Tag: British Broadcasting Corporation

All That Glitters… Jim Davidson Should Apologise Over Sickening Gary Glitter Remarks

Matthew Steeples suggests Jim Davidson should admit he got it wrong in suggesting returned to jail paedophile Gary Glitter was a “remorseful’ man who “looked ready to start a new life”

This morning, the washed-up wazzock and all-round scumbag that is Jim Davidson OBE was trending on Twitter after an interview with the ‘Mouth of the Sewer’ that is GB News’ Dan Wootton last night.

Whilst Davidson – a foul-mouthed ‘5×3’ (five kids by three of his five wives) – used the interview to bang on about “smug” Gary Lineker and how he “never particularly felt welcome” at the BBC, he neglected to comment on his thoughts on the real trending news, that of the filthy paedophile Gary Glitter being returned to jail after just 38 days in a bail hostel after breaching his licence terms.

Glitter – who was caught and photographed by another bail hostel resident using a smartphone to access the ‘Dark Web’ via something called ‘The Onion’ to attempt to snare further victims – had been visited by Davidson at the Isle of Wight prison where he was then housed by the former supermarket shelf-stacker Davidson in 2019.

Afterwards, in June 2021, Davidson shockingly and rather casually shared of his child abusing ‘chum’:

“I spoke to Paul [Gadd, AKA ‘Gary Glitter’] when I visited The Verne [prison] two years. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life.”

Instead of remarking on this very, very clear ‘error of judgment,’ speaking to Dan Wootton on GB News yesterday regarding the BBC’s #GaryGate debacle, Davidson raged:

“My political interest was cast upon me way before at Thames Television when I had The Jim Davidson Show and a man called John Howard Davis, who was a BBC producer, turned up and got rid of me and Benny Hill overnight.”

“And then, about a year later, I got a little cassette, a VHS, dropped on my desk by my manager and it [sic] said: ‘The BBC want you.’”

“I said: ‘What’s that?’ They [sic] said: ‘They want you to do this, it’s some rotten show about snooker, so me and John Virgo went and did that show and I never particularly felt welcome there.”

“I was a smell under peoples’ noses and then one day Bruce Forsyth went sick and I stepped in and did The Generation Game. I replaced him just for a day and I wasn’t particularly good, but it made Bruce get better very quick.”

“When he went to do his new deal, they said: ‘No, we’ve got Jim Davidson’ and I did The Generation Game for seven years. I did The Big Break for twelve seasons and seven seasons of The Generation Game.”

“Now look at the BBC. I’m totally erased; I am the statue that’s thrown into Bristol Docks… They gave me a million quid to go away. I had a contract with a million quid’s worth of wages and they said: ‘We’ll give you a million quid if you go away; please don’t tell anyone,” but I told you ‘Danny Boy’ [Dan Wootton].”

“I was worse [than anything else] because I was a working-class Tory. I was a traitor and I like to mess about and have a laugh and be rude and stuff on the rehearsals and it was all pretty much frowned upon.”

“They’re more concerned in being woke and ticking boxes. You know, ticking boxes; the man said to me: ‘We have to have 8.9% ethnic minorities on every show’ and so if you couldn’t get anybody that wanted to come on Big Break who was of non-white persuasion, you had to go out and kidnap some poor bugger and throw him in.”

“You know, err, it was daft and do you know what I learnt there, and I’ve been in the business forty-seven years… I’m nearly one-hundred… So, you learn a thing or two about the BBC and it’s full of people that don’t know how to make programmes. I had to tick a box and I had to be silly.”

“Now, I wouldn’t have thrown Lineker off like that and having a boss called Tim. Now come on, how scary is a Tim?”

“Now, anyway, you wouldn’t throw someone off; just turn them off. I can understand that it’s taxpayers’ money and I hate the BBC with a passion. It’s a toss-up between them and the NHS who I hate the most, but I, you know, I wouldn’t have got rid of him because now Tim’s shown himself as lily livered.”

“[Lineker] can now say what he wants, can’t he? He’s won and he’s going to be even smugger. Smug, smugger.”

“It’s upto Tim and all those silly people [what the BBC does next] and now they want to get rid of the chairman ‘cos he arranged some loan or helped Boris [Johnson]. Now, everyone’s just picking on one another. I think the BBC have lost the public; they’ve lost the dressing room.”

“You know, who do we watch now? GB News, anything but BBC. What does the BBC stand for? ‘Bring Back Corbyn,’ ‘Bring Back Communism.’”

“You know, it is a joke and we have to pay for it whether we like it or not. You know, let’s scrap it and watch GB News all day long.

Responding, this morning on Twitter, I asked:

“As Jim Davidson trends, should he apologise for his June 2021 remark: “I spoke to Paul Gadd [Gary Glitter] when I visited The Verne [prison] two years ago. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life” given the paedo has been recalled to prison after being caught on Dark Web?”

Other Twitter users took up the mantle and amongst comments were:

“I wonder if Jim Davidson still believes that Gary Glitter is remorseful and ready to start a new life?”

“Remember when Jim Davidson was funny? Me neither.”

“Fun Fact: For years the BBC didn’t give a flying sh*t about their right-wing so-called ‘comedian’ Jim Davidson’s racist/misogynistic stage show when he was hosting their flagship Saturday night show ‘The Generation Game’ #IStandWithGaryLineker.”

All that Glitters is not gold; all that is Jim Davidson is utterly toxic and now it is time for the latter to apologise for getting it well and truly wrong about one of the most evil men ever to set foot on this planet.

Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGGBmDZbfgE
TRAILER – Matthew Steeples will be ‘live’ with Shaun Attwood to discuss his views on Gary Glitter being returned to the clink after breaching his licence terms whilst in a bail hostel on Wednesday 15^th March at 6pm GMT. Please do tune in and please do ask away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylQ6N-_gPRQ&t=0s
FULL EPISODE – This will be ‘live’ for the first time at 6pm GMT on Wednesday 15^th March 2023. View here.

