It seems that Instagram is awash with lavishness. Weddings, fast cars, fancy holidays, it’s all a race to the bottom (or perhaps to the top?) of excess. One such recent phenomenon that has been plaguing my feed has been over the top birthday cakes — layer upon layer of decadence, agonising displays of excess, all for the purpose of garnering as much engagement as possible.
Naturally, this trend began with Sir Winston Churchill, as most things do. After the Second World War, Churchill’s birthday suddenly became a topic of interest both to the press and the public. Each year, photographers would descend upon his home at Chartwell to see his birthday cakes, each of which was designed to showcase his career, achievements and interesting, using the time-honoured tradition of sponge and icing.
By the late 1950s, public interest had grown so large that the cakes had their own press call at the bakery, before they were sent off to take centre stage on the big day. Maria Floris, the Hungarian pastry chef who created the cakes, also became something of a celebrity, becoming the preferred baker to the Royal Family and High Society.
To celebrate what would have been Churchill’s 150th birthday, the National Trust is displaying newly colourised photographs of his cakes at Chartwell. Titled ‘Winston’s Spectacular Cakes,’ a specially selected series of rare archive photographs will tell the little-known story of Churchill’s birthday showstoppers; one highlight will be an image of his 80th birthday cake, which weighed more than 100lbs, was decorated with 80 candles, and almost didn’t fit through the door at 10, Downing Street.
Another image shows a cake with golden roses to celebrate Churchill and his wife Clementine’s golden wedding anniversary, while another showstopper is dedicated to his love of horses. Try as they might, the Instagrammers will struggle to beat Britain’s greatest Prime Minister when it comes to a birthday bash.
For more information on Winston's Spectacular Cakes at Chartwell, visit the National Trust website
The Country Life Podcast
Listen to all the episodes of the Country Life Podcast.
My Favourite Painting: Rupert Soames, grandson of Winston Churchill
Rupert Soames chooses one of Winston Churchill's paintings: a joyous portrait of his grandmother by his grandfather.
Sir Winston Churchill's paintings offered to the nation
Although best known as a politician, Sir Winston Churchill was also an artist.
Credit: Country Life
125 years of property sold through Country Life, from Chartwell to Stonehenge (yes, really)
Country Life has been at the heart of the finest property for sale in Britain ever since the first issue,
Make the perfect homemade cake
Baking at home is easier than one might think. Elisabeth Luard shares the joy of making cakes at home and
-
You can now rent King William IV’s former home in London’s Mayfair — for a princely sumThe London property — with royal lineage — is on the market with the estate agency Wetherell for £25,000 a week.
-
Guy Ritchie: 'My mother married an impoverished aristocrat with a knackered country pile. I've been chasing that dream ever since'The film maker opens up about his love for the countryside, and his friendship with Sir David Beckham.
-
'The King of Hell was fat from gorging on souls and he expelled some more from his bowels': The many guises of the Devil Antiquity to present dayTaking as many guises as his names, the Prince of Lies turned at times into a man-devouring ogre, a mutant medley of claws, horns and wings, or the brooding rebel that lit the imagination of Romantic painters.
-
Meet the man who makes David Beckham's Land Rover DefendersLand Rover’s beloved, rattly old workhorse has gained a chic cachet in recent years — particularly when modified to suit all sorts of purposes, even transporting our David Beckham's honey harvest.
-
The trench coat is a British fashion icon that’s been worn by everyone from brave World War soldiers to Sex and the City’s Samantha JonesThe trench coat did not originate in the trenches, says Amie Elizabeth White, but it was greatly influenced by the World Wars, and was sported by a host of film and TV stars.
-
A portrait featuring a string of pearls stolen in one of Britain’s most notorious jewellery heists is going under the hammerA portrait by Philip de László features a headline-making pearl necklace that was stolen, recovered and stolen again — and it's coming up for auction this week.
-
‘In my twenties I was asked by a newspaper to test out an orgasm machine. I said, "Absolutely"’: Elizabeth Day on her early career in journalism and consuming passionsThe author and journalist chats to Lotte Brundle.
-
What’s better than a date with Ali MacGraw? Tending to your waxed jacket, according to Steve McQueenThis is the story of the world’s most useful jacket — and a staple in Britain's countryside homes.
-
At the Bonneville Salt Flats, the only currency is speedCharlie Thomas reports from Speed Week, and talks to those with a bad case of 'Salt Fever'.
-
The curious case of Cecil Beaton and Madame XWhen he noticed an uncanny resemblance between John Singer Sargent’s painting of Virginie Gautreau and a Cecil Beaton portrait of Leslie Caron, Patrick Monahan called on the Hollywood Golden Age actress to investigate.
