‘Politicalite’ suggest Phillip Schofield orchestrated his ‘mass coming out’ after a former ‘This Morning’ runner had gone to the press about a supposed relationship whilst he was a teenager
Phillip Schofield has truly milked his ‘coming out.’ Criticised yesterday by Matthew Parris in The Times for behaving badly towards other gay men in hiding his true identity until now, the This Morning presenter’s alleged ‘real reason’ for revealing his sexuality is now under question.
Featured in Politicalite on Monday was a story that claimed 57-year-old Schofield had allegedly had an affair with a former runner on the show named Matt McGreevy.
McGreevy, they reported, in 2014 and then aged 18, “got a taste for television” after spending the day at ITV’s London Studios with the well-known for being angry presenter. The two had interacted first in 2011 (when McGreevy was 15) on Twitter, but now Politicalite report:
“Schofield is alleged to have been having the affair with the runner and he was said to have been ‘furious’ that Schofe had apparently ‘’f**ked him over,’ and he was reportedly going to the press.”
“McGreevy was also said to have had a ‘close working relationship’’ with Schofe, but after they had a ‘bust up’ with McGreevy left This Morning to work on rival show Loose Women.’
McGreevy’s Twitter account has subsequently been suspended for “violat[ing] the Twitter rules.”
Phillip Schofield has neither denied or admitted the claims.
Proof that they met more than once – Phillip Schofield and Matt McGreevy in a café.McGreevy pictured on the set of ‘This Morning’ with a child.Schofield and McGreevy enjoying themselves on a sofa on another occasion.Matt McGreevy’s Twitter account is now suspended for “rule violation.”
Standing on the site of a manor house destroyed in the Civil War in 1645, Grade I listed Stedcombe House was built in 1697 by the Hallett family on their return from Barbados. It was occupied by them until their bankruptcy in 1889 and passed to the Stephens family, whom remained resident until 1960.
The house in 1961; note the 19th century porch (which was later removed). The house has the typical William and Mary look; we featured another example of such when we featured the sale of Oswaldkirk Hall in Yorkshire in October 2013.The front elevation of Stedcombe House, Axmouth, Devon, EX12 4BJ, United Kingdom today (without the porch).A painting of Richard Hallett at Stedcombe House with his black servant Ando by Julie Hine (painted 1992).A birthday party with “exotic performers” at Stedcombe House in March 1907 (again, note the later removed 19th century porch).This grand reception room in the house provides indication of the quality of the refurbishment carried out since 1988.
Left vacant and rotting subsequently, the house became infected by “serious dry rot,” but upon purchase by the current owner it was subject to a “meticulous and sympathetic renovation” according to selling agents Savills.
Described as a “large house overlooking the Axe valley” of “red brick in Flemish bond with Beer and Portland stone dressings” by Historic England, Stedcombe is a four storey symmetrical residence with a belvedere crowning its pinnacle. It is grand yet manageable and features 4 reception rooms, 9 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms and comes with a 3 bedroom gate lodge, a stable block and “numerous outbuildings” requiring renovation also.
Standing on a plot of 20 acres that includes three walled gardens, pastureland and woodland, the only limitation of this home is that its once vast estate is now separate from it. Otherwise, here is probably the quintessential example of one of Britain’s most stunning homes.
Of the 8,039 square foot main house, Savills note: “Several things about it are unusual, but its most significant characteristics are its easy flow of rooms and the quality of design. In keeping with its era, all the rooms benefit from high ceilings and excellent proportions.” Pevsner and Cherry (1988) add: “[Stedcombe House is] an exceptionally fine and complete example of this type of small late 17th Century country house, the compact and centralised plan being an early example.”
The house viewed from the garden elevation; the grounds are laid out formally, but plainly are ready for a new owner with deep pockets to lavish attention on them.The decorative style of the current owner is simple, but tasteful.A room for reflection.The dining room.A more informal sitting space is to be found at basement level.One can imagine hosting similar kitchen table suppers in this room very easily.One of the grand bedrooms of the house.Guests would not fail to be impressed by this canopy.Even the bathrooms at Stedcombe House are grand.The outbuildings at Stedcombe provide potential for conversion to other uses; office space, staff or guest accommodation or for use to provide a cinema room, games room or gym perhaps.The sale price includes this gate house. It was built at a much later date, but is of a reflective architectural design.The setting is unspoilt and the gardens roll into the countryside beyond.Stedcombe’s acreage is split into gardens, woodland and parkland.The entrance to the property is simple, but could be improved by a new owner.A site plan of Stedcombe indicates its proximity to a neighbouring farm and other properties.A glorious view of this stunning house from its gardens.
