The Steeple Times

Tag: 1956

  • Mocking The Dockers

    Mocking The Dockers

    Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85m; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3m today of company money on the place without permission

    • Alleged inspiration for ‘The Pink Panther’ film, Norah Docker (AKA ‘Naughty Norah’ and ‘Lady Muck’) described herself as “an artificial blonde, among thousands of artificial blondes searching for stardom.”
    • Of her second husband, Sir William Collins, chairman of Fortnum & Mason, she announced: “He was 69, I married him for his money.”
    • Lady Docker used her third husband Sir Bernard Docker’s company money to create Daimler cars upholstered in zebra hide – “because mink is too hot to sit on.”
    • The couple also plundered the company to buy Glandyfi Castle in Wales and spent an equivalent of £1.3 million of today’s money on it.
    • The Grade II listed, early 19th century ‘mock castle’ became a small hotel and is currently for sale for £2.85 million.

    The best known ‘occupants’ of Glandyfi Castle, an early 19th century ‘mock castle’ eleven miles from Aberystwyth in Mid Wales, were Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) managing director and Daimler chairman Sir Bernard Docker and his notoriously decadent wife, ‘Naughty Norah.’

     

    The Dockers, a “spendaholic” pair said to be the inspiration for the 1963  film The Pink Panther, lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million of today’s money buying and altering the castle in 1949 – the very same year they were robbed of £1.9 million of diamonds in today’s money at their Mayfair home also.

     

    Sir Bernard and Lady Docker lived at Glandyfi until 1956 when it was discovered that they’d plundered the company through the presentation of vast expenses. Aside from the castle, Lady Docker had lavishly created five show ‘Docker Daimler’ show cars covered in gold and upholstered with amongst other things zebra hide. When asked why she had done such, she coyly responded: “Because mink is too hot to sit on,” but subsequently after these and the castle had to be returned, the couple bought a Bentley Continental as revenge.

     

    Now, today, Grade II listed Glandyfi (pronounced ‘Glandovey’) is for sale for what seems like a comparatively reasonable sum of £2.85 million, but it now comes minus the “glitzy” additions made by the Dockers. The Regency Gothic style stone and slate main building extends to 8,280 square feet over four floors and provides 5 reception rooms, 10 double bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and in addition comes with a courtyard with guest accommodation, a 1 bedroom lodge and a range of disused barns.

     

    Externally, aside from a mature landscaped garden, the 31.43 acre plot includes a walled former kitchen garden, grazing land and woodland, but what is most impressive is the setting of what James Delingpole termed “not so much an austere, toff’s castle as a theme-park recreation of one” with “undoubtedly the most magnificent view from any house I know in Britain.”

     

    Speaking to Anne Ashworth of The Times last time the allegedly haunted castle was placed for sale in July 2019, current selling agent Belinda Hutchinson-Smith of Strutt & Parker – whom also was involved in marketing the property to the current owners, the Holmes family, back in 2007 when she worked at Savills – stated:

     

    “It was surreal [in 2007]. We were in a time warp. Almost nothing had changed since the Dockers moved out in the 1950s. There were 1950s newspapers strewn across the dining tables and in the bedrooms, books were left open on bedside tables. But, at the same time, the house had a magical feeling.”

     

    In comments to the BBC in September 2014, when the former Docker one-of-one 1954 Daimler ‘Stardust’ was sold at auction for £110,000, Glandyfi’s current owner Maureen Holmes remarked:

     

    “[Sir Bernard and Lady Docker] were clearly living the dream. From the red and white marble fireplaces to a path through the woods made entirely of upturned gin bottles, the castle oozed excess.”

     

    “The older people around here who remember them say they were unbelievable, almost mythical figures. At a time when everyone else was still on rationing, the Dockers were thundering through the lanes in limousines made out of gold and silver.”

     

    “The irony is, that whilst the locals felt the Dockers’ perceived wealth meant that they were utterly removed from the community, in actual fact they probably had no more money than anyone else in the area.”

