‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide doors and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf
American Hee Haw host and country singer Roy Clark (1933 – 2018) was best known for songs such as Yesterday, When I Was Young and Thank God and Greyhound. Now, enthusiasts of this tobacco farmer’s son have the opportunity to buy a piece of his memorabilia in the form of a Rolls-Royce that he owned for some forty years.
Last offered without reserve at the Leake Auction Company sale in Tulsa in June 2019, the dark red 1964 Phantom V touring limousine by James Young was owned by the star from 1977 until his death. Clark paid $19,500 (the equivalent of £70,000, $86,000, €79,000 or درهم316,000 today) when he purchased it and after it was subsequently sold to a “noted private collection in Texas,” they lavished £24,000 ($30,000, €27,000 or درهم110,000) on servicing it in 2019 and 2020.
This month, RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000). Of the car, they remark:
“The limousine is finished in a lovely shade of dark red and accented by a gold pinstripe running the length of the car. The initials “RC” are prominently featured on the driver’s side passenger door. The interior is trimmed in tan leather and is accented by beautiful woodwork throughout. The driver compartment features Smiths instrumentation, an AM/FM radio, and an altimeter in the passenger glove box door. Furthermore, the car is equipped with electric windows and air conditioning which is vented into both the driver and passenger compartments. A division window separates the driver from the passengers. The rear compartment is the epitome of 1960s luxury and features dual footrests, fold-out jump seats, pillar-mounted flower vases, reading lights, and a Smiths clock while fold-out picnic tables flank a small cocktail bar with crystal decanters and glassware.”
Rocker Liam Gallagher speaks the most sense on how to survive the coronavirus lockdown in thanking alcohol
Rock stars aren’t meant to drink kale juice and herbal tea. That’s a fact, but in an interview with Q magazine, Liam Gallagher proved himself to be the man who actually made most sense during the coronavirus lockdown.
Of how he’s survived the pandemic, the singer-songwriter (once described as being like “a man with a fork in a world of soup” by his brother, Noel) commented: “Alcohol. Lots of alcohol. I don’t know what I’d do without it in this situation.”
Given a 2018 survey revealed that “drinking alcohol could be the key to living past 90,” we say a most definite cheers to Mr Gallagher’s most sensible analysis.
Detroit born singer-songwriter Mike Posner became best known after the remixed version of I Took A Pill In Ibiza went viral. Whilst that single has been liked over 5.6 million times on YouTube, gathered over a billion streams on Spotify and peaked in the top 10 on the charts in 27 countries, Posner’s other claim to fame is that he walked 2,851 miles coast to coast across America in 2019. This Bernie Sanders supporting, Duke University graduate cites The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger as one of the books that has “impacted [his] life the most” and dyed his hair green when he joined a band named Mansionz; before he dies, he claims to want to work as a hospice chaplain, go to outer space and take his ‘mom’ to Namibia.
Loopy Lizzie Cornish and pop paedophile Jonathan King leap to the defence of child abuser and playground pest Rolf Harris
Disgraced music mogul Jonathan King is someone who bizarrely believes that the serial killer Dr Harold Shipman – a man who possibly murdered 250 of his patients – may have been a victim of the media. Yesterday, this odd looking singer-songwriter stooped to a new low by defending a fellow nonce, Rolf Harris, in the wake of news that the latter had turned up in a primary school playground.
In a comment on Twitter, King pompously announced:
#RolfHarris – I think the media should be prosecuted for hate crimes. A disgraceful and stupid story deliberately designed to provoke hatred and violence. Bastards.
Responding, all-round nuisance and Rolf Harris obsessive Lizzie Cornish joined in and aside from sharing her views with the Mail Online, issued a more detailed supporting rant on Facebook. In it, this nutty, self-professed “woman pissed off by lying women” droned on about “despair” and commented:
Gawd, I DESPAIR of thick journalists who know NOTHING of the subject of their stories. Just off the phone to the Mail Online about their recent ‘Rolf Story’, dressed up to be all that it was NOT. The CONSTANT PERSECUTION of Rolf is beyond shocking, but the STUPIDITY and IGNORANCE of these people DARING to call themselves JOURNALISTS shocks me even more. Today’s one didn’t even KNOW Rolf has already had one case overturned by The Court of Appeal, arrogantly telling me “HE ABUSED AN 8 YEAR OLD, YOU KNOW!”. There was, the usual, stunned silence when I informed him that case was overturned in November 2017…..
