What a bright spark - Alice’s birthday bash starts a blaze
BLAZES have caused millions of pounds worth of damage and the countryside is a tinderbox, yet one of fashion’s most celebrated designers thought it would be the perfect time to light a bonfire at her wild birthday party.
I can reveal hard-pressed firefighters, who’d normally be saving people’s lives, were called to the 47th birthday bash of royal favourite Alice Temperley, whose ‘boho chic’ dresses are worn by A-listers from the Duchess of Cambridge to film star Keira Knightley.
‘She should be charged for wasting the time and money of the emergency services,’ says a local who lives near Temperley’s West Country estate.
It’s understood her property’s fire alarm was set off by the bonfire she decided to light as part of the festivities, which were attended by fashion figures including model Jade Parfitt, 44.
Parfitt was later pictured, dressed in one of the designer’s leopard print gowns, holding one of the hoses that the firemen used to put out the fire. ‘Health and safety gone mad,’ the model joked. ‘Alice Temperley knows how to throw a party and make the best dresses for putting out bonfires. The firemen are going to be hiring me because I have it all under control.’
A spokesman for Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue service confirms: ‘We were called to a fire alarm sounding at a property near Ilminster, at 12.50am on Sunday July 24 and one fire crew attended.’ Temperley declines to comment. But it would appear she has few regrets, judging by the picture she shared of her flicking her finger at the camera while posing with pals.