The Steeple Times

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  • Could Mark Alexander be Innocent?

    Could Mark Alexander be Innocent?

    With humanitarian Terry Waite questioning the safety of the conviction of the law student Mark Alexander for murdering his conman father Samuel in Buckinghamshire in 2009, is it time that this curious case was reviewed?

    “Locking people up should be our last resort when all else has failed, not a knee-jerk reaction” concludes prisoner Mark Alexander in his two-and-a-half page contribution to The Monument Fellowship’s Crime and Consequence: What should happen to people who commit criminal offences? in September 2019.

     

    In another paper, published by the University of Ottawa in December 2018 and titled A Phenomenology of Freedom: finding transcendence in captivity, the University of London law graduate added: “Prisons, like Jurassic Park, are anachronistic institutions. When ‘the owl of Minerva takes flight,’ our descendants will look upon the use of imprisonment with the same horror and shame with which we view slavery, torture, and the death penalty today.” One would expect such virtue signalling from someone who believes they’ve been wrongly imprisoned, but now, with new evidence available, we join those asking: “Could Mark Alexander have actually been wrongly convicted of the murder of his father Samuel Alexander?”

     

    Mark Alexander was found guilty of the murder of his “controlling” father on a date unknown between September 2009 and February 2010 “by a majority verdict and on the basis of circumstantial evidence only.” He was imprisoned for life at the age of 22 in September 2010 and after refusing to take a manslaughter plea at trial, thus lost the chance for release for at least sixteen years.

     

    In spite of no forensic evidence being found that linked him to his 70-year-old father’s killing and burial underneath a 29-centimetre thick slab of concrete in the garden of their Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire home, Mark Alexander was convicted on the basis of the evidence of “suspicious neighbours” and his strange behaviour after his father “disappeared.”

     

    Without doubt, amongst other actions, sending Christmas cards with his father’s name on when he did not know his actual whereabouts made investigating officers suspicious of Mark Alexander, but now, ten years after his jailing, new evidence has come to light that raises issues about the safety of his conviction.

     

    On the homepage of the ‘Justice for Mark Alexander’ campaign website, the issues with the verdict are surmised as follows: “Mark has always maintained his innocence… Mark was found guilty on the basis of doubt created about his version of events rather than any evidence of his involvement in a murder. No such evidence exists. There is no known cause, or date, of death – and there were no traces of DNA, blood, or even fingerprints linking Mark to the crime.”

     

    This month, however, the Mirror’s Tom Pettifor and Robin Eveleigh highlighted other issues that have been discovered since sentencing, amongst them that “secretive” Samuel Alexander was in fact a conman operating with “at least eleven aliases.” Aside from a caution for shoplifting in 1995, however, the Egypt born pensioner was not convicted of crimes that numbered mortgage fraud involving a number of properties. The “confidence trickster” and “fraudster” undoubtedly had enemies and as his son told the paper: “Dad always seemed to be running or hiding from something.”

     

    Using human rights laws, Mark Alexander was, in March this year, able to finally obtain files documenting his father’s multiple identities from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. He became supposedly the first person in Britain to achieve such access and now also, according to the Daily Mail’s Alice Cachia and Robin Eveleigh: “[The Justice for Mark Alexander’ campaign] are also developing new mobile phone cell site evidence which they hope will provide proof of Alexander’s movements around the time of his father’s death.” They hint that this will show he could not possibly have been present at the time of the murder and burial.

     

    Further highlighting the plainly deviant lifestyle of Samuel Alexander – a man described by Judge Reddihough at sentencing as someone who operated by “control” and “fear” – it has been revealed the pensioner spent “long hours on the computer surfing teenage chat rooms and sex websites, sometimes posing as a man in his late teens or early 20.” Could it be that he upset someone in the process and could they be his true killer?

     

    Samuel Alexander lied also to his son about what had happened to his mother also and told him she had died of cancer. The pair were only reunited after Mark Alexander’s arrest and it can now be revealed he cheated her as part of a property scam also and of the case, the greatly respected humanitarian Terry Waite CBE has examined it also. He turned specifically to the way in which Samuel Alexander had been buried and remarked:

     

    “I am disturbed by the conviction of Mark as I find it difficult to believe that a complete forensic examination was conducted before the jury found him guilty by a majority verdict. It was pointed out by the judge in his summing-up that the evidence was circumstantial, but even so he was convicted and sentenced.”