I’m not Jewish, but….OY VEY!
Story? Rolf, one of the most creative, friendly humans on the planet, who’s worked with children (and adults) for 60 years, spots a sculptor using wood for his sculpture, in a school playing field, excitedly dashes over to talk to him, probably to give him lots of encouragement, as that’s Rolf All Over, as well as discussing the finer points of sculpting….Then, Rolf merely waves to children INSIDE the school, without thinking, as after 60 YEARS of a totally UNBLEMISHED CAREER working WITH children, it’s an AUTOMATIC reaction, even after all he’s been put through, as the children were watching both men….Headmaster goes out, shakes Rolf’s hand, explains he can’t be on school grounds, Rolf realizes his mistake immediately, leaves straight away….Head feels he has to inform police, I’d imagine in case any child told their parents, thus putting him in awkward situation…Press get hold of it, turn it into a Paedo Lurking In The Bushes kind of story to grab the headlines yet again using Rolf’s name, and thus, get as much money from their advertizerment backers as possible.
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!
With Harris having been out for another wander in public again yesterday as well, shame once again on him but shame also on these two oddballs.
Grade II* listed Cumbrian mansion built by opium dealer and once marketed for £1.5 million for sale for just £460,000; it was also the scene of the UK’s biggest ever cannabis raid in 2012
A 23,000 square foot, 52 room, mid-19th century Palladian mansion in the Westmorland Dales National Park is to be sold at auction – by order of the mortgagees not in possession – for £1 million less than it was marketed for in 2014. It is sadly now described as being in an utterly wrecked, vandalised condition.
The entrance elevation of the mansion then and now
The strikingly grand interiors of Flass (prior to visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’)
The completely trashed interiors of the mansion (after visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’)
Built in 1851 for wealthy merchant brothers and tea and opium magnets Lancelot and Wilkinson Dent, 8-bedroomed Flass at Maulds Meaburn, near Penrith in Cumbria was designed by architects Grey and Mair and includes furnishings by the renowned firm Gillows of Lancaster and London.
Opulent to its core and said to have featured marble fireplaces, ivory door handles and friezes with pearls, Flass remained in the Dent family until 1973. Just prior to being sold for £17,000 (the equivalent of £202,000 today) that year to a historian named Frank Walsh, the then owner Sir Robert Dent opened up an attic of the house and discovered items from the Mughal Empire that he then auctioned for the astounding sum of £220,000 (the equivalent of £2.6 million today).
Subsequently this vast stucco finished, limestone built house – complete with a Doric porte-cochère and a three-storey tower – became a care home and was then after sold in 2000 to a singer-songwriter best known for co-writing the creepy Christian crooner Sir Cliff Richard’s Devil Woman named Christine Holmes (also known as Kristine Sparkle) and her husband Paul Davies. The pair turned the property into a performing arts school.
After the couple divorced, Davies took control of the mansion but due to spiraling maintenance costs, he eventually got himself involved with a gang of drug dealers in 2011. Due to what rental agents at the time described as the house being “totally private and hidden away, with an unmatched seclusion and charm,” Davies and his five cohorts were able to grow cannabis with a street value of £5.26 million undetected until a neighbour became suspicious. He was jailed for his role in the crime for three years and eight months in September 2015.
Singer-songwriter Christine Holmes outside Flass in September 2017 (after visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’ and their having trashed her home)
Paul Davies turned Flass into Britain’s biggest cannabis farm (and got himself three years and eight months in jail for his efforts; on his conviction his representative said: “He blames nobody but himself for getting involved in this criminal business”)
The “massive scale” £5 million cannabis farm operated at Flass was described in court as “a professional setup” and having the “real hallmarks of organised crime”
Christine Holmes subsequently took back control of Flass and after trying and failing to sell the house for £1.5 million spent £200,000 on renovations to put right the damage done by the drug operation. Her bad luck, however, was not to end there. In September 2017, the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald reported that a gang of ‘Urban Explorers’ had raided the somewhat derelict building and filmed their exploits. In the weeks that followed, trespassers returned at least twelve further times and “ransacked and trashed” the once glorious residence. She told the paper:
“I was absolutely horrified when I saw [videos of the house] online. I couldn’t believe how anyone could come into my home and believe it was an abandoned building.”
“I think since then people have been staying in the building and have even been there hiding while I’ve been there. I’m petrified. These are evil people who are breaking into my home. I think it’s becoming a game to them. They are breaking in every day.”
