Kings Road, Chelsea, SW3 flat goes on sale for just £40,000 in an area where a house has been offered for £200 million
Whilst most consider Chelsea – the heart of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea – ritzy, in March 2014, realty firm Beauchamp Estates bizarrely declared it “a place where servants live.”
Now, contrasting with the sale of what potentially could be “Britain’s most expensive home” in the same area – the £200 million plus ($278 million, €233 million or درهم1 billion) The Old Rectory, Old Church Street, featured in The Steeple Times in May 2019 – a comparative bargain basement property has gone on sale in the vicinity.
Set to be offered in an online auction on Wednesday 14th July with an estimate of just £40,000 ($56,000, €47,000 or درهم204,000), Flat 10, Blenheim House at 180 Kings Road most certainly must be the cheapest one bedroom flat currently available in the Royal Borough.
Described as “requiring modernisation,” the third floor flat includes an entrance hall, small kitchenette, sitting room, bedroom and en-suite shower room. It is situated at the corner with Burnsall Street and above the Snappy Snaps shop.
The catch? The property is on a lease that has just five years remaining that expires on 16th September 2026. Unlike with many other properties with such short tenures, however, agents McHugh & Co. state: “If requested by the purchaser prior to completion, the sellers solicitor at the expense of the purchaser will serve notice on the freeholder pursuant to a Section 42 Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and assign the benefit of that notice to the purchaser.”
Curious Facts About The Kings Road
The 1.9-mile long road was the king’s private road until 1830 and thus some people refer to it as ‘King’s Road’ whilst others simply reference it ‘Kings Road.’
The World’s End estate takes its name from King James II, who considered the area to be the end of the world when he used to ride down Kings Road.
Famous residents have included Sir Arthur and Lady Colefax, Ellen Terry and Peter Ustinov.
Argyll House (213) is undoubtedly the road’s grandest house. It has been home to the 4th Duke of Argyll and the 5th Marquis of Normanby amongst others.
‘The Pheasantry’ (152) is now a Pizza Express, but was originally the site of a business breeding exotic pheasants, cattle and foxes. It later became the residence of Eleanor Thornton – who became the inspiration for the Rolls-Royce mascot, the Spirit of Ecstasy – and as “bohemian apartments” housed Eric Clapton, Anthony Haden-Guest and Germaine Greer.
The Water Rat (383) – now a restaurant named Chicama – was the haunt of the actor and gangster John Bindon in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. A one-time “squeeze” of Princess Margaret, Bindon was known for being able to hang five half-pint beer glasses on his penis.
In 1876, the world’s first artificial ice rink opened just off the road.
Sir Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirt movement had a barracks on the road in the 1930s.
In his 1955 thriller Moonraker, Ian Fleming describes his legendary spy James Bond as residing in “a comfortable flat in a plane tree’d square off the Kings Road.” Another of fiction’s most famous spies, George Smiley (created by John le Carré), lived just off the Kings Road at 9 Bywater Street.
Dame Mary Quant OBE – inventor of the miniskirt – opened her first boutique in the Kings Road in 1955. It was named Bazaar and now features a blue plaque dedicated to her.
In the 1960s, the road was the centre of mod culture and later, in the punk and hippie eras, it was dominated by counterculture.
In 1969, a lion named Christian was purchased from Harrods by John Rendall and Anthony Bourke. He went to live in their furniture store on the Kings Road before later being taken to live in the wild in the Kora National Reserve in Africa.
Led Zeppelin’s record label Swan Song Records was based at 484 Kings Road from its inception in 1974 until the company closed in 1983.
The Pet Shop Boys met in an electronic store on the road in 1981.
The first UK branch of Starbucks opened on the road in 1998.
EXCLUSIVE – Kirby Sommers shares another chapter from her latest book ‘Ghislaine Maxwell: An Unauthorized Biography’ with readers of ‘The Steeple Times’ and this time explores the currently incarcerated socialite’s life in London in the 1980s
Chapter Seven. Ghislaine in the 1980s.
Annabel’s is a private members’ only club in Mayfair located West of London. It was founded in 1963 by Mark Birley then married to Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart after whom he named it. Annabel would later marry Sir Jimmy Goldsmith, rumored to be a spy, and who, in the early 1970s became a friend of Jeffrey Epstein’s.
It was the first of its kind – a club for the very affluent, the very powerful or the very famous. Their clientele included the royal family. Charles, Prince of Wales who everyone believed would be King in short order and his younger brother, Prince Andrew. It was the only club that Queen Elizabeth ever attended. In later years it became the go to club for younger royals like Princes William and Harry.
The entrance was lined even from the earliest days with the rich, the powerful and the beautiful where streams of the upper-class descended into the basement to party. Journalists were never admitted and the entertainment included The Rolling Stones, Diana Ross and in earlier days Ella Fitzgerald. Joan Collins was in the club dancing one evening and a photographer from the Sun had managed to get himself into the club. He snapped a photo of her and was immediately plucked off the dance floor by two burly men who left him lying on the pavement outside sans the film in his camera.
After tumbling down the stairs into the poshest basement on the planet one is welcome into a den of hedonistic indulgence. The rooms were covered in wild wallpaper along with paintings by Picasso and racy nude drawings. The bathroom sinks were in the shape of golden swans and the walls a sensual floral pink. A life size gorilla sitting on a chair stood guard at the end of the hallway. It was over the top eccentric, but most of all it was posh.
In the 1980s Ghislaine Maxwell was one of the ‘somebodies’ along with her friends from Oxford. As with the debutantes of days long gone Ghislaine would murmur, “Take me to Bel’s” to the man of the moment. And, one of her ‘men’ in the 1980s was David Faber – a future MP.
Annabel’s was the sort of place where anything went and where “smooching” in one of dozens of its nooks and crannies was as much a part of the experience as kicking off one’s shoes or one’s clothes and losing oneself to the pulsating euphoria of the music on the infamous wooden dancefloor.
David Faber is a descendent of several British politicians. He also happens to be the great-grandson of the founder of MacMillan Publishing.
More tidbits about David include that his uncle, Maurice Macmillan, worked with Sir Edward Heath during the time he was Prime Minister. Heath is alleged to have sexually abused children commencing in 1961. He served for 51 years as a member of Parliament and died in 2005.
It should be noted that MacMillan was taken over by Robert Maxwell in November of 1988 for $2.6 billion. Although Maxwell claimed he had no plans to dispose of the company’s assets, one month later he sold a piece of it, Intertec, to an investment group led by Rothschild, Inc – the same company that served as his adviser in the purchase. Robert S. Pirie the Co-Chairman and CEO of Rothschild North America was his advisor in the transaction. In 1993 Pirie went on to became the Senior Managing Director of Bear Stearns & Co.
I thought it interesting that all the people in the Maxwell world circled around to those in Epstein’s world and so I tracked down an old New York Times article. It states, “Bear Stearns hired Mr. Pirie as a senior managing director. The firm, known primarily for trading, is trying to increase its banking business.”
Below is a photo of David dragging a disheveled and unbalanced 22-year-old Ghislaine while holding up her arm attempting to keep her steady on her feet at Annabel’s.
While Annabel’s always maintained a “no photo” policy banishing any member who breached protocol, nowadays with the advent of social media, their house rule has morphed into: “Photography within the club and posting to social media should be discreet and not involve or feature other members and their guests.”
Ghislaine and David began their romance while both at Balliol College, Oxford University. There is a second photo of Faber with Maxwell at the Chelsea Arts Ball during the club’s extravagant New Year’s Eve party on December 31, 1985. And there were probably many more before all things Maxwell began to get scrubbed off the internet after Jeffrey Epstein’s second arrest on July 6, 2019.
