A little over a week ago we brought home Brian Edward de Bedlam, henceforth the Hound of this House. He is Lady C's first puppy.

At the end of last week, we received a phone call at dawn's early light to ask if we could assist the greatly talented Mr. Gregory Porter. He had flown in that morning to sing at the Royal Albert Hall that evening as part of the BBC Proms Battle of the Big Bands (which will be broadcast on BBC 4 on August 17th). He had no evening suit to wear. Now Mr Porter is a man of stature and we tend to make samples in less impressive sizes. So we were about to regret that we were stumped at such short notice when our angel switched on her light and we remembered a dinner jacket on the rail waiting to be collected by Dolf Sweerts, a man of similar build and great good humour. We telephoned him to ask if he fancied performing vicariously at the RAH that evening and he said yes without hesitation.

Here is Gregory back stage with the Earl, and then on stage under the approving eye of Sir Henry Wood, founder of the Proms:

We were delegated to have a chance to watch what was an exhilarating performance. Props to Gregory's manager Heather for reviving the duelling bands idea that used to be the rage in Harlem. The next morning we went to Gregory's hotel to collect the jacket and took Brian along in his basket as he is too little to be left alone. He loved Gregory like a chicken chew and we think it must be mutual as Gregory ordered a suit from the hot-off-the-loom Worsted Alsport II bunch in a golden barleycorn and a waistcoat in, what else, puppy tooth check (son of Hounds tooth)! Quite rightly, Brian has taken this as a personal compliment. Here he is with Gregory and the fabric (from our pals at Hardy Minnis / Huddersfield Fine Worsted) is beneath it.