From Longleat to Hollywood

Sorry to hear that Lord Bath has died aged 87.

I never met the seventh Marquess of Bath, the ‘eccentric’ owner of Longleat, but I know someone who did.

In 1995 I was editing a small in-house magazine when I received an unsolicited article from a 19-year-old girl who, I found out later, was working on the checkout at a superstore in west London.

I can’t remember the exact details - it’s a long time ago - but I was sufficiently impressed by her irreverent and lively style of writing that I gave her a regular column and commissioned her to write a number of feature articles including several interviews.

Goodness knows why but one person I suggested she interview was the Marquess of Bath whose ‘colourful’ lifestyle included over 50 ‘wifelets’. (The number later rose to 74.)

He agreed and off she went to Longleat in Wiltshire where she got the full tour of the house, including the infamous Kama Sutra room.

What happened next still amazes me.

After I published the interview I got a call from the Daily Mail asking if they could reproduce it.

“It’s the best interview with the Marquess of Bath I’ve ever read,” the features editor told me.

The paper then offered her further work and within a few months she was given a full-time job. I could not have been more pleased, or proud.

A few years later, with numerous celebrity interviews to her name, she moved to Los Angeles to start a freelance career and to the best of my knowledge she has worked there ever since.

I still see her byline in the Mail, Mail on Sunday (including today's edition) and the Telegraph.

And all thanks to the 'flamboyant' and aristocratic Marquess of Bath!