The Steeple Times

Tag: 2014

  • Pritikin’s Folly

    Pritikin’s Folly

    Kitsch San Francisco mansion turned private museum that houses everything from Hitler memorabilia to a portrait turned down by Prince Philip for sale for £9.5 million

    The collection of a former advertising executive turned San Francisco based bon viveur named Robert C. Pritikin – better known as ‘Bob’ to his friends – includes everything from Hitler’s Swastika armband and his personal world globe (supposedly acquired by American soldiers at the end of the Second World War) to a portrait of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh of which the royal once proclaimed: “I bloody well wouldn’t hang it on the walls of Buckingham Palace.”

     

    Pritikin houses these items – and others including a replica electric chair, a mural featuring the cult leader Jim Jones, an exact replica of Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ and an original J. M. W. Turner painting – in a totally eccentric neo-classical mansion in the Glen Park area of the city. He built the property in 1987 and though it provides 9,966 square foot of accommodation it is primarily designed as an entertaining space and museum rather than a conventional family home.

     

    Pritken’s Folly – Chenery House, 47 Chenery Street, San Francisco, California, CA 94131, United States of America – For sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) through Joel Goodrich – Currently home and private museum of Robert C. Pritken
    Bob Pritikin with the portrait Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh so loathed
    Pritken’s Folly – Chenery House, 47 Chenery Street, San Francisco, California, CA 94131, United States of America – For sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) through Joel Goodrich – Currently home and private museum of Robert C. Pritken
    The mansion-cum-museum Pritikin built in 1987 for his collection is now for sale
    Pritken’s Folly – Chenery House, 47 Chenery Street, San Francisco, California, CA 94131, United States of America – For sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) through Joel Goodrich – Currently home and private museum of Robert C. Pritken
    Artworks in the building include a mock electric chair
    Pritken’s Folly – Chenery House, 47 Chenery Street, San Francisco, California, CA 94131, United States of America – For sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) through Joel Goodrich – Currently home and private museum of Robert C. Pritken
    There also many murals inside and outside of Chenery House

     

    Now offered for sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) by the equally flamboyant realtor Joel Goodrich, Chenery House – or plain old 47 Chenery Street – has hosted guests including Liberace and Mickey Rooney. The building is dominated by a top floor swimming pool with glass retractable roof, a vast ‘showroom’ with adjoining display rooms but also comes with 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. There is a 4-car carport, a garden cottage and a three unit building with two 2 bedroom units and one 1 bedroom unit.

     

    Hidden from the street at its entrance and adjoining the Fairmount Elementary School on another, Chenery House stands on a 1 acre plot crammed to the brim with art pieces, murals and statues. It was offered by Pritikin to the City of San Francisco as an official mayoral residence in 2004 but after they declined he has since rented it for weddings and events.

     

    In 2014, of living there, Pritikin remarked: “It’s a fun place to live. I would build the exact same house if I had to do it again, and in the unlikely event that I kick the bucket I intend to have my ashes buried here.” Though that will now unlikely happen, this true eccentric’s spirit will no doubt live on in spite of whoever eventually purchases what has to be one of America’s most whacky compounds.

     

    Pritken’s Folly – Chenery House, 47 Chenery Street, San Francisco, California, CA 94131, United States of America – For sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) through Joel Goodrich – Currently home and private museum of Robert C. PritkenPritken’s Folly – Chenery House, 47 Chenery Street, San Francisco, California, CA 94131, United States of America – For sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) through Joel Goodrich – Currently home and private museum of Robert C. PritkenPritken’s Folly – Chenery House, 47 Chenery Street, San Francisco, California, CA 94131, United States of America – For sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) through Joel Goodrich – Currently home and private museum of Robert C. Pritken

  • Flying a White Elephant

    Flying a White Elephant

    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.

     

    Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties. Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties. Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties. Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties. Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties. Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties. Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties. Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.Flying a White Elephant – One Pelican Hill Road North, Newport Coast, Newport Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92657 – Once listed at £67 million and sold for £14 million. Now for sale again for £43 million after death of owner Toshiaki Ogasawara – Offered by Pace Properties.