Auctioneers Harman Healy will now offer Grade II* listed Flass along with 17.5 acres of overgrown grounds with a guide price of just £460,000+ on 30th January. Christine Holmes no doubt will be glad if she finally gets shot of what she likely ended up considering to be the worst kind of white elephant.
Flass – The Numbers
January 2019 – To be offered at auction with a guide price of just £460,000 ($596,000, €525,000 or درهم2.2 million).
July 2014 – Offered for sale for £1.5 million ($1.9 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.1 million).
2000 – Sold for £490,000 ($635,000, €559,000 or درهم2.3 million) to the currently jailed drug dealer Paul Davies and his then wife songwriter Christine Holmes.
1998 – Reduced to £650,000 ($842,000, €741,000 or درهم3.1 million).
1997 – For sale for £750,000 ($972,000, €855,000 or درهم3.6 million).
1982 – Sold for £115,000 ($149,000, €131,000 or درهم547,000) to a retired solicitor named Malcolm Whiteside. He turned Flass into a care home which he ran with his wife Mary.
1973 – Sold by Sir Robert Dent, a descendant of the family who built the house, for £17,000 ($22,000, €19,000 or درهم81,000) to a historian named Frank Welsh.
Featuring 9 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, ‘The Owlwood Estate’ or more simply 141 South Carolwood Drive is described as “easily one of the city’s most iconic and historically significant properties.” Built in 1937 to the designs of Robert D. Farquhar in a “classic European Italian Renaissance” style, the estate was owned by Tony Curtis and Sonny Bono and Cher in the 1960s and has also been home to Joe Schenck, the first president of United Artists and a chairman of 20th Century Fox.
Now offered with designs for redevelopment by Bob Shapiro, the head of Sturmer Pippin Investments and CEO of Woodbridge Luxury Homes, the property offered also includes a sunken tennis court, a swimming pool and two guest houses.
Adam Rosenfeld of Mercer Vine is the realtor handling the sale.
The Owlwood Estate – The Numbers
July 2017 – Placed on the market for £136 million ($180 million, €153 million or درهم661 million).
September 2016 – Sold for £68 million ($90 million, €76 million or درهم331 million) to developer Bob Shapiro.
July 2012 – Placed on the market for £114 million ($150 million, €127 million or درهم551 million) by Dawn Arnall, “the widow of subprime mortgage profiteer Roland Arnall.”
2002 – Sold for £25 million ($33 million, €28 million or درهم121 million).
1999 – Listed for sale for £44 million ($58 million, €49 million or دره213 million) by Ghazi Aita complete with an adjacent property.
1978 – Sold to a “shadowy businessman” named Ghazi Aita for £3.2 million ($4.2 million, €3.6 million or درهم15 million).
1970 – Sold to Sonny and Cher for £568,000 ($750,000, €636,000 or درهم2.8 million).
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‘Songwriter to the Stars’ Bill Martin to perform for first time at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; he will enlighten his audience about his successful career
Glasgow born Bill Martin MBE – whose chart topping hits have included Congratulations, Puppet on a String and Shang-A-Lang – is performing a nightly show at The Dome during this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.
Pop songwriting legend Martin, who has worked with amongst others The Bay City Rollers, Cilla Black, Elvis Presley, Sandie Shaw, Midge Ure and Ken Dodd, will “tell the untold stories behind working with some of the biggest names in the music industry.”
Of his Fringe show, five times Ivor Novello winner Martin – whose autobiography Congratulations, Songwriter to the Stars will be launched at the end of the month also – told The Steeple Times:
“I have been writing songs for a long time and throughout my career I’ve had the honour of working with many musical icons – and with that comes a lot of anecdotes.”
“I was the first Brit to write a Eurovision winning song back in 1967, and since then I have never looked back. I’m proud of having had number ones in every country in the world and this is an achievement that will continue to keep pushing me.”
“Those who know me will be able to tell you that I don’t hold back and therefore my show will be a bit of a reveal-all of what it was like working with the biggest names in the business, especially during the Sixties and Seventies when the music scene was really vibrant.”
“This is the first time I have appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and I can’t wait to get started. Over the past few years I have travelled the world on Cunard cruise ships with the show and now it’s time to bring it home to Scotland.”
To book tickets, priced at £12.50, to the nightly (excluding Mondays) event click here. The show runs until 27th August at The Dome, George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PF and is an hour long (8.15pm to 9.15pm).
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