Ghislaine’s father, Bob, who had already cozied up to the Royal family and was fond of having his photo taken with Prince Charles, Princess Diana and the Queen would have been delighted to know Ghislaine was dancing up a storm and rubbing elbows with the royals. Prince Andrew was also a frequent guest at Annabel’s which is an 8-minute drive to another one of his favorite clubs: Tramp.
The Chelsea Arts Club is another private members’ club established in 1891. To be considered as a member one needs to be sponsored by two current members. It was known for its hedonism where literally anything was allowed. Nudity, sex, homosexuality at a time when it wasn’t the norm – everything happened behind the ever-changing murals hand-painted by their resident artists.
Ghislaine wasn’t the only woman David romanced. While at Oxford he also dated Sally Gilbert, a leggy blonde, who is said by a contemporary of his to have “pursued him with great determination – he didn’t have a chance.” She became a television weather girl and they married in 1988.
By 1992 Sally had fallen out of love with David finding him to be lacking in warmth and found herself being comforted by the world’s most celebrated cad, James Hewitt. Faber when filing for divorce cited James Hewitt as co-respondent.
Major Hewitt, it should be noted, was Princess Diana’s riding teacher and in the Household Cavalry when tasked to give her riding lessons. Hewitt, while romancing Farber’s soon to be ex-wife, revealed himself as having a five-year affair with Princess Diana that began in 1986. To avoid getting caught Diana used the codename ‘Julia’ when sending mail to Hewitt.
Hewitt told the world, via a book co-authored with British journalist Anna Pasternak, that he was Princess Diana’s lover in 1994 when she was still married to Prince Charles, the future King of England. Diana was bitterly hurt and devastated when she learned he had shopped around the story of their affair. Although there are claims she continued to see him afterwards up to several months before her untimely death in Paris on August 31, 1997.
Ghislaine Maxwell was not considered a good student during her time at Oxford, not by her professors and not even by herself. She did however earn the nickname “Good Time Ghislaine.” This suited her just fine.
From the awkward looking teenager Ghislaine had grown into an adult. She seemed taller than her height, perhaps because of her heels, or how she carried herself. She was thin with broad shoulders and thick black layered hair. Her complexion was pale and according to people who knew her at the time she had “an intense sexuality, an almost androgynous allure.”
Ghislaine learned to use her sexuality to get what she wanted. And what she wanted the most was to marry a wealthy man. This appeared, however, to be out of reach for the girl who had everything.
Robert Maxwell was fond of saying, “I have a “beautiful daughter who is just like me.”
Author, sex abuse survivor and advocate Kirby Sommers previously exclusively revealed the previously unknown name of the 9-year-old child sat on the lap of Jeffrey Epstein on his private jet to ‘The Steeple Times’ in February. To order her latest book ‘Ghislaine Maxwell: An Unauthorized Biography’ click here.
‘The Steeple Times’ chooses the 25 best and 25 worst people of the last year and the 25 who’ll be missed and the 25 who won’t
Happy New Year to all our readers. Our ‘Heroes & Villains’ list was well received in 2019 and as we move into 2021, we join all celebrating ‘good riddance’ to the monstrous mess that was 2020.
Whilst many bombed, most especially Dominic Cummings and Donald Trump in the sphere of politics, for example, the likes of the heroic footballer Marcus Rashford and his campaign for free school meals for poor children showed that even a footballer can make a difference in a pandemic.
HEROES OF 2020
Obvious heroes of the year: Jacinda Ardern for being a leader capable of acting with good sense, Captain Sir Thomas Moore for raising £32 million for the NHS, Lord Sumption for arguing for lockdown liberty and Joe Wicks for keeping the nation healthy and turning down a £2 million deal with a supermarket.
WINNER – Bob Grace
Eternally cheerful groom Bob Grace led out his first winner after 38 years of racing at Royal Ascot in June when his trusty steed Battaash romped home in the King’s Stand. He raised the spirits of the nation and of this humble hero, one Twitter user concluded: “Bob is wonderful, be like Bob.”
Emily Bolton
One of “Britain’s most powerful civil rights lawyers,” Emily Bolton boldly fought for the likely wrongly convicted ‘Freshwater Five’ fisherman in 2020. She is tenacious and dedicated and a force for genuine good.
Steve Cotton
Alongside his cat named Hitler as his barman, “Britain’s grumpiest landlord” proved the spirit of Victor Meldrew was well and truly still alive in 2020. Summing up his approach to business and life in general, Steve Cotten remarked:
“I just make it up as I go along. I might not know how to run a pub but I know what’s wrong with every pub I’ve ever been in. There’s no landlord anywhere, nobody talks to each other. I involve the whole community – everyone knows it’s not my pub, it’s everybody’s pub… We are a dark and cold and miserable boozer – and that’s what people like about it.”
“They all know you can do what you want here, use it for what you want, come here on your own at any time of the day or night and help yourself to a tea or coffee. Everybody will talk to everybody… You can discuss any topic under the sun here, nothing is taboo… Everyone has a go serving behind the bar, we all have a laugh and everyone joins in… No one else talks to them like crap like I do.”
Bilkis Dadi (real name: Bilkis Bano)
This 82-year-old crusader and anti-Modi protester became the “voice of the marginalised” in India in 2020 and was escorted away from the farmers’ protest by the police. This heroine was included in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year and remarked: “We will not stand for this division.”
Alfie Diaper
Ten-year-old “little star” Alfie Diaper recovered from a ruptured spleen in 2019 and “came back fighting” with riding successes in 2020. One Scottish reader of The Steeple Times quite rightly termed this pint-sized hero a “talented, spirited wee soul.”
Julia Donaldson
The author of The Gruffalo went down in literary history as the biggest seller of the last decade in any genre in 2020 and now sells a book about every 11 seconds. JK Rowling did not even make the top five.
Hollie Doyle
Whilst she was ridiculously robbed of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020 and came third, Hollie Doyle amazingly scored 151 wins in 2020. She also broke another record in becoming the first woman to win five races on a card at Windsor and our money is on her to become a hero of 2021 too.
Alain Ducasse
In January, Alain Ducasse spoke complete sense is echoing Iris Apfel’s “more is more and less is a bore” mantra. This culinary remarked: “I’ve noted [the Dry January] trend, but I don’t want to see or hear of it, I am opposed to it… “[I want to] rid consumers of their inhibitions [with regard to wine drinking].”
Lord Fowler
The Lord Speaker of the House of Lords quite rightly argued “there are too many Lords” in December. He added: “As we have just seen, its recommendations can be overridden by No 10. The result is that a prime minister has the power on his or her own to add peers to a house of parliament that can make and, within limits, unmake laws. Is this what the public expect in the third decade of the 21st century?”
Bryony Frost
Rising-star jockey Bryony Frost became the first woman ever to win the King George VI at Kempton on Boxing Day. This true heroine of the year is undoubtedly going to break many other glass ceilings in 2021.
Lady Glenconner
The former lady-in-waiting to the late Princess Margaret declared of coronavirus: ““I’ve been through the second world war and lived with someone with Aids at the beginning [of the Aids crisis]. I’m not scared of a little virus, you know.”
Agnes Gund (AKA ‘Aggie’)
A “put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is” philanthropist, Agnes Gund was described as “the last good rich person” by the New York Times in 2018 and in 2020 used money from the sale of one the most valuable artworks from her collection, a Roy Lichtenstein worth £120 million, to fund US prison reform. She has also given more than 900 significant works to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the last 50 years.
