Nijinsky's Camel - Gladys Countess de Grey Champion of the Arts
21 May 2025 at 10:00:00
Winston Churchill Hall, Ruislip
Portrait of Gladys Countess de Grey by Sargent
In the late 19th and early 20th century opera and ballet in England were in the doldrums. Covent Garden was failing, and there was little prospect of a glittering future. Help came from the scandalous Gladys Herbert, who first married the dissolute 4th Earl of Lonsdale and, after his death, Earl de Grey, heir to the Marquess of Ripon and the best shot in Britain.
Between her many liaisons Gladys found time to organise her aristocratic friends, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, to support and rescue opera in England, and promoted the interests of many of her friends – Nellie Melba and Enrico Caruso among them. Her attention then turned to ballet; she became acquainted with Diaghilev, Stravinsky and Nijinsky and was largely instrumental in bringing the Ballets Russes to England.
When World War I broke out she turned her organising abilities to caring for wounded soldiers. This talk looks at her colourful life, her friends and the influence she had on the cultural life of her time and of future generations.
Speaker David Winpenny is an experienced Arts Society accredited lecturer and also regularly speaks on cruise ships for P&O, Voyages of Discovery, Fred Olsen Lines and aboard the Hebridean Princess. He offers talks on a number of subjects including country houses, follies and garden buildings, and on architectural and garden history. In addition to Nijinsky's Camel, his wider subjects include stained glass, literary fakes, coronations - and the first ascent of the Matterhorn!
David studied English at Birmingham University and taught for several years before joining the Countryside Commission as Co-ordinator of its National Parks Campaign. He then worked for the Central Office of Information in Leeds before setting up own public relations company, from which he retired in 2016.
He is the author of 'Up to a Point - in search of pyramids in Britain and Ireland' and has written and contributed to several books for the AA. He has also written for BBC Countryfile Magazine and English Heritage magazine. He is chairman of Ripon Civic Society.
David Winpenny