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

  • A Cheap Country Cottage

    A Cheap Country Cottage

    A Lancashire country cottage with 1.4 acres is for sale for less than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge; it could be yours for just £80,000

     

    A country cottage with acreage: It sounds idyllic and with a price of just £80,000 ($104,000, €92,000 or درهم381,000), it’s cheaper than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge.

     

    Situated in the rural Ribble Valley village of Hothersall in Lancashire, Falicon Cottage is in need of modernisation but includes a sitting room, dining kitchen, utility room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. It comes with 1.42 acres of land split into three parcels and a set of what are described as “dilapidated huts.”

     

    The property is offered for sale by agents Richard Turner & Son.

     

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    A Cheap Cottage – £80,000 for Falicon Cottage, Fleet Street Lane, Hothershall, Longridge, Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom, PR3 3YR through Richard Turner & Son – A Lancashire country cottage with 1.4 acres for less than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge; yours for just £80,000 ($104,000, €92,000 or درهم381,000). A Cheap Cottage – £80,000 for Falicon Cottage, Fleet Street Lane, Hothershall, Longridge, Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom, PR3 3YR through Richard Turner & Son – A Lancashire country cottage with 1.4 acres for less than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge; yours for just £80,000 ($104,000, €92,000 or درهم381,000). A Cheap Cottage – £80,000 for Falicon Cottage, Fleet Street Lane, Hothershall, Longridge, Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom, PR3 3YR through Richard Turner & Son – A Lancashire country cottage with 1.4 acres for less than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge; yours for just £80,000 ($104,000, €92,000 or درهم381,000). A Cheap Cottage – £80,000 for Falicon Cottage, Fleet Street Lane, Hothershall, Longridge, Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom, PR3 3YR through Richard Turner & Son – A Lancashire country cottage with 1.4 acres for less than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge; yours for just £80,000 ($104,000, €92,000 or درهم381,000). A Cheap Cottage – £80,000 for Falicon Cottage, Fleet Street Lane, Hothershall, Longridge, Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom, PR3 3YR through Richard Turner & Son – A Lancashire country cottage with 1.4 acres for less than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge; yours for just £80,000 ($104,000, €92,000 or درهم381,000).

  • Word of the Week – Gnomic

    Word of the Week – Gnomic

    Our word of the week just had to be… Gnomic

     

    An ambiguous and enigmatic adjective, our word of the week is “gnomic.” In summary it means: “Expressed in the nature of short, pithy maxims or aphorisms.”

     

    Short and mysterious, not easily understood but “often seeming wise,” the playwright Samuel Beckett once commented: “I grow gnomic. It is the last phase” whilst the Stardust author Neil Guimann took the word into a more contemporary domain when he remarked: “I tweet, therefore my entire life has shrunk to 140 chunks of instant event and predigested gnomic wisdom. And swearing.”

     

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  • Hit the Road Marilyn

    Hit the Road Marilyn

    Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned

     

    A 1956 Ford Thunderbird gifted as a Christmas present to Marilyn Monroe in 1955 by her business partner, the photographer Milton Greene, is to be auctioned in November.

     

    The raven black roadster bodied automatic – dubbed a “personal luxury car” by Ford – comes with numerous documents  and of it, the current owner comments:

     

    “I found the vehicle in lovely show condition. Nevertheless, the car has received a frame-off restoration to its exact original appearance by Prestige Thunderbird, Inc., of Santa Fe Springs, CA. Prestige is the premier west coast firm specializing only in classic 1955, 1956, and 1957 Ford Thunderbirds. In recognition of the car’s important provenance, special heed was given to the retention of original parts, with most driver and passenger touch surfaces left undisturbed.”

     

    “Finding this car, a classic two-seater model, after 56 plus years of its unknown whereabouts, was a singular event. No other car has been located and documented as owned by the incomparable Marilyn Monroe.”

     

    Speaking of the 225 horsepower, V8 engined vehicle, Amy Greene, wife of Milton Greene, remarked:

     

    “Marilyn liked to drive. We’d take the convertible and with the top down, we’d go sailing along the highway. We both liked to feel the wind in our faces and the warmth of the heater on our legs.”

