Lesley Truffle - Writer

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Mavericks & Renegades

My Favourite Horror Child

February 25, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  My Favourite Horror Child   Eloise and I go way back. At about seven I discovered six-year-old Eloise. She was parent-free, running amuck in the Plaza New York with her nanny, a pug and a turtle. I didn’t find it strange that Eloise exercised with champagne bottles, as my sister and I had hidden … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Eloise, Eloise in Paris, France, French, Hilary Knight, Kay Thompson, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, The Plaza Hotel

25 Cats and One Blue Pussy

February 8, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  25 Cats named Sam and One Blue Pussy   The reason I hate regular underwear – and socks, too – is that if you send twenty pairs of shorts and twenty pairs of socks to the laundromat, you always only get nineteen back. Even when I wash them myself, I get nineteen back. The more I think about … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, artists, books, Fashion, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: 25 Cats name Sam and one Blue Pussy, Andy Warhol, Cat, Cats, Cats Named Sam and One Blue Pussy, Elizbeth Taylor, Julia Warhola, Liz Taylor, Pop Art, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, Warhol

This Charming Man

October 8, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  This Charming Man    ‘If people turn to look at you in the street, you are not well dressed, but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable.’                                             Beau Brummell (George Bryan Brummell 1778-1840)   2020 is a year where fashion was sidelined. As the pandemic seized control of the globe, fashion was … [Read more…]

Posted in: Fashion, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: 1700's, Beau Brummell, Brummell, Dandies, Dandyism, Dior, eighteemth century, fashion, George Bryan Brummell, George IV, men's fashion, Prince Regent, Regency England

Book Dreaming

September 24, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

Book Dreaming I’ve often been asked – what are the books that meant a lot to me growing up. This is a difficult question because there are so many books I love. And I often revisit books, usually classics, I already know are going to transport me. In winter there’s pleasure to be had in … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Ada, Casanova, Eloise, Eloise in Paris, Emily Brontë, Giacomo Casanova, History of My Life, Kay Thompson, Lesley Truffle, Lolita, Nabokov, Vladamir Nabokov, Wuthering Heights

Freud’s Cigar

September 13, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Freud’s Cigar ‘Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.’ Dr Sigmund Freud 1856 -1939.   In my novel The Scandalous Life Of Sasha Torte, Sasha is introduced to the famous Austrian neurologist Dr Sigmund Freud, at The Sperl Café in Vienna. Sasha Torte – world famous Tasmanian pastry chef – is very taken with … [Read more…]

Posted in: Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment Tagged: Carl Jung, Cocaine, Dr Sigmund Freud, erythroxyline, Freud, Freud's cigar, Id Ego Superego, Jung, Lesley Truffle, Psychiatry, psychoanalysis, Psychology, Sasha Torte, Sigmund Freud, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte

The Problem With Henry

August 17, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

The Problem With Henry                                        ‘I swear again, I would not be a queen  For all the world.’                    Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife.                                           Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Eighth.   King Henry VIII has been receiving bad press for centuries. Shakespeare, along with later writers and playwrights, got in … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Anne Boleyn, film, films, Henry V111, King Henry, Lesley Truffle, movies, Shakespeare, The Private Life of Henry, the Tudors, Will Shakespeare, William Shakespeare

Devilish Desires

June 11, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

Dorian Gray’s Devilish Desires   ‘The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.’ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde   In Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray the characters throw themselves around dramatically and rarely ever sit quietly. They fling themselves at the furniture with … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Fashion, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: British playwrights, British writer, Dorian Gray, gothic fiction, gothic fiction books, Lesley Truffle, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, Oscar Wilde, playwright, poet, poets, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde

I Want That Cake

April 20, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

I Want That Cake ‘Let there be no shame on me tonight!’ Prince Wenzel von Metternich 1832   The narrator of my novel, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, was named in honour of a famous cake. Sasha Torte is a world-class Tasmanian pastry chef and she establishes her magnificent cake emporium in Wolfftown, a fictional … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, cakes and cooking, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Anna Maria Sacher, cake, cakes, Eduard Sacher, Franz Sacher, Hotel Sacher, Lesley Truffle, Sachertorte, Sasher Torte, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte

