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DAVID SNOWDON
Furniture maker and honorary chairman of Christie’s, the Earl of Snowdon loves a historical book or a good biography
AS TOLD TO SELMA DAY
Mapp & Lucia by
E.F. Benson
In my childhood, there were lovely escapist books that I used to adore and couldn’t put down. Mapp & Lucia was a book my grandmother (the Queen Mother) suggested I read when I was ill. Benson is a fabulous bit of old English nonsense along the lines of P.G. Wodehouse. At school, there was a bit of poetry, which I still enjoy – particularly limericks. H.M.Bateman’s cartoons alongside Hilaire Belloc or Edward Lear are fantastic.
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Eastern Approaches by
Fitzroy Maclean
I tend to find historical books of increasing interest. I found the subject matter of Eastern Approaches gripping – the person was a fantastic storyteller and the dialogue was of interest to me. There was a hint of James Bond. In fact, I think James Bond was based on Ian Fleming’s friendship with Fitzroy Maclean
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The Lives of Lucian Freud
by William Weaver
I’ve just discovered Audible, so lengthy tomes like The Lives of Lucian Freud – something I would never have contemplated reading – is a much more likely event. Reading isn’t something I would naturally do. My father (photographer Lord Snowdon) was hell bent against anyone reading a book because he decided it was a waste of time – ‘you should be making something’, he used to say. Also, in the old days, I would be much more workshop based and not have time to read a lot, whereas now, I can sit in a car and listen to an entire book down the motorway – so it’s not a waste of time.
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The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
by John Richardson
I like biographies and enjoyed The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Picasso was a genius and listening to a historian having the time to be there with him was kind of amazing.
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The Art of Looking Sideways
by Alan Fletcher
The Art of Looking Sideways [a guide to visual awareness] is fun to read because it’s a story a page. You can just dip into it.
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Personal View and Private
View by Lord Snowdon
Obviously, from my perspective, there’s my father’s books on his career, Personal View and Private View which is fantastically interesting – a social and historical document of the art world in the Sixties. People at Christie’s come into my office and say, ‘Can we borrow that book, Private View because we have a picture coming out in the sale that was being painted when your father photographed the artist’.”
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