Tag: business

Bernie Madoff – The Wizard of Lies

TV drama film examining largest financial fraud ever by an individual set to air in May in America; ‘The Wizard of Lies’ examines the crimes of Bernard L. Madoff

On 20^th May, Americans will finally be able to watch director Barry Levinson’s take on the crimes of the Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff when The Wizard of Lies airs on HBO.

Sentenced to 150 years for his £51.9 billion ($65 billion, €61.2 billion or درهم238.7 billion) crime, Madoff is played in the television drama film by Robert De Niro whilst Michelle Pfeiffer takes on the role of his wife, Ruth.

Two trailers have recently been released to international audiences and we share the most recent below. A date for the drama’s release in the UK is still to be announced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=146&v=4G2carVhVJk

April 13, 2017
An MP’s Manor

Norfolk manor house owned by anti-Brexit Conservative politician Lord Prior of Brampton for sale for £3 million

David Prior – now The Rt. Hon. The Lord Prior of Brampton – undoubtedly was a decent and able Member of Parliament. Educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge, he became first an investment banker with Lehman Brothers and Lazard and then subsequently represented the Norfolk North constituency between 1997 and 2001.

A Conservative but one with a belief that “the role of the market is hugely limited in health and social care” and that Brexit will be “a terrible mistake”, 62-year old Mr Prior – whose father was the “Tory wet” Jim, later The Rt. Hon. The Lord Prior PC (1927 – 2016) – acquired Swannington Manor, ten miles north of Norwich in 1990 with his wife and has recently put it up for sale for £3 million ($3.8 million, €3.5 million or درهم13.8 million).

Standing in 96.5 acres, Swannington Manor is a Grade II listed red brick built house that dates to around 1700. It retains many period features, extends to 7,519 square foot and includes 5 reception rooms, 8 bedrooms and a self-contained annexe. A 3 bedroom lodge – let on a protected tenancy – stands beside the property’s entrance gates and aside from various outbuildings, barns and stores, there are formal and informal gardens, a kitchen garden, a heated outdoor swimming pool and a hard tennis court.

Primarily to the south and west of the house are grazing meadows, water meadows, a trout stream, a series of ponds and areas of woodland. These have been maintained with conservation and duck flighting in mind and form what the selling agents Savills describe as “a small sporting estate”.

Surprisingly, given his comments about Britain leaving the EU, Lord Prior of Brampton was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 21^st December 2016.

April 13, 2017
Five of the Best – Auctions America Auburn Spring

Five of the best lots on offer at the Auctions America Auburn Spring, Indiana sale of classic and modern cars and military lots

From 11^th to 13^th May at the Auburn Auction Park in Auburn Spring in Indiana, USA, Auctions America will sell a vast range of cars and military lots. Here, we choose our five favourite lots on offer:

1920 Ford Model T Coupé – £6,500 to £8,100 ($8,000 to $10,000, €7,600 to €9,400 or درهم29,400 to درهم36,700)

With over 16.5 million built between 1908 and 1927, the Ford Model T stands at the eighth most sold cars of all time. Undoubtedly the first affordable car produced, an example from 1920 provides an affordable way to start a classic car collection. The example offered also reflects the sentiments of Henry Ford (1863 – 1947), whom once said: “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black”.

1930 Cunningham V8 33286 Hearse – £64,600 to £80,700 ($80,000 to $100,000, €75,600 to €94,500 or درهم293,800 to درهم367,300)

A perfect mode of conveyance for the Addams Family or Ozzy Osbourne, this hearse was built by the James Cunningham & Sons Company of Rochester, New York. It has a cathedral like coffin compartment featuring carved wood and has been owned by three generations of the Peterson family, owners of the Howe-Peterson Funeral Home business of Dearborn, Michigan. The firm was established in 1873 but is about to close down.

1941 Packard One-Eighty Convertible Victoria by Darrin – £302,800 to £343,200 ($375,000 to $425,000, €354,300 to €401,500 or درهم1.4 million to درهم1.6 million)

Finished in cream over saddle leather with a dark chocolate canvas top and period-appropriate wide whitewall tyres, this striking convertible is described as being in “excellent driving condition”. It was delivered new to Houston, Texas and was the creation of Howard ‘Dutch’ Darrin (1897 – 1982), a polo playing airline owner turned automotive designer.

1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/390 Coupé – £80,700 to £100,900 ($100,000 to $125,000, €75,600 to €118,100 or درهم293,800 to درهم459,100)

“One of the most special Corvettes ever made”, this Marlboro Red coupé is presented in original and unrestored condition. It has only had two owners from new and has covered just 27,000 miles in its fifty year life.

1992 AM General M998 Humvee – £12,100 to £16,200 ($15,000 to $20,000, €14,200 to €18,900 or درهم55,100 to درهم73,500)

Featuring a 6.5-litre engine and definitely something Arnold Schwarzenegger would love, this cargo-troop carrier has a gross vehicle weight rating of 3.9-tonnes. It certainly could go anywhere and requires “no further demilitarization”.