Julian Assange should be arrested the minute he leaves the Ecuadorian Embassy suggests Matthew Steeples
Julian Assange is a menace. There’s no doubt about that. This pest sought to evade justice in Britain by holing up in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in the summer of 2012 and that he’s been there ever since is just an outrage.
Some support Assange on the basis that they believe WikiLeaks, the media organistion he founded in 2006, has acted “courageously” and “resisted censorship,” but I’d argue otherwise. Assange allies himself with some of the scummiest people on the planet, aided the election of Donald Trump and colluded with Russia. WikiLeaks is an inadequate and deviant operation and one run by a man whose own moral compass is as warped as a banana on steroids.
Now, with news that Ecuador have finally had enough of Assange – he’s allegedly rather smelly for a start – and are planning to kick him out, it is time that this hypocritical ratbag faced justice in Britain. I am not going to argue the point of whether or not he should be sent to America, but Assange must pay for the crime of bail skipping in Britain.
Owned by the amusingly named Darren Chick, a Brit living in America, Nigel disappeared from his home in Torrance, California in 2010 and was presumed dead.
Nigel, it turns out, was found four years later in 2014 by Julia Sperling, a dog grooming parlour owner. Nobody knew where he’d been but his accent had gone. It was replaced with him: “Singing without control [and barking] like the dogs” in a Spanish accent.
Sperling handed the bird to a vet who realised ‘Larry’ – as the parrot kept calling out – had a microchip. He traced Mr Chick and returned the errant bird to its rightful owner.
You just couldn’t make it up and frankly on a day when we’re stuck with yet more Brexit woes, thank goodness for a bit of lighthearted amusement.
Grade II* listed Cumbrian mansion built by opium dealer and once marketed for £1.5 million for sale for just £460,000; it was also the scene of the UK’s biggest ever cannabis raid in 2012
A 23,000 square foot, 52 room, mid-19th century Palladian mansion in the Westmorland Dales National Park is to be sold at auction – by order of the mortgagees not in possession – for £1 million less than it was marketed for in 2014. It is sadly now described as being in an utterly wrecked, vandalised condition.
The entrance elevation of the mansion then and now
The strikingly grand interiors of Flass (prior to visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’)
The completely trashed interiors of the mansion (after visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’)
Built in 1851 for wealthy merchant brothers and tea and opium magnets Lancelot and Wilkinson Dent, 8-bedroomed Flass at Maulds Meaburn, near Penrith in Cumbria was designed by architects Grey and Mair and includes furnishings by the renowned firm Gillows of Lancaster and London.
Opulent to its core and said to have featured marble fireplaces, ivory door handles and friezes with pearls, Flass remained in the Dent family until 1973. Just prior to being sold for £17,000 (the equivalent of £202,000 today) that year to a historian named Frank Walsh, the then owner Sir Robert Dent opened up an attic of the house and discovered items from the Mughal Empire that he then auctioned for the astounding sum of £220,000 (the equivalent of £2.6 million today).
Subsequently this vast stucco finished, limestone built house – complete with a Doric porte-cochère and a three-storey tower – became a care home and was then after sold in 2000 to a singer-songwriter best known for co-writing the creepy Christian crooner Sir Cliff Richard’s Devil Woman named Christine Holmes (also known as Kristine Sparkle) and her husband Paul Davies. The pair turned the property into a performing arts school.
After the couple divorced, Davies took control of the mansion but due to spiraling maintenance costs, he eventually got himself involved with a gang of drug dealers in 2011. Due to what rental agents at the time described as the house being “totally private and hidden away, with an unmatched seclusion and charm,” Davies and his five cohorts were able to grow cannabis with a street value of £5.26 million undetected until a neighbour became suspicious. He was jailed for his role in the crime for three years and eight months in September 2015.
