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The Prologue Nick Foulkes is editorial director of the FQR Group of Publications, ipso facto can’t be expected to know about high finance, nor what an IPO is – nor why, indeed, it’s not called an IPSO. Luckily, we have FQR’s revered proprietor Charles to do business. And that, as Nick chronicles, is exactly what he’s been doing…
Contents Adam Dawtrey on how the Academy gets it right and wrong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Adam Dawtrey’s pick of Oscar-escapees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Charles Finch on winning and losing during Oscar season . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 & 8 Alex Gibney on winning the Academy Award for best documentary feature . . . 8 Mike Medavoy recalls his Oscar trifecta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Peter Morgan’s exclusive FQR Screenplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Alfonso Cauròn on little gold stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Audie Charles on Douglas Hayward’s star quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Terry Haste on styling The Joker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Kevin McKidd on a playing Posedian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 André Leon Talley on The September Issue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Nick Foulkes reveals the talent behind the lens: Terry O’Neill . . . . . . . . 12 & 13 Charlie Gladstone on the adventures of inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Count Rudi von Schönburg on his life at Badrutt’s Palace Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Kate Lenahan’s Travel Confidential: Jumby Bay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 FQR’s Pro Bono Pin-Up: Sophie Montgomery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Jeffrey Podolsky on his penchant for socks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Fiona Dreesmann on gentlemen’s slippers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 & 21 Lord Palumbo on needlepoint slippers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 & 21 Ruth Moschner on why a few inches make a difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis on stylish shades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis on Lent sacrifices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Count Gianfranco Cicogna Mozzoni on the Order of Malta in Kenya. . . . . . . 22 Matthew Modine explains why it’s brave going against the grain . . . . . . . . . . . 23 FQR’s Casting Couch: Emma Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Reza Rashidian’s hunting column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Hon. Harry Herbert on the Cartier racing awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Jean Alesi on red wine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Maya Even on a favourite recipe for red meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Charles Saumarez Smith on the Royal Academy’s Van Gogh exhibition . . . . . . 30 FQR Art Exclusive: Robin Rhode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
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egular readers of FQR – should such a body of eccentrics really exist – will have noticed that increasing reference is made to the sister publications of the FQR Group. Already many of you are familiar with the intellectually robust debate in FQR: Democracy Today, and the stimulating issues of faith and religious belief that are aired in the pages of FQR: Faith (Formerly FQR Monotheism in the Modern World). And in this issue we are very proud to welcome a writer from another of the publications in our stable. Reza Rashidian is editor-at-large of FQR: Big Game Hunter, Game Shot and Conservation, and he pens his first hunting column for FQR. This month he talks about shooting deer, then butchering them on the spot and cooking up liver and bacon among the bluebells. We look forward to reading more of Reza’s Hemingway-like dispatches in his regular column, “This Quarter I will be Killing Mostly…” But as well as imparting indispensable advice on how to stalk, kill, butcher and cook your quarry – in about as much time as it takes me to haul myself out of my day bed and meander over to the wardrobe to muse over which Charvet tie to wear – there is a grander design to Reza’s FQR debut and, indeed, to my mentioning the other titles in our formidable publishing group. These cleverly seeded mentions, so subtly subliminal that you would barely know they are there, are all calculated to bolster the image of solidity that our dynamic young company enjoys. You see, Charles is preparing the FQR Group of magazines, and our fledgling broadcast arm, for an IPO. Now, until Charles mentioned this airily to me while we were enjoying a cup of coffee outside Gino Macaluso’s booth at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, I wasn’t entirely sure what an IPO was. I knew it was something to do with high finance and left it at that, but, subsequently, my friends at Wikipedia have informed me that these three letters are short for Initial Public Stock Offering – in fact, it was a letter short. I would have thought that “IPSO” would have been more correct, but then I suppose these financial highflyers are so busy cooking up new schemes to separate us from our money that they have no time for that extra letter. Anyway, Charles has been toying with getting some investment for our highly successful publishing group, enabling us to expand into new markets and, most importantly of all, purchase ourselves Bentleys. I have written a couple of books on Bentley Motors and I went shopping with Charles for his Bentley towards the end of last year. To my everlasting regret, I had to sell my beloved Turbo R a few years ago – it was costing me more than the school fees (and that was before I started the engine and drove into anything). As far as I know, Charles is now the delighted owner
