dame

The once-in-a-generation political opening he’d eyed for years had arrived, he decided — whether the grand dame of San Francisco politics agreed or not.

The much-loved author, who was made a dame in 2008, admits she has long felt a particular affection for The Illustrated Mum and it "is one of my favourite books".

Like a brassy classic dame, she says exactly what she means.

Hill explained his stepfather, Tony, had met his mother in an amateur dramatics group, and often wrote pantomimes and starred in them as the dame.

Today’s glass and steel tower over the bones of what was once the grande dame of colonial luxury, the Hong Kong Hotel.