Tag: 1987

Only Fools and Golf Cabriolets

1987 Volkswagen Golf cabriolet – nicknamed ‘Rodney’ – previously owned by ‘Only Fools and Horses’ actor Sir David Jason to be auctioned; sadly, of it, even Del Boy couldn’t claim: “Just one lady owner from new”

Del Boy’s Golf cabriolet – An alpine white 1987 Volkswagen Golf GTI Karmann convertible purchased for Sir David Jason’s late partner, Myfanwy Talog, is to be auctioned later this month, It was subsequently owned by his manager, Sidney Law, and then by his children’s godfather, John Williams.

Unlike the vehicle most associated with the character most famously played by Sir David, the custard yellow Reliant Regal van driven by Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses, the Golf cabriolet that will be hammered down is described as “in sparkling condition, patently cherished and almost certainly a best of breed.”

Sir David Jason and his late partner Myfanwy Talog (1944 – 1995).

Del Boy was himself best known for driving a Reliant Regal three wheeler van in the series. There are many replicas, but the original vehicle used by the BBC was sold for £42,000 ($55,000, €47,000 or درهم203,000) in November 2017.

Prior to becoming famous Sir David Jason used to joke: “One day, one day I’m going to have a Rolls-Royce.” In Only Fools and Horses, he eventually got one complete with the plate ‘1 DEL.’

Boycie, played by John Challis in the series, bought a Jaguar E-Type in the second ever episode of Only Fools and Horses in 1981. Of this birthday gift for his “bit on the side,” he stated: “It’s only E-Type Jaguars and Adam Peaty that makes me proud to be British these days.” In May 2013, interviewed in ‘The Steeple Times,’ Challis stated his personal preference for Aston Martin DB4s.

When sold in December 2017, the Golf cabriolet offered this month came with various documentation including a file that stated its nickname as ‘Rodney’ alongside a quote that read: “This car has a longstanding association with David Jason and his family – naturally we call him ‘Rodney.’”

Sold for £17,820 ($23,439, €19,739 or درهم86,080) in December 2017 by Classic Car Auctions Everyman Classics and by Cotswold Classic Car Restorations on another occasion, the car – which was one of just 138 examples produced as part of Volkswagen’s limited edition all-white series – has just under 22,000 miles on the clock.

Silverstone Auctions will offer the car with an estimate of £18,000 to £22,000 ($23,700 to $28,900, €19,900 to €24,400 or درهم86,900 to درهم106,300) at their NEC Classic Live online auction on Saturday 14^th November 2020.

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In ‘Only Fools and Horses,’ Del Boy was prepared to trade anything – dodgy cars included. “Only one previous owner, a vicar” and “only left his bible in the glove compartment” were amongst the lines in this classic clip.

November 8, 2020
Elevating Count Binface

Poll of 500 Twitter users backs the building of a statue in honour of Count Binface (formerly known as Lord Buckethead)

Yesterday, The Steeple Times’ Matthew Steeples decided to conduct a poll on Twitter. He jokingly asked: “Would you support the erection of a statue of Count Binface?”

He post-fixed: “He’s surely not offended anyone (other than Boris Johnson and Theresa May).”

The response, thus far, has been phenomenal and at a time when people have been attacking statues of Christopher Columbus, Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria, we perhaps need to ignore Janet Street-Porter’s miserable demand to “junk the lot” and get something erected that celebrates a bit of fun.

Of the 495 votes cast (with 4 hours still to go) in the completely unscientific poll, 94.7% of respondents are currently supporting “Yes – Get him elevated” whilst only 3.2% are of the view “No – He’s off his trolley.” Just 2% haven’t got a clue who Count Binface actually is.

Whilst a legal dispute with the plainly joyless Gremloids creator Todd Durham resulted in the “displacement” of Lord Buckethead – who had stood in four British general elections from 1987 onwards – the political satirist Jon Harvey announced his replacement, Count Binface, to the world on 12^th December 2018. He describes the character on Twitter as an “Intergalactic politician and ex-Lord Buckethead,” has a following of 17,600 and was standing in the London mayoral elections until the coronavirus pandemic kicked in.

The Count is good; let’s get him elevated.

