My gay days.

Friends have always been very important to me, especially as I was an only child.   I find it very upsetting today when I read about so much prejudice in the world, maybe it was because youth made me impervious I don’t know but who ever I came into contact with I disliked or liked purely on personality.   My gay friends were so important,  Tommy Nutter would take me to the Tailors and Cutters Balls, we would have the best nights ever, he made the perfect partner, good for a gossip, looked amazing, and of course I was completely at ease in his company.   One of my friends was a guy called David Robinson, such a good looking guy, I worked with him when I was 17.   Another little snippet, the company we worked for was Compass travel, specialising in accommodating unaccompanied children travelling to schools in England from far flung countries, those were the days of the ever dwindling Empire.   

One of the girls, Robina Lund was going out with Paul Getty, I seem to remember thinking at the time, Why!!!!!   One day we went to lunch near Bond Street, our office was in Trafalgar house, we had such great views of all the royal occasions.   Anyway, to get back to the story, Robina was going on a cruise and we popped into a boutique, only to be told by a very stuck up cow she had nothing in her shop that would suite.   We were both fuming, but she won the day, Paul was told, he bought the shop and sacked the revolting cow, you should never judge a book by its cover. Maybe that’s were the got the idea for the scene in Pretty Woman.   Years later David and I had dinner and went on to a gay club, as we walked through the door Peter Brown came up to me grabbing my arm to take me off for a quiet word, “how the hell do you know him?”  Seemingly everyone fancied David, but no one had managed to get him, I told Peter I would try to persuade him to meet for a date.   Guess what, I told him all my Peter stories which completely scuppered his chances.

John and Yoko came in clutching a copy of Vogue, inside was a model wearing the ugliest coat I had ever seen,   made of long black human hair, they loved it.   I did explain they were probably not in production yet, but said I would try.   The wonderful thing about working for the Beatles, was how easily doors opened.   The company promised they could be made within the month, true to their word they arrived, and looked even worse in real life, I couldn’t wait for them to come in that day. 

      

There was a problem!!!!!!! They had become vegetarians that week and the lining of the coat was made of suede. Needless to say I wasn’t a happy bunny.   Their next request was could they be lined in fabric and ready for their wedding in Gibraltar.   Just in time, the coats arrived and I handed them over to Peter Brown who was going to be one of their witnesses, the word smug comes to mind.   Weeks later after their honeymoon, I arrived one morning, cutting through Peter’s office to get to mine, John and Yoko had arrived with a designer from France called Ted Lapidus they were both covered from head to toe in black leather biker gear!!!!!!!!!  I lost it and told them both to F... off as I walked through.   John followed, “what have we done now?”, I explained and he laughed and said he was sorry but we do amuse you, it was never possible to stay mad for long, that sense of humour was very engaging.