New Haven, Connecticut born Sarah Winchester became one of the wealthiest women in the world after the death of her Winchester Repeating Arms Company heir husband, William Wirt Winchester, in 1882. With a 50% holding in the rifle making manufacturer plus a legacy equivalent to £426 million ($529 million) in 2020, this true eccentric – whose only child died aged just one – took the advice of a medium and moved west to California.
Here, in San Jose, this grief obsessed and beyond superstitious, American equivalent of Queen Victoria spent the remainder of her life constructing a mansion that she believed would appease the spirits of her relatives and those of the victims of Winchester weaponry. Known as ‘The Winchester Mystery House’ and built (but never completed) between 1884 and 1922 at a cost estimated at the equivalent of £57 million ($71 million) today. Starting from an 8 room farmhouse, the property grew to 24,000 square foot and eventually included 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 160 rooms, 52 skylights, 47 stairways (some leading absolutely nowhere), 17 chimneys (some that didn’t even reach the roof), 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens and a séance room (that was once used by Harry Houdini).
Described as being a “woman of independence, drive and courage,” Sarah Winchester died of heart failure in her sleep in September 1922 leaving a will written in 13 sections that was signed 13 times and a safe that contained a lock of her infant daughter’s hair. She was portrayed by Helen Mirren in the 2018 horror film Winchester.
‘The Winchester Mystery House’ was sold five months after its creator’s death and has been open to the public for tours since June 1923.
The vast Winchester Mystery House, 525 South Winchester Boulevard, San Jose, California, CA 95128, United States of America.
As a deportation flight leaves for Jamaica, Twitter users have rightly angrily reacted asking why the paedophile Rolf Harris was not sent back to Australia after his release
The disgraced Australian ‘entertainer’ (if you can call this creep such) Rolf Harris is also a convicted paedophile. He was released from jail in May 2017 after serving three years, but unlike the forcibly placed on a flight to Jamaica this morning deportees, the authorities have allowed this rat to remain in Britain.
Just prior to his release, Harris – whose known victims (and there were likely many more than he was actually convicted of abusing) were as young as seven – penned a ‘song’ titled Gutter Girls. In it, clearly showing he has no sense of remorse for his crimes, he referenced the women and children he abused as “toothless little strumpet[s]” and “lying… scheming screaming… wolves in fine sheep’s clothing.”
Deranged sex pest Rolf Harris pictured harassing children at the Oldfield Primary School in Maidenhead, Berkshire in February 2019.Twitter users reacted angrily to news that minor offenders from Jamaica were being forcibly deported this morning. They demanded to know why Rolf Harris was not subject to the same treatment.Friends in high (or low depending on your view) places – One user shared a picture of Rolf Harris with Boris Johnson.Another complained that Harris was trending wasn’t the result of him having died and simply instead linked to #Jamaica50.Harris now ought to be forcibly removed and we join those demanding such.
Michael Barrymore’s bizarre rant prior to Channel 4’s documentary about the death of Stuart Lubbock proves him a lying maniac; the crazed nutjob has now also blocked ‘The Steeple Times’
During the screening of Barrymore: The Body in the Pool, the television personality India Willoughby announced to her 38,000 followers on Twitter: “I find Michael Barrymore as convincing as Prince Andrew.” She was 100% spot on and in the hours prior to the documentary airing, the vile concealer of the truth and disgraced entertainer piled yet more misery on the family of Stuart Lubbock – the victim of murder in his very own swimming pool – by taking to Instagram to pathetically moan that he was getting “bashed” and “bullied” by the media.
Barrymore (born Michael Parker) – a cretin who lied when he claimed he could not swim – went further in his 1:21 minute rant and aside from whingeing that he hadn’t (rightly) been given an advance viewing (since he refused to cooperate with the filming), this tawdry turd of a person delusionally announced:
“The truth is, I’ve always done everything asked of me… Watch the ITV interview with Piers Morgan [for which he was disgustingly paid £60,000]… He left no stone unturned… I have cooperated with everyone [one could add: “Apart from the police and the Lubbock family”] and I have had nothing to do with this [Stuart Lubbock’s death] whatsoever.”
