This dynamic American television personality and author was one of the first women to work in “hard news” and is best known for having hosted the Today show, the ABC Evening News, The View and 20/20. She grew up “in awe” of the famous people her father, a Broadway producer and nightclub owner, introduced her to, has been married four times to three different men and got chicken pox after ‘kissing’ actor Frank Langella at a New Year’s Eve party in Miami in 2012. Walters has interviewed everyone from Fidel Castro to Michael Jackson, but her March 1999 feature on Monica Lewinsky, watched by a record 74 million viewers, is indeed one for the history books. When she asked her subject: “What will you tell your children when you have them?”, Lewinsky replied: “Mommy made a big mistake”. At that point, Walters ended the show by stating: “And that is the understatement of the year”.
Tag: New York
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Barbara Walters
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Justin Timberlake
This child star has morphed via a stint on the Disney Channel and in boy band ‘N Sync into an internationally known singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, dancer and businessman. (more…) -
Five of the best: Treehouses
Five of the best palaces in the trees
When one thinks of treehouses, one generally imagines pretty rudimentary creations built out of old boards and bits of rope. Now, though, treehouses are becoming more and more extravagant. As individuals such as J. K. Rowling and the Duchess of Northumberland construct vast palaces in the trees in their gardens, The Steeple Times examines five of the best:
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Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan (1971 – 2007 and 1966 – 2007)
Their story is a modern day equivalent of that of Romeo and Juliet and Vanity Fair chronicled their deaths as The Golden Suicides. “Handsome” Blake, a digital artist and painter who worked with Malcolm McLaren and Fox Searchlight, and “sexy” Duncan, a writer, game designer and filmmaker best known for the “girl-centric” game Chop Suey, were the toast of New York but became obsessed with those they felt threatened them and their works. Personally wounded by a rejection from the post-modern rocker Beck to work with her on making a film out of one of her scripts, Duncan blamed his church, the Church of Scientology, and stated: “They are furious because he valued our way of life far more than Celebrity Center sex trash”. As more rejections came, this talented pair who “supported one another totally” became more and more irrational and in July 2007, a week apart, both committed suicide. -
Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal
Ranked as “the most influential Arab in the world”, Al-Waleed has at various times held investments in News Corp, AOL, Apple Inc., Motorola, Fox News, Eastman Kodak, TWA, Twitter, The Savoy, the Four Seasons hotel chain and Euro Disney SCA. Not afraid to back his beliefs financially, the “Buffett of Arabia” gave £18.5 million to the families of Palestinian “martyrs” in 2002 and sent a cheque for $10 million to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani after the 9/11 attacks. In exchange he requested “a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause”. The cheque was returned. When Forbes magazine listed him as being worth £13 billion in March 2013 he was irate at the use of “incorrect data” that “seemed designed to disadvantage Middle Eastern investors”. Al-Waleed, whom rival publication Bloomberg list as being worth £18.5 billion, indignantly told Steve Forbes to remove him from his list and announced through his office that would he would “sever ties” with it. Surely, this dispute could be easily solved as, after all, what’s a billion or two between friends? -
Anna-Louise Felstead: "What's on your mantelpiece?"
The Steeple Times asks artist Anna-Louise Felstead: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
My old headmaster Peter Pyemont once said in a Friday assembly: “The more you put into life, the more you get out of it”. I have lived by those words ever since.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
Nietzsche, the German philosopher famously said: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger”.
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My Heart Won't Go On
An Australian tycoon announces a bizarre plan to launch a replica of the doomed passenger liner RMS Titanic
This week, a “brash” 58-year old Australian mining tycoon named Clive Palmer announced that he will launch a full-scale replica of the RMS Titanic in 2016.
An image of how the Blue Star Line’s Titanic II will look 
The White Star Line’s RMS Titanic 
Australian tycoon Clive Palmer On hearing of this, I wondered if April Fool’s Day had come early, but it turns out that this billionaire is quite serious in his ambitions. Palmer, who is funding the estimated £133 million project personally, has just begun a world tour to share his plans. The businessman, in a bow to history, has even appointed Terry Ismay, a descendant of the Titanic’s owner, Joseph Bruce Ismay (1862 – 1937), whom many still refer to as “The Coward of the Titanic”, to the advisory board of the Blue Star Line, the company formed to manage the boat. Mr Ismay will be one of the guests of honour at a dinner at London’s Natural History Museum to celebrate the project tomorrow, Saturday 2nd March. The same 11-course menu first class passengers on the Titanic consumed on the fateful night of 14th April 1912 will be served.