     

    “A forensic investigation of the site was conducted by a chartered engineer and chartered geologist in 2017. This examination ought to have been conducted before the trial, but for reasons unknown to me it was not. Given that the site had been excavated by the police when searching for the body and afterwards refilled it was not possible for the expert to be totally certain about the dates when the different levels of concrete were laid. However, his conclusions, which are fully recorded in his report, suggest that the top level of concrete could not have been laid by Mark Alexander as he was not in that location at that time and can prove this. The report raises in my mind a reasonable doubt as to the safety of this conviction.”

     

    Pictured top: Mark Alexander at his graduation ceremony with Terry Waite CBE.

     

    Images: © freeMarkAlexander.org (CC BY-ND 4.0).

     

    Further information about this case can be found at the ‘Justice for Mark Alexander’ Facebook group and in threads on the UK Justice Forum pages about the matter.

     

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    Could Mark Alexander be innocent of the murder of his father? With humanitarian Terry Waite questioning the safety of the conviction of the law student Mark Alexander for murdering his conman father Samuel at 2 Prospect Close, Drayton Parslow, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 0JB in 2009, is it time that this curious case was reviewed?
    Mark Alexander and his late father Samuel Alexander.
    Could Mark Alexander be innocent of the murder of his father? With humanitarian Terry Waite questioning the safety of the conviction of the law student Mark Alexander for murdering his conman father Samuel at 2 Prospect Close, Drayton Parslow, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 0JB in 2009, is it time that this curious case was reviewed?
    The scene of the burial (but not necessarily the killing) of Samuel Alexander – 2 Prospect Close, Drayton Parslow, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 0JB.
    Could Mark Alexander be innocent of the murder of his father? With humanitarian Terry Waite questioning the safety of the conviction of the law student Mark Alexander for murdering his conman father Samuel at 2 Prospect Close, Drayton Parslow, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 0JB in 2009, is it time that this curious case was reviewed?
    An aerial shot of the property.
    Could Mark Alexander be innocent of the murder of his father? With humanitarian Terry Waite questioning the safety of the conviction of the law student Mark Alexander for murdering his conman father Samuel at 2 Prospect Close, Drayton Parslow, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 0JB in 2009, is it time that this curious case was reviewed?
    Documentary evidence of Samuel Alexander using aliases that show him to have been a man capable of perpetrating fraud and deception.
    Could Mark Alexander be innocent of the murder of his father? With humanitarian Terry Waite questioning the safety of the conviction of the law student Mark Alexander for murdering his conman father Samuel at 2 Prospect Close, Drayton Parslow, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK17 0JB in 2009, is it time that this curious case was reviewed?
    On Friday 28th September 2018, Mark Alexander played at a charity concert for The Howard League of Penal Reform at HM Prison Coldingley in Bisley, Surrey. Terry Waite CBE read from ‘Out of the Silence,’ his book about his 1,763 days in captivity from 1987 to 1991 in Lebanon.
  • Distraction Dom

    Distraction Dom

    Matthew Steeples suggests devious Dominic Cummings might actually be the best asset bungling Boris Johnson has got left; the king of distraction has made Jennifer Arcuri go away

    Aside from consoling himself with the weak warblings of morose ministers who’ve been drafted out to lackadaisically laud him, most would suggest Dominic Cummings is the loneliest man in politics this Sunday. Instead, in reality – though no one’s got around to publicly saying it (yet) – this modern day Mandelson could still prove to be Boris Johnson’s most useful asset.

     

    Hidden away somewhere deep in Downing Street in his beanie hat, this lookalike of Compo from Last of the Summer Wine crossed with Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper in the House of Cards has achieved one very important thing this weekend: Cummings has made the tawdriest elements of the Jennifer Arcuri story disappear from Sunday’s front pages.

     

    Whilst Cummings’ wife, Mary Wakefield, certainly didn’t help the initial narrative with her clearly confused and contradictory account of how the pair had lived during their time with coronavirus in The Spectator, she certainly set in place curiosity as to where and in the company of whom the PM’s closest henchman had been sleeping. Then, when this Oxford graduate went “off on one” with his arrogant utterings as he clambered into his Land Rover Discovery yesterday, Cummings actually pulled a blinder.

     

    Subsequent revelations as to whether the senior adviser to the Prime Minister attempted a rendition of Theresa May’s “wandering in the wheat fields” and boogied in the bluebells are surprisingly neither here nor there. Aside from quite rightly exciting anger from the public due to his hypocrisy, Cummings, in true Machiavellian fashion, has instead just shifted the news agenda away from BoJo’s very own bedroom behaviour.

