Londoner's Diary: Feathers fly over Windmill girls reunion

Closing the curtain. Dance troupe the Windmill Girls in 1940.
Tunbridge / Stringer / Getty Images
17 June 2016

Tomorrow night the chorus of the West End production of Mrs Henderson Presents, based on the film starring Dame Judi Dench, will hang up their feathers for the last time. But don’t pack up your white tie just yet: next Wednesday, to mark the 85th birthday of Soho landmark the Windmill Theatre, the venue is raising the curtains again. But the best-laid plans haven’t paid off, and hopes of a reunion are in tatters.

Organisers hoped for three generations of Windmill girls to perform at the same time. Three of the original line-up — Sylvia Eedy, Joan Jackson and Jill Shapiro — who have a combined age of 222, made a visit to the theatre to see their old dressing rooms and talk of the old days. But after seeing the modern incarnation of the theatre and the lapdancers within, the trio had a change of heart. “The building that was once our Windmill Theatre is now used for such a different purpose that we ‘Windmill Girls’ have been advised not to compromise our ‘naughty but nice’, wholesome good name,” Shapiro wrote in a letter to organisers. “Therefore we cannot attend your event on June 22.”

When the theatre was bought by Laura Henderson in 1931, it lost £20,000 over the first few years. That was until theatre manager Vivian Van Damm, inspired by the Moulin Rouge, incorporated nudes into the acts after convincing the Lord Chamberlain, censor of theatrical performances, that still tableaux with nude girls were not obscene.

A Windmill International spokesperson stated: “What’s the difference between the original Windmill girls taking their clothes off for money in the Sixties and today’s Windmill International lap dancers doing the same thing in 2016?” Probably a few feathers.

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Though many new MPs are familiar with the inner workings of Parliament before they arrive, it’s not always the case. In the New Statesman, 84-year-old Labour MP and former miner Dennis Skinner recalls a lack of briefing. “You never get a letter from an authority saying you’re a Member of Parliament,” he says. “So I went back to the pit at Glapwell Colliery on the Monday, and they said, ‘We voted for you on Thursday, what are you doing here?’”

The Spectator flies its Brexit colours

The Spectator has declared itself for Brexit with a striking front cover: a Union Jack butterfly emerging from an EU box, declaring “Out — and into the world.” But would our butterflies object to being co-opted into the Leavers’ cause?

Enthusiasts group UK Butterflies thinks not. “As a symbol, the butterfly is brilliant,” representative Guy Padfield told us. “However, like all symbols, it should not be over-analysed. Should we interpret the UK as having been a caterpillar, gravity-bound, bent on consumption and growth? No — she was a butterfly before and will be a butterfly again.” Don’t mention the butterfly effect...

Fashion among the blooms

The rain fell over a grey London last night, so The Londoner took refuge at the colourful haven of the Clifton Nurseries, just off Warwick Avenue. Despite the weather we found the perfect summer party thrown by Matthew Williamson and innovative shopping app LIKEtoKNOW.it to launch the new Mirage collection. Guests included TV presenter Fearne Cotton models Twiggy Lawson and Katie Keight, who sipped Nyetimber amid the flowers. We also found dresses from the new collection draped among the greenery. Or was it all just a mirage?

Jo scaled the heights in her career

“Jo was more than a star, she was a galaxy,” Jo Cox’s friend and colleague Anna Turley said last night to the BBC World Service. The MP may have been pint-sized but she was a force to be reckoned with: the last time The Londoner saw Jo was last week,

in a tug-of-war in which she fought valiantly with fellow parliamentarians for charity. She may have rarely been included in The Londoner’s Diary — her work ethic and determination left little time for partying — but she was a much-loved face in Westminster.

She also impressed others with her sangfroid, laughing last year as she recalled realising that she was pregnant while climbing on Skye. “Which is not the best!” she said: she suffered morning sickness while abseiling down places with names such as the Inaccessible Pinnacle.

Back in London, her life was full of quirks — she enjoyed telling people that she lived on a boat with her husband and their two young children, who were the highlights of her life. She was amusingly honest when asked about the last book she’d read, and admitted that it was probably the picture book I Want My Hat Back.

In the same interview she said she would like her best friend to describe her as “passionate, compassionate and loyal”. No one would disagree.

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The Londoner has been feeling the fear after reports of a possible shortage of avocados. So we Googled recipes from the Queen of Avocados Ella Woodward, AKA Deliciously Ella, and found some on her website. “Avocados are my favourite vegetable,” she writes, “they’re just so awesome!” Awesome indeed — but the avocado is not a vegetable but a large berry that is classified as a fruit.

Net gains by the Chinese

As Wimbledon approaches, The Londoner wishes fair weather upon the first novel by 24-year-old prodigy John Randolph Thorton. Now released in English, Chinese bestseller Beautiful Country is based on the author’s own time as a promising tennis junior at a Beijing sports school and reveals tough training regimes building future Chinese champions.

Thornton has pedigree with a racket — his parents, former Goldman Sachs president John Lawson and mother Margaret, were both college tennis stars in their day.

With the time for rain-drenched courts and strawberries and cream not far away, should British hopefuls like Andy Murray fear the rise of a Chinese opposition?

“It’s only a matter of time,” Thornton said. “But I think he [Murray] and Djokovic have got a few more years yet.”

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Misguided gift of the day: Bill Gates tried to donate 100,000 hens to countries including Bolivia. Bolivia hatches 197 million chickens every year.

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