C-shaped glass and stone house complete with a Grade II listed set of Druid stones for sale for £7 million; it sits next door to the £140 million home of the fugitive billionaire financier Andrey Borodin
A C-shaped 20th century house in 43 acres of parkland has gone on sale for £7 million ($9.2 million, €7.8 million or درهم33.9 million).
A set of Grade II listed ancient stones named the Druids Altar forms part of the estateTemplecombe House is the neighbour of the £140 million Park Place EstatePark Place is owned by the fugitive Russian oligarch Andrey Borodin
Situated next to the Park Place Estate – bought by the fugitive Russian billionaire financier Andrey Borodin for £140 million ($185 million, €157 million or درهم678 million) in 2011 and used in the 2007 film St Trinian’s – Templecombe House, near Henley-on-Thames extends to 3,014 square foot and includes 2 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and an indoor swimming pool. It also has garaging for 2 cars and comes with a 1 bedroom Victorian gate lodge, a hard tennis court and views towards the River Thames.
Described as being of a “striking curved design” and featuring large picture windows, the most unusual part of the estate comes in the form of a set of Grade II listed ancient stones named the Druids Altar.
Whilst a Russian court ordered Park Park Place be seized from Mr Borodin in May 2016, Templecombe House is offered to the open market by agents Savills.
C-shaped glass and stone house complete with a Grade II listed set of Druid stones for sale for £7 million; it sits next door to the £140 million home of the fugitive billionaire financier Andrey Borodin
A C-shaped 20th century house in 43 acres of parkland has gone on sale for £7 million ($9.2 million, €7.8 million or درهم33.9 million).
A set of Grade II listed ancient stones named the Druids Altar forms part of the estateTemplecombe House is the neighbour of the £140 million Park Place EstatePark Place is owned by the fugitive Russian oligarch Andrey Borodin
Situated next to the Park Place Estate – bought by the fugitive Russian billionaire financier Andrey Borodin for £140 million ($185 million, €157 million or درهم678 million) in 2011 and used in the 2007 film St Trinian’s – Templecombe House, near Henley-on-Thames extends to 3,014 square foot and includes 2 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and an indoor swimming pool. It also has garaging for 2 cars and comes with a 1 bedroom Victorian gate lodge, a hard tennis court and views towards the River Thames.
Described as being of a “striking curved design” and featuring large picture windows, the most unusual part of the estate comes in the form of a set of Grade II listed ancient stones named the Druids Altar.
Whilst a Russian court ordered Park Park Place be seized from Mr Borodin in May 2016, Templecombe House is offered to the open market by agents Savills.
As a further £154,000 is handed to the police, is it right that £11 million has been allocated to searching for Madeleine McCann whilst the searches for other missing people get little to nothing?
A child supposedly disappears every five minutes in the UK yet the only instance the media ever focus on is Madeleine McCann.
Having hung out with Donald Trump’s bestie Theresa May and the equally ghastly Lady Meyer in Downing Street in May 2012 plainly helped the cause of Gerry and Kate McCann. Police investigating the case have just been awarded a further £154,000 in addition to a sum of £85,000 in March this year. A total of over £11 million has been spent thus far on the unsuccessful search for the child and what has been achieved? The answer is clear: Absolutely nothing.
Whatever the merits of the suggestions of those who’ll continue to claim that any lead is worth pursuing, one needs to remember that every pound allocated to looking for one child that disappeared in 2007 is a pound that could be used to fund the search of another investigation. Undoubtedly now, given that no tangible evidence has been found that Madeleine McCann is still alive, it is time for this plainly pointless search to stop.
Missing Madeleine – Questions without Answers
Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:
Why did Kate McCann refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?
Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 9’?
Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappeared?
Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?
Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?
Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?
Putney based Shawn Sullivan fled America after being accused of abusing two girls aged 11 and 14 in the 1990s. He was subsequently convicted of sexually assaulting two 12 year old girls in Ireland in 1997 but then moved to London on an Irish passport. Sullivan then married a Ministry of Justice policy manager named Sarah Smith and after fighting extradition to the US claiming it would be a “flagrant denial” of his rights, has lived freely in the UK ever since. Of this monster, a neighbour remarked: “It is a pathetic joke and makes a mockery of the British justice system. He should be extradited and made to pay for his crimes. He manipulated and cheated girls out of their innocence… It is a disgrace and I fear for any children he will come across in the future.” Shame on our bankrupt lawmakers for continuing to protect this repugnant paedophile.
Former San Francisco home of actor Nicolas Cage for sale for £11.4 million or 660% more than it sold for in 1996
Thrice married and an Academy Award winning actor Nicolas Cage is also known for lavish spending. Aside from once buying twenty-two cars in one hit – including a “squadron” of nine Rolls-Royce – he “wound up” owning fifteen personal residences in 2007 and now one of them is for sale for £11.4 million.
