Picture Show – Oct 20th 1956
Squire of the Manor
This – as you well know – is woman’s corner of Picture Show, devoted entirely to women’s interests – mainly fashions and beauty. But I make no excuse to devoting it this week to a man and his home – for what greater interests has a woman than the opposite sex and the home?
This man is a bachelor (I hope he doesn’t let me down and suddenly marry before you read this!), and you might think he’d prefer the simplified living of a service flat. Not Dirk Bogarde. A real home-lover – he is squire of a spacious manor house in Buckinghamshire. Parts of it date back to the Elizabethan age with additions during succeeding centuries. It was practically derelict when Dirk first saw it. But he instantly visualised its possibilities, and, on acquiring it, the first thing he did was to cut it down to comfortable living size by having a wing of about eleven rooms demolished.
Bogarde Bargains
DIRK has excellent taste, and a keen eye for a bargain. His favourite recreation is roaming around antique shops and auction-rooms “picking up” pieces of furniture, pictures aud ornaments. With the result that his manor is furnished in an elegant and individual style – at moderate expense. Some of his most prized possessions have been bought for a “mere song.” These include an ‘Old oak dresser – knocked down to him for £8 – and a satinwood and red silk spinet, identical to one made for Queen Victoria. Another bargain(?) decorates the walls of the hall and staircase of the welcoming entrance. The prints cost him thirty shillings – then he spent thirty pounds on their framing! The white-painted stair rails have a gleaming mahogany handrail, and the blue-and-white wedgwood wallpaper (printed from the only Adam block in existence) is set off with a cherry-red carpet. In the upper ball there is a lovely crystal chandelier – housewarming present from Glynis Johns – and a Dutch chest which dates back to 1650, and was discovered in a junk shop for £5.
A £5 Find
THE beauty of the main reception room on the ground floor depends on a clever blending of rich colours. Couches of sage-green brocade look lovely against the background of crimson damask that covers the walls and off-white paintwork. The genuine Adam fireplace came originally frpm the old Adelphi in London, and the Regency bookcase was another £5 find. At one end of the room an enormous bow window opens out on to the garden and is framed in a graceful arch. In this alcove, curtains of crimson satin have a looped pelmet, and capacious chairs of deep green velvet, and cherry, red and mustard brocade repose near a mahogany table.
On the other hand, the moss-rose wallpaper in the dining-room is one of the cheapest obtainable, but it looks wonderful with the dark-beamed ceiling, stone fireplace and £8 oak dresser.
Flowers are a Feature
DESPITE the fact that it is a man’s home it is always full of flowers. And their unusual and unconventional containers have caught Dirk’s eye and imagination on his shopping jaunts. There is the huge blue-and-white Victorian footbath, for instance, that looks wonderful packed with flowers, especially growing hyacinths. A flower-painted bargee’s bucket and an old-fashioned water ewer massed with garden flowers look more attractive in their setting than silver or glass. On the dining-room table you will see a delightful centre-piece of an old soup tureen (cheap because the lid was broken) filled with small flowers and trailing vine.
Guest-rooms
MANY famous stars have slept in the guest-room which has a colour scheme of grey, cream and pink and Victorian décor. Corresponding with the unconventional origins of many features in the house, the lamps on the dressing-table were converted from hot-water bottles dated about 1850. Gay chintz covers the twin beds.
A smaller guest-room has a beautiful domed ceiling dating from the Charles II period. A collection of decorative plates nestles on a high, narrow shelf, and the colouring of a 120-year-old patchwork quilt makes a splash of vivid colour against the delicate green-and-white decorations.
Dirk’s own bedroom is the simplest of all. Sporting prints decorate the walls, and a wonderful patchwork quilt – this one about 150 years old – covers the austere wooden bed.
A very ordinary-looking alarm clock stands on the table by his bedside, and it rings menacingly most mornings to warn Dirk that it is time to get up to go to work at the studios.
Dirk loves to entertain in his beautiful manor house – his week-end parties are famous. Comfortable ease, delectable food in soothing surroundings, no wonder his invitations are eagerly accepted.
GILLIAN
