Tag: investment

Petitioning Sir Shifty

Change.org petition seeking to have ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green stripped of his knighthood soars to 190,000 supporters in just 48 hours

We’ve seen the power of Change.org ourselves and with our petition seeking to ban the bear slaying barbarian bitch Larysa Switlyk from Instagram now at nearly 13,300 signatures, we hope that social media outlet will soon pay attention and send her to silence in Siberia.

Another petition on the site, created two days ago by someone named Sophia Mepham, that was actually first brought to our attention by a former social associate of ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green, however, has rocketed to 190,000 signatures in just hours.

The campaign to “Strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood” is one we urge readers to sign by clicking here. It is accompanied by the following missive:

Sir Philip Green’s net worth is £930m according to the Sunday Times rich list, although other reports say it’s even higher. His retail empire has just collapsed, taking along with it employees financial stability and part of their hard earned pensions.

Sir Phillip Green is a British businessman, whose wife is the owner of the investment group Taveta Investments. This said investment group owns the retail company ‘Arcadia Group’ for which Green is Chairman. It is made up of fashion brands such as Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, in total eight high street retailers.

Sir Philip Green was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours “For services to the Retail Industry”.

Now, it is 2020 and for a number of years the Arcadia Group has continued to spiral in to financial turmoil, ending in the Arcadia Group going in to administration on 30th November 2020. Putting 13,000 jobs at risk, along with over 10,000 of the employees pensions pots at risk of being cut.

This said pension pot has an estimated deficit of £350m, which at the time of writing both the industry and MP’s have called on Green to plug the shortfall, whilst he sits on his £100m yacht, in Monaco (the tax haven he lives in with his wife, not to be confused with where Taveta Investments is registered – in another tax haven, Jersey).

Sir Philip Green has mis-managed the Arcadia Group by not providing the resources it requires (both financial or otherwise) to stop the company going in to the brink of financial ruin for years. He is responsible for putting peoples livelihoods in jeopardy.

Adding to it now, the uncertainty around him plugging the deficit of the pension pots. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he ‘stands ready’ to help the employees at risk of job losses at Arcadia. However, when a man has become so incredibly wealthy from a retail empire, (allegedly avoiding tax), he should not be seeking help from the official lifeboat scheme – the Pension Protection Fund or the government to use taxpayers money to fund the deficit.

Other holders of a knighthood that have been revoked include, Fred Goodwin who is the former RBS boss. He was knighted in 2004 for ‘Services to the Banking Industry’ but his title was revoked because he let the bank to the brink of collapse in 2008. The Cabinet Office based their decision on the fact that the catastrophe required a £45billion bailout from the taxpayer.

Green does not deserve a knighthood ‘For Services to the Retail Industry’, the only service this man has provided is to help Arcadia Group’s 13,000 employees have an uncertain future. He too, much like Fred Goodwin, has left the Arcadia Group, which is owned by his company Taveta Investments on the brink of collapse.

To get a knighthood stripped we need to get the Forfeiture Committee to consider the honour be removed. The Committee’s recommendations for forfeiture are submitted through the Prime Minister to the Queen, who will then approve it.

By signing this petition, we can get this issue in the laps of the Forfeiture Committee and strip Sir Philip Green of his knighthood.

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

Shameless and Shocking – Whilst 13,000 employees of Arcadia Group face Christmas and beyond in penury, tubby turd Sir Philip Green and his title-obsessed wife Tina continue to live-it-up on their 295-foot long yacht, Lionheart. The petition to strip this grubby duo of their titles deserves everyone’s support.

December 4, 2020
Hero of the Hour – Marcus Rashford MBE

As the public quite rightly rubbish a disgraceful ‘Mail on Sunday’ diatribe against the campaigning footballer Marcus Rashford, he responds with dignity and launches a book club

Two days ago, The Mail on Sunday’s Andy Buckwell and Max Aitchison launched what was this morning termed “a sinister attack on a young black man” by Jonathan Liew in the Guardian.

In their frankly completely irrelevant and unnecessary diatribe, Buckwell and Aitchison banged on about how the school meal campaigning footballer Marcus Rashford MBE had bought “five luxury homes” with mortgages “from the Queen’s bank, Coutts.”

Pointedly, aside from these perfectly legitimate buy-to-let investments, the pair trivially carped on about Rashford trademarking his name in the US and quite rightly of this Liew responded: “Virtually none of this is really anyone’s business.”

