Tag: April 2017

Blabbermouth Burrell

Butler-turned-blabbermouth Paul Burrell sinks to a new low; he should retreat to Siberia and live out his days privately

Cat-like Paul Burrell again and again reinvents himself. Somehow, in spite of already having undeservedly exhausted more than nine lives, this ghastly individual is back in the press and this time he’s milking the story of his marriage to a corporate lawyer he met on a train.

“Diana’s rock”, as the traitorous butler-turned-blabbermouth likes to call himself, chose not to keep his wedding to Graham Cooper private but instead bared the story of his union with his “soulmate” to various media outlets.

Mr Burrell, in spite of being born in Derbyshire wore a kilt to the ceremony (in a bizarre pattern of tartan he’d, of course, commissioned himself in 2006) at the Linthwaite House Hotel in the Lake District and in comments to the Mail Online remarked:

“There’s no more hiding my unbridled happiness now. Life is about being true to who you are and, for the first time ever, I’m able to stand proudly beside my husband and say: ‘This is who I am’”.

Burrell also told the newspaper of how he walked into the ceremony to Barbara Streisand’s Some Enchanted Evening and “danced out of [it] to Kylie Minogue’s Better the Devil You Know” and disrespectfully remarked on references to his late employer, Diana, Princess of Wales, being made during the ceremony. He again showed himself to be a master of the kiss-and-tell and even, in case anyone cared, shared the menu for his “three course wedding dinner”. It consisted of: “A starter of ham hock terrine, egg and chipped potatoes followed by pot-roasted breast of Goosnargh chicken served with Pommes Anna and wild mushroom fricassee and finished with a dessert of apple Tarte Tatin with a Calvados caramel and vanilla ice cream”.

An anything but credible individual according to Lord Justice Scott Baker, Burrell – a man prone to crying on a whim – was severely criticised by Princes William and Harry in 2003. In a statement, at the time, they remarked:

“We cannot believe that Paul who was entrusted with so much could abuse his position in such a cold and overt betrayal”.

“It is not only deeply painful for the two of us but also for everyone else affected and it would mortify our mother if she were alive today and, if we might say so, we feel we are more able to speak for our mother than Paul”.

“We ask Paul please to bring these revelations to an end”.

Burrell plainly paid no attention to this request and now, fourteen years later, it is again time to urge this self-serving toad to do the decent thing: May Paul Burrell please stop peddling tat and may he please retreat to Siberia.

April 4, 2017
Over-Engineered

Essex “neo Georgian Palladian” residence created from an ordinary detached house marketed for £5.4 million; it is a bit of a mish-mash and described as “over-engineered”

Estate agents normally wax lyrical about properties they are marketing but in the case of £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) Threshers House at Threshers Bush, near Harlow in Essex, Beresfords bizarrely go as far as to describe it as “over-engineered”.

Situated on a plot of 11.5 acres and redeveloped and extended since 2010 by an “award winning builder” named Paul Pickering, the 7,409 square foot main residence offered is described as being “neo Georgian Palladian” in style. Given such an architectural period doesn’t exist as a sole entity, it is a bit of a mish-mash but given the new building is an improvement on the plain house that it has been created from, one can be forgiving of the result.

The old Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Threshers Bush, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NP

The new Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Threshers Bush, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NP

The old interior of the building and the new interior

A proposed design that was ultimately rejected by planning officials at Epping Forest District Council

Aside from a somewhat ostentatious South Fork-esque portico entrance, Threshers House is presented without kitchens and bathrooms so as to allow “incoming purchasers to design to their own requirements”. It includes 5 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms and a 2-bedroom first floor flat and comes with planning permission for a 1,400 square foot orangery and underground leisure facility. Within the grounds is a completed 1,988 square foot 3 bedroom cottage, a 886 square foot bungalow, a 768 square foot bungalow and a 1,386 square foot six car garage.

Elsewhere and benefitting from separate access, a tiled stable and thatched barn complex provides accommodation for 14 horses and was previously run as a business named Threshers Equestrian. It comes with a horse walker, floodlit manège, lunging room and hard standing as well as a number of paddocks.

Threshers House – which is situated about 40 minutes drive from Canary Wharf – is also available for £3.25 million ($4.06 million, €3.81 million or درهم14.92 million) with just 5 acres of land and minus the ancillary accommodation.

April 3, 2017
A Dutch Delight

New York’s “most impressive” Dutch colonial house for sale for £2.59 million in spite of needing updating

Built in 1735 and listed as a designated New York landmark in 1966, 126 West Drive in Douglaston, Queens is considered to be New York’s “most impressive architectural remnant of the early Dutch Culture”. It has just been listed for sale for £2.59 million ($3.25 million, €3.05 million or درهم11.94 million) through Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty.

Overlooking Little Neck Bay, this “picturesque Dutch colonial house” features a salt-box roof, wooden shingles and oak beams and was built by Cornelius Van Wyck, a third generation settler on a plot of 125 acres. It was subsequently expanded in the 1770s and 1930s but despite now standing on a plot of just 0.65 acres is “one of the largest true waterfront properties in Queens”.

Extending to 3,876 square foot and including 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, the Cornelius Van Wyck House has direct access to a sandy beach and is just 28 minutes from Manhattan.

April 2, 2017
Limehouse

Matthew Steeples extols the relevance of the Donmar Warehouse’s ‘Limehouse’ to Britain’s contemporary political climate

At a time when Brexit has divided Britain and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour continues to provide little-to-no opposition to Theresa May’s somewhat unfocused, unelected government, the relevance of a play named Limehouse is especially poignant.

Based around the formation of the ill-fated Social Democratic Party by the ‘Gang of Four’ – Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and David Owen – in 1981, what The Telegraph calls a “domestic sitcom” takes place entirely in a “bourgeois” kitchen. It occurs during a period when moderates – driven to try to find an alternative to the rise of Thatcherism on one side and the loony left on the other – despaired at a nation divided and sought out a new way forward. Limehouse – named after the area where Owen lived at the time – effectively examines what this quartet believed the UK needed then and what many believe the UK again needs today: A credible centrist party.

Played out as a kitchen table coup by four ultimately flawed politicians over two bottles of Château Lafite, the plot is cleverly guided by a fifth member, the American born literary agent wife of David Owen. She concludes the play by asking: “What if?” in the context of what might have happened had a sensible centrist political movement been successful back in the 1980s. It’s the very question that will be on the lips of so many as we head towards Theresa May triggering Article 50 on the 29^th March.

‘Limehouse’ is at the Donmar Warehouse until 15^th April.

March 25, 2017
An Economical Plate

Rare 1952 Austin A90 Atlantic to be auctioned complete with plate ‘GDP 137’; it is a fine example of an affordable and quirky classic

Described as an “unrestored oily-rag example”, a 1952 Austin A90 Atlantic saloon to be offered for sale by Classic Car Auctions has a design that echoes a 1946 Pininfarina bodied Alfa Romeo and comes with a number plate – GDP 137 – that might appeal to an economist.

The rare 2.6-litre car is said to be one of just thirty left in Britain and was used by present and previous owners in a number of UK rallies and driving tours on the continent also. It was given replacement brakes in 2014, had its engine professionally rebuilt in 2016 and was converted to unleaded at the same time.

CCA have set an estimate of £8,500 to £10,500 ($10,300 to $12,800, €9,700 to €12,000 or درهم 38,000 to درهم 46,900) for this quirky little Austin. It will be sold at their Practical Classics Car & Restoration Show sale at The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on 1^st April.

March 12, 2017