Nicky is in the throes of working up a piece on English drawings rooms for the Financial Times and we have been swooning over these tables recently.

This one is for sale with Christopher Hodsoll. Provenance: Bought by the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava for her Drawing Room at Hans Crescent from Montague Marcussen Ltd in July 1964, quite probably at the suggestion of her decorator Felix Harbord, a man with a penchant for the theatrical. In fact his work was largely theatre and set designs.

Now Nicky and I have long been big Felix Harbord fans and I don’t think there has been enough written about him and his career. Any experts out there? He worked for Lady Bute and I have often quoted her charming custom of leaving her curtains open at night so passersby could enjoy her glittering interiors. There is another book idea! Nightime voyeuristic pleasures – wonderful…