Aside from the fact that Rashford has done nothing illegal, one would have thought The Mail on Sunday could have put their resources to use instead to investigate the allegations of huge tax avoidance against the House of Commons Leader, Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Given that one Maureen Fitzsimmons’ tweet about that has been liked by 22,200 individuals and retweeted 7,900 times, one could suggest that newsworthy, but since Rees-Mogg’s activities are not much different to those of the Mail’s very own proprietor Viscount Rothermere’s very own tax affairs, they wouldn’t be wanting to touch that with a barge pole.

Elsewhere this morning, humble and decent Marcus Rashford – whom responded to the Buckwell and Aitchison jamboree by quite rightly stating: “Ok, so let’s address this. I’m 23. I came from little. I need to protect not just my future but my family’s too. To do that I made a decision at the beg [SIC] of 2020 to start investing more in property. Please don’t run stories like this alongside refs to ‘campaigning.’” – announced plans to launch a book club. Unsurprisingly, the Mail showed very little interest in that.

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

Rashford sensibly addressed the hateful piece by Andy Buckwell and Max Aitchison with a civilised response on Sunday. In doing show, he showed himself as the bigger man.

Amongst those who leapt to his defence were businesswoman Deborah Meaden. One Twitter user, Jon Butterworth, added: “Wonder if Andy Buckwell or Max Aitchison ever did anything decent that helped anyone or scored a good goal.” Another pointed out that Aitchison himself supposedly lives in a £1.2 million home.

This morning, humble Rashford shared news of a book club he is working on to help children experience “escapism” from reading news. In a show of dignity, he didn’t even bother to mention Aitchison or Buckwell.

Maureen Fitzsimmons’ tweet about the affairs of government minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has attracted huge attention on Twitter. It has attracted no interest from the ‘Mail’ – how terribly surprising. Not.

November 17, 2020
A Highway Ponzi House

Montauk beach house built for Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff resurfaces for sale for double what U.S. Marshalls got for it in 2009; its asking price seems crazy given it could be washed away by erosion

Built to the designs of the architect Gene Futterman on what Forbes disparagingly termed a “wind-swept, isolated” plot “on the easternmost edge of New York State, [where] the next stop is Portugal, about 4,500 miles across the Atlantic,” a beach house originally owned by Bernie and Ruth Madoff is once again for sale.

Described once by a Hamptons broker as “a 1980s dump set in a fabulous location,” 216 Old Montauk Highway in Montauk at the tip of New York was sold in 2009 by U.S. Marshalls Services after the sentencing of the orchestrator of the largest ever Ponzi scheme in world history.

A Highway Ponzi House – As it was in 2009 when the U.S. Marshalls Services seized the Ponzi schemer’s house: 216 Old Montauk Highway, Montauk, The Hamptons, New York State, NY 11954, United States of America.

A Highway Ponzi House – The house in its current form.

A Highway Ponzi House – The house’s former owner Bernie Madoff and its current owner Steven Roth (pictured with all-round wrong ‘un Jared Kushner).

A Highway Ponzi House – Current owner Daryl Roth bears a remarkable resemblance to Ruth Madoff. You could easily mistake one for the other.

Whilst Bernie Madoff rots on a 150-year prison term and his wife exists in relative poverty, his 3,000 square foot former getaway was bought by Broadway producer Daryl Roth and her billionaire real estate investor husband Steven, a man described as a “close confidant of Donald Trump.”

The Roths hired “world renowned architect” Thierry Despont to rid all traces of the Madoffs in 2011 and the resulting creation is a 3,000 square foot home with a two-storey ‘great room,’ 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It has a free form gunite pool, cabana and 180-foot of direct frontage to the Atlantic ocean.

Offered for sale again in 2018 for the ludicrous figure of £16.5 million, realtors Out East now seek just £14.1 million, but reaction to the listing has been less than enthusiastic. Dealbreaker described the bedrooms as “still prison-sized” whilst Guest of a Guest added: “You can’t get more on the beach than this… But with beach erosion escalating all over Long Island, and Dune Road basically about to fall into the sea, you’d better be okay with the big possibility of losing all your money on this short-term investment.”

The Names & Numbers – 216 Old Montauk Highway, Montauk, The Hamptons, New York State, NY 11954, United States of America

September 2020 – For sale at a reduced price of £14.1 million ($17.9 million, €15.3 million or درهم65.7 million) through Out East.

