Tag: Daily Mail

  • Bombshell Bill

    Bombshell Bill

    “Bombshell revelation” about Bill Clinton dining with Ghislaine Maxwell after she was first accused is a signal he’s likely headed under the bus

    Whilst Piers Morgan quite rightly slammed the fact the £15,848 of taxpayers’ money was spent transporting Prince Andrew in a private jet to a golf course as “a disgusting abuse of our money” this morning, news that Bill Clinton had an “intimate dinner” with Ghislaine Maxwell after she was first accused of involvement in sexual abuse is equally outrageous.

     

    Described widely as a “bombshell revelation,” Clinton has neither confirmed nor denied dining with the mucky madam at the Crossroads Kitchen vegan restaurant on Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles in 2014.

     

    Speaking to the Daily Beast, one “friend” of Clinton shared that “claims of Maxwell’s involvement [in abuse] were known to [his] staffers in 2011, when the Daily Mail reported on survivor Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who said Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to Prince Andrew when she was 17. The report included a photograph of the British royal posing with Giuffre at Maxwell’s London home. In the picture, Maxwell smiles in the background as Andrew grips Giuffre’s bare waist.”

     

    The friend then tellingly added:

     

    “It’s always someone else’s fault, it’s always not true. [The Clintons are] always fighting against the reporting and not that they did it. That’s the problem.”

     

    Elsewhere, other unnamed associates of Maxwell have been telling anyone willing to listen that she will not be “selling out” Prince Andrew, but hint that she will be “naming other big names.” Aside from the allegation of an affair between the former president and ‘Bouncing Bob’s’ daughter that continues to circulate, the repeated denial of visits to Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Paedo Island’ – when plenty of sources claim otherwise – is actually doing Clinton no favours.

     

    Just as with his “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” line of defence back in January 1998, Clinton increasingly comes across as someone willing to lie his way out of trouble. Sadly for him, he lay down with dogs in the form of Epstein and Maxwell and now it seems his activities with these fleas are coming back to bite him in the bum.

     

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    Bombshell Bill – Bill Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell affair – “Bombshell revelation” about Bill Clinton dining with Ghislaine Maxwell after she was first accused is a signal he’s likely headed under the bus.
    Bombshell Bill – Bill Clinton has travelled on private jets with Ghislaine Maxwell, he has dined with her, he has received largesse and donations from her and she even attended his daughter’s wedding.
    Bombshell Bill – Bill Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell affair – “Bombshell revelation” about Bill Clinton dining with Ghislaine Maxwell after she was first accused is a signal he’s likely headed under the bus.
    Bombshell Bill – Piers Morgan quite rightly called out the amount spent flying Prince Andrew to watch a gold championship this morning, but in response some Twitter users highlighted his own links to the mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBe_guezGGc
  • Hero of the Hour – Jeremy Clarkson

    Hero of the Hour – Jeremy Clarkson

    Jeremy Clarkson was spot on in calling out the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s £112 million Netflix deal “just awful” and “drivel”

    ‘MeGain’ and her drip of a husband’s £112 million Netflix deal has quite rightly been rounded on by the majority as ridiculous and cringeworthy, but in commenting on it in The Sun yesterday, Jeremy Clarkson summed it up perfectly.

     

    Clarkson – whom previously remarked of Prince Harry’s criticism of the Commonwealth as “muddled” and an example of someone “getting their knickers in a twist” – stated:

     

    “They will be drivel. £100 million to make shows and films that inform and give hope? Kill me.”

     

    “I’d be much better making their programmes, as I don’t give a s**t about anything they give a s**t about. Just awful.”

     

    He is right and quite frankly Netflix should also be mocked for having bought the very worst example of a pap from the modern day Mrs Simpson.

     

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    Hero of the Hour – Jeremy Clarkson on Duke and Duchess of Sussex – Jeremy Clarkson was spot on in calling out the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s £100 million Netflix deal “just awful” and “drivel.”
    Jeremy Clarkson was right to call out the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix deal. It is something that will most deservedly motor into obscurity – as indeed it most definitely is nothing other than ludicrous.
    Jeremy Clarkson has previously been lauded for telling the former Meghan Markle to “get a grip.”
  • Vacuous Vine

    Vacuous Vine

    Sarah Vine – vacuous journalist and wife of Michael Gove – takes to Twitter to try to justify Boris Johnson taking a holiday at a time of economic catastrophe, coronavirus and an exams fiasco

    Daily Mail journalist Sarah Vine – the wife of Michael Gove and a woman whom terms herself a “Westminster WAG” on Twitter – is deservedly detested by many.

