While Chardonnay grew to fame as "white Burgundy, " Pinot Gris began turning up in odd corners of the wine world under murky aliases: In France alone, Pinot Gris is also known as Tokay d'Alsace, Pinot Beurot in Burgundy and Malvoisie in the Loire.

FORBES: Pinot Gris makes the Pinot family proud.

Mr Marnham lists some of her lovers Peter Hope, Norman Pearson, John Montagu-Pollock, John Platts-Mills, Heinz Ziegler, Raymond Lee, Robert d'Alsace but there were plenty more, ending with Robert Bolt, an English playwright and dramatist, when she was in her late 60s and a widow.

ECONOMIST: English heroines