Charlotte Metcalf

London

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Associate Editor and Editor, Great British Brands at Country & Town House

Charlotte is a freelance writer and film-maker

Articles

Syrian Swimmer Yusra Mardini On The Olympics, Life In LA, & Her Partnership With Oris

1 month ago | countryandtownhouse.com | Charlotte Metcalf

Image courtesy of Oris Image courtesy of Oris Stop the boats? Yusra Mardini and her sister famously swam to safety. She talks to Charlotte Metcalf about fleeing Syria, her collaboration with Oris and how she’s giving back. Interview: Olympic Swimmer Yusra Mardini Anyone who watched the 2022 film The Swimmers will know Yusra Mardini’s story. She and her sister, Sara, fled war-torn Syria and made the treacherous journey across the Aegean from Turkey to Lesbos. As their overladen dinghy started...
Problems flowing from the refill bottled water industry

2 months ago | mg.co.za | Des Erasmus |Charlotte Metcalf

Water holds an extraordinary position in South Africa. It exists as both drinking water, a fundamental human right enshrined in the Constitution, and packaged water, a regulated food product subject to stringent safety laws. This dual identity presents unique problems in a country straddling the demands and legislation of a first-world population seeking premium quality and a developing-world reality where millions simply need access to safe water.
Marianna Spring On Why Understanding Online Trolls Is Important

2 months ago | countryandtownhouse.com | Charlotte Metcalf

Marianna Spring’s reporting on the darkest tenets of social media for the BBC has resulted in vicious slurs and death threats. But she’s met her trolls head on, finds Charlotte MetcalfConversations At Scarfes Bar: Marianna SpringWho Is Marianna Spring? Marianna Spring is suddenly everywhere.
Nanette Newman and John Standing, Oldie in-laws of the Year. By Charlotte Metcalf

Nov 20, 2024 | theoldie.co.uk | Nanette Newman |John Standing |Charlotte Metcalf

Nanette Newman and John Standing, Oldie In-Laws of the Year. By Charlotte Metcalf Actress and author Nanette Newman, 90, is the mother-in-law of actor John Standing, also 90. United by their acting careers as well as their family, Nanette and her son-in-law are just three months apart in age. John’s wife is the journalist Sarah Standing, Nanette’s older daughter by the film director the late Bryan Forbes (1926-2013). Nanette and Bryan also had a second daughter, Emma, the television presenter.
TfL Still Hasn't Apologised To Sarah De Lagarde

Oct 31, 2024 | countryandtownhouse.com | Charlotte Metcalf

When Sarah de Lagarde fell on the Tube tracks, her life was altered unutterably. She's determined to use her experience as a force for good, says Charlotte Metcalf. Interview: Sarah de LagardeS arah de Lagarde's prosthetic leg makes her instantly recognisable as she arrives at Scarfes Bar. Many of us read her story so, recapping briefly, in September 2022 Sarah lost her footing and fell into the gap between the train and the platform at High Barnet Tube station.
What is micro-cheating - The Oldie

Oct 9, 2024 | theoldie.co.uk | Charlotte Metcalf

In our day, you were cheating if you were caught red-handed in bed with the wrong person. Nowadays, cheating is far more nuanced, with layers of tiny betrayals or ‘micro-cheats’. Young people connect online, often by liking someone’s Instagram photograph or TikTok post, as well as responding to Snapchat messages. Yet if you have declared you are committed to someone, those actions are then deemed micro-cheats – and you’ll know immediately if it’s happening to you.
Help! My friend's married a bore. By Charlotte Metcalf

Oct 6, 2024 | theoldie.co.uk | Charlotte Metcalf

When my best schoolfriend (let’s call her Maria) married many years ago, I was living in Kenya – so I missed her wedding. I didn’t meet her husband with her until about a year later – and what a night that was. It remains memorable as the joyous, laughter-filled recommencement of a deep friendship that endured until Maria’s death a decade ago. Her widower remains one of my dearest friends, and the fact that he and I hit it off immediately undoubtedly enhanced my friendship with Maria.
How Giles Deacon Became A Fashion Legend

Sep 5, 2024 | countryandtownhouse.com | Charlotte Metcalf

Charlotte Metcalf interviews Giles Deacon about his glittering career in fashion and new creative partnership with Purdey. Interview: Giles DeaconGiles Deacon's career has been so prodigious and varied that it's difficult to know where to start the conversation except at the beginning. He's lived in Paris and Milan, and today lives and works in London, but he retains strong roots in the Lake District.
Women can't have it all - Charlotte Metcalf

Aug 28, 2024 | theoldie.co.uk | Charlotte Metcalf

A psychotherapist once told me that around half her patients were middle-aged women trying to come to terms with not having children. As someone who almost missed motherhood myself, I was struck by this and began wondering why my generation of female oldies had been so easily seduced by the idea of having it all when, simply, we could not. When I arrived at Cambridge University at the end of the seventies, there were still far fewer women than men.
Best of British - Charlotte Metcalf

Aug 19, 2024 | theoldie.co.uk | Charlotte Metcalf

Nowadays, it isn’t just oldies who are baffled by thoroughfares like Bond Street. The glossy façades of our most famous shopping streets have never housed cheap goods. But there was a time when Covent Garden piazza had stalls selling quirky belts, scarves or trinkets and Burlington Arcade could yield a delightful, affordable gift such as a Battersea enamel box or an Irish linen, hand-rolled handkerchief.