Anders Holch Povlsen
Asos billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen led the way in rewilding in 2020. He also paid back the government £300,000 of furlough money during the year voluntarily and thus made a mockery of the likes of Sir Richard Branson and Sir Philip Green.
Patrick Hutchinson
Compassionate “fitness buff” Patrick Hutchinson carried an injured far-right racist protestor to his safety in spite of being himself black in June. Sensibly, he remarked: “Living with the image of a man being beaten to death isn’t something I could stomach. How do the police do that? They just seemed to be standing there watching it and filming with their selfie sticks. One of them said ‘well done’ to me, but I couldn’t really comprehend it.”
Jeremy King
The co-owner of The Wolseley rightly slammed Boris Johnson repeatedly during 2020. He rightly described lockdown Tier 2 coronavirus restrictions as “another knee jerk, ineffective, window-dressing, butt-covering initiative that hasn’t been thought through properly.”
Abdulkareem Musa Adam
This child refugee from a war zone in Darfur shone at Royal Ascot 2020. Accompanied by Shadn, this 22-year-old’s story was described by Clare Balding as “[showing] the incredible power of sport to bring people together and help them to heal, even after the most appalling suffering.”
Dolly Parton
In 2020, Dolly Parton gave £733,000 to fund a COVID-19 vaccine. The Guardian rightly said of her: “She understands that money is something you do, rather than something you have.”
Sister Norma Pimentel
Described as the “pope’s favourite nun,” Sister Norma Pimentel featured on Time magazine’s “100 most influential people of 2020” list. She has supported over 100,000 people seeking refuge at the border between Texas and Mexico and of her Julián Castro, former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, remarked: “Sister Pimentel will keep changing the world, one act of kindness at a time.”
Dr. Ugur Sahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci
The “dream team” husband-and-wife team behind the leading vaccine to solve COVID-19 were amongst the ultimate healthcare heroes of 2020.
MacKenzie Scott
The ex-wife of Jeff Bezos gave £4.3 billion of her fortune to charity during 2020. In doing so, she became one of the biggest single donors to charity in a single year ever.
Santosh Shah
He didn’t win, but the unlikely star of MasterChef Professionals 2020 was this Nepali chef. He was eternally positive and widely lauded as the “people’s champion.”
Shirley Sherwood OBE
Britain’s leading botanist, after losing her tycoon husband at the age of 87, has become an unlikely star of Facebook with her videos sharing positivity and her passion for plants. She has rightly been described as the “driving force behind a revival of interest in botanical art.”
Micheline Stephen
A martini drinking 90-year-old and Dame Maggie Smith-lookalike, Micheline Stephen fought off a burglar and told him: “You’re a wee shite” in 2020.
‘Window Twerky’
Spotted on both the Fulham Road and Kings in Chelsea, this unknown woman amused many with her maniac moves during Lockdown 1.0. Her Fifty Shades of Crazy antics during that Strictly insane time were batshit bonkers but brilliant.
Tobias Weller (AKA ‘Captain Tobias’)
This heroic 9-year-old with cerebral palsy and autism raised over £150,000 for a children’s hospital during Lockdown 1.0 by completing marathons. He remarked: “It feels amazing to have completed both marathons. I feel fantastic. Thank you for clapping and cheering me every step of the way. You are all awesome. I love doing challenges so who knows what will be around the next corner?”
VILLAINS OF 2020
Previous list makers, but repeat offenders included Sir Philip Green, Sir Richard Branson, Tim Martin, Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson, Darren Grimes, David Starkey, Sir Cliff Richard, Prince Andrew, Matt Hancock, Ghislaine Maxwell, Larysa Switlyk, Liz Hurley, Owen Jones, Richard Madeley, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Michael Barrymore, Vivienne Westwood, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and Ferne McCann, but our winner just had to be:
WINNER – Priti Patel
When she wasn’t “minglin’” and “movin’” and misusing the English language, Priti Patel was angling for a return to the death penalty in the UK in 2020. Asked what kept her going in 2020, when even Emily Thornberry declared “gin,” the most awful Home Secretary in generations ridiculously responded: “Showing the perpetrators of crime that they have nowhere to hide and joining our police on early morning raids – reminding the criminals that we’re coming after them.”
James Abbott-Thompson
The son of calculator lacking Diane Abbott MP appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in January after “spitting at a police officer and biting his colleague.” He’d previously exposed himself on a hospital ward and had crystal meth delivered to his mother’s £1.2 million home.
Victoria Baker Harber and Inigo Philbrick
Though ‘Mini Madoff’ Inigo Philbrick was deservedly was dragged to the clink by the FBI in June and remains in custody, his latest ‘baby mama,’ Victoria Baker Harber, couldn’t keep her almightily large trap shut. Shortly afterwards, she turned on one of his many victims, Kenny Schacter, and crudely tweeted: “Are you crying about cash or cock?”
Brian Basham
Bombastic PR peddler Brian Basham didn’t manage to get the mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell out of jail in 2020. In response he angrily ranted to his friends at the Daily Mail and called Finding Ghislaine podcast host John Sweeney a drunk and someone he “despises.”
Scott Borgerson (AKA ‘Scott Marshall’ and ‘Mr Ghislaine Maxwell’)
This tech company CEO was revealed to be Ghislaine Maxwell’s “secret husband” in December. He then tried and thankfully failed to use their millions to get her out on bail in time for Christmas.
Benjamin Clark
After attacking the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square in September, son of a pastor Benjamin Clark deservedly got fined. His solicitor’s attempts to try to defend him quite rightly fell on deaf ears.
Lizzie Cundy
Desperate-and-will-do-anything-for-attention Lizzie Cundy, 52, turned coronavirus into a photo opportunity in a bikini made out of face masks in October. For her, nothing isn’t worth using for self-publicity.
Ellen DeGeneres
The wheels fell off for goody two shoes Ellen DeGeneres when she was shown to be anything but nice. Her attempt at an apology for allowing workplace bullying was mocked as “underwhelming.”
Alan Dershowitz
Having defended multiple rapist Harvey Weinstein in 2018, Alan Dershowitz went one stage further in 2020 when he leapt to the defence of Ghislaine Maxwell and trashed the reputations of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
Tamara Ecclestone Rutland (AKA ‘Miss Piggy’)
Banshee-like billionairess Tamara Ecclestone Rutland appeared on ITV1’s This Morning in April. This daughter of a man whom once disgustingly described Hitler as someone who “was able to get things done” pestered people far poorer than her to donate to the NHS. Of this shameless attention seeker, a Twitter user remarked: “No offence but this feature on #ThisMorning is embarrassing. Trying to raise £1m but they have a family net worth of almost £4bn? Good publicity stunt though…”
Charlie Elphicke and Natalie Elphicke OBE MP
Ex-MP turned sexual predator and “Naughty Tory” Charlie Elphicke and his replacement MP wife Natalie got caught out after urging fellow parliamentarians to pester the judiciary after he got sent down. She was also very nasty about immigrants.
Laurence Fox
Actor Laurence Fox morphed from a housewives favourite and telly box treasure into a tedious twerp in 2020. His Reclaim Party became a laughing stock online and his decision to tattoo “freedom” and “space” on his hands was mocked unsurprisingly.
Mark Francois MP
This tedious Tory was pilloried online when he “disappeared” after an MP was accused of rape. He returned just-in-time to bang on and bore about the brilliance of Brexit in December. We can only hope he’ll “disappear” again in 2021.
