This dynamo opened her first store at 154 Walton Street in Chelsea in 1994 and admits she had no money and made every error in the book whilst starting out. It all paid off as the Jo Malone brand that was created in her kitchen was sold to Estée Lauder in a multi-million pound “deal of a lifetime” in 1999. Malone grew up in a council flat in Bexleyheath and readily admits she’s a “merchant at heart.” She’s now moved into television presenting and also launched a new fragrance brand, Jo Loves, in March 2011.
Tag: London
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Jo Malone MBE
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Gerry & Kate McCann
Their daughter Madeleine disappeared on the evening 3rd May 2007 from a holiday apartment whilst they sat enjoying tapas with a bunch of friends. Some believe the poor child was kidnapped. Others have alternative theories. A public fund to find “Maddie” raised hundreds of thousands of pounds but Mrs McCann’s book, Madeleine, contains so many references to trips on private jets and meeting famous people that it makes one question whether the search for the child or fame has become the focus. -
Holly Candy (born Holly Rachel Vukadinović)
Best known for her role as Flick Scully on the soap Neighbours, this Australian born actress, singer and model struck gold when she married the British property tycoon Nick Candy. Her foray into music as Holly Valance brought success with Kiss Kiss but she subsequently fell out with her manager and had to pay him $350,000 in damages. She’s now most likely to be found on London’s social circuit or out shopping. -
God Save The Queen
A weekend of celebration
The launch of The Steeple TIMES today, 1st June 2012, coincides with a weekend that celebrates something far more significant.
Tomorrow, 2nd June, marks the 60th year of The Queen’s reign and over an extended weekend, the nation will gloriously raise their glasses to this amazing lady. The Queen, herself, begins by attending the Epsom Derby whilst the nation will participate in The Big Jubilee Lunch, sharing food and conversation with neighbours and friends. Laughter and joy will undoubtedly be the focus of the day.
Elizabeth II, Queen of the Commonwealth realms (1926 – ) On Sunday 3rd June, the highlight will be a pageant of 1,000 boats assembled from across the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world. Organised under the patronage of The Prince of Wales, the boats will sail from Battersea to Tower Bridge and The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family will travel in a Royal Barge, the Spirit of Chartwell.
The main event for Monday 4th June will be a Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace directed by Take That’s Gary Barlow. 10,000 members of the public will attend and performing artists include Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Cliff Richard, JLS, Ed Sheeran, Annie Lennox, Kylie Minogue and Sir Paul McCartney.
On the same day, a network of over 4,000 beacons will be lit throughout the United Kingdom. The Queen will light the National Beacon at the end of the Diamond Jubilee Concert and other key beacons will be the ones on the country’s four highest mountains: Ben Nevis, Mount Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Slieve Donard.
Tuesday 5th June is marked by a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral where a special prayer will be read. This is to be followed by receptions at Mansion House and Guildhall and a Diamond Jubilee lunch at Westminster Hall. Following the lunch, The Queen, and The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Henry of Wales will depart the Palace of Westminster for Buckingham Palace, travelling by carriage. A 60-gun salute will be fired during the procession and personnel from all three military services will line the route. Shortly after, The Royal Family will appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch an RAF Flypast and Feu de Joie given as a salute by The Queen’s Guard and this will conclude a truly spectacular celebration.
‘God Save The Queen’ by Keith Haynes. Presented in a Perspex box frame, 350mm x 350mm. Vinyl and Perspex. Edition of 10. Signed and numbered. Meanwhile, I was lucky to attend a Jubilee Party at the Belgravia Gallery in Mayfair last night that featured artworks celebrating The Queen’s reign. Featuring works by Prince Albert, The Prince of Wales and Lord Snowdon, here was a true celebration of all things connected to the Monarchy.
The highlight, however, for me were the works of Keith Haynes. Like The Queen, who undoubtedly has prospered as Monarch because of the support of her steadfast husband, Keith Haynes is an artist inspired by the encouragement of his wife, Kim Clayton-Jones. A graduate of the Harrow School of Art, Haynes exhibited a series of works inspired by both The Queen and the Sex Pistols that were kitsch and collectable. Priced at £350 each and limited to editions of 100, these brilliant pieces represent a great way to remember this historic weekend.
‘God Save The Queen’ by Keith Haynes. Presented in white box frame, 250mm x 250mm. Vinyl, paper and board. Edition of 100. Signed and numbered. Comments Keith Haynes:
“Since it’s release in the Silver Jubilee year of 1977 the Sex Pistols seminal punk single has been indelibly linked to the history of The Royal Family. This Diamond Jubilee year sees the 35th anniversary of the single’s release and to commemorate this event I have produced a limited edition portrait of The Queen made from original vinyl copies of the single; my tribute to the extreme ends of British culture.”
May I thank you all for your support for The Steeple TIMES to date and more importantly, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Jubilee Weekend.
“God Save The Queen – We mean it Ma’am.”