As Jim Davidson trends, should he apologise for his June 2021 remark: “I spoke to [Gary Glitter] when I visited The Verne [prison] 2 years ago. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life” given the paedo has been recalled to prison after being caught on Dark Web?
— Matthew Steeples (@M_Steeples) March 15, 2023

This morning on Twitter, Matthew Steeples asked: “As Jim Davidson trends, should he apologise for his June 2021 remark: “I spoke to [Gary Glitter] when I visited The Verne [prison] 2 years ago. He’s remorseful and he looked ready to start a new life” given the paedo has been recalled to prison after being caught on Dark Web?” He gave the options: A) “Yes, disgraceful remark”; B) “No, second chances matter”; C) “Cancel Davidson and Glitter” and D) “Couldn’t care less.” By 11:30am on Wednesday 15^th March 2023, the majority of respondents favoured the idea of the cancellation of this noxious pair of grifters.

GB News is about the only channel that will now accept the weird warblings of these two utter berks.

A pair of toerags forever linked by a hashtag.

Twitter users have rightly mocked the ‘entertainer’ over his decision to visit a disgraced ‘singer’ who abused children as young as 10 years old in prison. What on earth was it about the paedophile-nonce-monster Gary Glitter that attracted Jim Davidson to visit him in prison? An answer is required. The public should be told.

Those that think Gary Lineker was WRONG to tweet about politics whilst working for the BBC should be reminded that both Jim Davidson and the late paedophile Sir Jimmy Savile openly campaigned for the Conservative Party and that both men also worked for the BBC. It is pure hypocrisy to call out Mr Lineker on this basis.

'What does the BBC stand for? Bring back Corbyn, bring back communism…and we have to pay for it whether we like it or not. Let's scrap it, let's watch GB News all day long.'

Former BBC presenter Jim Davidson says the BBC 'have lost the public.' pic.twitter.com/b3DtyAWu6r
— GB News (@GBNEWS) March 14, 2023

It is very clear that Dan Wootton has no nous when it comes to questioning Jim Davidson. Mr Wootton is clearly not a journalist prone to drilling into real stories; he just PR peddles for his chums.

Deserved “Public Hate Figure” Jim Davidson OBE’s Worst Moments…

On Great Yarmouth:

“Full of fat children of all colours.”

On London and the UK:

“I am never coming to London again… I may as well go to Dubai and be an ethnic minority there than wait five years till I become one here.”

On former UKIP leader Nigel Farage:

“The Jim Davidson of the political world.”

On beating up one of his four ex-wives:

“We’re like a couple of boxers. On the first occasion, I poked her in the eye by accident. I actually went for the mouth… The second time I gave her a shiner. I threw a bunch of keys which whacked her in the eye. Just for a giggle she kept blackening it up to make it look worse.”

“I took the wife out last night; one punch!”

On supposedly giving up on making jokes about black people:

“I can’t do impressions of Frank Bruno or Ian Wright? That’s racist, is it? But I can do Sven-Göran Eriksson?”

“I’m not going to get on my knee, and I’m not going to go ever black person I see, ‘hail you.’ I’m not going to apologise for the past; the past was the past.”

On Black Lives Matter protestors:

“Pondlife… F**king stupid.”

Of his thoughts about his chum Boris Johnson:

“Don’t listen with mother.”

On Piers Morgan (after he was paid to appear on his Life Stories programme):

“You don’t deserve to listen to anyone’s life story because you don’t f**king listen.”

On the BBC and the NHS:

“I was a smell under peoples’ noses… I’m totally erased; I am the statue that’s thrown into Bristol Docks… They gave me a million quid to go away.”

“I hate the BBC with a passion. It’s a toss-up between them and the NHS who I hate the most.”

Proving himself the ultimate ‘Brain of Britain’:

“People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die.”

After being declared bankrupt:

“My problem is money.”

On himself:

“I could cure Aids and give £1 billion to womens’ groups and people would still think I was a racist, sexist twat”.

“I’m a homophobic arsehole.”

March 15, 2023
Peckham Springs Hits The Big Apple – Turn £373,000 into £75 million

Fifteen-bedroom house outside New York with supposed potential to make £75 million for sale for just £373,000; could this be America’s answer to Del Boy’s ‘Peckham Springs’?

In October 2014, The Steeple Times featured the £8 million ($10.7 million, €9.5 million or درهم39.4 million) sale of a 26-acre Cotswolds estate complete with its own “high in calcium, low in sodium,” natural spring water producing facility.

Now, for a hell of a lot less in terms of initial outlay, an aspiring Del Boy could produce an estimated return of £75 million ($100 million, €88 million or درهم367 million) in ‘Peckham Springs-esque’ style if they bought a 13.74-acre property in Richfield Springs, New York that comes complete with the potential to make what an estate agent claims to be upto £75 million ($100 million, €88 million or درهم367 million) from a “mineral water aquifer with millions of gallons of water.”

In ‘Mother Nature’s Son’ – first broadcast on the BBC on the 25^th December 1992 – the Trotters attempt to sell tap water as spring water. They con a local organic health shop owner into authenticating their ‘product’ and get a trial at a major supermarket even. Sales are subsequently boosted by drought warnings from the local water board, but eventually their venture is ruined by the fact that they themselves had contaminated the local reservoir by dumping barrels containing an unknown yellow substance there.

The Trotters believed they’d get rich from their venture and for a time they didn’t do too badly… Whoever purchases ‘The Bella Vista’ could do well, but, equally, who knows, their ‘project’ might just end up being another white elephant.

An image of the house circa 1905 when it was the residence of someone named R. F. Wescott.

One part of the “mineral baths” in the basement of the property – complete with a rather oddly located radiator and some dodgy looking pipes and cables.

