What was UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom referring to?
This morning we published an article about Godfrey Bloom MEP’s now notorious “Bongo Bongo Land” comments. We’ve received both positive and negative responses directly and on Twitter and thus thought we better delve into the possible meanings of the phrase. (more…)
Oliver Estreich’s New York real estate power brokers
In the second in a series, Oliver Estreich profiles New York’s top realtors. He continues with Eva Penson, Leighton Candler and Dana Power.
The Steeple Times asks hospitality consultant Debbie Eybers: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
“My belief in right and wrong”.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
“We plan, God laughs”.
The Steeple Times asks entrepreneur Laurence Benson: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
I fear a 9 to 5 office job. I cannot run far enough away from it.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
“Cheer up, the worst is yet to come”.
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2013?
Unnecessary animal testing.
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
Long school summer holidays. 12 weeks of sun, sand and golf.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
To bring a tropical climate to the UK.
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?
As a once recent graduate trying to find a job in the banking crisis, I feel bad for the kids that aspired to becoming a big shot in the City. These fresh faces are finding themselves in an environment where they must work inhuman hours, contribute a greater value, have no job security and get minimal rewards for their troubles.
What phrase or word do you most loathe?
“Alright for some!” – It is usually used as a negative statement, judgmental of others decisions, full of resentment and jealously.
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
I support a lot of the main cancer charities as well as efforts in other areas. I have always been particularly close to The Aspinall Foundation and have worked with The Bill Clinton Foundation to provide clean water solutions to many parts of Africa.
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?
I loathe my mobile phone, but I am rarely detached from it when awake. They have become a ghastly anti-social necessity. More worryingly though, is my over riding belief that they will be the death of our generation.
If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
From past and present I would invite Salvador Dali, Nelson Mandela, Vivienne Westwood, Elton John, Audrey Hepburn and David Mitchell to keep the conversation amusing.
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 have a picnic on the beach between the port and castle of Mandelieu. The basket would contain a large array of starters including tomato and mozzarella salad and garlic gambas. For the main course, rosemary rotisserie chicken from La Maison du Bon Poulet. I’d finish off with a white chocolate parfait with honeycomb.
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
I’m trying to stop drinking before 5pm. The emphasis is on trying.
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
Always a cup of tea.
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
Any within my close circle of friends. Luckily, we are all fairly good party hosts and know how to have a good time.
Who is the most positive person you know?
Lulu Otte. She has had a few downs recently, but knowing that she will be blessed by many more ups in the future, she is always positive.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
Jaffa Cakes.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
A list of places I have visited and people I have met who have influenced my life, making me the person I am today.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
I think a beach buggy. Laid back, good fun but effective at the job they do.
Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
Half of my family has roots in the Seychelles, which is why I hold a Seychellois passport.
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
A large mirror, a chiming clock, an MCC fixture list and a postcard from a friend in Hawaii. She’s rubbing salt into our cold April wounds.
Laurence Benson is a Belgravia based businessman. He began his career in the City but left to found first Lily & Benson, a design bureau and creative consultancy, and most recently a luxury accessories brand, Touni Minuit.
Follow him on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/LaurenceBenson
View Lily & Benson’s official website at: http://www.lilyandbenson.com
View Touni Minuit’s official website at: http://www.touniminuit.com
Thomas James chats with artist Conor Mccreedy
The quintessence of any artist is what distinguishes them from others. So, when I met with Conor Mccreedy to ask him about his, he begins by reading me his artistic statement:
“I lose myself in a divine invention, where judgment is laid aside and my experiences in the world are left to breathe without the constraint of self-awareness or convention. The raw power and mysterious void of the ocean is my inspiration, the equalizer of mankind. We live in a volatile world where race, gender, time, and religion distract us from the real. My experiences of the human dilemma are archived in my mind; they arise in moments of unabashed and unbounded creativity. Tides of creation are painted and put into motion by pure adrenaline. This creative combustion has driven me to go beyond portraiture, and to explore new worlds of neo-expressionism and abstraction where volatile uncertainties are not only demolished but also become unheard of. The blue pigment that I use conveys a sense of ambiguity. It is a unique substance out of which almost elemental water emerges”.
