The Steeple Times

Tag: British

  • God Save The Queen

    God Save The Queen

    A weekend of celebration

     

    The launch of The Steeple TIMES today, 1st June 2012, coincides with a weekend that celebrates something far more significant.

     

    Tomorrow, 2nd June, marks the 60th year of The Queen’s reign and over an extended weekend, the nation will gloriously raise their glasses to this amazing lady. The Queen, herself, begins by attending the Epsom Derby whilst the nation will participate in The Big Jubilee Lunch, sharing food and conversation with neighbours and friends. Laughter and joy will undoubtedly be the focus of the day.

     

    Elizabeth II, Queen of the Commonwealth realms (1926 – )

     

    On Sunday 3rd June, the highlight will be a pageant of 1,000 boats assembled from across the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world. Organised under the patronage of The Prince of Wales, the boats will sail from Battersea to Tower Bridge and The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family will travel in a Royal Barge, the Spirit of Chartwell.

     

    The main event for Monday 4th June will be a Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace directed by Take That’s Gary Barlow.  10,000 members of the public will attend and performing artists include Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Cliff Richard, JLS, Ed Sheeran, Annie Lennox, Kylie Minogue and Sir Paul McCartney.

     

    On the same day, a network of over 4,000 beacons will be lit throughout the United Kingdom. The Queen will light the National Beacon at the end of the Diamond Jubilee Concert and other key beacons will be the ones on the country’s four highest mountains: Ben Nevis, Mount Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Slieve Donard.

     

    Tuesday 5th June is marked by a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral where a special prayer will be read. This is to be followed by receptions at Mansion House and Guildhall and a Diamond Jubilee lunch at Westminster Hall. Following the lunch, The Queen, and The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Henry of Wales will depart the Palace of Westminster for Buckingham Palace, travelling by carriage. A 60-gun salute will be fired during the procession and personnel from all three military services will line the route. Shortly after, The Royal Family will appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch an RAF Flypast and Feu de Joie given as a salute by The Queen’s Guard and this will conclude a truly spectacular celebration.

     

    ‘God Save The Queen’ by Keith Haynes. Presented in a Perspex box frame, 350mm x 350mm. Vinyl and Perspex. Edition of 10. Signed and numbered.

     

    Meanwhile, I was lucky to attend a Jubilee Party at the Belgravia Gallery in Mayfair last night that featured artworks celebrating The Queen’s reign. Featuring works by Prince Albert, The Prince of Wales and Lord Snowdon, here was a true celebration of all things connected to the Monarchy.

     

    The highlight, however, for me were the works of Keith Haynes. Like The Queen, who undoubtedly has prospered as Monarch because of the support of her steadfast husband, Keith Haynes is an artist inspired by the encouragement of his wife, Kim Clayton-Jones. A graduate of the Harrow School of Art, Haynes exhibited a series of works inspired by both The Queen and the Sex Pistols that were kitsch and collectable. Priced at £350 each and limited to editions of 100, these brilliant pieces represent a great way to remember this historic weekend.

     

    ‘God Save The Queen’ by Keith Haynes. Presented in white box frame, 250mm x 250mm. Vinyl, paper and board. Edition of 100. Signed and numbered.

     

    Comments Keith Haynes:

     

    “Since it’s release in the Silver Jubilee year of 1977 the Sex Pistols seminal punk single has been indelibly linked to the history of The Royal Family. This Diamond Jubilee year sees the 35th anniversary of the single’s release and to commemorate this event I have produced a limited edition portrait of The Queen made from original vinyl copies of the single; my tribute to the extreme ends of British culture.”

     

    May I thank you all for your support for The Steeple TIMES to date and more importantly, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Jubilee Weekend.

     

    “God Save The Queen – We mean it Ma’am.”

     

    Belgravia Gallery, 45 Albermarle Street, London, W1S 4JL. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7495 1010. Website: http://www.belgraviagallery.com

     

    For information about Keith Haynes and The Haynes Partnership, go to: http://www.art-partnership.co.uk

     

    To view the official website of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, go to: http://www.thediamondjubilee.org

     

    For information about The Big Jubilee Lunch, go to: http://www.thebiglunch.com

     

    For information on The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, go to: http://www.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/

     

    For information on the Diamond Jubilee Concert, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/diamondjubilee

     

    For information on The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Beacons, go to: http://www.diamondjubileebeacons.co.uk

     

     

  • Helen Worth (born Cathryn Helen Wigglesworth and also known as "Gail Platt")

    Raised in Morecambe, Lancashire at a seafront hotel, Worth has played Coronation Street’s Gail Platt since 1974. This former wife of the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine, Michael Angelis, lives between Cheshire and Chelsea and when not acting she’s often to be found campaigning for the Born Free Foundation.