Michael Barrymore took to Twitter and Instagram on Thursday afternoon prior to the airing of ‘Barrymore: The Body in the Pool’ to rant and rave about he was being unfairly treated. Diddums.Anything but the “mansion” it gets lauded as, 4 Beaumont Park Drive, Roydon, Harlow, Essex, CM19 5HB – The grubby looking pool where one of those present at Michael Barrymore’s after-party of deviants murdered Stuart Lubbock.Michael Barrymore – a man who cannot face people questioning his disgraceful behavior – has blocked both Matthew Steeples and ‘The Steeple Times’ on Twitter.Essex Police is finally doing the decent thing and have issued a reward in conjunction with Crimestoppers to get “the breakthrough that we need” and justice for the Lubbock family.
The bombshell documentary itself was very painstakingly put together over 18 months and is a must watch. Of this well researched television show, on Twitter, one user, Michelle Gladstone, joined the many reacting with fury and remarked: “Watching this program [sic] is making my blood boil. Of those people at the party, at least one of them knows the truth about how Stuart died. How can they live with themselves, keeping the truth from the Lubbock family?” Another, Amanda Clarke, added: “How bloody dare Michael Barrymore blame NHS staff for that poor man’s injuries. Say what happened liar.”
Elsewhere on social media this morning, Barrymore has taken to blocking anyone who dares to question what went on on the 31st March 2001. In doing so this scumbag simply yet again proves himself for exactly what he is: A shameless coward who now jolly well better man-up and answer the most important question of all: “Who present that night murdered Stuart Lubbock?”
Matthew Steeples suggests that is wrong that the Duchess of Sussex is being treated as a victim; she chose her path and it is time she accepted that with being a public figure, criticism will follow
Any criticism of “She Who Must Be Obeyed” – AKA the former Meghan Markle – is immediately condemned as “trolling” and “racism.”
That this meddling upstart has drafted out George Clooney to claim “she is being pursued and vilified like Diana” and implored five unnamed friends to claim she is being “victimised” proves just how pathetic she truly is.
The Duchess of Sussex, in marrying into the royal family, chose public life. Nobody forced her down the path she’s taken and just like when she became an actress, she has to accept that with such a position comes criticism. Aside from collecting herself a ludicrous Marie Antoinette style wardrobe worth the staggering sum of over £1 million in the last year alone, ‘Murky Mucky’ has annoyed the nation by treating her own father so appallingly.
Thomas Markle may have made mistakes, but he, unlike his daughter, is entirely lacking in a PR machine to manage his profile. That this generation’s Mrs Simpson pushed him and her disabled half-sister under the bus is an utter disgrace and that she continues to blame everyone but herself for her situation sums up how outrageous this woman has so fast become.
Donald Trump’s son and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle – the ex-wife of the Democrat ‘Gavinator’ and governor of California – should be utterly ashamed of themselves for associating with the alligator, bear, goat and sheep slayer Larysa Switlyk
Opportunist of the first order Kimberly Guilfoyle and her recently acquired elephant slayer boyfriend Donald Trump Jr. should be wholeheartedly ashamed of themselves.
Sicko Larysa Switlyk with a dead sheep and a sex toy
Donald Trump Jr. with an elephant he massacred
Known previously as the runaway bride of the new governor of California Gavin Newsom – and a woman who has teased her ex-hubby by suggesting her new love, Donald Trump Jr. and him talk about their mutual love of the slicked-back-hair-do – Guilfoyle appeared in a photograph on Instagram with the nastiest animal slayer on the planet, Larysa Switlyk, on 21st January.
Switlyk – who has rightly been described as “a bitch of the first order” elsewhere on social media – is best known for paying to shoot sheep in England, massacre goats in Scotland, slaughter alligators in Florida and murder bears in Alberta is a vile, vile woman. She has no shame over her immoral actions and simply uses her presence on social media to sell crappy T-shirts. She ought, like Trump Jr. also, be treated in the very same manner as those poor, innocent animals she so mercilessly slaughters.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is right to speak out against those of the belief that social media trolls should simply be ignored suggests Matthew Steeples
As someone subject to daily abuse on social media at the hands of mostly deranged, aged right-wing trolls, I was truly impressed that the author J.K. Rowling took to Twitter this week to speak out against those of the belief that “it is best simply to ignore them.”
“I’m tired of this ‘don’t feed the troll’ advice,” remarked Rowling in one tweet. She continued: “Ignoring racist abuse leaves targets feeling isolated and unsupported. Hate loves silence, which it takes for consent” before adding: “|The overwhelming majority of people whose focus is ‘what the troll wants’ have never personally experienced abuse or threats. How about we focus on what the victims want? My experience is that most of them would really like the rest of us not to look the other way.”