Belgravia Gallery, 45 Albermarle Street, London, W1S 4JL. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7495 1010. Website: http://www.belgraviagallery.com
For information about Keith Haynes and The Haynes Partnership, go to: http://www.art-partnership.co.uk
To view the official website of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, go to: http://www.thediamondjubilee.org
For information about The Big Jubilee Lunch, go to: http://www.thebiglunch.com
For information on The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, go to: http://www.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/
For information on the Diamond Jubilee Concert, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/diamondjubilee
For information on The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Beacons, go to: http://www.diamondjubileebeacons.co.uk
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Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah
The nephew of Kuwait’s Amir first introduced his Villa Moda “luxury bazaar” concept in 1992 in a $20 million glass box on the outskirts of Kuwait City. This “Sheikh of Chic” has subsequently revolutionised shopping in the region and is widely lauded as “one of the suavest men on the fashion scene.” Here is a visionary trendsetter who’s changed the Middle East very much for the better. -
Euan Rellie
Educated at Eton and Cambridge, this British born investment banker exploited the “special relationship” between America and Britain when he founded his Atlanticist dining society. With his stunning wife, the designer Lucy Sykes, he’s amongst New York’s most invited and he’s said to care very much about elegance. Always impeccably dressed, here’s a gent who is a big fan of the tailor Tom Brown. -
A Monopolistic mansion
Could 100 Park Lane become the property that achieves the accolade of being Britain’s highest priced private residence?
Occupied by property giants Hammerson since 1969 as their corporate headquarters, the 44,000 square foot Grade II* listed Dudley House is one of Park Lane’s finest landmark properties. It is supposedly about to come to the market as a single-family residence and a price of up to £250,000,000 could be achieved.
The Park Lane façade of Dudley House, 100 Park Lane, Mayfair, London, W1Y 4AR Dudley House, the only remaining example of an early Park Lane mansion, is named after the Dudley Ward family and built on the site of an earlier house with stabling. The site was acquired by John, 6th Baron Ward, in 1742 but it wasn’t until 1759 that the 3rd Viscount Dudley and Ward began “judicious alterations” to the house. Having paid £6,510 at auction for his late half-brother’s interests in Dudley House, he added an entrance portico and stained glass windows whilst his successor, an ”eccentric intellectual and politician,” set about turning the building into “the most pleasing object in the vicinity.”
Works by the architect William Atkinson, carried out between 1827 and 1829, included a screen of Ionic columns, fine ceilings and gilded plasterwork. They remain to this day but it is the 1855 alterations of Samuel Whitfield Daukes that are truly impressive. Carried out on the instructions of the 1st Earl of Dudley, these included a magnificent 80ft picture gallery designed to showcase a collection of Italian and Flemish paintings and a vast 50ft ballroom.
The picture gallery at Dudley House In 1895, Dudley House, which is situated at 100 Park Lane, briefly passed out of the Dudley Ward family and into the ownership of a “hard-headed South African mining magnate” named Sir Joseph Benjamin Robinson. Sir John Hubert Ward bought the building back in 1912 for £10,000 and remained there until his death in 1938.
Wartime bombing caused significant damage and this was not repaired until Hammerson took over Dudley House. Having hired Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons as contractors, designs by Sir Basil Spence and Anthony Blee were executed to restore the building. Hammerson remained there until 2006 when they jointly sold the leasehold interest on the house with freeholders Grosvenor for £37.4 million to Bristol Isles Ltd., a private investment company controlled by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thana, the emir of Qatar.
His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (1952 – ) The ensuing renovation, directed by the designer Alberto Pinto, has been described as “tasteful” and is said to have cost some £75 million. The resulting air-conditioned home features some 17 bedrooms and 14 reception rooms.
It’ll be fascinating to see who “Doesn’t pass go!” and purchases this mammoth mansion (if indeed His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani decides not to move in himself).
For more details on Alberto Pinto, go to: http://www.albertopinto.com
For more information about His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani: http://www.qatarembassy.net/emir.asp
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The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP
She called the Conservative Party the “Nasty Party” in a speech in 2002 and now Theresa May makes for a pretty nasty Prime Minister herself. Gaffe prone May failed to appeal to the police in May 2012 when they heckled her at the Police Federation conference and was too busy hosting a party with Lady Meyer later that month to deal with problems at Britain’s borders. Ken Clarke once described her as “childlike”, Joan Collins has made a fool of her on Twitter and it is for dressing like Worzel Gummidge that this hectoring vicar’s daughter is known best. Please, someone, just shoe her out. -
Stoned & Stoddart
John Stoddart features in a Parisian exhibition
To mark the 50th anniversary of The Rolling Stones, La Gelerie de l’Instant opens an exhibition named “Photographies de Stoned-and-Respectable” this evening in Paris.
Stoddart’s triptych of The Rolling Stones Photographs featured most notably number works by Terry O’Neill, Patrick Anson, the 5th Earl of Lichfield, Albert Watson, Peter Lindbergh and Philip Townsend. A triptych by Whitstable based John Stoddart is one of the undoubted stars of the show.
La Galerie de l’Instant, 46, rue de Poitou, 75003, Paris, France Comments Stoddart:
“It’s an honour to be included in this showcase. The Rolling Stones are true legends in their lifetime and I very much enjoyed capturing them.”
The exhibition runs until the 15th September.
La Galerie de l’Instant, 46, rue de Poitou, 75003, Paris, France. For more details, go to: http://www.lagaleriedelinstant.com/photographe/Stoned-and-Respectable-.-a31
View the official website of The Rolling Stones at: http://www.rollingstones.com
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Leslie "Les" Allen-Vercoe (also known as Les Vercoe)
This property developer tried to sell Britain’s ugliest crib, Updown Court at Windlesham in Surrey, for £70 million in 2008. It languished on the market for years and looked like a cross between a Tesco store and Center Parcs. The mansion included five swimming pools, a heated marble driveway and 103 rooms. Nobody loved it but after it was repossessed in 2011, it was finally sold on for £35 million. Meanwhile, Allen-Vercoe appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court in 2012 in relation to a case involving the £10 million mortgage fraudster Joanne Sarah Pier (also known as Zoe May Fletcher and Maria Micheala). He was cleared.