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AGENTS and authors turned out in their splendour for mid-week
madness on Wednesday for The Weekend Starts Here party at Duckworth
publishers in Bloomsbury.
It took the owner of the revitalised 107-year-old publishing house,
Peter Mayer (pictured) – once a chief executive of Penguin
Books to explain.
He told Diary: “Me and my colleagues brought Duckworth back
to life after 40 years and have re-launched a marvellous book
– The Weekend Book which at one time everybody used to buy
“It’s the 50th anniversary this year of the last Weekend
Book, which made publishing history.”
For those who remember The Weekend Book with its distinctly patterned
cover, returns as an illustrated book mixing the meaningful with
the trivial, from pieces of poetry and light prose to excerpts
from musical scores and trivia
“Duckworth was started in 1898 and is surely one of the oldest
publishing houses in Britain and is a very great company, responsible
for a fair portion of works in the history ofBritishpublishing
since the early 20th century,” he adds.
Duckworth, best known for publishing classics and academic literature,
also plan to introduce The Weekend Problem Book next year. Mr
Mayers, who has almost 50 years of publishingexperience and spreads
himself between the high life of New York and an upstairs flat
in Bloomsbury says: “Bringing the series back is a little
bit of nostalgia, grandeur and fun – it was something of
an institution in its time.”
Duckworth’s also plan to reproduce a Dickens’ book,
the original of which was “supervised by Charles himself”.
Fourth generation of Gimpels welcome
Hazel from Walsall
GIMPEL Fils is one of the most venerable of Mayfair’s art
galleries and unusually it has managed to remain in family hands
since it was founded in 1946.
Art dealing brothers Peter and Charles set it up and until recently
sister-in-law Catherine was very active in
its management.
But the new show of two very different artists opened on Tuesday
evening, just the day after her death at the age of 84.
But for some years the gallery has been in the hands of the fourth
generation of Gimpels with art dealer Rene Gimpel at the helm and
he is apparently grooming his son to inherit his job.
One part of the new exhibitions is in the relatively new lower gallery
and it features the madcap creations of 26-year-old Edinburgh artist
Hazel McLeod (pictured) and is her first London exhibition.
“This room has been used four times for exhibitions and gives
an opportunity to up and coming and contemporary artists,”
Rene told Diary at the opening.
The main show is Hannah Maybank’s acrylic and latex layered
canvases – her second exhibition at Gimpel Fils – attracted
a lot of new interest.
Fresh from her first museum exhibition in her home town of Walsall,
Ms Maybank, 30, who lives in Old Street, said: “There has been
a similar theme running through my work since the last exhibition
here.
“But I do hope this one comes across as bolder and more adventurous.”
Both exhibitions run until October 15. Call 020 7493 2488.
20/20 vision for
Olympic success
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Murad Qureshi
An ad for the cricket match between England and France
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SADLY, it seems that the Mayor of London has ignored Diary’s
call for a screen to be erected in Trafalgar Square
showing the Test Match over the next few days.
But at least we have got the support of sport-loving London Assembly
Member and Westminster councillor Murad Qureshi
Asked if he would support Diary’s call he quickly responded
“absolutely”.
He said: “After the demise of British football on Wednesday
night I think we are better off concentrating on cricket.
“I have always had the opinion that summer is for cricket
and winter is for football.”
And he has launched his own campaign to have cricket accepted
as an Olympic sport – but in the shortened 20/20 version.
He said: “I think that, especially with the support that
England have now, it should be an Olympic sport in the shortened
version of 20/20.
“I have put a question into the Mayor and it is not without
precedent, when London held the Olympics in 1908 in was included.
There was just one game, England against France.”
For the record England won by 159 runs.
Murad added: “Why not have cricket? Apart from anything else
it will get the south Asian market watching the Olympics.” |
