shadow of the Tower of London, and laughter burbles at midnight over the river’s dingy wharves.- In Dr. Johnson’s time the City was the locale of wealthy merchants, but they were outside the pale of Society. Back in the Middle Ages, however, when the Tower was fashionable, earls and dukes dwelt in Billingsgate. To-day their descendants are returning there. Shorts for Tennis.

■ Judging by the London papers, one might imagine that what the tennis girl of to-day wears on the courts is far more important than what she does on the courts. Miss Helen Jacobs, it appears, is now a definite convert to shorts for lawn tennis wear, but I am not surprised to hear that Mrs. Helen WillsMoody, who also took out a suit with her from Wimbledon to “try out” on the other side, is equally decisive in her determination to keep to skirts. But there can be no doubt that shorts have come to stay. A letter I have received from the Riviera mentions that an enormous number of people are wearing them —women, as well as men. During the very hot nights, moreover,—and there, has been terrific heat on occasion—people did not even trouble to change into evening wear. They sat down to dinner, and played bridge afterwards—still- wearing shorts 1