The Steeple Times

Tag: 1994

  • Ben Falk: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    Ben Falk: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    The Steeple Times asks entertainment journalist, author and teacher Ben Falk: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

     

    The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

    Generally being pessimistic and then being extra pleased if something good happens.

     

    “Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

    “There are two kinds of people in this world. Those that love Neil Diamond and those that don’t” – Bill Murray. I might be paraphrasing, but it’s very true.

     

    Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2013?

    I met Kerry once and she forced me to take a picture with her and her then husband, despite my protestations. In fact, to be fair her ex did most of the suggesting. So, I would probably say being forced into having your picture taken (not necessarily with a minor celebrity).

     

    Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

    Running around building forts and pretending to camp on the field opposite my house. That or living somewhere sunny.

     

    What might you swap all your wealth for?

    Batting number 4 for England and scoring a century at Lord’s whilst defeating Australia in the Ashes.

     

    Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the banking crisis?

    All I know is according to the papers, everyone in the investment department of my bank seems to be getting massive bonuses and I earned £6 in interest last year on all my accounts. I think that says it all, no?

     

    What phrase or word do you most loathe?

    Whenever someone says that their God is better than someone else’s God.

     

    In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

    Chuggers do annoy me – I’ll decide when I want to give, thank you very much. And it often depends on how drunk I am when Comic Relief is on. Saying that, I give money to the WWF and a cancer charity. Although I remember getting irritated when I offered a homeless person a sandwich and he asked me what the flavour was and rejected it when I told him. That probably makes me a terrible person.

     

    The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

    Having your phone on in the cinema particularly offends me, unless you are waiting for the birth of your child or something. Not sure it’s murder-worthy, but people Tweeting during a film is just pathetic. You’re not that f****ing important.

     

    If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

    John Irving, Roald Dahl, Graham Thorpe, William Goldman, Kermit and Han Solo. No, not Harrison Ford: Han Solo. I’m married, otherwise I might well say Jennifer Connelly or Winona Ryder.

     

    Journalist, author and teacher Ben Falk
    Journalist, author and teacher Ben Falk

    If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

    I would eat it on the cricket pitch in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire in the late afternoon mid-summer sun. What would I eat? Rare steak, French fries, a bar of Dairy Milk, chocolate sponge and a pizza from Amigos in Nottingham circa 1994.

     

    What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

    Whenever I bloody feel like it.

     

    A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

    Don’t know what the first one is, the second one is just a posh way to drink a vodka shot, so a cup of tea – milky English breakfast with no sugar.

     

    Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

    I actually like my own if I’m cooking, because it’s fun and you feel like you’ve contributed. Although I’ve been lucky enough to go to some amazing parties. Watching John Legend play Rocket Man with Elton John after the Oscars, getting hammered and dancing with a cardboard cut-out of David Hasselhoff at a film premiere party in New York… Since I’m a hack, I suppose I enjoy any party with a free bar. You should always watch the journalists at a party: we know the exact place to stand to get first dibs on the canapés.

     

    Who is the most positive person you know?

    Everyone’s a bit depressed these days, so I don’t really know.  David Cameron?

     

    What’s your most guilty pleasure?

    A good quality single malt whisky.

     

    If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

    I hate tattoos, so none. Although looking at it, I now appeared to have answered that question in a rather existential way. That’s not the intention, I just despise tattoos.

     

    If you were a car, what marque would you be?

    Marque? What the fuck does that mean?

     

    Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

    I went to the same school as Christopher Nolan, who directed the Batman films. I told him so after I interviewed him for Batman Begins. He didn’t give a shit.

     

    What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

    Wedding pictures, Neil Diamond song lyrics my wife gave me as a present, an action figure of BA Baracus out of the A-Team and a photo of me playing quite a nice off-drive in 1995.

     

    Ben Falk is an entertainment journalist, author and teacher. His published works include Robert Downey Jr.: The Fall And Rise Of The Comeback Kid, Television’s Strangest Moments and The Wonder of Brian Cox.

     

    View Ben Falk’s website at: http://benfalk.net

     

    Follow him on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/benfalkwriter

  • Oligarch Boris Berezovsky found dead

    Oligarch Boris Berezovsky found dead

    Boris Berezovsky found dead in his bathtub

     

    It has just been confirmed that 67-year old oligarch Boris Berezovsky was found dead in a bath at his Surrey home at around 11am this morning. His son-in-law, Yegor Shuppe, revealed the news earlier today on Facebook and later a statement came from Alexander Dobrovinsky of Moscow based The Alexander Dobrovinsky & Partners law firm stating:

     

    “Just got a call from London. Boris Berezovsky committed suicide. He was a difficult man. A move of disparity? Impossible to live poor? A strike of blows? I am afraid no one will get to know now”.

     

    Boris Berezovsky (1946 - 2013)
    Boris Berezovsky (1946 – 2013)

     

    Berezovsky, who I encountered several times at The Lanesborough Hotel, lost a £3 billion damages claim against Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich in 2012. It was the largest private court action ever to have been heard in Britain and during the case he was described as “an inherently unreliable witness”.

     

    In a separate case in January 2013, Mr Berezovsky former lover and mother of two of his six children, Elena Gorbunova, won a £200 million freezing order on his assets.