     

    Kept and driven by the icon for six years, Monroe and her playwright husband Arthur Miller drove the Thunderbird to their civil wedding ceremony on 28th June 1956 and likely also to their private wedding on 30th June 1956. The vehicle was subsequently ‘regifted’ t to John Strasberg, the son the director and acting coach Lee Strasberg, as an 18th birthday present in 1962. It comes with a black canvas convertible top, a porthole windowed hardtop and has 30,399 miles on the odometer following an engine rebuild.

     

    Darren Julien, president of Julien’s – the firm conducting the sale – added:

     

    “Once in a while something comes along that has a powerful magic about it, a charisma, because of everything and everyone associated with it. This wonderful Ford Thunderbird is not only part of automotive history but comes with an aura of glamour, romance and tragedy of a true Hollywood legend. It will make the centrepiece of any classic car collection and be an object of fascination to millions.”

     

    Julien’s Auctions will offer the car at their ‘Icons and Idols: Hollywood’ on 17th November in Los Angeles, California. They have set an estimate of £230,000 to £384,000 ($300,000 to $500,000, €262,000 to €436,000 or درهم1.1 million to درهم1.8 million).

     

    2018 photos: Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions.

     

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    Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018. Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018. Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018.Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018. Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018. Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018. Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018.Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018. Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018. Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018.Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018.Hit the Road Marilyn – Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 Ford Thunderbird to be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California on 17th November 2018.

  • A Rental Ruin

    A Rental Ruin

    Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler”

     

    Other than the legendary Roy Brooks, the only honest man in his game, estate agents will be optimistic about just about anything. A bit of damp: “no problem”; a nuclear power station next door: “positively charming” but John D. Wood & Co. truly take the biscuit with the marketing material for a property they are currently trying to let in chi-chi Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London.

     

    Sent to us by an eagle eyed reader, the £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week), 867 square foot three floor aforementioned house has conventional features such as a reception room, kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom. It also, rather unconventionally, has walls that haven’t even been painted and are just bare plaster. Pictures show also scruffily made-up beds propped up on wooden blocks, wiring and ageing televisions discarded on the floors and a garden littered with leaves.

     

    Of this strange offering, our reader remarked: “I saw this listing and thought it was a half-finished project and up for sale, but no, it’s a rental. Buy-to-let plainly says can’t afford to finish it, says sod it and tries to rent it out in a half-finished state and describe it as a ‘unique house packed with character and charm.’ I particularly like the exposed gas meter!”

     

    When he telephoned, a member of staff at John D. Wood told our reader: “The landlord would prefer to rent the property ‘as is’ and not do further work. It would be at least £1,000 per week if it were finished. He is happy for any tenant to paint and make further improvements.”

     

    In typical estate agent fashion, she optimistically added: “It does have a new boiler.”

     

    Roy Brooks – “A painfully honest estate agent”

    “Beyond any doubt the best copywriter for property advertising in the history of the British press,” Roy Brooks (died 1971) took a “puckish delight in telling the truth” about the houses he was asked to sell.

     
    A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week).

    An example of this Kings Road based eccentric’s advertisements read:

     

    “Do not be misled by the trim exterior of this modest period res with its dirty broken windows; all is not well with the inside. The décor of the nine rooms, some of which hangs inelegantly from the walls, is revolting. Not entirely devoid of plumbing, there is a pathetic kitchen and one cold tap. No bathroom, of course, but Chelsea has excellent public baths. Rain sadly drips through the ceiling on to the oilcloth. The pock-marked basement floor indicates a thriving community of woodworm, otherwise there is not much wrong with the property… Sacrifice £6,750.”

     

    Another announced:

     

    “Wanted: Someone with taste, means and a stomach strong enough to buy this erstwhile house of ill-repute in Pimlico. It is untouched by the 20th century as far as conveniences for even the basic human decencies are concerned. Although it reeks of damp or worse, the plaster is coming off the walls and daylight peeps through a hole in the roof, it is still habitable judging by the bed of rags, fag ends and empty bottles in one corner. Plenty of scope for the socially aspiring to express their decorative taste and get their abode in The Glossy, and nothing to stop them putting Westminster on their notepaper. Comprises 10 rather unpleasant rooms with slimy back yard, £4,650 Freehold. Tarted up, these houses make £15,000.”

     

    Justifying his reasoning for driving his Rolls-Royce from London to Russia loaded up with 1,000 pairs of shoes, Brooks – author of Brothel in Pimlico and Mud, Straw and Insults: Confessions of an Honest Estate Agent – glibly explained: “I take these for old times’ sake – Stalingrad and the defeat of the German hordes. Perhaps I could bring back in return some of their women engineers whose factories I saw prefabricating good homes by the thousands.”