     

    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Lady Docker pictured in one of the opulent ‘Docker Daimler’ show cars she commissioned her husband’s company to create; the most famous of the examples was known as the ‘Golden Zebra’ – this 1955 Daimler two-door coupé based on the DK400 chassis featured metal trim pieces plated in gold instead of chrome, an ivory dashboard and zebra-skin upholstery.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Thrice married Lady Docker (1906 – 1983), born Norah Turner and also variously Norah Callingham and Lady Collins, was born in Derby and began her career as a hostess at the Café de Paris in London. In Lancashire, her name is still used as a derogatory substitute for ‘Lady Muck’ and in spite of her once extravagant lifestyle, she died in poverty at the not so chi-chi Great Western Royal Hotel in Praed Street, Paddington, London.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    In one of her last interviews, Lady Docker remarked: “I have always had the persistence to march on. I will continue to do that, until the day I die.” In spite of her reduced circumstances, she is said to have “retained a remarkable joie-de-vivre, downing glasses of pink champagne to the last.”
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    English poet Thomas Love Peacock got married at Glandyfi Castle in 1820; Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan stayed at the property whilst filming ‘Springwatch’ in 2012.

    The Names & Numbers – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom

     

    October 2020 – Relaunched for sale for £2.85 million ($3.69 million, €3.15 million or درهم15.54 million) through Strutt & Parker.

     

    June 2019 – Listed for sale for £2.85 million ($3.69 million, €3.15 million or درهم15.54 million) through Strutt & Parker with 31.43 acres of land.

     

    2012 – Whilst filming the BBC’s Springwatch, presenters Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan stayed at the castle. Strachan wrote in the guest book: “I couldn’t imagine a nicer, more comfortable place to stay… I felt like a princess in my amazing room.” Packham added: “Staying at the castle has been a total treat. Hospitality, fine food, wonderful environment, views to die for and history.”

     

    Late 2000s to September 2019 – Operated as an 8 bedroom “informal and relaxed [hotel and wedding venue] without any stuffiness or restrictions” by a theatre designer named Maureen Holmes and her family.

     

    May 2007 – Offered for sale for £1.25 million ($1.62 million, €1.38 million or درهم5.94 million) through Savills with 43 acres of land on behalf of the late owner, one Mrs Betty Piper (1914 – 2006).

     

    January 1964 – The building is given a Grade II listing, reference 9874, and is described as “the only example [of a] Georgian country house in picturesque castellated style in the county.”

     

    1956 – Following discovery of the Dockers’ “profligacy” and their removal from BSA, the castle is sold.

     

    1949 – Purchased by Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited for the use of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker for the sum of £12,000 or the equivalent of £427,000 ($552,000, €471,000 or درهم2 million) today. The company then lavished £25,000 or the equivalent of £890,000 ($1.2 million, €983,000 or درهم4.2 million) today on “opulent renovations of the home.”

     

    1906 – Following the death of Charles Jeffreys, the castle and its lands pass out of the hands of that family after 114 years.

     

    1820 – English poet Thomas Love Peacock (1785 – 1866) married Jane Griffith (also known as Jane Gryffydh) at the castle. His fellow poet and friend Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822) referenced Peacock’s wife “the milk-white Snowdonian Antelope.”

     

    Early 19th century – Built to the designs of an unknown architect for George Jeffreys, High Sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1819 on an estate acquired by his great uncle, Edward, in 1792.

     

    Some of Lady Docker’s Notable Remarks

     

    Of herself, as she moved to London to seek fame and fortune:

    “An artificial blonde, among thousands of artificial blondes searching for stardom.”

     

    Of her vision in life:

    “[To] bring some happiness back to a world left hollow by the horror of two world wars… We bring glamour and happiness into drab lives. The working class loves everything I do.”

     

    Of her father:

    “A self-made man.”

     

    Of her male “targets” and those she viewed to be husband material:

    “Through my life, I set both my sights and my price high.”

     

    Of her chairman of Fortnum & Mason second husband, Sir William Collins:

    “He was 69, I married him for his money.”

     

    Of her third husband, Sir Bernard Docker:

    “I deliberately trapped him.”

     

    When asked to justify why she covered the seats of a 1955 Daimler in zebra skin:

    “Zebra, because mink is too hot to sit on.”

     

    On the loss of the ‘Docker Daimlers’ when they were taken away from her and her husband:

    “It’s not the loss of the gold cars that makes me feel like this… And weren’t they fun? They were like my children… No, it’s that lovely party I was planning for 25,000 of the company’s workers for my 50th birthday. A tiptop affair – and now it’s all off. How could they do this to [Sir Bernard] after 17 years? Why, he’s such a hard worker that he even had a direct line to the firm from our yacht.”

