Steven Berkoff is a titan of the stage and a might with a pen. He’s best known for playing the darkest of characters but in reality he’s charm personified. Berkoff beat Julie Burchill in a libel case in 1996 and finds it “flattering” to play evil characters. He lives on the river in a converted warehouse in Limehouse with his delightful partner, the Danish pianist Clara Fischer, and often sports the snazziest loafers in town.
Tag: The Sunday Times
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Steven Berkoff
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Owen Oyston
This flamboyant fedora wearing tycoon made his fortune selling an estate agency empire just before the 1987 stock market crash. He’s now worth in excess of £100 million. Married twice to a former Miss Blackpool, his 13th century Lancashire home, Claughton Hall, was moved from the bottom of a hill to the top. He served three years in prison for raping a woman who strangely couldn’t remember in which year the crime occurred. Oyston continues to protest his innocence but with his majority stake in the prospering Blackpool F.C. and other interests, he’s got plenty else to keep himself busy. -
Nicky Haslam (Nicholas Haslam)
“Britain’s ultimate interior designer” is a man of many talents and guises. Haslam flits from party to party by night, but by day writes, edits and designs. He’s performed cabaret at The Savoy and Bellamy’s and interior watercolour renderings by him are held by the Victoria & Albert Museum. This trendsetter’s life is indeed summed up by the title of one of his books: Sheer Opulence. -
Jack O'Shea
A gentleman butcher. He’s deservedly been named Butcher of the Year by The Independent and his shops in Brussels and Knightsbridge are a mecca for foodies. He took on the might of Sir Roger Moore and his campaign against foie gras by selling it from his Selfridges counter in 2011. He was ejected from the store on Christmas Eve but rightly responded to his critics with a simple one liner: “I couldn’t give a damn.” -
James Murdoch
Considered by many as the pretender to the fortune of his father, Rupert, the phone hacking scandal may have put paid to that. He dropped out of Harvard to start a hip hop label named Rawkus and even gave an airing to a then little known Eminem. Here’s a rebel, complete with two tattoos, who, like a phoenix from the ashes, will undoubtedly rise again. -
Alexander Fiske-Harrison
An Englishman who also happens to be a bullfighter, actor and writer. (more…) -
Rupert Murdoch
This father of six is a media mogul who doesn’t back down. Faced with being labeled the prime culprit in the phone hacking debacle, he battles on. His second wife Wendi packs a mean left hook.