The Roy Strong diaries 1967-1987

Abstract

"For over three decades Roy Strong has teased, tantalised, amused and sometimes enraged the British public, firstly in his capacity as the flamboyant Director of two great cultural institutions, the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum, and more recently as broadcaster, writer, garden expert and historian. Roy Strong's Diaries take the reader into the heart of his career from 1967 to 1987, vividly recording events as they happened and revealing Sir Roy to be not just a mercurial and brilliant administrator but also a shrewd observer of the glittering social and political milieu into which he was drawn." "In these pages we meet David Hockney in his studio, the poignant figure of Cecil Beaton in decline, Annigoni at home in Italy, Nureyev fizzing with ideas, the Philistine Mrs Thatcher, the ever indestructible Diana Cooper, and many others, including a bevy of members of the Royal Family, in particular the Queen Mother in a portrait of an irresistible woman, lovingly drawn." "Throughout the Diaries runs the leitmotiv of an exceptional marriage, following Sir Roy's elopement with the designer Julia Trevelyan Oman. The Roy Strong Diaries provide a unique panorama of the world of the arts, fashion and society, taking us from the outrageous Swinging Sixties to the hard-edged glitz of Thatcher's Britain."--BOOK JACKET.