Flaming Dene

A 14 year-old Andrew Lloyd Webber chanced upon the painting of the Flaming June. He was a budding collector and his hobby was financed by his grandmother, who had just shelled out 50 pounds for three huge, beautifully-illustrated volumes of Dugdale's History of Ancient Abbies and Monasteries. The boy described in detail the painting he fell in love with, but his grandmother was adamant: 'I will not have Victorian junk in my flat'. This comes near the opening of the real story of Ada Pullen (Dorothy Dene) who became the favourite model of Lord Leighton who was President of the Royal Academy. This book tells the story of Ada's life, success and celebrity - and of the painting itself. Lloyd Webber's grandma was wrong. The current value of the painting is 14 million pounds.