     

    Known for spouting drivel, ‘Sarah Vain’ attempted to justify Boris Johnson going on holiday on the social media site this morning. In a tweet responding to the radio presenter James O’Brien, this poison pen quipped: “Being prime minister is 24/7. The stress alone is incomprehensible. People make bad decisions when they are tired and stressed.”

     

    O’Brien, himself, had quite accurately asked: “What exactly is Boris Johnson taking a holiday from? It’s certainly not work.” He is completely right – our useless prime minister should most certainly not be heading for the hills at a time of national emergency.

     

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    Vacuous Vine – Sarah Vine spouts drivel about Boris Johnson’s holiday – Sarah Vine – vacuous journalist and wife of Michael Gove – takes to Twitter to try to justify Boris Johnson taking a holiday at a time of economic catastrophe, coronavirus and an exams fiasco.
    Sarah Vine’s tweet illustrated how out of touch she is with the public mood. The prime minister should not be taking a holiday at a time of economic catastrophe, coronavirus and an exams fiasco.
  • Moaning MeGain

    Moaning MeGain

    In describing ‘Finding Freedom’ as a “whole sorry saga” Richard Kay is spot on suggests Matthew Steeples; moaning ‘MeGain’ should simply now shut up

    This morning in the Daily Mail, Richard Kay shared his thoughts on Finding Freedom, the tacky tome written plainly with cooperation from the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex.

     

    Describing the book as containing “page after page” of “self-pity and indignation sandwiched between dollops of oily sycophancy,” Kay rightly summed up Carolyn Durand and Omid Socbie’s work as a “moan-athon” and suggested: “I fear it will backfire horribly on them, inviting both ridicule and scorn.”

     

    Here, indeed, is a book that is nothing but drivel, but given that moaning ‘MeGain’ has turned her husband into a drip, what else would one expect? It is now time for this ghastly pair to simply shut up.

     

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  • MeGain Must Stop

    MeGain Must Stop

    This morning’s revelations from Thomas Markle Jnr. are proof that the Duchess of Sussex must put a stop the almighty mess she created with her family

    The former Meghan Markle’s half-brother has just shared his thoughts with The Sunday Mirror today and frankly, after a week where his relative lost part of her court case against the owners of the Daily Mail, his words should lead to only one thing: The warring Duchess of Sussex making peace with those closest to her.

     

    In comments to the paper, Thomas Markle Jr. remarked:

     

    “As far as a reunion goes, [my father has] given up on Meghan and Harry completely.”

     

    “He doesn’t trust her and doesn’t want to know that person because of the lies, manipulation and deceit. He just had his 76th birthday – needless to say, he didn’t hear from Meghan.”

     

    “He will fight and pursue the avenues needed to see Archie. They’re not the only ones who can launch a court case. He’d love to hold that little boy one time.”

     

    “Dad wants to die a happy man. He’s had enough BS. He’s better off enjoying his retirement and travelling – and forget Meghan altogether.”

     

    Though there are two sides to every story, for once, someone has spoken sense about a familial situation that simply needs to stop. It is time that ‘MeGain’ pulled herself into the land of reality and it is time that she orchestrated a resolution before it sinks her deeper into the quagmire.

     

    Pictured top: Thomas Markle with his daughter, Thomas Markle Jr. and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Their warring simply needs to stop.

     

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  • Shopping the McCann Media Mess

    Shopping the McCann Media Mess

    The latest developments in the Madeleine McCann case have been spun to a media willing to believe utterly preposterous stories suggests Matthew Steeples

    First, at the height of the coronavirus lockdown, German criminal Christian Brueckner was plastered all over the media as the ‘new’ likely person responsible for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Though this may indeed be possible (just as Shergar the racehorse may still be dashing round a track somewhere), the development was anything but ‘new’ as we reported in June. Equally, in the time since, no actual concrete evidence has been produced and thus this ‘solution’ has been anything but proven.

