Pretentious number plate ‘BIG’ attracts attention in Knightsbridge
‘Mr Big’ in Sex and the City was considered a bit of player. He was the “big man on the campus” according to Carrie Bradshaw and he was an “intriguing character” in the eyes of Comcast.
Now, in Cadogan Square in London, someone has decided to pretend to be him. They’ve positioned their ego on a Porsche and installed on it a numberplate that reads ‘81G’ (or ‘BIG’ to the casual observer).
Plainly not all locals were as unimpressed as us: Someone named Tabrez left a note on the car asking to buy it. He announced: “I already hold other ‘BIG’ plates.”
Update – 14th April 2021 – ‘81G’ attracted the attention of Sam McAlister, the BBC “booker extraordinaire” of Prince Andrew for that now forever infamous ‘Newsnight’ interview. She shared an image of the Porsche with her 11,600 followers and remarked: “I bet it isn’t…” and attracted over 3,200 likes and 140 retweets.
Personalised number plates are very much something people either love or loathe. In London, they are ten-a-penny and frankly though some can be amusing, many are just ludicrous, tacky, stupid and common.This motorist plainly thinks driving around emblazoned with a plate referencing the ‘G-spot’ makes them either witty or sexually appealing even. Frankly, unless the owner works in a sex clinic, what are they trying to achieve?Another motorist with a bizarre or frankly warped sense of humour imagines this plate to be appealing. We’d argue, instead, that the owner of this car instead gets mocked and derided wherever they dare drive.
Should there be a blue plaque in honour of the controversial explorer Gertrude Bell in Cadogan Square in spite of the fact she did not actually “live” there?
Today, in The Guardian, arts correspondent Mark Brown reported on the controversy that has arisen as a result of English Heritage deciding it appropriate to approve a blue plaque in honour of Gertrude Bell CBE (1868 – 1926) in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge.
Gertrude Bell has variously been described as an administrator, peace maker, preserver of heritage, pioneer and a woman of international influence. She was also considered a spy and mocked for opposing vote’s for women.
Though home to the explorer’s grandmother and a place she stayed at on “numerous occasions” for over 40 years, Bell’s biographer, Graham Best, asks: “Is this a case of cultural appropriation? … She didn’t really have anything to do with London.”
He continues:
“The thing with Gertrude Bell is that everyone is trying to appropriate her as a person. She is deeply misunderstood.”
“The thing is everyone is trying to grab hold of Gertrude Bell and say yes, she’s one of us. But she’s not.”
Going further, the article also attempts to smear “Queen of the Desert” Bell by referring to the fact that she opposed vote’s for women and repeatedly makes reference to the William Morris designed Red Barns in Redcar being her genuine home.
Just like with Queen Elizabeth I – a woman who seemingly slept in every bed in the land – it is effectively plaques to famous people could end up being put up just about everywhere they ever went. In February this year, The Steeple Times reported on a condominium in Pacific Heights, San Francisco that was for sale complete with a plaque that proclaimed: “2151 Sacramento Street: This house, built in 1881, was once occupied by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.” It turned out that the author had “visited” the building for just a few hours.
Pictured top: Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell with Robert Pattinson as T. E. Lawrence in the “muddled mess” that was Werner Herzog’s 2015 film ‘Queen of the Desert.’
Matthew Steeples reports on ‘Mad Friday’s’ arrival in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea
Vomit on the pavement and kids pissed on the streets: A standard night in Newcastle on ‘Mad Friday’ but this year this horrific occurrence hit the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea with vengeance and with equal aplomb to whatever damage it does elsewhere.
On taking a stroll through Chelsea and Knightsbridge at around 9pm, I witnessed 14-year old drunks taking half-naked selfies in Cadogan Square and someone a little older vomiting in Milner Street. In Sloane Street itself, supercars roared and raced one another and outside The Botanist, instead of the Sloane Rangers of old, were individuals resembling Wayne and Waynetta Slob looking like they were about to pass out.
Welcome to modern Britain: Thanks ever so much Theresa Trump.
Vast “architecturally rich” Knightsbridge apartment for sale for £8.5 million
A Knightsbridge triplex with a truly extravagant interior has gone on sale for £8.5 million ($10.9 million, €9.7 million or درهم39.9 million).
Spread over the ground, basement and first floors of a Grade II listed portered building in Pont Street, SW1X, the apartment has an impressive drawing room, a dining room, a study, 4, bedrooms, 4 bathrooms. It extends to 3,791 square foot and benefits from its own private entrance door and internal lift.
Offered by agents Russell Simpson, the property is within a semi-Dutch, semi-Queen Anne style building that dates to the 1870s. Its architecture was later termed ‘Pont Street Dutch’ by Sir Osbert Lancaster CBE (1908 – 1986) and was also referenced as being typical of “tall sparingly decorated red brick mansions for very wealthy occupants” by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner CBE (1902 – 1983). Whether an incoming purchaser will buy-to-live or, as is so often the case in this area of money park London, buy-to-leave remains to be seen.
Cadogan Square flat for sale for a sum that, if achieved, could make it the most expensive subterranean home in London; it is offered at a price that equates to £2,130 per square foot
Created from the merger of two flats, one of which was marketed for £3 million ($3.8 million, €3.5 million or درهم14.1 million) in 2013, a basement apartment in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge has gone on sale for the staggering sum of £6.25 million ($8.01 million, €7.35 million or درهم29.42 million).
Possibly one of the most expensive subterranean homes in London, if not the world, the 2,933 square foot remodeled apartment comes with a Moroccan themed courtyard garden and includes not only 2 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, but also a coffee bar, a television room and a steam room. It is described as providing a “flexible living” space.
Michael Bloomberg offers £2 million above the £15 million asking price to see off three other bidders and buys George Eliot’s house by the River Thames(more…)
This thrice married aristocrat and landowner allegedly once said that he prefers the company of horses to people. After dining in a Sloane Square restaurant that served food that wasn’t to his liking, Earl Cadogan – a first cousin of the Aga Khan – revoked their lease in 2010 and also tried to give his second wife a property named the Witch’s Cottage when they divorced. Worth around £3 billion, this Old Etonian went to court in 2002 in support of the defence of the provision of housing for the working classes on his Chelsea estate. A man who doesn’t mince his words.
Today I was sent a scan of a letter written on 6th December 1983 by Spike Milligan. It made me laugh and I thought it most worthy of sharing with readers of The Steeple Times.