Further imagery showing the “mineral baths” in their current state. They clearly are in need of some renovation.

The property is in the village of Richfield Springs in Ortsego County, new York. According to Wikipedia: “The area of Richfield Springs was called Ga-no-wan-ges by the Oneida Indians which translated to ‘stinking water’ … [and its] name is derived from local sulfur springs.”

Offered for just £373,000 ($500,000, €441,000 or درهم1.8 million) or £33 per square foot ($44 per square foot, €39 per square foot or درهم162 per square foot), 15-bedroom, 20-bathroom 241 E. Main Street is described as a “single family residence” built in 1900.

Named ‘The Bella Vista’ and lauded as an “iconic Queen Anne style mansion,” the 4-storey building has been used previously as a nursing home and features two “huge mineral spa pools in the basement” as well as a commercial kitchen.

Marketed by Delbert Ball of Keller Williams Mowhawk Valley, the property is described as “in need of some deferred maintenance [and] sold as is,” but having “enormous opportunity potential.”

Water minded entrepreneurs with pound signs flashing in their skulls at the prospect of money flowing like water, however, should be reminded of the December 1992 episode of the BBC’s Only Fools and Horses titled ‘Mother Nature’s Son.’

In it, Derek Trotter (AKA ‘Del Boy’) and his brother Rodney bottle tap water and sells it as ‘Peckham Spring Water.’ Whilst their scam is successful at first, their product becomes contaminated by barrels of an unknown yellow substance they’d dumped in a local reservoir and that becomes the end of that.

The entrance hallway of the house.

A grand staircase connects the floors of the building.

In terms of entertaining spaces, the ‘mansion’ includes “two grand parlours with pocket doors, all-natural wood flooring and spacious windows” as well as its two Sulphur spas with “large lounge areas.”

The building is perpetuated by wooden paneling throughout.

A commercial kitchen from when the property was used as a nursing home remains in-situ. Its condition is unknown, but it likely needs to be and will be ripped out by any purchaser.

One of 15 bedrooms in a vast building that has the potential to be turned back into a very large family home or a small hotel even.

Another bedroom complete with an original fireplace.

An aerial views showing the plot and the circular driveway that wraps around ‘The Bella Vista.’

The building is clearly in need of considerable renovation and the hideous extension to the rear would be best be demolished.

The Bella Vista, 241 E. Main Street, Richfield Springs, Richfield, Otsego County, New York, NY 13439 is situated in a village at the northern end of Canadargo Lake and at the border of Herkimer County.

The plot and views from the property are idyllic.

December 27, 2021
(Not) GB News

Nikolay Kalinin suggests Andrew Neil’s new channel GB News will be neither Great nor British

It’s expected that Andrew Neil’s forthcoming news channel that aims to appeal to “the vast number of British people who feel underserved and unheard by their media” will launch on 31^st May on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView and Virgin Media.

In spite of GB News being branded as the “British Fox News,” there’s barely anything British about the channel overall when it comes to who funds its operation. As Patrick Barwise, management professor at London Business School, noted: “This may come with a wrapper saying it’s GB News and patriotic, unlike the ghastly BBC, but have a closer look at where the money is coming from.”

One of the biggest investors in GB News is Discovery Inc. which operates the Discovery Channel and is based in New York. Another prominent investor is the Dubai-based Legatum Limited, whose Legatum Institute think tank set up a commission that promoted a no-deal Brexit and made Vote Leave CEO, Matthew Elliot, and Vote Leave chair, Gisela Stuart, fellows at the institute.

It has also been discovered recently that Legatum Limited has ties to Charles Koch, an American businessman who has donated to the Republican Party and to an organisation called the Heartland Institute. Heartland has advocated climate change denial and even claimed that such change may be beneficial.

The Koch network has also funded the National Review Institute, which owns the conservative publication National Review – which recently has been on a mission to demonise the Black Lives Matter movement as much as possible.

Let me remind you that the channel we are talking about here will have to follow impartiality rules of Ofcom, yet also paints itself as the alternative media outlet that everyone in the UK have been waiting for ever since the BBC – according to them – has decided to become “woke.” Still, they expect us to be fine with their operations being funded by foreign companies and individuals, some of whom plainly promote what I’d argue is especially harmful ideology.

Pictured top: Chairman Andrew Neil has described GB News as “a fresh approach to news in Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.”

In August 2020, ‘The Steeple Times’ reported on the inception of GB News. At the time, the sword waving scumbag and self-declared “fat, northern… bit of a brusier” Andre Walker (pictured here with Nigel Farage) predictably remarked: “Good on them… I really hope ‘GB News’ takes off.”

Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins is a supporter of GB News. In February 2021, this businessman told ‘Good Morning Britain’ of a channel criticised by the ‘Financial Times’ as “right leaning”: “Look, as soon as you mention Andrew Neil, there’s no finer broadcaster (and) presenter than him as far as I’m concerned. He doesn’t beat around the bush, he gets to the point, he challenges people, I’d say that’s a massive step forward. You know, we need presenters like him. I mean he’s been around for forever.”

Andrew Neil has been completely transparently open about how much he wants Piers Morgan to join GB News. Commenting in March, Neil remarked: “Good Morning Britain] had always lagged way behind the BBC breakfast time show and people tuned in because of him. It reminded me of the old days of ‘Newsnight.’ People tuned in if Jeremy Paxman was doing it. If he wasn’t doing it it wasn’t so exciting and the same is true of GMB. It’s a real problem now for ITV that they’ve lost him. The programme this morning was much more run of the mill, low key, kind of ordinary, so it’s going to be difficult for them to replace him. Piers would be a huge asset to GB News and we’ll definitely look at that. We haven’t started any negotiations yet but we would certainly be delighted to talk to him if he’s up for it.”

On-air GB News staff will include the likes of the child-like “condom campaigner” Tom Harwood and the “deeply unpleasant,” dogmatic, anti-‘Tatler’ magazine commentator Dan Wootton.

