English artist and stage designer Oliver Messel was BOTD in 1904. Born in London to a military family, he was educated at Westminster School and Eton, where his classmates included future writer Eric Blair (George Orwell). After studying at the Slade School of Fine Art, he launched a career as a portraitist and theatre designer, designing masks for the Ballet Russes’ 1925 London production of Zephyr et Flore. During World War Two, he was employed by the British Army to camouflage weapons blockhouses, redecorating them to resemble haystacks, ruined castles and roadside cafes. In 1946, he won acclaim for his set and costume design for the Royal Ballet’s production of The Sleeping Beauty starring Margot Fonteyn. Working in theatres in London and New York, he won a Tony Award in 1954 for his designs for the Broadway production of House of Flowers. He also worked extensively in Hollywood, designing costumes for the films The Private Life of Don Juan, The Thief of Bagdad, Caesar and Cleopatra and Suddenly Last Summer, the latter earning him an Oscar-nomination. In 1953, he designed a suite at the Dorchester Hotel, a gloriously over-the-top combination of Baroque and Rococo styles that became a favourite of Elizabeth Taylor. He also redesigned the Delman shoe display for H&M Rayne department store, introducing illuminated display stands and cases to show off shoes, which became highly influential on modern retail design. Related to Anthony Armstrong-Jones, the husband of Princess Margaret, he had a long relationship with the British Royal family, famously decorating Margaret’s holiday home in the Caribbean island of Mustique. He had a 30-year relationship with Vagn Riis-Hansen, retiring together to Barbados. He died in 1978, aged 74.