Three Times a Countess: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Raine Spencer

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The Impossible Creatures author discusses her love of Jane Austen and Shakespeare, the John Donne poem that saved her,. An expected announcement on the future of the country’s biggest steel plant has been delayed at the last minute, leaving the future of thousands of Welsh steelworkers in the balance. Three Times a Countess reveals a sophisticated, determined woman whose loyalty knew no bounds and whose cache of secrets would have worried even the most upright of royals.

Gaudoin elegantly depicts the esoteric life of an aristocrat, nicknamed ‘“Acid Raine” by her unimpressed stepdaughter, whose stormy relationships with her husbands and family were only equalled by an extravagant attitude towards fun that saw her remark, while on the verge of matrimony, “what you give out, you get back like a boomerang”.Eddie Jones has warned England that Marcus Smith is not a full back — and that the way to improve their attacking game is to give him playing time at fly half. When Johnny did eventually die, poor Raine was shunted out of Althorp within 24 hours and even refused suitcases to put her clothes in… she left with car loads of bin liners. More than two decades later, this simple act has inspired a wise and witty memoir – although Ellis eschews such a description – about how such an apparently mundane object is transformed into a near-holy relic, as it comes to affect the lives of those who come into contact with it. Perhaps most crucially, Raine was a vital witness during the inquest into the Princess' death, providing a gripping, unexpected and moving testimony.

Tina Gaudoin sets out to rehabilitate Raine as a far more nuanced woman, an insouciant, sexy survivor uncredited for her many achievements . Raine stayed by his side, willing him to live, but she would not allow his children to visit him because she said they upset him.Just some of the many labels attached to the irrepressible, controversial Raine Spencer: Countess, socialite and stepmother to Diana, Princess of Wales.

One moment they are meeting someone claiming to be the oldest person alive, the next they are bottle-feeding a baby elephant.Raine ‘had begun seeing the princess every few weeks for lunch, to offer support with Diana’s upcoming divorce,’ at a time when the royal was ‘desperately in need of a shoulder to cry on. But it’s very readable - I read the whole thing in about four days (once you take the fact I didn't take it with me on holiday into account) - which is fast for me for a non-fiction paperback (because I don’t take physical books on my commute anymore now I’m schlepping a laptop around with me the whole time) and I’m now going to lend it to my mum who is much better on the local history than I am and will undoubtedly have a view on it all. She was friends with Victoria Beckham and Dame Shirley Bassey, and got on famously with Adam Faith and Robbie Williams. The island, Elugelab, on which the detonation took place, vaporised; in 199 4 World Vegan Day was established to celebrate the founding of the Vegan Society in November 1944 when Donald Watson held a meeting with five other non-dairy vegetarians.