The Steeple Times

Category: OPULENCE & SPLENDOUR

Luxury and the arts From houses to cars and from Hockney to van Dyck, a profile of the best and the worst

  • Gene’s Machine

    Gene’s Machine

    1925 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster once owned by golfing legend ‘Gene the Machine’ to be sold at auction in May

    US Open winning golfer Gene Littler (July 1930 – February 2019) was best known for saying: “Golf is not a game of great shots. It’s a game of the best misses. The people who win make the smallest mistakes.” Next month, a 1925 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster by Merrimac that was owned by him from 1983 to 1990 is to be sold by RM Sotheby’s.

     

    Gene’s Machine – Gene Littler owned 1925 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster by Merrimac – 1925 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster once owned by golfing legend ‘Gene the Machine’ to be sold at auction in May – RM Sotheby’s offer the car without reserve but have set an estimate of £135,000 to £174,000 ($175,000 to $225,000, €157,000 to €202,000 or درهم643,000 to درهم826,000) for this stunning Springfield Ghost. It will be sold as part of the Guyton Collection on Saturday 4th March in St. Louis, Missouri.
    Professional golfer Gene Littler

    San Diego born father of two Littler – nicknamed ‘Gene the Machine’ due to his “smooth rhythmical swing” – is listed in the sales literature for this ‘Springfield Silver Ghost’ as a “true automobile enthusiast, with a particular passion for vintage Rolls-Royce and Bentley.” He later sold it to the Blackhawk Collection and it then passed to Fred Guyton, a “beloved fixture of the collector car hobby” and co-founder of the architectural firm Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets, Inc. (PGAV).

     

    Featuring an original chassis, engine and coachwork, as delivered to its first owner, this stunning car is described as “overall well preserved.” It is presented in medium blue paint with a tan leather interior that shows “only minor signs of age and use” and includes a “unusually cushy and delightful” rumble seat.

     

    RM Sotheby’s offer the car without reserve but have set an estimate of £135,000 to £174,000 ($175,000 to $225,000, €157,000 to €202,000 or درهم643,000 to درهم826,000) for this stunning Springfield Ghost. It will be sold as part of the Guyton Collection on Saturday 4th March in St. Louis, Missouri.

     

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    Gene’s Machine – Gene Littler owned 1925 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster by Merrimac – 1925 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster once owned by golfing legend ‘Gene the Machine’ to be sold at auction in May – RM Sotheby’s offer the car without reserve but have set an estimate of £135,000 to £174,000 ($175,000 to $225,000, €157,000 to €202,000 or درهم643,000 to درهم826,000) for this stunning Springfield Ghost. It will be sold as part of the Guyton Collection on Saturday 4th March in St. Louis, Missouri.
    Gene’s Machine – Gene Littler owned 1925 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster by Merrimac – 1925 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster once owned by golfing legend ‘Gene the Machine’ to be sold at auction in May – RM Sotheby’s offer the car without reserve but have set an estimate of £135,000 to £174,000 ($175,000 to $225,000, €157,000 to €202,000 or درهم643,000 to درهم826,000) for this stunning Springfield Ghost. It will be sold as part of the Guyton Collection on Saturday 4th March in St. Louis, Missouri.
    Gene’s Machine – Gene Littler owned 1925 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster by Merrimac – 1925 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster once owned by golfing legend ‘Gene the Machine’ to be sold at auction in May – RM Sotheby’s offer the car without reserve but have set an estimate of £135,000 to £174,000 ($175,000 to $225,000, €157,000 to €202,000 or درهم643,000 to درهم826,000) for this stunning Springfield Ghost. It will be sold as part of the Guyton Collection on Saturday 4th March in St. Louis, Missouri.
    Gene’s Machine – Gene Littler owned 1925 Rolls-Royce 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster by Merrimac – 1925 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly roadster once owned by golfing legend ‘Gene the Machine’ to be sold at auction in May – RM Sotheby’s offer the car without reserve but have set an estimate of £135,000 to £174,000 ($175,000 to $225,000, €157,000 to €202,000 or درهم643,000 to درهم826,000) for this stunning Springfield Ghost. It will be sold as part of the Guyton Collection on Saturday 4th March in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • Worthy Water

    Worthy Water

    18th century house in a “fairytale” setting beside the famous River Itchen chalkstream is not quite what one would expect

    The main façade of Lower Chilland House in Martyr Worthy, four miles east of Winchester gives little clue as to what has been created inside.

