This Liverpudlian sex-swap pioneer was the first British person to be outed as a transsexual in 1961. Ashley endured electric shock treatment and painful surgery but this didn’t stop her becoming a successful fashion model who appeared in such titles as Vogue. A marriage to the Hon. Arthur Corbett was brief but alleged affairs with Michael Hutchene, Sir Peter O’Toole, Grayson Perry and Omar Sharif are well documented. A true wildcard, Ashley now spends her time campaigning for social equality and lives in Fulham.
Tag: John Stoddart
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April Ashley MBE (born Toni Jamieson)
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Gin O’Clock
Celebrate World Gin Day at The Rib Room
At 12 noon I often receive a message from my good friend the photographer to the stars, John Stoddart. As a fellow gin aficionado, we regularly raise a toast to one another as well as all manner of others things. After all, as they say: “If you can’t have one eleven, have eleven at one.”
Hogarth’s famous print “Gin Lane” Saturday 9th June marks a celebration of all things gin as it is World Gin Day™ and I am pleased to share with you news of a brilliant way of celebrating what could become the only invented celebratory day that I will agree to embrace with gusto. The Rib Room at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower is offering a Sloane Street Vesper to all who take their mum to their bar and quote the words “Mother’s Ruin” absolutely free of charge.
The drink itself consists of a combination of Sipsmith Gin, Pinky Vodka, Americano Cocchi and Lillet Blanc served straight up. The Rib Room themselves describe it as being: “Cheek, chic, pose and poise.”
I’ll certainly be there to celebrate “Gin O’Clock.” Make mine a treble.
The Rib Room Bar & Restaurant, Jumeirah Carlton Tower, Cadogan Place, London, SW1X 9PY. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7858 7250. Website: http://www.theribroom.co.uk.
Follow The Rib Room on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/RibRoomSW1
For more information about World Gin Day™, go to: http://worldginday.com
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Stoned & Stoddart
John Stoddart features in a Parisian exhibition
To mark the 50th anniversary of The Rolling Stones, La Gelerie de l’Instant opens an exhibition named “Photographies de Stoned-and-Respectable” this evening in Paris.
Stoddart’s triptych of The Rolling Stones Photographs featured most notably number works by Terry O’Neill, Patrick Anson, the 5th Earl of Lichfield, Albert Watson, Peter Lindbergh and Philip Townsend. A triptych by Whitstable based John Stoddart is one of the undoubted stars of the show.
La Galerie de l’Instant, 46, rue de Poitou, 75003, Paris, France Comments Stoddart:
“It’s an honour to be included in this showcase. The Rolling Stones are true legends in their lifetime and I very much enjoyed capturing them.”
The exhibition runs until the 15th September.
La Galerie de l’Instant, 46, rue de Poitou, 75003, Paris, France. For more details, go to: http://www.lagaleriedelinstant.com/photographe/Stoned-and-Respectable-.-a31
View the official website of The Rolling Stones at: http://www.rollingstones.com
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Arthur's delight
A review of Arthur’s Cafe, Kingsland Road, E8
Arthur Woodham was born on Christmas Day 1927. He and his family have run a traditional British café in Kingsland Road, Dalston since 1935.
Arthur is a truly fascinating gent who likes and maintains a routine. I met him at La Brasserie in South Kensington one Saturday last year and in the time since we’ve become firm friends and meet each week. When another of the group who regularly gather at the happy hour asked what made him come to South Kensington for drinks, Arthur jovially replied: “I don’t drink in my manor.”
Arthur’s Cafe, 495 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London, E8 4AU The oldest cafe in the Kingsland Road, Arthur’s itself attracts a wide and varied clientele of builders, locals and old ladies. The actor Ade, who appeared in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, is often to be spotted here and others include the businessman Stephen Annett, who ventures over from Kensington for breakfast from time to time. Arthur welcomes all with a cheery smile and his family, equally, are hospitable in the extreme.
At Arthur’s Cafe, no toast is served after 11.30am and no chips are served before noon. Serviettes and glasses are placed on the tables at 11.30am also and at this juncture Arthur puts on a fresh jacket. Here indeed is a well-run business where sequenced order reigns.
The menu is simple but the ingredients used are of the highest quality. A particular highlight of the full English breakfast had to be the sausages. Arthur proudly told us that these come from a butcher who also supplies Marks & Spencer and frankly they were amongst the finest I’d tried in an age. Equally, Arthur’s mustard was powerful and punchy and I must highly commend that as well as the delicious crusty bread.
Tea at Arthur’s Cafe is very much of the builder’s variety: robust, rich and strong brown in colour. A note of sophistication comes also in the form of the San Pellegrino Aranciata orange juices that are also available.
Arthur Woodham We’ll leave the final word with Arthur himself:
“I like it, this is my life. You’ve got to like it to keep in it. I meet people. I speak to people. In the cafe, if you like it, you make a lot of friends.”
Arthur’s Cafe, 495 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London, E8 4AU. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7254 3391.
Watch a video feature by Cavan Clerkin on Arthur’s Cafe at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaHh3FNG8OU
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Alexandra Naylor
Sociable and serious, Naylor is a hostess par excellence. She worked as an oil analyst for Sheikh Yamani at the Saudi Arabian Oil Ministry and is now involved in Latin American politics in the UK. She also does a little translating work and dabbles in property. Charm personified, Naylor is a lady who it is joy to spend time with. -
Natalie Massenet
She met her financier husband at the Notting Hill Carnival in 1997 and founded Net-a-Porter a year later. She sold her share in the company for some £350 million in 2010 to Richemont but remains involved. She’s now similarly changing fashion for men with her latest website, Mr Porter. Massenet cuts her own hair as she claims she doesn’t have time to visit hairdressers and bizarrely, for a woman so successful, describes herself as “lazy.” -
Ellen Widdup (Ellen Porritt)
Alerted the world to the story of Julia Cross and writes brilliantly about all manner of matters for the Daily Mail and Evening Standard. Addicted to chocolate, white wine and especially peanut butter. It must, however, come straight from the jar. -
John Stoddart
A Liverpudlian who moved from shooting with guns whilst in The Grenadier Guards to snapping the best-known personalities. Always kitted out in the finest garb, Whitstable based John Stoddart is particularly partial to a stiff G&T at 12 noon. His subjects have variously included Tony and Cherie Blair, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Martin Scorsese, Catherine Zeta-Jones and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.