Tag: August 2017

Grim Grenfell

Matthew Steeples suggests the giant coffin and stain on government that is the Grenfell Tower should be demolished immediately

The giant, grim carbuncle that is Grenfell Tower is a stain on the councillors of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and it should be torn to the ground immediately.

Allowing this monstrous edifice to bad government remain standing is wrong. Ash and debris from it blow across the surrounding environs and for survivors of this tragedy, that it still stands can only bring back hideous memories of witnessing friends and neighbours burn to death.

Of the building, an unnamed resident recently told The Independent: “The block needs to be tore down. It’s haunting, there used to be faces in those windows.” They are right and that suggestions have been made to cover the structure in tarpaulin simply do not cut the mustard. A proposal to demolish at the end of 2018 will leave the Grenfell Tower insensitively dominating a damaged community far too long and any useful evidence, surely, must by now have been gathered. This giant coffin should be terminated far sooner and it should be blasted to smithereens as soon as is physically possible.

Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

August 15, 2017
A Bargain Boat

Edward Kay reports on the sale of a truly striking 1-of-1 Aguti 20-metre wooden motor yacht that cost £6.4 million to build; it is offered for just £1.4 million

As most of Germany is relatively landlocked, with just the borders of the far northern cities meeting the Atlantic Ocean, it’s no surprise that some of the world’s best performance cars have come out of Deutschland. But, for a yacht building business, one generally might assume that the lack of water access would be quite a difficult hurdle to overcome. Luckily for a firm named Aguti, it set up shop on the coast of Lake Constance – one of the largest lakes in Germany – and here the company’s founder and designer Andreas Grieger has brought what truly must be considered nautical masterpieces to life.

Grieger had a desire to create a yacht with all the grand old opulence of time’s past, yet also with all the benefits of modern fittings and building technologies. He began designing such a vessel in 2003, and over the next 40 months, a fabulous wooden motor yacht slowly came to life at a build cost of some £6.4 million ($8.2 million, €7 million or درهم30.1 million). Where old and new design technologies came together most were in the hull. Here, the traditional yacht construction of utilising precious woods – in this case, mahogany – was upgraded with the integration of carbon fibre and epoxy resin. This process took 50,000 hours of craftsmanship, 40 cubic metres of mahogany, 50 cubic metres of cedar, 650 square metres of carbon fibre, and two tonnes of epoxy to complete, but the end result – a ship that had the visual appeal of a traditional wooden boat with the advantages of a modern composite yacht – was most definitely worth the effort.

This 20-metre, Riva-style owner’s driver yacht is, in my view, a design dream. Not only is it clean, crisp, and curvaceous, while also being angular, it cuts through the waves off the south of France like a hot knife through butter. It has twin 10-cylinder MAN engines – which each develop 1,100hp and together produce a maximum speed of 32 knots. All that power is hidden beneath a beautifully fitted heat-treated teak deck, spreading from bow to stern, including the extendable bathing platform. Elsewhere, the modern nautical technology of the cockpit is complemented by beautifully hand-stitched leather seats and a hydraulic ‘hard top’ roof, offering shade as well as airflow.

The openness of the cabin below allows direct passage from the cockpit and provides the captain with a view of the opulence underneath. The saloon and kitchen lead to three spacious bedrooms (larger in size than those of most London flats) which feature red mahogany furnishings, King-sized beds, and bathrooms finished in natural stone. For those looking for an escape this summer — a private oasis for you and your eleven closest friends — you’re sure to find it on this Aguti yacht.

£1.4 million ($1.8 million, €1.5 million or درهم6.5 million) is sought for the craft – a 78% discount on the cost when new.

Interested parties can contact yacht broker Edward Kay of Boatshed Riviera via email at [email protected] or +44 (0) 786 780 0908.

August 15, 2017
Andrew Warren

New York socialite Andrew Warren is known primarily as the best friend of Donald Trump’s daughter, Tiffany. With 100,000 followers on Instagram and the creator of the Just Drew fashion brand, he is the son of a real estate investor and also counts fellow trustafarians Kyra Kennedy and Gaia Matisse amongst his ‘Snap Pack’ entourage.

