The Steeple Times

Tag: London

  • Instagrammable London

    Instagrammable London

    Fabio Contissa suggests the most Instagrammable restaurants and cafes to visit in London

     

    Social networking sites have become a part of everyday life for many people especially for millennials. In an effort to attract this demographic, many industries have begun to harness the power of social media.  One such industry is the food industry where many restaurants and cafes utilise the photo networking site, Instagram, to promote places to visit such as these venues in London.

     

    Peggy Porschen

    If you’ve got a sweet tooth, then definitely a visit with Peggy’s is in order. Probably one of the most picturesque bake shops in the capital, the store is painted pink and adorned with hearts and flowers. The shop has been the background of many selfies so don’t be surprised to see crowds out front snapping pics. While the baked goods are a bit pricey, the whole visit is an experience. The cupcakes are seriously delicious and worth every pound. Open daily from 8am to 8pm, Peggy’s sweets can be washed down with tea or even champagne.

     

    Bob Bob Ricard

    This elegant eatery is decorated in a style reminiscent of the 1920s. On the menu is both Russian and British cuisine. Expect to find comfort food accompanied by lots of champagne. To further emphasize the availability of champagne, each booth is outfitted with its own “press for champagne” button which adds a bit of fun to the dining experience here. A full bar is available if cocktails are more to your liking. Perhaps start off with platinum vodkas shots which has been chilled to -18°C. Meals here aren’t cheap and it you are wanting to impress a date or guests, BBR is the place to go.

     

    Bubblewrap Waffle

    With their signature bubble waffle, the BubblewrapWaffle has also earned its reputation for being one of the top Instagrammed eateries in London. Originally an import from Hong Kong and featured in Chinatown, egg waffles have evolved into these snacks constructed from lattice batter. You can opt for either the original or chocolate flavoured. The bubblewrap is then stuffed with gelato as well as toppings of your choice. Then it is all wrapped up much like a cone. While many prefer the sweet versions of the bubblewraps, many also opt for the savoury flavours including the avocado egg featuring eggs and avocado.

     

    Berner’s Tavern

    One of three restaurants in West End London created by Jason Atherton, Berner’s Tavern opened five years ago. While the menu provides mouth-watering fare, if it the atmosphere and décor that make this venue tops on Instagram. The dining room is large and spacious with an ornate plasterwork ceiling that help make it quite photogenic. Located within the newly opened Edition Hotel, the restaurant’s walls are tiled with numerous framed pieces of fine art.

     

    Palm Vaults

    This pastel café is covered with palm trees and plants. Featured here are colourful lattes that are very Instagrammable including ones in hues of rose, aqua and lavender. They provide healthy options including vegan and gluten free. Brunch is a popular draw here where you can enjoy tasty yet healthy fare and add to your Instagram feed as well.

     

    Fabio Contissa is a freelance writer with an extensive knowledge of restaurants and fine dining.

     

    Pictured top: Bob Bob Ricard’s ‘Press for Champagne’ button.

     

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  • A Bit Of An Enigma

    A Bit Of An Enigma

    Bonhams to auction two Enigma machines at their science and technology sale for six figure sums

    Tomorrow in Knightsbridge, Bonhams will auction two Heinsoeth Und Rinke enigma enciphering machines at a sale of instruments of science and technology.

     

    A Bit Of An Enigma – Bonhams in Knightsbridge, London to auction two Enigma machines at their science and technology sale for six figure sums. The respective reserves for the machines are £150,000 to £200,000 ($197,000 to $263,000, €169,000 to €225,000 or درهم724,000 to درهم965,000) and £100,000 to £150,000 ($131,000 to $197,000,

    Produced in Germany in 1941 and 1943, the two devices offered feature QWERTY keyboards and are housed in oak cases. They were patented by Dr Arthur Scherbius in 1918 and utilised interchangeable rotors that scrambled plain-text messages to produce a cipher text message. These were then sent by Morse code to a receiving party with an Engima set up in the same configuration as the sending Enigma.

     

    Extremely rare because most were thrown into lakes and rivers as the Germans retreated at the end of the war, around 40 examples exist in museums around the world. The ability of such people as Alan Turing to crack their codes is credited with shortening the conflict by two years.

     

    The respective reserves for the machines are £150,000 to £200,000 ($197,000 to $263,000, €169,000 to €225,000 or درهم724,000 to درهم965,000) and £100,000 to £150,000 ($131,000 to $197,000, €112,000 to €169,000 or درهم482,000 to درهم724,000).