Art fraudster Angela Gulbenkian attempted to flee to Portugal to escape going on trial in June. She was quite rightly extradited back to the UK and victims including Percy Bass of Walton Street should finally get justice against this blonde bimbo in 2021.
Julia Hartley-Brewer (AKA ‘Julia Heartless-Brouhaha’)
She’s awful every year without a doubt and will never be a hero to anyone, but in ignorantly defending a right-wing thug who’d relieved himself on a memorial to murdered constable Keith Palmer, this tedious twerp made a total prat of herself. In response, one Twitter user asked her: “Why do you as a woman think it is ok for a bloke to expose himself by getting his dick out and urinating in a public place?”
Michael Heaver
In blubbering like a baby after Nigel Farage failed to make the New Year’s Honours List, “milk bottle white” Westmonster co-owner Michael Heaver again showed himself as just one thing: “A remarkably unpleasant child.”
Lady Victoria Hervey (AKA ‘Toff Totty Vicky’)
Accurately described by the late Tara Palmer-Tomkinson as “unpleasant” and “a right snob,” dimwitted dope Lady Victoria Hervey defended Prince Andrew in 2019 and then stated: “Fuck BLM [Black Lives Matter]” in 2020 on her Instagram page. The world hope she remains silent in 2021.
Eamonn Holmes
Crackpot conspiracy theorist Eamonn Holmes morphed into the David Icke of 2020 when he declared that the “mainstream media’ was hiding a link between 5G technology and coronavirus. Him and his wife were unsurprisingly subsequently dropped from their weekly presenting roles on ITV1’s This Morning.
Dr. Walter Palmer (AKA ‘The Driller Killer’)
Having slayed ‘Cecil the Lion’ in 2015, deranged dentist Dr. Walter Palmer returned to his barbaric ways when he massacred an endangered ram in July 2020. Though he claims to be “looking forward” to his next “adventure,” one can only hope that this monster meets a sticky end in 2021.
Stephanie Pratt (AKA ‘Shady Steph’)
One-time crystal meth addict demanded shoplifters be shot in May 2020 on Twitter. Unfortunately for her, the public were on hand to remind her she’d been arrested for stealing a £1,000 of clothing from Neiman Marcus in May 2006.
Phillip Schofield
Aside from “claiming to have been murdered in a past life because of a debt” in October, Phillip Schofield attempted to rival Sir Cliff Richard and launched quite possibly the most loathed collection of boxed wines ever in September. What a plonker!
Carrie Symonds (AKA ‘Carrie Not On Regardless’ and ‘The Duchess of Downing Street’)
Boris Johnson’s wine chucking puppet mistress proved herself to be a total busybody in 2020. Despite not being elected herself, that the PM’s latest ‘baby mama’ got her own cronies into Downing Street during the year was a total disgrace.
Alexandra Tolstoy
Miserable moaning Minnie Alexandra Tolstoy bleated about not being able to live on £10,000 per week before getting £606,000 for a few of her possessions in a Christie’s auction in November. Loopy to her core, she remarked: “We’re just surviving.”
Dominic West
Aside from being caught kissing actress Lily James in October, actor Dominic West got caught breaching social distancing rules on a shoot in Wiltshire in December. He also claimed to have “jumped for joy” when he found out Donald Trump had coronavirus.
Heroes & Villains 2020 – Lizzie Cundy (left) and Inigo Philbrick and Victoria Baker Harber (right) – Examples of the worst people of 2020 without a doubt.
THOSE WHO’LL BE MISSED
Sadly, many great people were lost in 2020 and amongst those most widely mentioned were Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Honor Blackman, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Jack Charlton, Sir Sean Connery, Des O’Connor, Kirk Douglas, George Floyd, Dame Olivia de Havilland, Eddie Van Haylen, Irrfan Khan, Dame Vera Lynn, Diego Maradona, David Prowse, Gene Reynolds, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sachs, Jackie Stallone, Larry Tesler and Bill Withers.
WINNER – John le Carré (born David Cornwell)
Having sensibly summed up Donald Trump’s election and the banality of Brexit, novelist John le Carré died from pneumonia aged 89 in December. Of his passing, his agent Johnny Geller remarked: “[He was] an undisputed giant of English literature. He defined the cold war era and fearlessly spoke truth to power in the decades that followed… We will not see his like again.”
Michael Angelis
Liverpudlian actor Michael Angelis brought happiness to many. He was the narrator of Thomas & Friends for 21 years and also appeared in Bergerac and Z-Cars. He died in May aged 76.
Lady Elizabeth Anson CVO (married named Lady Elizabeth Shakerley)
This first cousin-once-removed of Queen Elizabeth II was “discreet and professional.” She observed that “the very rich, the very idle, the very busy and the ones who simply haven’t a clue what to do” didn’t have the skills to organise events, so set up a party planning business. She died in November aged 79.
Sir Terence Conran
Multi-skilled and described as “the most passionate man in Britain when it comes to design,” Sir Terence Conran died in September aged 88. He once remarked: “It’s thrilling as a designer when you see something you’ve designed and built actually being used. Seeing a shop filled with people, or a restaurant with people smiling away happily, it’s like, gosh, all my dreams have come true.”
Alan Davidson
This legendary newspaper photographer captured stars at play from 1969 until his death in March aged 70. Of him, the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay remarked: “No event was off limits to Alan.”
Sir Harold Evans
Described in an obituary in the Guardian as “the most admired newspaper of his generation,” Sir Harold Evans died aged 92 in September. He will be best remembered for exposing Robert Maxwell as a fraudster and Kim Philby as a traitor. In doing so, he became the first editor to order a D-notice and summing him up, here was someone who’ll be remembered as someone “loved by his staff.”
Lynn Faulds Wood
The wife of fellow television presenter John Stapleton was best known for co-hosting the BBC’s Watchdog with him. She died after a stroke in April aged 72.
Derek Fowlds
Affable actor Derek Fowlds was best known for his roles in Yes Minister and The Basil Brush Show. He died as a result of complications from pneumonia in January aged 82.
Desmond Guinness
Brewing heir Desmond Guinness was an author and expert on Georgian architecture. He will be remembered as a “great dandy of his generation” and saved countless buildings from the wrecking balls of property developers. He died in August aged 88.
John Hays
Having doubled his workforce and saved thousands of jobs when him and his wife bought Thomas Cook in 2019, “high street hero” John Hays died suddenly at his offices in November aged 71. He considered his workers “family” and laughed off people comparing him to a “country bumpkin.”
Shere Hite (born Shirley Gregory)
Twice married sex educator and feminist Shere Hite renounced her US citizenship in 1995, was briefly stateless and then became German. She posed in the nude for Playboy whilst at university and died of corticobasal degeneration in September aged 77.
Thomas Hoare (AKA ‘Mad Mike Hoare’)
This fervently anti-communist British mercenary leader died in February having led campaigns in the Congo and a failed “package-holiday coup” in the Seychelles. Of him, his son remarked: “Mike Hoare lived by the philosophy that you get more out of life by living dangerously, so it is all the more remarkable that he lived more than 100 years.”
Tony Hooper
A founder member of the Strawbs, singer and guitarist Tony Hooper died in December aged 81. He left the band after argument over whether they should be more folk or rock in 1972 and became an educational author and book jacket designer in the 1990s.
Knut Kloster
With a name that sounded like a brand of breakfast cereal, “visionary” cruise line king Knut Kloster died in September aged 91. He was best known for co-founding the hugely successful Norweigan Caribbean Line in 1966, but his attempt to build a “world peace boat” eventually came to nothing.
