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| Rosa 'Benjamin Britten' 21 May 2026 |
Because my mother was a snob (good taste) she took me to see films that she liked. That is how I came to appreciate Joseph Cotten, Lesley Howard, Gregory Peck, Elsa Lanchester, Audrey Hepburn and (AND) Grace Kelly. By the time I saw her last film (The Swan in 1956) I had a complete dislike for that man she married in Monaco.
A couple of months ago I read Susan Sontag’s posthumously published On Women. In it she comes to the conclusion that by 1975 (when she wrote the book) women had not advance much in the world. In a nutshell she wrote that “old men have character and old women are ugly”. I came to the conclusion that not much has changed now in 2026.
Social media is full of photographs that say, “Who is this lovely young girl who became a famous actress? Now that she is 82 you will gag as to how she looks.”
Because Grace Kelly was dear to my heart, I am almost glad that she died before she might have been photographed and be gagging material.
I was much in love with my Rosemary all of the 52 years that we lived together. I found her attractive and we indulged I stuff up until a few months before she died.
I would also assert that my old wife had lots of character.
In a way this scan of the lovely Rosa ‘Benjamin Britten’, one that Rosemary loved reminds me that here is a rose with lots of character.