898 Francisco Street in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighbourhood was purchased by a trust connected to Cage in 2006 for £6.9 million and sold by him in 2008 at a loss for £6.3 million. It was built in Gothic Tudor style in 1914, extends to 6,305 square foot and is spread over four floors.
The front door is an example of fine craftmanship within the houseAs is the carving on this fireplace
Featuring 4 reception rooms, 6 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms, the house also has a 2-car garage and enjoys views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the Bay Area. It has a garden to the rear and is adjoined by a further adjacent plot on Hyde Street that has potential for a further residence.
Debi Dicello of Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing and seeks either a total of £11.4 million for the entire property or £8.8 million for the main house and £2.6 million for the adjacent 40-foot by 60-foot lot.
898 Francisco Street – The Numbers
2017 – £8.8 million ($12 million, €10 million or درهم44.1 million) for the main house plus £2.6 million ($3.5million, €2.9 million or درهم12.9 million) for the adjoining plot.
2008 – Sold for £6.3 million ($8.5 million, €7.1 million or درهم31.2 million).
2006 – Bought by a trust connected to Nicolas Cage for £6.9 million ($9.4 million, €7.9 million or درهم34.5 million).
1996 – Sold for £1.5 million ($2 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.4 million).
Octagonal Victorian Gothic landmark in Westchester County, New York available for rent; Bono was filmed there and it includes the only domestic Egyptian Revival room in existence
A Victorian Gothic house in Irvington, Westchester County, New York that resembles a wedding cake has been put on the market to rent for £30,300 per month ($40,000, €33,200 or درهم147,000 per month).
Built for a financier named Paul J. Armour between 1859 and 1860, this octagon shaped and domed landmark was subsequently home to the author Carl Carmer (1893 – 1976) – best known for his widely praised book Stars Fell on Alabama – between 1940 and his death. The building was later the main setting for the less popular (and seized and confiscated in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959) 1981 horror film The Nesting and then completely renovated by the award winning conservationist architect Joseph Pell Lombardi.
The Octagon House in 1882 and 1975The Octagon House in the 1981 film “The Nesting”; the then owner launched a $1 million lawsuit against the filmmakers after they supposedly trashed the building
Known alternatively as the Armour-Stiner House, the Carmer Octagon House, The Octagon House or simply 45 West Clinton Avenue, the National Register of Historic Places listed residence is being marketed by agents William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty as “one of the most visually unique homes in the world.” It stands on a plot close to the Hudson River of 3.05 acres, provides 8,400 square foot of accommodation and has a drawing room, dining room, ballroom, 7 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Within the grounds is an original Lord & Banham conservatory and a carriage house that provides garaging for 4 vehicles.
Especially impressive architectural features of the building number the only domestic Egyptian Revival room still in existence, an attic with a staircase to a stunning cupola and a wraparound veranda with 56 columns. In the 2007 film Across the Universe, the billionaire Irish singer-songwriter Bono (playing a character named ‘Dr Robert’) described The Octagon House as the “Headquarters of the League of Spiritual Deliverance.” It most definitely abounds in such.
Orange County mega-estate sold last for £14 million on an original asking price of £67 million offered for sale again for £43 million after death of owner
The largest residential estate on the Newport Coast of California is back on the market. One Pelican Hill Road North in Newport Beach – alternatively known as ‘Villa Del Lago’ or ‘Villa of the Lake’ – is a property with an extraordinary past and though listed on construction for £67 million in 2009, eventually sold at a fire auction in 2012 for just £14 million. Its subsequent owner, a Japanese industrialist and publisher, death has now resulted in it being placed for sale again and this time £43 million is sought.
Situated on a plot of 12.47 acres and comprising 17,706 square foot of ‘Italianate-style’ accommodation, One Pelican Hill Road North was last marketed as having 8 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms. On a new, dedicated marketing page for it, it is now being promoted as having, amongst other things, 2 screening rooms, a china/silver room, an “indoor lap pool with fibre optic twinkling star ceiling”, a 14-car garage and a “wine cave”. Outside, there is a “cascading private lake”, stabling, a riding ring, a putting green, an “organic edible garden” and potential for a vineyard.
Jeffrey Janger and Linda Janger of Pace Properties have the listing currently but given another agent, Michael Gosselin of Surterre Properties, previously commented: “Newport Coast has yet to see any homes sell for more than $20 million (£15.5 million)”, it’ll be likely there’ll be a few price cuts yet.
