“I don’t know what’s going to happen if my music career goes wrong,” states this Tottenham born singer. Having been named “one of the most influential people in the world” by TIME Magazine and broken the record for the longest number-1 album by a woman in Billboard history, she really need not worry. Adele’s still “Someone Like You,” except she’s now worth in excess of £23 million and is guaranteed a place amongst the music greats. Gordon Brown wrote to this Labour supporter to tell her that she’s a “light end of the tunnel” but we prefer the view of former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. Of her, he proclaims: “She’s great. She’s a shot in the arm for this industry.”
Tag: UK
-
Adele Adkins
-
Beverley Craven
This British singer-songwriter was born in Colombo, Sir Lanka whilst her father was there working for Kodak. Influenced by Elton John and Kate Bush, she began her career touring with Bobby Womack but it was her 1991 single, “Promise Me,” that catapulted Craven into the big time. After a period raising a family, she’s now back in the business and even appeared with her daughter, Mollie, on ITV’s Take Me Out in February 2012. -
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. -
Andrey Borodin
This billionaire former president of the Bank of Moscow lives in exile in London and is on the Interpol Red Notices wanted list as a suspect in a £136 million (13 billion rouble) fraud. (more…) -
Hugh Bonneville
In his role as Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham, this actor warned that “scandals” always have a habit of coming out. He graduated in Theology at Cambridge but, according to Adam Helliker of the Daily Express, Bonneville wasn’t especially keen to show Christian compassion towards Lord Archer at a party at The Cadogan Hotel when it was requested that the pair be photographed together. -
Gaby Hinsliff
We’ve got nothing against this respected journalist and writer, but when we heard that the fashion mag Grazia had a “Political Editor at Large” we thought it was April Fool’s Day. Hinsliff also blogs at usedtobesomebody.blogspot.com and states that she resigned as political editor of The Observer to go “in search of a life.” She’s based in Oxfordshire and published her first book, Half A Wife, in 2012. In it, she advises on “how to balance a happy, healthy family life with the demands and rewards of work.” There are plenty out there who ought to pay attention. -
Richard Mason
This talented author was born in South Africa but educated at Eton and New College, Oxford. The Drowning People, his first novel, gained him a “vast” advance and was published during his first year at university. It’s been translated into 22 languages and has sold over 3 million copies. Richard Mason funds a foundation in memory of his sister that pays for gifted South African children from poor backgrounds to attend the country’s top private schools and with a writing style that’s been compared to “Henry James on Viagra”, he’s definitely got many more pages to pen. An early critic, who told him he “should have killed [himself] rather than publish”, is now writing reviews of home décor shows. -
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. -
Wafic Saïd
This billionaire was born in Damascus in 1939 and declares his loves to be music, architecture, art and horse racing. His home is the £50 million neo-Georgian mansion Tusmore Park near Bicester in Oxfordshire and he supposedly paid Robbie Williams in excess of a million to perform at his daughter’s May 2012 wedding to PR Khaled Khawaja at The Palace of Versailles. Saïd was one of Margaret Thatcher’s biggest supporters but is also said to have been a confidant of Peter Mandelson. As chairman of Saïd Holdings Limited, he presides over an empire with investments in hedge funds and real estates but he’s better known for the £23 million endowment he provided to establish the Saïd Business School in Oxford in 1996. -
Sir Benjamin Slade Bt.: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times asks the right-wing businessman and owner of Maunsel House and Woodlands Castle, Sir Benjamin Slade: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?
Money, power, sex, success, land, trees, books and fine wine.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
“If it f**ks, floats or flies: Rent it, don’t buy it and don’t marry it!”
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2012?
David Cameron and Sir Mervyn King.
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
Being in London full-time.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
Good health and two healthy sons.
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?
It’s like putting bartenders on commission and allowing them to give credit to alcoholics who die and go bankrupt.
What phrase or word do you most loathe?
I’ve got three: 1. “Sustainability.” 2. “Stakeholder.” 3. “Human rights.”
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
UKIP and Help for Heroes.
The judge in “Law Abiding Citizen” states: “I can pretty do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?
They are useful for ringing up if late, doing deals and arranging dinners with girls.
If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
Warren Buffett, Bobby Faber, Philip Gibbs, Bettany Hughes, Brian Kingham, Lady Kitchener-Fellowes, Francis Fulford, Robert Lyle, Sir John Madejski, David Ord, General Sir Michael Rose, Roger Seelig, Alexander Stockton, Jonathan Sumption PC, Norman Tebbit, Lord Westbury, the Duke of Westminster and Mrs William Worsley. Adrian de Ferranti can sit in the luggage car and serve wine.
Sir Benjamin Slade Bt. If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?
It’d have to be at La Tour d’Argent in Paris.
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
1pm and 6pm.
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
Green tea.
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
Sotheby’s and Christie’s and those hosted by Liz Floyd and Philip Gibbs.
Who is the most positive person you know?
My friend Bobby Faber.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
Drinking claret at £100 per bottle.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
A big castle with lots of walnut trees, good books and bottles of wine. And girls’ hips.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
A Ford Fiesta.
Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
I’m self-made, have a great knowledge of history and am a seriously good doctor with over 120 patients. And, you’ll be surprised to learn that I was a spy in the Middle East for Britain.
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
Tankards, invites, various Mouser and Walther pistols, cows horns, Roman artifacts, decanters, pewter cups, silver, an 18th century bottle of port and a Russian machine gun.
Maunsel House, North Newton, Near Taunton, Somerset, TA7 0BU. Telephone: +44 (0) 1278 661076. Website: http://www.maunselhouse.co.uk
Woodlands Castle, Ruishton, Taunton, Somerset, TA3 5LU. Telephone: +44 (0) 1823 444955. Website: http://www.woodlandscastle.co.uk
Read Sir Benjamin Slade’s blog at: http://sirbenslade.blogspot.co.uk/ and follow him on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/sirbenslade