     

    Of Prince Rainier of Monaco after her son was banned from his son’s christening and she decided to burn the Monacan flag:

    “I’m at war with Rainier.”

     

    To the captain of the liner the Queen Elizabeth:

    “This ship is being run by a bloody Communist! Don’t you dare touch me, you bloody Communist!”

     

    Of some miners she invited on her yacht:

    “The dear boys, I just loved them! It proved conclusively to me that the social barrier only exists in the mind.”

     

    Of a Monaco casino employee she had allegedly assaulted:

    “It was a good sock I gave that man, and he deserved it.”

     

    Of the people of Jersey:

    “They are the most frightfully boring, dreadful people that have ever been born.”

     

    PICTURED TOP: Glandyfi Castle and the estuary beyond; Sir Bernard and Lady Docker at the castle.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes

     

    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
    Mocking The Dockers – Former home of Sir Bernard and Lady Docker – Glandyfi Castle, Glandyfi, near Machynlleth, Ceredigion, Powys, Mid Wales, SY20 8SS, United Kingdom for sale through Strutt & Parker – Welsh ‘mock castle’ once occupied by notorious spendaholic Lady Docker for sale for £2.85 million; the Dockers were turfed out in 1956 after it was discovered they’d lavished the equivalent of £1.3 million today of company money on the place without permission.
  • Georges Simenon’s ‘House of Happiness’

    Georges Simenon’s ‘House of Happiness’

    Tiny French pied à terre on the Côte d’Azur once owned by the ‘Maigret’ author Georges Simenon for sale for just £107,000; he described the property as his ‘house of happiness’

    Whilst some of the supposed ‘bargain’ properties we’ve featured recently – such as this £15,000 Edwardian ‘fixer upper’ house in Buffalo, Kansas – are in obscure parts of America and might seem a little off-piste and quirky, an especially quaint £107,000 Côte d’Azur pied à terre will no doubt appeal to literary lovers.

     

    Bought by the Maigret author Georges Simenon (1903 – 1989) in 1956 as a birthday present for his second wife, Denyse Ouimet, and featuring usable space extending to 272.2 square foot, the property includes a reception room, kitchen, bathroom and mezzanine sleeping area. A separate entrance leads to a second bedroom and bathroom.

     

    Offered for sale last year for £161,000, this petite pad in Cagnes-sur-Mer has recently been reduced in price by 34% to £107,00. The selling agents are Emmanuelle Minassian International Real Estate – whose offices are situated directly next door.

     

    The Numbers – 98 Montée de la Bourgade, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Haut-de-Cagnes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA), 06800, France

     

    September 2020 – Reduced in price to £107,000 ($142,000, €120,000 or درهم522,000) through estate agents Emmanuelle Minassian International Real Estate. The cost to fix the roof has been estimated at £12,110 ($16,060, €13,550 or درهم58,975) by the selling agents.

     

    November 2019 – Offered for sale for £161,000 ($213,000, €180,000 or درهم781,000) through estate agents Emmanuelle Minassian International Real Estate.

     

    Pictured top: The former Cagnes-sur-Mer home of Georges Simeon – which he is said to have described as his “house of happiness” – and the acclaimed author himself. The Belgian born writer published over 500 novels and was capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. He had at least two dozen pseudonyms and around 550 million copies of his works have been printed.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes

     