     

    Now, this weekend, the MailOnline have reported that “a new witness has come forward to claim that Madeleine McCann is alive and living with a German family on the Algarve.” They do not name the Portuguese woman, but report she saw the by-now teenager in a supermarket just 40 miles from where she disappeared speaking German.

     

    Further muddying waters, they claim the witness cannot actually remember when this incident occurred with the unnamed woman stating: “It was three to four years ago, I can’t be sure exactly,” whilst adding: “When I looked at her eyes, I was sure about what I saw.”

     

    Firstly, one has to ask why not only has this woman not been actually been named and secondly, why she did not mention this earlier? As has so often occurred in this case, this supposed ‘development’ seems far-fetched, yet it has ludicrously attracted significant amounts of media coverage.

     

    Given the combined £2.5 million reward that was originally offered by amongst others Sir Richard Branson and Sir Philip Green, social media users reacted to this unsubstantiated ‘news’ with scepticism with one Twitter user, Andrea Maria Preston, stating:

     

    “Someone else who hasn’t tried to claim the reward. All these people who have sightings/concrete evidence etc. yet don’t want the money.”

     

    She has a point and what also should be remembered is this: If Madeleine McCann were alive and wandering around shops in Dale Winton’s Supermarket Sweep style fashion, wouldn’t someone else have noticed?

     

    Missing Madeleine – Questions STILL without Answers

    Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:

     

    • Why did Kate McCann refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?

     

    • Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 7’?

     

    • Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappeared?

     

    • Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?

     

     

     

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    Shopping the McCann Media Mess – The latest developments in the Madeleine McCann case have been spun to a media willing to believe utterly preposterous stories suggests Matthew Steeples.
    Madeleine McCann disappeared from an unlocked holiday apartment, 5a Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3rd May 2007. She was aged just three years old and in spite of British authorities spending over £11.75 million on the search for her to date (with further sums from various other sources), nobody has been able to solve the case.
    Shopping the McCann Media Mess – The latest developments in the Madeleine McCann case have been spun to a media willing to believe utterly preposterous stories suggests Matthew Steeples.
    If Madeleine McCann were alive and wandering around shops in Dale Winton’s ‘Supermarket Sweep’ style fashion, wouldn’t someone else have noticed? The suggestion of the unnamed Portuguese woman – whom could not even remember what year she ‘witnessed’ such occur in – does indeed seem utterly preposterous. One is left asking: “Why do the media continually fall for this kind of nonsense?”
  • Mackintosh Icebergs

    Mackintosh Icebergs

    Iceberg home formed in part from the former Chelsea studios of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012

    The grand location used as Uncle Monty’s London home in Withnail & I – the 1987 classic dark comedy starring Richard E. Grant – was West House at 35 Glebe Place in Chelsea. That building was sold to François Pinault, the owner of amongst other things Christie’s, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, for £20 million in 2011, whilst last month we featured an equally fabled residence in a street once home to artists, but now the preserve of billionaires – the £6.95 million former residence of the now in exile oligarch Sergei Pugachev at 53 and 54 Glebe Place.

    Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported that Pugachev’s publicity craving ex-partner and mother of three of his children, ‘Karen-esque’ Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, had finally been evicted from that property. “It’s not our choice to leave, it’s painful and oh so sad” blubbed this batshit bonkers woman on Instagram, but now there’s another house for sale in the street that will make headlines and this time because of its connections to an esteemed art nouveau architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928).

    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    Glasgow born Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his Black Country born wife Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (top) and a replacement plaque commemorating their association with the building that is located on the garage door at 43 Glebe Place. A plaque was first erected to mark the centenary of the Glasgow School of Art in 2009, but was “removed at some point between 2009 and 2015.”

    Bizarrely sold in November 2012 for a sum £55,000 lower than in February that year, 43 Glebe Place has just come to the market for £14.95 million through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – a sum 1,178% higher than eight years ago.

     

    Now vastly larger due to the fact that it has been ‘iceberged’ with the addition of an entirely new ‘mega-basement’ level (of similar concept to that created under the five houses opposite during their controversial merger by Monsoon and Accessorize owner Peter Simon in 2015), 43 Glebe Place is formed from the merger of a simple cottage and two artists’ studios. It now extends to 3,871 square foot in total over three levels.

