This Brazilian firecracker and rising star of the fashion world loves spending time at 5 Hertford Street and the National Art Library at the Victoria & Albert Museum. (more…)
Tag: Roman Catholic
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Barbara Casasola
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A Diamond fundraiser
As Bob Diamond’s wife prepares to host a fundraiser for a Democratic candidate, we ponder whether his daughter will be tweeting about it
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Anne Dunhill
This Roman Catholic novelist and Italian translator’s works have included A Darker Shade of Love, Web of Passion and Anita: A Memoir. A former debutante and model, Dunhill also writes about love, life and lunches on the site Angela Darling’s Blog and is a granddaughter of the luxury goods titan Alfred Dunhill. -
Libby Purves OBE
This British radio presenter, journalist and author is a much respected and reassuring voice of reason. Whilst at Oxford she was the librarian of the Oxford Union and then wrote a travel book, One Summer’s Grace, based on a 1,700 mile sailing journey she made around Britain with children aged three and five in 2002. Those who follow her Midweek show on Radio 4 find her a joy to listen to. -
Stephen Bowman: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times asks bass-baritone singer Stephen Bowman: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
Gravity mainly, followed by a healthy fear of dying young. Avoiding skydiving tends to keep both of those fears at bay.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
“Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day” – I’m very sure it’s a brilliant ancient proverb, but I stole it from Withnail and I.
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2013?
Kerry Katona has redeemed herself greatly since 2007, so I’d say that after his little tantrums in London recently, Justin Bieber is the next in line who needs a little humility injected into his life.
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
I miss long misspent summers in the south of Spain. Long, lazy, hazy days of doing nothing more than sleeping off hangovers and chasing girls. Both were far less painful as a teenager and much less expensive.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
A trip to the moon. I wanted to be an astronaut just before I wanted to be a rock singer; 4-year old children can be so flippant about career choices.
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?
The stupidity and greed of the few created a bed that the rest of us sleep in every day. It’s affected every industry, including music. We now perform most of our big private shows overseas, the UK is very slow and no one wants to be seen spending money on entertainment.
What phrase or word do you most loathe?
“It’s like…”: Massively overused and makes it near impossible for half the population to explain what a simile is.
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
Once you have a smidgen of public profile you have the opportunity to help charities with fundraising and it’s something I jumped at. Over the last 6 years of Blake we’ve got behind many amazing charities, including the British Legion, Variety the Children’s Charity, War Widows’ Association, Help For Heroes, Make A Wish and Nordoff Robbins to name a few. It’s great to think you can make any difference.
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?
I travel by tube quite a bit, where you regularly see the scary sight of an entire carriage of commuters with heads bowed in deep reverence to their ‘iThingamajigs’. The art of conversation on the tube has all but been lost. No one ever looks up long enough to make eye contact. Sad.
Singer Stephen Bowman
If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
I’d invite the top 50 speakers from TED, the best panel from QI and Emma Thompson. Between them I’d have enough fantastic conversation to last a train journey to the moon and back, although I’m sure at least a few of the TED company would quickly explain that said journey wouldn’t be technically impossible.
If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?
The finest meal I’ve ever had was at a restaurant in the Philippines called Antonio’s. It’s up in the jungle surrounding a mighty volcanic crater in the Tagaytay region about an hour from Manila. The owner is obsessed with sourcing the best meat and vegetable produce in the world. A meal is in the region of £120 a head in a country where £120 rents a room for a year. If it was my last meal though, what the hell!
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
Sadly alcoholism runs in my family, so when it comes to how early in the day you can drink, I’m rather conservative on the subject. As a rule I’d say that a gin and tonic at 6pm is a safe start. Earlier, not so.
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
I’d be lying if I said I knew what either was, showing my lack of knowledge in both classic cocktails and speciality teas. I must study harder in both areas, but never before 6pm for the former of course.
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
Over the last 6 years with Blake I’ve been to some truly wonderful parties, including film premieres, summer car festivals and polo days a plenty. The best yearly event for me is the Audi Royal Polo. We watch the Audi team lose to William and Harry (every year, strangely), Blake perform a cappella on the mainstage (a yearly tradition now, always after a few drinks and with a few slight ‘alterations’ to the lyrics of our songs) and finally dance till 1am. We go all topped and tailed with a private chauffer from Audi there and back. I have an Audi S8 as my personal ride and these parties alone warrant the investment into their fine automobiles.
