Dear Mary | 19 December 2009

Once again Mary has invited some of her most distinguished readers to submit Christmas queries.

From: Sir Norman Rosenthal

Q. I have an old friend who for some years has run an art gallery near Bond Street. I must have said something bad about him to somebody. It clearly got back to him and after a very unpleasant letter he has crossed me off his invitation and party list. This makes me very sad, as I now never get to see his artists who are all friends of mine. I am also very close to the gallery owner’s mother-in-law. She is well into her nineties, but very active, and we often go to concerts together. My wife does not object. After the concert I take her home in a taxi. She holds my hand and once said to me, ‘Norman, you and I, we are an item!’ She says, however, that she can do nothing about her son-in-law.