     

    One section of the property formed from the artists’ studios – known at that time as 43a Hans Studio – was used by Mackintosh from August 1915 to circa 1923 whilst his wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864 – 1933), occupied the adjoining space.

     

    The studios were entered through “a small high walled courtyard” which now forms the garden of the newly created house and during this period, the couple lived nearby in Oakley Street, SW3 also. They had been forced to move to London after being banned from Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, where they had previously lived, as Mackintosh had been suspected of being a German spy due to his “affinity with Austria.”

     

    Of their time there, writing in 2016, Mackintosh expert Sheila Harris remarked:

     

    “As with most studios the ceilings were high, in order, most probably, to capture as much as light as possible and although they were fairly austere, with the furniture, artefacts and decorative panels originally housed in their Glasgow home, the place would soon have become an extension of their artistic lives.”

     

    “Let’s not forget that whilst Mackintosh was working quietly in his studio another, completely different, scenario was unfolding outside his studio door.  A resident of Glebe Place wrote: ‘Never shall I forget how suddenly Chelsea seemed to become an armed camp… Army motor lorries were rattling noisily along the normally quiet Embankment, and those hot nights we lay awake listening to the heavy rumble of laden troop-trains, all night long… It was a heart-rending sight to see the young men of all ranks going up the steps of Chelsea Town Hall to enlist.’”

     

    “Clearly Mackintosh and Margaret embraced life in Chelsea and made the very best of their new-found circumstances.  They adopted their new surroundings, making their studios an inviting, hospitable place to spend their days, often in the company of like-minded people.  They certainly faced up to the challenges of living in the capital city which was the target of so many bombing raids.”

     

    “Whilst little evidence can be found on the daily routine of the Mackintoshes’ life in London, we know that they… spent their days in the adjoining studios in Glebe Place, and many evenings were enjoyed at the Blue Cockatoo [a long since gone local hostelry in Oakley Street that was popular also with Augustus John and other “artistic Chelsea denizens”] meeting friends and colleagues for dinner… We do know that Margaret held parties, including children’s parties, at the studios.”

     

    Given what the estate agent Turnbull terms a “three year, multi-million pound rebuild by the current owners, creating an exquisite and self-indulgent London home for themselves,” it is doubtful that the Mackintoshes would now recognise their former home. It now provides a 21-foot by 16-foot reception room with a ceiling heght of 14-feet and a study area with a mezzanine beyond, a 30-foot long dining kitchen, 3 bedroom suites, a wine cellar and a gym with a steam room. There is a somewhat narrow garage, off-street parking for an additional car, a 24-foot by 23-foot garden and a 22-foot long roof terrace also.

     

    In their marketing literature, The London Broker interestingly point out also of the freehold house: “This property currently has mixed use. The buyer should speak to their solicitor and seek advice to confirm that this could significantly reduce SDLT.” Who said the rich don’t like a bargain?

     

    The Numbers – 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom

     

    July 2020 – For sale for £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) through agents The London Broker.

     

    November 2012 – Sold for £1.17 million ($1.48 million, €1.30 million or درهم5.43 million)

     

    February 2012 – Sold for £1.225 million ($1.548 million, €1.366 million or درهم5.687 million).

     

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    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    A large entrance hall is formed out of the majority of the ground floor of the original, surprisingly unlisted cottage.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    Out of one of the studio spaces, a vast dining kitchen with doors to the courtyard garden has been created. It is bright and airy as a result of its ceiling lights.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    Beyond is a reception space, again with studio windows above.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    Another view of the room.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    A dividing glass partition leads to a space intended as a study. It has a mezzanine above.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    The master bedroom suite is to be found in the original cottage. It has its own terrace.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    The bathroom of the master bedroom also has a door onto the terrace.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    In the newly recreated ‘iceberg mega-basement’ daylight is brought in courtesy of a lightwell. A most useful wine cellar can be seen at the end of this corridor.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    The other two bedroom suites are located on the lower level.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    Also below ground is a large gym. It seems an ideal space for health conscious super-rich yummy mummy types to work out their frustrations in.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    The courtyard garden (looking towards the original house and garage) is quite charming and restful.
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    The courtyard garden (looking towards the studio conversion section).
    Mackintosh Icebergs – £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) for 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – ‘Iceberg home’ formed in part from the former Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3 studios of Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012.
    A floor plan of the very much enlarged property.
    A BBC video briefly mentioning Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s time at 43 Glebe Place. Video courtesy of The 78 Derngate Northampton Trust.
    Flamboyant Uncle Monty plied Withnail and Marwood with booze in his drawing room at 35 Glebe Place in the film. His intentions were less than decent. In 2011, the house was sold for £20 million to the billionaire businessman François Pinault – reportedly the 27th richest man in the world as of October 2019.
  • Moving On – July 2020 – Capone, Conran & Kennedy

