Anna’s pain has subsided and she has colour back in her cheeks.

Yesterday I talked about Sloane dinner parties and the art of entertaining. Some of the best dinner parties I attended in the 90s were at Waterperry: the pink, East Sussex home of the Corrie Seniors, Hugh and Janet. Sadly now no longer with us.

Louise Prince married Richard Corrie not long after us. They were married at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in the East of London, as Louise’s father had been a naval officer. The reception was held in the Painted Hall, designed by Sir Christopher Wren (think St Paul’s Cathedral), which is described as the “Sistine Chapel (think Vatican) of the UK”. It is the grandest setting for a wedding that I have ever attended. The interiors are of immense beauty and scope – breath-taking.

The Corrie clan were almost late to the wedding. They could be heard entering the chapel due to their unique laugh, loud and raucous, with which they egg each other on, so that it reaches a crescendo. I would recognise that laugh anywhere in the world. 

The Corrie clan is larger than life. Janet, the matriach, was a Macleod of the Isle of Skye (West Coast of Scotland) clan. So Richard wore a kilt to the wedding. Hugh was the libel lawyer for the Mirror Group. When he died in 2006 the Press Gazette read, “Corrie adored journalists. He loved and shared their mischief and penchant for trouble making.” That summed him up perfectly.

Richard rowed for Eton (winning the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup in 1979) and England in the Under 18s. He is a member of the exclusive Stewards’ Enclosure (like the Royal Enclosure at Ascot) at the Henley Royal Regatta, Henley-on-Thames, over the first weekend in July. Self-electing Stewards annually run the Henley Royal Regatta and have a little section all to themselves and their guests. The event is all Pimms and strawberries and the best of the English summer season. A woman’s dress must be below the knee or she will be refused entry to the Stewards’ Enclosure. This is the one event where men outdo the women in the flamboyance stakes. The ex- rowing men wear colourful striped jackets and caps and look like humbug sweets.

I first met the Corrie clan en masse at the Regatta in July 1990. Meeting them was like facing a hurricane; you had to keep your wits about you. Louise introduced me to Hugh, explaining that I had married Geoff the previous year. Hugh said, “Do I detect an accent?” I told him I was an Aussie. Hugh, chuckling, said, “So I suppose you married Geoff for the Green Card (immigration rights) eh?” Everyone stopped in their tracks, holding their breath, to hear my response. I replied, “Well done. You know you’re the first person to guess the real reason for me marrying him, that and his money.” I had passed the Corrie test. You must have a sense of humour or you’re persona non grata.

I went to many dinner parties at Waterperry. Or picnics in the garden, with tennis and swimming. Richard’s 30th was a formal affair. Black tie for men. Women in silky, glossy outfits. After main course, Janet announced to the table that her prize boar, Oily Poily, was due to become a father. One of the sows was giving birth to piglets. So we all went out with torches to inspect the new additions to the clan. I shall never forget Janet standing there in Wellies, with her dress hitched up and her pearls dangling, to inspect that all had gone well.  Like P.G. Wodehouse’s Lord Emsworth and his prize porker, the Empress of Blandings.

“My Family and Other Animals” by Gerald Durrell (his brother Lawrence was also a famous author) has recently been made into another TV adaptation (starring a friend’s sister, Daisy Waterstone). The Corries are like the Durrells – funny, intelligent, bookish, quirky. It has been magical and entertaining to be part of their lives for many years.

Today I am packing to go to Australia, via Singapore, with Geoff. So I shall be reporting from there.