The Steeple Times

Tag: Empire

  • The Deviant Mr Durst

    The Deviant Mr Durst

    “Nervous” Robert Durst’s latest murder trial moves into second week after President Biden’s wife’s first husband reveals he had an affair with the deviant billionaire’s to-this-day still missing first wife

    Last month a “former college football player” turned college bar operator named Bill Stevenson claimed that he slept with Kathie Durst, the missing since January 1982 then wife of the beyond bonkers billionaire Robert Durst, ten days before she vanished into thin air from South Salem, New York. At the time, Stevenson was married to 46th President of the United States Joe Biden’s now wife, Jill.

     

    78-year-old Mr Durst – currently on trial for the murder of the mobster’s daughter Susan Berman in Los Angeles, California in December 2000 and previously acquitted of the murder of his neighbour, Morris Black, in Galveston, Texas in October 2001 in spite of admitting dismembering his body – returns to court today. Last week, this deranged deviant bizarrely admitting to disguising himself in a wig to hide from the “die-hard Trump supporter and Fox News personality,” Westchester County, New York District Attorney Jeanine Pirro in October 2000.

     

    According to the Daily Beast, Durst – whose beyond odd personality was exposed when he tellingly declared: “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course” in the 2015 six-part HBO series The Jinx – “panicked and flew to Dallas” to hide from Pirro after she announced she was reopening the cold case of his first wife’s disappearance. At the time, Pirro announced: “I have no reason to believe that she isn’t dead and that this wasn’t a homicide.”

     

    Elsewhere late last week, Fox News highlighted Robert Durst shared that he had smoked “lots of marijuana” as well as taken cocaine and methamphetamine before his first wife’s disappearance and claimed he had had a “traumatised childhood” after “witnessing his mother either fall or jump to her death.” KTLA 5, meanwhile, shared footage where he declared: “Talking to the jury makes me nervous.”

     

    As of date, Durst’s second wife, self-professed wannabe “female Harry Helmsley” and real estate executive Debrah Lee Charatan, has yet to get a mention in trial notes, but she surely eventually will. The Daily Mail once noted her as audaciously announcing: “I knew if I couldn’t be a star, I wouldn’t be happy.” She’s frankly instead lucky that she didn’t end up another victim.

     

    Robert and Kathie Durst wedding
    Robert and Kathie Durst on their wedding day with one of their dogs. In total, during their marriage, the couple supposedly had seven dogs. All of them were named Igor and of them, in a “rare interview with the ‘New York Times’ in January 2015, Douglas Durst, the head of the family’s real estate empire, shared that his oddball brother had practiced “killing and disposing his wife” using the dogs. He declared: “Before the disappearance of my sister-in-law, Bob had a series of Alaskan Malamutes, which is like a husky. He had seven of them, and they all died, mysteriously, of different things, within six months of his owning them. All of them named Igor. We don’t know how they died, and what happened to their bodies. In retrospect, I now believe he was practicing killing and disposing his wife with those dogs.”
    Robert Durst Susan Berman Kathie Durst
    Robert Durst with his friend turned alleged victim Susan Berman (centre) and alleged victim first wife Kathie Durst (right).
    Jill Biden Bill Stevenson
    Then married couple Bill and Jill Stevenson. Mr Stevenson alleges he had sexual relations with Kathie Durst ten days before she disappeared and claims this might explain her disappearance. Jill Stevenson went on to later marry Joe Biden subsequently.
    The suspected serial killer came to wider public attention after ‘The Jinx’ went viral. During filming of the documentary, he declared to camera: “There it is. You’re caught! …. You’re right, of course. But you can’t imagine. … Arrest him … I don’t know what’s in the house … Oh, I want this … What a disaster … He was right. I was wrong. And the burping … I’m having difficulty with the question … What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”
    Robert Durst, whom got away with killing Morris Black based on claiming self-defense in spite of dismembering his body, stands accused of killing his friend Susan Berman in the current trial. It is likely he could subsequently face trial for the death of his first wife, Kathie, and he is potentially also linked to the disappearances of Lynne Schulze from Middlebury, Vermont in 1971 and Karen Mitchell from Eureka, California and Kristen Modafferi, who was last seen in San Francisco in 1997.
  • The Students, The Portrait and The Outrage