Preliminary plans reveal the Titanic II will be some 55,800 gross tonnes in weight, 883 foot long and propelled by three azimuth thrusters. It will have a maximum speed of 24 knots, the same as the first Titanic. The ocean liner will have a capacity of 2,345 passengers and a crew of 900. Unlike the RMS Titanic, which had just 16 lifeboats for 1,178 people, the Titanic II will have 18 covered motorised lifeboats capable of carrying 2,700 and life rafts with an additional capacity of 800.
A replica of the RMS Titanic’s Grand Staircase will be created on the Titanic II 
Amongst other authentic features will be a replica of the third class dining hall Though the replica vessel will be virtually the same size as the original and will feature the same class divisions of first, second and third class, there will be differences. The “shopping areas” found on many modern day cruise boats will be present and sensibly, there will be extra bathroom facilities and air conditioning. A decision as to whether Wi-Fi and televisions will be provided is yet to be made.
In a press release, Professor Palmer, who is described on Wikipedia as “an eccentric billionaire with a reputation for bizarre publicity stunts”, romantically stated:
“Why build the Titanic? Why go to the moon? Why do the Yankees play the Red Sox? Why did Christopher Columbus discover the Americas? Because they could, and they can, and we can build the Titanic”.
“By learning from the lessons of the past, the spirit of Rose and Jack, Romeo and Juliet, lives in all of us. The spirit of life, the spirit of love, to dream the impossible dream, all of us live in time, this is our moment, this is our turn to board Titanic II and set sail on a new sea, of our own making”.
“The Titanic was a ship of dreams, Titanic II is the ship where dreams will come true”.
Unlike the original RMS Titanic, which was built in the Harland and Wolff yard in Belfast, it is intended that Titanic II will be constructed in the Chinese state-owned shipyard, CSC Jinling. This is a curious choice as the company have no experience in constructing passenger vessels and as of date, according to Zheng Yi of the Global Times, no contract for completion of Titanic II has been signed, no date for start of construction has been fixed and no price has been finalised.
Equally, the first of a series of launch events for the project on a pier in New York this week (which began with a “rather cheesy guitar rendition of Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On”) was met with derision by many, amongst them Vanity Fair’s Juli Weiner. In her article, Weiner refers to the “morally reprehensible and dehumanizing economic divisions” that “one weird rich dude’s” boat will feature and goes on to describe it as “the second worst cruise we’ve ever heard of”.
The RMS Titanic sank without trace in 1912 but was discovered on the seabed in 1985 
RMS Titanic became one of the most famous ships in history, her memory kept alive by numerous books, folk songs, films, exhibits, and memorials. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet will forever be remembered for this scene from James Cameron’s 1997 film “Titanic”. Robert Colville of the Australian title The Age, however, took a contrary view and though skeptical about this “bizarre” and “crazily ambitious scheme” shared his admiration for Palmer:
“Palmer risks becoming a latter-day Ozymandias, his monument a 50,000-tonne liner rather than a crumbling statue. Yet at least he has the courage to dream his impossible dream, and help make the world a slightly weirder, and slightly more wonderful place”.
Larger than life, Queensland based Palmer is known for causing controversy. In 2012, he suggested Greenpeace were funded by the CIA and were attempting to bring down the Australian coal mining sector with the help of Barrack Obama and the Rockefeller Foundation:
“You only have to go back and read the Church Report in the 1970s and to read the reports to the US Congress which sets up the Rockefeller Foundation as a conduit of CIA funding, you only have to look at their secret budget which was passed by Congress last year, bigger than our whole national economy, which the CIA’s got to ensure that. You only have to read the reports to US Congress when the CIA reported to the president that their role was to ensure the US competitive advantage and economic advantages. That’s how you know it’s funded by the CIA”.
No doubt, there are cranks out there who’d suggest the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912 with the loss of 1,502 lives, was also a conspiracy. Given also Palmer’s odd view of the world, we’d most definitely avoid embarking on this tasteless pastiche of the tragically doomed ship, if, indeed, it is ever completed and if indeed it ever sets sail.
