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Beaton in the Sixties: More Unexpurgated Diaries (Paperback)

Format:	Paperback 560 pages

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' Vickers allows Beaton to come alive in his own era; and forces us to conclude that, for all his snobbery and insecurity, here was a man determined to savour his life, and satisfy his ever quizzical eye' Philip Hoare, TLS Cecil Beaton was at the very heart of the Swinging Sixties - contributing to VOGUE and surrounded by the rich, the famous and the beautiful. He travelled aboard Cecile de Rothschild's yacht with Garbo, his former lover. He visited Picasso at his home, the Rolling Stones in Marrakech and Andy Warhol in New York. He met Peter Sellers, Paul Getty and the young David Hockney. Filled with his characteristic waspish wit, the diaries Beaton wrote during these years reveal his fascination with the younger generation as they broke down boundaries just as he and his friends had done in the 1920s.

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Published
07/10/2004

Publisher
Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )

ISBN
9780753820209

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UK Kirkus review

Cecil Beaton was more than just a photographer. He designed theatre sets, film and theatre costumes and he was an artist. He was also an inveterate diary keeper and in this, the second volume of diaries to be published, he gossips and regales the reader with stories of society and film stars. From Jagger to Hepburn, Princess Margaret to Picasso, the sixties are brought to life through Beaton's detailed observations and descriptions. Hugo Vickers, Beaton's authorised biographer, does an excellent job of editing the diaries and he links the entries with entertaining passages, introducing characters and filling in the background. Opening in 1965 at the release of My Fair Lady, these diaries cover the four year period to 1969 and actually pre-date the previous volume published but don't let that put you off. Beaton's witty and waspish words are totally absorbing. How can anyone resist a diary entry that starts: "This is the day I should have supped with the Queen of Spain"? (Kirkus UK)