May 2019 – Reduced in price to £15.6 million ($19.9 million, €17 million or درهم73.1 million).

April 2018 – Listed for sale for £16.5 million ($21 million, €17.9 million or درهم77.1 million) through the Corcoran Group, a sum 140% higher than the 2009 sale price.

2011 – Renovated by “Manhattan’s most in-demand architect,” Thierry Despont. Of his work, Forbes remarked: “The Frenchman whose clients include Bill Gates, Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, ripped out everything – right down to the studs – to turn the floor plan of the 1982 house upside down. He moved the front entry from the second floor to the first by tearing out a catwalk from the driveway and replacing it with mahogany steps sloping down to the home’s first level. He moved the master bedroom to the second floor. The living room was more of a challenge. The house was built with a vaulted ceiling in the main room that in those big-shouldered, big-haired 1980s years would have been called the ‘great room.’ Despont turned the sharp angles of a cathedral ceiling into a giant curve by creating a barrel vault covered in oak planks that look a bit like a weathered boat hull. The exterior he left much as he found it – contemporary lines, but with a traditional cladding of cedar shingles.”

November 2009 – Sold for 7% above asking price at £7.4 million ($9.4 million, €8 million or درهم34.5 million) to Vorando Realty Trust founder and chairman Steve Roth and his award-winning theatre producer wife Daryl Roth.

September 2009 – Listed for sale for £6.87 million ($8.75 million, €7.47 million or درهم32.13 million), a punchy sum 192% higher than the appraisal figure.

September 2009 – U.S. Marshalls Services appraised the house at £2.4 million ($3 million, €2.6 million or درهم11 million) leading to a mocking New York Post article suggesting: “Those who see Bernard Madoff as an evil purveyor of excess might be disappointed by his beach house: It’s not that palatial. At 3,014 square feet, the home is cottage-size by superrich standards. Its faded furnishings look as old as Madoff’s epic fraud. There’s no garage. Not even a walk-in closet.”

1979 – 1.5-acre site purchased by Bernie and Ruth Madoff for circa $250,000 or the equivalent of £703,000 ($895,000, €764,000 or درهم3.3 million) today.

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

Steven and Daryl Roth with their close chum President Donald Trump.

Mrs Madoff now lives in much reduced circumstances and was spotted hauling out her own trash in 2012. One of her sons committed suicide, the other died of cancer and her moronic daughter-in-law, Stephanie Madoff Mack, wrote a ridiculous book titled: ‘The End of Normal.’

Also seized – The Madoffs New York penthouse was sold to the creator of Cabbage Patch Kids and Pokémon Alfred A. Khan in 2010 for £6.3 million, but the “curse of Madoff” struck when it subsequently went up in flames. It was placed for sale again in 2013 when Khan split from his wife.

Then and Now – Bernie and Ruth Madoff built a quite hideous fireplace in their pompously described ‘Great Room’ using stones gathered on the beaches of Montauk (according to Hamptons.com); it has been kept by the current owners in a somewhat reduced state and the ceiling has been dramatically altered also.

Now – The somewhat plain kitchen of the house also serves as a dining space.

Now – One of three bedrooms in the property. The views do make up for them not being especially large, but if you were paying £14.1 million, wouldn’t you want more closet space?

Now – One of three deck spaces overlooking the Atlantic ocean.

Then and Now – The pool and cabana remain quite unaltered.

Now – The entrance to the house is not especially impressive.

Now – A view of 216 Montauk Old Highway from the beach.

Now – An aerial shot from the ocean illustrating how close to the sea the building truly is.

Now – A general shot of the beach.

Now – The somewhat modest entrance gates to the property give no clue to its current or previous occupant’s financial statuses.

Now – An aerial shot illustrating the boundaries of the 1.5-acre plot; it’s certainly a lot more expansive than Bernie Madoff’s cell.

September 23, 2020
Five of the Best – Houses for Sports Fanatics

‘The Steeple Times’ discovers five properties that will appeal to serious sports fanatics with a desire to indulge their passions at home that are currently for sale

Whilst most would simply go to a racecourse to watch the horses or to a football ground to cheer on their heroes on the pitch, five homes follow where sports lovers can partake in their very own confines follow:

503 Studio Road, Stamford, Connecticut, USA

£5.84 million ($7.69 million, €6.51 million or درهم28.24 million) through William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty.