     

    A Grade II listed, 18th century, Georgian, chequerwork brick house, one might expect to be decorated with Laura Ashley and de Gournay wallpaper, but this is quite something else. Completely renovated by its current American owner since 2006 “with both relaxation and large-scale” entertainment in mind, this 6,715 square foot “quaint” property is described as an “ultra-contemporary retreat… created to international standards” by Country Life’s Penny Churchill.

     

    Standing in 5.5 acres of landscaped grounds and having 875 yards of double-bank fishing, the property also comes with a Grade II listed mill house that has been converted to a gym with treatment and steam rooms whilst there’s also a wood-panelled cinema in the main residence’s attic.

     

    To the rear of the building is a swimming pool that wouldn’t look out of place in Beverly Hills, a lap pool with an in-built speaker system for length training, a contemporary glass pool house and a walled tennis court with a Plexicushion surface.

     

    Lower Chilland House is offered by Savills with an asking price of £7.5 million ($9.7 million, €8.7 million or درهم35.8 million).

     

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  • Booking Wilbur

    Booking Wilbur

    The generosity of Wilbur Smith in leaving books for passerby is something to be celebrated; others should follow his lead

    Yesterday, in Knightsbridge, the author Wilbur Smith performed an unusually generous gesture and left several boxes of his books on his garden wall with a message stating: “Please help yourself.”

     

    This is something to be celebrated and in spite of Mr Smith’s house being in a quiet backwater, within a couple of hours all of the books were gone. That this bestselling author took such a course of action reflects not only on his character but is also illustrative of someone thinking of how to be kind to their neighbours.

     

    It is time that others followed his lead and we urge our readers to act similarly.

     

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  • Upping The Archers

    Upping The Archers

  • The Brilliance of Pigcasso

    The Brilliance of Pigcasso

    Painting pig named Pigcasso sells works for thousands; one has been turned into a watch face for Swatch

     

    Saved from an abattoir in 2016, a rather appropriately named rescued pig named ‘Pigcasso’ is truly bringing home the bacon.

     

    Taken to the Farm Sanctuary SA in Franschhoek, near Cape Town, the pig was initially kept in a newly renovated barn. Of what happened next, the sanctuary’s manager Joanne Lefson told The Independent:

     

    “Pigs are very smart animals and so when I brought Pigcasso here to the barn I thought how do I keep her entertained?”

     

    “We threw in some footballs, rugby balls and of course there were some paintbrushes lying around because the barn was newly built.”

     

    “She basically ate or destroyed everything except these paintbrushes. She loved them so much.”

     

    “Pigcasso is definitely an abstract expressionist, you can’t exactly define what she’s painting but I can tell you that her style slightly changes depending on her mood like any great artist.”

     

    Works by Pigcasso are now selling for around £3,000 each. All proceeds go to animal welfare projects and now the watchmaker Swatch have just announced a collaboration with her.

     

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  • Anything But BIG

    Anything But BIG

    Pretentious number plate ‘BIG’ attracts attention in Knightsbridge

    ‘Mr Big’ in Sex and the City was considered a bit of player. He was the “big man on the campus” according to Carrie Bradshaw and he was an “intriguing character” in the eyes of Comcast.

     

    Now, in Cadogan Square in London, someone has decided to pretend to be him. They’ve positioned their ego on a Porsche and installed on it a numberplate that reads ‘81G’ (or ‘BIG’ to the casual observer).

     

    Plainly not all locals were as unimpressed as us: Someone named Tabrez left a note on the car asking to buy it. He announced: “I already hold other ‘BIG’ plates.”

