How To Live

Sir George Sitwell had a Tom Ford moment (or is it the other way around?):

"Sir George Sitwell (1860-1943), head of that endemically eccentric family, had seven rooms he used as studies at his family mansion in Derbyshire where he occupied himself in writing such masterpieces as 'The History of the Fork' - none of them ever finished. His chief interest however was landscape gardening. He employed 4,000 men at one time to dig him an artificial lake in the grounds, with wooden towers sticking out of the water from where he could survey his various projects. To improve the view from his study window, he had Chinese willow patterns painted on to his herd of white cows. And a sign on his front door read: 'I must ask anyone entering the house never to contradict me in any way, as it interferes with the functioning of my gastric juices and prevents me sleeping at night.'"  


Now, off to watch the rest of the Keeping Up Appearances marathon. Haha superbowl, WHAT?

John Singer Sargent, The Sitwell Family, 1900

Quote from Oddballs and Eccentrics by Karl Shaw.