I’d come to see for myself why the Swiss Riviera, and other European Rivieras in fact, dotted throughout the Mediterranean, have long been a stamping ground, not just for the well heeled, but writers, celebrities, artists, composers, musicians and nosy parkers like me.

Not only do they come but surprisingly often, as was the case with Charlie Chaplin and Audrey Hepburn, they set up permanent digs at their favourite seaside or lakeside towns. Brigette Bardot, Tina Turner, Elton John and Bono to name just a few, have holiday homes in the French Riviera while Antonia Bendaras and Melanie Griffiths prefer the Spanish Rivieria. Either way you look at it it’s a glamorous way to avoid winter altogether.

While the Swiss Riviera was the celebrity hot spot in the early to mid 1900s, smart money invested in the French Riviera in the 1950s and 1960s. In the seventies it was the Italian Riviera while Spain came into its own in the 1980s and 1990s. Today the spectacular coastline of new hotspots Croatia and Montenegro are  where the likes of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kerry Packer and Apple supremo Steve Jobs like to hang out.