by Alison Jane Reid on June 30, 2011
A girl needs a little organic satin, lace and pearls… Take some fluttering, sensual flights of fantasy gowns in organic silk, satin and lace; a Hollywood dream girl called Rachel McDowall, star of Mama Mia, The Producers and Chicago – and an extraordinary location steeped in movie history – The Old Cinema Museum in Kennington, [...]
by Alison Jane Reid on June 1, 2011
Tucked into an ancient wood and just a stroll from the beach, Lisa and LincoLn’s new home on the Isle of Wight sits perfectly in its environment. It’s hard to believe it was once a tired old bungalow. On one of those halcyon, late-summer afternoons, the solent resembles an Impressionist painting. there’s a solitary yacht sail fluttering in [...]
by Alison Jane Reid on March 31, 2011
She was the First Lady of rock’n’roll and has been described as the kind of woman ‘men once went to war for’. But could Marianne Faithfull finally be settling down? Alison Jane Reid talks to her about Carla Bruni, Mick Jagger – and why she’s giving up on romance… Baroness Marianne Evelyn Faithfull – singer, [...]
by Alison Jane Reid on March 15, 2011
Margo Marrone, founder of the Organic Pharmacy, isn’t your average green revolutionary. She adores ‘glamour and glitter and heels’, and wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without putting on her makeup first. In This feature for The Times, Alison Jane Reid talks to the green entrepeneur regarded as a modern alchemist. We also have an exclusive [...]
by Alison Jane Reid on March 2, 2011
Did you know that Jane Seymour, Bond girl, accomplished painter, and green gardener, is the original vintage queen? When Jane was a struggling actress, and had very little money, she would scour London’s flea markets and junk shops for interesting and exquisite second-hand clothes. ‘We didn’t call them vintage back then’ she laughs. Later, when [...]
by Alison Jane Reid on February 24, 2011
He is best loved as the ebullient bon viveur of Four Weddings and a Funeral. But, as Alison Jane Reid discovers in this exclusive interview, the real Simon Callow is an even greater force of nature… Simon Callow is a very popular man. Alas, when I tell him that at 61, he is more of a [...]
by Alison Jane Reid on February 11, 2011
She was Ricky Gervais’s scatty sidekick and now has Hollywood in stitches, too. Alison Jane Reid speaks to Ashley Jensen about feminism, fish ’n’ chips and… er… the invention of the vibrator… Ashley Jensen, Princess of British Comedy, makes the art of comic timing look simple. Of course, it isn’t at all. It is rather [...]
by Alison Jane Reid on January 17, 2011
Can incendiary thought-provoking art bring an end to poverty, from the dust towns of Afghanistan to the forgotten tenements of Liverpool and London’s East End? If Mel Howse has anything to do with it, the answer is yes. A master glass painter and Queen Elizabeth Scholar from Chichester, Howse looks spookily like a young Elizabeth [...]
by Alison Jane Reid on January 6, 2011
Did you know that Ted Danson, film icon and thoughtful environmentalist loves to tap dance? He also has a weakness for raw organic chocolate, the darker the better. Take a look at the campaigning organisation he helped to set up to protect the world’s oceans www.oceana.org . . . . . . .
by Alison Jane Reid on December 25, 2010
He may be 82, but David Attenborough has lost none of his enthusiasm and passion for the natural world. In an exclusive interview, he tells Alison Jane Reid why he will never retire… Rain has begun to fall as I arrive at Sir David Attenborough’s 19th-century cottage in Richmond. ‘Come in, come in,’ he says, [...]