Ann Barr (1929 – 2015)

Despite defining “The Sloane” and “The Mayfair Mercenary”, the co-author of The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook lived out her final years in Notting Hill in defiance of her parents who once asked: “Who’d live north of the park?” The granddaughter of the inventor of Irn-Bru, Ann Barr was “mischievous, gossipy and funny” and is credited with having “nurtured” amongst others Craig Brown, Nicholas Coleridge, Mary Ann Sieghart, Jon Savage, Stephen Bayley, Loyd Grossman, Fay Maschler, Hamish Bowles, Paul Levy, Victoria Mather and Oliver James. She is survived by her loyal parrot, Turkey.