A Royal servant turned blabbermouth. He calls himself a “noted authority on all things regal.” Is anyone listening? No, we think not.
Tag: United Kingdom
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Paul Burrell RVM
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Nadine Dorries MP
This Liverpudlian Conservative politician just cannot keep her trap shut. Derided widely as “Mad Nad,” she described David Cameron and George Osborne as: “Two arrogant posh boys who don’t know the price of milk.” While some admire her tenacity, most just think her ridiculous. She’s a Tweet closer to the asylum. -
Susan Hill CBE
Best known for her chilling novel The Woman in White, this writer also did a stint on the BBC’s The Archers and runs a small publishing house named Long Barn Books. Married to the Shakespeare scholar Professor Stanley Wells, Hill lives in a farmhouse with 50 acres of woodland in the Cotswolds and describes ghosts as having been: “Good to me.” -
Kerry Grist-Needham (formerly Kerry Needham)
Since her twenty-one-month year old son Ben went missing on the Greek Island of Kos in July 1991, Ms. Grist-Needham has tirelessly campaigned to try and find him. Unlike with other cases, little help has been given by the authorities or charities. A volunteer named Scott Morrison has set up a website at http://www.helpfindben.co.uk and it truly deserves the support of each and every one of us.
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Virginia McKenna OBE
This British actress is best known for playing Joy Adamson in the true-life film Born Free alongside her real-life husband, Bill Travers (1957 – 1994). She’s also starred in the Ring of Bright Water, The Camomile Lawn and Swallows and Amazons but it is for her work as a wildlife campaigner that McKenna is best known. She co-founded the Born Free Foundation in 1991 with her husband and along with Ace Bourke and John Rendall helped release Christian, a lion who lived at World’s End in Chelsea, into the wild in Africa. His story has since become one of YouTube’s biggest hits. -
Singing for a Diamond
Music fit for The Queen
In recent days, Gary Barlow’s albumn Sing has topped the UK album charts with sales of 40,000 copies.
Two hundred and ten musicians, including the African Children’s Choir and the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Band, helped record this special tribute to The Queen. Produced by Barlow with the assistance of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gareth Malone, Sing also features Prince Harry on the tambourine, Hayley Westenra, Alfie Boe and the Military Wives choir. Sing will be performed this evening at a special concert at Buckingham Palace in the presence of Her Majesty.
Another tribute I was alerted to came from a singer named Anton Lorien who contacted me via Twitter. He was approached in 2011 by the British Monarchist League who asked him to produce a song for a lady he describes as having: “Given her life selflessly to the people of Britain and the Commonwealth.”
Mr Lorien’s song, Like A Diamond, is available to download on iTunes but I wholeheartedly recommend that you watch the video clip available above. It contains some wonderful footage of The Queen and the clip at 3:33 where our Monarch runs to watch her racehorse is especially worth seeing.
Gary Barlow pictured with Prince Harry on the tambourine working on Sing Both Sing and Like A Diamond capture the feelings of our nation brilliantly. Be sure to sing along tonight.
For more information about Anton Lorien’s Like A Diamond, go to: http://www.antonlorien.com
For more information on Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band’s Sing, got to: http://www.jubileesing.com
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Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the Commonwealth Realms
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II governed as constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states and headed the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. Supported by her gaffe prone husband, “Brenda,” as Private Eye nicknamed her, served steadfast through good times and bad. She liked to drive a little quickly when given control of the wheel of a Range Rover and also found washing up relaxing. This monarch like no other will never be forgotten. -
God Save The Queen
A weekend of celebration
The launch of The Steeple TIMES today, 1st June 2012, coincides with a weekend that celebrates something far more significant.
Tomorrow, 2nd June, marks the 60th year of The Queen’s reign and over an extended weekend, the nation will gloriously raise their glasses to this amazing lady. The Queen, herself, begins by attending the Epsom Derby whilst the nation will participate in The Big Jubilee Lunch, sharing food and conversation with neighbours and friends. Laughter and joy will undoubtedly be the focus of the day.
Elizabeth II, Queen of the Commonwealth realms (1926 – ) On Sunday 3rd June, the highlight will be a pageant of 1,000 boats assembled from across the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world. Organised under the patronage of The Prince of Wales, the boats will sail from Battersea to Tower Bridge and The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family will travel in a Royal Barge, the Spirit of Chartwell.