A vast 18,000 square foot house on 13.21 acres in Connecticut that is currently for sale cannot be described as a “looker,” but it comes with its own private, professional indoor hockey and skating rink (pictured top). There’s a Zamboni ice resurfacer “for perfect ice” and even heated team benches, a lighted scoreboard, home and visiting team locker rooms and a viewing ‘lounge.’ In addition, there are two guest houses and an outdoor swimming pool.

St. Clements Hall, Terrington St. Clement, Norfolk, UK

£240,000 ($316,000, €267,000 or درهم444,000) through Attik.

Most people looking for a “3-bedroom semi-detached house” are likely to be couples with 2.4 children, but for those in a somewhat different position, a 19^th century, 1,873 square foot former youth hall might appeal. Primarily reconfigured to provide a 27-foot by 39-foot ‘skate bowl’ with 13-foot vertical wall, mini skate park and three 4-foot quarter pipes, the house also more conventionally has an open plan living space, 3 bedrooms and a shower room. Even the snobby girl in Avril Lavigne’s Sk8er Boi song might be impressed; the house has featured in The Sun, on the BBC and in Netflix’s Amazing Interiors.

Tourles Farm Stud, near Lewes, East Sussex, UK

£2.5 million ($3.3 million, €2.8 million or درهم12.1 million) through Windsor Clive International.

Owned by the Kazakhstani phosphorus tycoon Nurlan Bizakov since 2010, Tourles Farm Stud has been part of Hesmonds Stud. Described in TDN Europe as “one of the best presented farms we have offered in recent years” by William Harford of Windsor Clive, the 113.78 acre property “has [only] become available due to the owner’s successful investment in France [at Monfort et Preaux in Normandy]” and comes with a 3-bedroom cottage, a stable barn with 26 boxes and a 4 furlong all-weather gallop.

UNICA, 10697 Somma Way, Los Angeles, USA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=193&v=UDRVhCe8hIc&feature=emb_title

£75.8 million ($100 million, €84.5 million or درهم137.3 million) through Hilton & Hyland.

On and off the market since 2018, this “one-of-a-kind” 41,000 square foot Bel Air house on 1.35 acres includes 8 bedrooms and an astounding 21 bathrooms. There are also 20 garage spaces in an “auto-gallery,” 8 bars, a 36-person screening room and not one, but two 75-foot swimming pools. The pièce de résistance for sports fanatics? A full-sized NBA basketball court.

Kinlochdamph Estate, Torridon, Scottish Highlands, UK

£2.75 million ($3.62 million, €3.06 million or درهم13.30 million) through Goldsmith Estates.

Extending to 4,085 acres, the Kinlochdamph Estate is perfect for those wishing to achieve a Macnab (and bag a salmon, a stag and a brace of grouse within one day). It has a recently refurbished 4-bedroom lodge, red deer stalking, trout fishing on its hill lochs and a small population of grouse, ptarmigan, woodcock and snipe. Income is provided by forestry and a hydro scheme, but any wannabe John Buchan will purely be buying this place for its sporting rights.

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

September 7, 2020
A Hair of the Dog of a House

Detached Edwardian house in New York State for sale for just £744 or 8,400% less than it cost to build in 1906; it is in the place of Tom Cruise’s birth and was home to a famous German police dog in the 1920s

Whilst an alcoholic drink to fix a hangover is often known as a “hair of the dog,” a 2,061 square foot detached house on a plot of 3,600 square foot that is currently for sale is certainly something that is in need of a great deal of curing.

Situated in the Brighton area of Syracuse, NY, the two-storey house has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and last sold for £734 in 2015 is again offered for the same sum. Its asking price equates to a sum of just £2.80 per square foot – a true bargain compared to the £4,909 figure for a Chelsea Barracks, London apartment we featured in June.

Featured first on the Old Houses Under 50k blog as a “fixer upper” yesterday, 214 Colvin Street East was supposedly built by one C. R. Brown circa 1906 to 1908 and represents a “good investment opportunity” or is equally suitable for owner occupancy. It is offered by the Greater Syracuse Land Bank on the condition the condition that the buyer provides proof of funds of £63,200 to cover purchase and renovation.

According to the blog, the house’s best-known previous resident was a German police dog from the First World War. Of the animal, they state:

“In the 1920s, it was home to a dog known as Jack. Jack was born around 1910 (?) and served as a German police dog during World War I.”

