Just back from Keswick, and you can watch a little of it here on Sky Arts.
I'd had a misguidedly romantic idea that I would go for a windswept walk around the lake, but it was such a dark and stormy night that a ramble might have ended in disaster. Instead, I had dinner with the lovely team from Ways with Words, and several other writers, including Juliet Barker, Francis Spufford, Matthew Rice and Luke Jennings. So the conversation ranged from stolen Bronte manuscripts to the lost jewels of Stoke on Trent... needless to say, a very good time was had by all...
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Off the topic of your travels, which leave me green with envy - but I thought you would be interested - we went to Melbourne for a few days last week (mainly to see the glorious Cecilia Bartoli) and visited the newly reopened Percy Grainger museum. He was a hoarder, particularly of his beloved mother's possessions and in one display there was a shop mannequin wearing a black satin suit belonging to Rose Grainger. On closer reading of the card, it declared it to be a Chanel!! She's everywhere!
What a wonderful discovery. Tell me more about Percy Grainger... And what era do you think his mother's Chanel suit came from?
Here's the link to the museum which has lots of info on him and his mother. Their story was made into a film called 'Passion' in 1996. See here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0148583/
Museum:
http://www.grainger.unimelb.edu.au/percy/
I would guess the suit was from the early 20s just before she committed suicide. She was a biggish woman by then and the suit was very plain black satin with a loose buttoned jacket over a straight skirt with very little trimming. Chanel is mentioned on the "Exhibitions" page.
It's a fascinating story. He was a sado-masochist and collected whips and it's believed it was because he grew up seeing his mother fending off his syphilitic father's advances with a horse whip! He also collected what would then have been thought of as pornographic magazines and photos but are now rather naive and a bit sad and they are also on display. He kept his mother's handbag when she died complete with all its contents and that is also on display. He was a bit of a mixed up lad!
That's an extraordinary story... thanks for the links. Amazing to think that a Chanel suit is woven into the threads of his narrative...
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