    The Students, The Portrait and The Outrage

    Nikolay Kalinin shares his thoughts on Magdalen College removing a portrait of the Queen

    At the postgraduate Magdalen College in Oxford, the students voted to remove a print of the Queen that was hung up in their Common Room in 2013, justifying their decision by stating that the figure represents “recent colonial history,” with one student saying that “patriotism and colonialism are not really separable”.

     

    This move comes out after a YouGov poll that concluded that more young people support abolishing the monarchy, as well as an expose by the Guardian revealing that Buckingham Palace banned members of ethnic minorities from working in office roles.

     

    The removal of the picture has prompted instant backlash, with education secretary Gavin Williamson calling the decision “simply absurd,” while Piers Morgan wrote: “Can we vote to have Monarch-ordered Tower of London imprisonment powers restored for these insolent wastrels?”.

     

    The president of Magdalen College, barrister Dinah Rose, stated that although the students “don’t represent the College,” the decision to take down the image was “their own to take, not the college’s,” and reaffirmed that “Magdalen strongly supports free speech and political debate, and the MCR’S right to autonomy.”

     

    It seems ironic how people like Gavin Williamson supported a “university free speech bill” a month ago, but now are condemning the decision of the students to use that power of freedom of speech to take down a print through democratic means to a vote. This truly shows that to them freedom of speech is fine as long as it supports their own ideology.

     

    Regarding the ideology behind the removal, I do not agree with the statement that patriotism is inseparable from colonialism, because you can still love Britain and condemn its colonial past. However, I do understand where the students come from, since the monarch was the head of the British empire, and therefore seen as responsible for some of its worst atrocities such as the Amritsar massacre.

     

    Overall, I don’t necessarily agree with “cancelling” the Queen, but I do think that there should be more debate about Britain’s colonial past, how we should deal with it and what the monarchy means to this country nowadays.

     

    Queen Elizabeth Magdalen College portrait
    The print of the Queen removed as part of Magdalen College students’ decision to invoke what some condemn as “cancel culture.”
  • Deviant Durst Deservedly Denied

    Deviant Durst Deservedly Denied

    Real estate royal, bigamist and body dismemberer Robert Durst is deservedly denied an indefinite halt to his trial as his lawyer attacks the reputation of one of this suspected serial killer’s likely victims

    Defended only by Donald Trump – whom once remarked of him on Twitter: “Personally, I think Douglas Durst’s brother got screwed by Douglas – no wonder he’s angry” – cross dressing real estate scion Robert Durst, a man accused of murdering his one-time best friend Susan Berman in 2000 unsurprisingly didn’t manage to get his latest trial halted indefinitely this week.

     

    Clearly deviant beyond belief and a man whom drank Jack Daniels and smoked pot before hacking apart the body of his then neighbour, Morris Black, and chucking his body in Galveston Bay in 2001, this definite deviant also remains a suspect in the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie. Here, indeed, is someone with a plainly warped beyond weird moral compass and here is a 78-year-old with no concept of right and wrong.

     

    Speaking of him in court in Los Angeles yesterday, Durst’s own attorney, Dick DeGuerin remarked on the “awful, awful dismemberment” as a “sickly… Durst blinked occasionally but [showed] no outward sign of emotion,” according to ABC News’ Brian Melley. DeGuerin then continued: “He doesn’t make good decisions… [but he] did not kill Susan Berman and he doesn’t know who did… [He] had no motive to gain by the death of Susan Berman.”

     

    Turning to the slayed victim, DeGuerin condescendingly continued: “She was a fabulist. She made up stories. She told lies day in and day out.”