To Proust or not to Proust

March 12, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

To Proust or not to Proust   ‘One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory’. Rita Mae Brown   Memories get a bad wrap from quite a lot of folk, including Rita Mae Brown. Yet so many song lyrics dwell on memories. Love songs frequently combine memories with intense regret, and in turn … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, cakes and cooking, Film, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades Tagged: Alain Delon, cakes, childhood memories, Delon, France, French cooking, Lesley Truffle, madelaines, Marcel Proust, memories, memory, Proust, Remenbrance of Things Past, Swann in Love, Swann's Way, Un Amour de Swann

To Nap or Not to Nap

January 9, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  To Nap or Not to Nap   Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast.’                                                                                                             William Shakespeare   Shakespeare knew a lot about sleep, especially insomnia. I suspect he was … [Read more…]

Posted in: current news, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Charles Dickens, Elon Musk, insomnia, insomnia cures, Kips, Lesley Truffle, Napping, Shakespeare, Sleep, sleep problems, the Bard, William Shakespeare

She Purred Like a Tiger

November 7, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

She Purred Like a Tiger In 1903 Mrs Elinor Glyn published, Three Weeks. These days the novel is considered a bizarre but fairly tame read, but back then it was the Edwardians version of Fifty Shades of Grey and sold about 2 million copies. In the opening pages of my novel, The Scandalous Life of … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Edwardian Literature, Edwardians, Elinor Glyn, historical, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, Three Weeks, Three Weeks a novel, Tiger skins

Wicked Women

August 16, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Wicked Women   Famous historical figures are frequently sensationalized to provide fodder for films, plays, operas and books. Facts are wilfully ignored because wickedness, orgies, incest, violence, psychological abuse and criminal activity will always find an audience. Cleopatra was frequently represented as an objectified woman. Everyone from Cicero to Shakespeare used her to their own … [Read more…]

Posted in: Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, Cesare Borgia, Cleopatra, femme fatale, Italian History, Italy, Lucrece Borgia, Lucrezia Borgia, Pope Alexander V1, The Borgias, Victor Hugo

The Leopard

August 8, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  THE LEOPARD One of the most astonishing things about the novel, The Leopard  is that it was initially rejected by major publishing houses. Yet when it was finally published in 1958, it was acknowledged to be a masterpiece. Unfortunately by this time the author, Giuseppe di Lampedusa had died at the age of sixty … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Film, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Alain Delon, Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, films, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Ill Gattopardo, Italian Literature, Italy, Lampedusa, Luchino Visconti, mid twentieth century literature, movies, Sicily, The Leopard, Viconte

The Elixir of Youth

July 14, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

The Elixir of Youth   ‘Nature gives you the face you have at twenty. Life shapes the face you have at thirty. But at fifty you get the face you deserve’. French fashion designer Coco Chanel   Many of us believe that in today’s era of Botox and extreme cosmetic surgery, Chanel’s statement no longer applies. A scan of Hollywood’s red carpet affairs, … [Read more…]

Posted in: Fashion, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Beauty, Beauty Myth, Casanova, Chanel, Coco Chanel, elixir of youth, Giacomo Casanova, Good Queen Bess, Iris Apfel, plastic surgery, Queen Elizabeth 1, Virgin Queen

Ma Kelly’s Boy

June 15, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Ma Kelly’s Boy   ‘Don’t be frightened. Nothing will happen to you. I have a mother of my own.’                      Ned Kelly to Anne Calvert while robbing the National Bank at Euroa.   On November 11 1880, Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly was hanged for murder at Melbourne Goal. A reporter at the time claimed that Mrs … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, writers & creatives Tagged: Charles Nettleton, Edward 'Ned' Kelly, Ellen Quinn, Grantlee Kieza, Ireland, Irish Catholics, Kelly, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, Melbourne Goal, Mrs Ellen Kelly, Mrs Kelly, Ned Kelly, outlaw

The Man in the Moon

June 12, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  The Man in the Moon Half a century ago Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin walked on the moon. On July 20 2019 their moon landing of July 1969 will be celebrated worldwide. Given that there’s no atmosphere on the moon, it’s possible that Armstrong and Aldrin’s footsteps may still visible on the moon’s … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, books, Film, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: A Trip to the Moon, American astronaut, astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, Coleridge, Edwin Aldrin, film, French film, French filmaker, Georges Méliès, Le Voyage Dans La Lune, Lesley Truffle, Méliès, moon landing, movies, NASA, Neil Armstrong, The First Men on the Moon., The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