     

    In a clear example of the ‘distraction technique’ coming into play, Cummings’ travails have made everyone forget the sordid sexual relations ‘Bonking Boris’ had with the American founder of Hacker House. According to a most reliable source close to Downing Sttreet, Arcuri – a woman whom believes she has “been thrown under a bus” by her former lover – was about to give a “kiss-and-tell,” but has now retreated to her bunker. For now, ‘Bungling Boris’ can stay home and stay safe; the blabbering bird has (for now) been belted-up.

     

    Pictured top: The finest examples of modern day distraction technique spinners in politics (both in reality and in fiction) have to be Dominic Cummings and Doug Stamper.

     

    Distraction Dom – Dominic Cummings wipes out Jennifer Arcuri – Matthew Steeples suggests devious Dominic Cummings might actually be the best asset bungling Boris Johnson has got left; the king of distraction has made Jennifer Arcuri go away.
    (Not So) Sexy Time with Jen and Dom – Jennifer Arcuri’s alleged attempt to kiss-and-tell about her indoor activities with Boris Johnson were supposedly put on hold this weekend due to the outdoor antics of Dominic Cummings dominating the news.

    Elsewhere on social media and taking a break from sharing his enjoyment of Vimto and dislike of Jeremy Clarkson, the “laureate for our fractured times” turned Pan Macmillan published novelist Brian Bilston shared a poem he’d prepared about Mr Cummings. It follows.

     

    Dominic Cummings: The Lockdown Tour

    By Brian Bilston

     

    He’s been locking down in London,

    And a bit in Durham, too.

    Not to mention Barnard Castle,

    Legoland and Bristol Zoo.

     

    He’s been locking down in Stoke-on-Trent

    And Weston-super-Mare.

    He’s spread himself quite thin of late.

    He’s been spreading everywhere.

     

    He’s been locking down in Basildon,

    In Derby, Penge and Frome.

    Wherever he lays his beanie hat,

    That’s his lockdown home.

     

    He’s more spreadable than margarine.

    He’s been spreading far and wide.

    He’ll be locking down in your town soon:

    Spread the word and stay inside.

     

    To support a Change.org petition calling for Dominic Cummings to either “resign or be sacked,” click here.

     

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    Distraction Dom – Dominic Cummings wipes out Jennifer Arcuri – Matthew Steeples suggests devious Dominic Cummings might actually be the best asset bungling Boris Johnson has got left; the king of distraction has made Jennifer Arcuri go away.
    Tweedle Deviant and Tweedle Deviant – Is Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson’s brotherhood of bumbling balls-ups about to be brought to an end? The public are most definitely braying for blood.
  • Roy Clark’s Roller

    Roy Clark’s Roller

    ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide doors and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf

    American Hee Haw host and country singer Roy Clark (1933 – 2018) was best known for songs such as Yesterday, When I Was Young and Thank God and Greyhound. Now, enthusiasts of this tobacco farmer’s son have the opportunity to buy a piece of his memorabilia in the form of a Rolls-Royce that he owned for some forty years.

     

    Last offered without reserve at the Leake Auction Company sale in Tulsa in June 2019, the dark red 1964 Phantom V touring limousine by James Young was owned by the star from 1977 until his death. Clark paid $19,500 (the equivalent of £70,000, $86,000, €79,000 or درهم316,000 today) when he purchased it and after it was subsequently sold to a “noted private collection in Texas,” they lavished £24,000 ($30,000, €27,000 or درهم110,000) on servicing it in 2019 and 2020.

     

    This month, RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000). Of the car, they remark:

     

    “The limousine is finished in a lovely shade of dark red and accented by a gold pinstripe running the length of the car. The initials “RC” are prominently featured on the driver’s side passenger door. The interior is trimmed in tan leather and is accented by beautiful woodwork throughout. The driver compartment features Smiths instrumentation, an AM/FM radio, and an altimeter in the passenger glove box door. Furthermore, the car is equipped with electric windows and air conditioning which is vented into both the driver and passenger compartments. A division window separates the driver from the passengers. The rear compartment is the epitome of 1960s luxury and features dual footrests, fold-out jump seats, pillar-mounted flower vases, reading lights, and a Smiths clock while fold-out picnic tables flank a small cocktail bar with crystal decanters and glassware.”