Mccreedy divides his time between South Africa, the Unites States and Europe he loves discovering new things whilst traveling. His fascination with scents and colours is reflected in the candles and soap bars he collects and equally, he has become especially known for the colour he created, “Mccreedy Blue”. This blue is incorporated into his artistic works and most of his handmade European suits also.
Conor Mccreedy has a passion for animals that not only can be seen in his art but also can be seen in his life. He has his very own African lion, Mohlatsi, which is kept in South Africa at The Ranch Conservancy. Lions as well other cats are dear to Mccreedy’s heart, which is why he donates a percentage of most of his art sales to the Protecting African Lions (P.A.L.) foundation. Mccreedy is also an ambassador for the Ubuntu Educational Fund, which was founded, by Jacob Lief, a close friend of his.
Mccreedy’s creative vision has created a surge of interest in the art collecting community. One painting, Secret Movements, was sold to an undisclosed collector in Manhattan for approximately $196,000. This individual was offered $260,000 dollars for this rare piece in early 2013 but declined to accept.
In conversation, I asked Mccreedy further questions about his paintings and his philanthropic work and below I record some of his responses:
Thomas James: Is there something in particular about Secret Movements or your paintings in general that draws this undisclosed collector to your work?
Conor Mccreedy: “He has always loved my work. However, my trademark Mccreedy Blue paintings are what he collects mostly. This is the highest price for a single painting of mine to be sold as of yet. I am honoured that people would spend this amount of money on one of my creations. The collector turned down the initial offer as he felt it was not enough but equally, he does not intend on selling this piece anytime soon”.
TJ: Why does Secret Movements have an almost magnetic effect on people?
CM: “The lines and angles are unending in the painting. It can be looked at for hours as it starts to almost move within the canvas like a wild ocean. The piece is extremely powerful and strong. This is a unique sized piece being around 8 foot long by 3 foot high”.
TJ: What influencers and personalities have you sold your art to?
CM: “I do not really keep track of the ‘famous’ people who own my works. Time Warner has a piece or two and Steve Tyler liked an early work of mine so much he started to kiss it. We are working closely with Goldman Sachs and their art department this year and the following year to possibly create a mural for their Manhattan headquarters. I all goes well, the mural will be a painting almost as large as a tennis court”.
TJ: Assuming your favorite animal is the lion what ways are your trying to help and preserve lions in Africa.
CM: “Yes, my favorite animal is the lion. I am very upset to see what has happened to the rhino population also and do not want our lion population in Africa to continue to fall drastically. This is why I have decided to take a stand to make sure our lions don’t become extinct over the next 10 years”.
“We launch the ‘Mccreedy Blue P.A.L.’ bracelets in 2 weeks time. These bracelets won’t just support P.A.L., but will also fund my four affiliated foundations. It is a global movement that will be built up with tribes of believers and connectors and the bracelet will symbolise the connection between people and lions. Every time we sell a painting, I make sure that a percentage is put into the Protecting African Lions (P.A.L.) foundation. It needs all the seed funding and support it can get in its early stages so that it can flourish with the right team. We are fortunate enough to have amazing ambassadors from all over the world. This I am very grateful for and have worked extremely hard on pulling this together. It is something very close to my heart. I am African. I love Africa and will always be African”.
There is much interest in Mccreedy’s works amongst collectors living in international cities such as London and New York, but for him, the South African contemporary collecting art market is becoming increasingly important. This year, there will be two solo exhibitions of his works in Nigeria and South Africa and he will also be displaying two paintings at the Sydney Art Fair with his South African representative, the Everard Read Gallery.