     

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    BIG Porsche 81G
    Update – 14th April 2021 – ‘81G’ attracted the attention of Sam McAlister, the BBC “booker extraordinaire” of Prince Andrew for that now forever infamous ‘Newsnight’ interview. She shared an image of the Porsche with her 11,600 followers and remarked: “I bet it isn’t…” and attracted over 3,200 likes and 140 retweets.
    Personalised number plates are very much something people either love or loathe. In London, they are ten-a-penny and frankly though some can be amusing, many are just ludicrous, tacky, stupid and common.
    BIG Porsche 81G G 5POT
    This motorist plainly thinks driving around emblazoned with a plate referencing the ‘G-spot’ makes them either witty or sexually appealing even. Frankly, unless the owner works in a sex clinic, what are they trying to achieve?
    BIG Porsche 81G CUM 80Y
    Another motorist with a bizarre or frankly warped sense of humour imagines this plate to be appealing. We’d argue, instead, that the owner of this car instead gets mocked and derided wherever they dare drive.
  • Magic & Merton

    Magic & Merton

    As Debbie McGee puts the number plate ‘MAG1C’ up for auction, we remind readers of her legendary and laughable appearance on the ‘Mrs Merton Show’

     

    News that Debbie McGee, widow of the late magician Paul Daniels, is trying to sell the number plate ‘MAG1C’ with an asking price of £150,000 is enough to make one giggle, but it also provides reminder of the former ballet dancer’s laughable appearance on the Mrs Merton Show in 1997.

     

    On the show, when asked: “What first, Debbie, was it that attracted you to the multi-millionaire Paul Daniels?” by Caroline Aherne, the dimwitted McGee smiled and chuckled plainly unaware of the undertone of what she’d been mockingly asked. Now, the laugh is plainly on her: Who on earth would be stupid enough to pay such a ludicrous sum for a tacky number plate.

     

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  • A Balls-Up About Betjeman

    A Balls-Up About Betjeman

    Cadogan suggest the impossible in claiming that Sir John Betjeman was present at the arrest of Oscar Wilde at The Cadogan Hotel

     

    The Earl of Cadogan – best known for once stating he “preferred horses to people” and for ending the lease of the Oriel restaurant on Sloane Square because he didn’t like a meal he had there – should be spluttering into his Corn Flakes.

     

    On a website controlled by his property company, Cadogan, currently is an article about The Belmond Cadogan Hotel on Sloane Street – which reopens today after a spectacular £39 million refurbishment. In it reference is made to how Oscar Wilde was “notoriously arrested” there in 1895 and a claim is made that the poet Sir John Betjeman “happened to be among those present.”

     

    Given Sir John was born in 1906, this is plainly utter baloney (unless of course the Poet Laureate was visiting in a past life).

     

    #FakeNews

     

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    A Balls-Up About Betjeman – Arrest of Oscar Wilde at The Cadogan Hotel – Cadogan suggest the impossible in claiming that Sir John Betjeman was present at the arrest of Oscar Wilde at The Cadogan Hotel. #FakeNews
    The Earl of Cadogan (pictured left) is a man not afraid to mince his words

    A Balls-Up About Betjeman – Arrest of Oscar Wilde at The Cadogan Hotel – Cadogan suggest the impossible in claiming that Sir John Betjeman was present at the arrest of Oscar Wilde at The Cadogan Hotel. #FakeNews
    The newly renovated The Belmond Cadogan Hotel opens today and is sure to become the place to go in Knightsbridge

  • Boarded Up On The Bishops Avenue

    Boarded Up On The Bishops Avenue

    Mansion on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead goes on sale for £15 million; it isn’t quite what you’d expect for such a price

     

    Built on a 1.8 acre plot in 1896 in the  Arts and Crafts style and featuring a mock Tudor façade, one would expect a property on The Bishops Avenue priced at £15 million to be something quite spectacular.