    Moving On – July 2020 – Capone, Conran & Kennedy

    Moving on homes owned by the newsworthy – including a country house apartment in a castle currently owned by Jasper Conran and the childhood homes of Al Capone and Jackie Kennedy

    Soppy Savills Fail to Salivate

    Moving On – July 2020 – Capone, Conran & Kennedy – Moving on homes owned by the newsworthy – including a country house apartment in a castle currently owned by Jasper Conran and the childhood homes of Al Capone and Jackie Kennedy.
    https://vimeo.com/227878828

    Jasper Conran OBE paid just £2.75 million ($3.43 million, €3.04 million or درهم12.61 million) for New Wardour Castle in Tisbury, Wiltshire in August 2010. The catch? He didn’t get the whole James Paine and Giacomo Quarenghi designed Palladian mansion, but as the Daily Mail’s Alexis Parr reported at that time he “captured” 23,185 square foot of a repossessed building divided into a total of ten flats. ‘Apartment 1,’ as the space the designer son of Sir Terence Conran currently owns is known as, includes 8 reception rooms, 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.

     

    Agents Savills could have enthused gushingly about the Grade I listed building and its spectacular 60-foot central rotunda, but instead they are simply seeking £3.95 million ($4.93 million, €4.36 million or درهم18.12 million) for what they underwhelmingly market as the “largest [apartment] in Wiltshire.” Conran would have done better to have appointed someone more akin to the late Roy Brooks we’d say – at least he’d have showed some flowery enthusiasm for this capacious crib.

     

    From Electric to Insta

    Moving On – July 2020 – Capone, Conran & Kennedy – Moving on homes owned by the newsworthy – including a country house apartment in a castle currently owned by Jasper Conran and the childhood homes of Al Capone and Jackie Kennedy.

    ‘The James Seymour Mansion,’ the £37,000 ($50,000, €45,000 or درهم184,000) Gothic revival mansion in New York State The Steeple Times featured in December 2019, has finally got itself new owners after 204 submissions from across the world to buy it.

     

    Creatively marketed by Michael DeRosa on behalf of the local authority after a property tax foreclosure, the 10-bedroom house on a 0.9-acre plot is situated in Auburn, Cayuga County – a place best known for being the gruesome location of the world’s first legal execution using an electric chair in August 1890.

     

    Whilst the process of the death of “vegetable peddler and known alcoholic” William Kemmler (whom murdered his common-law wife in March 1888) was regarded as a “historic bungle,” all worked out well James and Katie Joynt and their seven children. The family – whom currently manage an Amish co-op in Pennsylvania – will spend around £123,000 ($155,000, €136,000 or درهم565,000) restoring the house according to New York Upstate and are going to take the crumbling house into the 21st century whilst documenting their journey on Instagram.

     

    Going Gangsta

    Moving On – July 2020 – Capone, Conran & Kennedy – Moving on homes owned by the newsworthy – including a country house apartment in a castle currently owned by Jasper Conran and the childhood homes of Al Capone and Jackie Kennedy.

    Of a New York “multi-family townhouse” at 21 Garfield Place, North Slope in June 2017, the New York Post quipped: “A Brooklyn homeowner hopes a mob of buyers will take a shot at this town house.” That property was sold for £1.94 million ($2.42 million, €2.14 million or درهم8.89 million) in early 2018 to an Emmy award winning television producer named Steven Kalifowitz and is now again for sale, this time for £2.3 million ($2.9 million, €2.6 million or درهم10.7 million).

