Favourite places: Mont St Michel

I was looking back at photos of friends and I at Mont St Michel in France earlier - 40 years ago this October! It has been one of my favourite places since - along with Corfu also in the '70s, and later Rhodes and Lindos. 

Mont St Michel is one of the most visited and recognisable historic sites in France, and the most magical place along the Normandy and Brittany coastline. It is actually a little island in Normandy, cut off when the tides rise. It is overrun with tourists all year now, like London and any main tourist attraction, but 40 years ago in that wintery October, four of us had it practically all to ourselves as we stayed overnight in a hotel and explored the monastery the next morning. I loved the cloisters at the very top, steeped in history and those views ..... It was magical too walking around the town that rainy night and finding an ideal restaurant. 

It was a strategic fortification since ancient times and one can imagine life there during the dark ages and in medieval times, with monks and pilgrims to its abbey. Mont St Michel and its bay are now part of UNESCO's world heritage sites and well worth a visit, even in these crowded times as millions visit it each year. 

My 1974 postcard packs

1974 was actually a great travel year for me: to Milan for a week in April, and also several trips to France, where my oldest friend was now married and living in Paris, we took a motor-caravan there and I remember making tea as we parked outside the Louvre, and then on to those marvellous places in Northern France: Chartres Cathedral, the perfect town of Honfleur, Deauville with its boadwalks right out of UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME ...

 St Malo, Dinard, and on to the Mont, stopping off for delicious meals at traditional auberges, and shopping at charcuteries, boulangeries and patissieries, and also detouring to see the Bayeux Tapestry and the Normandy beaches of WWII. Another of my oldest friends, Les - now in Hastings - was on that trip, we will have to talk about when meeting up over the weekend, and Mike, my Parisian friend, is now in San Francisco, whom I am emailing later .... There was also a terrific weekend, or two, at that delightful town Le Touquet - I remember a particuarly fantastic restaurant meal there with those langoustines and an unforgettable strawberry flan, and a late night walk on the beach, and that balcony view ....

In Corfu, I particularly liked the Achilleon, now the island's Casino, but it was a holiday home for Sissi, Empress Elizabeth of Austria, and one could visit her private chapel and state rooms, and those splendid statutes of Achilles in the lush grounds. I have covered Rhodes and Lindos here before, travel label, we are planning to return there this year ...

There is a wonderful early '60s French film AMEILIE, OU LE TEMPS D'AIMER by Michel Drach, which I saw in 1964 and it seems unavailable now, a brooding Victorian romance set around the Mont and Normandy, where visiting Jean Sorel sets the local girls a flutter - Marie-Jose Nat, Sophie Daumier, Clothilde Joano.  It might turn up again sometime ...

April in Ireland

We missed the smog and sand blown in from the Sahara here in the London area, as we had a few days over in the West of Ireland (part of their Great Atlantic Way, a coastal route from Donegal in the North to the historic and foodie town of Kinsale in County Cork in the South West). We were actually at Ballybunion, that pleasant seaside town in North Kerry (quiet now, but getting ready for their busy summer season, with those 3 wide sandy beaches and a lot of attractions like a famous golf course and places of historic interest) with a lot of childhood and teenage associations for me, which was badly damaged in the storms of recent months, being right on the very edge of Europe, overlooking that wild Atlantic .... it was a rainy morning there this week, but none the less pleasant for that - 

after we got over the shock of the train from East Croydon (outside London) being full at 6.30am, so one had to stand until London Bridge station, on the run up to that perfect little airport: Luton Airport - almost as perfect as Kerry Airport ! But when I was travelling up from the coast (Portsmouth, Brighton, Lancing) in the 80s and 90s, I was getting trains at 7.25 am, to be in London for 9.00 - but now the trains are full at 6.30am? I knew London was getting more and more crowded but this is ridiculous - or are people starting work earlier ?

My other favourite Kerry town: Listowel

"Extreme weather" and Baftas ...

Extreme weather continues, week after week .... not only here in the UK but now also in America, as so many states are under lots of snow .... 

It seems the UK has been wet since Christmas, with initially the west country area including Somerset and Dorset under lots of water, as the rain kept falling and the flood levels kept rising. Now though after a ferocious storm a few days ago, practically a hurricane, the whole Thames Valley area is submerged too - those expensive towns along the Thames like Datchet, Eton, Staines, right to Windsor and Maidenhead and Chertsey .... as per map above showing red flood warnings; endless news bulletins show sandbagging and the army (even the royal Princes doing their bit) drafted in to help out as the Prime Minister suddenly seems to have found the funds to pay for whatever is needed. It seems the Environment Agency had not dredged the rivers for years, to remove the build-up of silt. Who now though is going to want a riverside residence or move to a flood plain where all this could be a recurrening nightmare - suddenly these expensive properties may well be uninsurable and unsaleable ... Now the flooding has spread along the Severn towards Gloucester, and other towns like Winchester. (Above left: David Hockney's 'Rain On The Studio Window', 2009.)