Sir Stirling Moss OBE
“Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?” will go down in history as a much-quoted punchline of policemen, but this racing driver will be remembered for two other quotes also: “If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?” and “There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well: drive and make love.” He died in April aged 90 having survived falling down the lift shaft of his Mayfair home in 2010.
Geoffrey Palmer OBE
As Time Goes By star Geoffrey Palmer died in November aged 93. Of him, his co-star Dame Judi Dench concluded: “Geoffrey was master of comedy.”
Julia Peatling
This Stockwell based medical secretary loved a gin and tonic at PJ’s on Fulham Road and her Downton Abbey star dog, Poppy.
Margarita Pracatan (born Margarita Figueroa)
Cuban novelty singer Margarita Pracatan, who died in June in New York aged 89, was best-known for performing on Clive James’ television show Saturday Night Clive in the 1990s. Of her, he remarked: “She never lets the words or melody get in her way. She is us, without the fear of failure.”
Carl Reiner
Born in The Bronx, actor, author and comedian Carl Reiner joined Twitter at the ripe old age of 90 in 2012. Two days before he passed in June, he tweeted: “Nothing pleases me more than knowing that I have lived the best life possible by having met and marrying the gifted Estelle (Stella) Lebost – who partnered with me in bringing Rob, Annie & Lucas Reiner into to this needy & evolving world.”
Michael Russell
“Publisher, wit and author” Michael Russell was the creator of the spoof memoirs of J. R. Hartley, he of Yellow Pages fame. He also published Richard Spitzy’s How We Squandered the Reich – a book that described Hitler as being “like a cross between a head waiter and a chimney sweep.”
James Sherwood
Buccaneering American businessman James Sherwood revived the Orient Express, built up a chain of hotels and created the Sea Containers empire. He died in May aged 86 having once been stranded at 16,000 feet in the Andes with Princess Michael of Kent after his helicopter had to make an emergency landing.
Barbara Smoker
This “promoter of many causes now take for granted” died in April. Barbara Smoker will be best remembered for saying: “Don’t always be obedient. Obedience is overrated. You’ve got to work out your morality for yourself, not do everything you’re told. Obedience can be more of a vice than a virtue.”
Alexandra Sykes (born Alexandra Sotomayer)
The third wife of businessman Mark Sykes was vivacious and bubbly. “Wise and kind” Alexandra Sykes loved to keep fit and at a party, hers was always the liveliest voice in the room.
Helen Taylor-Thompson OBE
After having worked as a spy in occupied France in the Second World War as part of Churchill’s “secret army,” Helen Taylor-Thompson co-founded Europe’s first AIDS hospice. She died in September aged 96.
Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath
Polygamous Lord Bath was as famed for his ‘wifelets’ as he was for his erotically styled paintings. He played an aristocrat in the 1987 video for the Pet Shop Boys song ‘Rent’ and died of COVID-19 in April aged 87.
The late Margarita Pracatan is exactly the kind of person we could do with now.
THOSE WHO WON’T BE MISSED
WINNER – Peter Sutcliffe (AKA ‘The Yorkshire Ripper’)
This evil HGV driver claimed he’d “heard voices that ordered him to kill prostitutes while working as a gravedigger” as an excuse for slaughtering at least 13 women and attempting to murder 7 more between 1975 and 1980. He died as a result of complications from COVID-19 in November.
Tariq Aziz
Saddam Hussein’s principal spokesman died in June aged 79. He had been found guilty of “deliberate murder and crimes against humanity” in October 2010.
Donato Bilancia (AKA ‘The Liguria Monster’ and ‘The Killer on the Trains’)
This Italian serial killer murdered 17 people between October 1997 and April 1998 on the Italian Riviera. A compulsive gambler with a passionate hatred for night watchmen and sex workers, Bilancia died of COVID-19 in Due Palazzi prison in Padua in December.
George Blake
This remorseless British MI6 officer turned double agent for Soviet Union believed he was not a traitor and once remarked: “To betray, you first have to belong. I never belonged.” He died on Boxing Day having caused the deaths of at least 40 British agents in Russia as a result of his treachery.
Alfred Bourgeois
This trucker molested and murdered his 2-year-old daughter and then joked about it. He was given a lethal injection of pentobarbital in December at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Anthony Casso (AKA ‘Gaspipe’)
An American mobster and serial killer considered a “homicidal maniac.” He confessed involvement in upto 36 murders and was imprisoned for 455 years in 1998. Casso died from complications related to COVID-19 in December.
Brian Daniels
A bus driver turned paedophile serial rapist, Daniels was approaching the end of an 18-year sentence for attacks on four young girls in May when it was discovered he had further victims. He died in prison in October having remarked: “I did something against kids and I was punished. I don’t deserve to live. My final punishment will be death.”
Roy Den Hollander
This American lawyer shot himself in July after being made a suspect in the murder of fellow lawyer Marc Angelucci in California and the son of Judge Salas in New Jersey earlier that month. He had been a member of the National Coalition for Men, but after being kicked out called them “wimps and whiners.”
Terry Dicks (AKA ‘Phil’)
Possibly the most bigoted ex-Conservative MP ever, Dicks termed Nelson Mandela a “black terrorist” and ridiculed a Somali refugee family buying water in a supermarket by saying “where they come from they’re happy to drink out of puddles.” He referenced himself as a “spastic” due to his cerebal palsy and said of an Observer journalist sentenced to death by his hero Saddam Hussein: “He deserved to be hanged.” He loathed gay people and was nicknamed ‘Phil’ – for “elevating Philistinism to an art form.”
Vikas Dubey
An Indian gangster and history-sheeter turned murderer, Dubey was “killed” in July after “the police vehicle carrying him met with an accident and overturned.” He snatched a pistol from a policeman trying to fix a flat tyre, tried to run away and was then shot by another officer.
Scott Erskine
This American serial killer and rapist was responsible for the death of at least 3 child victims. He died in July after contracting COVID-19 in July.
Lonnie Franklin (AKA ‘The Grim Sleeper’)
This LA born serial killer committed at least 10 murders between 1984 and 2007. The majority of his victims were black women.
Dustin Honken
This serial killer was responsible for the murders of 3 adults and 2 children in Iowa in 1993. Before being executed in July, his last words were: “Hail Mary, Mother of God, pray for me.”
William LeCroy
This former soldier murdered a woman he believed was a witch in Georgia in 2001. He never showed any remorse for his actions and his last words were to his “spiritual adviser.” He remarked: “Sister Battista is about to receive in the postal service my last statement.”
Daniel Lewis Lee
This American white supremacist murdered a gun dealer and his family in Arkansas in 1996. He claimed to be innocent until the end.
Samuel Little
An American serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least 60 women, Little claimed to have killed as many as 93 between 1971 and 1997. He died in a Los Angeles County area hospital in December.
John Lowe (AKA ‘Keepers Cottage Stud Murderer’)
This puppy farm owner fatally shot his partner and her daughter in February 2014. He claimed he wanted them “put down” and himself died in a hospice in August.
Ba Ag Moussa
A Malian militant and jihadist, Moussa was shot and killed by French Armed Forces in November.
Roy Norris (AKA ‘The Toolbox Killer’)
Along with Lawrence Bittaker, Norris kidnapped, raped, tortured 5 teenage girls in 1979 in Southern California with pliers, ice picks and sledgehammers. He died of natural causes in February.
Abel Ochoa
High on crack, Ochoa killed five members of his family and tried to justify it due to being “intoxicated and in a delirium.” His final words were: “I would like to thank God, my dad, my Lord Jesus savior for saving me and changing my life. I want to apologise to my in-laws for causing all this emotional pain. I love y’all and consider y’all my sisters I never had. I want to thank you for forgiving me.”