Singer-songwriter Christine Holmes outside Flass in September 2017 (after visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’ and their having trashed her home)
Paul Davies turned Flass into Britain’s biggest cannabis farm (and got himself three years and eight months in jail for his efforts; on his conviction his representative said: “He blames nobody but himself for getting involved in this criminal business”)
The “massive scale” £5 million cannabis farm operated at Flass was described in court as “a professional setup” and having the “real hallmarks of organised crime”
Christine Holmes subsequently took back control of Flass and after trying and failing to sell the house for £1.5 million spent £200,000 on renovations to put right the damage done by the drug operation. Her bad luck, however, was not to end there. In September 2017, the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald reported that a gang of ‘Urban Explorers’ had raided the somewhat derelict building and filmed their exploits. In the weeks that followed, trespassers returned at least twelve further times and “ransacked and trashed” the once glorious residence. She told the paper:
“I was absolutely horrified when I saw [videos of the house] online. I couldn’t believe how anyone could come into my home and believe it was an abandoned building.”
“I think since then people have been staying in the building and have even been there hiding while I’ve been there. I’m petrified. These are evil people who are breaking into my home. I think it’s becoming a game to them. They are breaking in every day.”
Auctioneers Harman Healy will now offer Grade II* listed Flass along with 17.5 acres of overgrown grounds with a guide price of just £460,000+ on 30th January. Christine Holmes no doubt will be glad if she finally gets shot of what she likely ended up considering to be the worst kind of white elephant.
Flass – The Numbers
January 2019 – To be offered at auction with a guide price of just £460,000 ($596,000, €525,000 or درهم2.2 million).
July 2014 – Offered for sale for £1.5 million ($1.9 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.1 million).
2000 – Sold for £490,000 ($635,000, €559,000 or درهم2.3 million) to the currently jailed drug dealer Paul Davies and his then wife songwriter Christine Holmes.
1998 – Reduced to £650,000 ($842,000, €741,000 or درهم3.1 million).
1997 – For sale for £750,000 ($972,000, €855,000 or درهم3.6 million).
1982 – Sold for £115,000 ($149,000, €131,000 or درهم547,000) to a retired solicitor named Malcolm Whiteside. He turned Flass into a care home which he ran with his wife Mary.
1973 – Sold by Sir Robert Dent, a descendant of the family who built the house, for £17,000 ($22,000, €19,000 or درهم81,000) to a historian named Frank Welsh.
Julian Assange achieves a new low by hanging out with a whack job Trump supporter who previously supported Black Lives Matters and Bernie Sanders
Julian Assange’s pathetically small ragbag of supporters are once again bleating and this time that bleating comes from the mouth of a most confused young lady.
In an article for The Gateway Pundit – a little known hotchpotch rant sheet that cites itself as being “Where Hope Finally Made a Comeback” and a publication that claims: “We report the truth – and leave the Russia-Collusion fairy tale to the Conspiracy media” – a Donald Trump supporting “political activist” named Cassandra Fairbanks claimed Assange’s living conditions are “more akin to [a] Stasi-era dissident than an award-winning publisher with asylum.”
“Social media star” Fairbanks – whose favourite quote is said to be “Build the Wall” in spite of her previously being a backer of Bernie Sanders – is, in fact, just like Assange in several regards: This queen of contradictions is a bit of self-promoting, self-obsessed sort and she plainly craves constant attention.
On Twitter, this Silver Springs, Maryland based former liberal tells her 156,000 followers that the “Federal court says ‘I trolled the web through Twitter’” and that she is “an information terrorist according to Wired.” She previously was said to be “distinguished for her liberal campaigns” but has now wholeheartedly U-turned and become a fully-fledged Trumpette.
In spite of helping to organise the ‘DeploraBall’ to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017, Fairbanks has also been involved with the “hacktivist” group Anonymous and once came out in support of immigrants by saying: “Why should an invisible line created by some [politicians] dictate where we can and cannot go? If I want to go to the beach at 11pm I should be able to. If I feel like rowing a boat to Australia, why can’t I just go?”
Cassandra Fairbanks at the White House
Previously a reporter for the Russian state funded news agency Sputnik News and also at one-time a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, Fairbanks lost a defamation suit in June 2018 against a former Fusion journalist, Emma Roller. Fairbanks had claimed Roller “maliciously” retweeted an image of her allegedly giving a white power hand gesture.
In her article for The Gateway Pundit, published Thursday after Fairbanks having visited Assange at the Embassy of Ecuador in Knightsbridge the previous Monday, the self-proclaimed “grassroots journalist” claimed his hosts were imposing “draconian” conditions on the bail dodger and keeping him in something “like a scene from the Stasi spy drama The Lives of Others.”