Who is the most positive person you know?
A rather wonderful lady who works as both celeb booker for Variety the Children’s Charity and as Mike Oldfield’s personal PA. Caroline Monk can giggle you out of the worst depression and bring sunshine to your dullest day, a great friend and an amazing lady with many stories to tell. She’s battled many things in life and will help you find some perspective on those days when all seems against you.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
Have you ever stumbled across one of those really old episodes of Top Gear on YouTube, with a silly number of views and thought: “Who the hell watches this stuff”? It’s me. I’ve got this thing about watching old car reviews, convincing myself that it’s developing ‘automotive knowledge’ when in fact it’s as pointless as watching ‘talking cats’. Although I can tell you what Jeremy Clarkson’s hair looked like in any year of the last two decades, admittedly a skill in short demand.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
Probably the Maserati or Alfa Romeo badges. I’ve almost got petrol running through my veins, such is my love for engines and speed. I might as well wear the permanent mark of the two marques who in my opinion and have made the most beautiful machines ever to live.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
I’d love to be a Maserati, but in reality I’d be one of those cars made in a barn by an eccentric German, using English body parts and a teutonic engine; generally reliable but with occasional breakdowns.
Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
I’m no where near as ‘British’ as the PR and marketing of Blake would have you believe. My father is German, my mother is English but descended from the family which Napoleon married into. I got married to a Guatemalan girl when I was 21, divorced when I was 26 and have only dated 2 English girls in my life. All the others were Latino. I almost turned full-tilt ‘Eurotrash’ in 2004 when my hair reached my shoulders in a swept back slick hairdo, a style low point!
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
As I travel the world singing with Blake (we’ve sung in 22 countries to date) we meet fans who present us with ever more unique personal presents. On my mantelpiece I currently have a Russian Babushka doll with my face painted on it, alongside a crystal reproduction of my Honda Fireblade superbike. Both were given to me by a fan from Russia. I also have ‘fans’ from fans in China and Japan, along with a wooden ‘love spoon’ from the Mayor of Cardiff. It’s useful for tossing salad apparently.
Stephen Bowman is a member of the Blake, the vocal group widely known for having been formed on Facebook in 2007.
View Blake’s official website at: http://www.blakeofficial.com
Follow Blake on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/TheBandBlake
Follow Stephen Bowman on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/StephenBowman
‘Like’ Blake on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/TheBandBlake
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Kay Burley
Lancastrian Sky News anchor Kay Burley is the longest serving female newsreader on British television. (more…) -
All work and no bunga bunga makes Versace a good boy
A Modernist masterpiece based upon simple rationalism
Two buildings were designed by architects Carlo di Carli and Antonio Carminati in 1953 – 1954 in Milan’s Via dei Giardini. Both are considered Modernist masterpieces and both stand proudly in this, the city’s only tree lined street.
Architect and designer Carlo di Carli (1910 – 1999) 
Carli’s awarding winning 683 Cassina chair Carlo di Carli (1910 – 1999) is considered to be amongst the “master[s] of Italian design” and is best known for a chair named the 683 Cassina that won him the Compasso d’Oro award in 1954. He was a leading figure at the Polytechnic of Milan and worked extensively with Longhi and Cinoca. An exhibition of his works was held at the Triennale Design Museum in 2011.
Santos Versace’s residence in the Via dei Giardini, Milan 
A colourful, simplistic Versace designed reception room 
Versace’s design influences continue in the property’s games room 
Versace’s influence is clear in a shower room in the property 
Whilst one could definitely have imagined Gianni Versace relaxing on this roof terrace Laid out in the shape of an octagon overlapping a rectangle, one of these rationalist buildings is a five-storey 22,000 square foot single family residence. It boasts an elevator, a private garden and a roof top terrace and in last week’s Evening Standard, Lorenzo Mercolini of Sotheby’s, who is selling it for Santo Versace, president and co-CEO of Gianni Versace SpA and a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic, commented: “There is simply no other property in Milan like it.”
Santo Versace Santo Versace (born 1944), like his late brother Gianni and sister Donatella, is a colourful character. A graduate of the University of Messina, he worked first as a banker and then as an accountant. He gave this up in 1976 to support his brother in his rising career as a designer and effectively was the business brains behind the house of Versace. The company now generates over $1 billion a year in retail sales.