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  • The Talented Tinker

    The Talented Tinker

    Actor Dudley Sutton – AKA ‘Lovejoy’s’ Tinker – passes away aged 85 shortly after giving an interview lauding the NHS

     

    The talented actor and regular at the Chelsea Arts Club, Dudley Sutton sadly died yesterday after a short battle with cancer.

     

    Best known for playing Tinker Dill in the brilliant BBC comedy-drama series Lovejoy in 1986 and from 1991 to 1994, Sutton most recently took the lead role in a video for the Tom Chaplin song Midnight Mass and also appeared in everything from the first production of Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane in 1964 to Emmerdale and Eastenders.

     

    Speaking about Lovejoy and himself in general in 2017, Sutton commented:

     

    “It’s what they’re going to say on my obituary when I die, regardless of all the different and diverse stuff I’ve done throughout my life.”

     

    “It’s good fun because Lovejoy is so popular throughout the world, wherever you go. But people recognise Tinker, they don’t recognise Dudley Sutton.”

     

    The Talented Tinker – Actor Dudley Sutton (1933 – 2018) – Actor Dudley Sutton – AKA ‘Lovejoy’s’ Tinker – passes away aged 85 shortly after giving an interview lauding the NHS.
    Dudley Sutton (6th April 1933 – 15th September 2018)

     

    In July, Sutton gave a video interview from his bed in the Royal Trinity Hospice in Clapham in which he spoke about the NHS. He spoke of how he was a Socialist and lauded doctors and nurses for “caring about people, caring about folk, caring about people who can’t look after themselves” and said: “Don’t let the NHS go. Don’t flog it away with all the rest of the rubbish… That’s all I’m saying.”

     

    In a statement yesterday, Sutton’s family remarked:

     

    “Today we’re devastated by the loss of our beautiful Dudley, who leaves a gaping hole in all our lives.”

     

    “We’re grateful for the love expressed by friends and fans everywhere and for the extraordinary care he received at the Royal Trinity Hospice in Clapham, south London, where he went out fighting for our NHS.”

     

    To those  that encountered “this wonderfully disruptive cherub” at the Chelsea Arts Club and elsewhere, Dudley will be remembered for much more. This “neo-Wildean” actor and gent was charming, witty and fun and he added great colour to the lives of so many. May he rest in peace.

     

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu6PoFhTrVE

    The Talented Tinker – Actor Dudley Sutton (1933 – 2018) – Actor Dudley Sutton – AKA ‘Lovejoy’s’ Tinker – passes away aged 85 shortly after giving an interview lauding the NHS.

  • Picture of the Week – A Bottled Baroness

    Picture of the Week – A Bottled Baroness

    Racist Marie-Claire, ‘Baroness’ von Alvensleben spotted dashing for sparkling wine as she ‘works the room’ at chi-chi antiques fair

     

    Last night at LAPADA, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting innocents complete with her trademark helmet hairstyle, Marie-Claire ‘Baroness’ von Alvensleben perched on a bench at the entrance.

     

    The wannabe Elnett ambassador’s eyes beamed when a bottle of Gusbourne English sparkling wine appeared on the horizon and a witness spotted the convicted racist dashing towards it. As a waitress poured, an observer remarked: “If she has any more, she’ll be on the floor” (in reference to the author of Absolutely Everything’s previous antics drunkenly rolling around at a party with television presenter Michael Barrymore).

     

    Here, in our Picture of the Week, we share an image of this bigoted woman ‘at work’ in this liggers’ paradise.

     

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  • The Gamble of Greig

    The Gamble of Greig

    Will  ‘more toff than tough’ Geordie Greig take the ‘Daily Mail’ into the realm of rational? Matthew Steeples suggests that’s as likely as Jacob Rees-Mogg donning a Kappa tracksuit and dancing a jig with Diane Abbott

     

    Yesterday, in an opinion piece for The Guardian, Jane Martinson claimed new editor of the Daily Mail Geordie Greig “finds himself walking on a tightrope” as he juggles keeping Brexiteers, remainers, anti-immigrant readers and his pugnacious proprietor happy.

     

    In her overall observation, Martinson is entirely right. Greig’s arrival marks a major change at the paper in that he comes not from the world of political journalism of his “poisoner in chief” predecessor Paul Dacre, but instead is an Old Etonian who has edited “aristocrat’s favourite” Tatler magazine and written about the life of the louche father of fourteen and “unapologetically self-absorbed” portrait painter Lucian Freud.

