Her husband may have been minor as Prime Minister but she is definitely a star. She put up with John Major’s dalliances with Edwina Currie and “kept a low profile” whilst her husband ran the country. Norma Major is thought of as “strong willed” and was rightly made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in her own right.
Category: WILDCARDS
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Dame Norma Major DBE
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Jeannette Etheredge
This legendary San Franciscan owned the city’s oldest bar, Tosca Cafe, from 1980 until 2013. She loved the regulars as much as the stars and though some describe Etheredge as “curmudgeonly”, this “grand dame” truly ran her bar with great grace and style. Her only rule was “don’t bother anyone” and as a result everyone from Sean Penn to Christopher Hitchens to Hunter S. Thompson flocked there. -
Michael “Chalky” White
This Scottish producer’s life was immortalised in the 2013 crowdfunded film, The Last Impresario. Jewish and educated at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz, White moved from being a Wall Street runner in the 1950s to the pinnacles of showbusiness in the 1960s and 1970s. Known for working on projects as diverse as Monty Python, The Rocky Horror Show, Enigma and White Mischief, this legendary playboy “can’t think about one good thing about growing old” and considers beautiful women to be “like living pictures”. White’s “Icarus-like downfall” into drugs and excess are well documented but, as he’d no doubt say himself, “the party must go on”. -
Nubar Gulbenkian (Armenian: Նուբար Սարգիս Գյուլբենկյան, 1896 – 1972)
This Harrow educated eccentric, Santa Claus lookalike and playboy had two Austin FX4 Hackney carriages converted to his own specifications and considered the best number for a dinner party to be two (himself and “a damn good head waiter”). (more…) -
Huguette Clark (1906 – 2011)
This heiress daughter of a Montana “robber baron” mining and railroad tycoon was a hence unseen recluse from 1930 until her death in 2011 following a painful divorce from the son of one of her father’s business associates after just two years of marriage. (more…) -
Viola Herms Drath (1920 – 2011)
This twice married 91-year old Georgetown, Washington, D.C. socialite and journalist was born in Dusseldorf and died as a result of “strangulation and blunt force injuries” in her own bathroom in August 2011. (more…) -
Ian Towning
This creepy, permatanned ‘queen’ of the antiques trade claims to have blue blood on his mother’s side. Aside from appearing on the ‘mahogany skinned’ David Dickinson’s Real Deal television programme, Ian Towning once attempted to launch a pen for left-handed writers. He is often spotted promenading the Kings Road – from where he operates a somewhat downbeat market stall-esque dealership – in ‘full regalia’ and at a certain sun tanning parlour next to McDonalds.
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Ryan Lochte (nicknames 'Reezy' and 'The Lochtenator')
This American competitive swimmer has won 11 Olympic medals, been challenged to a swimming race by Prince Harry in Las Vegas and featured in a Funny or Die spoof with Sir Patrick Stewart and Simon Pegg. Known for his diamond-encrusted smile, Lochte trademarked the catchphrase “Jeah” in 2012 and of its meaning explained: “It means everything, like, happy. Like if you have a good swim, you say, ‘Jeah!’ It’s good. So I guess it means, ‘good’”. Aside from sport, fashion and acting are his passions. He appeared in the teen drama 90210 in 2012 and of his future plans, commented: “When I hang up the Speedo, then, I’ll put the focus on the design”. -
Jerry Hall
Like a fine vintage, this Texan model and actress gets better with age. Mick Jagger’s former common-law wife was once engaged to Bryan Ferry and has dabbled with Kabbalah and other religions. A mother of four, Hall once stated: “I’m a very bad citizen. I’ve never even voted… I have zero interest in politics”. -
Austin 7 man
He cruises the streets of Knightsbridge and Belgravia in the afternoons and hoots every so often as he drives along. Often spotted puffing away on a cigar, nothing more is known of this diminutive character.