Matthew Steeples discovers a penthouse that even the most ambitious estate agent may struggle to flog
Estate agents are a tough breed and there are very few properties that they might admit could verge on being impossible to sell. We believe, however, that we might have found one that could be in the same league as, perhaps, the homes of Myra Hindley, Harold Shipman or John Christie. In fact, this Leeds penthouse could be even more difficult to sell given how many photographs the last owner had taken there during his lifetime.
The exterior of Lake View Court, Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS8 2TX gives little a way other than the resemblance to a Soviet apartment blockThe penthouse enjoys superb views across Roundhay Park and the Waterloo LakeThe split-level 33ft reception offers a vast entertaining space and comes complete with a shagpile carpet that Austin Powers would be proud ofIn view of their tiling advertisement, perhaps the owner did a deal with Callerton Kitchens (http://www.callerton.co.uk)A bedroom gives further indication that this place hasn’t had much done to it since the 1970s
On first inspection, this 3-bedroomed £325,000 top floor flat in Lake View Court at Roundhay in Leeds sounds like it could be a bargain. It includes a 33ft by 13ft split-level living room, a large balcony, a fitted kitchen (that bizarrely features tiling prominently displaying the name of the kitchen’s manufacturer, Callerton Kitchens), 2 bathrooms, a single garage and a double parking space in an underground garage.
Though the agents, Alan Cooke, give a hint that it needs a complete makeover when they state that the apartment is “now ripe for improvement,” it has a “security entry phone system, an automatic lift giving private access, gas central heating system and double glazing.” They also add that it features a “magnificent outlook” across Roundhay Park and the Waterloo Lake and is on a lease of 125 years from 1971. The ground rent is just £60 per annum and a maintenance charge of £2,000 per annum doesn’t seem to be too bad either.
“And here, for our home and studio audience, here’s who house it was…” Jimmy SavileThis image of Savile in a state of undress might indeed have put off a few buyersSavile pictured in the reception room of the penthouse
Now what could be wrong with this pad and why has it languished on the market since the summer? Well, it turns out that this is the former main home of the late Jimmy Savile. Though his possessions were removed and auctioned some months ago, the disgraced television presenter’s tawdry style of décor remains as a legacy of his occupation of the flat. One simply would not want to think of what the Jim’ll Fix It presenter got upto in this place and frankly, who’d want to move into this poisoned chalice?
Equally, we don’t think Loyd Grossman will be calling round at any point in the near future to ask: “Now, who’d want to live in a house like this?”
For more information on The Penthouse, Lake View Court, Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS8 2TX, contact agents Alan Cooke Moortown, Moortown, Leeds, LS17 6PY on +44 (0) 113 288 8666.
The purchaser of Sir Jimmy Savile’s Rolls-Royce whinges about his lacking lot
As 14 police forces announce that they are investigating an astonishing 340 leads and the claims of 40 alleged victims of Sir Jimmy Savile, we at The Steeple Times were equally astounded when we received a Tweet from one of our most esteemed followers @veniviedivici this afternoon.
In his Tweet, @veniviedivici provided a link to a SKY News “exclusive” with the purchaser of a 2002 Rolls-Royce Corniche that had been sold by auctioneers Dreweatts as part of an auction of the possessions of the late Savile that took place on the 30th July.
Charlotte Leeming of the BBC with the former Sir Jimmy Savile Rolls-Royce Corniche. Follow her on Twitter at @lottyleemingBidders at the Dreweatts auction of the possessions of the late Sir Jimmy Saville in Leeds on 30th July 2012
At the time, the Rolls-Royce, which Savile had (rather appropriately – given the current turn in events) nicknamed “The Beast,” was listed in the auction catalogue at a guide price of £60,000 to £90,000. It eventually sold for £130,000. With a buyer’s premium, this figure totaled a figure of £161,000 and of it the anonymous buyer, a scrap dealer from Poole in Dorset, told SKY News:
“I never met him, but he was someone I’ve grown up with. I’ll only drive it now and again.”