     

    Agents Douglas Elliman neglect to mention that the 2,980 square foot building – which is “currently configured as an owner’s duplex with two spacious one bedroom apartments above” – was a childhood home of the gangster Al Capone (1899 – 1947) in the early 1900s. 21 Garfield Place previously sold for a “little more than £800,000 ($1 million, €885,000 or درهم3.7 million)” according to The New York Times in July 2006 and now looks anything but like a bootlegger’s workplace; there’s even a child’s playroom in the basement.

     

    Anything But A Discount Holiday

    Moving On – July 2020 – Capone, Conran & Kennedy – Moving on homes owned by the newsworthy – including a country house apartment in a castle currently owned by Jasper Conran and the childhood homes of Al Capone and Jackie Kennedy.

    Those looking to escape to the Hamptons post-lockdown could do worse than purchase the childhood summer home of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929 – 1994) – if they’ve got £6 million ($7.5 million, €6.6 million or درهم27.5 million) going spare.

     

    Built in 1895, Wildmoor at East Hampton extends to 4,291 square foot and has 6 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. It’s on the market through Paula S. Bulter of Sotheby’s International Realty and also noteworthy is that an art studio on the property was used for many years by the Abstract Expressionist artist Adolph Gottlieb (1903 – 1974).

     

    Gottlieb purchased the shingled house on a 0.92-acre plot in 1960, but interested buyers should note that the current décor scheme is definitely a bit passé. As Kennedy herself once said: “It looks like it’s been furnished by discount stores.”

     

    Submit stories of the moves of the notable to [email protected]

     

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  • Meghan Feet First

    Meghan Feet First

    Previously unseen footage of the then Meghan Markle’s engagement interview shows how “weird” and “controlling” this meddling minx truly is

    In a post that is yet to be given attention by the mainstream media (no surprises there), the former Meghan Markle turned former senior royal (turned God knows what at this very moment) clearly illustrates her true colours.

    https://twitter.com/Redredred80/status/1273792212858478594
    A MUST WATCH – @Redredred80’s tweet contains a most revealing selection of footage of Prince Harry and the then Meghan Markle.

    Posted on the Twitter account of someone operating as @Redredred80, a previously unseen 2:03-minute clip from a 20-minute “engagement interview” with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is described as a “doomed first take.” Featuring a lot of “ums” and “errs,” Markle even announces: “It was definitely a setup… It didn’t seem like it would make sense… And then, I felt I’d ticked that box and I feel really proud of the work I’d done” of her impending nuptials before then giving a truly deathly glare.

     

    Reaction to @Redredred80’s tweet was generally that of amazement. Whilst many remarked on how “uncomfortable” the now former senior royal pair came across, others observed that they “don’t sound like they’re madly in love – especially her” and suggested “it looks like a hostage video.” Reminiscent of a reverse of the infamous Prince Charles – Lady Diana “whatever in love means” moment in terms of its awkwardness, here was a woman on a mission and here also, a wimp under her controlling thumb.

     

    Meanwhile, with ‘MeGain’ now having “frozen out her best friend” Jessica Mulroney in addition to have hurled her own father under a juggernaut, one is simply left asking this: “Whose life will this meddling minx wreck next?”

     

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  • The Art of Ownership – Glebe Place, Pugachev, Sickert & Tolstoy

    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 Art of Ownership – 53 and 54 Glebe Place Chelsea, London, SW3 5JB and Pugachev, Sickert and Tolstoy – Double artist’s studio in 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 – Offered for sale by Savills for £6.95 million down from £8.975 million.
    The house in question – 53 and 54 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JB, United Kingdom.
    The Art of Ownership – 53 and 54 Glebe Place Chelsea, London, SW3 5JB and Pugachev, Sickert and Tolstoy – Double artist’s studio in 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 – Offered for sale by Savills for £6.95 million down from £8.975 million.
    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.
    The Art of Ownership – 53 and 54 Glebe Place Chelsea, London, SW3 5JB and Pugachev, Sickert and Tolstoy – Double artist’s studio in 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 – Offered for sale by Savills for £6.95 million down from £8.975 million.
    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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