     

    Described by The Observer in 2005 as “Britain’s most connected man” and married to a Texan, Greig, in many ways, harks back to the era of David Cameron and George Osborne’s politics. He, like them, lives in Notting Hill, is a “friend” of the “socialite” Oxford-LSE graduate wife of (the Mail’s owner) Viscount Rothermere, Claudia Clemence, and is even credited with persuading the former chancellor’s new boss, Evgeny Lebedev, to buy the Evening Standard in 2009. In this regard, I’d argue, this 57 year old is very much a key component of the establishment elite that is what I like to mockingly term: ‘The Club.’

     

    Greig comes from what can limply be termed “a nicer school of journalism” and despite his grandfather having briefly flirted with the far right when he joined the January Club, “an establishment ginger group for the British Union of Fascists,” he is himself seen to be cultural and no enemy of the postmodern era. This former fashion writer collects works by the pro-Margaret Thatcher, pro-Prince Charles collaborative artists Gilbert & George and supposedly has already “[ripped] out Dacre’s [old fashioned] panelling and chintz office and [brought] in his own [‘Notting Hill Set’ style] soft furnishings.” No doubt, the chattering classes will titter and suggest they come from OKA – the furniture emporium founded by Viscountess Astor (the mother of Samantha Cameron) that was sold to Investindustrial, the owners of Aston Martin, in January this year – but in doing so they have a point: Greig is most definitely more toff than tough.

     

    Whether “mild-mannered… by nature liberal, fiscally conservative” Greig will be able to replace Paul Dacre’s “I give my readers a daily hate” racist, homophobic, philistine, “enemies of the people” agenda at the Mail with something more liberal and tolerant remains to be seen. It does, however, seem as likely as Jacob Rees-Mogg donning a Kappa tracksuit and dancing a jig with Diane Abbott.

     

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  • A Rental Ruin

    A Rental Ruin

    Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler”

     

    Other than the legendary Roy Brooks, the only honest man in his game, estate agents will be optimistic about just about anything. A bit of damp: “no problem”; a nuclear power station next door: “positively charming” but John D. Wood & Co. truly take the biscuit with the marketing material for a property they are currently trying to let in chi-chi Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London.

     

    Sent to us by an eagle eyed reader, the £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week), 867 square foot three floor aforementioned house has conventional features such as a reception room, kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom. It also, rather unconventionally, has walls that haven’t even been painted and are just bare plaster. Pictures show also scruffily made-up beds propped up on wooden blocks, wiring and ageing televisions discarded on the floors and a garden littered with leaves.

     

    Of this strange offering, our reader remarked: “I saw this listing and thought it was a half-finished project and up for sale, but no, it’s a rental. Buy-to-let plainly says can’t afford to finish it, says sod it and tries to rent it out in a half-finished state and describe it as a ‘unique house packed with character and charm.’ I particularly like the exposed gas meter!”

     

    When he telephoned, a member of staff at John D. Wood told our reader: “The landlord would prefer to rent the property ‘as is’ and not do further work. It would be at least £1,000 per week if it were finished. He is happy for any tenant to paint and make further improvements.”

     

    In typical estate agent fashion, she optimistically added: “It does have a new boiler.”

     

    Roy Brooks – “A painfully honest estate agent”

    “Beyond any doubt the best copywriter for property advertising in the history of the British press,” Roy Brooks (died 1971) took a “puckish delight in telling the truth” about the houses he was asked to sell.

     
    A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week).

    An example of this Kings Road based eccentric’s advertisements read:

     

    “Do not be misled by the trim exterior of this modest period res with its dirty broken windows; all is not well with the inside. The décor of the nine rooms, some of which hangs inelegantly from the walls, is revolting. Not entirely devoid of plumbing, there is a pathetic kitchen and one cold tap. No bathroom, of course, but Chelsea has excellent public baths. Rain sadly drips through the ceiling on to the oilcloth. The pock-marked basement floor indicates a thriving community of woodworm, otherwise there is not much wrong with the property… Sacrifice £6,750.”

     

    Another announced:

     

    “Wanted: Someone with taste, means and a stomach strong enough to buy this erstwhile house of ill-repute in Pimlico. It is untouched by the 20th century as far as conveniences for even the basic human decencies are concerned. Although it reeks of damp or worse, the plaster is coming off the walls and daylight peeps through a hole in the roof, it is still habitable judging by the bed of rags, fag ends and empty bottles in one corner. Plenty of scope for the socially aspiring to express their decorative taste and get their abode in The Glossy, and nothing to stop them putting Westminster on their notepaper. Comprises 10 rather unpleasant rooms with slimy back yard, £4,650 Freehold. Tarted up, these houses make £15,000.”