Refusing to acknowledge that Julian Assange chose his very own path is one thing, but that Fairbanks moaned about his hosts being “spies… even noting his general mood” is another. She refers to the Ecuadorians as “menacing” and “shadowy state actor[s]” and their embassy as like a “federal penitentiary.” In doing so, this plainly delusional woman ignores the most important fact: Nobody is forcing Julian Assange to remain holed up with people she views to be baddies. He could end this farce and he could finally do the decent thing: It is time for Julian Assange to surrender himself to the British police.
Russian born Max Hammet-Millay has benefitted from all the privileges of being welcomed to Britain; he now wants to pull up the drawbridge and joined the attack on Anna Soubry MP on Monday
In 2000, an infant named Max was plucked from an orphanage in Ulyanovsk in Russia by two gay men from Islington, London. They had already taken another boy, Renat, from the same place two years earlier.
Glenn Hammett and Keith Millay adopted ‘Max Hammett-Millay’ – as he became – and gave him a £23,000 per year education at the DLD College in Westminster. The boy subsequently studied biology at the University of Portsmouth and reportedly now lives in Camden Town, but sadly it seems Hammett and Millay came to regret their decision to bring him to Britain.
Max Hammett-Millay
In 2017, in an interview for the Daily Mail about his experiences with his two sons, Hammett announced: “There are moments I wish I hadn’t [adopted Max].” He detailed the behavioural problems of both of their sons and yesterday the very same paper revealed: “One of the yobs who called Anna Soubry a ‘Nazi’ and a ‘traitor’ is a private-school educated former Jeremy Corbyn supporter.”
Hammett-Millay, pictures confirm, was indeed amongst the “mob” who surrounded the Conservative MP and Remain supporter on Monday outside the Houses of Parliament and show him wearing a ‘Trump 2020’ baseball cap. He later took to Facebook to share an image of Soubry complete with a drawn-on Hitler moustache but bizarrely, in spite of attending an anti-austerity rally carrying a ‘Jeremy Corbyn for PM’ placard in 2016, has described the Labour leader as a “moron” also.
Plainly Max Hammett-Millay is nothing but a confused, spoilt brat and a wannabe Katie Hopkins. He should calm himself and learn to behave with a little more civility.
Some example of Max Hammett-Millay’s offensive posts from his social media pages follow.
Mayfair “farmhouse” where Mrs Simpson began her affair with the then Prince of Wales for sale for 147% more than it was marketed for in 2012
Last marketed at a price of £4.75 million ($6.04 million, €5.30 million or درهم22.19 million) in 2012 and offered for sale in 2005 at an undisclosed sum also, a house where the then Mrs Simpson began her affair with the then Prince of Wales is again for sale.
Rebuilt in the early 1900s by a Mrs M. Strakosch in “the Gothic style,” Farm House – or 22 Farm Street as it is more simply known – stands on the site of a farmhouse that predated the development of Mayfair.
Entered through a large oak front door that feature the heads of the twelve apostles, the half-timbered house Mrs Strakosch commissioned featured Flemish linenfold paneling and 17th century doors. Though much of this has now gone, a number of Jacobean and medieval features remain and what is now offered is described as “the perfect space for modern entertaining.”
Farm House, 22 Farm Street, Mayfair, London, W1J 5RQ – For sale for £11.75 million
Gloria Swanson, Gloria Vanderbilt and Thelma Furness
Farm House includes three reception rooms, two kitchens, six bedrooms, four bathrooms, two terraces and a garage. It extends to 4,564 square foot over four floors and was home to the Swiss born Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness (1904 – 1970), the twice married mistress of the then Prince of Wales and later King Edward VIII between 1930 and 1934, during their relationship.
Furness, whose twin sister Gloria (1904 – 1965) became a Vanderbilt and was also the maternal grandmother of the American news anchor Anderson Cooper, at this time, was friends with Wallis Simpson. She introduced her American friend to the prince at her country house, Burrough Court, near Melton Mowbray, first in 1931 but then became supplanted in his affections in 1934.
With their relationship approaching its end, Furness embarked on a short affair with Prince Aly Khan whilst in America and whilst there allowed Simpson to live in her Farm Street home according to the actress Gloria Swanson (1899 – 1983). Later, in her autobiography Silent Boulevard, Swanson wrote:
“Lady Thelma Furness had a charming house on Farm Street, where her friend Wallis Simpson has kept the Prince of Wales company while Thelma was away in the States.”
