THE National Gallery is facing mutiny from conservation groups over the controversial redevelopment of its Sainsbury Wing.
The gallery is planning a major redesign which will make the wing its main entrance. They were given the green light by Westminster council late last year. But architecture fans say the wing, which went up in 1989, is one of the only “post-modern” buildings in the world to be Grade I listed, and should be protected from any changes at all to the structure. Conservation group Historic England initially objected to the redesign plans, but withdrew its concerns after the gallery updated its original drawings, allowing for some protection.
However, Dr Otto Saumarez Smith, of the Twentieth Century Society, told us the plans are still destructive. He said the Sainsbury Wing “might be the most important post-modern building in the world”. He added: “For Historic England to have listed the building as Grade I, the same as Westminster Abbey and Blenheim Palace, then to backtrack on that, is strange. They need to go back to the drawing board”. Saumarez Smith’s father Charles ran the gallery in the Noughties.
There is talk of an official appeal over the issue.
Harry gets the LRB treatment
Prince Harry gets a literary appraisal in the latest London Review of Books. Writer Andrew O’Hagan has written a 3,000-word review of Harry’s book titled “Off His Royal Tits”. O’Hagan takes issue with the Prince’s “having-your-cake-and-eating it problem”. “He wants the privilege... but he also wants the privacy,” he opines, adding: “Harry has been treated badly, but... he thinks about nothing else.” O’Hagan has hope: “Harry’s feelings of inferiority... will one day be the materials of his recovery,” he says with confidence. We shall see.
Wild swimming jumps the shark
Inaugural meeting of "APPG Swimming (outdoor and wild)" a great success. 🙏🙏
— Lord Bethell (@JimBethell) January 31, 2023
There's an opportunity for a collective effort to bring the mental and physical benefits of outdoor/wild swimming to a wider audience.
Let's figure out how to do it. 🚀#HealthyBritain @APPG_Swimming pic.twitter.com/wYj2rF7wQ1
The trend for wild swimming has been irritating many people for a while now, but we reckon yesterday marked the end of the golden years. In Westminster, Lord Bethell, a Tory peer, took a happy selfie with members of the new All Party Parliamentary Group on Swimming (Outdoor and Wild). He wants to bring the craze “to a wider audience”. Given so many waterways have had sewage problems, let’s hope they keep clean.
Mail man’s dedication to Fleet Street
To the Royal Geographical Society last night for a launch of Andrew Roberts’s book about Lord Northcliffe, founder of the Daily Mail. Lucky Mail staff have been given copies. Attending was Labour’s Wes Streeting. Roberts thanked Times owner Rupert Murdoch for sharing his father’s letters to Northcliffe, and also praised the Mail man’s dedication to papers. Northcliffe escaped from hospital in 1922 to call the news desk, telling them: “They say I’m very ill and on my death bed. Get your best man on the story”.
Red nose fun begins
In PREPARATION for Comic Relief on March 17, TV presenters AJ Odudu and Amanda Holden got their red noses out for a photoshoot. Out on the town last night, actors Greta Bellamacina and Simon Callow were at the press night for new play Lemons... at the Harold Pinter Theatre, while models Charli Howard and Maxim Magnus attended the launch of Howard’s line of Coco de Mer lingerie in St James’s. Outside London, comic Alan Carr visited the Great Western Railway to see Goliath, a mighty steam engine.
