But then I knew him, I knew his wife, and I have friends in the Los Angeles police department I was aware of Nicole Simpson’s lifestyle. I was aware of phone calls to the LAPD saying “he’s beaten me up again” when the man wasn’t even in the country So it was very easy for me to side with OJ. Although I realise I’m still the only one person who does.What’s the secret of a happy marriage? Imogen Parker, by e-mail A sense of humour, understanding and, I suppose, a similar attitude to life Very few people I know are happy together. If I was going on holiday, my first choice of companion would be Liz, even though we’ve been married 34 years.How do you like to relax? And why? Eleanor Hawkin, Richmond I’m sports mad and always have been – I’ve played football and water polo for years, and still play squash, tennis and swim three or four times a week. I’m very competitive, and get a tremendous amount out of competitive sport. Athough football is my number one sport, polo probably suits me better in terms of temperament – you’re kind of your own judge and jury, as the referee doesn’t see very much. It’s a very hard, aggressive game, which would suit my personality, nature and attitude.Have you ever had a publicity stunt backfire on you? Danny Bletchford, by e-mail I’ve not actually done that many publicity stunts – they were few and far between, and I would say that they’ve worked perfectly fine The pluses far outweigh the minuses So far..
“Sir Paul Smith. It’s a bit posh, innit?” says the designer, practically bursting with pride at the prospect of being knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. “It was a big surprise when the letter from the Prime Minister turned up in the post with the gas bill asking me if I would accept the honour Of course I said yes.”
“Sir Paul Smith. It’s a bit posh, innit?” says the designer, practically bursting with pride at the prospect of being knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. “It was a big surprise when the letter from the Prime Minister turned up in the post with the gas bill asking me if I would accept the honour.
Of course I said yes.”
The only other fashion designer to have received a knighthood in the Birthday Honours List is Sir Hardy Amies, the very English gentleman couturier to the upper classes whose most notable customer was the Queen. Paul Smith, on the other hand, couldn’t be cut from more different cloth: a ready-to-wear designer from the opposite end of the social spectrum with a global clientele.Sir Paul may look the picture of dapper style in his Prince-of-Wales-check lounge suit and lilac socks that carefully match the silk lining of his jacket, but he doesn’t act knightly when I meet him in his attic office-cum-playroom at the top of his famous Covent Garden shop. Chomping on a slice of Marmite on toast, gulping down a mug of tea, he is surrounded by a plethora of curiously disparate knick-knacks – plastic ducks, robots, vintage clothes, garden gnomes, piggy banks, stacks of magazines, piles of arty books and toys galore – that have been hoarded over the years. He has just received another toy to add to the pile – a miniature knight jousting on a horse – from his friend John Hegarty, the advertising guru of Bartle Bogle Hegarty. In fact, a stream of gifts, together with a wedge of congratulatory faxes and a large Tupperware box of letters (labelled “Lovely/Mad Letters”) have arrived in the past week, which he lets me rifle through. One letter, on National Portrait Gallery headed paper, says: “Many Congrats! We will have to alter the label on your portrait…”But his favourite objet within his bric-a-brac collectables is “Big Mouth Billy Bass” brought back from Japan by one of his staff.
It’s a big plastic fish mounted on a picture frame that wags its fins and sings “Take Me To The River” at the push of a button. “Look at this,” he says, leaping to his feet and pulling out a vintage army jacket “I bought this at 7.30 this morning at Portobello Market. I love it, don’t you? It’s 1950s.” Next up for inspection is a box heaving with old black-and-white photographs, mostly of himself as a boy and teenager “My dad took these Brilliant, aren’t they? Look, that’s me on my bike, age 11 I wanted to be a professional cyclist, you know… Yikes! Look at my hair in that one…”I can’t help noticing a very large number of toy rabbits poking up their ears amongst the paraphernalia.