Picture this! Dyson wins battle to show public his art
He’s amassed a £16billion fortune, owns more land than the Queen and has properties in London, singapore and France. But today the ever inventive sir James Dyson, Britain’s richest man, has a particular reason to celebrate.
Despite fierce local opposition, he has, I can disclose, just received the go-ahead to create a new art gallery at Dodington Park, the 51-bedroom stately home in Gloucestershire he snapped up for £20 million in 2003.
sir James and his wife Deirdre, whom he met while they were students at Byam shaw Art school in London in the 1960s, have, as it were, hoovered up works by David Hockney and Picasso as well as sir Peter Blake and American icons Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
sir James, 73, says that it is ‘selfish having a collection no one can see’, and asked designers to start planning the gallery four years ago.
The result — a hexagonal, bronze-clad, green-roofed building in the 300-acre estate’s kitchen garden — will be open to the public, free, for 28 days each year when the businessman and his family are abroad on holiday, prompting Dyson’s agent to describe it as ‘a gift to society’.
Not everyone sees it like that, however.
One local, Matthew Rumney, says that residents ‘already endure’ constant traffic which, he alleges, has ‘massively increased’ since Dyson acquired Dodington.
Others are similarly antagonised, with one emphasising that ‘people come to enjoy a peaceful and attractive walk’, while another couple condemn the plans for ‘total contempt for [Dyson’s] neighbours’. The Dyson Foundation declines to comment.
sir James did, however, amend his plans in a bid to mollify his critics — without, alas, complete success. ‘Much window dressing but
CHISELLED model david Gandy says he wasn’t always the pin-up he is now. ‘i had a puppy-fat stage during my teenage years, then shot up and became quite gangly — overnight i went up to six foot two,’ says essex-born Gandy. ‘i wasn’t the cool guy. i mean, i worked at dog sanctuaries over the weekends. i was a bit of a loner, and i still am.’ Get the violins out...
MODFATHER Paul Weller is suffering for his art. ‘I have trouble sleeping. Like this morning, I didn’t get to sleep until 6am. It’s not even like I’m partying or anything. I just can’t sleep. But the upside is that a lot of my stuff comes to me at that time of night — mainly ’cos everyone’s gone to bed, so it’s nice and quiet.’
little substance,’ said one, sheila edwards. Let’s hope that she and others will be consoled to know that the council hasn’t quite given Dyson carte blanche, but requires him to submit samples of the materials to be used before beginning the work — a stipulation with which Dyson, always fastidious about quality control, will surely comply.
Perhaps sir James will placate critics with an open day just for them and treat them to a soothing glass of wine from his French estates?