Scenes and Apparitions: The Roy Strong Diaries 1988–2003 - Softcover

Strong, Sir Roy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474603904 ISBN 13: 9781474603904

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017

Synopsis

'Viper wit from the gardener, writer and Knight of exquisite taste' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Funny, barbed and moving ... magnificently readable' THE TIMES

Scenes and Apparitions covers a period of Roy Strong's life from 1988 to 2003. A sequel to Splendours and Miseries, it is an unmissable record of how a citizen at the close of the second Elizabethan age observed and chronicled his own world at the turn of the century. Although it is not without tragedy - the murder of his friend Gianni Versace, and the death of his beloved wife Julia Trevelyan Oman - there is plenty to enjoy from his descriptions of Elton John's fiftieth birthday party, to a concert for the Queen Mother, and his portraits of marriage, friendship, work and his celebrated garden, The Laskett.

About this title

About the Author:

Sir Roy Strong CH, historian, diarist and gardener, was director of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is author of some forty books on a wide variety of subjects. In 1982 he was knighted for his services to the arts, and in 2016 he was made a Companion of Honour in recognition of his contribution to the country's cultural life. He lives, writes and gardens in Herefordshire.

Review:

Sir Roy Strong, former Vice-President of NADFAS, continues his fascinating and intimate diaries where his first, Splendours and Miseries, left off ... His diaries give a glimpse of the people and places he saw, as well as key moments with his family

Sir Roy Strong, former Vice-President of NADFAS, continues his fascinating and intimate diaries where his first, Splendours and Miseries, left off ... His diaries give a glimpse of the people and places he saw, as well as key moments with his family―NADFAS REVIEW

When it comes to viperish high society gossip, Roy Strong is in a class of his own, and the 25 years of his diaries collected here should keep any armchair socialite quiet throughout the festive season

When it comes to viperish high society gossip, Roy Strong is in a class of his own, and the 25 years of his diaries collected here should keep any armchair socialite quiet throughout the festive season―John Preston, DAILY MAIL

Viper wit from the gardener, writer and Knight of exquisite taste

Viper wit from the gardener, writer and Knight of exquisite taste―DAILY TELEGRAPH

Throughout his diaries, which are an intermittent record of his life, concentrating on great set-piece occasions like Elton John's birthday party, Strong comes across as an odd but engaging mix of characteristics - intelligent, lively, sometimes bitchy and often camp ... funny and self-critical, writing away indefatigably, recording history, thinking about the nature of England, and looking at the world with a lively sense of innocent wonderment

Throughout his diaries, which are an intermittent record of his life, concentrating on great set-piece occasions like Elton John's birthday party, Strong comes across as an odd but engaging mix of characteristics - intelligent, lively, sometimes bitchy and often camp ... funny and self-critical, writing away indefatigably, recording history, thinking about the nature of England, and looking at the world with a lively sense of innocent wonderment―Charles Saumarez Smith, STANDPOINT

This second instalment of diaries from the historian, gardener and incorrigible gossip covers the years from 1988 to 2003, when Sir Roy abandoned public life only to reinvent himself as a broadcaster
and popular historian. The diaries are full of waspish observations and pithy nonsequiteurs; the 'Pinter
weekend' alone is a hoot

―CHOICE

His diaries are politely savage, stinging as he goes ... It reads as a Who's Who of royalty, grandees in country houses, politicians (mostly despised, particularly New Labour he is revolted by Tony Blair), great gardeners and the media ... His socially acute and opinionated observations are seasoned by glimpses into some surviving historic rituals as both observer and participant ... He works incredibly hard as a man of letters, earning his living as an author, lecturer, broadcaster, curator and consultant, enormously prolific and productive... His ability to take offence is prodigious. We are informatively entertained ... and informed by character analyses of the great and the good from courtiers to politicians to the cultural world

About this edition

• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1474603904
• ISBN 13: 9781474603904
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 560