May 20, 2021
A BBC Balls-up

Matthew Steeples joins those condemning the BBC for their balls-up in describing the now deceased murdering monster Phil Spector as “talented but flawed”

This morning on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Emma Barnett quite rightly highlighted that the broadcaster she works for “got it wrong” yesterday in their initial reporting of the death of the convicted murderer Phil Spector.

Running a story minutes after this vile abuser and crazed killer’s demise was announced, the BBC lauded him by astoundingly declaring: “Talented but flawed producer Phil Spector dies aged 81.” Unsurprisingly, the corporation then found itself very deservedly slammed on social media for their crass and insensitive insult to this deranged lunatic’s innocent victims.

I, myself, later shared their tweet, but added a mocking caption that pointedly applied ‘Auntie’s’ thoughts to other equally vile deceased individuals. It read:

“Talented but flawed” gravedigger Peter Sutcliffe.

“Talented but flawed” TV manipulator Sir Jimmy Savile.

“Talented but flawed” PR peddler Max Clifford.

Remembering Lana Clarkson, the woman shot dead by Spector – as The Steeple Times also pointed out occurred with media coverage of the high-profile murder trial cases involving the slayings of both Meredith Kercher and Anni Dewani in 2014 – yesterday was not the priority for the BBC and again we remind readers that “it is high time the victims were put first.”

This BBC balls-up should now be reversed: Yesterday didn’t mark the death of someone who ought to be remembered as “talented but flawed.” It marked the death of the monstrous murderer of an innocent 40-year-old actress, model and charity volunteer with her whole life ahead of her, Lana Clarkson.

Pictured top: Megalomaniac murderer Harvey Phillip Spector (26^th December 1939 – 16^th January 2021) with his innocent victim, Lana Clarkson (5^th April 1962 – 3^rd February 2003). She is the one who deserves to be remembered fondly, not him.

Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

"Talented but flawed" gravedigger Peter Sutcliffe.
"Talented but flawed" TV manipulator Sir Jimmy Savile.
"Talented but flawed" PR peddler Max Clifford. https://t.co/2YtP258Stc
— Matthew Steeples (@M_Steeples) January 17, 2021

The BBC got it entirely wrong in lauding the violent, psychological abuser and murderer Phil Spector as “talented but flawed” yesterday in their reporting of his death. They should be ashamed of this insult to slayed Lana Clarkson and his other victims – who also included his own children (who were “forced to perform sex acts with his girlfriend for his pleasure”) and various partners.

Forgotten Victims, Remembered Killers – Media coverage of the 2007 murder Meredith Kercher in Italy focused more on the conviction and subsequent annulment of Amanda Knox that the 21-year-old victim. Equally, media coverage of the 2010 murder of Anni Dewani in South Africa focused on her husband’s possible involvement in her death more than her as 28-year-old victim.

Another example of the BBC making an utter balls-up of reporting came in October 2020 when the corporation was subjected to a “backlash” after running a “tone-deaf” trailer for a four-part documentary film about the 2013 murder of Reeva Steenkamp in South Africa by her arrogant psycho Paralympic sprinter boyfriend Oscar Pistorius. Many criticised the BBC due to the fact that neither the trailer for the programme nor a tweet about it mentioned the innocent, slayed 29-year-old victim.

In May 2017, the BBC was attacked for its “inappropriate and ghoulish” coverage of the death from lung cancer of the unrepentant convicted serial killer Ian Brady. Of reporting specifically on Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme, one Twitter user declared: “The BBC has made a serious editorial misjudgement.” Another slammed them for asking if this monster was “mad” or just “bad.” Twisted Brady (pictured here with his equally evil lover and co-conspirator Myra Hindley) never revealed where he buried his last child victim, a 12-year-old schoolboy named Keith Barnett, and this innocent boy’s mother was thus never able to give her son a dignified burial before she then died herself

January 18, 2021
Heroine of the Hour 2021 – Anita Rani

Anita Rani arrives as a BBC Radio 4 ‘Woman’s Hour’ morning show presenter and announces: “If you’ve had enough, pour yourself a G&T, you have my permission”

An opponent of Scottish independence and a former co-presenter of Rogue Restaurants for BBC One, Bradford born Anita Rani’s appointment this week as a presenter of the Friday and Saturday editions of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour is a breath of fresh air.

Known for being a place of forthright views – with the programme’s stalwart Dame Jenni Murray having pointedly declared of the Archers potentially quitting The Archers in November 2014: “I will kill the editor if he lets David and Ruth and Jill go to Northumberland. Brookfield simply cannot go. It’s just not possible; there will be a national scandal if that happens,” for example – Rani marked her arrival by telling home-schooling parents: “If you’ve had enough, pour yourself a G&T, you have my permission” whilst tuning in to her morning show.

Plainly a woman after our own hearts with a “if you can’t have one at eleven, have eleven at one” attitude, Anita Rani has previously stated: “I’ve hated being putted into boxes my whole life.” Now, in declaring her love of gin, she’s most definitely boxing clever and is well on her way to getting the approval of the famously gin-soaked Lillian Bellamy of The Archers, but also the entire nation.

Join me for your all new Friday ⁦@BBCWomansHour⁩ 10am ⁦@BBCRadio4⁩ Also tell me what you’re doing to relax and unwind this weekend. text on 84844 pic.twitter.com/mWPsazlQUW
— anita rani (@itsanitarani) January 15, 2021

Previously in her BBC One show ‘War on Plastic: The Fight Goes On’ last August with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Anita Rani sensibly declared: “It’s been a tough time for everyone, but now that we are getting into the rhythm of the new world we can remember the importance of sustainability. If once again we come together, we can make change happen. We need big businesses and government to make bold and important decisions to get single use plastic out of the system.”