Ms. Rowling is entirely right. After my involvement in a case that ultimately resulted in the jailing of the racist bigot Viscount St Davids last summer, I have since been targeted by a number of his supporters. These dangerous oddities have posted up to fifty offensive messages about me per day, harassed those close to me publicly and made threats to my person also. I will, like J.K. Rowling, not remain silent and I urge others facing such vile abuse to follow our lead.
Neglected Georgian mansion that has been home to Sir Dirk Bogarde, Basil Dearden, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Matt Aitken and Robert Kilroy-Silk for sale for 39% less than it sold for in 2014
A dilapidated Grade II* listed country house whose extensive roster of owners numbers aristocrats, rock and film stars and politicians is on sale for £3.95 million or 39% less from the £6.5 million sum it sold for in 2014.
Built for the Duke of Buckingham in the 1600s and extending to 10,743 square foot, Beel House in Little Chalfont, near Amersham in Buckinghamshire stands in 13.5 acres of land. It comprises of a 7 reception room, 8 bedroom, 6 bathroom main house and also comes with an indoor swimming pool complex, a tennis court and garaging for 5 cars.
Home to The Hon. Lady Caroline Cavendish in the 1830s and Colonel Abram ‘Arthur’ Lyle of the Tate & Lyle dynasty from 1909 to 1920, Beel House was bought by the actor Sir Dirk Bogarde in a “dilapidated state” in 1954. Of discovering it, Bogarde, who had been renting a cottage in the close vicinity on the Bendrose Estate, stated:
“[The actress Kay Kendall and I] walked across muddy fields from my rented home to look at Beel House. It was a horror. Bleak and empty, few of its twenty-six rooms caught the sun, and the garden surrounding it was a tangle of overgrown rosebeds. Inside it seemed a labyrinth of corridors and stone passages. It was painted throughout in dejected yellow and brown and each room had a rusty gas fire in it.”
Bogarde made significant changes to the building and pulled down a wing of 11 rooms. In their place, he built a swimming pool and a 30-foot long conservatory in the grounds – which Kay Kendall later described as looking like “an out patients’ department” – and it seems he spent several happy years there. He moved to another property nearby named Drummer’s Yard in 1960 and sold Beel House to Basil Dearden, the director of The Assassination Bureau, Khartoum and The Man Who Haunted Himself.
An aerial photo of Beel House, Little Chalfont, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP7 9QP, United Kingdom
Images of the exterior of Beel House in the 1950s
Actor Anthony Forwood, Sir Dirk Bogarde’s eventual “life partner,” at Beel House with his dogs Sinuhe and Bogie; Sir Dirk Bogarde in his study at the house
Sir Dirk Bogarde outside Beel House with one of many Rolls-Royces he owned and inside on the house’s main staircase
Film director Basil Dearden, owner of Beel House between 1960 and 1966, worked with Sir Dirk Bogarde on the controversial film ‘Victim’ in 1961; it was the first English language film to use the word “homosexual” and of it one Italian critic remarked: “At last the British have stopped being hypocrites”
Dearden sold up in 1966 and the next famous owners were Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s. It was whilst here that Mr Osbourne “decided to murder his wife” and of the ensuing incident on 3rd September 1989, the Amersham Museum’s website reports:
“Ozzy Osbourne put the house up for sale after he had been arrested for the attempted murder of his wife whilst living at Beel House. After taking a cocktail of drugs and drinking heavily during a family meal at the Chinese restaurant at Nightingales Corner he attacked his wife and was subsequently arrested. He had no memory of the attack but the conditions of his bail were that he entered a rehab centre, did not contact his wife and did not return to Beel House.”
Marketed for £1.75 million in 1991, unsurprisingly Sharon Osbourne, herself, did not have much positive to say about her time at Beel House either. In her 2006 autobiography, Extreme, she remarked:
“I decided I wanted to go back to England. By this time we had already sold Beel House. I had enough bad memories not to be too sorry to see it go. Also it had reached what the builder called the domino point: mending one thing only triggered something else that needed to be done.”
