This Swiss born son of a printer has spent over £85 million buying up properties in the Henley-on-Thames area of Oxfordshire. Schwarzenbach also owns 123,000 acres in Australia, 26,000 acres in Scotland and has his own polo team, the Black Bears. This financier’s foreign exchange dealership, Interexchange, is the biggest in Switzerland and betting against the dollar has brought much success. He supposedly even named his Gulfstream G650 “George” as “ultimately it was Bush who paid for it.” Whilst Schwarzenbach’s Grand Hotel Dolder in Zurich wins plaudits galore. an investment in Mayfair’s Café Grand Prix was less successful. It is, however, for philanthropy and discretion that Schwarzenbach and his wife, a former Miss Australia, are known best.
Tag: Berkshire
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Urs Schwarzenbach
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Andrey Borodin
This billionaire former president of the Bank of Moscow lives in exile in London and is on the Interpol Red Notices wanted list as a suspect in a £136 million (13 billion rouble) fraud. (more…) -
Robin Sheppard: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times asks hotelier and chairman of Bespoke Hotels Robin Sheppard: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?
Hunger.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
“While I breath, I hope.”
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2012?
Piers Morgan.
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
The ability to fit into non-elasticated trousers.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
I might swap it for anything. However, I would swap it for nothing.
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?
I think it’s a great shame that people no longer consider their bank manager to be a friend. We’ve lost the trust. It’s very different now to how it once was.
What phrase or word do you most loathe?
“At this moment in time”: What a waste of words.
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
I am affiliated with the Guillan-Barre Syndrome Support Group.
The judge in “Law Abiding Citizen” states: “I can pretty do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?
Turn them off when you’re on the loo. Or at least try not to use them.
If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
Are we murdering or sightseeing? Either way, the answer’s probably family.
Hotelier Robin Sheppard If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?
Presumably I’d have to eat it in the prison I doubt they’d let me go on a picnic. I think I’d have spaghetti bolognaise with a robust Chianti.
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
Immediately after you finish work. Whichever time that may be.
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
Cup of tea.
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
If I remembered them, they can’t have been that much fun, can they?
Who is the most positive person you know?
My golf instructor. He’s always laughing whenever I take a shot.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
Pork scratchings.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
That festival in Edinburgh.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
A monster truck.
Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
I’m an only child.
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
A handful of birthday cards.
Robin Sheppard is a classically trained hotelier and chairman of Bespoke Hotels. He is also managing director of Alfresco, designed the iconic bottle for Ty-Nant mineral water and is the author of A Solitary Confinement (2007).
To purchase a copy of Sheppard’s book, A Solitary Confinement, go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Solitary-Confinement-Robin-Sheppard/dp/1905823258. Watch a video interview with him about Guillan-Barre Syndrome at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9SQKayEQEo
For more information about Bespoke Hotels, go to: http://www.bespokehotels.com and for information on Alfresco: http://www.alfresco.co.uk
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Hugh Bonneville
In his role as Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham, this actor warned that “scandals” always have a habit of coming out. He graduated in Theology at Cambridge but, according to Adam Helliker of the Daily Express, Bonneville wasn’t especially keen to show Christian compassion towards Lord Archer at a party at The Cadogan Hotel when it was requested that the pair be photographed together. -
Twittering S-Pam
Pam Ayres makes a poem of Matthew Steeples
Yesterday, I found myself listening to a self-proclaimed “writer, broadcaster and entertainer” named Pam Ayres on BBC Radio 4.
Pam Ayres An example of her style numbers:
“I am sittin’ on the sofa. By the fire and stayin’ in. Me head is free of comfort. And me nose is free of skin. Me friends have run for cover, They have left me pale and sick. With me pockets full of tissues. And me nostrils full of Vick.”
I recall having first encountered the supposed “humour “of Ms Ayres, whom the Daily Telegraph once described as “the doyenne of doggerel,” at a dinner hosted by The Lady Taverners at The Savoy some years ago. As Ayres droned on, an American lady at my table tapped me on the shoulder and said: “What the hell is this strange woman on about?” Having never heard of this “poet,” I shrugged and simply responded: “I haven’t got a clue.” When, in desperation, it was suggested we vacate to the bar, I embraced the idea with gusto. Sat there with an extremely strong martini, I felt well again.
