The Steeple Times

Tag: May 2017

  • Carina Reid

    Carina Reid

    Thieving Chelsea based trollop Carina Reid was labeled “arrogant”, “extremely boorish” and a fraudster by a judge in May 2017. Often spotted in the now defunct La Brasserie restaurant, this tarty so-called beautician was jailed for three years in May 2016 and ordered to pay back £50,000 she’d falsely claimed in benefits a year later. Despite arguing she had no savings, taken no holidays and lived off free food from a mosque, somewhat dubious Miss Reid somehow managed to send £116,000 abroad to acquire property in Dubai in 2013/2014, paid £20,000 as a deposit for a flat in the Kings Road, SW3 and held savings of £180,000 in 19 separate bank accounts. Of this dishonest wench, Judge Douglas Marks-Moore remarked: “This is pie in the sky… You don’t listen to a word I have to say anyway. You have not got a hope in hell of getting an extension. You have been playing the system in my view”.

     

  • Fun at Faringdon

    Fun at Faringdon

    £144,000 per year sought for Oxfordshire mansion that was the scene of a most curious ménage-a-trois; it is owned by the writer Sofka Zinovieff

     

    “Tall and willowy” writer Sofka Zinovieff inherited Faringdon House in Oxfordshire at the age of 25 from her eccentric, bisexual uncle, Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, partner of the owner of the house since 1918, the 14th Lord Berners, Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson (1883 – 1950). She has recently placed it on the rental market at a price of £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or  درهم56,700 per month) through Knight Frank.

     

    Artist, composer and writer Lord Berners and “uninhibited” Heber-Percy occupied Faringdon House as a ménage-a-trois with the latter’s wife, Jennifer Fry, for several years and during that time visitors included everyone from the poet Sir John Betjeman to the artist Salvador Dalí, the Communist politician Tom Driberg MP and the writer H. G. Wells. Heber-Percy died in 1987 and it was at this time that the Georgian property passed to its current owner.

     

    Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.
    Lord Berners famously once entertained Penelope Betjeman’s horse Moti to tea at Faringdon House
    Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.
    Dyed pigeons are still to be found at the property
    Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.
    Sofka Zinovieff

     

    Of her home, which she has variously herself occupied and also let to “cover the impossible costs”, in May 2016, Zinovieff told House & Garden:

     

    It’s funny how it has all worked out. The inheritance hasn’t changed me in the ways that my mother feared it might. I never wanted my identity to be bound up with my house and my life in Greece has saved me from that. No one there has ever even heard of Faringdon.

     

    Extending to 14,510 square foot, Grade I listed Faringdon House was built between 1770 and 1785 for the poet Sir Henry Pye (1744 – 1813). It includes 5 reception rooms, 12 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, stands in grounds that extend to 14.81 acres and comes with an outdoor swimming pool with turreted changing rooms and a lake.

     

    Lord Berners’ gravestone is situated within the grounds and on it appears an epitaph he wrote himself. It reads:

     

    Here lies Lord Berners

    One of the learners

    His great love of learning

    May earn him a burning

    But, Praise the Lord!

    He seldom was bored

     

    Curiously, another testament to the activities of the property’s eccentric former occupants lives on at Faringdon in the form of pigeons dyed in “jewelled hues”. Pictured in marketing literature for the house, a charity, the Pink Pigeons Trust, is named in their honour also.

     

    Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye. Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye. Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye. Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye. Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye. Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.Fun at Faringdon – Faringdon House, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 8AE – To rent for £12,000 per month ($15,400, €14,200 or درهم56,700) through Knight Frank – Home of writer Sofka Zinovieff, former home of eccentrics 14th Lord Berners and Robert ‘The Mad Boy’ Heber-Percy, built for poet Sir Henry Pye.

  • Quote of the Week – Beasts & Crooks

    Quote of the Week – Beasts & Crooks

    Dennis Skinner on the now rejected Tory election fraud allegations

     

    Yesterday, the Electoral Commission astonishingly rejected all but one of the allegations of electoral fraud against Conservative Party candidates and officials in relation to activities during the 2015 General Election campaign. A potential charge, against Craig MacKinlay, the MP for South Thanet, is all that now “remains under consideration”.