In August 2017, after bizarrely breaking his right arm in an incident in a Fort Pond, Montauk swimming pool involving an inflatable flamingo, Warren exclaimed: “It is especially hard because I use my right hand to design and for social media.”

Previously, in 2016, he modestly remarked: “I don’t I should be judged for posting a photo like eating caviar at Claridge’s in London while it’s okay for someone to post a picture at McDonald’s… In the Hamptons, I’ll have McDonald’s. I’ll have days where I go to Six Flags. I venture to Coney Island. I’m not grossed out by anything. My mom likes to go to Ohio. We do things that people wouldn’t expect us to do.”

August 15, 2017
Moron of the Moment – Sir Philip Green

‘Sir Shifty’ filmed in debauched incident in Mykonos; he would do better to sip rather than spray his beverages

Sir Philip Green will forever be remembered as a man whose former company, BHS, collapsed with the loss of 11,000 jobs. At that time, in The Steeple Times, the actor and producer Steven Berkoff compared him to both Shylock and Al Capone, but now ‘Badly Behaved Boozy Brit Abroad’ can add be added to this slug-like individual’s roster after he was spotted dousing fellow diners with champagne in Greece.

Filmed by someone named Sarah Nazari and shared on her Instagram page, the minute long clip shows Sir Philip at a beach bar-restaurant named Nammos Mykonos. Alongside other revelers, the business tycoon was pictured hosing other guests down with £109 ($141, €120 or درهم517) per bottle “spraying champagne.” He didn’t look like he had a care in the world and perhaps, just maybe, his daughter’s new jailbird boyfriend, Jeremy Meeks, had provided him with inspiration to behave like a reprobate.

Of antics more befitting of a 20-year old than a 65-year old, an unnamed source told The Times: “You couldn’t be in this club if you aren’t rich, so he wasn’t impressing anyone. He just looked like a sad old man trying to play with the pretty people.” Spot on: ‘Sir Shifty’, at his age, would do well to sip rather than spray.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ep_PrxAZE4

August 15, 2017
Hero of the Hour – Anna Soubry MP

Anna Soubry speaks for Britain and speaks complete sense; Theresa May should take note

Anna Soubry MP is a rare thing: A politician of conviction and one whose sensible nature is completely clear. Not guided, unlike her grasping colleagues by personal and party politicial ambitions, but instead by a belief in what she thinks is right for the country, here is a lady of logic and stature.

In an article in today’s Mail on Sunday, Ms Soubry states: “My country must come before my party” and adds: “We must face up to the Brexit reality: It is fantasy to think we are going to get a good deal from the EU based on country negotiating strategy. People will soon see how they have been conned by the Brexiteers. All options must go back on the table.”

She adds: “Brexit is a self-inflicted wound; the people of this country hold the knife and they don’t have to use it if they don’t want to. The people, not the hardline Brexiteers, are in charge.”

Ms Soubry is entirely right. Instead of wandering through the Alps for three works, Mrs May should be at work at this crucial time. She should be seeking the best deal for our country and she be putting a stop to the recklessness of ‘Hard Brexit’. It is time this hapless Prime Minister woke up and smelled the coffee.

August 13, 2017
Hero of the Hour – Anna Soubry MP

Anna Soubry speaks for Britain and speaks complete sense; Theresa May should take note

Anna Soubry MP is a rare thing: A politician of conviction and one whose sensible nature is completely clear. Not guided, unlike her grasping colleagues by personal and party politicial ambitions, but instead by a belief in what she thinks is right for the country, here is a lady of logic and stature.

In an article in today’s Mail on Sunday, Ms Soubry states: “My country must come before my party” and adds: “We must face up to the Brexit reality: It is fantasy to think we are going to get a good deal from the EU based on country negotiating strategy. People will soon see how they have been conned by the Brexiteers. All options must go back on the table.”

She adds: “Brexit is a self-inflicted wound; the people of this country hold the knife and they don’t have to use it if they don’t want to. The people, not the hardline Brexiteers, are in charge.”

