The London Olympic Games’ opening ceremony drew countless viewers, but there probably weren’t many in Los Angeles more enthusiastic than Dame Barbara Hay.
The British consul-general in Los Angeles hosted more than 200 people – including British expatriates, and executives from companies such as Pom Wonderful and Amgen – at the British Residence in Hancock Park for a reception in honor of the opening ceremony. Four screens were set up in the garden to show the event, which featured a variety of performers, a survey of British history, and even Queen Elizabeth appearing to jump out of a helicopter with James Bond star Daniel Craig.
Hay, who has served as consul-general since 2009, said she loves Los Angeles, but there is no question about whom she is pulling for in the Olympics.
“I’m certainly rooting for the U.K.,” she said. “But for the time I’m here I’m an adopted citizen of Los Angeles.”
As for her favorite part of the opening ceremony, that was an easy call, too.
“It had to be the queen as a Bond girl,” said Hay, 59.
Underwater Painting
Mary Duda is chief executive officer of VirtuePlay Inc., a West L.A. company that designs educational video games – including one for NASA.
But in her spare time, Duda, 56, puts down the joystick and picks up her paint brushes: She has been a painter since she was a teen. She sold her first painting at age 15.
Last month, watercolors from her “Blue Aquarium” series were displayed and sold at Le Cellier Gastro Pub in Venice during a benefit for Santa Monica non-profit Heal the Bay.
“They’re based on a child’s perspective of the underwater world,” she said. “It gets people talking about the beauty of the underwater world and the importance of preserving that.”
If educational video games and watercolor painting seem like disparate interests, Duda said they shouldn’t.
“We all learn through creative processes,” she said. “You can have a cool and exciting game, like racing a buggy on the moon, or create art in the underwater world, and a learning experience happens.”
Staff reporters Richard Clough and James Rufus Koren contributed to this column.
Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at ccrumpley@
labusinessjournal.com.