     

    A quote and image shared on Twitter by writer Marcus Chown summed up the reaction of many to the news perfectly. It featured a picture of ‘The Beast of Bolsover’ Dennis Skinner MP and the following text:

     

    Dennis Skinner: “Half the Tories opposite are crooks”.

     

    Speaker: “Please retract”.

     

    Dennis Skinner: “OK, half the Tories opposite aren’t crooks”.

     

    In text accompanying what he shared, Chown added: “Whether it was Skinner who said this or someone else, it seems apt. #ToryElectionFraud”.

     

    Quote of the Week – Beasts & Crooks: Dennis Skinner #ToryElectionFraud

  • Rich Pickings

    Rich Pickings

    Trophy house with a “dictator interior” in The Boltons has nearly £10 million sliced off its asking price; iceberg home behind reduced by £5 million

    A house in London’s second most expensive street has returned to the market at the much reduced price of £30 million ($38.8 million, €35.5 million or درهم142.6 million) in spite of having an interior that would only appeal to the likes of Bashar al-Assad, Muammar Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein.

     

    Previously marketed at £39.5 million ($47.1 million, €47.1 million or درهم188.3 million) in 2015 through Russell Simpson and now offered by Knight Frank, semi-detached 6 The Boltons extends to 9,781 square foot and comes with a 2,469 square foot mews house to the rear in Creswell Place.

    Both buildings are described as “requiring modernisation throughout” and in total provide 5 reception rooms, 16 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. The main house has a lift to all floors, air conditioning and as well as parking for 5 cars, there is an internal garage and an interconnecting garden.

     

    For those with another £32.5 million ($42.1 million, €38.5 million or درهم154.5 million) to spare, Knight Frank also offer another house adjoining the Cresswell Place mews house. Featured in The Steeple Times last May, that house, Cresswell House, has also had a rather punchy £5 million ($6.5 million, €6 million or درهم23.8 million) sliced off its asking price. A super-compound anyone?

    Rich Pickings – 6 The Boltons, London, SW10 9TB, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank for £30 million ($38.8 million, €35.5 million or درهم142.6 million) – Adjoining Cresswell House, 5 Creswell Place, London, SW10 9RD for sale for £32.5 million ($42.1 million, €38.5 million or درهم154.5 million) Rich Pickings – 6 The Boltons, London, SW10 9TB, United Kingdom – For sale with Knight Frank for £30 million ($38.8 million, €35.5 million or درهم142.6 million) – Adjoining Cresswell House, 5 Creswell Place, London, SW10 9RD for sale for £32.5 million ($42.1 million, €38.5 million or درهم154.5 million)

  • Tito’s Toy

    Tito’s Toy

    Ex-President Josip Broz Tito 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly by Ghia to be sold at auction in London

     

    Josip Broz Tito liked cars. It appears he didn’t care if they were little or large and someone without the means to purchase his £2.5 million ($3.1 million, €2.9 million or درهم11.4 million) 1971 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman Landaulet – featured on these pages in April – could acquire a 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly by Ghia owned by him for the lower, yet still somewhat punchy, sum of £70,000 to £100,000 ($90,500 to $129,300, €83,200 to €118,900 or درهم332,400 to درهم474,800) at an auction in London in May.

     

    Tito’s Toy – Ex-President Tito 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly Economical by Ghia to be auctioned on 18th May 2017 by Coys of Kensington at their Royal Horticultural Halls sale in Westminster, London, SW1 – Estimate £70,000 to £100,000 ($90,500 to $129,300, €83,200 to €118,900 or درهم332,400 to درهم474,800)
    Josip Broz Tito, born Josip Broz (1892 – 1980), President of Yugoslavia (1953 – 1980)

     

    To be offered by Coys of Kensington at their forthcoming Royal Horticultural Halls sale in Westminster on 18th May, the ‘Economical’ converted Fiat 500 was owned from new by the 1st President of Yugoslavia. He was pictured using it on numerous occasions.