Ms Soubry is entirely right. Instead of wandering through the Alps for three works, Mrs May should be at work at this crucial time. She should be seeking the best deal for our country and she be putting a stop to the recklessness of ‘Hard Brexit’. It is time this hapless Prime Minister woke up and smelled the coffee.

August 13, 2017
Bungling Bernie

Bernie Ecclestone accused of bribing F1 drivers by an Australian F1 legend

Bernie Ecclestone – whose Christian name is often used in the context of bungs and bribes – is just the kind of person whose past mistakes keep coming back to haunt him. An encounter with an Australian driver named Alan Jones in 1985 is an example of such.

Gnome-like Ecclestone – not to be confused with Theresa May’s relatively innocent garden gnome-like little hubby – supposedly, according to a new autobiography, it now turns out, supposedly paid Jones to “feign illness and miss the controversial 1985 South African Grand Prix in order to avoid sparking outrage with a team backer.”

In an extract, published by News.com.au, Jones reveals:

I was summoned to see Bernie Ecclestone in his penthouse. Not sure what I had done this time, I fronted up. As I went in the door Bernie said, “How do you feel?” Standard greeting, although he had a look in his eye, I gave him a standard reply, “Pretty good, thanks.”

“What do you think your chances are of winning the race tomorrow?” he asked.

Again, I felt no need to be subtle: “Bernie, I think you know the answer to that question. If I start now, probably pretty good.”

“Well, I’ve got a bit of an idea. If you pull up sick and can’t run again this weekend, we’ll give you first-place prize money. Go home and visit Australia.”

The background was that US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson had said that if a Beatrice car raced in South Africa he was going to get all of the black workers — thousands of them — at Beatrice around the US to go on strike. Beatrice couldn’t be seen to be backing down to an individual like him, but if they didn’t back down there was a chance of the strike.

So Bernie came up with an idea. “If the driver falls crook and can’t drive, then the Beatrice car doesn’t race. It’s a force majeure. Jesse Jackson can’t get on his soapbox and say, ‘I forced that company to withdraw,’ and he also couldn’t call a strike because the car didn’t race.”

The idea was that I would wait until Saturday morning when everyone went to the circuit. I would quietly check out, and jump on a plane to Harare to get home (because Qantas wouldn’t fly to South Africa).

This could not afford to leak at all. I’m pretty sure only Teddy and Carl knew from inside the team. I could not tell the mechanics or anybody.

And so, on the Saturday morning I was gone. I just didn’t turn up. They had the car out ready to go, when they were told, “AJ’s been struck down by a virus and we are not racing.”

I made a miraculous recovery for the Australian Grand Prix, which was just as well.

And still, some wonder: “Why doesn’t Bernie Ecclestone have a knighthood?” The answer is clear.

Pictured above: Alan Jones and Bernie Ecclestone.

August 10, 2017
Tales of The Tube

South Kensington house for sale for £4 million in spite of being literally right next to a noisy London Underground line

Estate agents are not known for honesty but Strutt & Parker certainly neglected a key detail when preparing particulars for a £3.95 million ($5.13 million, €4.38 million or درهم18.83 million) property in Pelham Street, SW7.

In a brochure for what is termed a “fabulous five bedroom freehold house situated within a charming terrace of stucco fronted houses, set back behind a private paved garden,” the firm neglect to mention that exactly to the rear of the building is the busy District and Circle line.

The renovated 2,523 square foot terraced house offered spans four floors – and presumably the top floors rattle less than the lower ones – and includes a drawing room, dining kitchen, a cinema room, 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It has a garden to the front, a roof terrace and the London Underground directly next to it. How charming.

August 10, 2017
Congratulations Bill

‘Songwriter to the Stars’ Bill Martin to perform for first time at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; he will enlighten his audience about his successful career

Glasgow born Bill Martin MBE – whose chart topping hits have included Congratulations, Puppet on a String and Shang-A-Lang – is performing a nightly show at The Dome during this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.

Pop songwriting legend Martin, who has worked with amongst others The Bay City Rollers, Cilla Black, Elvis Presley, Sandie Shaw, Midge Ure and Ken Dodd, will “tell the untold stories behind working with some of the biggest names in the music industry.”