We leave the last word with the family of the RMS Titanic’s captain, Edward Smith R.D. R.N.R. (1850 – 1912), who have simply commented that the Titanic II is just a vessel that is being built “in bad taste”.
For more information about Titanic II, go to: http://bluestarline.com.au
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Kiss Me
Victoria Aitken launches a single for Valentine’s Day
This Valentine’s Day, the electro-house chart topping singer-songwriter Victoria Aitken, daughter of the former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken, has released her latest single, Kiss Me.
The cover for Victoria Aitken’s “Kiss Me” single
Of what inspired her to write it, Aitken comments:
“Sometimes we are left ‘un-kissed’ and it can just be so depressing! I was inspired by my time with an Italian man, chatting and flirting over cocktails night after night. I then became annoyed, wondering when he was going to make his move. I believe many women and men feel like this: there is a certain vibe and then nothing”.
Produced by Marc JB, who has remixed seventy #1 UK dance chart hits for artists such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna, the single features a cover by the up-and-coming British visual artist Zoobs. In it, Aitken wears a headpiece and eye veil by Jane Taylor, a milliner who has created headwear for amongst others Paloma Faith and The Duchess of Cornwall.
The French romantic writer Victor Hugo once stated: “A compliment is like a kiss through a veil” and Victoria Aitken in Kiss Me certainly explores this further.
To listen to Kiss Me, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3P2AW6S5UI
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Roubi L’Roubi: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times asks the Bond Street couturier and Huntsman co-owner Roubi L’Roubi: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?
“Achieve the ideal”, striving for perfection in my craft. Indeed, I am reminded of this every day, because I am lucky enough to work with the team at Huntsman who really are the finest tailors and cutters in the world.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
Misericordie et beneficentie sunt omnes (Compassion and kindness are all).
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2013?
Abuse of human rights.
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
Not having time for my horses.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
The health and well-being of my partner and my family.
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 banking crisis?
It’s time to do things differently. In Africa there is a microfinance scheme called Sundouk. A small number of people (usually women) get together and pay in a set amount, regularly, say once a month. Each time a member is given the total paid in on that day to invest in their business or do whatever they need to do. The next month, someone else receives the full amount. It works.
What phrase or word do you most loathe?
“I” and “want”.
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
I think we have to think in terms of a global home. Children hold our future in their hands so I support the NSPCC and Childline.
The judge in “Law Abiding Citizen” states: “I can pretty do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?
Couldn’t live without it, I text my mother all the time – it’s a miracle to connect with someone 5,761 miles away, instantly. But I always put it away when I’m with anyone and get in a rage when that someone doesn’t follow suit.
If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
My partner and then a selection of our friends who are always rushing. The Orient Express is very slow, it would do them so much good.
Roubi L’Roubi If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?
Fruit, particularly berries, and a pot of PG Tips tea.
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
Lunch, with food.
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
Tea, so long as it’s PG .
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
Our own – because we’ve chosen the guests. It’s great to mix people and see how they mix together and enjoy each other.
Who is the most positive person you know?
Joanna our seamstress.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
Movies. I love watching movies with friends. Nothing beats a film, popcorn and Diet Coke enjoyed in good company.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
Tattoos don’t work for me.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
My favourite car is a Porsche Boxster so I’d like to think we are similar.
Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
I have a degree from Imperial College, London in mechanical engineering.
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
The most beautiful blue-grey crystal and silver flask containing perfume created by my mother. It’s a rich, deep mix of sandalwood and musk. It brings back beautiful memories.
Roubi L’Roubi is the founder of the Bond Street couturier Roubi L’Roubi and the co-owner and creative director of iconic Savile Row tailor Hunstman.
Huntman: http://www.h-huntsman.com
Roubi L’Roubi: http://www.roubi.eu
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Jess Black
An abstract artist, former model and animal rights campaigner. Born near Chicago, Black rejected his Jehovah’s Witness upbringing at the age of 17. His 2012 “Leather Bound in Black or Red” collection about his family’s transition away from the religion attracted great interest and collectors of his works number the American footballer Jay Cutler and Kari Kennell Whitman, former Playboy Playmate turned interior designer.