PETER PUGH - Grand Hotel

Eastbourne, Sussex, Grand Hotel, 1987. First Edition, Binding: Boards, Fine/Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall 0951234102 Hardback Couple of slight creases to back of D/J. Over the last hundred years the rich, the famous and the eccentric have entered this enchanted palace and have been pampered and humoured. The Prince of Wales was here, as were his younger brother and sister-iin-law, who were to take his place on the throne he renounced. Haile Selassie came here from his beloved Abyssinia - when he walked into the dining room everyone in the room stood and clapped. Nellie Melba came several times, as did the beautiful Russian ballerina, Anna Pavloca. Naturally, many of the world's greatest musicians played to conduct at the grand, from Ysaye to Padarewski, from Kubelik to the English trio of Sir Henry Wood, Sir Thomas Beecham and Sir Edward Elgar. The Palm Court Orchestra broadcast on the BBC from the Great Hall every Sunday from 1925 until the Second World War. In more recent times leading politicians, actors, actresses, sports stars and businessmen have all indulged and have contributed to the legend that is the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne. Illustrated. 213 pp.