Pictured top: Count Binface with a slightly perplexed Boris Johnson.

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The “replacement” Lord Buckethead (played by David Hughes) with Count Binface behind him during the 2019 general election campaign; Jon Harvey as Lord Buckethead on the night of the 2017 General Election at Maidenhead.

The Twitter poll had attracted nearly 500 votes as of 10am GMT on Thursday 11th June 2020.

Lord Buckethead (comedian Jon Harvey) on John Oliver’s HBO talk show Last Week with John Oliver in May 2017. He also appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in June that year and even made a video with the all-round oddity Ben Fogle at one point too.

Lord Buckethead with Theresa May in May 2017. He registered 249 votes and that Christmas made a charming YouTube video sharing a message of peace and goodwill. Sadly, that subsequently had to be deleted due to Todd Durham’s legal actions.

June 11, 2020
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 16^th 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.

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March 23, 2020
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 6^th December.

November 16, 2017
Diana’s Drive

Up-armoured Rolls-Royce used by the late Diana, Princess of Wales to be auctioned in Auburn, Indiana

A 1987 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur I commissioned by the British Foreign Office as part of the British Embassy vehicle pool in Washington D.C. that was used by Diana, Princess of Wales on two occasions is to be sold with an estimate of £35,000 to £42,000 ($45,000 to $55,000, €38,000 to €47,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم202,000).

Just as questions about the late royal’s safety in the Mercedes-Benz in which she made her tragic final journey in Paris in 1997 are again raised, the up-armoured car to be offered is to be sold by Auctions America at their 31^st August to 3^rd September sale in Auburn, Indiana.

The Balmoral Green with tan hide vehicle features laminated polycarbonate in place of glass windows, Kevlar and steel plate in the body, two Motorola mobile telephones and an exterior telecom (as the windows do not roll down). It has 60,300 miles on the clock and also has air conditioning and a working sunroof.

Used first by the then Princess of Wales on 4^th October 1990, the car took her first to a Royal Gala to benefit the London City Ballet at the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. and then also to a home for HIV positive children, TERRIFIC, Inc.’s Grandma’s House^®, in what was termed an “historic visit.”

August 6, 2017
A Costly Capri

‘Refinished’ 1987 Ford Capri 280 Brooklands for sale for a sum that will wow; it’s affectionately known as ‘Oscar’

The car of choice of boy racers, the Ford Capri was dubbed ‘The Pratmobile’ by Rodney after Del Boy bought one in the BBC series Only Fools and Horses. Those that kept such vehicles, unlike the majority who sent them to be scrapped, are now having the last laugh as their prices are rocketing and an example of such comes in the form of a 1987 Capri 280 Brooklands that is to be auctioned in July.

The fastback coupé to be offered is described by Silverstone Auctions as “the best Capri Brooklands we’ve ever seen” and is affectionately known as ‘Oscar’. It has been “refinished” – not “restored” – at great expense and has just 14,680 miles on the clock.

The car will be sold with an estimate of £35,000 to £45,000 ($44,800 to $57,600, €40,100 to €51,500 or درهم164,700 to درهم211,700) at Silverstone Auctions’ 29^th to 30^th July sale.

May 27, 2017
Bob Marshall-Andrews QC

A “libertarian-left” Labour MP between 1997 and 2010, distinguished barrister and novelist Bob Marshall-Andrews defected to the Liberal Democrats in 2017. Described as “an irritant” to his former party whilst they were in government, multi-millionaire Marshall-Andrews built and owns “one of the most innovative houses of the 20^th century – the famed ‘Teletubby House’ in Druidston, Pembrokeshire – and is chairman of the George Adamson Wildlife Trust. In 2013, of him, Chambers Legal Directory remarked: “Juries love him… I’ve never seen a jury eat out of anyone’s hand as much” whilst he amusingly references himself as “the complete antidote to political humbug”. Of Labour, this “intellectually brilliant” individual added: “They’re a basket case…They effectively abdicated all responsibility [on Brexit]”.

