The Lady Magazine

27 May 2016

Dear Readers, Move over, Burton and Taylor – Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory are our new favourite celebrity pairing, and this week we talk to the in-demand duo about balancing stardom with family life in north London. Another superstar to feature in these pages is the dazzling Scottish musician Dame Evelyn Glennie. The world’s most famous percussionist, she has transformed the role of percussion in music and delighted and inspired millions with her performances and compositions. Profoundly deaf since the age of 12, she has also brought invaluable new insights into our understanding of hearing and deafness. While we rejoice in Glennie’s music, the percussive sound of full-scale building works, particularly excavations, is, by contrast, invariably unwelcome and often the cause of fulminating resentment – or worse – between neighbours. Fortunately our Modern Manners expert Thomas Blaikie is on hand with soothing and sensible advice about managing such testing situations… In another piece that should help to keep your blood pressure under control, Paul Barnes dispels the myth that cataract surgery is an unpleasant experience with a very welcome and entertaining description of his recent stress-free operation – balm to the soul for any reader who is anxiously contemplating treatment. Until next week, best wishes, Sam Taylor