He added: “I bought it on a whim,” whilst the disappointed underbidder, a “colourful pie and peas” charity fundraiser named Leon Parrish, stated:
“I’m gutted. Good to luck to him [the buyer] but at the end, I hated him.”
He had a lucky escape: charity fundraiser Leon Parrish was pipped at the post and missed out on buying the late Sir Jimmy Savile’s 2002 Rolls-Royce Corniche
Mr Parrish may now have changed his mind. Readers may also recall our own coverage of the sale and we even admit to having been somewhat hoodwinked by Savile’s supposed largesse in the statement we made at the time:
“Jim fixed it that all proceeds will go to charity. Even in death, this top dollar gent continues to do good.”
Since then, Savile has been exposed at worst as a rapist and paedophile and at best as a dirty old creep. As he lies in a concrete encased grave (minus it’s headstone now), we retract our last sentence. He was not a good man and sadly, though he’ll be forever remembered as a disgrace, he’ll never face a single charge.
The new owner of Savile’s Rolls-Royce Corniche, as a result of the media furore over the current allegations, is certainly not laughing but today when he gave a bleeding heart interview, he just made a pathetic fool of himself. Here are a few sentences from it:
“I don’t want to be associated with it… I’m just gutted because all of this should have come out beforehand… The only way that car will sell is to get the Savile name off of it and try to sell it for £70,000 if I’m lucky… I’ve never even driven it… I bought it, they delivered it, I had it picked up, they took it to Surrey for servicing [he’s had to spend £8,000 on the brakes and other problems with the car] and it’s still there… A lot of people spent a lot of money on that stuff [other items in the Dreweatt sale], tracksuits and that, and they’ve got to burn them now because they’re worth nothing… I’ve got my lawyers looking at it now, but my solicitor has spoken to a barrister and he seemed to think none of us had a leg to stand on.”
The scrap dealer went on to add that his plans to rent the car out for weddings and children’s parties had been scuppered but worse still, he informed Gerard Tubb of Sky News that his wife knew nothing of his somewhat stupid purchase:
“She’d absolutely kill me, I’d get thrown out… Probably she knows deep down, but I’ve just got to deny it because I wouldn’t get away with this one.”
Whoever he may be, this scrap dealer is truly not worthy of any of our sympathies. He bought a car unseen and didn’t adhere to the principle: “Caveat emptor.” We at The Steeple Times have no sympathies for this nitwit.
Matthew Steeples shares his somewhat mixed thoughts on the allegations against Sir Jimmy Savile
When Sir Jimmy Savile’s 2002 Rolls-Royce Corniche went to auction in July with a guide price of £60,000 to £90,000, he seemed destined to be remembered as a man who would continue to do as much good in death as he appeared to have done in life. Savile (1926 – 2011) had arranged that all proceeds of the auction would go to charity and in the end the car fetched £130,000.
By September 2012, however, everything had changed. Savile, a man who had raised an estimated £40,000,000 for charity during his lifetime, now stands accused of allegations of sexual assault against numerous women and at least one male following an ITV1 documentary, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile.
Sir Jimmy Savile OBE, KCSG outside the highland retreat at Allt na Reigh, Glencoe, Ballachulish, Scotland, PH49 4HX where he entertained amongst HRH The Prince of Wales and TV presenter Louis TherouxSir Jimmy Savile’s humour and approach to life was considered “saucy” and “Carry On-esque” during his lifetime. Now, many appear to regret allowing his behaviour to go unnoticed.
When I first heard these allegations, I was somewhat perturbed. My initial thought was: “Is it right that these allegations surface when the alleged perpetrator is not here to defend himself?” Yes, Savile and many other stars of his generation and ilk appeared eccentric and perhaps even a little sinister, but that does not mean that they were or are necessarily paedophiles and rapists. In the days that followed, I found myself questioning the motivations of those who had waited until this supposedly affable star was dead before they opted to blacken his name. The fact that many of these “victims” remain hidden behind masks of anonymity, equally, is somewhat questionable especially when their alleged abuser is not here to “threaten” them any longer either.