Of his Fringe show, five times Ivor Novello winner Martin – whose autobiography Congratulations, Songwriter to the Stars will be launched at the end of the month also – told The Steeple Times:

“I have been writing songs for a long time and throughout my career I’ve had the honour of working with many musical icons – and with that comes a lot of anecdotes.”

“I was the first Brit to write a Eurovision winning song back in 1967, and since then I have never looked back. I’m proud of having had number ones in every country in the world and this is an achievement that will continue to keep pushing me.”

“Those who know me will be able to tell you that I don’t hold back and therefore my show will be a bit of a reveal-all of what it was like working with the biggest names in the business, especially during the Sixties and Seventies when the music scene was really vibrant.”

“This is the first time I have appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and I can’t wait to get started. Over the past few years I have travelled the world on Cunard cruise ships with the show and now it’s time to bring it home to Scotland.”

To book tickets, priced at £12.50, to the nightly (excluding Mondays) event click here. The show runs until 27^th August at The Dome, George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PF and is an hour long (8.15pm to 9.15pm).

August 8, 2017
A Con and A Cabriolet

One-off 1971 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI cabriolet to be auctioned; originally commissioned by a British playboy turned jailbird with connections to Princess Margaret but only actually completed in 1993

A 1971 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI all-weather cabriolet with bodywork by the renowned Italian automotive stylist Frua is to be auctioned this month.

Offered with an estimate of £308,000 to £462,000 ($400,000 to $600,000, €340,000 to €511,000 or درهم1.5 million to درهم2.2 million), this truly unique, one-of-one design was amazingly the final Rolls-Royce Phantom VI completed in spite of the model remaining in production until 1991. This mammoth beast of a car, surprisingly, however, has just 72 miles on its clock and is thus described as “as brand new.”

The car’s first owner, Robert ‘Bobby’ Buchanan-Michaelson, was a bit of a playboy but sadly he never got to actually drive or be driven in it. A “member of Princess Margaret’s inner circle of friends,” this Cambridge graduate was a member of the “Mayfair mammas’ lists of the season’s most eligible bachelors” until “exchanging his Edwardian hacking jacket for prison grey” in 1954 after being jailed for 12 months for an import/export fraud according to a report in Sydney’s World’s News in August that year.

Some years after being freed, ex-con Buchanan-Michaelson took part in the 10,000 mile 1968 London to Sydney Marathon in a Mercedes-Benz 280SE. In a book about the adventure he was described as both a “successful and wealthy businessman, employing a cook, a butler, a maid and a chauffeur” and as an “accomplished sportsman.” Also listed as a lavish spender, Buchannan-Michaelson was later bankrupted in November 1977 – though at the time he lived in grandeur at both at Churchbury Manor at Fairford, Gloucestershire and 26 The Vale, in Chelsea, London, SW3.

In 1970, in the period between the international car race and his bankruptcy, Buchanan-Michaelson commissioned Rolls-Royce to build him a Phantom VI. After delivery to Jack Barclay Ltd. In June 1971, the vehicle’s chassis was sent to Frua of Torino, Italy to have bodywork fitted but for some reason work stopped and it was not until 1977 – and by now with a new American owner, James Leake, and new drawings of its eventual form – that the project continued.

With Pietro Frua (1913 – 1983) retiring soon thereafter and Mr Leake’s death in 1983, the chassis passed to new ownership and it was only eventually completed as a finished motor vehicle in 1993.

That year, the four-door ‘state cabriolet’ was displayed at the Geneva Motor Show and its boxy look must have surely either have wowed or horrified visitors. It is described as having “an elaborate multi-position convertible top allows the car to be configured as a sedanca de ville, landaulet or fully open convertible.” The interior is trimmed in burled walnut with sterling silver inlays and amongst other luxuries are front and rear heating, air-conditioning, fresh-air ventilation systems, a television, a video player, a radio and a cocktail cabinet. Underneath the seats is a portable Davidoff cigar humidor and even a matching silk-lined ladies’ vanity case. What more could anyone ever need?

RM Sotheby’s will sell the Frua Phantom VI at their Monterey sale in California on 19^th August and term it: “The last word in modern opulence.”

August 8, 2017