Sponsors for a Vanbrugh exhibition?

In a week that Jeremy had to cancel an interview with Hugo Swire, he announces that he'd like to mount an exhibition on Vanbrugh. And he needs some help.

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This week I had to cancel an interview as the charming shadow spokesman for the arts, Hugo Swire, lost his place in the reshuffle. I have begun to think of Hugo as a friend, but only based on the fact that he has been remarkably assidious in visiting events associated with the heritage and arts, and had a real understanding of my world so I naturally think his move is rather a loss.

I did have the consolation of working on my article on Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, one of the finest houses in Britain in my opinion, but strangely too little known. Sir John Vanbrugh is one of my great heroes of all time, witty in letters and discourse, he clearly designed for friends and family often for free, or in return for protection and patronage, but I feel he must have been the best of company, better than Wren, who would have been very brainy but grand, and Hawksmoor, who would have been brainy but crabby. I hope to organise an exhibition on Vanbrugh in 2008, but it will have to have a private view and witty speaker every evening to really create the right atmosphere. Any sponsors out there?

Country Life
Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.

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