  • A Monopolistic mansion

    A Monopolistic mansion

    Could 100 Park Lane become the property that achieves the accolade of being Britain’s highest priced private residence?

     

    Occupied by property giants Hammerson since 1969 as their corporate headquarters, the 44,000 square foot Grade II* listed Dudley House is one of Park Lane’s finest landmark properties. It is supposedly about to come to the market as a single-family residence and a price of up to £250,000,000 could be achieved.

     

    The Park Lane façade of Dudley House, 100 Park Lane, Mayfair, London, W1Y 4AR

     

    Dudley House, the only remaining example of an early Park Lane mansion, is named after the Dudley Ward family and built on the site of an earlier house with stabling. The site was acquired by John, 6th Baron Ward, in 1742 but it wasn’t until 1759 that the 3rd Viscount Dudley and Ward began “judicious alterations” to the house. Having paid £6,510 at auction for his late half-brother’s interests in Dudley House, he added an entrance portico and stained glass windows whilst his successor, an ”eccentric intellectual and politician,” set about turning the building into “the most pleasing object in the vicinity.”

     

    Works by the architect William Atkinson, carried out between 1827 and 1829, included a screen of Ionic columns, fine ceilings and gilded plasterwork. They remain to this day but it is the 1855 alterations of Samuel Whitfield Daukes that are truly impressive. Carried out on the instructions of the 1st Earl of Dudley, these included a magnificent 80ft picture gallery designed to showcase a collection of Italian and Flemish paintings and a vast 50ft ballroom.

     

    The picture gallery at Dudley House

     

    In 1895, Dudley House, which is situated at 100 Park Lane, briefly passed out of the Dudley Ward family and into the ownership of a “hard-headed South African mining magnate” named Sir Joseph Benjamin Robinson. Sir John Hubert Ward bought the building back in 1912 for £10,000 and remained there until his death in 1938.

     

    Wartime bombing caused significant damage and this was not repaired until Hammerson took over Dudley House. Having hired Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons as contractors, designs by Sir Basil Spence and Anthony Blee were executed to restore the building.  Hammerson remained there until 2006 when they jointly sold the leasehold interest on the house with freeholders Grosvenor for £37.4 million to Bristol Isles Ltd., a private investment company controlled by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thana, the emir of Qatar.

     

    His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (1952 – )

     

    The ensuing renovation, directed by the designer Alberto Pinto, has been described as “tasteful” and is said to have cost some £75 million. The resulting air-conditioned home features some 17 bedrooms and 14 reception rooms.

     

    It’ll be fascinating to see who “Doesn’t pass go!” and purchases this mammoth mansion (if indeed His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani decides not to move in himself).

     

    For more details on Alberto Pinto, go to: http://www.albertopinto.com

     

    For more information about His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani: http://www.qatarembassy.net/emir.asp

  • Leslie "Les" Allen-Vercoe (also known as Les Vercoe)

    Leslie "Les" Allen-Vercoe (also known as Les Vercoe)

    This property developer tried to sell Britain’s ugliest crib, Updown Court at Windlesham in Surrey, for £70 million in 2008. It languished on the market for years and looked like a cross between a Tesco store and Center Parcs. The mansion included five swimming pools, a heated marble driveway and 103 rooms. Nobody loved it but after it was repossessed in 2011, it was finally sold on for £35 million. Meanwhile, Allen-Vercoe appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court in 2012 in relation to a case involving the £10 million mortgage fraudster Joanne Sarah Pier (also known as Zoe May Fletcher and Maria Micheala). He was cleared.

  • Arthur's delight

    Arthur's delight

    A review of Arthur’s Cafe, Kingsland Road, E8

     

    Arthur Woodham was born on Christmas Day 1927. He and his family have run a traditional British café in Kingsland Road, Dalston since 1935.