“According to an article in the September 11th, 1921 issue of the Syracuse Herald, Jack was there when the German army withdrew from their position at the Hindenburg line in France in October 1918. The German army left behind a great number of dogs which had been used by them in their offensives.”

“Dr. Scott R. Fisher, a Syracuse resident, was at Hindenurg [sic] working with the Red Cross to care for Americans. When Jack spotted Dr. Fisher, he stuck to him and refused to leave his side – ensuring he found a way to be with Fisher his entire way back to base. Dr. Fisher told the paper that, ‘such devotion deserves reward,’ and decided to take Jack back home with him.”

“According to the article: ‘Jack was stowed away in an overcrowded ship which was bringing American soldiers home and where each man was allowed only a certain poundage of baggage. Dr. Fisher shared his own rations with Jack because dog food was not available in the ship’s stores.” When they arrived back in America, the pair settled here on Syracuse’s Southside.’”

The Numbers – 214 Colvin Street East, Brighton, Southside, Syracuse, New York State, NY 13205, United States of America

September 2020 – For sale for £744 ($1,000, €835 or درهم1,354) on the condition the buyer showing proof of funds of £63,200 ($85,000, €71,000 or درهم115,100) to cover the purchase and renovation.

2017 – 2019 – Assessed for tax for the sum of £14,900 ($20,000, €16,700 or درهم27,100) each year.

February 2015 – Sold for £734 ($1,000, €835 or درهم1,354).

Circa 1906 – 1908 – Built at a cost of £2,600 ($3,500, €2,900 or درهم12,900), the equivalent of £68,100 ($91,600, €76,400 or درهم336,400) today.

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

The entrance to the house is framed by two Doric columns.

A reception room with an especially manky looking door.

Another room features two sash windows and a ceiling complete with a gaping hole.

The entrance hallway and original staircase (minus a few spindles).

The landing ceiling shows further sign of collapses.

A bedroom plainly previously inhabited by someone named Minnie.

Another room with children’s drawings on the walls (and a buckled floor).

A bathroom where one would most certainly not like to bathe.

The house stands on a street where those that neighbour it are perfectly well presented.

Syracuse is situated to the north of New York and the east of Rochester. Its metropolitan area had a population of 662,000 as of 2010 and has transitioned from a manufacturing area to one primarily focused on higher education, research and healthcare. The city is also well known for its jazz and contemporary music scene.

September 1, 2020
Cheaper Than Fiction – A Bargain in The Boltons
Cheapest, smallest house on the best side of one of London’s most sought after streets, The Boltons, comes up for sale; the tardis like building was home to novelist-politician Jeffrey Archer and his scientist wife Mary in the 1970s
- No. 24a The Boltons is one of the smallest houses on “the fourth most expensive street in Britain,” but it is still anything but insubstantial at 3,123 square feet.
- The tardis-like Victorian townhouse is wedged between two mansions and was converted from a coach house for Aston Martin racing team driver Noël Cunningham-Reid in 1960.
- Novelist-politician Lord Archer and his scientist wife Dame Mary owned the property between 1972 and 1976.
- The couple were forced to sell the house after Jeffrey Archer supposedly “lost over £400,000 in a bad investment” in the summer of 1974.
- Jeffrey Archer subsequently made a fortune as a novelist and then after a glittering career in politics, was jailed in 2001 for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
- The house was sold again subsequently for £3.8 million in 2007 and is now for sale for £6.5 million; the average price of houses on the street is £32.5 million according to Zoopla.
- Other residents of The Boltons have variously included Arab royals, Madonna and Sir William Gilbert, one half of Gilbert and Sullivan.
In May 2017, we featured 6 The Boltons after its asking price was slashed from £39.5 million to ‘just’ £30 million, whilst in April 2015, a more modern house at the upper end of the street named One Boltons Place sold for £51 million on an asking price of £55 million. More recently in January 2018, when 22 The Boltons was sold to a British family for £40 million that sale was described as “one of the biggest deals in the last 12 months… a notable one.” Its asking price had been an even more punchy £57.5 million.

The Boltons was developed in the 19^th century by the architect George Godwin (1813 – 1888) on 11.5 acres of land previously used as market gardens. The oval shaped street consists of 13 Italianate style houses on the “favoured” western crescent and 15 more in addition on the “less sought after” eastern side. In the centre, there is a communal garden and the church of St Mary The Boltons and whilst many residents employ private security, a number of the mansions are locked up, unloved and unoccupied also.

