Londoner's Diary: Will snapper Testino have to return his OBE?

In today's Diary: Will Mario Testino lose honorary award? / Lorna Tucker responds / Owen Jones' stage moment / Helena Christensen talks Plato  / Maya Jama gets starstruck
Going, going, gong? Mario Testino
Getty Images for FENTY PUMA By R
24 January 2018

THE troubles continue for Mario Testino, pictured, the Peruvian who made his name photographing Kate Moss and Princess Diana. After The New York Times published claims by 13 male models that Testino had sexually harassed them, publishing group Condé Nast cut ties and now über-exclusive members’ club Annabel’s has dropped him from its relaunch plans, but if any claims are proven could he also lose his OBE?

In 2014 Testino was awarded an honorary OBE by then culture minister Ed Vaizey for services to photography and his charity work. But now that scandal threatens to overshadow his career, will he keep hold of the gong?

The Londoner called No 10 to find out if his case is being considered. “The Independent Honours Forfeiture Committee considers cases where the system has been brought into disrepute and its discussions are confidential. We would never say if any honour was being reconsidered,” they told us.

The possibility of this happening, though, is already being discussed in the European press. Last week Spanish newspaper El Mundo, reporting on the scandal, wondered if the honour may be withdrawn, noting previous high-profile instances of figures losing their honours. They establish the precedent that “in all cases, Buckingham Palace waits for the allegations to be proven before a court or before the appropriate authority.”

Of course, at the moment no charges have been levelled against Testino, who claims he is “shocked by the allegations”. But in the age of #metoo, will Downing Street really want to get caught on the back foot if another sexual harassment imbroglio threatens to explode?

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A restrained response from Lorna Tucker, whose documentary about Dame Vivienne Westwood has been disowned by the woman herself due to a claimed failure to feature her activism. “Vivienne knows respect for her activism, which is integrated into the film as the passionate driving force of all she does,” Tucker tells us. “Vivienne is a huge inspiration to me. I hope audiences go away feeling the same.”

Buzz at the Sundance Festival is positive. Westwood may think differently on a second viewin

A landlord who knew how to ‘move on’

A curious rewrite of Evening Standard history. We used to run the Pub of the Year award but one eagle-eyed punter has noticed a case of fake news.

The Kingswood Arms near Banstead, Surrey, is listed on Wikipedia as the 1983 winner but hang on ... wasn’t that accolade given to The Castle in Surbiton? We called The Kingswood Arms. “It’s the same landlord,” the manager told us. “When he moved from The Castle he took the plaque with him.” So who changed the online information? “No idea, pubs were a different ball game then. But we’ve had great reviews on TripAdvisor”.

Different pub, same landlord. A case of Trigger’s broom?

Quote of the day

Davos woman: Cate Blanchett (Photo Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images

“It’s quite a schizophrenic world we live in.” Actress Cate Blanchett, speaking in Davos, says teaching children to accept diversity doesn’t correlate with how the world actually operates

Rolling back the years to a Freudian slip

Expensive nap: Sue Tilley (Photo Shaun Curry /AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images

Once the most expensive painting by a living artist ever sold, Lucian Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, has been recreated. Last night Charlotte Colbert unveiled her version, created in Freud’s Holland Park Studio and now exhibited at arts space Unit 9 in Shoreditch.

Colbert explained that she tempted Sue Tilley back for a sitting. “Sue went back 20 years to pose for me in the same position she had done for Lucian,” Colbert told The Londoner. “She was lying down and I was re-adjusting her position, and she said, ‘This reminds me of Lucian’s creepy old hands coming to re-adjust my breast’.” Perhaps it was a Freudian slip.

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THE Londoner was at the Ambassadors Theatre last night for the opening of Beginning. Guests included presenter Myleene Klass and former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond but did anyone warn Owen Jones — seated in the stalls — that he featured in it?

At one point, the actors talk about social media and Danny (Sam Troughton), announces that his gran loves Twitter, and tweets Jones with the hashtag #nantweets. Fame at last.

Scents working overtime

Scents appeal: Helena Christensen (Photo James Devaney/GC Images)
GC Images

A guide to perfume and philosophy from supermodel Helena Christensen, pictured, who has created a sideline in perfumery with her scent brand Strangelove NYC. The latest offering, lostinflowers, landed on shelves in Harrods recently. For Christensen, however, the firm isn’t just another example of a celebrity hawking their wares. “It’s a passion project that comes from our love of the rare scents we create,” she says. “They should just stand by themselves.”

Christensen is Danish and spends a lot of time in London but she’s not concerned about Brexit. “I don’t worry. I try to keep informed as best as possible about the situation but I am not a political person per se. If it was up to me we would be living according to Plato’s Republic.”

That seminal text proposes that the world would best be ruled by philosopher kings, because people can’t be trusted to make decisions for themselves. Who said models lacked brains?

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TRUE colours of the day: after a row over the Union Jack being flown in Scotland, author Mark Mason reminds us that the blue in the Saltire is now different from the blue in the Union flag: the Scottish parliament voted to make the change in 2003. Talk about nailing ones colours to the mast.

Tweet of the day

Actress Thandie Newton despairs that the point of the 1971 drama is missed

’Enders fan Maya gets her Phil

THE stars glittered at last night’s National Television Awards but presenter Maya Jama was only starstruck by one face: Steve McFadden, who plays EastEnders’ Phil Mitchell. “Highlight of tonight,” she gushed on Twitter. We wonder if her boyfriend, grime star Stormzy, will be jealous.

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