Sketch: Dee Caffari

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Dee Caffari

British yachtswoman Dee Caffari MBE is the first woman to have sailed single handed and non-stop around the world in both directions and the only woman to have sailed non-stop around the world three times.

It was in 2006 when she single handedly sailed “the wrong way” – westward, against the prevailing winds and currents. Three years later, Dee complete the Vendée Globe Race and set a new record to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop around the globe in both directions.

In the same year (2009) she set a new record for circumnavigating Britain and Ireland after crossing the Solent finish line on her Open 60 Aviva having beaten the existing record by 17 hours.

For the full details of her amazing nautical feats you can read Dee’s autobiography Against the Flow.

Sketch: Zrinka Cvitešić in Once

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Thirty five year old Croatian actress Zrinka Cvitešić made her West End debut at the Phoenix Theatre as ‘Girl’ in the hit musical Once, receiving rave reviews and winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

She has also won a handful of awards for her celluloid work and a regular at the National Theatre of her native Croatia. I managed to meet Zrinka at the Royal Opera House stage door as she emerged, all glommed up to walk the red carpet at last year’s Oliviers and sh was very happy to sign it – even before she won!

Drawing: Sally Hawkins in Mrs Warren’s Profession on Broadway

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Golden Globe winner, Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Sally Hawkins made her Broadway debut in Doug Hughes’ revival of George Bernard Shaw’s controversial 1894 work Mrs Warren’s Profession at the American Airlines Theatre in the Autumn of 2010.

She portrayed Vivie, the daughter of Kitty Warren (Cherry Jones) the title character and ‘madam’ who rises out of the gutter to run a brain of brothels. Vivie was kept separate and ignorant of her mother’s world… until now.

The play was considered so shocking that it wasn’t performed in London until 1902 and then, only privately. It premiered on Broadway in 1905 at the Garrick Theatre and subsequently was revived in 1907, 1918, 1922 and 1976.

Sally signed this black biro sketch I drew of her and Cherry (who I unfortunately missed, but on my ‘wanted’ list) when she arrived back in the UK after the New York season ended.