Now, an opportunity has arisen for someone to not “buy the worst house on the best street,” but instead “buy the cheapest house on the best side of the best street” in the form of what initially appears as a narrow townhouse wedged between two very much larger semi-detached villas. No. 24a The Boltons is actually deceptive as it not only widens as it goes backwards, but also provides a very surprising 3,123 square foot of usable accommodation over four floors.

The entrance hall opens into a library area and a feeling of space is provided by a glass enclosure around the upward staircase.

The drawing room space beyond has a vast window looking out westwards onto the gardens of the houses of The Little Boltons beyond.

The lower ground floor dining kitchen is surprisingly bright and has a double height ceiling in part.

Laid out currently to give 3 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, the “highly unusual house with off-street parking” includes a 50-foot long interconnecting entrance hall, library and reception space on the ground floor. At the rear, that opens to a partially double height dining kitchen below measuring 36-feet in length.

Originally used as a coach house to No. 24, in 1960, a year after the main house was converted into five flats, No. 24a was extended and turned into a house in its own right. Two storeys were added to the designs of architects Knapton & Deane on the instructions of an Aston Martin racing team driver named Noël Cunningham-Reid (1930 – 2017) and what resulted was a three-storey, two bay residence.

No. 24a was home to Jeffrey and Mary Archer in the 1970s and the street features in the spectacularly successful novelist’s 2008 bestselling work A Prisoner of Birth and his 2015 ‘Clifton Chronicles’ series novel Mightier than the Sword. It was whilst living here that the couple’s two sons were born and they supposedly only sold what Dame Mary later described to a court in 2001 as their “lovely” home after “hugely incautious” investments almost bankrupted them. “We’ve explored the further reaches of ‘for better and for worse’ than most couples,” the solar power conversion expert subsequently added.

Agents Knight Frank seek £6.5 million or £2,081 per square foot for 24a The Boltons and whomever buys it will certainly be able to laud that they live in one of the best addresses in London without it being a work of fiction. In Hyacinth Bucket-esque fashion, however, they won’t, of course, bring up that they actually live in the cheapest and smallest house there.

The Names & Numbers – 24a The Boltons, London, SW10 9SU, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, United Kingdom
- July 2020 – For sale for an asking price of £6.5 million ($8.2 million, €7.3 million or درهم30 million) through estate agents Knight Frank, a figure 71.1% higher than the 2007 sale price.
- March 2007 – Sold for £3.8 million ($4.9 million, €4.2 million or درهم17.6 million).
- 1972 to 1976 – Home to Lord Archer and Dame Mary Archer DBE, then known as Mr Jeffrey and Dr Mary Archer. Their sons, James and William, were born during this period in 1972 and 1974.
Other Notable Residents of The Boltons

Between 1999 and 2006, Madonna owned a house in The Boltons and other well-known residents have included Sir Julian and Dame Paddy Ridsdale.
- 8 The Boltons – Douglas Fairbanks Jr. KBE (1909 – 2000), actor, lived there in the 1950s with his wife Mary Lee Hartford, former wife Huntington Hartford, the A&P supermarket heir.
- 14 The Boltons – Otho Stuart (1863 – 1930), Shakespearean actor-manager, lived there, exact dates unknown.
- 19 The Boltons – The Rt. Hon. Anthony Crosland (1918 – 1977), Labour Party politician, author and one-time lover of Roy Jenkins, lived there, exact dates unknown.
- 20 The Boltons (also known as ‘The Grove’) – Colin MacInnes (1914 – 1976), author, lived there, exact dates unknown. For a time in the 20^th century, the building also served as Our Lady’s Convent along with 21 The Boltons.
- 24 The Boltons – Sir William Gilbert (1836 – 1911), playwright and one half of Gilbert and Sullivan, lived in the house between 1877 and 1884 and wrote six of his best known comic operas there beginning with The Sorcerer in 1877, HMS Pinafore in 1878, The Pirates of Penzance in 1879, Patience in 1881, Iolanthe in 1882 and Princess Ida in 1884. Gilbert moved from No. 24 The Boltons in 1884 to a newly built house nearby at No. 39 Harrington Gardens.
- 29 The Boltons – Used as an infant school for fifteen years after the Second World War.
Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

The kitchen itself is dominated by a central island unit.

A lower ground floor room described as a “snug” is used presently as a space to watch television.