     

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    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
    Roy Clark’s Roller – 1964 ex-Roy Clark Rolls-Royce limousine to be sold – ‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf – RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000).
  • Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti

    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti

    Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57SC Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 99.9% lower than the most famous of the four originals is said to be worth

    If ever rediscovered, a car termed “the most beautiful ever created” – the second of four Bugatti Type 57S Atlantic coupés – would supposedly be worth £93 million ($113 million, €104 million or درهم415 million).

     

    Handcrafted as part of a limited production with sales only to the British banker Victor, 3rd Baron Rothschild, an English tennis player named Richard B. Pope and a Frenchman named Jacques Holzschuh between 1936 and 1938, the second coupé made was used for promotion and then given to its creator, Gianoberto ‘Jean’ Bugatti (1909 – 1939). After he was killed whilst testing a Type 57 tank-bodied racer, his car passed into the hands of various racing drivers. It was then hidden away with the outset of the Second World War, but sadly never resurfaced.

     

    Named in honour of Mr. Bugatti’s aviator friend Jean Mermoz (1901 – 1936), whom never returned from a journey across the South Atlantic in 1936 in a Latécoère 300 Croix-du-Sud plane, the 12-foot long 57SC is lauded as the ultimate automotive design icon. Bugatti themselves term the “world’s most valuable vehicle” to be “extraordinary” and reference the coupé “unique in its time and still unique today.”

     

    As a result of their desirability, the car – which Motor Authority terms “delightfully swoopy… [the] crown jewels of Bugatti production cars” – has unsurprisingly inspired a number of automotive designers to create homages to it. One example, created by “hot rodder” Terry Cook, is being auctioned this month – but one thing’s for sure, whatever it sells for, its hammer price will nowhere near that of a ‘real’ example.

     

    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    In March 2017, the “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57SC Atlantic coupé,” the Delahaye USA Pacific was auctioned at the Mostalgia Amelia Island sale in Florida. It sold for £182,000 ($220,000, €204,000 or درهم808,000). The same car is headed to auction again this month.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    Jean Bugatti pictured next to the ‘Royale Esders Roadster’ prototype he designed in 1932.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The four Bugatti 57SC Atlantic cars.

    The “reimagined Atlantic” concerned was made by Cook’s firm, Delahaye USA, in 2016 and is described as “noticeably longer than the original, 10 inches to be exact.” It has a 127-inch wheelbase and features a BMW fuel-injected 12-cylinder engine and automatic transmission and unlike its forerunners comes equipped with air conditioning, heating and power windows. The stainless steel tubular seat frames are exact copies of those from the 57SC now owned by Ralph Lauren and the fabric is described as “richly decorative.”

     

    RM Sotheby’s will sell the 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific – which actually is titled a 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ – as part of their ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000) for this “wonderful modern homage.” Of it, they add: “The Delahaye USA Pacific is sure to turn heads no matter where it may travel, be it on any side of either ocean.”

     

    Those on an even more limited budget could still live the ‘Atlantic dream’ – Ralph Lauren is currently marketing a 1:18 scale, die-cast, hand-painted replica of Mr. Lauren’s 57SC for ‘just’ £1,595 ($1,930, €1,784 or درهم7,090).

     

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    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The metallic gray-blue 1936 Bugatti Type 57S – chassis number 57374 – was originally owned by Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild and thus known as the ‘Rothschild Atlantic.’ It was sold for in excess of £24.8 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110.2 million) in 2010 to the collector Peter Mullin. The car is now displayed at the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The missing 1936 57SC – chassis 57453 – was presented in black and known as ‘La Voiture Noire’ or ‘The Black Car.’ It was the second Atlantic manufactured, disappeared from France in February 1941 and has never been seen since. Jean Bugatti considered this particular example his “most innovative and most valuable creation.”
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The 1936 Bugatti 57SC – chassis number 57473, ‘the Holzschuh Atlantic’ – was first owned by Jacques Holzschuch and his wife, Yvonne, and presented in black. After they were killed in the Second World War, the car’s subsequent owner, René Chatard, was hit by a train whilst in it 1955. He and his companion died and the remains of the vehicle were sold on. The restored car – considered a replica by experts – is displayed at the Torrota private collection in Spain.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    Clothier Ralph Lauren with his 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC – chassis 57591, the ‘Pope Atlantic.’ It was originally owned by Richard B. Pope and presented in sapphire blue, but painted black after being sold to Ralph Lauren in 1988.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    At the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, commemorating the 110th anniversary of Jean Bugatti’s birth, Bugatti sold a one-off model named ‘La Voiture Noire’ in homage to the missing 57SC for circa £15.7 million ($19 million, €17.6 million or درهم70 million). They declared it: “The most expensive new car ever sold.”
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The model available from Ralph Lauren.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The steering wheel of the 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The seats are an artwork in themselves.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    Another view of the interior.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    With the doors open, from the front.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The spare wheel.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    From the front.
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    From the rear (complete with twelve exhaust pipes).
    Beauty’s in the Eye of the Bargain Basement Bugatti – 2016 ‘Assembled Vehicle’ 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific by Terry Cook – Replica “homage to Jean Bugatti’s Type 57S Atlantic coupé” to be auctioned for a sum 100% lower than the missing most famous of the four originals is said to be worth – The vehicle will be sold as part of the RM Sotheby’s ‘Drive Into Summer’ online sale from 21st to 29th May. They have set an estimate of £124,000 to £165,000 ($150,000 to $200,000, €139,000 to €185,000 or درهم551,000 to درهم735,000)
    The bonnet of the vehicle with a model of the car that inspired it on it.
  • A Faithfull Flat