    George Simenon’s ‘House of Happiness’ – Maigret author house 98 Montée de la Bourgade, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Haut-de-Cagnes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA), 06800, France for sale through estate agents Emmanuelle Minassian International Real Estate – Tiny French pied à terre on the Côte d’Azur once owned by the ‘Maigret’ author Georges Simenon for sale for just £107,000; he described the property as his ‘house of happiness’ –
    Georges Simenon’s ‘House of Happiness’ – The reception room features an open fireplace and tiled flooring.
    George Simenon’s ‘House of Happiness’ – Maigret author house 98 Montée de la Bourgade, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Haut-de-Cagnes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA), 06800, France for sale through estate agents Emmanuelle Minassian International Real Estate – Tiny French pied à terre on the Côte d’Azur once owned by the ‘Maigret’ author Georges Simenon for sale for just £107,000; he described the property as his ‘house of happiness’ –
    Georges Simenon’s ‘House of Happiness’ – Georges Simeon somehow managed to live at 98 montée de la Bourgade with his third wife and their three children in the 1950s in spite of it being quite beyond tiny. His initial ‘S’ is still to be found on in the ironmongery on the external staircase railings of the building.
    George Simenon’s ‘House of Happiness’ – Maigret author house 98 Montée de la Bourgade, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Haut-de-Cagnes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA), 06800, France for sale through estate agents Emmanuelle Minassian International Real Estate – Tiny French pied à terre on the Côte d’Azur once owned by the ‘Maigret’ author Georges Simenon for sale for just £107,000; he described the property as his ‘house of happiness’ –
    Georges Simenon’s ‘House of Happiness’ – 98 Montée de la Bourgade is situated on a picture perfect side street in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Amongst attractions of the town are the Hippodrome de la Côte d’Azur, a well-known horse racing track, and a 2.5-mile long beach.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_QaT4mLR8E
  • A Mach 3 Fixer Upper

    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper

    Charming detached Edwardian house in Buffalo, Kansas – the birthplace of the first man to beat Mach 3 – for sale for just £15,000; it comes with 0.5 acres of land, a barn and is in reasonable condition

    In England, £15,000 will just about buy you a Ford Fiesta hatchback, but in Buffalo, Kansas, you could get a detached Edwardian house on a plot of 0.44 acres.

     

    Featured on the blog Old Houses Under $50k, 309 North Church Street comprises of a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom house extending to 2,197 square foot and it comes with a small barn also. It is a “fixer-upper” but it appears surprisingly not in the very worst of states.

     

    Built in 1910, the house comes in at a price of just £6.89 per square foot – which seems a true bargain compared to the £4,909 per square foot Chelsea Barracks, London one bedroom we featured in June – and is described as “very cute” and the “perfect [place] for raising your own chickens.”

     

    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – £15,140 ($20,000, €16,800 or درهم73,500) for 309 North Church Street, Buffalo, Wilson County, Kansas, KS 66717, United States of America through Diane Hess of Midwest Real Estate, Inc. – Charming detached Edwardian house in Buffalo, Kansas – the birthplace of the first man to beat Mach 3 – for sale for just £15,000; it comes with 0.5 acres of land, a barn and is reasonable condition.
    Milburn G. ‘Mel’ Apt (9th April 1924 – 27th September 1956) was born in Buffalo, Kansas and graduated from Buffalo High School in 1942. He was killed after separating from the Bell X-2 in his escape capsule during the record-setting flight that exceeded Mach 3.

    Buffalo, Wilson County itself was founded in 1867 if you believe Wikipedia. It was “named after the American bison, commonly known as the buffalo.” It grew to be incorporated as a city in 1898 due to the Missouri Pacific Railroad passing through it, but as of 2010 had a population of just 232 people. Mel Apt (1924 – 1956), the first man to attain speeds faster than Mach 3, was born there.

    309 North Church Street is offered by Diane Hess of Midwest Real Estate, Inc.

    The Numbers – 309 North Church Street, Buffalo, Wilson County, Kansas, KS 66717, United States of America

    • August 2020 – For sale for £15,140 ($20,000, €16,800 or درهم73,500) through Midwest Real Estate, Inc.

    • 2019 – Tax assessment of £1,840 ($2,431, €2,037 or درهم3,348).