The first floor consists of a master bedroom suite with a bedroom with an undemised balcony, a dressing room and a shower room.

The dressing room itself.

One of two bedrooms on the second floor.

The other second floor bedroom.

There are two bathrooms and two shower rooms in the house.

The floor plan shows how the tardis like building gets bigger as you go further back into it.

The situation of 24a The Boltons is on the “favoured” western crescent of this ritzy street.
July 10, 2020
A Faithfull Flat

Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million

Marianne Faithfull has been recuperating in London after being treated for coronavirus in April, but even with her wealth the singer-songwriter is unlikely to be able to afford to return to where she lived at 29 Lennox Gardens in Knightsbridge for several years from 1967. An apartment that forms the majority part of that Grade II listed building is now for sale for the staggering sum of £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million).

Marianne Faithfull pictured in her apartment in the building in 1967. She lived there with her then husband John Dunbar and their son, Nicholas, but left to live with Mick Jagger. At the time, she told ‘New Musical Express’: “My first move was to get a Rolling Stone as a boyfriend, I slept with three and decided the lead singer was best.”

Residents of Lennox Gardens have access to its private communal gardens. They were laid out on the site of the Prince’s Cricket Ground – the location of the famed Gentlemen of England vs. Australians and Players vs. Australians game in 1878. In 2017, we featured another £35 million flat overlooking this garden square also.

Spread over three floors and extending to 5,280 square foot, the triplex is a complete contrast to the ordinary “white suburban bedroom” Faithfull imagined in her song The Ballad of Lucy Jordan. A far-cry from the drug riddled existence she subsequently slipped into, the ground floor, basement and first floor apartment includes a large formal drawing room, a family dining kitchen and a separate chef’s kitchen, a media and wine room, five bedroom suites and two courtyard gardens.

The leasehold with share of freehold property – redeveloped by London Land Asset Management and designers 1508 London “on behalf of a private investor” – is offered by agents Strutt & Parker. The building was in recent years primarily home to the socialite-philanthropist Pia Hahn Marocco and its top floors offered to rent at a sum of £15,167 per month ($18,357, €16,966 or درهم67,416 per month).

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

May 17, 2020
Penny Streeter OBE (née Penny Stiff)

A classic ‘rags to riches’ tale is that of Penny Streeter. Born in what was then Rhodesia, this police superintendent’s daughter came to England when she was 12 and worked on Margaret Thatcher’s Youth Training Scheme and in Pizzaland at the age of 16. She went into business with her mother at 22, went bust and after ending up living in a homeless refuge with her children, worked her way back and launched what has become A24 Group, a healthcare recruitment agency in 1995. By 2002, this hard-working woman’s company was the “fastest-growing company in the UK” and in 2019, she was listed as being worth £208 million in The Sunday Times ‘Rich List.’ Streeter and her husband now own a vineyard in South Africa and a winery in Horsham, West Sussex. We say: Cheers to her!

April 29, 2020
An Ugly Duckling With All The Extras

“Ugly duckling” ex-crab boat converted into “ultimate fun factory” by billionaire equity investor for sale for 47% less than in 2017; it comes with gadgets galore amongst them a two-seat amphibious flying boat

Stanford educated private equity investor Richard Kayne manages over £25.3 billion ($31 billion, €28.7 billion or درهم113.8 billion) through his firm Kayne Anderson Capital Advisers. He also “doesn’t like to sit still,” has over 300 employees and is not only pretty “alternative” in the way he invests; he’s also pretty unusual in the style of yacht he favours.

Father of three Kayne took up sailing in order to “get [his] daughters involved in a family experience” around 2002 and then commissioned a 164-foot yacht named JeMaSa – a merger of the names of Jenni, Maggie and Saree, his aforementioned children. His love of “toys” – such as Eurocopter helicopters, sea planes, submarines, tenders, flyboards, jet-skis and inflatable water slides – subsequently resulted in a further purchase, a 170-foot steel hulled crab fishing boat that he intended simply to use as a “supply boat” to house his ever-growing collection of “kit.”

Richard Kayne and his wife Suzanne.

Prior to becoming ‘SuRi,’ the yacht was a crab fishing vessel named ‘Fierce Contender.’

Nowadays, the boat is more likely to be found taking wealthy individuals to off-the-beaten track locations.

