I have been gazing at this for months. Isn't it gorgeous? And its beauty has only been serving to whet my appetite for:
That's right, the Harper Collins Summer Party - aka one of THE parties of the year. The Orangery at Kensington Palace was decked out with the most sublime floral displays...
... (in a lovely echo of the invitation, the leaves on this tree were made from books), the canapes were mouthwatering as ever, and the free-flowing champagne was served by the most gorgeous men I've seen for a long time. Seriously - half the talk of the night was 'where did they find these waiters?'! (No photo, sadly - that might have looked just a tad unprofessional).
The main talk of the night, though, was that Victoria Barnsley was stepping down as head of Harper Collins after 13 years - a sad occasion marked by several fittingly glowing and emotional tributes.
It was great to catch up with faces old (Carrie Duffy, Anna-Lou Weatherly, Alex Brown, Juliet Mushens and the lovely HC girls who make everything happen behind the scenes), and new (rock biographer Chris Salewicz, with his fantastic repertoire of scandalous anecdotes, and witty, elegant historian Alexandra Richie; we kept each other highly amused for quite some time).
After a quite a bit of unsubtle celeb-spotting, I bumped into food critic Jay Rayner in the unisex loos; he seemed sadly unimpressed by my assertion that we had something in common as we both used to write about food for Arena magazine. That'll teach me for trying to chat to people who've been on the telly!
The main talk of the night, though, was that Victoria Barnsley was stepping down as head of Harper Collins after 13 years - a sad occasion marked by several fittingly glowing and emotional tributes.
It was great to catch up with faces old (Carrie Duffy, Anna-Lou Weatherly, Alex Brown, Juliet Mushens and the lovely HC girls who make everything happen behind the scenes), and new (rock biographer Chris Salewicz, with his fantastic repertoire of scandalous anecdotes, and witty, elegant historian Alexandra Richie; we kept each other highly amused for quite some time).
After a quite a bit of unsubtle celeb-spotting, I bumped into food critic Jay Rayner in the unisex loos; he seemed sadly unimpressed by my assertion that we had something in common as we both used to write about food for Arena magazine. That'll teach me for trying to chat to people who've been on the telly!
By the end of the evening I possibly wasn't looking my most professional. But never mind - a great time was had by all.
Many thanks to everyone at Harper Collins for another sensational bash!
Many thanks to everyone at Harper Collins for another sensational bash!
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