Married with two children, Santo Versace launched his political career in 2008 with Silvio Berlusconi’s The People of Freedom party before sensationally quitting in September 2011. His parting words to the “king of bunga bunga” were:
“I like to work. And in (Mr Berlusconi’s political party), there’s no need for people who work.”
He is now a member of the Alliance for Italy party and regularly speaks out against corruption in Italian politics. Mr Versace has not given a comment as to why he is selling his base at the heart of Milan’s shopping district.
You’d have to be Gaga about Versace to purchase this Via dei Giardini mansion though. The asking price is a staggering £40,000,000.
For more details about Santo Versace’s Via dei Giardini home, contact Ricardo Bergamo of Sotheby’s on +39 02 8707 8300 or go to: http://www.milan-sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/289-l-1952-4000032335/a-one-of-a-kind-glamourous-property-in-milan-milano-mi-
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Urs Schwarzenbach
This Swiss born son of a printer has spent over £85 million buying up properties in the Henley-on-Thames area of Oxfordshire. Schwarzenbach also owns 123,000 acres in Australia, 26,000 acres in Scotland and has his own polo team, the Black Bears. This financier’s foreign exchange dealership, Interexchange, is the biggest in Switzerland and betting against the dollar has brought much success. He supposedly even named his Gulfstream G650 “George” as “ultimately it was Bush who paid for it.” Whilst Schwarzenbach’s Grand Hotel Dolder in Zurich wins plaudits galore. an investment in Mayfair’s Café Grand Prix was less successful. It is, however, for philanthropy and discretion that Schwarzenbach and his wife, a former Miss Australia, are known best. -
Delia Smith CBE
“The Delia Effect” is well known and when this English cook taught her viewers how to cook an egg in 1998, sales rocketed by 10% overnight. Worth some £23 million, she’s also endorsed Aunt Bessie’s mashed potatoes and supported the Labour Party. Smith was baptised into the Church of England but attended a Methodist Sunday School. She later joined a Congregationalist Brownie Group but converted to the Roman Catholic Church at the age of 22. Together with her husband, Michael Wynn-Jones, she is a majority shareholder in Norwich City Football Club and it is here whilst supporting “The Canaries,” that’s she’s known to get a little carried away with her use of the English language. -
Winging it
Sarah Tucker gives an update on goings on at the resort where Madeleine McCann vanished
Four hundred and thirty euros, one bedroom apartment, one week at the height of season at a luxury family resort in Portugal. And oh yes, it’s the Ocean Club at Praia da Luz. There’s availability with two and three bedroom apartments as well. I asked about apartment 5a where Madeleine disappeared but the PR is coming back to me on that one. That was four days ago.
The Ocean Club entrance and Apartment 5A at the top of the street I checked this out because having looked at the comments on The Steeple Times McCann roll call entry, I wanted to know what became of the resort where she disappeared. Last year the lady who owned the property itself couldn’t sell it because women buyers were put off by it’s history. I don’t blame them. I would never recommend buying from a divorcing couple, no matter how good the deal, so buying somewhere where a child has been allegedly kidnapped is a no no. Estate agents will say nonsense, but that’s a woman’s superstition for you. Or a mother’s superstition.
I remember writing at the time about Mark Warner, a company synonymous with a reputation for keeping parents who treated parenting as a subject to be studied to A*, not as something to leave to instinct, God forbid. Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but having recently vox popped over 500 parents* asking if they would leave their children in their hotel room unsupervised while they ate in a restaurant on site, none of them, not one, said they would do so. I never mentioned the McCann case. The question about childcare was mixed in with other family travel related stuff, but some even mentioned the McCann’s case when they responded. And all claimed they would take advantage of a babysitting service if it was offered or eat earlier and with the kids if it wasn’t.
I was asked at the time if I would ever leave my son alone. I never have. Too risky and having lost him for ten minutes in the salubrious area that is East Sheen high street at five in the afternoon five years ago, because I refused to wait for him to tie up his shoe lace for the nth time, and getting no less than eighteen other men and women, all who had been either waiting for buses, serving or being served in shops, or in several cases drinking in the local pub, to run up and down, shouting his name, I understand the McCann’s need to go to the end of the earth, the prime minister, the Pope, to find their daughter. I completely understand this. What I never understood was their emotional reaction or rather lack of it. In the meantime babysitting services are still offered at the Ocean Club.
* Using social media (parents of three to six year olds).