FIRST IMPRESSIONS: LAURENCE LLEWELYN-BOWEN
What are you working on?
The Ideal Home Show at Christmas, which is in November. I’m doing two room sets; one is for the naughty list and one is for the nice list. I’m also going through my Classic FM playlist: a strange fusion of classical music and really rather decadent boudoir, X Factor-type design going on.
When were you at your happiest?
I can be happy on a minute-by-minute basis, so technically speaking I am at my happiest now. I think the height of rapture and joy was this morning, when I managed to get my tie to work so well with my shirt. It can be complicated.
What is your earliest memory?
Beige. I grew up in a very, very out-of-its time, tasteful little bubble, which felt more like the 1950s rather than the 1960s. Everyone else’s parents had fabulous, really quite carnivorous paisley wallpaper, but we had William Morris in a shade of oatmeal and little bit of sage.
What is your greatest fear?
Beige.
Who has been your greatest influence?
Mrs Llewelyn-Bowen. I would be half the man without her.
What do you dislike most about yourself?
I’m really, really, bad at remembering where the car keys are. I can remember complicated stuff about the Renaissance, but ask me where my car keys are…
What is your most treasured possession?
I’m very fond of the candy-orange wallpaper in the kitchen and I’m very pleased to say that The Lady referred to it as an overdose of Berocca. I like being on the wrong side of The Lady in terms of interior design. If there were a fire, that’s the first thing I’d save. The fire would have to wait.
Which trait do you more deplore in others?
Beige. I once got terrible beige-rage in Daylesford. It’s the most fabulously tasteful and chic place in the world but, by thunder, I wanted to go through there with a large spray can of pink.
Do you have a fantasy address?
The Addams family house. I’ve obviously modelled myself on Gomez.
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
The one thing I have to genuinely admit to being upset about is the fact that I don’t have a tail – something foxy, very Basil Brushy. It was such an evolutionary oversight. I would have used it so magnifi cently.
What is your all-time favourite book?
Rather dully, it’s Hall’s Dictionary Of Subjects & Symbols In Art. I’ve had my copy since I was 15. I think it’s the ultimate key that fits into the keyhole of civilisation, to be able to stumble your way around Renaissance painting.
What is your favourite film?
Don’t Look Now, which is slightly weird, I know. I’m completely immune to all the gore and the nasty dwarf in the red mac.
What is your favourite piece of music?
I’m passionate about the Philip Glass violin concertos, but I could never do without Casta Diva by Bellini, sung by Cecilia Bartoli, who actually manages to make it sound as if she’s singing it while going up quite a steep staircase at the same time: very breathy and unbelievably sexy.
Which historical character do you most admire?
I’ve always been a fan of Charles II. He was very hands-on during the Fire of London. He left Whitehall Palace and worked with the fi re team. And he invented the three-piece suit, to stop us dressing like Frenchmen.
Which item would improve your quality of life?
I have my eye on a gold and black damask dinner jacket at William Hunt. I keep throwing spaniel eyes at Mrs L-B.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
The nastiest thing anyone could ever say to me is that I am beige.
Do you write thank-you notes?
I do very gushy, flashy thank-you texts, which take about four-and-a-half hours. I also write letters on my lovely paper with a quill, take a photograph of it with my telephone and then send it to somebody as a photograph.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
Bol***ks, because there’s something so satisfying about it.
What would you like your epitaph to say?
Here lies Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, he’s dead, oh bol***ks. Written in a very flashy script, of course.
Laurence is on Classic FM on Sundays at 9am: 100- 102 FM, digital or at www.classicfm.com
Laurence is the Ideal Interiors ambassador for the Ideal Home Show at Christmas at London’s Earls Court, 14 to 18 November: www.idealhomeshowchristmas.co.uk
The Ideal Home Show at Christmas, which is in November. I’m doing two room sets; one is for the naughty list and one is for the nice list. I’m also going through my Classic FM playlist: a strange fusion of classical music and really rather decadent boudoir, X Factor-type design going on.
When were you at your happiest?
I can be happy on a minute-by-minute basis, so technically speaking I am at my happiest now. I think the height of rapture and joy was this morning, when I managed to get my tie to work so well with my shirt. It can be complicated.
What is your earliest memory?
Beige. I grew up in a very, very out-of-its time, tasteful little bubble, which felt more like the 1950s rather than the 1960s. Everyone else’s parents had fabulous, really quite carnivorous paisley wallpaper, but we had William Morris in a shade of oatmeal and little bit of sage.
What is your greatest fear?
Beige.
Who has been your greatest influence?
Mrs Llewelyn-Bowen. I would be half the man without her.
What do you dislike most about yourself?
I’m really, really, bad at remembering where the car keys are. I can remember complicated stuff about the Renaissance, but ask me where my car keys are…
What is your most treasured possession?
I’m very fond of the candy-orange wallpaper in the kitchen and I’m very pleased to say that The Lady referred to it as an overdose of Berocca. I like being on the wrong side of The Lady in terms of interior design. If there were a fire, that’s the first thing I’d save. The fire would have to wait.
Which trait do you more deplore in others?
Beige. I once got terrible beige-rage in Daylesford. It’s the most fabulously tasteful and chic place in the world but, by thunder, I wanted to go through there with a large spray can of pink.
Do you have a fantasy address?
The Addams family house. I’ve obviously modelled myself on Gomez.
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
The one thing I have to genuinely admit to being upset about is the fact that I don’t have a tail – something foxy, very Basil Brushy. It was such an evolutionary oversight. I would have used it so magnifi cently.
What is your all-time favourite book?
Rather dully, it’s Hall’s Dictionary Of Subjects & Symbols In Art. I’ve had my copy since I was 15. I think it’s the ultimate key that fits into the keyhole of civilisation, to be able to stumble your way around Renaissance painting.
What is your favourite film?
Don’t Look Now, which is slightly weird, I know. I’m completely immune to all the gore and the nasty dwarf in the red mac.
What is your favourite piece of music?
I’m passionate about the Philip Glass violin concertos, but I could never do without Casta Diva by Bellini, sung by Cecilia Bartoli, who actually manages to make it sound as if she’s singing it while going up quite a steep staircase at the same time: very breathy and unbelievably sexy.
Which historical character do you most admire?
I’ve always been a fan of Charles II. He was very hands-on during the Fire of London. He left Whitehall Palace and worked with the fi re team. And he invented the three-piece suit, to stop us dressing like Frenchmen.
Which item would improve your quality of life?
I have my eye on a gold and black damask dinner jacket at William Hunt. I keep throwing spaniel eyes at Mrs L-B.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
The nastiest thing anyone could ever say to me is that I am beige.
Do you write thank-you notes?
I do very gushy, flashy thank-you texts, which take about four-and-a-half hours. I also write letters on my lovely paper with a quill, take a photograph of it with my telephone and then send it to somebody as a photograph.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
Bol***ks, because there’s something so satisfying about it.
What would you like your epitaph to say?
Here lies Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, he’s dead, oh bol***ks. Written in a very flashy script, of course.
Laurence is on Classic FM on Sundays at 9am: 100- 102 FM, digital or at www.classicfm.com
Laurence is the Ideal Interiors ambassador for the Ideal Home Show at Christmas at London’s Earls Court, 14 to 18 November: www.idealhomeshowchristmas.co.uk