Dubbed ‘Bright Young Things’, a glossy posse of men and women enjoyed a seemingly never-ending carousel of black-tie parties, Oxbridge balls and debutantes’ dances.
During their 1980s’ heyday, Tatler magazine photographer Dafydd Jones had unique access to record their revelry.
Now, four decades on, his pictures have been collected for a book called England: The Last Hurrah.
Here, CLAUDIA JOSEPH reveals how life since has played out for some of those whose high-society high jinks now seem like a totally alien world…
The princes and princesses of Chelsea’s King’s Road
Roaring with laughter, a gaggle of girls try to stay aloft as they dance on boys’ shoulders during the 1983 Bobbin Ball at London’s Empire Rooms.
The trio – from left to right: Tamara Yeardye, Cordelia Hart and Cathy Kasterine – all went on to have high-flying careers in the creative industries. Tamara, then 16, is the fashion entrepreneur who co-founded luxury shoe-maker Jimmy Choo.
Cordelia, then 15, is an artist and mother of Queen Camilla’s equerry Oliver Plunket. Cathy, then 16, is a fashion editor and stylist – she helped to create the era-defining ‘heroin chic’ image of model Kate Moss, which appeared in Vogue magazine in 1993. In the photo above, Cordelia is on the shoulders of 16-year-old Paddy Turner, now 56, who was dating Cathy at the time.
He told the MoS: ‘We felt like the kings and queens of Chelsea’s King’s Road.
‘Today’s young have a good time but many seem to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders’ – instead of just their dance partners.
The trio – from left to right: Tamara Yeardye, Cordelia Hart and Cathy Kasterine – all went on to have high-flying careers in the creative industries
Tamara (left), then 16, is the fashion entrepreneur who co-founded luxury shoe-maker Jimmy Choo; Cathy (right) is a fashion editor and stylist – she helped to create the era-defining ‘heroin chic’ image of model Kate Moss
They made a big splash!
This image, of a young man throwing a girl wearing an expensive ballgown into the lily pond of a posh house, summed up the exuberance of the era.
The dunking happened at a dance in Ascot, Berkshire, in 1982. Pop Vincent, then 18, was hurled by Charles McDowell, then 19, who was a researcher in the House of Commons.
Now 60, McDowell runs an estate agency specialising in prime central London property and is chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservatives (which covers the constituency once represented by David Cameron).
Pop now 59 and a mother of two, is a florist in Louth, Lincolnshire.
Recalling his lily pond high jinks, McDowell told the MoS: ‘It’s a wonderful picture. It represents a different era when we were carefree and young and did those sorts of things.
‘It’s not something I would do aged 60. Chucking people in lily ponds is something I stopped a while back – even journalists and politicians!’
This image, of a young man throwing a girl wearing an expensive ballgown into the lily pond of a posh house, summed up the exuberance of the era
Pop, above left, now 59 and a mother of two, is a florist in Louth, Lincolnshire; Now 60, McDowell (right) runs an estate agency specialising in prime central London property and is chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservatives
‘It sums up the era… and shows I wasn’t as boring as I am now!’
Sitting coquettishly on the floor, cigarette in hand, the then 18-year-old Honourable Sophie Stapleton-Cotton, above, daughter of the 5th Viscount Combermere, casts a kittenish glance at the camera.
It was at a Cambridge students’ ‘second coming out party’, held in 1981 at a disused theatre opposite London’s Victoria Station.
Alongside her is Rusty Egan, a drummer in the new wave band Rich Kids and a DJ with the late Visage singer Steve Strange.
Thirty-two years later, she vividly recalled the moment to the MoS, saying she was listening to rockabilly band The Polecats when the photo was taken.
‘I look very relaxed,’ says Sophie, 59, who attended private London school Queens Gate with future fashionistas Trinny and Susannah.
Sitting coquettishly on the floor, cigarette in hand, the then 18-year-old Honourable Sophie Stapleton-Cotton, above, daughter of the 5th Viscount Combermere, casts a kittenish glance at the camera
Thirty-two years later, she vividly recalled the moment to the MoS, saying she was listening to rockabilly band The Polecats when the photo was taken
‘My parents were terribly naive. They would leave me alone when I was 13. Once, aged 16, I was at Steve Strange’s house and another rock singer who was at the party tried to get into our room. Steve had to barricade the doors.’
Today, Sophie is a more hands-on parent to three children in their 20s. ‘I’m a bit phobic about partying because I definitely partied too much,’ she said. ‘I do worry as I have friends with kids who go wrong with drugs.’
After studying philosophy at King’s College University, Sophie set up childrenswear business, Wild & Gorgeous, with comedian Harry Enfield’s wife. Their clothes were worn by Prince George and David Cameron’s daughters, but the firm went into liquidation in lockdown.
As for that snapshot from 1981, her husband, Greville Worthington, bought a framed copy.
Sophie says: ‘It’s a wonderful record of a really fun time. It sums up the era – and shows my kids that I wasn’t as boring as I am now!’
From party-goer to domestic goddess
Looking like a latterday Audrey Hepburn in a large-brimmed hat and oversized white collar, Nigella Lawson – the future Domestic Goddess – is pictured below at a wedding reception at the Travellers’ Club in central London in 1988.
The then 28-year-old was working at The Sunday Times and it was ten years before publication of her first cookery book, How To Eat, which was the springboard for her long and stellar TV and cooking career.
Photographer Dafydd Jones first encountered Nigella when she was a student at Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall. He said: ‘She had pre-Raphaelite looks.’
Looking like a latterday Audrey Hepburn in a large-brimmed hat and oversized white collar, Nigella Lawson is pictured at a wedding reception at the Travellers’ Club in central London in 1988
Leading lady who hated Hollywood
She may have been Deb of the Year in 1983, but Juliette Hohnen, right, was not a traditional debutante.
A graduate of the Italia Conti stage school, she mixed with the social scene while studying for her A-levels at the posh crammer Mander Portman Woodward.
She and her best friend, Littlewoods heiress Louise Morse, had their coming out ball at the Hurlingham Club with guests including actress Koo Stark. This photo was taken of the 18-year-old during the 1983 Cinderella Ball at London’s Dorchester Hotel.
Now 57, Juliette worked for MTV Europe before moving to the US where she was a TV station bureau chief in Los Angeles. She married American actor Steven Weber at Highclere Castle but divorced in 2013. They have two sons, aged 20 and 22. Juliette is now an estate agent in LA and has been named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the country’s top 250 realtors.
Looking back, she says: ‘My life as a deb was very chaste.
‘I’ve had a very interesting life: Madonna was my best friend for a long time and I had my 40th birthday party with Brooke Shields. But I decided that the whole Hollywood thing wasn’t that enjoyable and I became a very serious career woman.’
England: The Last Hurrah by Dafydd Jones is published by ACC Art Books and costs £30.
This photo was taken of 18-year-old Juliette Hohnen during the 1983 Cinderella Ball at London’s Dorchester Hotel
Now 57, Juliette worked for MTV Europe before moving to the US where she was a TV station bureau chief in Los Angeles
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