April 10, 2017
Alfie Best II

A tenacious Romany Gypsy turned multi-millionaire businessman, Mayfair and Hertfordshire based Alfie Best overcame “many obstacles and prejudices” to make his fortune in cars, mobile phone stores and mobile home parks. The owner of Wyldecrest Parks also produces his own gin and claims his life philosophy is “90% perspiration and 10% inspiration”. His equally entrepreneurial son, Alfie Best III, appeared with him on Channel 4’s My Big Fat Gypsy Fortune.

April 10, 2017
Billionaire Battersea

Historic Battersea mansion for sale for the same sum it was marketed for in 2011; it has been mostly empty throughout the intervening period and was renovated by the late billionaire Malcolm Forbes

Billionaire publisher Malcolm Forbes was a man who liked to live large. He had a huge yacht named The Highlander, threw lavish parties across the globe and counted Gianni Agnelli, Gordon Getty, Calvin Klein, Robert Maxwell, Rupert Murdoch, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump as friends. This “mysterious collector” also owned numerous residences and one of these, Old Battersea House in London, is for sale for the same sum as it was marketed for in 2011.

Often seen with Elizabeth Taylor at his side and described as “living life in the fabulous”, Forbes purchased Old Battersea House in 1971. It had previously been home to and saved from demolition by Battersea Council by the eccentric author and ghost hunter Wilhemina Stirling. She took up a lifetime tenancy on the building in 1931 and used it to house artworks by her sister, Evelyn de Morgan (1855 – 1919).

Businessman and publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990) with seven times married actress Dame Elizabeth Taylor DBE (1932 – 2011) at his lavish 70th birthday party at the Palais Mendoub, Tangier, Morocco in 1989

Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom

A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) owned the house prior to Malcolm Forbes

Christopher ‘Kip’ Forbes (born 1951) assisted his father restore Old Battersea House and later oversaw the family selling its art collection in 2003 and 2009

Grade II* listed since 1954 and adapted during Forbes and subsequently his son Kip’s ownership to showcase a vast collection of Victorian art and antiques, Old Battersea House was built on Tudor foundations in 1699 and was at first known as ‘Terrace House’. It originally had gardens extending down to the River Thames and is rumoured to have been designed by Sir Christopher Wren (1632 – 1723).

Featuring “handsome classical proportions throughout” and standing within a 110-foot wide walled garden, the 10,100 square foot house includes 4 reception rooms, 10 double bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. It has off-street parking and a garden store but it is sadly overlooked by the adjoining housing estate that was built in its grounds in the 1930s.

Savills seek £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) for Old Battersea House.

The impressive hallway of Old Battersea House

Another entertaining space

Elizabeth Taylor and her then husband Larry Fortensky at Old Battersea House in 1992

Images of the house as it was furnished during the ownership of the Forbes family

April 6, 2017
Charlot Malin (1969 – 2017)

Oslo born, San Francisco based interior designer and philanthropist Charlot D. Malin had a day named in her honour by The City and County of San Francisco in November 2016. A mother of twins and the co-founder of Troon Pacific Inc. with her husband Gregory, “forward-thinking” Malin worked on properties for George Lucas and Robert Redford and supported everything from the San Francisco Opera Guild to the Voss Foundation. She considered “health the ultimate luxury” and loathed microwave ovens.

March 18, 2017
Big Beast Banished After Brexit Balls-up

Theresa May has made an error in sacking ‘big beast’ Lord Heseltine as a government advisor; that she never bothered to meet him speaks volumes as to her management of her government

Yesterday, in spite of having never bothered to meet one of the Conservative Party’s most knowledgeable grandees, Theresa May stupidly sacked Lord Heseltine.

In 2013, Heseltine wisely warned David Cameron that an “in-or-out” referendum would be the wrong thing for the UK. He was ignored and in spite of what happened next, the former Prime Minister’s unelected replacement, Mrs May, subsequently ditched her support for “Remain” and threw her weight behind a still to this day meaningless concept: “Red, White and Blue Brexit”.

Yesterday, Heseltine, who had been advising the government on restoring deprived estates, plans for east London and was also a national infrastructure commissioner, commented:

“I heard nothing from Number 10, I’ve had no relationship with Number 10 since the new Prime Minister (Mrs May)”.

“But I’m not complaining, I was getting on with the job that I was doing. I’ve never met Theresa May and so I can’t make a judgment”.

“My preoccupation has been from the very beginning that I believe that the referendum result is the most disastrous peacetime result that we’ve seen in this country”.

Repeatedly lauded as: “The last of a generation that was not always admired but was, with very good reason, always heard”, Heseltine could have – in spite of their differences on matters European – have provided the vicar’s daughter with good advice on business, housing and the environment.

Theresa May has chosen a different course but today she should be reminded of the old adage that “all political careers end in failure”. With the big beast ‘Tarzan’ again left free to roam the Serengeti, this misguided woman would do well to keep her other enemies closest.

March 8, 2017
Warring Ward

Champagne swiller Dawn Ward “at war” with one-time friend and fellow WAG and cast member of ‘The Real Housewives of Cheshire’ Leanne Brown

Yesterday, The Sun on Sunday reported that a favourite of all at The Steeple Times, Dawn Ward, is “at war over a £500,000 loan”.