     

    Justifying his reasoning for driving his Rolls-Royce from London to Russia loaded up with 1,000 pairs of shoes, Brooks – author of Brothel in Pimlico and Mud, Straw and Insults: Confessions of an Honest Estate Agent – glibly explained: “I take these for old times’ sake – Stalingrad and the defeat of the German hordes. Perhaps I could bring back in return some of their women engineers whose factories I saw prefabricating good homes by the thousands.”

     

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    A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week).A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week). A Rental Ruin – Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler” – 62 Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London, SW3 4AR, United Kingdom – To rent through John D. Wood & Co. for £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week).

  • Fame & The Beeb

    Fame & The Beeb

    John Stoddart exhibition of silkscreen prints of his iconic works at Chelsea Arts Club attracts the attention of some BBC heavyweights

     

    On Tuesday, at the Chelsea Arts Club in London, photographer John Stoddart illustrated his versatility as an artist in exhibiting silkscreen prints created from his works.

     

    Present at the preview were a whole array of characters – amongst them both former host of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs Sue Lawley and political commentator and BBC One’s The Marr Show host Andrew Marr – and as the wine flowed, guests got to admire images of Joan Collins, Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

     Fame & The Beeb – Famous! by Stoddart exhibition at Chelsea Arts Club – John Stoddart exhibition of silkscreen prints of his iconic works at Chelsea Arts Club attracts the attention of some BBC heavyweights.Fame & The Beeb – Famous! by Stoddart exhibition at Chelsea Arts Club – John Stoddart exhibition of silkscreen prints of his iconic works at Chelsea Arts Club attracts the attention of some BBC heavyweights.

     

    Of the exhibition, Claire Rubinstein, herself formerly of the BBC also, remarked: “I love the vibrancy and colour of these images. John has injected some joie de vivre into the faces and I am especially taken with the one of Hugh Grant. Doesn’t he look camp?”

     

    The works – which are limited to editions of ten and titled ‘Famous! by Stoddart’ – are priced at £300 ($388, €334 or درهم1,425) per print or £2,000 ($2,587, €2,226 or درهم9,500) for a boxed set of all ten prints.

     

    The exhibition will remain on show for the next two weeks and those interested in purchasing prints are invited to telephone the Chelsea Arts Club.

     

    Chelsea Arts Club, 143 Old Church Street, London, SW3 6EB. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7376 3311.

     

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  • Rule, Britannia!

    Rule, Britannia!

    “Famously haunted” Chelsea townhouse once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry for sale

     

    A Grade II* listed Georgian house on Kings Road in Chelsea, London that has gone on sale comes with links to not only the composer Thomas Arne (1710 – 1778) but also the Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry, GBE (1847 – 1928).

     

    Spread over five floors and extending to 3,179 square foot, the renovated Georgian property provides 3 reception rooms, a vast dining kitchen created out of a former artists’ studio space, 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It has a garden to the front and a courtyard also.

     

    Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.
    Dame Ellen Terry and Thomas Arne

     

    Though only briefly home to Thomas Arne – a Roman Catholic and Freemason best known for both Rule, Britannia! and A-Hunting We Will Go – in 1771, actress Dame Ellen Terry lived in 215 Kings Road from 1904 to 1920. It is reported that her possessions there were sold off in 1921 as part of “an attempt to fend off bankruptcy” and of it, a newspaper article titled ‘The Ghosts of Ellen Terry’ reported:

     

    “Surely civilisation was never responsible for the invention of the auction sale. It is such a heartless proceeding. Even a barbarian chief, waving a fierce spear, could not look more relentless than the auctioneer with the dull thud of his cruel little hammer. And surely no barbaric women with palm-leaves and fuzzed hair ever wore harder expressions than the crowd of modern sisters gathered yesterday in Ellen Terry’s old home in Chelsea, as they watched the exquisite china and other mementos of a great artist whisked off by sharp bidders for ridiculously small sums.”

     

    Knight Frank seek £6.45 million ($8.30 million, €7.15 million or درهم30.47 million) for the now “famously haunted” freehold house.

     

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     Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry. Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry. Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry. Rule, Britannia! £6.45 million for 215 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5EH, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank and once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry.

  • Win a Knightsbridge Flat (with a Shady Past)

    Win a Knightsbridge Flat (with a Shady Past)

    Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted ‘gay sex plot’ royal blackmailer who died in 2016

     

    Increasingly, with sellers unable to offload prime properties due to Theresa May’s inability to secure any kind of Brexit deal and the ongoing effects of former Chancellor George Osborne’s increases to stamp duty, those with luxury flats and houses are turning to raffling them.

     

    An example of such comes in in the form of a ground and first floor maisonette on the corner of Walton Street and Beauchamp Place in London’s Knightsbridge. Extending to 1,063 square foot and including a large reception room, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, the aforementioned fully furnished property is ambitiously being touted as being worth £3.2 million in spite of having sold for just £1.4 million in 2007 and £575,000 in 2000.

