Rupert Murdoch invests $70 million into Vice
Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. has just taken a slice of Vice. No, the billionaire’s not put his money into prostitution but instead – for those who haven’t heard of it – he’s invested in a local magazine business that has grown into an alternative media empire now valued at $1.4 billion. (more…)
Hispano-Suiza comfortably exceeds reserve at Monterey
The 1935 Hispano-Suiza K6 cabriolet that we featured last week was amongst the star lots at this year’s RM Auctions Monterey sale. Against a $1.5 million to $2 million reserve, it achieved $2,255,000. (more…)
Former Jeremy Clarkson Jaguar XKR goes to auction
Jeremy Clarkson once famously pulled what he called a “Jaguar face” in an episode of Top Gear. Looking like a cross between Joyce Grenfell and a beaver, the millionaire presenter suggested this was the look of the grille of the Surrey set’s favourite motor car. (more…)
This Ugandan-born journalist is a self-confessed racist who loathes “white, middle class men”, yet describes herself as being a “leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim, part-Pakistani, and … a very responsible person”. She believes Osama bin Laden didn’t get a “respectful burial” and asked: “Why does anyone black, Asian or Arab ever vote Tory?” on Twitter in July 2013 before talking about the urinal her husband had “pissed in” at a pub in Loughton, Essex in August of the same year. A true mouthpiece, Alibhai-Brown is just the kind of person no right-minded person would ever invite to dinner.
This sometime catwalk model from Brighton was branded “one of Britain’s worst louts” in 2008 but by 2010 had “turned his life around” according to the Daily Mail. After briefly appearing in the BBC’s Gareth Malone Goes to Glyndebourne and being signed with Elite Models, by 2013 he was in trouble again and locked up in HMP Rochester. The former £63,000 a year zero tolerance special school educated and “perfect mix of handsome, charming and checky [sic]”, Kennedy – who “hasn’t eaten McDonals [sic] in about a year” – stripped to his underpants with cellmate and aggravated burglar Sonny Barker (who then posted the images to Facebook). A prosecutor who warned: “He is the hallmark of a young man who will end up in prison” has been proven right yet his mother claims it’s not her fault as she’s been “let down by every agency”. She added: “I don’t accept that he’s worse than most other kids”. This woman is wrong. Her son is a menace who could do with a stint of hard labour.
Bebo “wipes the slate clean”
In July, we reported that Michael Birch had bought back Bebo – a social networking website that he sold for $850 million in 2008 – for just $1 million. Last week, he announced plans to completely revitalise the site. (more…)
A restored 1935 Hispano-Suiza K6 cabriolet to be sold at RM Auctions Monterey sale
Hispano-Suiza, literally meaning ‘Spanish-Swiss’, was a Barcelona based automotive firm that was founded in 1904 and which operated until 1968. In their 16th and 17th August sale, RM Auctions will sell a fine example of their creations, a restored 1935 Hispano-Suiza K6 cabriolet at Monterey, California’s Portola Hotel. (more…)
Charities need to rethink how they pay their executives
It’s hardly news that many charity bosses (AKA ‘charitycats’) are earning in excess of £100,000 a year but once again the toothless Charity Commission is bleating instead of acting. (more…)
Jack Vetrianno puts painting on the market (and throws in a flat)
Whoever buys Scottish artist Jack Vettriano OBE’s £2 million flat in Pont Street, Knightsbridge gets not only a one bedroomed flat, but also a painting titled Suddenly Last Summer. (more…)