     

    DeGuerin and others thus far have neglected to mention another of his client’s decidedly dodgy traits: In March 2020, this evil looking man’s “secret second wife,” Debrah Lee Charatan, was damned as a “bigamist” by a lawyer for the sister of Kathie Durst. Speaking to the New York Post, Robert Abrams remarked: “Plain and simple, she violated the law, she is a bigamist.”

     

    Going further of Charatan having had another husband “until his death in 2019,” Abrams added: “There is no question that while married to Mr Durst, Mrs Charatan purported to contract a marriage with Steven Holm.”

     

    After being forced to cut ties to his family empire in 2006, Robert Durst was bunged £46 million ($65 million, €53 million or درهم239 million) as part of a likely since unfulfilled hope that he’d disappear and shut his almighty gob. He handed £14 million ($20 million, €16 million or درهم73 million) of that to Debrah Lee Charatan. She continues to plug her trade online at BCBprop.com.

     

    Deviant Durst Deservedly Denied 2021 – Robert Durst trial continues – Real estate royalty, bigamist and body dismemberer Robert Durst is deservedly denied an indefinite halt to his trial as his lawyer attacks the reputation of one of this suspected serial killer’s likely victims.
    Murder victim journalist Susan Berman (1945 – 2000) pictured with her one-time ‘bestie’ turned alleged killer. Mobster’s daughter Berman was found dead on Christmas Eve 2000 at her home in Benedict Canyon, California. Her body was found in an “execution style” setting, but it was not until March 2015 that Durst was arrested and charged in New Orleans with her first degree murder.
    Deviant Durst Deservedly Denied 2021 – Robert Durst trial continues – Real estate royalty, bigamist and body dismemberer Robert Durst is deservedly denied an indefinite halt to his trial as his lawyer attacks the reputation of one of this suspected serial killer’s likely victims.
    Debrah Lee Charatan pictured with her late “husband” Steven Holm.
    Deviant Durst Deservedly Denied 2021 – Robert Durst trial continues – Real estate royalty, bigamist and body dismemberer Robert Durst is deservedly denied an indefinite halt to his trial as his lawyer attacks the reputation of one of this suspected serial killer’s likely victims.
    A ‘lounging’ Debrah Lee Charatan (left) and pictured with another of her husbands, Robert Durst (right).
    Deviant Durst Deservedly Denied 2021 – Robert Durst trial continues – Real estate royalty, bigamist and body dismemberer Robert Durst is deservedly denied an indefinite halt to his trial as his lawyer attacks the reputation of one of this suspected serial killer’s likely victims.
    Robert Durst pictured with his “disappeared” first wife, Kathie. This week Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah announced her office is reopening the investigation into the 1982 disappearance. Of this, Rocah remarked: “At the time that this alleged homicide occurred… We did not have the same understanding of domestic violence, and how that kind of abuse could play into relationships and how it could frankly color law enforcement – and by that I mean police and prosecutors’ perspectives. So we will investigate this… It is challenging to do it after so long and we want to do it right. This has been around, and the family obviously wants and needs closure, I think, a whole community wants and needs closure.”
  • Moron of the Moment – Lady Victoria Hervey

    Moron of the Moment – Lady Victoria Hervey

    Just as ultimate dumbo Lady Victoria Hervey shows herself up in stating “Fuck Black Lives Matter,” fellow aristo Dr. Bendor Grosvenor calls for the return of objects “looted during the British Empire”

    Dimwitted dope Lady Victoria Hervey just cannot help but shove her stilettos straight into the proverbial. Whether be it her short-lived relationship with “he who doesn’t sweat in Pizza Express (Woking branch’)” ‘Randy’ Prince Andrew, or flogging knickers in her long since gone-bust shop in Knightsbridge displaying the words “Yes Please” across the crotch, here is a woman with utterly no shame and an utter incapacity to accept any kind of blame for her own failings.