     

    Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)
    The ground floor sitting room of the flat; the property has been marketed for rental at a price of £2,750 per week in times past
    Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)
    Bisexual ‘royal blackmailer’ Ian Strachan lived in the flat for a period following his release from jail

     

    Now marketed in a competition by a company named Your Laddr – run by a former Alexander McQueen merchandiser named Santa Agolli – for £10 a ticket, Flat 1 at 132 Walton Street, SW3 is being promoted without mention of one of its most recent occupants, a controversial and now deceased ‘royal blackmailer’ who’d sought £50,000 for a set of recordings from various national newspapers in 2007.

     

    Tried under the name of Paul Aðalsteinsson (other aliases included Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein), Grimsby trawlerman’s son turned “playboy” Ian Strachan lived at 132 Walton Street after being released following serving a sentence of five years for a gay sex blackmail plot against an unnamed, married member of the royal family.  He subsequently had his left leg amputated following a 30-foot fall from a balcony in Imperial Wharf, SW6 in 2013 and then spent 10 months in jail in Dubai in 2015 after crashing an Audi R8. He died aged just 40 of a drug overdose in South Kensington on Christmas Eve 2016.

     

    The winner of Flat 132, Walton Street will have their stamp duty, legal fees and council tax for one year paid as part of the prize. In addition, they will be ‘given’ a 2017 Jeep Wrangler Black Hawk with 800 miles on the clock, a cash amount of upto £4,000 to cover insurance for one year and a cash payment to cover a Kensington and Chelsea parking permit for one year also. Hopefully they’ll have better luck than the tragic Mr Strachan; may he rest in peace.

     

    To enter the competition, click here.

     

    Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge London, SW3 1RE – The Numbers

     

    August 2018 – Prize draw remains open indicating that ticket sales must be rather slow.

     

    December 2017 – Offered in a raffle for £10 per ticket with a minimum of 380,000 tickets needed to be sold. This would equate to a return of £3.8 million ($4.9 million, €4.2 million or درهم17.9 million) in ticket sales.

     

    November 2007 – Sold for £1.436 million ($1.845 million, €1.581 million or درهم6.776 million).

     

    October 2000 – Sold for £575,000 ($739,000, €633,000 or درهم2.713 million).

     

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    Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein) Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein) Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)Win a Knightsbridge Flat (With A Shady Past) – Flat 1, 132 Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1RE – Competition to win a Knightsbridge flat for £10 per ticket neglects to mention its former occupier, a convicted royal blackmailer named Ian Strachan (also known as Paul Aðalsteinsson, Paul Adalsteinsson, Paul Stein and Charles Goldstein)

  • Robin Leach (1941 – 2018)

    Robin Leach (1941 – 2018)

    “With champagne wishes and caviar dreams” was the famous signoff of London born Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous host Robin Leach. Harrow High School educated, this one-time Daily Mail reporter moved to the US in 1963 with $145 in his pocket and after briefly becoming a shoe salesman founded a music publication named Go Magazine.

     

    After selling up “at considerable profit,” Leach worked for The National Star and CNN before coming up with Lifestyles in 1984. He attributed the show’s popularity to Jimmy Carter exiting the White House and boasted: “[It was] because the Reagans brought in an aura of wealth. Jimmy Carter was too ordinary. So, when Reagan came in, it was time for a show about wealth and success… Hear this: In the course of an hour, I deliver twice as much audio information and visual images as any other show on television. I’m fast and loud on purpose. I cram 10 pounds of caviar into an eight-pound pack.”

     

    “Sensational, not scandalous” in his approach, twice married, father of three Leach’s subjects numbered everyone from Celine Dion to Madonna and Adnan Khashoggi and Donald Trump. As a result this celebrant of wealth and capitalism became a millionaire and pretty famous himself and in 2007, in the Fergie song Glamorous featuring Ludacris, the latter rapped: “Lifestyles so rich and famous, Robin Leach’ll get jealous.” With his passing, most certainly, this much parodied “life of the party” has most definitely moved to the skies.

     

    Robin Leach (1941 – 2018) – “With champagne wishes and caviar dreams” was the famous signoff of London born Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous host Robin Leach.Robin Leach (1941 – 2018) – “With champagne wishes and caviar dreams” was the famous signoff of London born Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous host Robin Leach.Robin Leach (1941 – 2018) – “With champagne wishes and caviar dreams” was the famous signoff of London born Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous host Robin Leach.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrZtqe_zrOw