For more information about Conor Mccreedy, go to: http://conormccreedy.com
Follow him on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/CONORMCREEDY
For more details on Protecting African Lions (P.A.L.), go to: http://protectingafricanlions.org
Fever-Tree sells a 25% stake for £12 million
In recent years, the premium spirits market has boomed in both Britain and America. Drinkers have traded up and become more and more demanding in their choices. Spirits brands have seized on this trend and created what they claim to be better products and enclosed them in fancier packaging. Many, such as No. 3 gin, Sipsmith and Purity Vodka, are truly excellent but frankly a lot of it is marketing hype.
Accompanying the change has been a desire for a better mixer. The premise that it was illogical that a consumer buying a bottle of vodka for £50 would then mix it with cheap tonic water was the starting point that set Charles Rolls and Tim Warrilow on the road to create Fever-Tree.
The story of a 1929 bi-plane with a truly fascinating pedigree
Britain’s best-known wartime Prime Minister piloted a Gipsy Moth aeroplane that will be sold by auctioneers Bonhams in February 2013 at a guide of £120,000. The same craft was also featured in an iconic 1980s film and was also supposedly flown by a member of the Fiennes family who mysteriously disappeared in 1998.
Piloted several times by Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) and used in the Oscar award winning Out of Africa, this 1929 De Havilland Gipsy Moth bi-plane is 24-foot long and has a 30-foot wingspan. It is capable of a maximum speed of 105mph and “wears” a yellow and black livery. It’s registration is G-AAMY in homage to the pioneering English aviatrix Amy Johnson (1903 – 1941).
In the film, the plane was flown by Robert Redford but though the life of the big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton he played is intriguing; the exploits of Redford’s aviator double are just as fascinating a story.
Few outside of the aviation world will have heard of Tom Danaher (1929 – ) but aside from Out of Africa, he’s pretty much done it all. After graduating from a high school in Dallas in 1941, he became a Marine Corps fighter pilot. Stationed on Okiwana in August 1945, he shot down the last Japanese bomber on the final night of the Second World War and also made history, aged 21, for downing three other Japanese “Betty” bombers in the eight nights before the ceasefire.
Recalled to active service in 1951, Danaher flew one of the earliest jets, the F3D Skynight, with the Marines in Korea on night combat patrols and then was part of the last combat mission on a high altitude bombing strike over Pyongyang, North Korea in July 1953.
Danaher’s passion for flying continued after the war and in 1954 he flew his own plane, a 1948 Bonanza, to England to visit friends he’d made from the RAF whilst in Korea. To make the journey, he built a 109-gallon auxiliary fuel tank so that he could fly straight across the Atlantic. On the way home he called in for an audience with Pope Pius XII in Rome.
Danaher’s visits to England led to him becoming involved in a pirate radio station in from 1944 to 1967 named Wonderful Radio London. Like many others, Danaher was not impressed by the BBC’s monopolistic attitude to radio programming and so helped build a 17,000-watt station on a surplus Second World War minesweeper. It was anchored three and a half miles off the English coast and outside of Britain’s territorial limit. Of the experience, Danaher told Airport Journals:
“We had someone in Dallas who would record KLIF, a top 40 station, and we put it right on the air… The Englishmen over there just ate it up… The station programmed news and top 40 music and was very successful. It had the largest listening audience of any of any commercial broadcast station at the time.”
Back in America, Danaher owned three car dealerships in Wichita Falls, Texas but sold them in 1972 to open his own airport, the Tom Danaher Airport. Lake Wichita Airport (7TXO), as it was also known, kept the aviator busy but he has also piloted in films numbering Empire of the Sun, Sky Bandits, Air America, Bad Medicine, The Pleasure of Love, White Hunter Black Heart, Cliffhanger and Goldeneye.
In 1985, Danaher was recruited to fly Gipsy Moth G-AAMY by Sydney Pollack (1934 – 2008), the American director of Out of Africa. He recounted his six week experience on set in Masai Mara, Kenya in an interview for his local Texan newspaper, the TimesRecordNews, in 2008. Here, he highlighted the problems of trying to film with a vintage plane that “has no brakes and is difficult to steer”:
“Robert Redford couldn’t make the thing turn. It took considerable finesse to turn it on the ground… The third time, he gave it full throttle… The left wing contacted a thick thorn bush and it tore some of the fabric off the lower left wing of the plane. We couldn’t fly it the rest of the day.”
