This is my 100th post! I have received so much support since I set up jonathanvelardi.blogspot.com and I want to thank everybody who has contacted me with good vibes as well as interest in my work and in what I have to say. I celebrated today in the blog's honour at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire and the abstract commemorative 1-0-0 collage above is inspired by the Palladian style that decorates this sprawling 375 acre estate - here's to another 100 views, news and images from the worlds of art, culture, design and beyond!
Big Bucks: A home to an Earl, Dukes and at one stage Prince Frederick of Wales, it was American billionaire William Waldorf Astor who made Cliveden what it is today. Claiming the title of richest man in America in the late nineteenth-century didn't mean a great deal to Lord Astor - for to be an English gentleman with all its trappings was what appealed to him the most, famously saying, "... you can make your wealth in America, but move to England if you want to become a gentleman".
Lord Astor took his own advice, owning almost half of Manhattan with the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel to tribute, and acting out every part the country gentleman when he migrated to England. It is therefore no surprise that the Astor charm is still alive at Cliveden - now owned by the National Trust - and run as a five-star hotel that is on par with the family's landmark residence across the atlantic.
Lord Astor took his own advice, owning almost half of Manhattan with the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel to tribute, and acting out every part the country gentleman when he migrated to England. It is therefore no surprise that the Astor charm is still alive at Cliveden - now owned by the National Trust - and run as a five-star hotel that is on par with the family's landmark residence across the atlantic.
