Russian Midsummer Gala at Hampton Court

Last month, Evgeny Lebedev transformed the grounds of his house in Hampton Court into a Russian church, with a bell tower and the roof of the temporary dining room based on that in St Basil’s Cathedral. The hosters of the event were Mikhail Gorbachev and Geordie Greig, editor of the Evening Standard. Tables have been bought for £15,000 and the most coveted auction prize was dinner with the Man Who Changed the World.  Last year private equity investor Cyrus Vandrevala bid £75,000 for it and joined President Gorbachev with his family in Moscow; the previous year it went to Hugh Grant, and before that the mobile phone tycoon John Caudwell.  

Thomas Hughes-Hallett, the CEO of Marie Curie Cancer Care who was the auctioneer said: "It is never certain how an auction will go and when people like Richard Caring, Cyrus Vandrevala and John Caudwell step up to the plate it makes a huge difference to the sums raised and to the help given to those in need."