     

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    A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week).A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week).

  • Finding Your Station

    Finding Your Station

    1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned today at Goodwood Revival sale

     

    Today at their annual Goodwood Revival sale in Sussex, Bonhams will auction a whole array of cars. Amongst lots offered is a striking 1937 Bentley that was rebodied as a ‘Woodie’ shooting brake circa 1950.

     

    Estimated at a guide of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to درهم593,000) the 4.5-litre car has coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – a firm described whose “clientele was the provincial upper classes and minor aristocracy who wanted a limousine or saloon that reflected their station in life” – and was bought by Roger Saul, founder of Mulberry, at Pebble Beach in the late 1990s.

     

    Saul – who ran the Charlton House Hotel in Shepton Mallet, Somerset (now owned by Duncan Bannatyne) for 13 years from 1996 – used the Bentley to convey guests on fishing trips until selling it in 2003.

     

    Completely refurbished in recent years “with no expense spared,” here is a head turner that combines both beauty and practicality.

     

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    Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د)Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د)Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د) Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د)Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د)Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د) Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د)Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د)Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د) Finding Your Station – 1937 Bentley 4.5-litre ‘Woodie’ shooting brake with coachwork by Vincent’s of Reading – Registration DLO 934, chassis B142JD – 1937 Bentley shooting brake formerly owned by Mulberry founder Roger Saul to be auctioned at Goodwood Revival sale, 8th September 2018 by Bonhams with an estimate of £100,000 to £125,000 ($129,000 to $162,000, €112,000 to €140,000 or درهم475,000 to د)

  • A Pricey Doer-Upper

    A Pricey Doer-Upper

    Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum

     

    Described as “one of the most stunning sites in the Lake District National Park” by selling agents Michael C. L.  Hodgson, the Hard Crag farmstead above High Brow Edge at Backbarrow in Cumbria has gone on sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) in spite of being nothing but an utter wreck.

     

    Unusual in that it was built high on a hillside rather than in a valley in the 17th century and unoccupied since 1954, this ‘yeoman style farmhouse’ with a barn and outbuildings is Grade II listed and on the National Park Authority’s register of Listed Buildings at Risk.

     

    Offered with planning permission for redevelopment, designs for Hard Crag envision the creation of a parlour, snug, dining kitchen, utility room and guest bedroom suite with wet room to the ground floor and a sitting room with a raised platform and a master bedroom suite with a dressing room and bathroom to the first floor.

     

    Surrounded by 36 acres of land that includes pasture, grazing, meadows, a tarn and rocky outcrop features, what sets this property apart are its views to Consiston, Scafell and the Langdales.

     

    Though presently akin to Uncle Monty’s cottage in the cult film Withnail & I in its present condition, Hard Crag will most certainly once again soon be a truly fine home.

     

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    A Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. Hodgson A Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. Hodgson A Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. Hodgson A Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. HodgsonA Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. Hodgson A Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. HodgsonA Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. Hodgson A Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. Hodgson A Pricey Doer-Upper – Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum – Hard Crag, High Brow Edge, Backbarrow, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8QY, United Kingdom – For sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) through Michael C. L. Hodgson

  • Fame & The Beeb

    Fame & The Beeb

    John Stoddart exhibition of silkscreen prints of his iconic works at Chelsea Arts Club attracts the attention of some BBC heavyweights

     

    On Tuesday, at the Chelsea Arts Club in London, photographer John Stoddart illustrated his versatility as an artist in exhibiting silkscreen prints created from his works.

     

    Present at the preview were a whole array of characters – amongst them both former host of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs Sue Lawley and political commentator and BBC One’s The Marr Show host Andrew Marr – and as the wine flowed, guests got to admire images of Joan Collins, Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

     Fame & The Beeb – Famous! by Stoddart exhibition at Chelsea Arts Club – John Stoddart exhibition of silkscreen prints of his iconic works at Chelsea Arts Club attracts the attention of some BBC heavyweights.Fame & The Beeb – Famous! by Stoddart exhibition at Chelsea Arts Club – John Stoddart exhibition of silkscreen prints of his iconic works at Chelsea Arts Club attracts the attention of some BBC heavyweights.