Lillian Bellamy – played by the delightful Sunny Ormonde in ‘The Archers’ and a lady with her own Facebook fan club – is possibly Radio 4’s best known gin swiller and now Anita Rani has quite rightly got in on the act in urging her listeners to take up the view: “Time is only for the middle classes” when it comes to gin drinking.

January 16, 2021
Randy’s Anniversary

EXCLUSIVE – On the first anniversary of ‘Randy Andy’ Prince Andrew’s juggernaut wreck BBC interview about Jeffrey Epstein, authors Nigel Cawthorne and Kirby Sommers share their thoughts with ‘The Steeple Times’ reports Matthew Steeples

Exactly one year ago this evening, Prince Andrew no doubt sat down in an armchair with his batshit bonkers live-in ex-wife ‘Fergie’ onside ready to heap congratulations upon his chubby ego. The telly box centre stage in Royal Lodge, the toe sucking lover was no doubt whacking back a vat or ten of bubbles and munching on a sledge of sausages. Boringly, the non-sweater was likely just dribbling into a Diet Coke.

Pizza Express junkie ‘Randy Andy’ – whom also counts Goga Ashkenazi, Bernie Ecclestone and Tarek Kaituni amongst his curious collection of cash tin collector chums – probably smugly anticipated facing the media the next morning to “draw a line under [his] links to the wealthy paedophile” Jeffrey Epstein. He perhaps expected an army of adoration and a flurry of forgiveness from the nation, but what happened next proved to be the beginning of his decidedly deserved downfall.

Speaking to The Steeple Times exclusively to mark the first anniversary of the Duke of York’s juggernaut wreck of an interview with Emily Maitlis for the BBC, Kirby Sommers, an activist, feminist, author and sex slave survivor, remarked:

“What has been fascinating one year after the disastrous interview Prince Andrew gave to the BBC is that Ghislaine Maxwell did not make a public statement of any sort in his defence. My take on this is not just an on-going acceptance that he lied and in fact did have sex with Virginia Giuffre, a trafficked victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, but that in addition to this: Maxwell would face a second slander lawsuit from Giuffre should she claim ‘Virginia is lying about Prince Andrew and nothing happened.’ Maxwell settled the first defamation lawsuit with Giuffre in 2017.”

“Prince Andrew’s ill-advised interview showed the world he depended on Jeffrey Epstein for financial advice and introductions on Wall Street. It appears he received additional perks from his friendship with Epstein. Furthermore, it is painfully clear to all who follow this case that Ghislaine Maxwell was not the ‘plus one’ the prince claimed her to be. His friendship with Epstein appears to have been more important than any previous relationship he may have had with Maxwell.”

“It is also apparent there are forces at work to continue to keep Prince Andrew from admitting guilt. His name was redacted in the documents that were just released from the Giuffre v Maxwell lawsuit. It is, however, in keeping with the methodology: his name, if you recall, was asked not to be mentioned by a judge in lawsuits against Jeffrey Epstein.”

“His popularity has disappeared. His name is scorned. The palace has even removed his Twitter handle from their website and souvenirs bearing his likeness from their gift shop.”

“What has to happen at this point is Prince Andrew must take responsibility for his actions. He cannot continue to be a pampered child as he approaches his 61^st birthday. If not for himself, if not for his children, if not for Virginia Giuffre, then he must do so for the monarchy.”

Adding his thoughts and sharing his extensive knowledge on this first anniversary, Nigel Cawthorne, author of Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace, told The Steeple Times late Sunday:

“What do you do if you shoot yourself in the foot in front of millions of people and you are a soldier at heart? This was Prince Andrew’s night-time puzzle a year ago. You march on and hope that you won’t ambush yourself again, he must have thought.”

“Unfortunately, the prince was not blessed with good luck. He scored another own body blow when his words angered the US Attorney investigating Epstein’s sex ring so much that the full force of US legal power abroad was deployed to try and get the prince’s testimony.”

“Since the prince is his own worst enemy, there really is no telling what will happen next. Although November 2020 is only the anniversary of the interview, the palace’s ‘Epstein Affair’ has been gathering momentum for almost a decade. It has been so spectacularly mishandled that it could go any which way at this point, which makes it a far absorbing drama than Meghan and Harry’s even if the backdrop couldn’t be more tawdry.”

“Is he the typical – and now much maligned – middle-aged white male relying on privilege as Epstein’s victims say, or a victim of the victims as he has solidly maintained throughout? Andrew has consistently categorically denied all allegations against him. Though soon a grandfather, the prince is unlikely voluntarily to hang up his crown any time soon.”

Likely to lose all his titles by the end of the year, Prince Andrew’s ‘annus horribilis’ is complete. The Queen is supposedly not talking to him and now the cryptically coded message we published in January from The Times (which again follows below and which could indeed have been from Ghislaine Maxwell perhaps) now likely will prove true. No more “good wishes” need follow after this anniversary.

In Memoriam – Private

TO ANDREW THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

Did you ever love someone deeply, and out they didn’t love you?

Did you ever feel they weren’t kind to you, and wonder what you should do?

Did you ever blindly trust in love, but your love didn’t want to stay?

Love only causes problems, it happens every day

You wonder how they can sleep at night

You wonder how they can feel delight

You wonder how love could ever feel light

When you are left weighed down by fright

Love hurts so much, the price you pay is high

Choosing between love and death, I’d much prefer to die

Take my advice, don’t fall in love, you’ll get hurt before it’s through

You see, I ought to know, I fell in love with you.

Pictured top: Prior to his disastrous interview, ‘Air Miles Andy’ used to jet around the world smirking with foreign dignitaries and dodgy dictators. He must truly miss those jollies and especially all that jetting. Now, on the anniversary of this juggernaut wreck, this smug sop finds himself nothing other than a social pariah.