Gordon Pinkerton
An RAF serviceman turned child abuser, Pinkerton sexually abused 6 young girls between 1963 and 2011. He was jailed in 2013 and died of coronavirus in prison in April.
Wesley Ira Purkey (AKA ‘The Claw Hammer Killer’)
Executed by lethal injection in July, Purkey raped and killed a teenager in 1998 and beat an 80-year-old to death with a claw hammer later that year.
Omar Sadiq (AKA ‘Roger’)
This Glasgow gangster and racial hatred inciter was killed by two of his associates in September. A floral tribute at the location of his shooting read: “Absolutely devastated. There was a better plan for you.”
Cathy Smith
This Canadian backup singer injected Saturday Night Live’s John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine in 1982. She died in August and had received a further drugs conviction in 1991 after serving 15 months between December 1986 and March 1988 for involuntary manslaughter.
Howie Winter
This mobster and leader of the Winter Hill Gang was implicated in a number of slayings in the 1960s and 1970s, but never charged. Of his demise in November aged 91, Thomas Foley, a retired Massachusetts State Police colonel, remarked: “It’s the end of a legend, but not a good legend… He is a guy that actually got away with murder.”
Pictured top: Winning Villain of 2020 Priti Patel and winning Hero of 2020 Bob Grace.
1950s Cold War espionage device disguised as a watch to be auctioned for a surprisingly low sum; someone could end up spying a bargain and something akin to what Jack Ruby even once owned
FBI informant and ‘assassin’s assassin’ Jack Ruby – the man whom fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy in November 1963 – supposedly owned a Protona microphone wrist watch, but these German devices were primarily used in Europe during the Cold War by police and intelligence organisations.
Now, an opportunity to buy a Protona in an online auction has arisen for what seems a surprisingly low price. The item concerned appears to the eye as a 40mm chronograph stainless steel wrist watch, but it also has an insert where a wire can be attached and hidden under the sleeve of the clothing of the person wearing it. That wire would then connect to a portable recording device concealed over their shoulder that could pick up audio for upto one hour.
Remarking of the quirky item her firm is set to sell, Laura Bishop, watch manager at Fellows auction house, commented:
“This is the perfect opportunity to own a fascinating piece of espionage and an intriguing watch combined. I can only imagine some of the conversations that this device might have recorded. We have been unable to gain access to the movement of the watch to find out its exact condition, however the dial is intact with no visible marks. History and watch enthusiasts alike won’t want to miss this one. I’m sure it will fly above its estimate.”
Fellows have set an estimate of £140 to £200 ($187 to $267, €157 to €224 or درهم687 to درهم982) and will sell it online on 8th December whilst elsewhere on eBay, another example is for sale along with a case full of extras for a far more punchy £897.50 ($1,199, €1,007 or درهم4,406).
The watch to be sold on someone’s wrist.The watch has a brown leather strap and a gold plated pin buckle.Items associated with espionage and those linked to JFK’s assassination sell for ludicrous sums. In June 2013, we featured the sale of two pieces of bloodstained leather from the back from the back seat of the Lincoln Continental in which President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. They sold for £9,785 ($13,045, €10,963 or درهم47,908) whilst in the same year Lee Harvey Oswald’s widow sold his wedding ring for £68,000 ($90,600, €76,200 or درهم332,900).In January 2015, we featured an Aston Martin DB10 used in the film ‘Spectre’ that was sold at auction by Christie’s for the staggering sum of £2.785 million ($3.711 million, €3.118 million or درهم13.629 million). A fan of the ultimate spy James Bond plainly truly fell under the spell as the car was simply just an undriveable show item.
Author Kirby Sommers reveals the actualite of Epstein-Maxwell documentation; more than six pages about Prince Andrew are missing
New York based “sex slave survivor and advocate for human rights” Kirby Sommers has taken to Twitter to highlight what many suspected in suggesting that there are a number of key pages missing from court documentation about the sordid activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a tweet about documents from the Giuffre vs. Maxwell lawsuit, posted on Sunday, Sommers – the author of Jeffrey Epstein: Predator, Spy – declared:
“Virginia Giuffre confided in her then boyfriend about having been instructed to have sex with Prince Andrew.”
“In his deposition when [he] begins to describe that she was ‘scared for her safety’ — the deposition, at this point, those pages are missing. 6 pages with that info missing.”
Sommers undoubtedly has a point and one can only anticipate that the next tranche of Maxwell’s deposition – if and when that gets released – will sadly likely be equally lacking in actualite.
Correction: This article was updated 1pm GMT, 3rd November 2020 to reflect further information supplied by Kirby Sommers.
The Actualite of Andrew – Kirby Sommers’ tweet revealed what many already suspected: The document released only contains the partial first deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell.
As it is revealed there is one rule for Ghislaine Maxwell and one for everyone else in the US legal system on visitations, her alleged links with the CIA and Mossad are again outed
Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell also, according to the author of Jeffrey Epstein: Predator SpyKirby Sommers, allegedly worked for the CIA and Mossad and as a result of these dodgy connections, the mucky madam could well be in line for special treatment from the US legal system.
Whilst stories to date have suggested ‘Bouncing Bob’s’ deviant daughter is complaining about her lack of email and a desk, which indicate to the contrary, this could all be part of a distraction technique. Maxwell and Epstein most certainly had power in their vast address book and whatever may be said of this vile woman, she is still attracting the support of some of them and is far from stupid.
Aside from Donald Trump “wishing her well” in a signal that suggests he knows that she has more up her sleeve, the leakage of the story about her alleged affair with Bill Clinton was another sign that Maxwell will be playing every card she can. Don’t be surprised if she appallingly pulls off some kind of coup that disgracefully gets her off the hook in the near future. Stranger things have, indeed, happened.
Iceberg home formed in part from the former Chelsea studios of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife for sale for sum 1,178% higher than in 2012
The grand location used as Uncle Monty’s London home in Withnail & I – the 1987 classic dark comedy starring Richard E. Grant – was West House at 35 Glebe Place in Chelsea. That building was sold to François Pinault, the owner of amongst other things Christie’s, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, for £20 million in 2011, whilst last month we featured an equally fabled residence in a street once home to artists, but now the preserve of billionaires – the £6.95 million former residence of the now in exile oligarch Sergei Pugachev at 53 and 54 Glebe Place.
Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported that Pugachev’s publicity craving ex-partner and mother of three of his children, ‘Karen-esque’ Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, had finally been evicted from that property. “It’s not our choice to leave, it’s painful and oh so sad” blubbed this batshit bonkers woman on Instagram, but now there’s another house for sale in the street that will make headlines and this time because of its connections to an esteemed art nouveau architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928).
Glasgow born Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his Black Country born wife Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (top) and a replacement plaque commemorating their association with the building that is located on the garage door at 43 Glebe Place. A plaque was first erected to mark the centenary of the Glasgow School of Art in 2009, but was “removed at some point between 2009 and 2015.”
Bizarrely sold in November 2012 for a sum £55,000 lower than in February that year, 43 Glebe Place has just come to the market for £14.95 million through agent Johnny Turnbull of The London Broker – a sum 1,178% higher than eight years ago.
Now vastly larger due to the fact that it has been ‘iceberged’ with the addition of an entirely new ‘mega-basement’ level (of similar concept to that created under the five houses opposite during their controversial merger by Monsoon and Accessorize owner Peter Simon in 2015), 43 Glebe Place is formed from the merger of a simple cottage and two artists’ studios. It now extends to 3,871 square foot in total over three levels.