     

    Aside from this, the political exile and outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was subjected to a number of assassination attempts. A 1994 car bomb decapitated Berezovsky’s chauffeur and after a hitman had been sent to kill him in 2007, he alleged that security sources had told him:

     

    “Someone you know will come to Britain, he will try to connect to you and when you meet him, he will just kill you and will not try to hide”.

     

    Whether Mr Berezovsky died of natural causes, committed suicide or was killed unlawfully remains to be revealed. Whatever transpires, this turn of events marks a most tragic end for this most colourful of oligarchs.

  • Jim Bowen (born Peter Williams)

    Jim Bowen (born Peter Williams)

    Jim Bowen 350This witty Northern comedian began his career as deputy headmaster at Caton Primary School in Lancashire. Best known as the host of Bullseye between 1981 and 1985, Bowen’s back in the limelight as many suggest he’s a lookalike of the new Pope. His BBC Radio Lancashire show was axed in 1999 after he referred to a guest as a “nig-nog” and in 2003 he launched a stand-up comedy DVD named You Can’t Tell These Anymore. Nothing, however, will ever “Beat a Bit of Bully!”

  • Anna Wintour OBE

    Anna Wintour OBE

    Anna Wintour 350Her Evening Standard editor father was known as “Chilly Charlie” and she’s become “Nuclear Wintour”. This New York based Brit states that she’s “lost count” of the number of times she’s been attacked by activists and once retaliated by sending anti-fur campaigners a plate of roast beef when they picketed her Condé Nast offices. In her youth, Wintour went to parties with the Daily Mail’s Nigel Dempster, dated older men and set her stall out clearly in the remark: “You either know fashion, or you don’t”. Now, this divorced trendsetter has morphed into a grande dame and hidden behind her sunglasses and a pageboy bob, this powerhouse of fashion truly does deserve the title: “Unofficial Mayoress of New York”. The Devil Wears Prada may have indeed been based on her, but the reality is far more salacious.

  • Fernando Peire

    Fernando Peire

    Fernando Peire 542This genial host is undoubtedly amongst the best connected on the London restaurant scene. Born in Gibraltar, Peire became senior maitre d’ at The Ivy in 1990 and after stints advising others such as Morton’s, The Halcyon Hotel and the Villa Nova in Barbados, he returned to The Ivy in 2007 as director. Instrumental in creating The Club at The Ivy in 2008, Peire also became Channel 5’s The Restaurant Inspector in 2011. If you’re lucky enough to have his details in your Rolodex, you’re most definitely all set.

  • Sandi Toksvig

    Sandi Toksvig

    Sandi ToksvigIn 2013, this Danish-British former Liberal Democrat author and presenter stated: “The Duchess of Cambridge lacks a single [relevant] opinion”. The nation were far from impressed. “Toxic Toksvig”, as some refer to her, is a Cambridge educated lesbian and mother of three whose works number Hitler’s Canary and Heroines & Harridans. She started her career on the appropriately named Motormouth and once stated: “When I see comedian – and ‘comedienne’, of course I hate it – I think ‘Oh, really?’ because I think of myself as a writer and broadcaster”. Miaow!

  • Marcus Cooper

    Marcus Cooper

    Marcus CooperA property developer extraordinaire with a “passion for deals”. He has been involved in deals involving many of London’s most expensive properties and founded the Marcus Cooper Group in 1991. Cooper purchased the capital’s second largest home, Witanhurst on Highgate Hill, for £32 million in 2007 and put it back on the market five weeks later for £75 million and acquired One Cornwall Terrace, designed by Decimus Burton, for £80 million in 2013. Other transactions have included the former QVC building in Battersea and 16 Grosvenor Estate properties in Belgravia and Mayfair.

  • Neil Hamilton: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    Neil Hamilton: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    The Steeple Times asks writer, broadcaster and entertainer Neil Hamilton: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

     

    The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

    Christine.

     

    “Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

    If you say so dear.

      (more…)

  • Justin Bieber

    Justin Bieber

    Justin BieberThis Canadian pop musician rose from poverty to become an international sensation with huge amounts of power over his “Beliebers”. Now wealthy beyond comprehension, this Fisker driving youngster is turning into an arrogant, aggressive brat who fails to turn up to concerts on time and gets aggressive with photographers. “Racks of servers are devoted to Bieber” by Twitter as he acquires one new follower a second and the website Klout suggests he has a higher online influence than Barrack Obama and The Dalai Lama. If he doesn’t sort himself out, this “teen heartthrob” could quite predictably go the same way as Lindsay Lohan.

  • Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan (1971 – 2007 and 1966 – 2007)

    Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan (1971 – 2007 and 1966 – 2007)

    Blake and DuncanTheir story is a modern day equivalent of that of Romeo and Juliet and Vanity Fair chronicled their deaths as The Golden Suicides. “Handsome” Blake, a digital artist and painter who worked with Malcolm McLaren and Fox Searchlight, and “sexy” Duncan, a writer, game designer and filmmaker best known for the “girl-centric” game Chop Suey, were the toast of New York but became obsessed with those they felt threatened them and their works. Personally wounded by a rejection from the post-modern rocker Beck to work with her on making a film out of one of her scripts, Duncan blamed his church, the Church of Scientology, and stated: “They are furious because he valued our way of life far more than Celebrity Center sex trash”. As more rejections came, this talented pair who “supported one another totally” became more and more irrational and in July 2007, a week apart, both committed suicide.