     

    Subsequently part of the Classic Automobile Museum collection in Belgrade for a number of years, the white runaround – chassis number 1100271507 – has covered just 12,500 miles and is described as “driving like new”. It comes with a certificate of authenticity and would make the perfect accessory for the owner of a super yacht, seaside estate or golf course.

     

    Tito’s Toy – Ex-President Tito 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly Economical by Ghia to be auctioned on 18th May 2017 by Coys of Kensington at their Royal Horticultural Halls sale in Westminster, London, SW1 – Estimate £70,000 to £100,000 ($90,500 to $129,300, €83,200 to €118,900 or درهم332,400 to درهم474,800) Tito’s Toy – Ex-President Tito 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly Economical by Ghia to be auctioned on 18th May 2017 by Coys of Kensington at their Royal Horticultural Halls sale in Westminster, London, SW1 – Estimate £70,000 to £100,000 ($90,500 to $129,300, €83,200 to €118,900 or درهم332,400 to درهم474,800)Tito’s Toy – Ex-President Tito 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly Economical by Ghia to be auctioned on 18th May 2017 by Coys of Kensington at their Royal Horticultural Halls sale in Westminster, London, SW1 – Estimate £70,000 to £100,000 ($90,500 to $129,300, €83,200 to €118,900 or درهم332,400 to درهم474,800) Tito’s Toy – Ex-President Tito 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly Economical by Ghia to be auctioned on 18th May 2017 by Coys of Kensington at their Royal Horticultural Halls sale in Westminster, London, SW1 – Estimate £70,000 to £100,000 ($90,500 to $129,300, €83,200 to €118,900 or درهم332,400 to درهم474,800)Tito’s Toy – Ex-President Tito 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly Economical by Ghia to be auctioned on 18th May 2017 by Coys of Kensington at their Royal Horticultural Halls sale in Westminster, London, SW1 – Estimate £70,000 to £100,000 ($90,500 to $129,300, €83,200 to €118,900 or درهم332,400 to درهم474,800) Tito’s Toy – Ex-President Tito 1964 Fiat 500 Jolly Economical by Ghia to be auctioned on 18th May 2017 by Coys of Kensington at their Royal Horticultural Halls sale in Westminster, London, SW1 – Estimate £70,000 to £100,000 ($90,500 to $129,300, €83,200 to €118,900 or درهم332,400 to درهم474,800)

  • Moving Jobs

    Moving Jobs

    Your Move estate agency employee sues firm for constructive dismissal and sexual harassment after boss allegedly offered him a blowjob if he hit targets

     

    An estate agency firm took rewards for good performance to another level if allegations made in a Croydon courtroom this week are to be believed.

     

    According to The Sun, Sarah Thompson, 51, who works at Your Move’s regional headquarters in Chessington offered to perform a sex act on a national financial services director at the same firm if he hit his targets.

     

    Paul Elworthy, 45, alleges Miss Thompson stated: “If you bank £180,000, I’ll give you a blowjob” at a boozy senior consultants’ reward lunch. He added: “This was said to me in the presence of a number of people. It made me feel very uncomfortable”.

     

    Giles Barrett, a fellow employee at Your Move – a firm that describes itself as “Britain’s most visited estate agent” – has backed up Elworthy’s claim and though the company and Miss Thompson strenuously deny the claims, a judgement is expected shortly.

     

  • Take Me To The Titanic

    Take Me To The Titanic

    Apartment in mansion block in Sloane Square for sale for £6.2 million in spite of needing updating; it is within the building from which a Mayor of Chelsea lived and departed to his death on RMS Titanic

     

    A third floor flat in a portered mansion block on Sloane Square has gone on sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons in spite of being decorated like a relic from the 1980s. It is situated above Hugo Boss’ flagship store and within Grade II listed Wyndham House, the building from which a former Mayor of Chelsea went to his untimely death aboard the RMS Titanic in 1912.

     

    Previously priced at £6.5 million ($8.4 million, €7.7 million or درهم30.9 million) when marketed by Russell & Simpson in February 2016, the 2,684 square foot lateral apartment includes a 30-foot long reception room, 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and features such details as ornate ceiling friezes and plasterwork and working fireplaces. A larger 5 bedroom flat within Wyndham House sold for the staggering sum of £12 million ($15.5 million, €14.2 million or درهم57 million) in July 2015 according to Land Registry records.