     

    Formerly nicknamed ‘Toff Totty Vicky,’ Lady Victoria predictably showed herself up by banging on about her associations with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell last year. This weekend, the bubbly blonde went further in posting a picture of the defaced statute of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia on her Instagram page. She not-so charmingly captioned the snap: “Don’t ever tell me this is acceptable behavior [sic]. Fuck BLM [Black Lives Matter].”

     

    Described by even a fellow socialite, the late Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, as “unpleasant” and “a right snob” previously, “luxury is in my blood” Lady Victoria was contradicted by the Reverend Robert W. Lee IV, the general’s great-great-grandson. He “gave his blessing for the monument to be removed” on Thursday according to the BBC and asked: “If today is not the right time, when will it be the right time [to remove the statue]?”

     

    Going further of this situation on Twitter on Sunday, though talking in the context of the related British protests, fellow aristocrat Dr. Bendor Grosvenor – a distant relative of the present Duke of Westminster and a man best known for his stint on the BBC’s Fake or Fortune? art documentary series – tweeted:

     

    “Let the Colston statue’s removal be a prompt for councils and museums across Britain to take action to remove similar artworks from display, *as well as* returning the thousands of cultural objects looted during the British Empire. Start now. We’ve waited too long.”

     

    Sadly, yet not unsurprisingly, Lady Victoria – whose ancestor Frederick Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol ironically is best remembered as a “social reformer” and “an MP [who] voted for the abolition of slavery in 1807” – has previous form. In 2003, this ‘aristoprat’ stated: “It’s so bad being homeless in winter. They should go somewhere warm like the Caribbean where they can eat fresh fish all day.”

     

    Shame on this irrelevant ignoramus; it’s not Black Lives that don’t matter, it’s instead Victoria Hervey that doesn’t matter.

     

    Moron of the Moment – Lady Victoria Hervey on Black Lives Matters – Just as ultimate dumbo Lady Victoria Hervey shows herself up in stating “Fuck Black Lives Matter,” fellow aristocrat Dr. Bendor Grosvenor calls for the return of objects “looted during the British Empire”
    Lady Victoria Hervey with the Duke of York at a social gathering; supporter of the abolition of slavery and “social reformer” Frederick William Hervey, 5th Earl and 1st Marquess of Bristol (1769 – 1859).
    Moron of the Moment – Lady Victoria Hervey on Black Lives Matters – Just as ultimate dumbo Lady Victoria Hervey shows herself up in stating “Fuck Black Lives Matter,” fellow aristocrat Dr. Bendor Grosvenor calls for the return of objects “looted during the British Empire”
    Lady Victoria Hervey’s offensive Instagram post was unsurprisingly met with disdain by many. One responded: “Wait, hold up Lady are you saying Fuck Black Lives ???” Another added: “But think you got to be careful saying fuck BLM… That’s not acceptable TBH. It’s offensive.”
    Moron of the Moment – Lady Victoria Hervey on Black Lives Matters – Just as ultimate dumbo Lady Victoria Hervey shows herself up in stating “Fuck Black Lives Matter,” fellow aristocrat Dr. Bendor Grosvenor calls for the return of objects “looted during the British Empire”
    Dr. Bendor Grosvenor’s, by contrast, sensible tweet.

    Classic clangers from former ‘It Girl’ Lady Victoria Hervey:

     

    “I am Lady Victoria Hervey – it doesn’t get more British than that.”

     

    “Unless it’s champagne, I can’t handle it.”

     

    “I do have a day job.”

     

    “My career always goes much better when I haven’t got a man.”

     

    “A baby is easy – you hand them over to a nanny!”

     

    “I’m not stupid. I’m not a dumb model.”                    

     

    “[I aim to become] the next Kate Winslet – but with class.”

     

    “I have had four past lives, three of them as a man. I was a composer in 17th-century Paris, I made materials in India and in Ancient Greece I was a famous politician. In Ancient Egypt I was keeper of the oils for the Pharaoh’s wife, and I love oils so it all kind of fits.”

