A HOUSE OF STORIES

Emmanuel Olympitis throws open the doors to the home where he writes children's books with his daughter, Olympia

- JACK MALVERN

The log fires are burning, sunshine streams through the sash windows and the Olympitis family cat is on the prowl for the cosiest spot in the house.

Emmanuel Olympitis – Manoli to his friends – is welcoming HELLO! exclusively into his home in rural Wiltshire to celebrate the publication of his latest children's book, colourfully illustrated by his daughter, Olympia.

Manoli, 76, has returned to writing in his retirement, following a career as a financier and a tempestuous social life that saw him marry an American heiress, date the Hollywood actress Valerie Perrine and the German princess Ira von Furstenberg, and host a party at which David Bowie and Sir Mick Jagger danced up and down his hallway.

The affable former playboy retains his good looks, which, according to his first wife, Jan Cushing, were so powerful that the author Truman Capote could not bear to look at him.

SIXTIES PLAYBOY

Olympia, 28, one of three children from Manoli's marriage to the leading interior designer Emily Todhunter, is only too aware of her father's roistering in his younger days. She has read in his memoir, Marked Cards, the details of what one interviewer described as his "revelling in the freedoms of the Sixties".

"I would say I know a bit more than I'd like about that," says Olympia, who lives in London but returns to the family home every other weekend.

A professional artist who specialises in watercolour illustrations and wedding stationery, Olympia now has two children's books in her portfolio, after collaborating with her father on the Whispers in the Park series. The second book in the trilogy, subtitled The Prophecy, was released in mid-November.