     

    Arthur is a truly fascinating gent who likes and maintains a routine. I met him at La Brasserie in South Kensington one Saturday last year and in the time since we’ve become firm friends and meet each week. When another of the group who regularly gather at the happy hour asked what made him come to South Kensington for drinks, Arthur jovially replied: “I don’t drink in my manor.”

     

    Arthur’s Cafe, 495 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London, E8 4AU

    The oldest cafe in the Kingsland Road, Arthur’s itself attracts a wide and varied clientele of builders, locals and old ladies. The actor Ade, who appeared in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, is often to be spotted here and others include the businessman Stephen Annett, who ventures over from Kensington for breakfast from time to time. Arthur welcomes all with a cheery smile and his family, equally, are hospitable in the extreme.

     

    At Arthur’s Cafe, no toast is served after 11.30am and no chips are served before noon. Serviettes and glasses are placed on the tables at 11.30am also and at this juncture Arthur puts on a fresh jacket. Here indeed is a well-run business where sequenced order reigns.

     

    The menu is simple but the ingredients used are of the highest quality. A particular highlight of the full English breakfast had to be the sausages. Arthur proudly told us that these come from a butcher who also supplies Marks & Spencer and frankly they were amongst the finest I’d tried in an age. Equally, Arthur’s mustard was powerful and punchy and I must highly commend that as well as the delicious crusty bread.

     

    Tea at Arthur’s Cafe is very much of the builder’s variety: robust, rich and strong brown in colour. A note of sophistication comes also in the form of the San Pellegrino Aranciata orange juices that are also available.

     

    Arthur Woodham

    We’ll leave the final word with Arthur himself:

     

    “I like it, this is my life. You’ve got to like it to keep in it. I meet people. I speak to people. In the cafe, if you like it, you make a lot of friends.”

     

    Arthur’s Cafe, 495 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London, E8 4AU. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7254 3391.

     

    Watch a video feature by Cavan Clerkin on Arthur’s Cafe at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaHh3FNG8OU

  • Steven Berkoff

    Steven Berkoff

    Steven Berkoff is a titan of the stage and a might with a pen. He’s best known for playing the darkest of characters but in reality he’s charm personified. Berkoff beat Julie Burchill in a libel case in 1996 and finds it “flattering” to play evil characters. He lives on the river in a converted warehouse in Limehouse with his delightful partner, the Danish pianist Clara Fischer, and often sports the snazziest loafers in town.

  • The Hon. Imogen Lloyd Webber

    The Hon. Imogen Lloyd Webber

    The daughter of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber lives in New York and is a contributor to MSNBC. Her Single Girl’s Guide was published in both the UK and America and her debut show Touched… For The Very First Time was a mighty success in the West End in 2009. Described as a “petite polymath,” Imogen Lloyd Webber digitally published The Twitter Diaries in May 2012. Turning tweets into a novel, this co-written e-book has been lauded as: “Bridget Jones tries social networking.”

     

  • Karen Matthews

    Karen Matthews

    She told “The Mother Of All Lies” when she arranged for her degenerate boyfriend to help her kidnap her own daughter, Shannon, in 2008. She hid the poor child under a bed and basked in the media attention. Not being very bright was what resulted in her being caught and resultantly she failed to collect a reward of some £50,000. Matthews was jailed for eight years but released in April 2012. Goodness knows what this simpleton will do next.

  • The Rt. Hon. Gregory Barker (AKA “Greg Barker”)

    The Rt. Hon. Gregory Barker (AKA “Greg Barker”)

    Gregory BarkerGregory Barker worked for Roman Abramovich at the Sibneft Oil Group and as Energy Minister, took his daschund, Otto, to work at the Houses of Parliament. A Conservative Member of Parliament between 2001 and 2015, Barker lives between Notting Hill and Sussex and is widely cited as the architect of David Cameron’s “green conservatism”.

     

  • Petronella Wyatt

    Petronella Wyatt

    “Petsy” brilliantly combines life as a writer and journalist with being a social dynamo. When interviewing Janet Anderson, then Labour Minister for Women, she suggested that: “Under Labour, women will become more promiscuous.” Her own relationship with Boris Johnson was a very public affair but the daughter of Lord Wyatt of Weeford deserves to be better known for her superb musings on love, life and society. Here is a firecracker who is definitely worth following.