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

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Randy’s Anniversary – That photo (Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell): This image undoubtedly remains likely to be the ultimate source of Prince Andrew’s undoing. He continues to deny it as a fake, but he’s failed to prove it to be such and on the anniversary of the BBC interview, his future looks even more bleak.

Randy’s Anniversary – Sausage muncher Sarah Ferguson was variously said to be the person who encouraged and the person whom discouraged Prince Andrew to give the interview. Given her childlike style, we’d suggest the former.

Randy’s Anniversary – In the year since ‘Andrewgate,’ Ghislaine Maxwell – pictured here with Kira Faiman and fellow jailbird Martha Stewart – has hit the clink. Remarkably, the Duke of York last met with the breathtakingly arrogant mucky madam in June 2019 when she was in London for the Cash & Rocket London-Monte Carlo ‘charity’ rally.

Randy’s Anniversary – A captioned image of the Queen with Boris Johnson that went viral shortly after the interview has proven partially true. ‘Bosie The Clown’ has certainly delivered on the “really stupid” front, but equally ‘Randy Andy’ and ‘Fergie’ have kept on shoving their gumboots in the proverbial.

Randy’s Anniversary – The ultimate impact of the interview was perfectly summed up by the ‘New York Post’ and on the anniversary of it, this arrogant prat finds himself seeking ever deeper into the sewage tank.

November 16, 2020
Only Fools and Golf Cabriolets

1987 Volkswagen Golf cabriolet – nicknamed ‘Rodney’ – previously owned by ‘Only Fools and Horses’ actor Sir David Jason to be auctioned; sadly, of it, even Del Boy couldn’t claim: “Just one lady owner from new”

Del Boy’s Golf cabriolet – An alpine white 1987 Volkswagen Golf GTI Karmann convertible purchased for Sir David Jason’s late partner, Myfanwy Talog, is to be auctioned later this month, It was subsequently owned by his manager, Sidney Law, and then by his children’s godfather, John Williams.

Unlike the vehicle most associated with the character most famously played by Sir David, the custard yellow Reliant Regal van driven by Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses, the Golf cabriolet that will be hammered down is described as “in sparkling condition, patently cherished and almost certainly a best of breed.”

Sir David Jason and his late partner Myfanwy Talog (1944 – 1995).

Del Boy was himself best known for driving a Reliant Regal three wheeler van in the series. There are many replicas, but the original vehicle used by the BBC was sold for £42,000 ($55,000, €47,000 or درهم203,000) in November 2017.

Prior to becoming famous Sir David Jason used to joke: “One day, one day I’m going to have a Rolls-Royce.” In Only Fools and Horses, he eventually got one complete with the plate ‘1 DEL.’

Boycie, played by John Challis in the series, bought a Jaguar E-Type in the second ever episode of Only Fools and Horses in 1981. Of this birthday gift for his “bit on the side,” he stated: “It’s only E-Type Jaguars and Adam Peaty that makes me proud to be British these days.” In May 2013, interviewed in ‘The Steeple Times,’ Challis stated his personal preference for Aston Martin DB4s.

When sold in December 2017, the Golf cabriolet offered this month came with various documentation including a file that stated its nickname as ‘Rodney’ alongside a quote that read: “This car has a longstanding association with David Jason and his family – naturally we call him ‘Rodney.’”

Sold for £17,820 ($23,439, €19,739 or درهم86,080) in December 2017 by Classic Car Auctions Everyman Classics and by Cotswold Classic Car Restorations on another occasion, the car – which was one of just 138 examples produced as part of Volkswagen’s limited edition all-white series – has just under 22,000 miles on the clock.

Silverstone Auctions will offer the car with an estimate of £18,000 to £22,000 ($23,700 to $28,900, €19,900 to €24,400 or درهم86,900 to درهم106,300) at their NEC Classic Live online auction on Saturday 14^th November 2020.

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In ‘Only Fools and Horses,’ Del Boy was prepared to trade anything – dodgy cars included. “Only one previous owner, a vicar” and “only left his bible in the glove compartment” were amongst the lines in this classic clip.

November 8, 2020
Wally of the Week – Dame Vivienne Westwood

Fruitcake Dame Vivienne Westwood behaves as normal during a BBC News interview and declares the media “morons”

Dame Vivienne Westwood is certainly predictable. Appearing on BBC News this morning to discuss why she’d chained herself up in a metal structure outside the Old Bailey, this crazy crackpot told Victoria Derbyshire that the media were “morons.” She then banged on about how Julian Assange was “locked in a concrete cage.”

“I am Julian Assange” added this bizarre woman and when asked about why Wikileaks had endangered lives by publishing sensitive documents, she launched into a further rant.

Dame Vivienne Westwood – whom was turfed out of the Green Party over her decision to base her companies in the tax haven that is Luxembourg – should now do something else: Learn the art of silence.

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July 21, 2020
Hapless Hancock gets a Right Royal Brenda-ering

Restaurant critic Tom Parker-Bowles does a ‘Brenda from Bristol’ in suggesting Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s telly box appearances “drive him mad” whilst chatting to William Sitwell on his Instagram TV show ‘Biting Talk’

“Winging it that health fella Hancock, winging it, I just can’t watch him, drives me mad,” lamented Tom Parker-Bowles on William Sitwell’s jolly twice weekly Biting Talk Instagram TV show on Tuesday.

Sounding a bit like “not another one” squawking ‘Brenda from Bristol’ in his spot-on summary, the Mail on Sunday restaurant critic did indeed share the view of the nation about the hapless health secretary. Here, in Hancock, is someone Brenda would simply surmise just perfectly with her trademark “You’re joking! Absolutely weird! I just can’t stand him!”

Continuing, the Duchess of Cornwall’s “quaffed” son reflected the public’s desire for simplicity in commenting: “I’ve really missed going to the pub for a pint with friends, it’s just these things we take for granted… I am not particularly interested in high art or tasting menus… I would take a rubbish pub for now.”

