Londoner’s Diary
The battle of the Christmas trees has begun in earnest. Claridge’s enlisted Burberry to design its offering this year: a 16-footer covered in purple and yellow bows, foliage and thistles. Burberry’s director Daniel Lee said the look was inspired by “the beauty of the rugged British landscape”. Trees clearly pull a good crowd: the unveiling party was packed to the rafters with stars including Dame Joan Collins, actor turned faithful Celia Imrie, model Rosie Huntington Whiteley and singer Pink Pantheress. Midway through the evening, Olivia Colman materialised to give a surprise reading, but not before enforcing Berghain-style rules. “I know this isn’t going to be a popular opinion, but would you mind putting your phones down?” she told the crowd, who dutifully obliged. “Now we’ll feel Christmassy together,” Colman said with a beatific smile, before reading the lesser known ‘Twas the Night After Christmas, complete with a gruff Cockney accent for Santa Claus. (“We don’t know what he sounds like, he could sound like that,” she reasoned).
Over in Soho, designer Giles Deacon launched his immersive dining experience, The Gilded Mischief, at Soho House Greek Street. Among guests were actor Gwendoline Christie, who is Deacon’s partner, as well as Eddie Redmayne and his wife Hannah Bagshawe.
Carousing with Clooney
Some A-listers aren’t on social media to protect their privacy or their mental health. But for George Clooney, it’s fear of putting his foot in it. “I’m not on Twitter or Instagram or any of that bullshit because I drink,” he told the audience at the BFI Southbank. “My 3am Mother Theresa joke won’t age so well when I wake up the next morning”. Clooney was discussing his career with master interviewer Edith Bowman, but the most amusing questions came from members of the audience at the end. “What’s it like being George Clooney? I mean, you can’t go to Sainsbury’s to buy milk,” one asked – it’s still pretty good, apparently. Another wondered how the star got into “the mindset of a domesticated fox” for Wes Anderson’s 2009 film. “The hardest part was scratching behind my ear with my foot but I got there eventually,” Clooney responded.
Pantomime has found itself a new star in the form of Jeremy Corbyn (oh yes it has!). The former Labour leader went to see himself on the opening night of Wicked Witches at The Pleasance Theatre, where he makes a rather unorthodox on-screen cameo as the “Wizard of Oz-lington”. Meanwhile, Bel Powley was at fellow actor Billie Piper’s birthday party at Upstairs at Langan’s, while historian Peter Jones and model Jean Campbell were at Saatchi Yates to discuss how the seven deadly sins manifest in the modern day. The conversation was the first in a series of talks curated by Leit House, and covered everything from Ozempic to social media envy.
Over on Oxford Street, comedian Jack Whitehall and his wife Roxy Horner went to the opening of the reimagined Superdry Flagship store on Oxford Street, hosted by the brand’s founder Julian Dunkerton.