Images of Beel House during the ownership of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne (photographs by Conrad Rickenbacker)
Robert Kilroy-Silk at Beel House prior to his appearance on ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here’ in November 2008
The house as furnished by Robert Kilroy-Silk and his wife Jan Beech, circa 2014
Matt Aitken, the composer of chart toppers for Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley and Bananarama, supposedly lived at Beel House for a period subsequently and in the 1990s, the property was sold to the “exotically handsome man, with a very un-English facial glow and ice blue eyes” Robert Kilroy-Silk and his wife, Jan Beech.
Controversial television personality Mr Kilroy-Silk, an MP from 1974 to 1986 and an MEP from 2004 to 2009, brought with him a herd of fallow deer as well as Vietnamese pheasants and bantams to Beel House. He lived between there and his home in Spain and then sold up for the staggering sum of £6.5 million in 2014 to an “international buyer” who, according to Country Life’s Penny Churchill, immediately found “it ‘surplus to requirements’ and put it straight back on the market” through Savills.
Of the estate, which by then had been for sale for three years, in October 2017, then selling agent Hugh Maconochie told the Bucks Free Press:
“In many respects Beel House is the archetypal country residence: a Grade II* listed home in the heart of the Chilterns, beautiful grounds and easy access to London by both rail and road. Yet, while it was completely refurbished in the 1980s – new garaging, games block and swimming pool complex included – its current state necessitates a complete restoration project.”
“For those seeking a country residence to move straight into, Beel House is not the home for them. Instead it would appeal to a buyer looking to restore and revive a Georgian gem. A reduction in price over the years reflects the refurbishment that’s required.”
Empty and plainly somewhat neglected, Edward Welton of Knight Frank’s Baker Street office is now marketing the property. His firm describes Beel House as: “An exciting opportunity for a full restoration project, giving someone the chance to create their own style on a private estate, so close to London.”
Beel House – The Names and Numbers
November 2017 – Further reduced to just £3.95 million ($5.29 million, €4.47 million or درهم19.44 million) through Knight Frank.
January 2017 – Reduced to £4.95 million ($6.63 million, €5.61 million or درهم24.37 million) through Savills.
November 2015 – For sale again for £6.5 million ($8.7 million, €7.4 million or درهم32 million) through Savills.
2014 – Sold to “an international buyer” by Robert Kilroy-Silk for “close to” the £6.5 million ($8.7 million, €7.4 million or درهم32 million) asking price.
June 1991 – For sale for £1.75 million (the equivalent of £3.45 million, $4.62 million, €3.91 million or درهم16.98 million today).
October 1989 – Placed for sale by media personalities Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne.
1966 – Placed on the market by Basil Dearden for £66,000 (the equivalent of £1.1 million, $1.5 million, €1.2 million or درهم5.4 million today).
Circa 1960 – Sold to film director Basil Dearden (1911 – 1971).
January 1954 – Sold to actor Sir Dirk Bogarde (1921 – 1999) for £4,000 (the equivalent of £101,000, $135,000, €114,000 or درهم497,000 today).
1836 to 1954 – Part of the estate of the Lowndes family, largescale landowners in the Chesham, Buckinghamshire area. During this time tenants included The Hon. Lady Caroline Cavendish and from 1909 to 1920 by Colonel Abram Lyle (of the Tate & Lyle dynasty).
1730 – Valued at £500 (the equivalent of £99,000, $133,000, €112,000 or درهم487,000 today) by Sun Insurance whilst home to Thomas White of Middle Temple.
1672 to 1682 – Home to Mary Pennington, the mother-in-law of the Quaker founder of the State of Pennsylvania, William Penn.
Follow The Steeple Times on Twitter at @SteepleTimes.
Whilst elements of the media seized on one conviction being thrown out, His Honour Judge Brown, Lord Justice Treacy and Mrs Justice McGowan found that “nothing arises which could impugn the safety of [the remaining] convictions.” They specifically noted:
“Stepping back and looking at the totality of the evidence of Counts 2 to 12, including the bad character evidence, we find nothing that causes us to doubt the safety of those convictions… The primary evidence… remained intact, as did the body of bad character evidence.”
Elsewhere, one of the paedophile child abuser Harris’ unhinged supporters, Lizzie Cornish, wrote to The Steeple Times. In a series of rants on our comments pages – which we will not be publishing due to the fact that they would offend genuine victims – crackpot Miss Cornish commented:
“Your putrid words about me make me sick! … [The] case STANK from the very start…and people like you believed it! People like me, Steeples, stood up against them and had to endure the likes of YOU!”