The famous cobb at Lyme Regis, Dorset

In 1962 that great science fiction writer J G Ballard wrote one of his first novels "The Drowned World" seeing a time when the polar ice caps had melted causing rising flood levels after years rising temperatures  (Ballard lived at Shepperton, one of the now flooded areas). Is this global warming or climate change finally starting to take root? Nobody here has seen floods like these in over 50 years ... and the constant hurricanes and storms as the coast is battered. Its almost a DAY AFTER TOMORROW scenario ...

Flooding in Cork

The BBC only shows us the situation here in England, one has to turn to Sky News or the Irish RTE channel (on RTEplayer) to see what is happening elsewhere, as of course Ireland has been battered too - these atlantic storms hit the west coast of Ireland before they arrive here, and are probably even more ferocious. My second residence in Ireland, at Ballybunion in Country Kerry, on the cliffs above the town, is safe but bears the brunt of storms arriving from the west. Oh, to be there now, with a real fire in the grate, and seeing the sea from the upstairs windows ... The town has taken a battering, as per the photos, but so has Cork and Limerick, County Clare and further inland. 

Ballybunion usually

We are promised more to come, as even if it all stopped now, the rising rivers and flood levels will take ages to drain away.

Ballybunion high tides reaching the Rescue Centre

Meanwhile, we amuse ourself with other diversions. Its BAFTA weekend so the great and good will be arriving, no doubt for another wet night on the soggy red carpet with umbrellas to the fore. Will Cate triumph over Dame Judi (whom Harvey Weinstein has blamed for not being able to schmooze and promote PHILOMENA due to her recovery from knee surgery, and then having to return to India for her next film). Cate at any rate will do great red carpet as usual, and Dame Mirren gets her BAFTA Fellowship.
We are amused at the dismissive, terrible reviews for the new Clooney & Pals opus - even Cate comes a cropper here, as again history is re-written regarding the Second World War and art treasures.. Pity the poor actors having to talk it up on tv. Equally dire reviews for the new Nick Frost "comedy" ... how do they keep churning them out. Ever since seeing him naked in THE BOAT THAT ROCKED, a movie I hated so much I could not even bring myself to review it (it was though perceptive about disk jockeys in the Sixties and all that hanky panky they indulged in, which has seen some of them now hauled into court) anything with him is something I would wish to avoid. Sorry, Nick, but we feel the same about Simon Pegge. 

The damaged Resuce Centre afterwards. My 19 year old nephew was working as lifeguard there last summer.

Sunday musings: cities, exhibitions, playlists ...

Reading the Sunday papers it looks like Brazil and South America generally is this year's hot destination. Not only the World Cup coming up but the next Olympics in 2016 in Rio ... soon those magical names like Leblon, Bahia, Belem, Recife, Salvador, will be as common to us as Rio, Ipanema, Sao Paulo and the others .... 

 
South America fascinated me as a schoolboy as I liked geography - 
I have a vivid memory of being in class and fascinated by those cities like Valparaiso and Montevideo, and countries like Uruguay where Punta Del Este is a hot destination now, then there is Lima with its catherdrals and colonial history. Valparaiso (below) looks marvellously colourful with those new apartment blocks in every shade, while the old colonial buildings of Salvador, above, look stunning too.  I think I will have to sit back and re-run Belmondo running around Brazil in THAT MAN FROM RIO (1964) or 1959's BLACK ORPHEUS with a caipirinha or three ... if I can't get to Brazil right now, as our rains and floods continue, I can at least get a bottle of cachaca and some limes and sugar ...

Meanwhile, back in cold, wet London at least some interesting exhibitions are opening:

I have had this French poster since 1974

The new David Hockney exhibition: HOCKNEY' PRINTMAKER at the Dulwich Gallery is attracting rave notices, covering as it does the artist's remarkable printmaking career. ~The cheeky chappy from Bradford who lit up the Sixties is now a grumpy old man, quite deaf and still smoking at 76 - as per report below, and that recent interview with him back in LA. (Hockney label). Covered in this latest exhibition of 150 works are his prints from those early Cavafy drawings, Picasso etchings, that Seventies Paris period (with that favourite of mine "Two Vases in the Lourve" above), and portraits of his friends like Celia Birtwell, posed in a vintage blouse. Examples of Hockney's more recent print experiments, with photocopiers and inkjet printers, also feature. One to see then. At the Dulwich Gallery until May.