Other dramas arose with G-AAMY in terms of Meryl Streep’s body double refusing to fly in it and the craft struggling to reach the high altitudes necessary to film a sweeping shot of the plane flying past a waterfall. Danaher took charge stating: “If I can get a piece of string and a ruler, I can fix this.” He found just such, cleverly installed them and Pollack: “got every single shot he wanted.”
Another person to have piloted the Gipsy Moth G-AAMY, according to a comment left in the PPRuNe Professional Pilots Rumour Network forum, was a man named Roger Fiennes. Whether this “rumour” is true or not, the cousin of the actor Ralph Fiennes and the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, is another character with a flying history as fascinating as his true family name – which turns out to be “Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes” when presented in full. Of why he did not use this lengthy and historic surname, Fiennes is said to have once commented:
“You try writing that signature on a 6 foot long cheque book.”
Fiennes flew many hours in a variety of planes and one of the best documented was an expedition supported by the Daily Mail from White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire to Sheremetyevo Airport in the Soviet Union in April 1989 and back. He flew one of three Tiger Moth bi-planes with a Russian navigator named Alexy Zaitov. The journey took three weeks to complete, involved 33 perilous stops and covered 5,000 miles.
On 19th April 1998, Fiennes was piloting a 1941 DH82A Tiger Moth, G-BALX, from Dieppe to Headcorn Aerodrome in Kent but he failed to reach his destination. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report into the disappearance concluded:
“Although the pilot contacted Paris Information by radio, in the absence of a specific request, the flight plan was not activated. Lashenden was therefore unaware of the flight’s departure and ETA. When the aircraft was reported missing overdue action, and the subsequent Search and Rescue operation, which was activated on the morning of 21 April 1998. Since then there has been no sign of the aircraft or pilot.”
Articles at the time and forums since are sparse in detail but several forum posters and articles suggest that Mr Fiennes had “mounting debts and a string of business collapses.” Whilst some go as far as to suggest a “Lord Lucan” style disappearance and make references to “paddling canoes” and “check[ing] the Panamanian register,” others remember a “nice guy, sadly missed.” Whatever really happened that fateful day, though, will probably never be solved.
G-AAMY, which was marked G-AAMT for the filming of Out of Africa, is a plane with a remarkable past. We suspect there’ll be a few more dramas for this craft yet.
The 1929 De Havilland DH 60 GMW Gipsy Moth bi-plane G-AAMY will be sold by Bonhams at the Grand Palais in Paris, France sale during Rétromobile week (6th to 7th February 2013). For more information telephone +33 1 42 61 10 11 or go to: http://www.bonhams.com
To learn more about Tom Danaher’s experience flying G-AAMY in Out of Africa, read the full TimesRecordNews report by Lara K. Richards at: http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2008/jun/08/fly/?print=1
To read the AAIB account of the disappearance of Roger Fiennes and DH82A Tiger Moth, G-BALX, go to: http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/dft_avsafety_pdf_502449.pdf
If one spent $2,000,000 on cosmetic surgery, one would expect to end up looking fantastic. It didn’t quite work out in the case of the billionairess “Bride of Wildenstein,” though, as instead she discovered the husband she thought she’d please in bed with a 19-year old Russian. Feline like in appearance, the purr of this New York socialite is said to be just as bad as her bite. She’s known to be a skilled hunter and pilot and once boasted her telephone bills were at least $60,000 a year. Surprisingly far from camera shy, what on earth will she look like at ninety?
She owns a controlling interest in the world’s third largest brewer and is married to the child star of Lawrence of Arabia, Michel de Carvalho. They live together in London with their five children, are said to be worth £5.5 billion but live “quite modestly.” Of meeting his wife, de Carvalho commented: “I met the girl of my dreams, complete with free beer. I didn’t realise then that marriage is not just about free beer.”