One section of the property formed from the artists’ studios – known at that time as 43a Hans Studio – was used by Mackintosh from August 1915 to circa 1923 whilst his wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864 – 1933), occupied the adjoining space.
The studios were entered through “a small high walled courtyard” which now forms the garden of the newly created house and during this period, the couple lived nearby in Oakley Street, SW3 also. They had been forced to move to London after being banned from Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, where they had previously lived, as Mackintosh had been suspected of being a German spy due to his “affinity with Austria.”
Of their time there, writing in 2016, Mackintosh expert Sheila Harris remarked:
“As with most studios the ceilings were high, in order, most probably, to capture as much as light as possible and although they were fairly austere, with the furniture, artefacts and decorative panels originally housed in their Glasgow home, the place would soon have become an extension of their artistic lives.”
“Let’s not forget that whilst Mackintosh was working quietly in his studio another, completely different, scenario was unfolding outside his studio door. A resident of Glebe Place wrote: ‘Never shall I forget how suddenly Chelsea seemed to become an armed camp… Army motor lorries were rattling noisily along the normally quiet Embankment, and those hot nights we lay awake listening to the heavy rumble of laden troop-trains, all night long… It was a heart-rending sight to see the young men of all ranks going up the steps of Chelsea Town Hall to enlist.’”
“Clearly Mackintosh and Margaret embraced life in Chelsea and made the very best of their new-found circumstances. They adopted their new surroundings, making their studios an inviting, hospitable place to spend their days, often in the company of like-minded people. They certainly faced up to the challenges of living in the capital city which was the target of so many bombing raids.”
“Whilst little evidence can be found on the daily routine of the Mackintoshes’ life in London, we know that they… spent their days in the adjoining studios in Glebe Place, and many evenings were enjoyed at the Blue Cockatoo [a long since gone local hostelry in Oakley Street that was popular also with Augustus John and other “artistic Chelsea denizens”] meeting friends and colleagues for dinner… We do know that Margaret held parties, including children’s parties, at the studios.”
Given what the estate agent Turnbull terms a “three year, multi-million pound rebuild by the current owners, creating an exquisite and self-indulgent London home for themselves,” it is doubtful that the Mackintoshes would now recognise their former home. It now provides a 21-foot by 16-foot reception room with a ceiling heght of 14-feet and a study area with a mezzanine beyond, a 30-foot long dining kitchen, 3 bedroom suites, a wine cellar and a gym with a steam room. There is a somewhat narrow garage, off-street parking for an additional car, a 24-foot by 23-foot garden and a 22-foot long roof terrace also.
In their marketing literature, The London Broker interestingly point out also of the freehold house: “This property currently has mixed use. The buyer should speak to their solicitor and seek advice to confirm that this could significantly reduce SDLT.” Who said the rich don’t like a bargain?
The Numbers – 43 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London, SW3 5JE, United Kingdom
July 2020 – For sale for £14.95 million ($18.90 million, €16.67 million or درهم69.40 million) through agents The London Broker.
November 2012 – Sold for £1.17 million ($1.48 million, €1.30 million or درهم5.43 million)
February 2012 – Sold for £1.225 million ($1.548 million, €1.366 million or درهم5.687 million).
A large entrance hall is formed out of the majority of the ground floor of the original, surprisingly unlisted cottage.Out of one of the studio spaces, a vast dining kitchen with doors to the courtyard garden has been created. It is bright and airy as a result of its ceiling lights.Beyond is a reception space, again with studio windows above.Another view of the room.A dividing glass partition leads to a space intended as a study. It has a mezzanine above.The master bedroom suite is to be found in the original cottage. It has its own terrace.The bathroom of the master bedroom also has a door onto the terrace.In the newly recreated ‘iceberg mega-basement’ daylight is brought in courtesy of a lightwell. A most useful wine cellar can be seen at the end of this corridor.The other two bedroom suites are located on the lower level.Also below ground is a large gym. It seems an ideal space for health conscious super-rich yummy mummy types to work out their frustrations in.The courtyard garden (looking towards the original house and garage) is quite charming and restful.The courtyard garden (looking towards the studio conversion section).A floor plan of the very much enlarged property.
A BBC video briefly mentioning Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s time at 43 Glebe Place. Video courtesy of The 78 Derngate Northampton Trust.
Flamboyant Uncle Monty plied Withnail and Marwood with booze in his drawing room at 35 Glebe Place in the film. His intentions were less than decent. In 2011, the house was sold for £20 million to the billionaire businessman François Pinault – reportedly the 27th richest man in the world as of October 2019.
Cambridgeshire mansion used by Special Operations Executives in the Second World War and as a borstal subsequently for sale; Gaynes Hall is next to the prison that housed Max Clifford and was briefly a cannabis farm in 2019
Grade II* listed Georgian mansion in Cambridgeshire for sale for £2.65 million in spite of being in far from perfect condition and next door to a prison housing 1,220 convicted sex offenders.
The estate was owned by the aristocratic Duberly family from 1798 until 1940. An earlier house on the house had been home to Oliver Cromwell’s namesake and uncle.
It was requisitioned in the Second World War by the Special Operations Executive. Hitler was so annoyed by the operations at Gaynes Hall that he supposedly nicknamed the place “the hornet’s nest.”
After the war, the hall became a borstal and after that closed, part of the estate became HM Prison Littlehey – famous for housing PR ‘guru’ Max Clifford, victim of a miscarriage of justiceStephen Downing and Australian cricketer Alex Hepburn.
More recently, the estate came to public attention after being discovered to be the centre of operations for drug lords. £250,000 of cannabis were seized there in 2019.
In June 2019, once ritzy Gaynes Hall at Perry, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire came to public attention when a drugs baron who’d turned part of the building into a cannabis farm was jailed. For his troubles, Nebir Tahiraj was relieved of £250,000 of drugs and ‘gained’ a sentence of 13 months.
Grade II* listed and built circa 1800 for Sir James Duberly (1758 – 1832), the gault brick house was originally plaster rendered. Of three storeys plus cellars and seven bays, the 20,795 square foot building is currently being marketed by agents Wilson Peacock for £2.65 million – up from £2.2 million back in 2019.
Gaynes Hall (also known as ‘Gaines Hall’ occasionally) stands in 16 acres of grounds including lakes and a moat and comes with a three bedroom cottage “requiring full modernisation and refurbishment.” It was home to the Duberly family until 1940 when it was requisitioned by Special Operations Executives (SOE) on the instructions of Winston Churchill.
Supposedly, according to the local Parish Council’s website, Hitler was so exasperated by the activities at Gaynes Park that he referenced the house “the hornet’s nest.” It was known locally during this period as a “spy school” and its master, Wing Commander Thomas Odett, was nicknamed ‘The White Rabbit’ on the basis that “he was always popping up in unexpected places.”
After the war, the mansion became the governor’s residence and administrative offices of the newly created Her Majesty’s Borstal Gaynes Hall and remained in that use until 1983 when the borstal closed. Her Majesty’s Prison Littlehey, which is best known as the place of death of the public relations ‘guru’ paedophile Max Clifford, was subsequently opened next door and residents of Perry get to hear its sirens periodically if a prisoner escapes or there is a disturbance.
In 1985, AIM Cambridge (later AIM Technology) leased the hall and from the Ministry of Defence and converted it into offices. When their business failed, the building became empty and in 1990, Gaynes Hall was sold again. In the years since, it has been in mixed use.