Hockney, Printmaker features over 150 works, from etchings executed at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s, to experiments with printed computer drawings some fifty years later, via portraits, pools, poetry, Xeroxes and investigations into multi-point perspective. Written by Richard Lloyd, head of prints at Christies, with contributions from Hockney's friends and associates, it explores the many achievements of Britain's greatest living practitioner of the graphic arts. - See more at: http://www.accdistribution.com/uk/store/pv/9781857598933/hockney/richard-lloyd#sthash.bvwhG4R2.dpuf

Hockney, Printmaker features over 150 works, from etchings executed at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s, to experiments with printed computer drawings some fifty years later, via portraits, pools, poetry, Xeroxes and investigations into multi-point perspective. Written by Richard Lloyd, head of prints at Christies, with contributions from Hockney's friends and associates, it explores the many achievements of Britain's greatest living practitioner of the graphic arts. - See more at: http://www.accdistribution.com/uk/store/pv/9781857598933/hockney/richard-lloyd#sthash.bvwhG4R2.dpuf

Hockney, Printmaker features over 150 works, from etchings executed at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s, to experiments with printed computer drawings some fifty years later, via portraits, pools, poetry, Xeroxes and investigations into multi-point perspective. Written by Richard Lloyd, head of prints at Christies, with contributions from Hockney's friends and associates, it explores the many achievements of Britain's greatest living practitioner of the graphic arts. - See more at: http://www.accdistribution.com/uk/store/pv/9781857598933/hockney/richard-lloyd#sthash.bvwhG4R2.dpuf

Another Sixties Enfant Terrible is also being honoured at the National Portrait Gallery: David Bailey and the STARDUST exhibition of his photos. I remember Bailey's 1965 BOX OF PIN-UPS with those loose limited edition prints of his very individual portraits (all that black and white) of the biggest celebrities of the day, including Terence Stamp, The Kray Twins, Mick Jagger in that fur-lined anorak, Michael Caine, Jean Shripton, Julie Christie, Nureyev and all the others ... whatever happened to mine? it would fetch a fortune now.  
Bailey has continued throughout the decades, along with Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy who documented the Swinging Sixties. This new exhibition has some old favourites as well as new surprises as Bailey covers his many trips to remote places, like the Ethiopian famine in 1984, and Aboriginal Australia, as well as more recent forays to Hackney and Harlem shooting in clubs and theatres. At 75 David Bailey is still going strong too. As he says "It takes a lot of looking before you see the extraordindary". BAILEY'S STARDUST is at the National Portrait Gallery to June 1. I shall be going along before too long.

More photos: Photographer Cornel Lucas was a pioneer of film portraiture, shooting both British and American stars. He specialised in carefully composed and lit images, and in 1998 he became the first stills photographer to be awarded a Bafta. Photo Noir: The art Of Cornel Lucas is a new exhibition of his work at the National Theatre Lyttelton exhibition space which runs from 17 February to 29 March.
We have covered Lucas's output here before, see his RIP at label. He died  aged 92 in 2012, his first wife was that glamorous siren Belinda Lee, but they divorced in 1959, two years before she was killed in a car crash, aged 25 ... Like Bob Willoughby and Eve Arnold  and Jack Cardiff he is one of the great photographers - lots on those at labels.

Finally, playlists! It also seems the humble playlist is having a moment. Back in the '80s we made mixtapes on cassettees, for friends or those we fancied. Playlists - liked, shared, and tweeted, have now it seems become a prime promotional tool. It is a great way to discover new music, by checking the playlists of people whose taste you trust. Now of course, there are millions of songs to choose from, as music gets more and more accessible online. 
Back in the CD heyday I liked those BACK TO MINE two-disk compilations where artists like The Pet Shop Boys or Groove Armada isssued their favourite tracks. Where else could you hear Dusty Springfiend next to Etienne Daho or Italian disco ("Passion" by The Flirts). "The Sunday Times" ran a big feature featuring Playlists including by Rod Stewart (his favourite soul tracks - I have them all), and those of various journalists and celebs. 

Here's my today playlist - tomorrow's would be completely different  ...
David Bowie - Win
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
Marvin Gaye - Distant Lover
Joan Armading - Mameo Beach
Nina Simone - Seeline Woman
Donny Hathaway - A Song For You
Miles Davies - In A Silent Way
Neil Young - Old Man
Joni Mitchell - Car On A Hill
Aretha Franklin - Ain't No Way
A Man Called Adam - Barefoot In The Head
Madonna - Nothing Really Matters
Billie Holiday - Fine and Mellow
Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind
Billie Ray Martin - Deadline For My Memories
Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy
Howling Wolf - Sitting On Top of the World
Cream - Spoonful
Nile Rogers/Daft Punk - Get Lucky.

Fantasy Holiday

Let's head off to St Paul De Vence in the South of France and have lunch at The Colombe D'Or restaurant, its still the chic fashionable place to go (though some say its an over-priced tourist trap now). Just like back in 1966 in the lush romantic thriller MOMENT TO MOMENT when Jean Seberg in that fabulous Yves St Laurent wardrobe, drives her little red car to it and strolls around the town with her love interest, Sean Garrison - as per reviews at Jean Seberg label. Its a "Movie I Love". At the restaurant they watch the doves flying into sun "saying farewell to the day", as Henry Mancini's great score swells.