     

    Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912
    Wyndham House resident and Mayor of Chelsea from 1909 to 1911 Charles Head (1869 – 1912) perished aboard RMS Titanic, his body was never recovered but a sundial was erected in his memory in nearby Cadogan Place Gardens

     

    Aside from being one of Chelsea’s grandest residential blocks, Wyndham House was at home to one of the victims of the Titanic maritime disaster in the early 1900s and it was from here that Charles Head, Mayor of Chelsea between 1909 and 1911, went to his death in April 1912. Head, a Cambridge educated barrister turned director of Head & Co. insurance brokers and underwriters at Lloyds of London, was a well known supporter of the arts, a councilor from 1906 and had only married 18 months earlier. He travelled alone on a £42 first class ticket (the equivalent of £4,400, $5,700, €5,200 or درهم20,900 today) on the Titanic’s maiden voyage and bizarrely had taken out a £25,000 insurance policy “against ocean accidents”. His precaution left his widow very well provided for given such a sum was the equivalent of £2.6 million today ($3.4 million, €3.1 million or درهم12.4 million).

     

    Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912 Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912Take Me To The Titanic – Wyndham House, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AR – For sale for £6.2 million ($8 million, €7.3 million or درهم29.5 million) through Cluttons – Home to Christopher Head (1869 – 1912), former Mayor of Chelsea, who died on the RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912

  • Adrien Gaubert – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    Adrien Gaubert – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    A 20-question interview with Adrien Gaubert, award-winning co-founder of myGwork – an inclusive LGBTI recruitment hub

     

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

    Positivity and fun. I am grateful to be alive and able to do what I do. Enjoy every moment.

     

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

    Just be yourself, be honest and work towards a goal. You’ll achieve it.

     

    Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?

    Bashar al-Assad.

     

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

    I miss living in China. I am a great fan of Chinese culture and their way of thinking.

     

    What might you swap all your wealth for?

    To give food and shelter to everyone.

     

    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?

    Our financial system protects the wealthy and has given up on the poor.

     

    What phrase or word do you most loathe?

    “God wants” – I don’t believe, if there were such a thing as God, he would expect anything from humanity.

     

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

    Whenever someone asks me for a coin in the street, I give them a smile and give them what they have asked for. I believe such people are incredible brave to ask others for help and comfort. I personally support anyone in need without distinction or judgement. I never buy sandwiches for homeless people when they ask for cash even if they might use it to buy alcohol or drugs. If I were living on the street, I might also want to get high so as to forget about my situation.

     

    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?

    Your microwave could explode anytime, but you use it everyday. I believe mobile phones are a great communication tool and I would not give mine up.

     

    myGwork co-founder Adrien Gaubert – What’s on your mantelpiece?

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

    I would take my brothers, my mum and my grandma and grandpa (with whom I watched the movie adapted from the Agatha Christie novel when I was a child).

     

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

    I would eat some really spicy Sichuan food.

     

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

    12pm if it is summer and a holiday. 7pm during the week.

     

    A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

    If it is just one, then tea but if I get more than one, martinis.

     

    Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

    Mexican weddings. Those people clearly know how to celebrate.

     

    Who is the most positive person you know?

    Probably me.

     

    What’s your most guilty pleasure?

    Cigarettes.

     

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

    I have no tattoos and I am not a fan of them as a form of expression. Personally, I would not get a tattoo to remember who or what I love.

     

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

    A Jaguar. They are safe and fashionable.

     

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

    I have a twin brother.

     

    What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

    Flowers.

     

    Adrien Gaubert is a 29-year old Frenchman who now lives in London. He co-founded myGwork, a networking and recruitment platform to promote diversity for LGBTI professionals and graduates, with his twin brother, Pierre.

