Early 1920s Rolls-Royce outside Brown’s Hotel
The gal was walking along London’s Albemarle Street not long ago and just outside Brown’s Hotel, where she ran into Sir Rocco Forte‘s sister Olga Polizzi busy taking carpets out of the lounge (she put in hardwood parquet, instead) there was a rather splendid car.
This is a Rolls-Royce, and suitably parked outside a hotel, for Mr Rolls first met Mr Royce in a hotel – the Midland in Manchester, to be exact, and in 1904, the year after the hotel opened, with only one connecting room for its 600 rooms, all of which had coal fireplaces but bathrooms had to be shared. What IS this particular Rolls, I asked? It is early 1920s, I was told, and it is being used to promote Mr Selfridge, the television series co-produced by ITV and Masterpiece/WBGH. It tells the story of Harry Gordon Selfridge and his London department store on Oxford Street (it is now owned by the Weston family, who also own the equally massive Primark just across the road). Mr Selfridge has been running nearly two years in both the UK and North America. I just wish I had time to watch television, because the early 20th century is just a fascinating period. But to keep girlahead, I must keep on travelling – for you.