     

    “What annoys me is when these families have got like 12 children and we’re paying for these kids… They work out that they make more money being on the dole than having a job, they just laze around.”

     

    “The real irony of this is that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.”

     

    “Travelling is in my blood, and so is liking luxurious things and spending.”

     

    “I haven’t given up on men, there are a few of them around, but I keep leaving every city I meet them in.”

     

    “Everyone from Europe wants to buy houses in LA.”

     

    “I was too old for Jeffrey Epstein… [He seemed] very charming… He was a very well-liked guy.”

     

    “I’m not one of those kind of girls, I don’t like going to dinners with ten models invited… I was very young and impressionable, Jeffrey was a very charismatic man.”

     

    “I haven’t seen [Ghislaine Maxwell] since September [2018] at a friend’s baby shower… I don’t think anyone is going to find her. She’s gone far away. She’s a bit like a James Bond character. She’s quite a unique person and I don’t believe anyone is going to find her… I don’t think we will ever see her again, it’s going to be like Robert Maxwell continued; she will continue that family mystery.”

     

    “I had no idea what was going on [with Jeffrey Epstein]… It’s extraordinary it’s the case, it’s a wild story.”

     

    “I suddenly thought, I’m just Victoria Hervey… Horrible.”

     

    “I don’t want to make enemies.”

     

    Pictured top: Lady Victoria Hervey with Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged madam and procurer of girls for paedophile Jeffey Epstein.

     

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  • Lockdown The Gin

    Lockdown The Gin

    With neighbours putting gin and tonics on each other’s doorsteps during the COVID-19 lockdown, we select the most amusing quotes about this fine spirit

    In a letter, published in The Telegraph on Tuesday, one Madeline Glancy remarked:

     

    SIR – Every Friday in lockdown, my neighbour has left a delicious gin and tonic at my front door. Beats tinned tomatoes hands down.

    Madeline Glancy

    Prestwich, Lancashire

     

    If only if all neighbours were so community minded.

     

    Some of the best quotes about gin follow for your amusement:

    Not so strangely, most of them are without citation – probably due to the fact that they were likely made when their originators were suitably imbibed in juniper flavoured heaven.

     

    “Let the evening beGIN!” – Anon.

     

    “I don’t know what reception I’m at, but for God’s sake, give me a gin and tonic” –the well-known gin lover and husband of Margaret Thatcher, Denis Thatcher.

     

    “Life is too short for single gins” – Anon.

     

    “Red meat and gin” – America’s answer to Keith Floyd, Julia Child, on the reason for her longevity.

     

    “I love water, especially when it’s frozen and surrounded by gin” – Anon.

     

    “I exercise strong self-control. I never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast” – American actor and comedian W. C. Fields.

     

    “Gin-drinking is a great vice in England, but wretchedness and dirt are a greater [vice]” – Charles Dickens, Sketches (1836).

     

    “When life gives you juniper, make gin!” – Holistic health author Laurie Buchanan.

     

    “Don’t cry over spilt milk, it could’ve been gin” – Anon.

     

    Night school tutor: “Write a horror story in six words.”

    Student: “I-have-run-out-of-gin” – Anon.

     

    “A perfect martini should be made by filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy” – Noël Coward.

     

    “The proper union of gin and vermouth is a great and sudden glory; it is one of the happiest marriages on earth, and one of the shortest lived” – American historian Bernard DeVoto.

     

    “The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire” – Winston Churchill.

     

    “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine” – Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca (1942).

     

    “Gym? I thought you said: ‘Gin’” – Anon.

     

    “The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day I accidentally got gin in the steam iron” – Comedian Phyllis Diller.

     

    “Stop saying I’m hard to buy for… You know where the gin aisle is” – Anon.

     

    “You’d learn more about the world by lying on the couch and drinking gin out of a bottle than by watching the news” – American radio personality Garrison Keillor.