Having since watched the documentary, presented by former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, and subsequently heard an incredibly creepy recording released by the BBC of Savile with a 14-year old girl, my mind changed somewhat and I now find myself appalled that this individual was allowed to get away with his perverted ways for so long.
Even in his lifetime, the bachelor Savile made some pretty sordid comments about his sex life and attitude towards women. A passage from his 1974 autobiography, As it Happens, gives an example:
“There have been trains and, with apologies to the hit parade, boats and planes (I am a member of the 40,000 foot club) and bushes and fields, corridors, doorways, floors, chairs, slag heaps, desks and probably everything except the celebrated chandelier and ironing board.”
It is also true that Savile was investigated and interviewed under caution over allegations of indecent assault in the 1970s by British police in 2007 and that the States of Jersey police had similarly looked into another assault in 2008. Neither resulted in any charges being brought but now that many of his former colleagues have come forward to state that knowledge of the Jim’ll Fix It star’s predatory ways were “well known,” one has to ask why no one shouted louder back then. After all, many of these people were in positions of power equal and in some cases senior to Savile.
Rather like with Leveson, though, the present calls for an investigation into the activities of Jimmy Savile come too late and are in my view pointless. Such an inquiry would certainly give the camera loving blabbermouths their day in court but it will not bring any closure for those who were allegedly abused. Their alleged abuser will never be punished for what he allegedly did and the only people to benefit will be the lawyers. Column inches will indeed also be filled but what else would be achieved?
Savile is buried in a coffin inclined at 45 degrees to fulfill his wish to “see the sea” at Woodlands Cemetery in Scarborough, Yorkshire. It has recently been encased in concrete “as a security measure” and given that a memorial plaque on his former home had to be removed after being defaced with graffiti, this is probably wise.
Whether Jimmy Savile is innocent or guilty of the abuses that he has been accused, his name now is forever tarnished. That now will be this strange man’s only legacy.
Who would have imagined seeing a Phantom and a Mulsanne drag racing?
In London, people do strange things with supercars. Arabs like His Highness Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, aged 28, don’t bother to insure their wrapped orange £230,000 Ferrari FF’s and find them impounded by the Metropolitan Police whilst Iraqi playboys race Ferrari 599’s down Sloane Street at 120 mph. Meanwhile, the Qatarai royals plainly don’t understand the concept of parking charges and strangely prefer to leave their £1.2million Koenigsegg CCXR’s to be clamped. The world of the super rich and their chariots is, indeed, nothing other than bemusing.
A Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Bentley Mulsanne drag racing in the 2012 goldRush Rally
When, yesterday, Thilo Martin, a director of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Geneva, kindly shared an image on Facebook, I truly saw two luxury cars being used in a manner that I could never have expected. In a photograph taken at the 2012 goldRush Rally readers will see a £253,000 Rolls Royce Phantom and a £225,000 Bentley Mulsanne drag racing.
The Rolls-Royce PhantomThe Bentley Mulsanne
We at The Steeple Times found this strange use of two vehicles that normally are more likely to be found on Rodeo Drive, Park Avenue or Bond Street most amusing and for that reason it had to be our picture of the week.
The North Devon countryside that inspired Henry Williamson, R. D. Blackmore and Charles Kingsley
Much of my childhood was spent reading the works of superb authors and amongst the best of them were Arthur Ransome (1884 – 1967), Denys Watkins-Pitchford (1905 – 1990), who wrote many of his works under the pseudonym “B.B.”, and Henry Williamson (1895 – 1977). As a youngster, I was lucky enough to be read to by Ransome’s nephew, a most captivating professional storyteller, and was given first editions of many of the works of all three of these early to mid twentieth century authors.
I had my first sailing lessons on Windermere, where Ransome set many of his works, and went shooting in the Forest of Bowland, a place dear to B.B. Though I also fished in many wonderful locations, until now I’d never been to the land of Henry Williamson and his most famous creation, Tarka the Otter. I currently find myself here enjoying a break from London and yesterday I randomly discovered, I am staying next to the setting of one of Williamson’s lesser known stories, Salar the Salmon, on the River Bray close to Exmoor.