Swanson, whilst pregnant, and her then husband Michael Farmer subsequently rented Farm House from Furness and of their time there wrote: “The house was empty for the moment, so we settled in to wait for the baby and see old friends.”
Knight Frank now seek £11.75 million ($14.95 million, €13.12 million or درهم54.90 million) for Farm House. Reportedly, according to a 2012 Mayfair Times article, the property comes with deeds that specifically mention that it still has a “right of way for sheep.”
Should there be a blue plaque in honour of the controversial explorer Gertrude Bell in Cadogan Square in spite of the fact she did not actually “live” there?
Today, in The Guardian, arts correspondent Mark Brown reported on the controversy that has arisen as a result of English Heritage deciding it appropriate to approve a blue plaque in honour of Gertrude Bell CBE (1868 – 1926) in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge.
Gertrude Bell has variously been described as an administrator, peace maker, preserver of heritage, pioneer and a woman of international influence. She was also considered a spy and mocked for opposing vote’s for women.
Though home to the explorer’s grandmother and a place she stayed at on “numerous occasions” for over 40 years, Bell’s biographer, Graham Best, asks: “Is this a case of cultural appropriation? … She didn’t really have anything to do with London.”
He continues:
“The thing with Gertrude Bell is that everyone is trying to appropriate her as a person. She is deeply misunderstood.”
“The thing is everyone is trying to grab hold of Gertrude Bell and say yes, she’s one of us. But she’s not.”
Going further, the article also attempts to smear “Queen of the Desert” Bell by referring to the fact that she opposed vote’s for women and repeatedly makes reference to the William Morris designed Red Barns in Redcar being her genuine home.
Just like with Queen Elizabeth I – a woman who seemingly slept in every bed in the land – it is effectively plaques to famous people could end up being put up just about everywhere they ever went. In February this year, The Steeple Times reported on a condominium in Pacific Heights, San Francisco that was for sale complete with a plaque that proclaimed: “2151 Sacramento Street: This house, built in 1881, was once occupied by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.” It turned out that the author had “visited” the building for just a few hours.
Pictured top: Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell with Robert Pattinson as T. E. Lawrence in the “muddled mess” that was Werner Herzog’s 2015 film ‘Queen of the Desert.’
1967 Rolls-Royce state landaulet originally built for the Communist dictatorNicolae Ceaușescu – but considered too extravagant even by him – and later used by Her Majesty The Queen to be auctioned
Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu was a dictator whose extravagance was a bit like that of Barbara Amiel: It knew no bounds. In 1966, ignoring the wishes of his Russian handlers, Ceaușescu decided to order what became the most costly Rolls-Royce Phantom V state landaulet by Mulliner Park Ward ever produced and spent £20,000 in 1966 (the equivalent of £652,000, $824,000, €726,000 or درهم3 million today) creating a truly luxurious vehicle.
Featuring nearly every available option possible, including a rear seat that could be raised or lowered to suit the height of passengers, this luxurious limousine also came with a combination cocktail bar and entertainment cabinet with a television. It had dual air conditioners for both the front and rear compartments, fluorescent lighting for parades at night and a refrigerated wine cooler. So over-the-top was it that, though Ceaușescu allegedly “probably could not have cared less” himself, Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party, complained about the lavishness of the vehicle, had it stored for one year and then shipped back to England.
Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena
Replaced with a “more suitable Silver Shadow,” Ceaușescu’s Phantom V state landaulet was sold on to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based Dr. Erle M. Heath and his wife Bonnie. They used it on a daily basis for three decades and racked up 117,000 miles in it but also loaned it to dignitaries and personalities on occasions. Used to chauffeur Her Majesty The Queen on her state visit to Bermuda in 1975, the car was also her transportation during her visit to the Grand Cayman Islands in 1983.
Subsequently, in 1978, the vehicle also was used by Princess Grace of Monaco in Pittsburgh in 1978 and then after the death of Dr. Heath in 1992, it eventually became part of the Calumet Collection. Exhibited at various concours d’elegance, the Phantom V state landaulet also transported the American astronaut Buzz Aldrin and now has 161,795 miles on its clock.
RM Sotheby’s will sell this “rich in history” car at their Arizona 2019 auction on Friday 18th January 2019. They offer it with no reserve and an estimate of £791,000 to £1.2 million ($1 million to $1.5 million, €880,000 to €1.3 million or درهم3.7 million to درهم5.5 million).