The main event for Monday 4th June will be a Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace directed by Take That’s Gary Barlow. 10,000 members of the public will attend and performing artists include Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Cliff Richard, JLS, Ed Sheeran, Annie Lennox, Kylie Minogue and Sir Paul McCartney.
On the same day, a network of over 4,000 beacons will be lit throughout the United Kingdom. The Queen will light the National Beacon at the end of the Diamond Jubilee Concert and other key beacons will be the ones on the country’s four highest mountains: Ben Nevis, Mount Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Slieve Donard.
Tuesday 5th June is marked by a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral where a special prayer will be read. This is to be followed by receptions at Mansion House and Guildhall and a Diamond Jubilee lunch at Westminster Hall. Following the lunch, The Queen, and The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Henry of Wales will depart the Palace of Westminster for Buckingham Palace, travelling by carriage. A 60-gun salute will be fired during the procession and personnel from all three military services will line the route. Shortly after, The Royal Family will appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch an RAF Flypast and Feu de Joie given as a salute by The Queen’s Guard and this will conclude a truly spectacular celebration.
‘God Save The Queen’ by Keith Haynes. Presented in a Perspex box frame, 350mm x 350mm. Vinyl and Perspex. Edition of 10. Signed and numbered. Meanwhile, I was lucky to attend a Jubilee Party at the Belgravia Gallery in Mayfair last night that featured artworks celebrating The Queen’s reign. Featuring works by Prince Albert, The Prince of Wales and Lord Snowdon, here was a true celebration of all things connected to the Monarchy.
The highlight, however, for me were the works of Keith Haynes. Like The Queen, who undoubtedly has prospered as Monarch because of the support of her steadfast husband, Keith Haynes is an artist inspired by the encouragement of his wife, Kim Clayton-Jones. A graduate of the Harrow School of Art, Haynes exhibited a series of works inspired by both The Queen and the Sex Pistols that were kitsch and collectable. Priced at £350 each and limited to editions of 100, these brilliant pieces represent a great way to remember this historic weekend.
‘God Save The Queen’ by Keith Haynes. Presented in white box frame, 250mm x 250mm. Vinyl, paper and board. Edition of 100. Signed and numbered. Comments Keith Haynes:
“Since it’s release in the Silver Jubilee year of 1977 the Sex Pistols seminal punk single has been indelibly linked to the history of The Royal Family. This Diamond Jubilee year sees the 35th anniversary of the single’s release and to commemorate this event I have produced a limited edition portrait of The Queen made from original vinyl copies of the single; my tribute to the extreme ends of British culture.”
May I thank you all for your support for The Steeple TIMES to date and more importantly, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Jubilee Weekend.
“God Save The Queen – We mean it Ma’am.”
Belgravia Gallery, 45 Albermarle Street, London, W1S 4JL. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7495 1010. Website: http://www.belgraviagallery.com
For information about Keith Haynes and The Haynes Partnership, go to: http://www.art-partnership.co.uk
To view the official website of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, go to: http://www.thediamondjubilee.org
For information about The Big Jubilee Lunch, go to: http://www.thebiglunch.com
For information on The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, go to: http://www.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/
For information on the Diamond Jubilee Concert, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/diamondjubilee
For information on The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Beacons, go to: http://www.diamondjubileebeacons.co.uk
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The Hon. Imogen Lloyd Webber
The daughter of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber lives in New York and is a contributor to MSNBC. Her Single Girl’s Guide was published in both the UK and America and her debut show Touched… For The Very First Time was a mighty success in the West End in 2009. Described as a “petite polymath,” Imogen Lloyd Webber digitally published The Twitter Diaries in May 2012. Turning tweets into a novel, this co-written e-book has been lauded as: “Bridget Jones tries social networking.” -
Captain Simon Mann
This former army officer boldly led a coup d’état in Equatorial Guinea in 2004. He was imprisoned for 34 years but received a presidential pardon from President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in 2009. This Old Etonian’s account of the episode, Cry Havoc, is a great read and he now lives peacefully in Hampshire with his wife and seven children. Here is a top dollar chap who took the rap whilst others who were involved got off scot-free.
