All-round plonker Phillip Schofield’s wine range condemned as “only fit for the bin” and “no more palatable than fizzy Ribena”
Known for his extremely short fuse and once described by David Dimbleby as “cretinous,” Phillip Schofield recently launched a wine range in Waitrose and on Amazon. Unsurprisingly, it’s been a total flop and was quite deservedly condemned at the weekend in The Sun as “overpriced” and “bitter.”
Priced between £19.99 and £24.99 for 2.25-litre boxes, Schofield’s was slammed by one punter as “only fit for the bin” on Waitrose’s website. They added: “The wine [was] effervescing within the bag. No more palatable than fizzy Ribena” whilst another suggested: “I don’t have anything positive to say about the flavour at all. Not pleasant drinking. We failed to finish the box.”
Prior to launching the range in April, Schofield quite pompously bragged to The Drinks Business:
“When I agreed to this partnership, I had certain conditions; I wanted to be part of the tasting team… I wanted it to be good value. The result is something I felt I could really invest in.”
Schofield – whose ‘coming out’ and alleged connections to a young man named Matthew McGreevy attracted much media attention earlier this year – unsurprisingly failed to respond to a request from The Steeple Times for comment; he was probably instead too busy nursing a hangover headache from drinking his equivalent of Sir Cliff Richard’s equally vile plonk.
Pictured top: All-round plonker Phillip Schofield on a night out with his one-time ‘friend’ Matt McGreevy; Phillip Schofield’s bag-in-box wines.
Sir Cliff Richard’s associations with wines, just like Phillip Schofield’s, have not always proved fruitful. In 2006, appearing on Gordon Ramsay’s ‘The F-Word,’ the crappy crooner had a meltdown during a blind tasting. After sipping one unnamed offering, Sir Cliff announced: “That’s rubbish. I wouldn’t pay for that. It’s tainted, it’s insipid, it tastes like vinaigrette. I’d never buy that.” Ramsay, responded by remarking: “Cliff, that’s your wine”. The singer is said to have answered: “Young man, go f**k yourself.”What a Plonker – Phillip Schofield was photographed with Matthew McGreevy on a number of occasions during the latter’s youth.What a Plonker – The television presenter with his “friend” at a later date.
Orange County mega-estate sold last for £14 million on an original asking price of £67 million offered for sale again for £43 million after death of owner
The largest residential estate on the Newport Coast of California is back on the market. One Pelican Hill Road North in Newport Beach – alternatively known as ‘Villa Del Lago’ or ‘Villa of the Lake’ – is a property with an extraordinary past and though listed on construction for £67 million in 2009, eventually sold at a fire auction in 2012 for just £14 million. Its subsequent owner, a Japanese industrialist and publisher, death has now resulted in it being placed for sale again and this time £43 million is sought.
Situated on a plot of 12.47 acres and comprising 17,706 square foot of ‘Italianate-style’ accommodation, One Pelican Hill Road North was last marketed as having 8 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms. On a new, dedicated marketing page for it, it is now being promoted as having, amongst other things, 2 screening rooms, a china/silver room, an “indoor lap pool with fibre optic twinkling star ceiling”, a 14-car garage and a “wine cave”. Outside, there is a “cascading private lake”, stabling, a riding ring, a putting green, an “organic edible garden” and potential for a vineyard.
Jeffrey Janger and Linda Janger of Pace Properties have the listing currently but given another agent, Michael Gosselin of Surterre Properties, previously commented: “Newport Coast has yet to see any homes sell for more than $20 million (£15.5 million)”, it’ll be likely there’ll be a few price cuts yet.
One Pelican Hill Road North – The Extraordinary Numbers
2003 – Land purchased for $3.2 million by Monarch Estates. Subsequent construction loans total $27.3 million.
February 2009 – Completed house placed for sale for sale for $87 million by a realtor named John McMonigle, the managing member of a partnership developing the project.
May 2010 – Price reduced to $57 million.
January 2011 – Three offers received, all were below $37 million and not accepted.
April 2012 – Offered at a court-sanctioned auction with “no opening bid sought”. Sold for $18.5 million to Toshiaki Ogasawara, an industrialist and publisher of the Japan Times.
January 2017 – Placed on the market after Ogasawara’s death in December 2016 for $55 million.
The world of public relations can be fickle and few who work in it command the level of respect that Jenny Halpern Prince has built up since she founded Halpern on her kitchen table in 1992. Today, in an email newsletter, it was announced that a stake in her agency had been acquired by CHI&Partners, a company backed by Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP. (more…)
Stockinger’s safes represent the most secure of investments
Masterpiece 2013 closes today. This impressive showcase is something that has been crammed to the brim with some of the finest works of art, design and antiques currently on the market, but given that many of these items are of immense value, they need to be protected. German high-end safe producer Stockinger offer just the solution.
A modern day Robin Hood who claimed to have been “sent by God to take back some of the wealth that the outrageously rich had taken from the rest of us”. This Belfast born cat burglar was a meticulous planner whose roll call of marks numbered Sophia Loren, Zsa Zsa Gabor, John Aspinall and Maria Callas. He quoted Confucius, Oscar Wilde and Proust and targeted “rich prats” as it gave him a “sexual thrill”. The 1965 film He Who Rides a Tiger starring Tom Bell and Judi Dench was based on Scott and concluded that: “If I rob Ivana Trump, it is just a meeting of two different kinds of degeneracy on a dark rooftop”. Raffles would have been proud.
Matthew Steeples offers offers a tribute to the late Robert Troyan
I first met the larger than life Bostonian character Robert Troyan (1950 – 2013) with his partner Anthony Feldman in the early 2000s at their impressive apartment in Mayfair. Though I did not come to know them well, I fondly recall a number of evenings that they hosted there planning an event for a charity we were all involved in named Marine Conservation and several dinner parties.
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.