May 16, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

    Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ‘Kissing your hand may make you feel very good but a diamond bracelet lasts forever.’ Lorelei Lee from Anita Loos novella, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.   One of my favourite books is a hardcover 1926 tenth edition of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. So popular was Anita Loos’ novella that it ran to … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Anita Loos, film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Howard Hawks, Jane Russell, Marilyn, Marilyn Monroe, Monroe, movie

Easy Rider

April 11, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

  Easy Rider ‘You watch the white line and try to lean with it  . . . howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica . . . letting off now watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown, writers & creatives Tagged: Bear Grylls, Bikies, BMW motorbikes, David Beckham, Ewen McGregor, Harley Davidson, Harleys, Hell's Angel's, Hunter S. Thompson, Kawasaki, Lesley Truffle, Motorbikes, Motorcycle gangs, Motorcyles, Steve McQueen

Peel Me a Grape

March 24, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

Peel Me a Grape Hollywood legend Mae West liked her men distinctly masculine. Her taste veered towards wrestlers, boxers, prize fighters, gangsters and musclemen. At 61 she took up with Mr California, Paul Novak, who was thirty years younger. He was one of the musclemen in her stage show at the time and he remained … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Fashion, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Golden Era Movies, Hollywood, Lesley Truffle, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Mary Jane West, Peel Me a Grape, Salvador Dali

On Being Fabulous

February 20, 2019 by Lesley Truffle

    On Being Fabulous   Two nights ago I attended Madison Moore’s performative presentation at the National Art Gallery, Melbourne. Madison began his lecture dressed casually in gym gear but while talking about his influences growing up and how it felt to be marginalised, he slowly began a transformation. Madison began by cutting and … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, books, Fashion, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment, Writers & Readers Events Tagged: Dr Madison Moore, Fabulous The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric, Fabulousness, Madison Moore, Prince

Vive la France

November 24, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  Vive la France! I’m thinking of taking a trip to Europe next year and Paris is already on the itinerary. I’ve been there a few times but too much Paris is never enough. Cole Porter wrote the lyrics to I Love Paris and just about everyone recorded it. Frank Sinatra sang it for decades, … [Read more…]

Posted in: Film, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations Tagged: Audrey Hepburn, Billy Wilder, Cinema du look, Diva, France, Frank Sinatra, French film, French films, Humphrey Bogart, I love Paris, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Lesley Truffle, Paris, Sabrina

Screaming Quietly

November 23, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

Screaming Quietly   The place is very well and quiet and the children only scream in a low voice.                                                                                                 Lord Byron 1813   The poet Lord George Byron was a rake and a hellraiser who also happened to enjoy his own company and the solace of silence. Apparently he wrote much … [Read more…]

Posted in: Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Byron, high density living, Lord Byron, Lord George Byron, neighbours, noise

Mirka’s Story

September 28, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  Mirka Mora 1928-2018 ‘Every time you show your work, you really show your soul.’   Mirka I never met Mirka Mora, but she became one of my most favourite people. I only know Mirka through her paintings and her wonderful autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous; My Life. Whenever I stop to look at Mirka’s murals – they … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, books, Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, Social Comment, writers & creatives Tagged: Auschwitz, Carrillo Gantner, Georges Mora, Lesley Truffle, Marcel Marceau, Melbourne, Mirka Mora, Monsieur Mayonnaise, Nazis, Philippe Mora, Wicked but Virtuous

A Room of One’s Own and other Catastrophes

August 26, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  In a recent interview journalist and former editor, Michael Gawenda, said of his son Husky Gawenda, ‘He can spend a lot of time by himself in his room. If you’re going to be a writer you have to be lonely in some way.’ (from ‘The Two of Us’. The AGE Good Weekend, 11August  2018). … [Read more…]

Posted in: books, Mavericks & Renegades, Observations, Psychology, writers & creatives Tagged: Emily Brontë, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Meyers, Lesley Truffle, Michael Gawenda, Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Virginia Woolf, Wuthering Heights

Ode to an Old School Pub

May 24, 2018 by Lesley Truffle

  I often sneak back to the old neighbourhood to meet friends. It’s become increasingly gentrified; old houses have been tizzied up and sold for exceedingly high prices. Subsequently many of the artists, writers, junkies, musicians, booze hounds, photographers, dressmakers, poets and reprobates, I once knew have moved on. Some wisely moved up the coast … [Read more…]

Posted in: Mavericks & Renegades, Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: facadism, Fitzroy, gentrification, Lesley Truffle, Napier Hotel, Napier Hotel Fitzroy, old buildings, old school pubs, pubs
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