  • A Spectre of a Landy

    A Spectre of a Landy

    Villain’s Land Rover used in James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London

     

    A 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre is to be sold in London in September.

     

    Offered without reserve, the fully UK road legal vehicle – which was one of ten such models specially adapted by Belper, Derbyshire based Bowler Motorsport for the £186 million ($245 million, €208 million or درهم900 million) film starring Daniel Craig – has been driven just 145 miles and unlike its counterparts was only used in drive-by scenes.

     

    Described as “worthy of a Bond villain” and upgraded from 120 bhp to 185 bhp and 500 Nm of torque, the ‘Spectre Defender’ offered also features huge 37-inch tyres, a full roll cage, rose joints and Bilstein rally dampers.

     

    RM Sotheby’s will sell the Land Rover at their Battersea Park sale on 6th September.

     

    Images of the Land Rovers used during filming:A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s. A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s. A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s. A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s. A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s.

     

    Images of the car to be auctioned:A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s.A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s.A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s. A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s. A Spectre of a Landy – Villain’s 2014 Land Rover Defender SVX used in 2015 James Bond film ‘Spectre’ to be auctioned in London on 6th September 2017 without reserve by RM Sotheby’s.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd-YVnrGfnY

     

  • Canvassing a Con

    Canvassing a Con

    After a Chelsea chef who came out of nowhere named Michael Riemenschneider is revealed to be a “conman” in the ‘Mail on Sunday’, readers tell of his past form

     

    As can only be expected of a paper that loves a bit of sensationalism this week’s Mail on Sunday’s ‘YOU’ got rather carried away in an interview with a “wealthy widow” named Flora Mascolo – a woman who claims to be a victim of, mind the magazine’s gushingly cringeworthy description, a “delicious romance soon turned sour” with a Michelin starred chef named Michael Riemenschneider.

     

    Bizarrely, that Riemenschneider – a man whose first London restaurant, we noted in February 2014, was literally covered with images of his face and captions referencing his name – is lauded as a “handsome celebrity chef” in the feature by Margarette Driscoll is somewhat ambitious given several locals we contacted remember him as “podgy” and a “little bit greasy.” A well-known Chelsea restaurateur – where the Swiss born chef opened a replacement restaurant that few ever even got to hear of just months after opening and nigh on immediately closing his original Marylebone premises in summer 2014 – recalls an individual whose “ability to talk about himself and his achievements made me immediately question the truth of his claims.”

     

    That Driscoll lauds this individual as “talented and dynamic” is perhaps fair given his “experimental cuisine” most definitely had many merits, but that she describes a man Mascolo herself calls a “coward of a man” and “somebody who was a lie, from the beginning” as “destined for similar success” to Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay is nothing but far fetched. Here was someone who opened in bizarre off-piste locations, insisted diners fitted into limited time spots and ridiculously thought he could limit customers to a set menu priced at £275 per head or a ‘cheaper’ one at £95 per head.

     

    Riemenschneider, a man whose exploits are reported to have cost the widow of the co-founder of the Toni & Guy hairdressing empire some £2.27 million, is now supposedly bankrupt and living in Austria. Cars bought by him including a Mercedes-Benz GTS have reportedly been seized and of him Mascolo comments: “If you wrong me, you will remember my name. He didn’t know who he was messing with.”

     

    A wealthy female reader of The Steeple Times contacted us to share her thoughts on the interview. She did not wish to be named but stated: “This strange, anything but handsome individual, pestered me on social media. He messaged me one day out of the blue in 2013 and he told me that we had friends in common. I am glad I did not fall for his attempts to lure me. Plainly, Mrs Mascolo did and I am sorry for her.”

     

    She continued:

     

    “This man wasn’t a ‘celebrity chef’ but, in fact, a Facebook stalker of ladies he thought had a bit of cash. In his messages to me, I quickly realised he was an individual who’d come out of nowhere and brought with him an ego the size of Harrods.”