“Salar the Salmon” by Henry Williamson (1935)Henry Williamson (1895 – 1977) photographed by Mark Gerson, cibachrome print from original transparency, August 1970“Tarka the Otter” by Henry Williamson (1927)
Originally published in 1935, Salar the Salmon combines Henry Williamson’s great talent as a writer with his insight as a naturalist. The story tells the tale of a five-year old salmon named Salar, whose name means the “leaper,” and his return to the stream of his birth. Salar’s migration through the riverways of Devon involve him surviving porpoises, seals, nets, fishermen, otters, poachers and weirs and Williamson’s account truly gives the reader an insight into one of nature’s great journeys.
Henry Williamson wrote both Salar the Salmon and The Children of Shallowford (1939) whilst living beside the River Bray in a hamlet named Shallowford, near Lynton in Devon. The river plainly inspired him and whilst he lived there on the Fortescue Estate he also sired four children, joined Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists, was briefly imprisoned for his views and conducted several extra-marital affairs.
“War Horse” author Michael Morpurgo OBE
Salar the Salmon is a story I am not alone in recommending. Another Devon based author and poet, Michael Morpurgo OBE, best known for his acclaimed work, War Horse, speaks very fondly of Williamson and the novel in a dedication he prepared for a recent reprint of it:
“It is a rare gift indeed for a storyteller to be poet as much as a storyteller, to tell a tale so deeply engaging that the reader wants to know what will happen and never want it to end, and yet at the same time tells it in such a way as to leave a reader wide-eyed with amazement at the sheer intensity of feeling that can be induced by the word-magic of a poet. Henry Williamson is just such a story-maker poet.”
Where I am staying, I have a view of the very river on which Salar made his journey and here also a detached barn conversion is currently available to rent at a price of £1,150 per month. Malle’s Barn is a 2-bedroom stone-built property that includes a 25ft by 12ft open plan sitting room with a fully fitted kitchen and a dining area, as well as a study and shower room.
The exterior of Malle’s Barn, Brayford, Near Barnstaple, Devon, EX32 7QBA large open plan reception room includes sitting, dining and kitchen areasThe setting of Malle’s Barn overlooking the valley of the River Bray
Tenants of the house will have access to the owner’s 60-acre estate which includes a mile of salmon and brown trout fishing on both the Rivers Bray and Holewater, ancient woodland and a lake in addition to a private garden and adequate parking for several vehicles.
Malle’s Barn would make a perfect retreat for any author or artist and is just 10 minutes from South Molton, Barnstaple is 9 miles away and Exeter 40 miles. The location is 30 minutes from J27 of the M5 and Tiverton Parkway Station, which provides mainline links to London Paddington within 2 hours.
Close to Malle’s Barn are the prettiest sections of a footpath named the Tarka Trail. Consisting of over 180 miles of footpaths and cycle tracks that take in the Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks and the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The trail takes in many of the locations described in Williamson’s most famous novel but this area of North Devon also galvanized the pens of a number of other authors.
Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825 – 1900)Professor Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1875)
Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825 – 1900) set Lorna Doone: A Romance on Exmoor in the locality in 1869 and Professor Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1875) put pen to paper here when he wrote Westward Ho! in 1855. A village of the same name was subsequently established near Bideford in the 1860s by entrepreneurs, led by Lord Portsmouth, who saw an opportunity to capitalise on the novel’s success. Westward Ho! is the only place in the United Kingdom with an exclamation mark in its name. The only other place in the world that shares such is Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! in Quebec, Canada.
Aside from literary connections, the locality is famous for its excellent fieldsports. The Earl and Countess of Arran’s Castle Hill and the Molland shoot are considered amongst two of England’s finest high bird pheasant shoots and both the Devon and Somerset Staghounds and Devon and Somerset Foxhounds hunt on Exmoor.
