I’ve just realised it’s Wednesday. I’m phenomenally busy today, so this week’s EDW is going to be short and sweet.

The picture on your left is called the Tango. It is by artist Jane Lydbury. It featured in the Royal Academy of Arts’ Summer Exhibition last year.

The picture was inspired by a Hans Christian Andersen short story, in which the king offers half his kingdom and a princess’s hand in marriage to the man who can do the most incredible thing. It is extremely fine, contains much that is elegant, and a framed print of it hangs on my wall.

I am extremely fond of it.

I was much taken with Glamourpuss’s EDW this week, which rather successfully managed to dress up Father Christmas in louche and well-cut clothes. He would look the better for them.

The only thing I can think of that might match both elements of grace and surprise is this picture of Ivor Novello and a shapely leg. It comes from the original (1928) film of The Constant Nymph. I found the book in a Rutland second-hand shop when I was a teenager and adored it, but I’ve never seen any of the films. (Incidentally, just over seventy years ago, my grandfather managed to enrol almost all the other boys at his school in its branch of the League of Nations Club by block-booking the local cinema and offering all LoN members a free viewing of the 1933 version of the film. Everybody joined. His headmaster was furious.)

So, if anyone has a copy of any of the three versions they’re willing to lend…