Her Majesty The Queen launches two home brewed beers just as it is announced that drinkers have drunk stocks nigh on dry in the wake of ‘unlockdown’
This morning, just as BBC Radio 4’s Today programme announced that pubs are literally “scraping the barrel” in desperation to find beer given customers have gone wild since lockdown restrictions were eased, The Sun revealed that “Her Majesty has moved into home brewing with two new bitters” made with crops grown at her Sandringham Estate.
Said like her late mother to be “partial to a gin and Dubonnet” according to her former chef Darren McGrady, the Queen’s 5% ABV Golden IPA and 4.3% ABV Sandringham Best Bitter are being sold at a punchy price of £3.99 per bottle, but have already attracted plaudits galore.
According to the paper, one unnamed fan remarked:
“To drink beers that the Queen’s had a hand in is the stuff of legend.”
“I can just imagine her supping the first pints and giving her royal thoughts on the taste. Unlike most of the home brews I’ve tried, these are actually really tasty.”
“I’m sure Prince Philip would be very proud that the estate is producing these ales as I know he was a fan of a good real ale.”
“Good on Queenie. She always knows what the country needs – and this summer, more than ever, it’s a beer.”
Sadly, however, you’ll only currently be able to buy the beers – which are made “using organic Laureate spring barley and spring water from a nearby borehole” – if you head to the estate shop on the Sandringham Estate.
The current monarch is surprisingly not alone in lauding the benefits of beer. In February 2015, we reported that Queen Victoria once remarked: “Give my people plenty of beer, good beer, and cheap beer, and you will have no revolution among them.”
He post-fixed: “He’s surely not offended anyone (other than Boris Johnson and Theresa May).”
The response, thus far, has been phenomenal and at a time when people have been attacking statues of Christopher Columbus, Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria, we perhaps need to ignore Janet Street-Porter’s miserable demand to “junk the lot” and get something erected that celebrates a bit of fun.
Of the 495 votes cast (with 4 hours still to go) in the completely unscientific poll, 94.7% of respondents are currently supporting “Yes – Get him elevated” whilst only 3.2% are of the view “No – He’s off his trolley.” Just 2% haven’t got a clue who Count Binface actually is.
Whilst a legal dispute with the plainly joyless Gremloids creator Todd Durham resulted in the “displacement” of Lord Buckethead – who had stood in four British general elections from 1987 onwards – the political satirist Jon Harvey announced his replacement, Count Binface, to the world on 12th December 2018. He describes the character on Twitter as an “Intergalactic politician and ex-Lord Buckethead,” has a following of 17,600 and was standing in the London mayoral elections until the coronavirus pandemic kicked in.
The Count is good; let’s get him elevated.
Pictured top: Count Binface with a slightly perplexed Boris Johnson.
The “replacement” Lord Buckethead (played by David Hughes) with Count Binface behind him during the 2019 general election campaign; Jon Harvey as Lord Buckethead on the night of the 2017 General Election at Maidenhead.The Twitter poll had attracted nearly 500 votes as of 10am GMT on Thursday 11th June 2020.Lord Buckethead (comedian Jon Harvey) on John Oliver’s HBO talk show Last Week with John Oliver in May 2017. He also appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in June that year and even made a video with the all-round oddity Ben Fogle at one point too.Lord Buckethead with Theresa May in May 2017. He registered 249 votes and that Christmas made a charming YouTube video sharing a message of peace and goodwill. Sadly, that subsequently had to be deleted due to Todd Durham’s legal actions.
New Haven, Connecticut born Sarah Winchester became one of the wealthiest women in the world after the death of her Winchester Repeating Arms Company heir husband, William Wirt Winchester, in 1882. With a 50% holding in the rifle making manufacturer plus a legacy equivalent to £426 million ($529 million) in 2020, this true eccentric – whose only child died aged just one – took the advice of a medium and moved west to California.
Here, in San Jose, this grief obsessed and beyond superstitious, American equivalent of Queen Victoria spent the remainder of her life constructing a mansion that she believed would appease the spirits of her relatives and those of the victims of Winchester weaponry. Known as ‘The Winchester Mystery House’ and built (but never completed) between 1884 and 1922 at a cost estimated at the equivalent of £57 million ($71 million) today. Starting from an 8 room farmhouse, the property grew to 24,000 square foot and eventually included 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 160 rooms, 52 skylights, 47 stairways (some leading absolutely nowhere), 17 chimneys (some that didn’t even reach the roof), 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens and a séance room (that was once used by Harry Houdini).
Described as being a “woman of independence, drive and courage,” Sarah Winchester died of heart failure in her sleep in September 1922 leaving a will written in 13 sections that was signed 13 times and a safe that contained a lock of her infant daughter’s hair. She was portrayed by Helen Mirren in the 2018 horror film Winchester.
‘The Winchester Mystery House’ was sold five months after its creator’s death and has been open to the public for tours since June 1923.
The vast Winchester Mystery House, 525 South Winchester Boulevard, San Jose, California, CA 95128, United States of America.
