The Picnic Papers - Anne Glenconner,
Friday, 25 April, 6:30 pm, The Jockey Club Rooms, Newmarket
EA Festival and the Jockey Club Rooms are excited to welcome Lady Glenconner in conversation with Anna Mathias this spring.
The occasion for her return to the EA Festival stage is her delightful new book, an updated re-edition of The Picnic Papers. Originally published in 1983 and co-edited with her good friend Susanna Johnston, the book is a compilation of sunny anecdotes and piquant observations about the fine art (or at least joy) of dining outdoors. Contributed by the likes of Tina Brown, Rupert Everett, John Julius Norwich, Princess Margaret and Graham Norton, each paper is a sparkling commentary on al fresco dining – animated by the wit and joie de vivre of its author. The perfect way to banish winter gloom and usher in spring, join us for drinks and canapés for what is sure to be an unforgettable evening of memories, laughter and bon mots.
“Whatever our attitude, it remains a fact that we English, in the main, have an irresistible habit of eating al fresco, in spite of our unreliable climate. We will eat anywhere – in swamps, on haystacks, in sunshine, hail, fog or drizzle”
LADY GLENCONNER
About Anne Glenconner
Lady Glenconner was born Lady Anne Coke in 1932, the eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, and grew up in the ancestral estate at Holkham Hall in Norfolk. A Maid of Honour at the Queen’s Coronation, she married Lord Glenconner in 1956. They had five children together, of whom three survive.
In 1958, she and her husband began to transform the island of Mustique into a paradise for the rich and famous. They granted a plot of land to Princess Margaret who built her favourite home there. She was appointed Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret in 1971 and kept this role – accompanying her on many state occasions and foreign tours – until her death in 2002. Lord Glenconner died in 2010, leaving everything in his will to his former employee.
Lady Anne’s bestselling memoir Lady in Waiting was published in 2019, and her books have sold over one million copies worldwide. She lives in a farmhouse in Norfolk.