43-year old Mrs Ward, whose attempts at interior design at her naff Cheshire mansion have left it lingering on the market at the overly ambitious price of £12 million since 2015, is said to have borrowed the cash from Leanne Brown, a fellow footballer’s wife, in 2013 and hasn’t paid it back.

Dawn Ward (right) and Leanne Brown in happier times

A “source” close to 40-year old Mrs Brown and her husband, Wes, 37, told The Sun on Sunday:

“Dawn asked to borrow the cash. They agreed, but with interest payable after six months”.

“It seems to them she took advantage of their kindness and has no intention of giving it back”.

“They spoke to solicitors and sent a legal letter spelling out their intention of taking her to court”.

“Leanne and Dawn used to be great friends, so it is a shame things have reached this point”.

“But her failure to pay back the loan has really soured their friendship, and now they feel they have no choice if they want to see their money again”.

“The tension between the pair during filming is palpable. Last week tempers flared [on the set of The Real Housewives of Cheshire] again and a glass was smashed”.

A spokesperson for champagne obsessed, Prosecco hating Mrs Ward, whose 2016 conviction for assault also made headlines, remarked:

“We have been friends for years and have completed many business deals together and everybody is aware that money is owed on both sides. We have tried to arrange a meeting to clear this up but the offer has not been accepted”.

February 13, 2017
Nigel Farage: ‘Man of the Elite’

Nigel Farage joins the elite and moves to a large period property in Chelsea, London

Until recently Nigel Farage claimed he was the leader of the “people’s army”. He presented himself as a man living in a “small semi-detached house in the country” and someone who had “no regrets about being poor”. He targeted working class voters, sought out the “ordinary man” and championed bringing down the “elite”.

This pint-loving politician, it now transpires, has now taken up residence in a large period house in Elystan Street, Chelsea. Situated next door to My Hotel Chelsea, the white painted property is “owned by a businessman” according to the Mail on Sunday. Mr Farage is allegedly using it as his weekday “bolthole”, the paper adds, but does not declare if he is paying rent.

Spotted recently dining at upmarket eatery Bibendum – accompanied by four burly security guards – also, Farage is as entitled to make money and live the high life as much as the next man. In doing so, however, he can no longer claim to be a ‘Man of the People’. Instead, it’s time billionaire Donald Trump’s new ‘British Best Friend’ admitted what he now is: Meet Nigel Farage – ‘Man of the Elite’.

February 4, 2017
A Parson’s Moat

East Sussex country house for sale; it comes complete with an enormous rectangular moat allegedly dug by an eccentric parson in the 1700s

One generally associates moats with castles and manor houses – such as the one we featured last month – but an old rectory currently for sale for £5 million ($6.3 million or €5.9 million or درهم‎‎23.2 million) in East Sussex comes with an especially impressive ground water-fed, rectangular example complete with three timber footbridges.

Chailey Moat, Chailey Green, East Sussex, United Kingdom, BN8 4DA

The house in Victorian times with the Reverend Thomas Harry Lee Jellicoe outside with his servants circa 1900

This fireplace is one of the most stunning and historic features internally

It is situated within this reading room

Another view of the main house shows the size of the moat

Previously marketed for £3.5 million ($4.4 million or €4.1 million or درهم‎‎16.2 million) in 2007 but not sold at that time, Grade II listed Chailey Moat at Chailey Green, near Haywards Heath in East Sussex dates to around 1540 and was previously known as ‘The Parsonage’. It blends Tudor, Carolean, Elizabethan and Georgian elements and is centred on an original timber framed medieval structure hidden by later additions. The south-eastern façade is described by selling agents Savills as “most striking” and amongst other unusual features are a Venetian window on the first floor and a brick fireplace in a reading room with an intricately carved overmantel that allegedly came from part of a Charles I bedstead.

Aside from a 6,146 square foot main house with 5 reception rooms and upto 8 bedrooms over three floors, there is a 398 square foot 1 bedroom cottage and a 4 bedroomed, 17^th century barn conversion that extends to 807 square foot and also provides a substantial games room.

Gardens and grounds extend to 43.76 acres and aside from the moat – which was allegedly singlehandedly dug by the Reverend Richard Porter, rector from 1713 to 1753 – there is also a enclosed tennis court, an outdoor swimming pool, a stream fed lake, a productive orchard and rolling pastureland.

Chailey Moat is offered by Savills and was described by Country Life’s Penny Churchill as a “mansion of peace” in June this year. In October, the medieval property’s current owner, businessman Andrew Colin, described its idyllic setting to The Times. “It’s like sitting in the middle of a nature reserve”, he said.

The dining hall

The drawing room

The staircase dates from the 18th century

The kitchen has a four-oven AGA

This barn conversion provides ideal staff or guest accommodation and beyond it is a full-sized tennis court

A lake is situated within the grounds

Whilst extensive lawned gardens extend out across the moat

Another view of the gardens

A floor plan of the main house

Floor plans of the barn conversion, cottage and outbuildings

December 9, 2016