Proprietor’s Spouse: Sydney Ingle-Finch Proprietor: Charles Finch Editor in Chief: Nick Foulkes Art Director: Tristram Fetherstonhaugh Contributing editors: Vicki Reeve, Simon de Pury, Tom Stubbs, Kevin Spacey, Emma Thompson Liberal at Large: Matthew Modine Literary Editor: John Malkovich Women’s Editor: Saffron Aldridge Managing Editor: Felicity Harrison Features Editor: Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis Film Critic: Adam Dawtrey Travel Editor: Kate Lenahan Cookery Editor: Maya Even Fine Arts Editor: Charles Saumarez Smith Racing Correspondent: The Hon. Harry Herbert Hunting Editor: Reza Rashidian PA to the Proprietor: Tiffany Grayson
Designed and produced by Fetherstonhaugh Associates (www.fetherstonhaugh.com). The views expressed in Finch’s Quarterly Review are not necessarily those of the editorial team. The editorial team is not responsible or liable for text, pictures or illustrations, which remain the responsibility of the authors. Finch’s Quarterly Review is fully protected by copyright and nothing may be printed, translated or reproduced wholly or in part without written permission. Next issue: May 2010. All advertising enquiries should be sent for the attention of Jonathan Sanders: jonathan@finchandpartners.com +44 (0)20 7851 7140.
of a fixed head coupé in navy blue. Tristram could certainly do with an upgrade from his Brompton bicycle, and I have always found that the world looks better when viewed from inside a fastmoving Crewe-built car. So this automotive element of our business plan is, for me, right at the heart of ambitious plans for the group. It was to this end that Charles interviewed James Caan. I sat next to James once at a lunch and, not knowing much about high or, indeed, low finance or British TV reality shows, seeing his name card on the plate next to me, I fondly imagined that I would be sitting next to the Godfather actor… I did not know that there was another James Caan, who appeared on British television in a programme called Dragons’ Den – and I think I lost him when I started talking about Smaug, the dragon in The Hobbit. While Charles and Mr Caan got on famously, their personal chemistry did not blossom into a business relationship. And then earlier this year, Charles was laid up in bed with flu and, with the aid of nothing more than a few Beechams Powders and a BlackBerry, he contacted every single high-flyer in the world of arbitrage-hedge-fund-capital-asset-debtrestructuring-sovereign-wealth-fund-liquiditysurrender-value-IP(S)O-private-equitisation. The response was immediate and gratifying. Apparently, many replied before Charles had even pressed the send button, clamouring to be allowed to move all their funds into the financial safe haven offered by the FQR Group; and I was on the phone to Jack Barclay to order my new Bentley Mulsanne. But Charles isn’t stupid; he wasn’t going to give up control of his empire for a few lousy billions. No. Instead, he invited them to purchase a small percentage for a small sum of money and regard it as the joining fee for a club. I got back on the phone to Jack Barclay to tell the factory to down tools for the moment. Of course, when word got out that FQR was seeking investors it made financial news around the world and if you look on the BBC website you can see how Robert Peston broke the news, winning a Pulitzer Prize. Since then, of course, the offers have been flooding in. But unfortunately, Charles is a little busy to attend to them at the moment – you see, he is in the thick of the film-awards season and, for Charles, the film world is like a powerful drug. He just loves it. Talk to him about anything other than movies and awards and the parties he throws and the posthumous Oscar won by his father, and you just won’t have his full attention. I know that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are keen to talk to him and the Chancellor has been on the phone about propping up sterling… but, I’m sorry, all these things will have to wait until at least a month or two after the Academy Awards, once he has had time to snatch a few weeks’ well-earned rest at the Bel Air. As, I am afraid, will my Bentley. Nick Foulkes
The FQR Group of Publications including: FQR Art; FQR Style; FQR Living Well, FQR Big Game Hunter, Game Shot and Conservation; FQR Equestrian Life; FQR Ocean Wave incorporating Nautical Style; FQR Home and Hearth; FQR Paranormal; FQR Faith (Formerly FQR Monotheism in the Modern Age); www.finchsquarterly.com Chief Executive: Charles Finch Editorial Director: Nick Foulkes Creative Director: Tristram Fetherstonhaugh Commercial Director: Jonathan Sanders, Chief Financial Officer: Adam Bent
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spring 2010