In need of some attention – Gaynes Hall has variously been used as a grand residence by aristocracy, requisitioned for use by Special Services Executives (SOE), served as an administrative office and governor’s house for a borstal and been converted to offices. It is currently configured in ‘mixed-use’ format and includes 20,975 square foot of accommodation.An aristocratic drug farm – Nebir Tahiraj was imprisoned in 2019 after having turned part of Gaynes Hall into a cannabis farm. He was caught with over £250,000 of drugs on the premises after neighbours complained about the noxious smell.Proximity to a prison – An aerial view of Her Majesty’s Prison Littlehey. Gaynes Hall is situated just to the west.Rapists next door – Convicted rapist and ex-cricketer cricketer Alex Hepburn, Stephen Downing (whose conviction for murder was overturned in 2002 after he had served 27 years in prison) and paedophile Max Clifford (who died in the prison) are connected by having been imprisoned at the Category C male prison HM Prison Littlehey. It has a capacity for 1,200 male prisoners – who all have been convicted of sexual offences.A once grand gentleman’s residence – Gaynes Hall in an image taken circa 1913. An earlier house on the site was leased for 21 years by Sir Oliver Cromwell (1566 – 1655), the uncle and namesake of the lord protector, from 1599.
The Names & Numbers – Gaynes Hall, Perry, Great Staughton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE28 0ST, United Kingdom
December 2019 – Listed for sale by Wilson Peacock Country Homes at the increased price of £2.65 million ($3.35 million, €2.96 million or درهم12.32 million).
14th June 2019 – 35-yeard old Nebir Tahiraj found guilty at Cambridge Crown Court of “being concerned in the production of cannabis” in his flat at Gaynes Hall and jailed for 13 months. When police raided the property, they “found more than 200 plants at varying stages of growth, growing equipment and two large bags of cannabis ready to be sold” worth circa £250,000 ($316,000, €279,000 or درهم1.2 million). He attempted to claim “he was being exploited and kept at the flat against his will,” but the National Crime Agency (NCA) discovered he had been willingly involved.
Mid 2019 – For Sale for £2.2 million ($2.8 million, €2.5 million or درهم10.2 million) through Michael Graham.
March 2019 – Fleet Assist announce they will be moving their business from Gaynes Hall to Ermine Business Park in Huntingdon.
2002 – Purchased by the Malik family (according to Wikipedia).
1994 – 2002 – Owned by the McCallion family (according to Wikipedia).
1985 – Converted to offices and used by firms including AIM Cambridge (AIM Technology) and Fleet Assist in the years subsequently. Part-let as apartments and by the room also for residential use.
1945 – 1983 – Used as the governor’s residence and administrative officers of the Her Majesty’s Borstal Gaynes Hall. ‘Boys’ who were detained there have recounted their experiences on this fascinating Facebook page; it plainly was not an especially pleasant place.
1940 – Requisitioned for use by Special Operations Executive (SOE). Gaynes Hall – under the codename ‘Station 61’ – became the headquarters for Air Liason Officers and used as a ‘hotel’ for them prior to their being dropped into occupied Europe.
1798 – 1940 – Owned by the Duberly family. The present house was constructed for them circa 1800 to the designs of architect George Byfield (circa 1756 – 1813).
Julian Assange achieves a new low by hanging out with a whack job Trump supporter who previously supported Black Lives Matters and Bernie Sanders
Julian Assange’s pathetically small ragbag of supporters are once again bleating and this time that bleating comes from the mouth of a most confused young lady.
In an article for The Gateway Pundit – a little known hotchpotch rant sheet that cites itself as being “Where Hope Finally Made a Comeback” and a publication that claims: “We report the truth – and leave the Russia-Collusion fairy tale to the Conspiracy media” – a Donald Trump supporting “political activist” named Cassandra Fairbanks claimed Assange’s living conditions are “more akin to [a] Stasi-era dissident than an award-winning publisher with asylum.”
“Social media star” Fairbanks – whose favourite quote is said to be “Build the Wall” in spite of her previously being a backer of Bernie Sanders – is, in fact, just like Assange in several regards: This queen of contradictions is a bit of self-promoting, self-obsessed sort and she plainly craves constant attention.
On Twitter, this Silver Springs, Maryland based former liberal tells her 156,000 followers that the “Federal court says ‘I trolled the web through Twitter’” and that she is “an information terrorist according to Wired.” She previously was said to be “distinguished for her liberal campaigns” but has now wholeheartedly U-turned and become a fully-fledged Trumpette.
In spite of helping to organise the ‘DeploraBall’ to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017, Fairbanks has also been involved with the “hacktivist” group Anonymous and once came out in support of immigrants by saying: “Why should an invisible line created by some [politicians] dictate where we can and cannot go? If I want to go to the beach at 11pm I should be able to. If I feel like rowing a boat to Australia, why can’t I just go?”
Cassandra Fairbanks at the White House
Previously a reporter for the Russian state funded news agency Sputnik News and also at one-time a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, Fairbanks lost a defamation suit in June 2018 against a former Fusion journalist, Emma Roller. Fairbanks had claimed Roller “maliciously” retweeted an image of her allegedly giving a white power hand gesture.
In her article for The Gateway Pundit, published Thursday after Fairbanks having visited Assange at the Embassy of Ecuador in Knightsbridge the previous Monday, the self-proclaimed “grassroots journalist” claimed his hosts were imposing “draconian” conditions on the bail dodger and keeping him in something “like a scene from the Stasi spy drama The Lives of Others.”
Refusing to acknowledge that Julian Assange chose his very own path is one thing, but that Fairbanks moaned about his hosts being “spies… even noting his general mood” is another. She refers to the Ecuadorians as “menacing” and “shadowy state actor[s]” and their embassy as like a “federal penitentiary.” In doing so, this plainly delusional woman ignores the most important fact: Nobody is forcing Julian Assange to remain holed up with people she views to be baddies. He could end this farce and he could finally do the decent thing: It is time for Julian Assange to surrender himself to the British police.
Should there be a blue plaque in honour of the controversial explorer Gertrude Bell in Cadogan Square in spite of the fact she did not actually “live” there?
Today, in The Guardian, arts correspondent Mark Brown reported on the controversy that has arisen as a result of English Heritage deciding it appropriate to approve a blue plaque in honour of Gertrude Bell CBE (1868 – 1926) in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge.
Gertrude Bell has variously been described as an administrator, peace maker, preserver of heritage, pioneer and a woman of international influence. She was also considered a spy and mocked for opposing vote’s for women.
Though home to the explorer’s grandmother and a place she stayed at on “numerous occasions” for over 40 years, Bell’s biographer, Graham Best, asks: “Is this a case of cultural appropriation? … She didn’t really have anything to do with London.”
He continues:
“The thing with Gertrude Bell is that everyone is trying to appropriate her as a person. She is deeply misunderstood.”
“The thing is everyone is trying to grab hold of Gertrude Bell and say yes, she’s one of us. But she’s not.”
Going further, the article also attempts to smear “Queen of the Desert” Bell by referring to the fact that she opposed vote’s for women and repeatedly makes reference to the William Morris designed Red Barns in Redcar being her genuine home.
Just like with Queen Elizabeth I – a woman who seemingly slept in every bed in the land – it is effectively plaques to famous people could end up being put up just about everywhere they ever went. In February this year, The Steeple Times reported on a condominium in Pacific Heights, San Francisco that was for sale complete with a plaque that proclaimed: “2151 Sacramento Street: This house, built in 1881, was once occupied by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.” It turned out that the author had “visited” the building for just a few hours.
Pictured top: Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell with Robert Pattinson as T. E. Lawrence in the “muddled mess” that was Werner Herzog’s 2015 film ‘Queen of the Desert.’
