A warm welcome home for Warwickshire’s Oscar winner

A SLICE of the glitz and glamour of the world’s most prestigious film awards has been brought to a quiet rural spot in Warwickshire, thanks to a talented set decorator.

Judy Farr, part of the Oscar-winning team who put together The King’s Speech, returned to work at her family design business in Fenny Compton on Wednesday after flying home from a whirlwind of partying in Hollywood.

The film won four Oscars at the ceremony on Sunday - best picture and best original screenplay, with Colin Firth picking up best actor and Tom Hopper best director for the film.

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Judy, whose firm is behind much of the film’s sets - including curtains, carpets, furniture, small props and thrones, still cannot quite believe she spoke to Steven Spielberg on the Oscar’s stage.

She said: “It was completely mad and slightly surreal, but the ceremony was so organised. We were told there was a third of the Los Angeles police force - with machine guns - out around the Kodak Theatre and as far as a quarter of a mile away.

“We were picked up at 2.45pm and got out at 9.30pm, then went straight into the Governor’s Ball, where we had dinner. There was an amazing Mexican Mariachi band who had wonderful costumes. Then we went to another party.”

While Judy of course enjoyed indulging in the opportunity to wear a glamorous dark purple strapless Amanda Wakeley dress and to stay in the lavish Four Seasons Hotel, she said: “It has been quite stressful, with so many people wanting to talk to us. It was a real relief to get to the airport and be able to sleep on the plane.

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“I do enjoy my job - I am very lucky as I get to do my hobby for a living - but working on this film was very tough. I cannot say I enjoyed it - it was busy, busy, busy.”

As well as being a part of The King’s Speech team, the 49-year-old, who runs her business with her furniture designer husband Hilary Birkbeck, worked on the films Conan and My Week With Marilyn last year and has, in her time, been involved in Black Adder, Hi de Hi, Reeves and Mortimer and The Brothers Grimm.

She said: “The King’s Speech was five months of very intense work. It was a very tight budget and a very tight schedule. We were all as shocked as each other that it has done what it has.”