     

    Of the exhibition, Claire Rubinstein, herself formerly of the BBC also, remarked: “I love the vibrancy and colour of these images. John has injected some joie de vivre into the faces and I am especially taken with the one of Hugh Grant. Doesn’t he look camp?”

     

    The works – which are limited to editions of ten and titled ‘Famous! by Stoddart’ – are priced at £300 ($388, €334 or درهم1,425) per print or £2,000 ($2,587, €2,226 or درهم9,500) for a boxed set of all ten prints.

     

    The exhibition will remain on show for the next two weeks and those interested in purchasing prints are invited to telephone the Chelsea Arts Club.

     

    Chelsea Arts Club, 143 Old Church Street, London, SW3 6EB. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7376 3311.

     

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  • Rule, Britannia!

    Rule, Britannia!

    “Famously haunted” Chelsea townhouse once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry for sale

     

    A Grade II* listed Georgian house on Kings Road in Chelsea, London that has gone on sale comes with links to not only the composer Thomas Arne (1710 – 1778) but also the Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry, GBE (1847 – 1928).

     

    Spread over five floors and extending to 3,179 square foot, the renovated Georgian property provides 3 reception rooms, a vast dining kitchen created out of a former artists’ studio space, 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It has a garden to the front and a courtyard also.

     

    Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.
    Dame Ellen Terry and Thomas Arne

     

    Though only briefly home to Thomas Arne – a Roman Catholic and Freemason best known for both Rule, Britannia! and A-Hunting We Will Go – in 1771, actress Dame Ellen Terry lived in 215 Kings Road from 1904 to 1920. It is reported that her possessions there were sold off in 1921 as part of “an attempt to fend off bankruptcy” and of it, a newspaper article titled ‘The Ghosts of Ellen Terry’ reported:

     

    “Surely civilisation was never responsible for the invention of the auction sale. It is such a heartless proceeding. Even a barbarian chief, waving a fierce spear, could not look more relentless than the auctioneer with the dull thud of his cruel little hammer. And surely no barbaric women with palm-leaves and fuzzed hair ever wore harder expressions than the crowd of modern sisters gathered yesterday in Ellen Terry’s old home in Chelsea, as they watched the exquisite china and other mementos of a great artist whisked off by sharp bidders for ridiculously small sums.”

     

    Knight Frank seek £6.45 million ($8.30 million, €7.15 million or درهم30.47 million) for the now “famously haunted” freehold house.

     

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     Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry. Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry. Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry. Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.

  • Styled by Stoddart

    Styled by Stoddart

    ‘Photographer to the Stars’ John Stoddart puts his Whitstable bachelor pad up for sale; it truly represents his bon vivant lifestyle

     

    Suave Liverpool born ‘sniper-turned-snapper’ John Stoddart is selling his lavishly decorated apartment in the heart of the “oyster capital of Britain,” Whitstable.

     

    Styled by Stoddart – Home of John Stoddart, Liverpudlian sniper turned snapper and ‘Photographer to the Stars’ – Flat 2, 34 – 36 Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1DG, United Kingdom – For sale for £235,000 ($306,000, €262,000 or درهم1.1million) through Miles and Barr.
    John Stoddart at home

     

    Extending to 919 square foot and situated on this delightfully eccentric seaside town’s High Street, the two-storey maisonette is presently arranged to provide a sitting room, dining kitchen, utility room, bedroom, bathroom and archive-studio room (that could easily revert to a second bedroom).

     

    Stoddart was born in Liverpool and joined the Grenadier Guards at fifteen. He has worked with everyone from Tony Blair to Catherine Zeta-Jones and even captured Daniel Craig on the day before it was announced he’d be the next James Bond.

     

    Agents Miles and Barr seek £235,000 ($306,000, €262,000 or درهم1.1million) for the apartment and with trains from Whitstable to London Victoria taking just 1 hour 30 minutes, this could be just perfect as a holiday bolthole.