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes

    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – £15,140 ($20,000, €16,800 or درهم73,500) for 309 North Church Street, Buffalo, Wilson County, Kansas, KS 66717, United States of America through Diane Hess of Midwest Real Estate, Inc. – Charming detached Edwardian house in Buffalo, Kansas – the birthplace of the first man to beat Mach 3 – for sale for just £15,000; it comes with 0.5 acres of land, a barn and is reasonable condition.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – An internal shot of 309 North Church Street, Buffalo indicates that it might be in basic condition, but it is far from a wreck.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – £15,140 ($20,000, €16,800 or درهم73,500) for 309 North Church Street, Buffalo, Wilson County, Kansas, KS 66717, United States of America through Diane Hess of Midwest Real Estate, Inc. – Charming detached Edwardian house in Buffalo, Kansas – the birthplace of the first man to beat Mach 3 – for sale for just £15,000; it comes with 0.5 acres of land, a barn and is reasonable condition.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – Further empty rooms in the property include character features such as sash windows and wooden floors.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – £15,140 ($20,000, €16,800 or درهم73,500) for 309 North Church Street, Buffalo, Wilson County, Kansas, KS 66717, United States of America through Diane Hess of Midwest Real Estate, Inc. – Charming detached Edwardian house in Buffalo, Kansas – the birthplace of the first man to beat Mach 3 – for sale for just £15,000; it comes with 0.5 acres of land, a barn and is reasonable condition.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – The house a kitchen where you can currently cook on a stove or barbecue and sit on a plastic chair or a fold-up one.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – £15,140 ($20,000, €16,800 or درهم73,500) for 309 North Church Street, Buffalo, Wilson County, Kansas, KS 66717, United States of America through Diane Hess of Midwest Real Estate, Inc. – Charming detached Edwardian house in Buffalo, Kansas – the birthplace of the first man to beat Mach 3 – for sale for just £15,000; it comes with 0.5 acres of land, a barn and is reasonable condition.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – The kitchen cabinets definitely need replacing.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – £15,140 ($20,000, €16,800 or درهم73,500) for 309 North Church Street, Buffalo, Wilson County, Kansas, KS 66717, United States of America through Diane Hess of Midwest Real Estate, Inc. – Charming detached Edwardian house in Buffalo, Kansas – the birthplace of the first man to beat Mach 3 – for sale for just £15,000; it comes with 0.5 acres of land, a barn and is reasonable condition.
    A Mach 3 Fixer Upper – A Google Maps image of the house and barn shows that they were both previously painted red. The plot is open and flat.
  • A Poirot Curve

    A Poirot Curve

    Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum

    Featured as the main article in Country Life just 15 days after the start of the Second World War on 16th September 1939, Hamstone House on the 946-acre St. George’s Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey was constructed between 1937 and 1938 for Herman Peter Thygesen Lind (1890 – 1956), the founder of a firm that later constructed both Waterloo Bridge and the BT Tower in London.

     

    Now offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates, this Grade II listed “classical” house is described on British Listed Buildings as being “in Georgian tradition” and of “brown ham stone ashlar,” but has a look that is more akin to something out of Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels. In 1987, Christopher Warman of The Times, lauded it as “the most important architectural centrepiece of St George’s Hill” and “[looking] like the bridge of a huge ocean going liner.”

     

    Accessed via a Grade II listed double gatehouse, Hamstone House is curved in shape and was somewhat mockingly featured in Punch magazine as “[standing] out like the Duchess of Windsor’s flamingo brooch in a local jewellers window.” Its 8 acres of gardens and grounds were listed as “not [looking] out of place in the grandest of crematoria.”

     

    Refurbished most recently in 2006, the 23,546 square foot freehold property now includes amongst other things 5 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms and an indoor swimming pool. The second floor is dominated by a large roof terrace accessed via an office, from where no doubt Mr Lind no doubt planned many a business manoeuvre as he looked out across what is listed as “rural grandeur.”

     

    Sold to a company connected to Oleg Deripaska, the somewhat controversial oligarch and associate of Peter (now Lord) Mandleson in 2001, Hamstone House was previously marketed for £5 million ($5.7 million, €5.4 million or درهم21.2 million) in 1987 according to Wikipedia.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes

     

    A Poirot Curve – Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum. Hamstone House, South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NF, United Kingdom is offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates.
    A Poirot Curve – Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum. Hamstone House, South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NF, United Kingdom is offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates.
    A Poirot Curve – Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum. Hamstone House, South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NF, United Kingdom is offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates.
    A Poirot Curve – Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum. Hamstone House, South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NF, United Kingdom is offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates.
    A Poirot Curve – Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum. Hamstone House, South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NF, United Kingdom is offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates.
    A Poirot Curve – Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum. Hamstone House, South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NF, United Kingdom is offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates.
    A Poirot Curve – Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum. Hamstone House, South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NF, United Kingdom is offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates.
    A Poirot Curve – Curve shaped neo-Georgian house that wouldn’t look out of place in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel on the St. George’s Hill estate in Surrey for sale for an extraordinary sum. Hamstone House, South Ridge, St. Georges Hill, Weybridge KT13 0NF, United Kingdom is offered for £16 million ($18.4 million, €17.2million or درهم67.6 million) by agents Beauchamp Estates.
  • 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.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes

     

    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.