Of the impending reopening of boozers and eateries, Parker-Bowles called for “common sense and respect” and again in Brenda-esque “we need a bit of guts to get us going” fashion added:

“We all want to make sure this awful pandemic is wiped out in the end… Let’s concentrate on the positive… But, hopefully everyone will pile back in.”

“This is our life, it is our joy… It is about convincing the public… This is not the time to be taking down restaurants, it is about the time to be looking for the good. This is a time that all of us come together to fight for restaurants, to fight for them and get them back.”

Concluding, of to his life in lockdown, the writer shared some of his experiences and thoughts. He declared his dislike for the hideously vapid phrase “the new normal,” his desire to see friends again and announced:

“I’m reading the Alan Clark’s diaries again. They’re fantastic. He wouldn’t do well today, but who knows, he might. He’d probably be on Breitbart or something like that.”

Brenda would most certainly agree.

William Sitwell’s ‘Biting Talk’ airs on Instagram TV ‘live’ on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6pm GMT. Be sure to tune in!

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Pearl clad pensioner ‘Brenda from Bristol’ became the unlikely star of the 2017 General Election when she shared her views about politics with a BBC reporter. This 75-year old retired secretary spoke for the nation in remarking: “You’re joking? Not another one!” Oh for God’s sake, I can’t honestly… I can’t stand this. There’s too much politics going on at the moment. Why does she [Theresa May] need to do it?” and later added: “There’s hardly anybody in any of the parties that you’d put your life on the line for. We need somebody who’s got a little bit of guts to get us all going”.

Devoted foodies William Sitwell and Tom Parker-Bowles have previously worked together on the popular BBC television series ‘Celebrity MasterChef’ (pictured above with fellow critic Grace Dent).

William Sitwell’s ‘Biting Talk’ is a twice weekly “must watch” on Instagram TV. Each episode lasts 45-minutes and aside from regulars such as the cocktail maestro Farhad Heydari, guests have numbered Andrew Heald of Fishers Gin (reviewed recently in ‘The Steeple Times’) and Charlie Gilkes, co-founder of the Inception Group. Sitwell has recently launched a new venture, William’s House Wines (to be featured in ‘The Steeple Times’ shortly).

Tom Parker-Bowles pictured with his mother, the Duchess of Cornwall, at the launch of his cookbook ‘Christmas & Other Winter Feasts’ at Fortnum & Mason in St James’s, London in October 2018. The event, in the store’s Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, was also attended by Richard Bacon, Jimmy Carr, Tess Daly and Stanley Tucci according to ‘Hello!’ magazine.

June 24, 2020
The Art of Ownership – Glebe Place, Pugachev, Sickert & Tolstoy
Double artist’s studio in Glebe Place, Chelsea that has been home to a fugitive billionaire oligarch, a Tolstoy and a man suspected of being Jack the Ripper slashed in price by 25%; it is now subject to a forced sale
- House in Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 created from two artist’s studios reduced in price from just under £9 million to £6.95 million as part of a sale forced by authorities.
- It was home to the now in exile fugitive billionaire Sergei Pugachev and his ex-partner Alexandra Tolstoy from 2009.
- Previous occupants include the artist Sir William Rothenstein and before him his fellow artist friend Walter Sickert – a man the author Patricia Cornwell spent £6 million trying to prove to be the serial killer Jack the Ripper.
- Alexandra Tolstoy bleated to the ‘Mail Online’ about how she’d been “evicted” from the house 12 days before the coronavirus lockdown in May; her most recent Instagram posts, however, suggest she is still in residence along with her children.
German born artist Walter Sickert RA (1860 – 1942) took a great interest in the gruesome crimes of Jack the Ripper. He believed he had lodged in a room used by the serial killer and from the 1970s onwards, authors and historians including Patricia Cornwell have suggested he could have been the murderer himself (or possibly his accomplice).

For a time, Sickert – whom counted the newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook (1879 – 1964) amongst his closest friends and a man lauded by some as “the greatest British painter between Turner and Bacon” – lived in an artist’s studio at 53 Glebe Place in Chelsea and in 1894, a fellow artist, Sir William Rothenstein (1872 – 1945), took the property over. According to Wendy Baron, in her 2012 study of The Camden Town Group in Context for the Tate, the latter was “ever amazed by Sickert’s ‘taste for the dingy lodging-house atmosphere,’ and his ‘genius for discovering the dreariest house and most forbidding rooms in which to work.’”

More recently, in 2009, the now fugitive oligarch Sergei Pugachev – a man nicknamed ‘Putin’s Banker’ (until the one-time billionaire and the President spectacularly fell out) – rented 53 Glebe Place along with his then partner Alexandra Tolstoy. The house was subsequently purchased by a trust in 2010 and in 2011, the adjoining house, 54 Glebe Place, was bought and the two combined to become Pugachev and Tolstoy’s London residence.

The resulting 3,868 square foot single family residence – which includes 3 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms and an interior by designers from Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler described as “exuberant” by House & Garden – features a 57-foot south facing façade and ceiling heights of upto 22-feet. In total, it is believed the price paid for the two properties was around £8.325 million prior to subsequent renovations.

In the years that followed, 53 and 54 Glebe Place have become part of the legal tussle between the Russian government, Sergei Pugachev, his ex-wife Galina Arkhipova, his father Victor Pugachev and his Instagram loving ex-partner Alexandra Tolstoy. With Pugachev Jr. in exile in France, Ms Tolstoy has remained in residence but in 2019, the courts decided the house would have to be sold. It was placed on the market through Savills for £8.975 million.

With Ms Tolstoy subsequently ludicrously claiming at one point she could not live on £10,000 per week or without two drivers and a live-in doctor and then more recently featuring in an hour long BBC documentary in May titled The Countess and the Russian Billionaire, the sordid saga has become very public. Now, this week, the house has been relaunched for just £6.95 million again through Savills.