     

    “The journalist [Margarette Driscoll] gets rather carried away about his restaurant. It was in a sub-basement off Sloane Square and it didn’t even have a website. Nobody went there because nobody even knew about it. Where there’s money, there’s muck.”

     

    Michael Riemenschneider will no doubt reemerge someday. He was certainly a good cook, but sadly he turned out to be an even better conman.

     

    Canvassing a Con – Chef Michael Riemenschneider revealed to be a conman by the Mail on Sunday’s YOU magazine.Canvassing a Con – Chef Michael Riemenschneider revealed to be a conman by the Mail on Sunday’s YOU magazine.

  • Breaking For Gold

    Breaking For Gold

    Thatched seaside cottage in West Sussex for sale; it has a plot laid out in the style of the Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winning garden of 1936

     

    A thatched seaside cottage on what has been described as “the Sussex Riviera” has gone on sale for £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) through agents Savills.

     

    Having the look of something you might also find in the Hamptons in America, The Breakers on the Willowhayne Estate at East Preston, near Littlehampton was built in 1936 in the Arts and Crafts style and restored over the last nine years by the current owners.

     

    Providing 6,006 square foot of accommodation over three floors, the house includes 4 reception rooms, 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. It stands on a 0.75-acre beachside plot laid out in the plan of the winning garden at Chelsea Flower Show in 1936 and has an outdoor swimming pool – built in 2010 – also.

     

    A neighbouring house, owned by one of the original question setters for the game Trivial Pursuit, burnt to the ground in January 2014.

     

    Breaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TEBreaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TEBreaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TEBreaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TE Breaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TEBreaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TEBreaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TE Breaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TEBreaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TE Breaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TEBreaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TEBreaking For Gold – Savills seek £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) for The Breakers, 29 Tamarisk Way, Willowhayne Estate, Angmering-on-Sea, East Preston, Littlehampton, Arun District, Sussex Riviera, West Sussex, BN16 2TE

  • Pricey Pickhurst

    Pricey Pickhurst

    130 acre Surrey estate with gardens by Arabella Lennox Boyd for sale for £28 million (or £13 million more than it was marketed for in 2013)

     

    A Surrey estate has gone on sale for 87% more than in was offered for four years ago.

     

    Featured in Country Life in 2013 whilst for sale for £15 million ($19.1 million, €17.1 million or درهم70 million) and on the market now for the much higher sum of £28 million ($35.6 million, €31.9 million or درهم130.7 million), Pickhurst at Chiddingfold, near Goldalming centres around a 15,430 square foot Grade II* listed mansion.

     

    Built by the Scottish born architect J. M. Brydon for himself in 1885 in the style of Norman Shaw and most recently refurbished by developers Royalton, the main half-timbered house was originally much larger. Reduced in size in the 1950s, after a fire devastated its service wing, it now includes not only 6 reception rooms and 6 bedroom suites, but also a vast wine cellar, a belvedere tower and a home cinema.

     

    A further 3 bedrooms and a “hot relaxation suite” can be found in an adjoining coach house and in addition to two further 3 bedroom cottages and a Grade II listed gate lodge, there is also a stable block, machinery barn and garage. In total, internal space extends to some 30,000 square foot.

     

    Unusually for a property just 42 miles from central London, Pickhurst comes with 130 acres of land. Divided into formal gardens partly designed by Lady Lennox-Boyd and Chelsea gold medalist Fiona Lawrenson, woodland and pasture, there is also a 1.23 acre lake, a clay tennis court and an outdoor swimming pool. A family shoot on the estate is described as “regularly having 250 bird days”.

     

    Selling agent, Trevor Kearney of Savills, is far from modest in talking about Pickhurst. In marketing material for the property, he gushes:

     

    “This is the very best country estate that I have ever seen. Pickhurst is a best in class offering of unquestionable style and quality”.

     

    Of the renovation works he carried out to the house, in 2013, West Sussex based architect Ian Adam Smith, commented:

     

    “At the outset, the house looked as if it had been more or less chainsawed in half, yet, in spite of the fact that, before the fire, it was almost twice its size, local planning regulations would only allow us to extend the footprint by 40%”.