  • The Affair That Never Was

    The Affair That Never Was

    As the Mail Online makes yet another balls-up, The Steeple Times suggests that Lord Rothermere hire a decent copy checker

     

    As was the case with the amazing yet surprisingly true story of The Man Who Never Was and his affair with the woman who ultimately became the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s Bond character Miss Moneypenny, last night the Mail Online created a similarly ridiculous work of fiction by mistakenly changing a few letters in one of their main news items.

     

    In the first edition of a header for an article about a star who’d taken to the dating app Bumble to “seek someone who isn’t uptight,” the paper falsely suggested that the somewhat drippy adventurer turned television presenter Ben Fogle was divorcing a woman (a singer and ‘Hottest Female 2009’ named Una Healey) who isn’t even his wife and having an affair with another (an until now unknown PR woman named Becky Milne) he’s unlikely never met also. Instead, they meant to reference a somewhat vain rugby player who likes to get his kit off for photoshoots called Ben Foden but somehow got the surnames mixed up.

     

    Though errors happen at all levels, the Daily Mail – a paper that is part of a company with a revenue of nearly £2 billion annually and a vast staff of around 10,000 globally – could surely do better. This was not a story that was run on Page 54 in the graveyard section, but one that they have plastered as headline news and run as story number one online also.

     

    We may well be living in the era of hashtags and fake news and are certainly currently in August’s ‘silly season’, but come on Lord Rothermere – employ yourself a bloody half-decent copy checker.

     

    Pictured top: Rugby player Ben Foden (left) supposedly embarked on a relationship with PR woman Becky Milne (second left) whilst still married to ‘The Saturdays’ singer Una Healy (second from right); television presenter Ben Fogle was mistakenly brought into the mix by a rather ineffectual ‘Mail Online’ copy checker.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes

     

    The Affair That Never Was – Ben Fogle, Ben Foden and the Daily Mail – As the Mail Online makes yet another balls-up, The Steeple Times suggests that Lord Rothermere hire a decent copy checker – Rugby player Ben Foden supposedly embarked on a relationship with PR woman Becky Milne whilst still married to ‘The Saturday’s’ singer Una Healy; television presenter Ben Fogle was mistakenly brought into the mix by a rather ineffectual ‘Mail Online’ copychecker – The story of The Man Who Never Was was inspired by an incident involving Dame Paddy Ridsdale, Ian Fleming’s secretary and later the inspiration for the Bond character Miss Moneypeny, during the Second World War
    The Daily Mail’s first header to the story began “Ben Fogle” (left) whilst later they were forced to amend it to the correct name: “Ben Foden”; surprisingly this mistake was made in a story that they ran as their number one headline on the Mail Online.

    The Affair That Never Was – Ben Fogle, Ben Foden and the Daily Mail – As the Mail Online makes yet another balls-up, The Steeple Times suggests that Lord Rothermere hire a decent copy checker – Rugby player Ben Foden supposedly embarked on a relationship with PR woman Becky Milne whilst still married to ‘The Saturday’s’ singer Una Healy; television presenter Ben Fogle was mistakenly brought into the mix by a rather ineffectual ‘Mail Online’ copychecker – The story of The Man Who Never Was was inspired by an incident involving Dame Paddy Ridsdale, Ian Fleming’s secretary and later the inspiration for the Bond character Miss Moneypeny, during the Second World War
    The acclaimed 1956 film ‘The Man Who Never Was’ was based on the true story of a British attempt to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily’s defenses before their 1943 attack there, using a dead man with faked papers. The late Dame Paddy Ridsdale, at one time Ian Fleming’s secretary and the inspiration for the Bond character Miss Moneypenny, formed part of the plot and pretended to be having an affair with the aforementioned dead man in order to aid the deception.

  • Analysing Borwick

    Analysing Borwick

    The Cambridge Analytica connection you’ve most likely never heard of; meet The Hon. Thomas Borwick, son of ex-Tory MP Lady ‘Call Me Victoria’ Borwick

     

    The Hon. Thomas Borwick is a figure in the Cambridge Analytica scandal you’ve probably never heard of.