     

    Follow the Gaubert twins on Instagram at @thegaubertwins

     

  • Marlene’s Motor

    Marlene’s Motor

    1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet to be auctioned; it attracted the attentions of Marlene Dietrich and has a Hermés interior

     

    In October 1949, the chameleon-like actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992) was photographed “descending elegantly” from a custom-built T26 Talbot Grand Sport by coachbuilders Franay at the Paris Salon. That car subsequently won the 1er Grand Prix d’Honneur at the Concours d’Enghien in June 1950 and is now due to be sold at auction in May.

     

    The “outrageously exclusive” short-wheelbase Grand Sport, chassis 110121, was first presented in white and came with a luxurious red leather interior and fitted luggage by Hermés. It was described as “an automobile destined for the serious sportsman and chic Parisian society in equal measure”.

     

    Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)
    Marlene Dietrich “descending elegantly from the car, the crowd surrounding it completely mesmerized – a very rare instance of the occupant upstaging a Grand Sport” at the Paris Salon in October 1949
    Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)
    As it is presented today – The 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay

     

    Subsequently subject to another makeover by Franay whilst still owned by Talbot in the winter of 1950, the 4.5-litre car was presented at the Brussels Auto Show in January 1951 in black with a new, simpler grille design. After appearing at the Concours de la Grande Cascade that summer, the vehicle passed into the ownership of an unknown “manufacturer of hard candies” and was given yet another grille – this time in the style Pininfarina Ferrari 212 Inter.

     

    Returning to the Concours d’Enghien in June 1952 and then having its final appearance on the Franay stand at the 1953 Paris Salon, the Grand Sport was sold to a butcher from Versailles. It was bought for just $800 (the equivalent of £5,100, $6,600, €6,100 or درهم24,200 today) in 1960 by Jim Bandy, an American military officer stationed in France, and then taken by him to Baltimore, Maryland in 1963. Sold on several times and subject to an engine swap with a Talbot Grand Sport Saoutchik coupé, chassis 110101, the car was partially dismantled in the 1970s and it was not until 1992 that its restoration was to properly begin under the guidance of the highly regarded Austrian restorer Egon Zweimüller.

     

    Completed in 2010, the restored “one-off cabriolet” is now described as “compelling and unprecedented”. It again has a Hermés interior and luggage – this time in black – and has been verified by the Talbot-Lago and Saoutchik authority Peter M. Larsen.

     

    Offered with an unsurprisingly punchy estimate of £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) by RM Sotheby’s, the 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay will be sold at Villa Erba on Lake Como on the 27th May.

     

    Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992) Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992) Marlene’s Motor – 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport cabriolet by Franay – Estimate £1 million to £1.3 million ($1.3 million to $1.6 million, €1.2 million to €1.5 million or درهم4.8 million to درهم6 million) – To be sold by RM Sotheby’s on 27th May 2017 at Villa Erba, Largo Luchino Visconti, 4, 22012 Cernobbio CO, Italy – Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992)

  • Trumping a Visa

    Trumping a Visa

    Kushner family exposed for promoting their links to the Trump presidency to flog flats (with visas) to Chinese investors

     

    Yesterday, The Washington Post, in revealing that the Kushner family are hawking properties complete with investor visas, illustrated yet another appalling example of what is fast becoming the shadiest presidential dynasty in history.

     

    According to the paper, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, was in Beijing on Saturday to promote a New Jersey apartment complex named Kushner 1 to “a ballroom full of wealthy Chinese investors”. The event, which had been promoted with a brochure tagged: “Invest $500,000 and immigrate to the United States”.

     

    Of the way in which the Kushner family behaved, Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s administration remarked:

     

    “It’s incredibly stupid and highly inappropriate. They clearly imply that the Kushners are going to make sure you get your visa… They’re [Chinese applicants] not going to take a chance. Of course they’re going to want to invest”.

     

    Unsurprisingly, journalists found themselves evicted from the shindig. The Kushners’ reasoning? “The presence of foreign reporters threatened the ‘stability’ of the event. This is not the story we want”.

     

    Pictured above (left to right): Nicole Kushner Meyer, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump Kushner and Donald Trump.

     

    Trumping a Visa – Jared Kushner’s family exposed for promoting their links to the Trump presidency to flog flats (with visas) to Chinese investors by The Washington Post – Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump Kushner, Donald Trump, Nicole Kushner Meyer, Kushner 1, China.