     

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    Styled by Stoddart – Home of John Stoddart, Liverpudlian sniper turned snapper and ‘Photographer to the Stars’ – Flat 2, 34 – 36 Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1DG, United Kingdom – For sale for £235,000 ($306,000, €262,000 or درهم1.1million) through Miles and Barr. Styled by Stoddart – Home of John Stoddart, Liverpudlian sniper turned snapper and ‘Photographer to the Stars’ – Flat 2, 34 – 36 Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1DG, United Kingdom – For sale for £235,000 ($306,000, €262,000 or درهم1.1million) through Miles and Barr. Styled by Stoddart – Home of John Stoddart, Liverpudlian sniper turned snapper and ‘Photographer to the Stars’ – Flat 2, 34 – 36 Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1DG, United Kingdom – For sale for £235,000 ($306,000, €262,000 or درهم1.1million) through Miles and Barr. Styled by Stoddart – Home of John Stoddart, Liverpudlian sniper turned snapper and ‘Photographer to the Stars’ – Flat 2, 34 – 36 Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1DG, United Kingdom – For sale for £235,000 ($306,000, €262,000 or درهم1.1million) through Miles and Barr.Styled by Stoddart – Home of John Stoddart, Liverpudlian sniper turned snapper and ‘Photographer to the Stars’ – Flat 2, 34 – 36 Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1DG, United Kingdom – For sale for £235,000 ($306,000, €262,000 or درهم1.1million) through Miles and Barr.Styled by Stoddart – Home of John Stoddart, Liverpudlian sniper turned snapper and ‘Photographer to the Stars’ – Flat 2, 34 – 36 Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1DG, United Kingdom – For sale for £235,000 ($306,000, €262,000 or درهم1.1million) through Miles and Barr.

  • Win a Knightsbridge Flat (with a Shady Past)

    Win a Knightsbridge Flat (with a Shady Past)

    Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted ‘gay sex plot’ royal blackmailer who died in 2016

     

    Increasingly, with sellers unable to offload prime properties due to Theresa May’s inability to secure any kind of Brexit deal and the ongoing effects of former Chancellor George Osborne’s increases to stamp duty, those with luxury flats and houses are turning to raffling them.

     

    An example of such comes in in the form of a ground and first floor maisonette on the corner of Walton Street and Beauchamp Place in London’s Knightsbridge. Extending to 1,063 square foot and including a large reception room, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, the aforementioned fully furnished property is ambitiously being touted as being worth £3.2 million in spite of having sold for just £1.4 million in 2007 and £575,000 in 2000.

     

    Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)
    The ground floor sitting room of the flat; the property has been marketed for rental at a price of £2,750 per week in times past
    Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)
    Bisexual ‘royal blackmailer’ Ian Strachan lived in the flat for a period following his release from jail

     

    Now marketed in a competition by a company named Your Laddr – run by a former Alexander McQueen merchandiser named Santa Agolli – for £10 a ticket, Flat 1 at 132 Walton Street, SW3 is being promoted without mention of one of its most recent occupants, a controversial and now deceased ‘royal blackmailer’ who’d sought £50,000 for a set of recordings from various national newspapers in 2007.

     

    Tried under the name of Paul Aðalsteinsson (other aliases included Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein), Grimsby trawlerman’s son turned “playboy” Ian Strachan lived at 132 Walton Street after being released following serving a sentence of five years for a gay sex blackmail plot against an unnamed, married member of the royal family.  He subsequently had his left leg amputated following a 30-foot fall from a balcony in Imperial Wharf, SW6 in 2013 and then spent 10 months in jail in Dubai in 2015 after crashing an Audi R8. He died aged just 40 of a drug overdose in South Kensington on Christmas Eve 2016.

     

    The winner of Flat 132, Walton Street will have their stamp duty, legal fees and council tax for one year paid as part of the prize. In addition, they will be ‘given’ a 2017 Jeep Wrangler Black Hawk with 800 miles on the clock, a cash amount of upto £4,000 to cover insurance for one year and a cash payment to cover a Kensington and Chelsea parking permit for one year also. Hopefully they’ll have better luck than the tragic Mr Strachan; may he rest in peace.

     

    To enter the competition, click here.

     

    Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge London, SW3 1RE – The Numbers

     

    August 2018 – Prize draw remains open indicating that ticket sales must be rather slow.

     

    December 2017 – Offered in a raffle for £10 per ticket with a minimum of 380,000 tickets needed to be sold. This would equate to a return of £3.8 million ($4.9 million, €4.2 million or درهم17.9 million) in ticket sales.

     

    November 2007 – Sold for £1.436 million ($1.845 million, €1.581 million or درهم6.776 million).

     

    October 2000 – Sold for £575,000 ($739,000, €633,000 or درهم2.713 million).

     

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    Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein) Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein) Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)