     

    “And, with no plans and no service wing to work with, we had to more or less create an entire new country house within a Grade II* listed building bearing in mind all the restrictions that that implies. Luckily, I was given a free hand by my very fastidious client, and we were able to build a new entrance, incorporate a modern-kitchen/family-living complex, upgrade the bedrooms and bathrooms, install acres of walnut panelling and replace the existing cherry-wood flooring with oak parquetry”.

     

    “With more than a nod to Lutyens, Webb and, in the gardens, to Gertrude Jekyll, we also reintroduced some interesting original features, such as the belvedere from where you can look out across the roofs of the many and varied Arts-and-Crafts houses that are a distinctive feature of Chiddingfold and the other villages in this wonderful part of Surrey”.

     

    Current pictures of the property removed at request of Claire Basing Lawson of Savills, 23rd August 2017.

  • Maxed Out

    Scumbag paedophile Max Clifford bankrupts himself leaving his victims without compensation

     

    Since being jailed, paedophile Max Clifford has shown absolutely no contrition and utterly no remorse. He’s sued newspapers, let his equally arrogant daughter, Louise, buy the “goodwill” – if such bizarrely even exists – of his former PR firm and tried to sell his ghastly Surrey home for £3.45 million. Now, in spite of reportedly being worth around £10 million prior to going on trial, this arrogant one-time friend of everyone from Simon Cowell to James Hewitt has pulled another scam and bankrupted himself this week.

     

    Maxed Out – Jailed paedophile Max Clifford bankrupts himself – Scumbag paedophile Max Clifford bankrupts himself leaving his victims without compensation.
    Max Clifford on the day of his marriage to his now ex-wife, Jo, with (left to right) Theo Paphitis, Bobby Davro, Pauline Quirke and Des O’Connor

     

    In walking away from debts of £7.5 million, Clifford has effectively limited what compensation he has to pay to the women and children he sexually abused. One was aged just 14 when he sexually abused her and of the news an unnamed female victim remarked: “His recent behaviour illustrates his complete arrogance and denial that his actions had any impact on his victims”.

     

    74-year old Clifford’s lawyer, John Szepietowski, told The Times: “Mr Clifford has always honoured his debts and finds this situation completely alien to him. He deeply regrets being in this situation”.

     

    Currently serving eight years at Her Majesty’s Prison Littlehey in Cambridgeshire, Max Clifford has yet again proven his entire worth. Here is a cretinous creature who’ll forever be remembered as nothing but a scumbag and a disgrace.

     

    Pictured above: Disgraced former PR Max Clifford with his daughter Louise Clifford, proprietor of Borne Media.

     

  • Maxed Out

    Maxed Out

    Scumbag paedophile Max Clifford bankrupts himself leaving his victims without compensation

     

    Since being jailed, paedophile Max Clifford has shown absolutely no contrition and utterly no remorse. He’s sued newspapers, let his equally arrogant daughter, Louise, buy the “goodwill” – if such bizarrely even exists – of his former PR firm and tried to sell his ghastly Surrey home for £3.45 million. Now, in spite of reportedly being worth around £10 million prior to going on trial, this arrogant one-time friend of everyone from Simon Cowell to James Hewitt has pulled another scam and bankrupted himself this week.

     

    Maxed Out – Jailed paedophile Max Clifford bankrupts himself – Scumbag paedophile Max Clifford bankrupts himself leaving his victims without compensation.
    Max Clifford on the day of his marriage to his now ex-wife, Jo, with (left to right) Theo Paphitis, Bobby Davro, Pauline Quirke and Des O’Connor

     

    In walking away from debts of £7.5 million, Clifford has effectively limited what compensation he has to pay to the women and children he sexually abused. One was aged just 14 when he sexually abused her and of the news an unnamed female victim remarked: “His recent behaviour illustrates his complete arrogance and denial that his actions had any impact on his victims”.

