Londoners Diary: Charles Moore milks more out of Margaret Thatcher’s life

 
Extra: biographer Charles Moore will write a third volume on the Iron Lady (Picture: Alex Lentati)
Alex Lentati
24 October 2014

Her death may have inspired cries of ding, dong from her detractors but for her devotees there can never be enough said in praise of the late Margaret Thatcher. Fans will therefore be delighted to learn that veteran journalist Charles Moore is planning to publish not just one but two follow-ups to his bestselling authorised biography of the former prime minister.

The first volume, Not for Turning, which came out shortly after Thatcher’s death last year, covered her life up until the end of the Falklands War. Moore, the former Daily Telegraph editor who was chosen by Lady T to be the guardian of her legacy, had originally planned to narrate her remaining three decades in a second volume, but according to his Penguin publisher Stuart Proffitt: “The richness of the material about Thatcher’s years in government has prompted us to move to three.”

“I had become worried that the second volume would be too long and unwieldy if it covered the whole of the rest of Lady Thatcher’s life,” Moore told The Londoner. “When I began the work many years ago, I thought that three volumes would be too much, but that was before I fully understood the scale of the task.

“Volume two will now be a little shorter than volume one, ” says Moore, “and we can get the next volume out earlier. It’ll cover the period from the autumn of 1982 to her third general election victory in 1987.”

The Iron Lady barely slept while in office; here’s hoping that putting her life on paper doesn’t leave Moore equally sleep-deprived.

Thurley takes a heritage sabbatical for new book

Simon Thurley is taking a “heritage sabbatical”. The chief executive of English Heritage is stepping down next year, after the Government confirmed the conservation body will split into two separate divisions next year. One side, retaining the English Heritage name, will run the National Heritage Collection of historic properties while the new body, Historic England, will offer advice and champion the wider environment.

It comes to fruition on 1 April and adverts appeared in last weekend’s Sunday Times for chief executives for both organisations; we understand executive search firm Odgers Berndtson are handling the recruitment process.

Historian Thurley has been chief executive of EH since 2002 and is a close chum of the Prince of Wales. “There is a lot to do before I go,” says Thurley. “However, I will be hoping to take some time off next summer — a sort of heritage sabbatical — to finish my next book, which is about the buildings of the Tudor and Stuart royal court.” A busman’s sabbatical.

Brent, Napa Valley of north London

Queen’s Park residents rejoice: the leafy streets inhabited by Michael Gove and Sienna Miller are about to run red with its own wine label, homegrown and called NW6. Leo Johnson, right, sustainability expert and brother of Boris, had long-mourned the fact that he didn’t know his neighbours well enough and has put his money where his mouth is.

In this week’s New Statesman he recalls striking up a friendship with a local, “an octogenerian Italian man with gout”, which has now culimated in a blossoming wine business. “Forget Bordeaux,” he writes. “Imagine the rolling vineyards of Brent, the Napa Valley of north London. We’re aiming for 150 bottles, with ‘NW6’ on the label and a bouquet of Bakerloo, a hint of diesel from the Pendolino.” Looks like the Johnson family’s lasting legacy to the city might not be Boris Bikes but Leo’s London Liquor.

Beauty is only skin deep, say the experts

Online sensation Zoella was at The Sanderson Hotel last night to support fellow vlogging royalty Tanya Burr at the launch of her new beauty collection. The pair have legions of fans through their online presence and makeover tips but in the light of Renee Zellweger’s recently changed appearance Burr was keen to point out that beauty is only skin deep.

Cyber star: Zoella (Picture: Photofab/Rex)

“It’s crazy how women are penalised for having a wrinkle or a spot,” she said. “Men are never penalised like that: David Beckham is in his new campaign with his lines, and he looks amazing. It shouldn’t be any different.”

The lost art of ‘seeing’ films

A requiem for the lost romance of journeying across the city to catch a one-off film screening was held last night at Bloomsbury’s LRB bookshop, where the film-makers Iain Sinclair and Chris Petit were discussing Sinclair’s new book 70x70.

Both artists mourned the fact that the internet had killed “a certain type of collective seeing together”. “I went to a Godard screening during the London Film Festival,” said Petit, “and the cinema was full — but it was like being at church at Christmas.

“Just as no one really reads any more, no one really watches. So you get these smart kids who know about Godard, but they’ve seen maybe one and a half of his films. It’s just about the ability to reference. There must be someone coming up with the cinematic Marcel Duchamp or The Waste Land — but I haven’t seen it.”

Love nourishes Charles’s cows

Prince Charles is a man of fixed principle, not least when it comes to his furrier future subjects. We know, for instance, that he likes red squirrels but not grey. Perhaps his tenderest feelings, however, are reserved for his herd of dairy cows. As professional foodie Prue Leith explains in The Spectator, the Prince’s cows are known for the longevity of their working life; for unlike many cows who can only milk for a couple years, “HRH’s organically fed, kindly treated, grass-grazing cows only give six gallons, but keep going for 10 even 15 years.”

A tough decision for David Cameron

Much has been said about the news that Britain will have to pay an extra £1.7 billion to the EU before December 1 this year, but while David Cameron might begrudge the idea of subsidising lesser performing countries, it’s worth remembering that on another scale in 2013 the UK received a rebate of £3.2 billion from the EU. If the Prime Minister wants to stick to his anti-redistribution principles, perhaps this year he should turn down this generous sum?

MPs fight doggedly to be best in show

As some dog-owners shake their fists towards Parliament over plans to bring in fines of up to £20,000 under the Dangerous Dogs Act, used if their four-legged friends have displays of gross incivility, the Westminster Dog of the Year competition went off yesterday with its usual aplomb.

This year’s gong went to Minister of Sport Helen Grant’s border terrier, Charlie, a first-time winner. Although the show went off with no major scuffles — among the dogs that is — past years have been less peaceful.

As the owner of one long-term competitor tells The Londoner: “Forget the Budget, the hottest time of year in Parliament is the dog show. I’ve seen Cabinet ministers close to tears.” The MP added, rather crestfallen: “I’ve never actually been placed. I suppose it’s the taking part that counts, but we would like to go home with something one day.”

Come the election one wonders whether he will be quite so sanguine.

No time for India’s Prime

Schoolkids aren’t the only ones who try to claim the dog ate their homework. London’s media glitterati were in stitches at Soho’s Ape & Bird last night, as India Knight’s publisher Juliet Annan revealed the litany of excuses Knight had invented to avoid handing in her irreverent guide to later life, In Your Prime.

“She said she’d write much better if she didn’t reply to texts or emails. So I was reduced to sending her emojis of dogs, sad faces, dynamite and poo,” said Annan. Knight’s delaying tactics included saying her son was having his appendix out, the remote cottage she was staying in had no chairs and the house in Norfolk had no wifi. She finally submitted the manuscript — a mere six months late.

In her defence, Knight protested: “I’m a journalist — deadlines are tomorrow or next week! A year doesn’t mean anything. Publishing a book is just dicking around.”

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