Whilst a single studio house featured in The Steeple Times in September 2015 was marketed for the seemingly sky-high sum of £5.45 million (it sold in March 2020 for just £4.5 million), even the now reduced figure for the combined 53 and 54 Glebe Place still seems very punchy. On that basis, we imagine, Alexandra Tolstoy may be able to stay there for some time still yet; as she herself once remarked: “We’re just surviving.”

Pictured top: 53 and 54 Glebe Place (left) were bought for a combined sum of around £8.325 million in 2010 and 2011. The resulting house – for which Savills states “steps are currently being taken to obtain the necessary statutory consents” for combination – is now on the market for just £6.95 million; Fugitive oligarch Sergei Pugachev (top right) and socialite ‘adventurer’ Alexandra Tolstoy (bottom right).

The house in question – 53 and 54 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JB, United Kingdom.

Sick Dick? Walter Sickert photographed in 1911 by George Beresford (top left); ‘Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom’ painted by Sickert in 1906 – 1907, the oil on canvas was bequeathed by Mrs Mary Cicely Tatlock to the Manchester Art Gallery in 1980 (top right); The setting for the painting and the home of Walter Sickert, 6 Mornington Crescent, Camden, NW1 now has a Greater London Council blue plaque commemorating the painter and etcher’s residence there.

In 2017, best-selling author Patricia Cornwell claimed she had spent over £5.6 million “proving” that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper.

Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom is another house that Pugachev and Tolstoy plainly purchased at a crazy price. They paid £12.5 million and it is now for sale for just £9.975 million. The house was previously owned by the late billionaire publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes.

The Names & Numbers – 53 and 54 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JB, United Kingdom

June 2020 – The combined house is relaunched for sale at a reduced price of £6.95 million ($8.62 million, €7.69 million or درهم31.66 million) by Savills, a discount of 23% on the previous asking price.

May 2020 – Alexandra Tolstoy claimed she had “been evicted from her multi-million home with only 12 days notice during the coronavirus outbreak” in comments to the Mail Online. Posts in June 2020, however, indicate her still to be in residence at Glebe Place with her children.

January 2020 – The Evening Standard reported that Galina Arkhipova “lost her bid to win a share” of the Glebe Place property. Chief Master Marsh dismissed Arkhipova’s claim on the basis of her “casual approach” to “complying with a court order requiring her to make full disclosure of her bank statements and access to legal documents, as well as her ‘unexplained failure’ to attend the latest hearing or instruct lawyers.”

2019 – Placed for sale for £8.975 million ($11.134 million, €9.929 million or درهم40.890 million) through Savills after the order of the courts.

October 2018 – At a “commercial court hearing, the judge, Master Price, made an order compelling the sale of Pugachev’s London home” according to the Guardian. A deadline was set for Ms Tolstoy to move out of January 2019 and at this time also, Pugachev’s former wife, Galina Arkhipova, “said she was also laying claim to the Glebe Place property, arguing that the house was a matrimonial asset.”

February 2016 – In absentia, Sergei Pugachev is found guilty of contempt at the high court in London and sentenced to two years in prison. The “convenient dissident” was described as someone who “could not be trusted” and subsequently, a warrant for his arrest was issued. To this day, Mr Pugachev has positioned himself as an innocent man and a “victim of Putin’s revenge.”

March 2012 – Mr Pugachev changed the locks at Glebe Place and “refused to let [Ms Tolstoy] back in. Pugachev subsequently visited Count Nikolai Tolstoy, the father of Alexandra Tolstoy, and explained that the Glebe Place house was controlled by a trust and that “he had bought Old Battersea House in a trust for Ms Tolstoy and the children… Old Battersea House was to be the family home and he and Ms Tolstoy were going to live there with the children.”

December 2011 – Old Battersea House is purchased for £12.5 million ($15.5 million, €13.8 million or درهم56.9 million) supposedly in a trust to benefit Alexandra Tolstoy and her three children with Sergei Pugachev. That house was subsequently offered for sale in 2017 for £12 million ($14.8 million, €13.3 million or درهم54.7 million) and is now on the market for just £9.975 million ($12.370 million, €11.031 million or درهم45.429 million) through Savills in June 2020.

July 2011 – Assuming the legal document figures to be exact, the total paid to purchase 53 and 54 Glebe Place was £8.325 million ($10.324 million, €9.208 million or درهم37.915 million).

July 2011 – 54 Glebe Place is purchased for a sum undisclosed on Land Registry Records through a trust. The two houses are subsequently merged as one. At around this time, Victor Pugachev “provided another loan of £4.2 million ($5.2 million, €4.6 million or درهم19.1 million) to Redflame as a loan” for the purchase. Legal documents state: “Later accounting documents show the lender as Mr Pugachev and include a loan agreement executed by Mr Pugachev and Redflame.”

July 2010 – 53 Glebe Place is purchased for a sum undisclosed on Land Registry Records through a trust, the ownership deed reportedly being in the names of Sergei Pugachev and Victor Pugachev (his father, as “beneficiary and Protector”). At around this time, Victor Pugachev “provided £4.125 million ($5.115 million, €4.562 million or درهم18.788 million) to Redflame as a loan” for the purchase.

2009 – Sergei Pugachev and Alexandra Tolstoy rented 53 Glebe Place as their London home.

July 2009 – 54 Glebe is sold for £2.55 million ($3.16 million, €2.82 million or درهم11.61 million) according to the Land Registry.

January 2005 – 54 Glebe is sold for £2.175 million ($2.698 million, €2.405 million or درهم9.906 million) according to the Land Registry.

March 2001 – 54 Glebe is sold for £1.8 million ($2.2 million, €2 million or درهم8.2 million) according to the Land Registry.

March 1995 – 54 Glebe is sold for £900,000 ($1.1 million, €995,000 or درهم4.1 million) acording to the Land Registry.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnyQhDrIAFk
June 22, 2020