One Pelican Hill Road North – The Extraordinary Numbers
2003 – Land purchased for $3.2 million by Monarch Estates. Subsequent construction loans total $27.3 million.
February 2009 – Completed house placed for sale for sale for $87 million by a realtor named John McMonigle, the managing member of a partnership developing the project.
May 2010 – Price reduced to $57 million.
January 2011 – Three offers received, all were below $37 million and not accepted.
April 2012 – Offered at a court-sanctioned auction with “no opening bid sought”. Sold for $18.5 million to Toshiaki Ogasawara, an industrialist and publisher of the Japan Times.
January 2017 – Placed on the market after Ogasawara’s death in December 2016 for $55 million.
Enough is finally enough with press coverage about the late Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales has been dead twenty years. It is thus ludicrous that her family continue to have to put up with an endless barrage of articles raking over outdated nonsense about her and though it most definitely suits our government as they can bury yet more bad news about Brexit, the media truly should realise that enough is finally enough.
Whether the late royal said or did one thing or another is quite irrelevant to anyone alive today and though the history books may take note for the future, daily news reporting should move its focus to issues that actually affect our daily lives. The time to stop over-reporting on this saga passed surely in 2007; that it is still going in 2017 is simply outrageous.
Designer Reed Krakoff slashes the price of his Hamptons mansion; Jackie Kennedy Onassis spent her childhood summers there
A Hamptons mansion named Lasata – meaning: “Place of Peace” in Native American – where Jacqueline Bouvier (later Kennedy and later Kennedy Onassis) spent her childhood summers has recently been reduced in price from £41.5 million to £36.1 million.
121 Further Lane, East Hampton, New York, NY 11937, United States of AmericaJacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929 – 1994)Reed and Delphine Krakoff – Mr Krakoff was at one time tipped as “the next Tom Ford” but reportedly “walked away” from his eponymous brand after supposed differences of vision for it with investors
Alternatively and more simply known as 121 Further Lane, the property concerned is situated in East Hampton and currently owned by the fashion designer Reed Krakoff and his wife Delphine. It extends to 8,500 square foot and includes 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and stands on a plot of 11.54 acres.
Two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and three blocks from the Maidstone Club, Lasata was built in 1917 to the designs of Arthur Jackson and bought by Jackie Bouvier’s paternal grandfather, John Vernou Bouvier Jr. (AKA ‘The Major’), in 1935. The future President’s wife is said to have learnt to ride there and aged ten, wrote a poem about her time at the estate:
When I go down to the sandy shore
I can think of nothing I want more
Than to live by the booming blue sea
As the seagulls flutter around about me
I can run about when the tide is out
With the wind and the sea all about
And the seagulls are swirling and diving for fish
Oh-to live by the sea is my only wish
The Arts and Crafts style property was subsequently sold and most recently bought by Mr and Mrs Krakoff for £15.3 million in 2007. The pair – whose other homes have variously included residences in Paris, New York’s Upper East Side and the former New Canaan, Connecticut residence of the eccentric recluse Huguette Clark – carried out extensive renovations and are said to be selling in order to move to a more contemporary beachfront Hamptons property.
Funding for the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann must cease; £11 million spent with no result is evidence that enough is enough
Over £11 million has been spent in relation to the search for Madeleine McCann since the then 3-year old disappeared on 3rd May 2007. The result? Absolutely no progress and a lot of unanswered questions.
Now, with the last round of public funding given to the element of the search known as Operation Grange by Theresa May in March set to run out in September, is the time to end the search. Enough is enough and in spite that some would suggest that the chances of finding the disappeared child is still there, the fact of the matter is that in ten years of following leads that have led nowhere resources that could have been allocated to other missing people have been squandered.
Last week, a Metropolitan Police spokesman told The Sun:
“A lot of potentially significant images and material were captured on previous trips to Portugal and we are still working on all leads…. The investigation continues with focus and determination. It is not winding down, it is not grinding to a halt. It is on going.”
Such sentiments will no doubt leave such people as Kerry Needham – whose 21-month year old son, Ben, disappeared in Greece on 24th July 1991 – spitting feathers. As of 2015, a comparative sum of just £700,000 had been spent on attempts to find him and thus one is left asking why the child of two middle class medics is worth 93% more than the son of an ordinary working class woman.
In 2015, Ms Needham, after supporters of the McCanns cruelly suggested those backing her in her search for her child were “toxic”, remarked: “I have never criticised the McCann family. I have only every criticised the authorities for the way the two cases have been handled so differently.”
Kerry Needham
Missing Madeleine – Questions without Answers
Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:
Why did the McCanns refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?
Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 9’?
Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappear?
Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?
Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?
Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?
