Ward Morehouse III on "London's Grand Hotels"

• published: 27 Oct 2010
• views: 781

Interview with Ward Morehouse III about his new book "London's Grand Hotels". http://londonsgrandhotels.com/ Attention Avid Travelers, Active or Armchair! London's Grand Hotels Is a Must-Read for You By Beatrice Williams-Rude "London's Grand Hotels," by Ward Morehouse III is more than a description of the glorious hostelries in a fascinating city; it is a cultural and social romp through history. Like the work of the eminent French historiographer Fernand Braudel, it is a compendium of the lives of people who inhabit these commercial palaces. And like Braudels books, anyplace one opens them the material will be riveting and comprehensible, no matter that one hasnt read what came before. This is a book to read again and again, at leisure. To savor. The hotels chosen range from traditional English, such as Browns, the most venerable of this selection having opened in 1837 and which Queen Victoria used to frequent for tea, to Millennium Gloucester which has a super-modern world-class convention center with the latest technology on the planet. The Haymarket Hotel is the newest, having opened in 2007 The book is as much about the people who stay in them and staff them as about the hotels themselves. Of course there are meticulous physical descriptions, and attention to the amenities offered; there are even menus from hotel restaurants. But above all, this book delights in people. It should be noted at the outset that this is a chatty book, a fun one, and throughout the charm, wit and joie de vivre of Ward Morehouse III are in evidence. This tome took tons of research -- lovingly pursued by the author. Historic names abound, Winston Churchill and Lady Nancy Astor among them. A potential purchaser has to but peruse the index to be hooked. The reader discovers wonderful tales about people of whom much is known -- Lindberghs report on the Luftwaffe and its bloody consequences -- and about those of whom little is known, such as the goodness of Colonel John Blashford-Snell who managed to get a much-desired grand piano (as well as medical supplies) to the Wai Wai tribe in the jungles of South America. There are anecdotes about royals, pretenders, the famous and infamous. Stories about writers abound, Somerset Maugham, for example. Theres an astonishing letter that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote to his daughter about Zelda and their miserable relationship. (Sheila Graham would have been delighted.) And, of course, theres plenty on performers: Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Marilyn Monroe, both Hepburns, Katharine and Audrey. Van Johnson, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and so on. Its hard to imagine austere President Woodrow Wilson reveling in luxury, but he stayed at the Ritz in London. Both Teddy Roosevelt and FDR bedded down at Browns. Oscar Wilde stayed at the Savoy. Walter Cronkite was at the Savoy during WWII and returned to visit 40 years later, pointing to what had been his seat at the American Bar. Charles de Gaulle resided in the "down to earth" Connaught during WWII. . The hotels in addition to those in this review include the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park; Hilton Waldorf Hotel; Dukes Hotel; One Aldwych; The Stafford Hotel; The Goring Hotel; The May Fair Hotel; Grosvenor House; The Dorchester; Hilton Park Lane; The Berkeley; Four Seasons Canary Wharf; The Milestone; "41"; The Chesterfield; The Metropolitan Hotel; The Halkin; The Lanesborough; The Soho Hotel; The Piccadilly and The Gore. As Samuel Johnson noted: "When a man is tired of London hes tired of life." Agreed! The book has 308 pages, a section of fascinating photographs, is being published by BearManor Media and is due out in November