The Glossy Years
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Magazines, Museums and Selective Memoirs
'The most entertaining book of the year' Sunday Times
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Diana touched your elbow, your arm, covered your hand with hers. It was alluring. And she was disarmingly confiding.
"Can I ask you something? Nicholas, please be frank..."
Over his thirty-year career at Condé Nast, Nicholas Coleridge has witnessed it all. From the anxieties of the Princess of Wales to the blazing fury of Mohamed Al-Fayed, his story is also the story of the people who populate the glamorous world of glossy magazines. With relish and astonishing candour, he offers the inside scoop on Tina Brown and Anna Wintour, David Bowie and Philip Green, Kate Moss and Beyonce; on Margaret Thatcher's clothes legacy, and a surreal weekend away with Bob Geldof and William Hague. Cara Delevingne, media tycoons, Prime Ministers, Princes, Mayors and Maharajas - all cross his path.
His career in magazines straddles the glossies throughout their glorious zenith - from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to the digital iterations of the 21st century. Having cut his teeth on Tatler, and as Editor-in-Chief of Harpers & Queen, he became the Mr Big of glossy publishing for three decades.
Packed with surprising and often hilarious anecdotes, The Glossy Years also provides perceptive insight into the changing and treacherous worlds of fashion, journalism, museums and a whole sweep of British society. This is a rich, honest, witty and very personal memoir of a life splendidly lived.
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'An entertaining whirlwind' Evening Standard
'Gentle, jolly . . . Blissfully funny' Sunday Telegraph
'An irresistible read, hilarious, honest and insightful. I adored it' Tina Brown
'Sparkling' Spectator
'Forthright, witty and gossipy . . . a passion for glossy magazines shines through this effervescent memoir' Sunday Express
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Imprint: Penguin
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Published: 26/09/2019
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ISBN: 9780241983522
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Length: 368 Pages
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RRP: £9.99
Reviews
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Coleridge is a witty writer . . . reading this book is like sitting next to a sharp but generous-hearted raconteur at dinner
Mail on Sunday
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Has bounding vitality, glorious zest and and an uplifting generosity of spirit. It is always playful, sometimes hilarious - but above all it is wise
Richard Davenport-Hines, Literary Review
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In these dark days of everlasting Brexit, Nicholas Coleridge's sparkling memoir is a welcome reminder that all is not gloom and doom. Witty, nimble and engaging, it is wonderfully entertaining and a marvellous slice of social history
Jane Ridley, Spectator
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A deliciously moreish memoir of the author's glittering career in magazine publishing. Like having a really good gossip over a glass of fizz with Evelyn Waugh.
Allison Pearson, Sunday Telegraph
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Tittle-tattle, tiffs and titanic egos, this book has them all. A hugely entertaining read by the ultimate insider
A Sunday Times best memoir of 2019
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Forthright, witty and gossipy . . . a passion for glossy magazines shines through this effervescent memoir
Sunday Express
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A Waugh-like whirlwind of eccentric characters, lavish parties and even a spell in a Sri Lankan jail. It was funny enough to excuse all the name-dropping
Evening Standard, Books of the Year
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I truly think this is a brilliant book. laughed almost continuously
Charles Moore, The Spectator
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Beady and slyly funny, my favourite bit concerns punctuation in the late Betty Kenward's society column. It's that kind of book
India Knight, Sunday Times
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Gloriously funny, affectionate and well-written, his ear for how other people speak is mischievously spot-on and his optimism is infectious
Daily Mail, Memoirs of the Year
