Rubbing shoulders with Lord Bingham, son of the errant Earl of Lucan,
and Urbano Barberini, ‘Rome’s most eligible bachelor’ in the columns of
Tatler this month is one Octavius Black.
Black, a director of Smythe Dorward Lambert and ‘swarthy suave son of
Brinsley and Lady Moorea Black’ is featured by virtue of being on the
magazine’s list of the UK’s 200 most datable people.
The criteria for inclusion, I understand, is a cocktail of good looks,
good humour - and a healthy bank balance. One might assume that, with
his ‘polished mop of jet-black hair and huge flat in Phillimore
Gardens’, Black was an obvious choice, however the man himself admits
surprise at his inclusion. ‘I knew nothing about it until the
publication came out,’ he chortles, ‘and I have to say the ratio of
clients to young ladies ringing me up about it is around 40 to 1.’
