Charlotte Breese - Hutch: The true story of our biggest cabaret star, and the inspiration for Downton Abbeys Jack Ross

CHARLOTTE BREESE

Hutchs early passport.

Hutch (left) Florida, 1923.

Hutchinsons Royal Six visiting the Lido, Venice, 1926.

Edwina Mountbatten on the beach at Deauville, 1925.

Joan, 1927.

Nol Coward, 1920s.

Hutch in London, 1928.

Gabrielle, born 1930.

Elisabeth, mother of Gabrielle.

Princess Marina, 1934.

Hutch in the Cotswolds, 1940.

Mary, mother of Chris and Graham.

Chris and Graham.

Hutch in the 1950s, by Baron.

Princess Margaret at twenty-five, August 1955.

Hutch in India.

Hutch with Joan at the Blue Angel.

Emma, born 1965.

Jill, mother of Emma, 1960s.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for use of their photographs: 4, 10, 14, 15, The Hulton Getty Picture Collection; 6, The Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection; 17, Nick Brown; 18, The Fairfax Photo Library; remaining photographs courtesy of the Hutch Collection.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Warner/Chappell and IMP for permission to reproduce lines from the songs Dance dance dance little lady and I travel alone by Nol Coward; High Hat by George Gershwin and Love for Sale by Cole Porter; to the BBC Written Archives Centre for permission to reproduce BBC in-house correspondence; to Peters Fraser & Dunlop for permission to quote from Evelyn Waughs Diaries; to Redwood Music Ltd for permission to quote from They Didnt Believe Me, words by Michael Elder Rourke, and from You Try Somebody Else, words by Buddy DeSylva, Lou Brown and Ray Henderson; to Laura McKenna for permission to quote from Too Many Martinis by Anne de Nys; to Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd for permission to quote from These Foolish Things by Strachey/Maschwitz, copyright 1936 by Lafleur Music Ltd.

First published 1999

This electronic edition published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

This paperback edition published 2001

Copyright 1999 by Charlotte Breese

The moral right of the author has been asserted

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
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A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978 1 4088 3113 7

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For my marvellous parents Dick and Miriam Odgers

I would like to thank my children Olivia, Cecily, Josephine and Tabitha for their indulgence; my sister Clare for her support and my brother James for his practical help; Irfan Husain and his family for their love, hospitality and encouragement; Peter Breese for his generosity. I am also most grateful to Hugh Bredin for his enthusiasm, patience and expertise, and to Liz Calder, Alexandra Pringle, Ingrid von Essen and Caroline Wood for excellent picture research.

My friends and extended family helped a lot: Diny Shepherd-Cross, Hasan Askari, Sarah Tillie, Bubli Brar, Jane Broadley, Diana Alderson, Edward Synge, Jane Angus, Willa Walker, Ivor and Katerina Porter, Charles Swift, Tom Stacey, Jean Letts, Vicky Wilson, Jane Willoughby, Renu Chopra, Alice Lewes, Phoebe Anne Magee, Fiona Hassard, Celia Campbell, Peter Johnson, Kay Hargreaves, Barry and Anne Nation, Robin Melville, David Sheppard, David West-Russell, Davina Campbell-Golding, Syra Vahidy.