Johnny Kingdom
Johnny Kingdom, who describes himself as having been “a farmer, quarryman, forestry worker, gravedigger and, if truth be told, a poacher” in his youth, also lives in the locality and is well known as a wildlife photographer, filmmaker and television presenter. He sets many of his series on Exmoor because of the vast array of wildlife he comes across here and is, like Williamson before him, often to be found exploring the valley of the River Bray.
In a 1965 BBC interview Henry Williamson was asked: “What influence has this [the Devon] countryside had on you?”:
“Everything, I should say. I came down here as a youth, aged just 18 in 1914, spent a fortnight’s holiday here in the beginning of May, beginning of June. I walked 20 to 25 miles every day. Everything I saw was radiant and beautiful.”
This idyllic part of Devon that Williamson loved so much remains unspoilt to this day. If you haven’t visited yet, it really should be added to your bucketlist.
The sale of the 1935 Ford used as Lance Corporal Jones’s butcher’s van in “Dad’s Army”
A highlight in Bonhams’s 3rd December sale at Mercedes-Benz World Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey will be a van used as Lance Corporal Jones’s butcher’s van in the classic television series, Dad’s Army.
The 1935 “Dad’s Army” Ford Box VanThe cast of “Dad’s Army” and the Jones’s 1935 Ford Box VanClive Dunn OBE as Lance Corporal Jones in the 1935 Ford Box Van
Currently part of the Patrick Motor Museum collection, this 1935 Ford Box Van featured in some of the most iconic shots in the series and has a guide of £20,000 to £30,000.
Jones, played by Clive Dunn OBE (born 1920), was best known for his catchphrases: “Permission to speak, sir?”, “You saved my life!” and “They don’t like it up ‘em!” In Dad’s Army he plays the town butcher of Walmington-on-Sea and when his precious delivery van is commandeered by his Home Guard, he is far from amused when modifications are made to it for the platoon’s activities.
In one episode the van is damaged and Jones becomes so upset that he threatens to ban Captain Mainwaring, the Home Guard company commander, from his sausage list. This is met with the reply: “Steady Jones.”
It may not be a case of: “There’s a war on” when this lot comes to auction, but you can bet there’ll be some fierce bidding. As Jones frequently said: “Don’t panic! Don’t panic!”
The sale of an Aston Martin Virage Volante used by Prince Charles
A press release pinged into my inbox this morning from Bonhams that immediately caught my attention. It came from Leonora Oldfield of Bonhams, someone I hadn’t heard from since the days when we were both involved in fundraising for Lady Meyer’s PACT.
The 1994 Aston Martin Virage Volante that was used by Prince Charles until 2008
Most of my readers will know of the subsequent stories covered by The Daily Telegraph and The Independent about how that particular organisation operates and I don’t wish or need to dwell on that matter further.
The press release itself contained something that I found far more fascinating. In it, Bonhams announced that they are to auction an Aston Martin Virage Volante that was used by Prince Charles from 1994 until 2008.
Prince Charles pictured getting out of the carPrince Charles driving the car
This spectacular 6.3 litre soft-top vehicle has been on display at Aston Martin’s headquarters at Gaydon since another Aston Martin owned by the environmentally conscious prince was converted to run on bio-ethanol distilled from surplus British wine. That vehicle, an Aston Martin DB6 MKII, was most famously also used by Prince William to drive his new wife from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House after their wedding last year.
The Aston Martin DB6 MKII owned by Prince Charles that was used by Prince William to drive his new wife from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House on 29th April 2011
Bonhams quote a pre-sale estimate of £50,000 to £70,000 for the dark green Aston Martin Virage Volante. It will be auctioned at the Aston Martin Works Service at Newport Pagnell on 19th May 2012.
Prince Charles once said: “I’d rather go by bus.” I feel rather differently: I’d rather take this Aston any day.
For more information on the sale of the 1994 Aston Martin Virage Volante used by Prince Charles, contact Bonhams on +44 (0) 20 7468 5801 or email [email protected]. View details of the sale at:http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20142
