The Steeple Times asks journalist and author Jessica Fellowes: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
To learn from history – in all senses of the word – but listen to the needs of the present.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
“No man lives by bread alone – he needs his bit of crumpet”.
Undoubtedly best known as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, Yorkshire born Dench briefly played Pru Forrest in the BBC’s The Archers. She’s an advocate for “more progressive drug policies” and only took the role of Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride & Prejudice after director Joe Wright wrote to her and said: “I love it when you play a bitch. Please come and be a bitch for me.” There’s barely a role she hasn’t conquered.
This American singer-songwriter was born in 1989 and earned $120 million between 2009 and 2012. The first thing she did on her 18th birthday was to register to vote and she’s dated Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, Jake Gyllenhall, Conor Kennedy and Harry Styles. Swift owns homes in Nashville, Brentwood, Beverley Hills and Cape Cod. In August 2012, she added a $4,800,000 million oceanfront estate next to the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts to her burgeoning collection but offloaded it in March 2013 at a profit of $875,000. Perhaps it’s time that she paused for a moment.
The great granddaughter of the founder of Hilton Hotels is best known for her phrase: “That’s hot” and a sex tape but she’s the one having the last laugh. She’s only in her early 30s but already worth $100 million.
Profile: The genius of self-promotion that is Paris Hilton
At a dinner party last week, my guests gasped in horror when I said that I view Paris Hilton to be a genius. Their faces turned ashen and one asked if I had lost the plot. In the ensuing discussion, several described her as the personification of vulgarity and tastelessness. Others complained that Hilton had achieved nothing with her life and one went as far as to say that this young lady was notable for nothing other than an appearance in a sex tape in 2003.
For the few who don’t know her, Miss Hilton is the 31-year old great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. On her official Twitter account she describes herself as a: “Model, Actress, Singer, Brand, Business Woman, Fashion Designer, Author, Philanthropist and Empire.” That, indeed, is certainly quite a collection.
“Life is too short to blend in,” said Hilton in an interview and her philosophy is indeed one that I’d agree with. Hilton may have done some pretty tasteless and silly things over the years and her shows Paris Hilton’s My New BFF and The Simple Life were not my kind of viewing, but her brilliance is that she knows how to turn publicity into dollar returns. Now worth some $100,000,000, she’s the one who is having the last laugh.
In a 2006 interview for Guardian Unlimited, Hilton aptly summed up the reason for her success:
“People can’t believe how hard I work…. I love it. I think it just runs through my veins. My great-grandfather was a bellboy and had a dream to do a hotel chain, so I think I get it from him.”
Like or loathe her, the determined Miss Hilton’s achievements are impressive and I’ll leave her the final word:
“I don’t think there’s ever been anyone like me that’s lasted. And I’m going to keep lasting.”
View Paris Hilton’s official website at: http://www.parishilton.com
Follow Paris Hilton on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/ParisHilton