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Save a Prayer…..

12th October 2008 by Helena 5 Comments  

When I dropped out of school aged 16 and got on a bus to London from Stockholm with my friend Suzanna I had one burning ambition. I wish I could say that I was heading to London with a fervent desire to free Tibet or even get a degree but no, I wanted to meet John Taylor. Or maybe Nick Rhodes, but one or the other.

For those of you who are too young to remember them, they were (and are) members of the band Duran Duran. They had a huge amount of hits in the 1980s like Save a Prayer and Girls on Film. They were ‘new romantics’, they followed in Byron’s footsteps, at least when it came to flouncy shirts.

Flouncy

So I packed my flouncy shirt (it was black with lots of ruffles) and headed off with this burning and most worthy ambition. Although I did meet quite a few pop stars (I even sang backing vocals on a Steve Strange single with my friend Floss) I never met any of the members of Duran Duran.

I am pleased to report that is all about to change. Tonight Rupert and I are invited to a private event where they will be performing. Rupert says he is coming along purely to restrain me. I am wondering if they will still be wearing silly shirts and what they will look like; middle aged? gorgeous?

Whatever else, it’s a great excuse to party, dance and wear a flouncy shirt. As the song goes; don’t say a prayer for me now, save it till the morning after….

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008


Filed Under: Style, blog --> Tagged With: prayer

5 thoughts on Save a Prayer.....

  • Amber Lee says:
    12th October 2008 at 8:58 pm

    I may be too young to have Duran Duran as my own band, but I’m old enough to remember dancing to my mother’s Duran Duran records when I was little

  • Patricia says:
    13th October 2008 at 3:49 pm

    You are living my dream! I also wanted to meet John Taylor…though I never left my country because of him…I guess I was hoping he would come to visit ME!
    Anyway, give him a hug from me…and please tel us if he’s still as gorgeous as he was in the 80s!
    I’m so jealous… lol

  • Nancy says:
    13th October 2008 at 8:25 pm

    Well??? How was it??? Can’t wait to hear!

    xoxo

  • Lucy says:
    16th October 2008 at 6:56 am

    Hi Helena,

    I am just about to start reading your book “Two Lipsticks and a Lover”, and think I should read your blog too.

    What I am going to say here is probably irrelevant to this post, but since you mentioned “free Tibet” at the beginning of the article, I really hope that you can take a few minutes to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ow3sK5rDSg

    Please do watch the video, and I would love to hear what you think about it.

    Lucy

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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