     

    In the case of a mansion originally known as ‘Kenmore House’ and subsequently ‘Al-Murtaza’ (meaning: “attainder of the pleasure of God and the favourite”) however, all you’ll get is a “total wreck” but one situated on a street nicknamed ‘The Billionaires’ Boulevard.’ Near neighbours of this citadel of wealth past and present include East European arms dealers and Saudi royals and the likes of Sir Billy Butlin, Richard Desmond, Gracie Fields, Lakshmi Mittal, Asil Nadir and Sir Peter Saunders.

     

    Boarded Up On The Bishops Avenue – Kenmore House or Al-Murataza, 58 The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 0BE – Mansion on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead goes on sale for £15 million; it isn’t quite what you’d expect for such a price – For sale for £15 million ($19.7 million, €17.4 million or درهم72.4 million) through Aston Chase.
    58 The Bishops Avenue in 2012 in semi-derelict state and in 2019 as a total wreck

     

    Previously marketed at sums as high as £25 million when in slightly better condition – and at those times with now expired planning permission for replacement with a 30,000 square foot replacement dwelling – ‘58 The Bishops Avenue’ (as it is more plainly known) was last sold for a publicly available sum of £5.2 million in 1998. It has reportedly been empty ever since and passed through the hands of unknown offshore entities and was even repossessed.

     

    Featuring accommodation extending to 12,000 square foot and ten bedrooms, the building is likely to get a visit from a wrecking ball in due course. Its current selling agents, Aston Chase, point out that “it is situated on the favoured West side of the street” and still has “a sweeping carriage drive” and tennis court.

     

    Kenmore House, 58 The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 0BE – The Numbers

     

    February 2019 – For sale for £15 million ($19.7 million, €17.4 million or درهم72.4 million) through Aston Chase.

     

    January 2016 – For sale as a “development opportunity” for £22.5 million ($29.6 million, €26.1 million or درهم108.7 million) through Mann, Smith & Partners.

     

    February 2014 – Sold for an undisclosed sum on behalf of the receivers by Knight Frank with 1.8 acres and planning permission for a new 30,000 square foot house.

     

    August 2012 – For sale for £25 million ($32.9 million, €28.9 million or درهم120.7 million) through Knight Frank.

     

    July 1998 – Sold for £5.2 million ($6.8 million, €6 million or درهم25.1 million).

     

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    Boarded Up On The Bishops Avenue – Kenmore House or Al-Murataza, 58 The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 0BE – Mansion on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead goes on sale for £15 million; it isn’t quite what you’d expect for such a price – For sale for £15 million ($19.7 million, €17.4 million or درهم72.4 million) through Aston Chase. Boarded Up On The Bishops Avenue – Kenmore House or Al-Murataza, 58 The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 0BE – Mansion on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead goes on sale for £15 million; it isn’t quite what you’d expect for such a price – For sale for £15 million ($19.7 million, €17.4 million or درهم72.4 million) through Aston Chase. Boarded Up On The Bishops Avenue – Kenmore House or Al-Murataza, 58 The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 0BE – Mansion on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead goes on sale for £15 million; it isn’t quite what you’d expect for such a price – For sale for £15 million ($19.7 million, €17.4 million or درهم72.4 million) through Aston Chase.Boarded Up On The Bishops Avenue – Kenmore House or Al-Murataza, 58 The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 0BE – Mansion on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead goes on sale for £15 million; it isn’t quite what you’d expect for such a price – For sale for £15 million ($19.7 million, €17.4 million or درهم72.4 million) through Aston Chase.

  • The Greatness of Grant

    The Greatness of Grant

    Richard E. Grant has proven that Britain can still produce talent; he shined in ‘Can You Forgive Me?’ and deserves an Oscar

     

    Quite the opposite of the misery and all-round prat of the same surname, Hugh, Withnail and I star Richard E. Grant has yet again excelled himself.

     

    Yesterday, this talented British actor and fragrance creator was named the Best Supporting Male at the 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California for his performance in the superb film Can You Forgive Me?

     

    After the ceremony Grant remarked that he was “utterly overwhelmed” on Twitter and now we hope that he gets an Oscar next.

     

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