That, I assumed, would be the last my poor ears heard from Ayres but sadly it was not to be. Radio 4, which I listen to throughout the day, have chosen to give her airtime and yesterday, when she came on, the first comment from my friend Charles was: “Oh God, not her, she terrified me even when I was a kid.” The unwelcome ghostly voice of an evening past had returned to my life.
Having had my fill, I thought I’d share my thoughts with my Twitter followers and posted the following:
“I have to say @PamAyres is quite possibly the most tedious person on @BBCRadio4. Her attempt at “humour” is cringeworthy and annoying.”
Within minutes, I’d been bombarded with hatemail from furious fans of Ayres. Most curiously amongst them were missives from the former game show panelist Annabel Giles (@Annabel_Giles) and “Britain’s premiere [sic] Nazi hunter” Alan Stoob (@nazihunteralan). Plainly Ayres is “much loved” in all manner of circles.
Later, a poem came from the woman herself. It reads as follows:
This geezer Matthew Steeples (May he rot in K & C)
Has posted on his twitterfeed a photograph of me
And with my blameless heifers he has held us up to shame,
I may heal in time. The cows will NEVER be the same.
“Blummin’ ‘ell:” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Never could I have imagined that I’d find myself immortalised in a poem by Pam Ayres.
Learn more about Pam Ayres at: http://www.pamayres.com or follow her on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ayrespam She might even pen a verse in your honour if you’re, erm, lucky.
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Pam Ayres MBE
This supposed “First Lady of Comedy” spouts lines like: “He had a bull name Floyd, but he was unemployed.” How long did it take her to come up with that? Her appearances on Radio 4 and elsewhere are peppered with references to “blummin’ people” and how she’s “stuck all [she] can stick.” Could someone please put her out to pasture before all our eardrums burst? -
To the manor born
The Manor, Bucklebury: a house that shortly may become home to Carole and Michael Middleton
First reported by The Daily Telegraph’s “Mandrake” columnist Richard Eden in May, the talk of today is that The Duchess of Cambridge’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, have just purchased a Georgian manor house at Bucklebury in West Berkshire.
The exterior of The Manor, Bucklebury, Reading, West Berkshire, RG7 6RP 
The eastern side of the house includes a steel framed garden room 
The property’s formal gardens with parkland beyond
Currently owned by a Morgan Stanley banker named Justin Mason and his landscape artist wife, Jill, The Manor was subject to a bidding war featuring four parties and has now been taken off the market. Agents Savills have refused to confirm the name of the winning bid but this morning’s Mail Online claims the Middletons, who are said to be worth some £30 million from their Party Pieces empire, have “triumphed” and are paying some £4.7 million for the property. It was last sold in 2001 for circa £1.8 million.
The house’s formal drawing room 
The family kitchen complete with full sized AGA
Featuring 7 bedrooms, 5 reception rooms, a swimming pool and tennis court, The Manor is set in 18.9 acres and situated 8.8 miles from Newbury. The Grade II listed house merges “contemporary and traditional styles” of décor and a main feature is a large kitchen that the agents describe as being “the heart of the house.” One could, indeed, imagine Mrs Middleton cooking up a feast fit for a future King in this vast room.
The current Middleton family residence: Oak Acre, The Avenue, Bucklebury, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 6NS 
Carole and Michael Middleton on the driveway of their current home
Whilst many and most especially the Daily Mail mock this family, and if indeed they are the purchasers of The Manor, it is most certainly a most fitting residence for them. Their next step on the Monopoly board is much deserved.
For more information on The Manor, Bucklebury contact Michael Gatehouse of the Newbury office of Savills on +44 (0) 1635 277700 or email [email protected]
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Barnaby Rodgers
The son of screen legend Anton Rodgers is one to watch in the drinks industry. He’s worked with some of the top brands but is now embarking on a new chapter guiding strategy for a variety of clients. He’s a dab hand in the kitchen and also responsible for the phrase: “I’d rather eat wasps.”