     

    74-year old Clifford’s lawyer, John Szepietowski, told The Times: “Mr Clifford has always honoured his debts and finds this situation completely alien to him. He deeply regrets being in this situation”.

     

    Currently serving eight years at Her Majesty’s Prison Littlehey in Cambridgeshire, Max Clifford has yet again proven his entire worth. Here is a cretinous creature who’ll forever be remembered as nothing but a scumbag and a disgrace.

     

    Pictured above: Disgraced former PR Max Clifford with his daughter Louise Clifford, proprietor of Borne Media.

     

  • Not So Little Italy

    Not So Little Italy

    Vast “Italian style” oceanfront mansion in Orange County, CA relaunched for sale for £42.7 million; it has failed to sell at prices as high as £53 million

     

    An 18,000 square foot barn of a residence described as “the finest oceanfront home in SoCal” has been relaunched to the market this month at a price 20% lower than when it was first listed in 2013.

     

    Built in what is somewhat ambitiously termed an “Italian palazzo style” and featuring Spanish tile roofing, five imported European fireplaces and “terrazzo flooring evoking those in The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades”, 2585 Riviera Drive stands on an acre plot in north Laguna Beach’s private Irvine Cove community. It is one of twelve oceanside homes in a gated, 24-hour-a-day guarded community and enjoys “spectacular views” of the Pacific and access to a private beach.

     

    Constructed to the designs of the Warner Group over a period of eight years and completed in 2010, the house offered occupies half of a larger plot owned until 2002 by Joan Irvine Smith, a woman whose family had at one time been the main landowner in the area. It features not only 5 bedroom suites and 9 bathrooms but also a screening room with bar, a 10,000 bottle wine cellar with tasting room and a 6-car garage with hydraulic lift.

     

    Within the grounds stands a guest house that was designed to be “a scaled back replica of Philip Johnson’s Glass House in Connecticut” and a 53-foot brass and glass waterfall made from materials salvaged from a Los Angeles bank. There are also 100-year old olive trees, a rose garden and a pool with cabana and spa.

     

    Not So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda Loder
    An aerial shot of the site during construction

    Not So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda Loder
    The house today with the ocean beyond

     

    Owned by businessman Ronald K. Loder, the founder of RKL Consulting, and his wife Yolanda, 2585 Riviera Drive is for sale with Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties. Of it, in 2013, Mr Loder remarked:

     

    “My wife and I love traveling to Northern Italy, particularly Bellagio and the lake country, where we’ve always admired the architecture… [But] I wouldn’t want [our house] to be construed as Tuscan in any way… Even though we built an Italianate palazzo, we wanted the flavor [sic] of mid-century design around us”.

     

    “We wanted people to know they were stepping into an oceanfront property the moment they arrived”.

     

    The Numbers – 2585 Riviera Drive, Laguna Beach

     

    June 2002 – Land subdivided into three plots; 2585 Riviera Drive sold for sum of $10.5 million (the equivalent of £11.1 million, $14.3 million, €12.7 million or درهم52.5 million today).

     

    July 2013 – Placed for sale for $65 million (the equivalent of £53 million, $68.2 million, €60.5 million or درهم250.6 million today).

     

    May 2017 – Relaunched for sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million).

     

    Not So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda Loder Not So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda Loder Not So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda Loder Not So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda LoderNot So Little Italy – 2585 Riviera Drive, Abalaone Point, Irvine Cove Community, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, CA 92651, United States of America – For sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million) through Maxine Laube of Surterre Properties – Owned by Ronald K. Loder and Yolanda Loder

  • Sharon Hodgson MP

    Sharon Hodgson MP

    Despite being Shadow Minister for Public Health and claiming to be a campaigner to improve children’s diets, Labour’s ‘jolly giant’ Sharon Hodgson is a big fan of kebabs. This Geordie ex-payroll clerk once claimed she’d rescue her handbag if her house were on fire, remarked: “Labour is teetering on the edge of political irrelevance” in 2016 and in 2017 usefully concluded: “Brexit has given us the capacity to look at things differently”. She’s up there with Diane Abbott in terms of her brainbox qualities.