The Lady Magazine

10 July 2015

Dear Readers, Just in case you missed it, there was a heatwave last week. And oh, the melodrama. Several newspaper websites even reported on the Heatwave Live, with The Guardian highlighting the lengths to which some public bodies went to keep the public safe and well. One Kent County Council campaign, for example, urged locals to consume lots of water, ‘enough to make you pee at least four times a day.’ Golly. Rest assured that the well-oiled workings of The Lady kept ticking over, resulting in this dazzlingly bright summer issue. We have the brilliant Bette Midler, back in the UK for the first time in 35 years, on her transatlantic tour, singing at 69 and keeping her ‘pumps’ in fine fettle on a treadmill; the remarkable objects that draw back the curtain on the working life of Wuthering Heights author Emile Brontë, and an intriguing peek into the secrets of that very British summer phenomenon: crop circles. There’s Robin Gibson, former chief curator of the National Portrait Gallery, on his favourite portraits – with pets; Thomas Blaikie on whether we should be civil to those we dislike, and, in a rather special cameo, Rachel Johnson, the former editor of The Lady, on impatience, her new novel and, yes, dear old Coco. Enjoy – whatever the weather. Very best wishes, Matt Warren, Editor