Previously known as Fierce Contender (built in Lockport, Louisiana in 1978) and used in the Discovery Channel television series Deadliest Catch, the boat was converted into a “shadow yacht” in Seattle over the winter of 2007. Of the work, in November 2019, Kayne told Boat International:

“Designing the garage was a challenge. In addition to the helicopter we had a hovercraft, one of the world’s noisiest boats, a hand-built mahogany speedboat, a work boat, WaveRunners, Sea-Doos, sailboats, ski and wakesurfing boats and, eventually, an amphibious airplane.”

Renamed SuRi – a combination of his name and that of his wife, Suzanne – the Kayne family then took their fleet to Denarau, Fiji and though together the financier termed them his “hundred-metre articulated yacht,” he later came to realise that “neither yacht was adequate for all the people and all the toys.”

His response came in 2011 and of it, he announced: “I did another silly thing – I decided to sell JeMeSa and jumbo-size SuRi.” The boat was taken to Alameda, California, cut in half and expanded to provide further accommodation and “what is arguably the largest toy garage-cum-aircraft hangar afloat outside the US Navy.” The resulting “amenity-rich explorer yacht” is now 208-foot long and can accommodate 18 guests in 7 cabins with 19 crew.

Capable of a range of 7,400 nautical miles at a maximum speed of 13 knots, SuRi became what its owner termed “the ultimate fun factory” where: “Whatever it is that you want to do – put jet boots on your feet and go flying up in the air, go kitesurfing, take a cruise in a Riva type of boat, or go wakeboarding, wake surfing, waterskiing, fishing or diving, you just go and do it.”

Now, however, Kayne’s enthusiasm has moved on to developing an “American-style golf club” on New Zealand’s North Island. He first put SuRi – which astonishingly has over 3,300 followers on its Instagram account – up for charter through firms such as Cookson Adventures and then tried to sell the yacht for £35.8 million ($43.9 million, €40.7 million or درهم161.2 million) in 2017. That price plainly was not achievable and now, Burgess Yachts are offering the craft for the much-reduced sum of £18.8 million ($23 million, €21.7 million or درهم84.5 million).

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

April 5, 2020
Davide Giardino – What’s on your mantelpiece?

A 20-question interview with economist turned real estate investor Davide Giardino

The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?

“The happiness and success of those closest to my heart.”

“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

“If you keep your destiny in mind, every moment in life becomes an opportunity to move closer to it.”

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2018?

Technocrats – as at least populists are lying most of the time.

Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

A simpler life. I miss the routine of going to an office every morning. Am I crazy?

What might you swap all your wealth for?

Assets? Well, in all seriousness, good health for me, my family and my friends.

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank.” What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

Who is richer and who is poorer from the latest financial crisis? You’ve got my answer…

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

“I am saying it for your sake.”

In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

Charity often substitutes for the lack of adequate government or international policy which is disappointing. I support a variety of causes including helping children born with congenital diseases and homeless children.

The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

Shut them off at night.

If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

My twin brother, a bunch of friends, Isabelle Huppert, Glenn Close and probably Angelina Jolie.

If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

Bucatini with lobster (I always liked bucatini more than spaghetti), gâteau de pommes de terre (cooked the Neapolitan way), a large portion of figs and a torta caprese chocolate cake. I woiuld probably eat it at the Villa San Michele in Capri, Hotel Bel Air or Cliveden House – all places close to my heart for different reasons.

What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

11am, though not every day.

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

A Negroni.

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

A dear friend of mine throws the most memorable dinner parties. I love how he always selects a group of diverse people who do not know each other, but will create an incredible energy together by the end of the night. It always helps that I’m always the guest of honour!

Who is the most positive person you know?

Maybe me.

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

Buying French pâtisserie and flowers for myself many times each week.

If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

“I want it all.”

If you were a car, what marque would you be?

A vintage Fiat 500 with a new engine. They are so cute and practical and I don’t need a Maserati to compensate for a lack of personality or something else.

Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

I am still trying to figure myself out.

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

Fresh flowers.

Davide Giardino is the founder of DGC-Luxury Homes and a licensed realtor at Rodeo Realty – Beverly Hills and Greater LA. He has extensive experience in the real estate advisory and investment business and previously was an economist at several global finance institutions. He describes himself as “a multi-lingual globetrotter” and holds a double degree from Bocconi and USC, an MSc in European political economy from the London School of Economics and a masters in finance from LBS.

Follow Davide Giardino on Facebook at @dgcluxuryhomes and on Instagram at @dgc_la

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes

September 4, 2018