Claire Douglass regrets beginning a meal in Wisconsin with a ‘Seven Layer Salad’
Though I have gnawed on iguana in Panama, meat I dared not ask the origin of off street carts in various Asian countries, swampy ‘gator in the South of the United States, frogs, snails and offal of various kinds, I have only experienced culinary culture shock in one place: Wisconsin. (more…)
Charles Mitford Cust tells the tale of a Steiff bear with a fascinating past
I was routing around in the family safe one rainy day recently when I spotted an unusual object hidden behind a pile of ancient documents right at the back, it turned out to be a near mint condition 1908 Steiff teddy bear which following some simple arithmetic I soon realised had been hiding there for over one hundred years. (more…)
The sale of a historic £22 million residence on London’s Cheyne Walk
Cheyne Walk in Chelsea is amongst the addresses that an estate agent would describe as “the most sought after in London”. Up there in the company of the Bishops Avenue, Grosvenor Square and Cadogan Square, it has moved from having been home to artists such as Whistler, Turner and George Eliot to now being where such people as Mick Jagger, Roman Abramovich, Terry Venables and Sally Greene choose to live.
Belle Vue House, 92 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London, SW10 0DQ
Of the houses there, No. 92, known as Belle Vue House is particularly impressive. Built in 1771, this terraced property stands in the original grounds of Beaufort House, the London residence of the Duke of Beaufort. It is currently for sale for £22,000,000.
The building was reputedly designed by Robert Adam and though no reference to this can be found in the collections of his designs at the Soane Museum, it certainly echoes his style. Constructed from stock brick, this Grade II listed house is nearly 50 foot wide and enjoys southward views across the River Thames.
The builder and first owner of Belle Vue House was John Hatchett, an “eminent 18th century coachbuilder”. He planted a mulberry tree in the garden of the house in 1776 that was described by the historian Faulkner as being what he “reckoned one of the finest trees of its kind in England”. It remains to this day. Hatchett let the house to Lady Prime from 1778 to 1797 and in due course the property passed to his son, Charles Hatchett F.R.S. (1765 – 1847), a chemist and “voluminous writer”.
The next resident was the Scottish pre-Raphaelite artist and poet William Bell Scott (1811 – 1890) and his wife, Laetitia. A friend and contemporary of Rosetti, he used the building as a “veritable museum” and lived there between 1871 and 1890.
The Right Honourable The Earl of Beaconsfield KG PC FRS, Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881) lived in Belle Vue House during his second term in office
The canopy installed by Disraeli that protected Queen Victoria from the elements
At various times, other distinguished occupiers have included John Marshall F.R.S. (1818 – 1891), a “distinguished anatomist” and professor of anatomy at the Royal Academy and the British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881). Disraeli lived in the house for two years during his second premiership and is said to have constructed the canopy that links the front door of the house to the road so that Queen Victoria could “visit in privacy and be protected from the weather”.
Sir Rex Harrison (1908 – 1990) and his actress wife Kay Kendall (1927 – 1959) lived in Belle Vue House in 1958
British film actor Sir Rex Harrison (1908 – 1990) lived in Belle Vue House in 1958 with his actress wife Kay Kendall (1927 – 1959). Their short-lived marriage from 1957 to 1959 ended a year later when the Genevieve star died from myeloid leukemia. Terence Rattigan later immortalised their love story in his 1973 play In Praise of Love and in it Harrison played himself.
Ken and Barbara Follett are amongst other famous occupants of the property
The politician and army officer Sir Patrick Wall (1916 – 1998) took up residence during the 1960s and he was followed by the author Ken Follett and his politican wife, Barbara. Famous for smartening up the Labour Party during the 1980s with what became known as “Folletting”, the house no doubt made the perfect base for the couple’s political salons. The view of the Thames no doubt also provided Mr Follett with inspiration for several of his best-selling novels.
Visitors to the house pass through a grand entrance hall
The staircase is especially impressive
The house features a double drawing room
The dining room is perfect for grand scale entertaining
One of a number of other reception rooms
The last documented sale of Belle Vue House records that it was sold for £3,000,000 in May 2000. Since then, this house, now limewashed in a most distinctive Tuscan colour, has been sympathetically renovated and includes 8,400 square foot of internal accommodation. Grandly proportioned reception rooms number a first floor double drawing room, dining room, library and sitting room and in addition the house features a large kitchen, breakfast room, study, three bedroom suites, a gym and wine cellars.
In the basement, there is is a large and well equipped kitchen
In addition, there is a separate breakfast room
One of three bedroom suites
A bathroom in Belle Vue House
The 64′ garden features a mulberry tree from 1776
The rear garden is especially large for the location and measures some 64’2” by 47’7” and in addition there is a three car garage and additional parking.
Whilst the “beautiful view” has clearly changed since Belle Vue House was built, whoever purchases this house will undoubtedly be someone who will add to its remarkable history.
Belle Vue House, 92 Cheyne Walk, London, SW10 0DQ is for sale through Tancred Lidbury of Christie’s International Real Estate. For more information contact him on +44 (0) 20 7389 2478.
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 week we must thank Dan Large for having alerted us to an amazing YouTube video showing Her Majesty The Queen’s life in 3 minutes and 24 seconds.
Elizabeth II
Created by “an old retired guy who likes to play with computers” named “HerBunk” and using the technological wizardy of FantaMorph, the video has attracted nearly 6,000 likes and 300 dislikes. We look forward to hearing what readers of The Steeple Times make of it.
Watch the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8nJhG1xE5o&feature=share