I have just been reading about St Paul De Vence as a great South of France destination, its been years since I have been around that way, and it whets my appetite. It is an exquisite fortified village up in the hills near those other towns like Nice, Menton, Juan-Les-Pins, and it has medieval stone cottages and also a great art gallery, not to mention that restaurant...I wonder whats on today's menu ...
http://www.la-colombe-dor.com/indexEN.html

"An airline ticket to romantic places ..."

Freezing January and one's thoughts return to holidays in warmer climes and those interesting places still to visit: Taormina in Sicily with that Roman theatre, one of the most celebrated ruins in Italy (above), then there are Rome, Sorrento and Amalfi, postponed from last year due to knee injury. Taormina has been on my wish-list ever since I saw that Clarice Cliff "Taormina" china pattern (right). My late friend and partner Rory was the Clarice Cliff expert and had some ...
Will it now be possible too in the coming years to visit Leptis Magna that fascinating Roman ruin in Libya? (below)

Definitely planning a return to Lindos in Rhodes, and the fascinating Rhodes Old Town - my sister-in-law will love it. Lindos's acropolis with that view over the Mediterranean and perfect beach will be ideal for a stay there and it should be fascinating at night. (below)

I would like to return to Sweden too - Gothenburg was fascinating, and I must experience Stockholm and that Scandanavian culture...

Stockholm and Gothenburg

Also of course a return to the west of Ireland - Counties Kerry, Cork and Clare - that south-west tip, so accessible now with airports as opposed to those long journeys on trains and ferries. The two great beaches and seeing the wild Atlantic from the cliffs at Ballybunion does it for me (below) .... and its so near where I grew up and still visit. Its just across the Atlantic from Cape Cod or Maine.

Further afield, South America always beckons - I must eventually experience those magic names like Rio De Janeiro, Ipanema, Bahia, Lima, Machu Picchu, Bueonos Aires, Valpariso, Montevideo, Punta Del Este in Uruguay etc [no wonder I love Belmondo's THAT MAN FROM RIO]. Not to mention Egypt, India, USA (California and the west, New York and New England in the fall) and those magical Canadian names like Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Banff (all Joni Mitchell country) - a train across the Rockies perhaps ...

Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor - R.I.P.

Sometimes reading the obituary of a particular life well lived, one is left with the idea of what dull, regimented lives most of us live these days. I was only vaguely aware of Patrick Leigh Fermor in that his wartime exploits were used in the Dirk Bogarde film ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT and that he wrote travel books. I have got one of these books now A TIME OF GIFTS, published in 1977 and what a treat it promises to be.

Fermor who died on June 10, 2011 aged 96, was one of the genuine Renaissance figures of the 20th century, a man of action and learning, who went on to lead a fascinating life after the war. Good looking, in a Jack Hawkins/Kenneth More kind of way, he set out at 18 to travel across pre-war Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople (the subject of A TIME OF GIFTS). There is nothing ordinary about this work. In it a solitary young man, scarcely out of school, pits himself in a literary sense against the astonishingly varied social and political circumstances of 1930s Europe. He earns his living by his wits, by his outgoing personality, by his willingness to have a go at anything, and by drawing pictures of people, and he makes friends with Europeans of every class and kind, from the wildest of aristocrats to the grizzliest of peasants – treating them all, as Kipling would have liked, just the same.



He was also the architect of one of the most daring feats of the second world war, the kidnapping of the commander of the German garrison on Crete in April 1944 while working for British special operations on Crete [where he spent time living as a native]. Dressed as a German police corporal, he and a fellow British soldier ambushed and took control of a car containing General Heinrich Kreipe, the island’s commander, and bluffed their way through 22 checkpoints. After three weeks avoiding German searches, Kreipe was taken off the island by boat. The daring escapade was later turned into ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, directed by Michael Powell, in which Leigh Fermor was played by Dirk Bogarde.

He wrote some of the finest pieces of travel writing and has been described as a “cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene”. One of the films he co-scripted was John Huston's THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN in 1957, in which he appears (below, right). His scholarly exploits make others, like Peter Viertel or Romain Gary, seems like mere adventurers.



He married Joan Elizabeth Rayner, daughter of the first Viscount Monsell, in 1968. They moved to Greece and their house was created to their own design. She died in June 2003 aged 91. There were no children.

I shall be investigating his other travel books too, including part two of his journey across Europe, BETWEEN THE WOODS AND THE WATER. Fermor was a much-loved character, as detailed on this fascinating website: http://patrickleighfermor.wordpress.com/