Follow The Steeple Times on Twitter at @SteepleTimes.
After a Chelsea chef who came out of nowhere named Michael Riemenschneider is revealed to be a “conman” in the ‘Mail on Sunday’, readers tell of his past form
As can only be expected of a paper that loves a bit of sensationalism this week’s Mail on Sunday’s ‘YOU’ got rather carried away in an interview with a “wealthy widow” named Flora Mascolo – a woman who claims to be a victim of, mind the magazine’s gushingly cringeworthy description, a “delicious romance soon turned sour” with a Michelin starred chef named Michael Riemenschneider.
Bizarrely, that Riemenschneider – a man whose first London restaurant, we noted in February 2014, was literally covered with images of his face and captions referencing his name – is lauded as a “handsome celebrity chef” in the feature by Margarette Driscoll is somewhat ambitious given several locals we contacted remember him as “podgy” and a “little bit greasy.” A well-known Chelsea restaurateur – where the Swiss born chef opened a replacement restaurant that few ever even got to hear of just months after opening and nigh on immediately closing his original Marylebone premises in summer 2014 – recalls an individual whose “ability to talk about himself and his achievements made me immediately question the truth of his claims.”
That Driscoll lauds this individual as “talented and dynamic” is perhaps fair given his “experimental cuisine” most definitely had many merits, but that she describes a man Mascolo herself calls a “coward of a man” and “somebody who was a lie, from the beginning” as “destined for similar success” to Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay is nothing but far fetched. Here was someone who opened in bizarre off-piste locations, insisted diners fitted into limited time spots and ridiculously thought he could limit customers to a set menu priced at £275 per head or a ‘cheaper’ one at £95 per head.
Riemenschneider, a man whose exploits are reported to have cost the widow of the co-founder of the Toni & Guy hairdressing empire some £2.27 million, is now supposedly bankrupt and living in Austria. Cars bought by him including a Mercedes-Benz GTS have reportedly been seized and of him Mascolo comments: “If you wrong me, you will remember my name. He didn’t know who he was messing with.”
A wealthy female reader of The Steeple Times contacted us to share her thoughts on the interview. She did not wish to be named but stated: “This strange, anything but handsome individual, pestered me on social media. He messaged me one day out of the blue in 2013 and he told me that we had friends in common. I am glad I did not fall for his attempts to lure me. Plainly, Mrs Mascolo did and I am sorry for her.”
She continued:
“This man wasn’t a ‘celebrity chef’ but, in fact, a Facebook stalker of ladies he thought had a bit of cash. In his messages to me, I quickly realised he was an individual who’d come out of nowhere and brought with him an ego the size of Harrods.”
“The journalist [Margarette Driscoll] gets rather carried away about his restaurant. It was in a sub-basement off Sloane Square and it didn’t even have a website. Nobody went there because nobody even knew about it. Where there’s money, there’s muck.”
Michael Riemenschneider will no doubt reemerge someday. He was certainly a good cook, but sadly he turned out to be an even better conman.
As Theresa May once again proves she has no idea of the concept of “when the time is right”, we join those that suggest the time that she must go is now
Theresa May failed to anticipate the timing of a General Election two weeks ago and got trounced. A week ago, this same self-serving woman didn’t realise that appearing – accompanied by her vast security detail but without bothering to even meet a single victim – for 15 minutes in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy would be perceived as unacceptable. She rightly got savaged by the nation and in a third public relations disaster, yesterday, after Mrs May opted to “schmooze donors” at a Conservative Party fundraiser at The Savoy for 50 minutes, she now again comes under fire for her “appalling lack of judgment”.
Having excused herself from numerous other engagements in recent days by claiming to be “too busy” with Brexit negotiations and preparations for the Queen’s Speech, that Theresa May was able to find the time to rubberneck with captains of finance – including the vastly wealthy Ukranian born businessman Alexander Temerko – shows where her priorities actually lie.
Previously compared to Lady Macbeth due to her sheer cunning dedication to controlling the reigns of power, Mrs May is now increasingly beginning to resemble Marie-Antoinette also. One wouldn’t be surprised if this dead duck Prime Minister is soon heard to say: “Let them eat cake”.
#TimeToGo #BringHerDown #MakeJuneTheEndOfMay
Theresa May with Mark Field MP and supporters at the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association luncheon at The Savoy on Tuesday 20th June 2017.