     

    “Fortunately there is gin, the sole glimmer in this darkness. Do you feel the golden, copper-coloured light it kindles in you? I like walking through the city of an evening in the warmth of gin” – French philosopher and journalist Albert Camus.

     

    “I tried to say no to gin… But it’s 40% stronger than me” – Anon.

     

    “I’ll stick with gin. Champagne is just ginger ale that knows somebody” – Dr. Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H.

     

    “Things, since you left, have not gone well with me: they have taken me from a place where there was gin to a place where there is no gin” – British barrister and detective story author Sarah Cockburn (pseudonym Sarah Caudwell).

     

    “According to chemists, gin IS a solution” – Anon.

     

    “Gin and drugs, dear lady, gin and drugs” – The reply of T. S. Eliot when asked about inspiration.

     

    “It’s always gin o’clock” – Anon.

     

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  • Wealthy Wilton

    Wealthy Wilton

    Six-storey Belgravia residence with controversial business connections goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997

     

    A 6,961 square foot freehold terraced townhouse in Belgravia has gone on sale for £25 million or 3,497% more than it was sold for in 1997.

     

    4 Wilton Crescent – which sold in 1997 for what now seems like the paltry sum of just £695,000 – was marketed two years ago for £32 million and provides 5 reception rooms, 9 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms and 2 garages in an adjoining mews house.

     

    Featuring traditional interior design by Robert Kime – decorator to the Prince of Wales – the property featured in court papers in December 2015 in the context of a dispute between a lawyer turned secretive property speculator named Glenn Maud and his former associate Robert Tchenguiz. Said to be at one-time worth £4.5 billion at the height of his success and originally from Sheffield, this businessman and his wife reportedly spent some £6 million renovating the house but was ordered to live on £500 per week in 2012 by a Guernsey court.

     

    4 Wilton Crescent is now offered by Knight Frank.

     

    4 Wilton Crescent – The Numbers

     

    October 2017 – On the market for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.

     

    March 2016 – On the market for £30 million ($39.4 million, €33.5 million or درهم144.6 million) through Beauchamp Estates.

     

    December 2015 – On the market for £32 million ($42 million, €35.7 million or درهم154.2 million) according to court documents. Owner Glenn Maud reportedly spent £6 million ($7.9 million, €6.7 million or درهم28.9 million) on “improvements” to the property.

     

    September 1997 – Sold for £695,000 ($912,000, €775,000 or درهم3.3 million).

     

    Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank. Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank. Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank. Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank. Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank. Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank. Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.Wealthy Wilton – 4 Wilton Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8RN, United Kingdom – Six-storey Belgravia residence goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997 – For sale for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.

  • Empire State of Knightsbridge

    Empire State of Knightsbridge

    Penthouse with tower in prominent Knightsbridge landmark for sale for £8.25 million

     

    A penthouse with a tower in a Grade II listed landmark triangular ‘flat-iron’ building on the border of South Kensington and Knightsbridge has gone on sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million).

     

    Created in 1991 to designs by Susan Walker Architects and involving the clever merger of two fourth floor flats as part of a £1.70 million scheme (the equivalent of £3.35 million, $4.27 million, €3.81 million or درهم15.68 million today), the 3,475 square foot apartment offered overlooks the Brompton Oratory and has a vista down the Brompton Road towards Harrods. It is within a building known as Empire House that was itself built between 1909 and 1916 to designs by Paul Hoffmann and was originally used by a German firm, the Continental Tyre Company.

     

    Currently featuring a large reception room, a dining kitchen, 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and a laundry on the building’s fourth floor, a tower with domed reception space from the sixth to the seventh floors and a private roof terrace on its fifth floor, the apartment comes with planning permission for internal rearrangement.

     

    Held on a leasehold basis expiring 2142 and subject to a service charge of £20,550 per annum ($26,187, €23,391 or درهم96,211 per annum) according to agents JLL, a buyer will also have to pay a one-off charge of £12,054 ($15,360, €13,720 or درهم56,434) towards the cost of refurbishing the portered building’s lift.