     

    Bizarrely largely overlooked by the mainstream media, the son of the ousted ex-MP for Kensington Lady ‘Call Me Victoria’ Borwick is an extremely well connected man who keeps himself under the radar on social media. The 31-year old has just 500 followers on Twitter – a surprisingly low number given he has been described as a “computer specialist” – and was put in a position of huge power as Vote Leave’s chief technology officer from August 2015 to July 2016.

     

    Educated at the University of Richmond, Virginia from 2006 to 2010, with a period studying law courses at Cambridge briefly during 2008, Borwick subsequently worked in IT for the financial services company Killik & Co in 2012 and simultaneously “developed music technology for interactive lessons.”

     

    More interestingly, this youngster’s move into political data profiling came also in 2012 when he founded a company named Kanto Systems with an aim of “bring[ing] UK Campaigning into the 21st century.” Here, Borwick developed a “mobile canvassing app” and came into contact with Cambridge Analytica in order to provide them with “digital services,” according to The Huffington Post. In turn, he sold an app to Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL, and now, in March this year, his firm was brought in by Ireland’s Save The 8th anti-abortion campaign group as part of their efforts “to persuade Irish voters to keep the country’s strict anti-abortion laws.”

     

    “Hiring Thomas Borwick to create and manage a website is like employing the SAS to run security at a school hop or bringing in Einstein to tot up your shopping bill,” comments journalist Fintan O’Toole in The Irish Times, and in further revelations in the Evening Standard late March, Borwick himself admitted to also having worked with the equally controversial Canadian data firm Aggregate IQ – an operation that earned £3.5 million working for Vote Leave during the 2016 referendum campaign.

     

    The public and press need to wake up and smell the coffee. The manipulation of politics in America, Britain, Ireland and elsewhere runs far deeper than even the most avid viewer of the Daily Politics could imagine. Figures like Thomas Borwick may well operate in the backrooms but it is increasingly becoming apparent that with doorstep canvassing all but irrelevant, such people are worryingly our new political powerhouses.

     

    Follow The Steeple Times on Twitter at @SteepleTimes.

     

  • An Idea Car

    An Idea Car

    Futuristic 1952 Chrysler styling prototype to be auctioned in New York; its “wild technology” includes a hydraulically operated spare wheel

     

    Concept cars don’t generally go far and most end up sidelined to the world of dreams, but a 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia headed to auction in December is something quite to the contrary.

     

    Described as an ‘Idea Car’ and the product of a collaboration between Chrysler’s Virgil Exner Sr. (1909 – 1973) and Ghia’s Felice Mario Boano (1903 – 1989) – the designer of the Ferrari 250 GT Boano – the D’Elegance was built on a shortened 292 centimetre chassis and comes with two comfortable armchairs, power steering and electric windows.

     

    What makes this car standout, however, are its gunsight taillights, distinctive egg-crate grille and “wild technology” such as a rear deck lid with a hydraulically operated full-size spare wheel that raises and lowers at the touch of a switch.

     

    Described by Virgil Exner Jr. as “one of my father’s favourite cars” in 2011, the D’Elegance now comes with a 1956 vintage 354 Hemi V8 engine and a pedigree that includes ownership in the Blackhawk Collection, winning a special class of Chrysler Concepts at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance and having been driven through the Alps from Monaco to Venice as part of the Louis Vuitton Classic Serenissima Run.

     

    RM Sotheby’s will sell the fully restored car with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million) at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on the 6th December.

     

    An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million)An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million)An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million)An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million)An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million)An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million) An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million)An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million)An Idea Car – 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on 6th December 2017 with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million)

  • Marples Must Go

    Marples Must Go

    1964 Mini Cooper S hatchback designed to carry the golf clubs of the much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster Ernest Marples for sale

     

    Twice married and born in Levenshulme, Manchester, Ernest Marples – later Lord Marples – makes the very worst of modern politicians look like relative babes in arms. He can, however, be credited with commissioning a rare thing – the first ever Mini hatchback. Two were made in total and one, which was eventually transferred to the ownership of the politician in 1968, is to be auctioned in July.

     

    Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900)
    Pictured left: (Alfred) Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) with his secretary turned second wife, Ruth Dobson. They married in 1956 and he became The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC in 1974. Pictured right: Lord Marples in his ‘Marples Mini’ (date unknown).

