They now operate in more than ninety restaurants around the world - from the United Kingdom, Europe, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East and the USA.
It is such a long time since I visited them. Have any readers eaten there and what were your impressions?
A stamp that belonged to the late Lady Mairi Bury has sold for more than £43,000 at Sotheby's. The unused 2d blue issued in 1840 went for more than five times its £8,000 guide price. The complete collection is expected to fetch at least £2.6m by close of business today.
Lady Mairi lived at Mount Stewart estate in County Down.
Lady Mairi is recognised as the world's greatest ever female philatelist and her collection is regarded as one of the finest to be auctioned in the last 25 years. It includes examples of every variety of the Penny Black ever produced.
One such stamp, which was prepared for official use in 1840 but never used, sold for £36,000 on Thursday. In addition to thousands of stamps, the sale includes early examples of printed envelopes and letters relating to another of her passions, Victorian sensations and scandals.
Among them is a letter posted on 13 June, 1840, using a Penny Black, which refers to the attempted assassination of Queen Victoria three days previously by Edward Oxford in London. It fetched £1,140.
Richard Ashton, Sotheby's philatelic consultant, told the Daily Telegraph: "This collection is one of the finest to have been formed in recent years. Lady Mairi not only acquired items of considerable worth because of their rarity, but also a whole host of more humble stamps and covers that are in immaculate condition ... something for £50 gave her as much pleasure as something that was £5,000."
Cordial congratulations to Sir Reg Empey and Julian Fellowes who have been appointed Life Peers on the list published today.
Speculation continues about the possibility of The Queen bestowing a royal dukedom on her grandson, Prince William.
It gives me the greatest of pleasure to learn that Prince William is to marry Miss Kate Middleton in 2011. HRH will marry in London next spring or summer and live in north Wales, where he is serving with the RAF. The couple, who are both 28, became engaged in October during a private holiday in Kenya. They began dating eight years ago while studying at St Andrews University in Fife, where they shared a house.
The royal engagement was announced in a brief statement released by Clarence House. It said: "The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton. The wedding will take place in the spring or summer of 2011, in London. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course."
Mr King would only make the dogs tipsy when the Queen was away, to entertain other staff members at Buckingham Palace. He was found out when a post mortem examination on a 14-year-old dog found traces of alcohol in its bloodstream. Dr Roger Mugford, who has treated the corgis, told The Sun: "This sort of thing cannot be laughed off as a bit of harmless larking about. A tipsy corgi could easily bump into something and hurt itself."
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said giving alcohol to dogs was "cruel and irresponsible". A Buckingham Palace spokesman at the time refused to comment on the allegations, saying staff arrangements were "a private matter".
An article on the BBC's website has just caught my eye, pertaining to the late Lady Mairi Bury's stamp collection.Her collection is expected to raise £2.6m at auction in Sotheby's, Bond Street, on 24-26 November, 2010.
Sotheby's have described it as one of the finest collections of British stamps to come on to the market in the past 25 years.
The auction-house said it would need three days to sell off 2,185 lots.
Londonderry arms courtesy of European Heraldry.
His Royal Highness The Duke of York KG KCVO has attended a remembrance service in Belfast for members of the Royal Irish Regiment on Sunday. Prince Andrew, who is Commander-in-Chief of the RIR, attended the ceremony in Belfast Cathedral.
HRH read the first lesson during a service which saw the Queen's and Regimental Colours of the Second Battalion marched in, received and placed in the Cathedral's sanctuary. HRH was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and was greeted by Dame Mary Peters DBE, HM Lord-Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast.
Inside Belfast Cathedral His Royal Highness went on to meet Councillor William Humphrey MLA, The Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Christopher Stalford, Sheriff for the County Borough of Belfast, Mr Nigel Dodds Member of Parliament for North Belfast, The Rt Hon Peter Robinson MLA, First Minister of Northern Ireland and The Right Reverend Dr Gordon McMullan.
The Dean is a former member of the Police Authority for Northern Ireland. He serves as a county chaplain for scouts and is a former district commissioner. A writer and local broadcaster, he is a former editor of "The Church of Ireland Gazette"; sails offshore; is married to Roberta - who is a Central Trustee of Mothers' Union. They have a son John - a civil servant in London.
Educated at Muckamore Primary School, The Royal Belfast Academical Institution; The Queen's University of Belfast from which he has a primary honours degree in geography and a Masters in Education; Trinity College, Dublin - theology; and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Methodist seminary at North-Western University, Evanston, Illinois.
IN ATTENDENCE
The Registrar, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Matheson of Matheson, younger
The Chancellor, The Right Hon the Earl Peel GCVO PC DL
Members from NORTHERN IRELAND included
I lunched with a few chums today, as a guest, at the Ulster Reform Club in central Belfast. The Club obviously maintains its proud standards of excellent service and tradition; and luncheon on this occasion was no exception.
Also, the honour does not come with a title, so there's no immediately obvious way of knowing someone has been bestowed with it.
Members are given a red and blue enamel badge, which reads "For Merit". When a member dies the badge is returned to the Queen, who receives the next-of-kin personally. She also has a portrait painted of each member, which becomes part of the royal collection, and hosts a gathering for the entire Order every five years.
In Northern Ireland, the Right Reverend and Right Honourable the Lord Eames OM, former Archbishop of Armagh, is a member of the Order.
It's thought the number of members is so small to keep it exclusive.
People who have been awarded the honour include Florence Nightingale - who was the first woman - TS Eliot and Sir Winston Churchill. There have been 11 honorary members from foreign countries, like Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.
Although nearly all prime ministers of the 20th Century have been knighted, only six of the 20 received the OM. Lady Thatcher is a member of the current group.
I wish to express gratitude to the BBC for broadcasting their Radio Four Great Lives programme this morning, featuring the life of Sir Winston Churchill. Most interesting, since I missed it the first time. Matthew Paris interviewed Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham and somebody else whose name escapes me, I'm afraid.
WELLINGTON
The Duchess of, Diana Ruth McConnel, MBE, on 1st November at home. Wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Funeral arrangements to be announced.
She was the daughter of Maj-Gen Douglas Fitzgerald McCONNEL of Knockdolian CB CBE DSO (1893-1961) of Ayrshire and Ruth (dau of Maj Walter Dutton GARNETT-BOTFIELD of Beamish, Albrighton, Wolverhampton).
She married 8th Duke of Wellington in 1944. He succ to the title in 1972. They were the longest married ducal couple (if we time the length in years from their actual marriage, not when he succ to the dukedom), a place now taken by The Duke and Duchess of Grafton, who m in 1946.
The Earl and Countess of Lisburne (m 1943) are the longest married couple among the higher degrees of the peerage. The Countess of Dysart has the earliest marriage date (1941), although her husband died in 1987, before she succ to the earldom in 2003.
Diana Ruth, The Most Noble Duchess of Wellington. For services to the community in Hampshire, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
The Duke of Wellington was mourning the loss on Monday of his wife, Diana, less than three months before their 67th wedding anniversary.
“He is grateful that they had so many happy years together,” says a friend of the 8th Duke, 95. The couple had four children, including the Duke’s heir, Lord Douro.
Jemma Kidd (Lady Mornington), the make-up artist, will accompany her husband, Lord Mornington, who is the Duke’s grandson and eventual heir, to the Duchess’s funeral.
