English photographer and designer Cecil Beaton was BOTD in 1904. Born in London to a prosperous middle-class family, he was educated at Harrow and Cambridge, leaving without taking a degree. Interested in photography from his teens, he apprenticed with society photographer Paul Tanqueray, and held his first solo exhibition in London. In 1927 he moved to New York to become a staff photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines. His highly art-directed work combined elaborate costumes and exotic backdrops. He became the unofficial photographer of the aristocratic social circle known as the Bright Young Things, creating portraits of Stephen Tennant, Nancy Mitford, Edith Sitwell, Rex Whistler and Oliver Messel. During World War Two, he served in the British Ministry of Information, publishing photos of military campaigns and civilian life in wartime. His post-war career was considerably more subdued. He became court photographer to the British Royal family, frequently photographing Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. He is best known for his costume designs for film, notably for musicals Gigi and My Fair Lady, each earning him an Oscar. He also designed for theatre and opera, winning four Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. Openly queer, he had a number of relationships with men and women, including the Olympic fencer Kinmont Hoitsma, actresses Greta Garbo and Coral Browne and socialites Jean Ralli and Doris Castlerosse. Several volumes of his diaries were published in the 1970s, providing a fascinating and bitchy survey of 20th century cultural life. He died in 1980 at his campily-decorated country home, aged 76. He has been portrayed many times on screen, most notably by Mark Tandy in TV drama series The Crown.