     

    Marples, whose upbringing was within the Labour Party and whose love of eccentric orange-brown shoes and blue suits was well known, worked as a miner, postman, chef and accountant before a stint in the Royal Artillery between 1941 and 1944. He then joined the Conservative Party, was elected Member of Parliament for Wallasey in 1945 and took his first ministerial post in 1951. Promoted by Churchill, Macmillan and Douglas-Home, he rose to become Postmaster General and Minister of Transport and introduced the STD telephone code, the Premium Bond scheme, the first postcodes, the MOT test, roadside single yellow and double yellow lines and possibly, in his most unpopular move of all, traffic wardens.

     

    Aside from his public appointments, controversially, Marples became a director of various companies in the 1940s. Without considering any potential conflicts of interest, he involved himself in firms that built the first motorways and several power stations also and attracted much attention after protestors spray painted a motorway bridge near Luton that his firm, Marples Ridgway and Partners, constructed with the caption: “Marples Must Go!”

     

    Subsequently, Marples brought the government into disrepute through his part in a prostitution scandal and after this was covered up in 1963, he later “cut and run” to Monaco in 1975 to avoid “a substantial tax bill” after being discovered having parked most of his assets in Monaco and Liechtenstein. He spent his final years on his 45-acre vineyard estate in Fleurie, France and died in a Monte Carlo hospital in 1978.

     

    The ex-Ernest Marples 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 will be sold by H&H Classics at their Imperial War Museum Duxford sale in Cambridgeshire on the 26th July. It has an estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900) – a sum that would no doubt, if he were still alive, have money obsessed Marples smiling with glee.

     

    Of the almond green car, which supposedly the hatchback boot was fitted to on the orders of Marples on the basis he wanted to be easily able to fill it with cases of wine and golf clubs, Damian Jones of H&H Classics commented:

     

    “This is not just another Mini. It is history on four wheels. Its former owner, Transport Minister Ernest Marples changed the face of Britain with housing, bridges, motorways. He was a very ‘colourful character’ to say the least. It is fascinating that he chose to buy and use this relatively modest car when going golfing or going to France on holiday. If this car could speak what tales might it tell? It is truly one of a kind.”

     

    Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900)Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900) Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900)Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWymCebAl6g

  • Lady Ridsdale DBE (1921 – 2009, née Victoire Bennett)

    Lady Ridsdale DBE (1921 – 2009, née Victoire Bennett)

    Dame Paddy Ridsdale, as she generally known, was an intelligence operative, secretary to Ian Fleming during WW2 and the inspiration for the Bond character Miss Moneypenny.

     

    A Conservative Party stalwart and married to Member of Parliament for Harwich from 1954 to 1992 Sir Julian Ridsdale CBE (1915 – 2004), Dame Paddy – or Vicky, as she was known to some – is best known for her role in ‘Operation Mincemeat’, a “famous caper” concerning a “man who never was” in 1943.

     

    In the war, Dame Paddy wrote love letters and telegrams that were planted on the body of ‘Major William Martin’, an invented, drowned naval officer, that was floated in the ocean off Spain. The body carried fictitious plans of a purported Allied invasion of Sardinia and Greece and formed part of a plot designed to deflect attention from the Allied landings in Sicily. Of it, she later remarked: “I was sent to buy clothes in all the best men’s shops and had to pose as his girlfriend. I had to go to post offices and rather loudly send this telegram to ‘my boyfriend’, hoping of course that somebody would overhear me”. In due course, the body was indeed found, the Axis powers completely taken in and “Mincemeat swallowed whole, hook, line, and sinker”. A BAFTA winning film directed by Ronald Neame, The Man Who Never Was, made about the deceptive scheme in 1956.

     

    Dame Paddy was known as a “political hostess in the style of a bygone era”, lived in a mansion “sandwiched between a sheikh and a Saudi prince” in The Boltons for the majority of her adult life and is buried in the grounds of the church there. She had one daughter, became Lady Ridsdale when her husband was knighted in 1981 and was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in her own right, for political services, in 1991.

     

    Of her relationship with her one-time employer Fleming, she concluded: “Ian had so many girlfriends that I was not tempted to become one of them”.

     

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xemGlAV6TAw