May 13, 2017
Fun at Faringdon

£144,000 per year sought for Oxfordshire mansion that was the scene of a most curious ménage-a-trois; it is owned by the writer Sofka Zinovieff

“Tall and willowy” writer Sofka Zinovieff inherited Faringdon House in Oxfordshire at the age of 25 from her eccentric, bisexual uncle, Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, partner of the owner of the house since 1918, the 14^th Lord Berners, Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson (1883 – 1950). She has recently placed it on the rental market at a price of £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700 per month) through Knight Frank.

Artist, composer and writer Lord Berners and “uninhibited” Heber-Percy occupied Faringdon House as a ménage-a-trois with the latter’s wife, Jennifer Fry, for several years and during that time visitors included everyone from the poet Sir John Betjeman to the artist Salvador Dalí, the Communist politician Tom Driberg MP and the writer H. G. Wells. Heber-Percy died in 1987 and it was at this time that the Georgian property passed to its current owner.

Lord Berners famously once entertained Penelope Betjeman’s horse Moti to tea at Faringdon House

Dyed pigeons are still to be found at the property

Sofka Zinovieff

Of her home, which she has variously herself occupied and also let to “cover the impossible costs”, in May 2016, Zinovieff told House & Garden:

It’s funny how it has all worked out. The inheritance hasn’t changed me in the ways that my mother feared it might. I never wanted my identity to be bound up with my house and my life in Greece has saved me from that. No one there has ever even heard of Faringdon.

Extending to 14,510 square foot, Grade I listed Faringdon House was built between 1770 and 1785 for the poet Sir Henry Pye (1744 – 1813). It includes 5 reception rooms, 12 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, stands in grounds that extend to 14.81 acres and comes with an outdoor swimming pool with turreted changing rooms and a lake.

Lord Berners’ gravestone is situated within the grounds and on it appears an epitaph he wrote himself. It reads:

Here lies Lord Berners

One of the learners

His great love of learning

May earn him a burning

But, Praise the Lord!

He seldom was bored

Curiously, another testament to the activities of the property’s eccentric former occupants lives on at Faringdon in the form of pigeons dyed in “jewelled hues”. Pictured in marketing literature for the house, a charity, the Pink Pigeons Trust, is named in their honour also.

May 12, 2017
A Marmite Aston

One-of-one left-hand drive 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage convertible in ‘Fury Yellow’ to be sold; it is a prime example of 1980s excess and a car you will either love or loathe

A 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato that was the only left-hand drive example produced is to be sold by auction in May. It is a car that you’ll either love or loathe and given it is presented in ‘Fury Yellow’, it certainly reflects the era when “greed was good” in terms of its brashness and noticeability.

Capable of speeds of upto 183 miles per hour, the car offered was upgraded from a standard V585 V8 fuel-injected engine to a V580X Vantage engine by its original owner and also features a five-speed ZF manual gearbox. It has a specially styled black leather interior and a black mohair hood and is described as being “the essence of 1980s machismo”.

A total of thirty-six right hand drive examples of this especially angular convertible were built. Two sold in 2013 and 2014 at Bonhams at their Aston Martin Works Sales at Newport Pagnell in England. Though each achieved just £135,900 ($176,000, €161,000 or درهم646,000), RM Sotheby’s estimate the ‘Fury Yellow’ version they are to sell at a much more ambitious £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million). They will sell it at their Villa Erba sale on the shores of Lake Como in Italy on Saturday 27^th May.

April 30, 2017
Remembering Michael Bienes

Witty Fort Lauderdale based philanthropist Michael Bienes passes away

Philanthropist Michael Bienes sadly died of cancer on 5^th April according to the Sun Sentinel.

New York born Mr Bienes, a multi-millionaire many times over until falling prey to Bernard Madoff’s crooked Ponzi scheme, was known for hosting lavish parties and supported everything from the Holy Cross Hospital in Broward County to the Royal Opera House in London. He was generous to a tee and known for his dry sense of humour and wit.

The 80-year old, whose accountancy firm, Avellino & Bienes was an early feeder fund of Bernard L. Madoff Securities, leaves a widow, Dianne. She told the Sun Sentinel:

“Michael was never a man who would take advantage of anyone simply because he was always afraid of doing anything wrong. He loved people and valued the relationships he cultivated”.

Michael Bienes will be missed by many in both America and Britain. We offer our condolences to his wife and family.

April 19, 2017