     

    Empire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLL Empire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLL Empire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLLEmpire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLLEmpire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLLEmpire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLLEmpire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLLEmpire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLL Empire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLLEmpire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLLEmpire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLL Empire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLLEmpire State of Knightsbridge – The Penthouse, Empire House, 220 – 244 Brompton Road and 2 – 7 Thurloe Place, Brompton Quarter, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 2RU, United Kingdom – For sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million) through JLL

  • The Downfall of The Donald

    The Downfall of The Donald

    Could Donald Trump’s ‘Fall of Rome-style’ downfall be triggered by the actions of his very own family?

     

    Donald Trump came to power promising to ‘Drain the Swamp’ of Washington. Thus far he’s made it bigger and though he might think appointing as many cronies and family members as possible to senior positions will protect him, these people could very well ultimately lead to his path to destruction.

     

    The Western Roman Empire’s fall can be attributed to many factors, but key amongst them were distrust, corruption and overspending. Already, in spite of being in office for only two months, Donald Trump is already exhibiting characteristics of all three. Last week, when the Senior Senator Dianne Feinstein suggested the president would “get himself out of office soon”, she referenced Mr Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, opening a new golf course in Dubai. She stated:

     

    “I think sending sons to another country to make a financial deal for his company and then have that covered with Government expenses, I believe those Government expenses should not be allowed. We’re working on a bill that would [deal with] that now”.

     

    Elsewhere, Cosmopolitan remarked on the businessman turned politician’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her “nepotism”. They commented:

     

    “If Ivanka Trump were not the president’s daughter, would she be given a White House office to perform a job that has no description? Of course not. Don’t believe me? Just try calling the White House and asking if you can have some gratis work space at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., one of the most coveted real estate properties on the planet”.

     

    “Answers we need. And since Ivanka is taking advantage of taxpayer-funded resources, taxpayers have every right to ask to know what Ivanka is doing with them. Ivanka’s attorney told Politico she will serve as her father’s ‘eyes and ears’, a job description so vague, not to mention creepy, that it only functions to give the billionaire heiress cover to do whatever she, or her father, wants”.

     

    “Ivanka will continue to pretend she’s a model for working women, applauding herself for having a ‘seat at the table’ with foreign dignitaries… Just remember she’s only sitting in that seat because her daddy let her. That’s not the case for the overwhelming majority of working women in America and we shouldn’t celebrate anyone for whom that is”.

     

    Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the immensely wealthy son of a felon named Charles Kushner, also presents many a problem. Though he has sold his vast business interests to his mother and brother, “some ethicists say the potential for conflict remains”. In January, Bloomberg remarked: “[Jared] Kushner seems likely to know where the money is invested. His father, convicted in 2005 of witness tampering, illegal campaign contributions and tax evasion, remains central to the company”.

     

    Kushner, a man who has dined with everyone from Tony Blair to Nigel Farage, most certainly showed genius in guiding Donald Trump to manipulate social media on his road to victory. He and his cronies, however, could also be the very same people to guide the 45th POTUS’ road to downfall.

     

  • Helen Brach (AKA “The Candy Lady”, 1911 – 1977, body never found)

    Helen Brach (AKA “The Candy Lady”, 1911 – 1977, body never found)

    Helen Brach (AKA “The Candy Lady”, 1911 – 1977, body never found)Devoted to her dogs and the widow of a tycoon named Frank V. Brach (1890 – 1970), Helen Brach inherited a significant portion of a $23 million estate (the equivalent of $135 million or £87.8 million today) in 1971. (more…)

  • Nicolas Bijan Pakzad

    Nicolas Bijan Pakzad

    Nicolas Bijan PakzadThe son of the renowned designer and tastemaker Bijan Pikand designed a Rolls-Royce at the age of 18 (more…)