Matthew Steeples explores the story of an empty Kensington mansion
A multi-million pound 8-bedroomed house in Kensington isn’t anything unusual. In fact, rather, they’re ten a penny. In this, one of the wealthiest boroughs in the land, large, expensive homes are just the norm.
No. 1 Campden Hill, which is being marketed for an undisclosed eight-figure sum, is in a quite different league. Here is a detached Edwardian house in an acre of grounds just to the north of Kensington High Street. It’s an unrenovated property but it attracted much press attention in October 2011 because it was place on the market in October 2011 at a price of £75,000,000. Yes, you heard it right: £75 million for a fixer-upper. Last week, Radio 4 made a hell of a fuss about a derelict semi-detached house in Newcastle selling for just £14,000 so this truly must be something special.
The architect of the house Edward Prioleau Warren (1856 – 1937), a Bristol born architect and archaeologist, was best known for “Oxford colleges and minor country houses” but also designed the War Cemetery at Basra. He was a friend and adviser to the American novelist Henry James and in addition to building No. 1 Campden Hill in 1915, he also designed a house at 5 Palace Green in 1906 and another, Estcort House in Kensington Palace Gardens, in 1904. Warren’s guiding style is described as having been to recreate an “understated revival of English late 17th century” architecture and at No. 1 Campden Hill he created just that.
Colonel Edmond Grove-Hills (1864 – 1922), born Edmond Hills, and his wife, Juliet Spencer-Bell, were the architect’s clients. A plaque on the building bares their names and the following dedication:
This House I built for Me & Mine
May it be of Peace A Shrine
And no Enmity or Sin
Ever find its way therein
AD 1915
Sadly for the Grove-Hills, the following year, their son, Second Lieutenant Charles Herbert-Hills (1895 – 1916) was killed on the Somme aged just 21. His father, meanwhile, was awarded a CBE in 1918 after having served as the Assistant Chief Engineer of Eastern Command during the war.
Aside from his military exploits, Edmond Grove-Hills is best known for his role as president of the Royal Astronomical Society. He took part in observations of eclipse of the sun in Japan in 1896, India in 1898 and Russia in 1914 and contributed papers analysing both this and the causes of the irregular movements of the earth’s axis of rotation.
In 1951, No. 1 Campden Hill was purchased by the government of Uruguay and it became the residence of their ambassador to the United Kingdom. For the next fifty years the building was barely altered but when the lease from the Phillimore Kensington Estate came to an end, there were legal problems as the 1951 transfer had never been stamped. Of this, Sharon Mulroney of Forsters, the legal representatives of Phillimore, commented:
“It is highly unusual to be faced with complications of this kind when dealing with a registered London title, but this made the transaction all the more fascinating. Even the decision to allow ambassadorial staff to return to the property for security purposes after completion was fraught with potential problems about security of tenure, employment and tax.”
Eventually, without issue, the Phillimore Estate sold on the house in 2001 for a price of approximately £17,000,000. In the years since, the property was effectively mothballed as all the purchasers have done is to have obtained planning permission to redevelop the building into a mammoth mansion of epic proportions.
The approved plans show designs for something quite remarkable. Warren’s “understated” residence will be replaced with 8 vast bedroom suites, grand entertaining spaces, a lift and even bedrooms for 5 staff. In addition to a full-scale renovation of the original freehold house, there is scope to provide a total of 30,000 square feet of accommodation by adding a huge subterranean complex that will include a 25-metre swimming pool, court, squash court, gym, sauna, steam room, function room, entertainment room, home cinema, wine tasting room and even a nightclub to rival any of Kensington’s trendiest haunts.
On that basis alone, No. 1 Campden Hill is surely the ideal residence for Prince Harry: “Who needs Boujis?” we hear him cry.
No. 1 Campden Hill, London, W8 7AD is for sale through Knight Frank. For more details contact Roddy Craggs on +44 (0) 20 7938 4311 or go to: http://search.knightfrank.com/ken100161 to download a brochure.
For more information about The Phillimore Estate, go to: http://www.phillimore-kensington-estate.co.uk