The Glossy Years Synopsis
Diana touched your elbow, your arm, covered your hand with hers. It was alluring. And she was disarmingly confiding.
"Can I ask you something? Nicholas, please be frank..."
Over his thirty-year career at Condé Nast, Nicholas Coleridge has witnessed it all. From the anxieties of the Princess of Wales to the blazing fury of Mohamed Al-Fayed, his story is also the story of the people who populate the glamorous world of glossy magazines. With relish and astonishing candour, he offers the inside scoop on Tina Brown and Anna Wintour, David Bowie and Philip Green, Kate Moss and Beyonce; on Margaret Thatcher's clothes legacy, and a surreal weekend away with Bob Geldof and William Hague. Cara Delevingne, media tycoons, Prime Ministers, Princes, Mayors and Maharajas - all cross his path.
His career in magazines straddles the glossies throughout their glorious zenith - from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to the digital iterations of the 21st century. Having cut his teeth on Tatler, and as Editor-in-Chief of Harpers & Queen, he became the Mr Big of glossy publishing for three decades.
Packed with surprising and often hilarious anecdotes, The Glossy Years also provides perceptive insight into the changing and treacherous worlds of fashion, journalism, museums and a whole sweep of British society. This is a rich, honest, witty and very personal memoir of a life splendidly lived.
About This Edition
Nicholas Coleridge Press Reviews
Coleridge is a witty writer . . . reading this book is like sitting next to a sharp but generous-hearted raconteur at dinner - Mail on Sunday
Has bounding vitality, glorious zest and and an uplifting generosity of spirit. It is always playful, sometimes hilarious - but above all it is wise - Richard Davenport-Hines, Literary Review
In these dark days of everlasting Brexit, Nicholas Coleridge's sparkling memoir is a welcome reminder that all is not gloom and doom. Witty, nimble and engaging, it is wonderfully entertaining and a marvellous slice of social history - Jane Ridley, Spectator
A deliciously moreish memoir of the author's glittering career in magazine publishing. Like having a really good gossip over a glass of fizz with Evelyn Waugh. - Allison Pearson, Sunday Telegraph
Tittle-tattle, tiffs and titanic egos, this book has them all. A hugely entertaining read by the ultimate insider - A Sunday Times best memoir of 2019
Forthright, witty and gossipy . . . a passion for glossy magazines shines through this effervescent memoir - Sunday Express
A Waugh-like whirlwind of eccentric characters, lavish parties and even a spell in a Sri Lankan jail. It was funny enough to excuse all the name-dropping - Evening Standard, Books of the Year
I truly think this is a brilliant book. laughed almost continuously - Charles Moore, The Spectator
Beady and slyly funny, my favourite bit concerns punctuation in the late Betty Kenward's society column. It's that kind of book - India Knight, Sunday Times
Gloriously funny, affectionate and well-written, his ear for how other people speak is mischievously spot-on and his optimism is infectious - Daily Mail, Memoirs of the Year
Worth every penny for names dropped, inside stories, expertise in how that world worked and, endearingly, how his happy marriage and family have too - Susan Hill, Spectator
The most entertaining book of the year - Sunday Times
An entertaining whirlwind - Evening Standard
Gentle, jolly . . . Blissfully funny . . . One might wish to make people as happy, personally and professionally, as Coleridge has done - and will continue to do with this amusing book - The Sunday Telegraph
I adored it. Coleridge has a Waugh-like eye for hilarious social nuance and a Henry Jamesian ear for precision. He is both self-deprecating and shrewd as he regales us with his rollicking ride as editor and tastemaker in the world of British glossy magazines: an irresistible read - Tina Brown
The memoir of a ludicrously well-connected magazine impresario. Whimsical tales of Bob Geldof, William Hague, Princess Diana and George Osborne jostle with recollections of glitzy parties at castles and producing the Eton magazine with Craig Brown. It's gossipy good fun - The Sunday Times Best Memoirs of 2019