    A Faithfull Flat

    Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million

    Marianne Faithfull has been recuperating in London after being treated for coronavirus in April, but even with her wealth the singer-songwriter is unlikely to be able to afford to return to where she lived at 29 Lennox Gardens in Knightsbridge for several years from 1967. An apartment that forms the majority part of that Grade II listed building is now for sale for the staggering sum of £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million).

     

    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    Marianne Faithfull pictured in her apartment in the building in 1967. She lived there with her then husband John Dunbar and their son, Nicholas, but left to live with Mick Jagger. At the time, she told ‘New Musical Express’: “My first move was to get a Rolling Stone as a boyfriend, I slept with three and decided the lead singer was best.”
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    Residents of Lennox Gardens have access to its private communal gardens. They were laid out on the site of the Prince’s Cricket Ground – the location of the famed Gentlemen of England vs. Australians and Players vs. Australians game in 1878. In 2017, we featured another £35 million flat overlooking this garden square also.

    Spread over three floors and extending to 5,280 square foot, the triplex is a complete contrast to the ordinary “white suburban bedroom” Faithfull imagined in her song The Ballad of Lucy Jordan. A far-cry from the drug riddled existence she subsequently slipped into, the ground floor, basement and first floor apartment includes a large formal drawing room, a family dining kitchen and a separate chef’s kitchen, a media and wine room, five bedroom suites and two courtyard gardens.

     

    The leasehold with share of freehold property – redeveloped by London Land Asset Management and designers 1508 London “on behalf of a private investor” – is offered by agents Strutt & Parker. The building was in recent years primarily home to the socialite-philanthropist Pia Hahn Marocco and its top floors offered to rent at a sum of £15,167 per month ($18,357, €16,966 or درهم67,416 per month).

     

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    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
    A Faithfull Flat – Triplex apartment in Knightsbridge building once home to singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull for sale for the astounding sum of £25 million – Strutt & Parker seek £24.75 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110 million) for Basement to First Floor Triplex, 29 Lennox Gardens, Brompton and Hans Town, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 0DE, United Kingdom.
  • Moron of the Moment – Olivia Utley

    Moron of the Moment – Olivia Utley

    Rent-a-gob stand-in for Rod Liddle at ‘The Sun’ Olivia Utley shows herself to be nothing but a big-mouthed berk in brainlessly banging on about Brexit; she should eff off!

    “Chuffed to be filling in for Rod Liddle today,” 27-year-old Olivia Utley is exactly the kind of person you’d expect to big herself up and this week was no exception for this motormouthed maniac.

     

    Utley, a somewhat tepid try-hard attempt at being Katie Hopkins yet a fan of David Cameron strangely also, on Friday, was given space to spout her views in The Sun. In a column that’d make even Karren Brady look rational titled: “It’ll do our spoiled young Remainers good to remain in Britain for the summer holidays,” this “gleefully” childlike upstart not only attacked the lovely Fiona Bruce but also suggested “it would have been easier to have come out as a paedophile than a Brexiteer.” She’d plainly been drinking vinegar as she penned this particularly puerile drivel.

     

    Here, in ramblings rooted in ridiculousness, Tom Utley of the Daily Mail’s “rent-a-reactionary” niece mocked other millenials and stupidly suggested they believed “the Lake District was a fictional place.” She attempted to justify proclaiming there being a “darker side” to young people “knowing nothing about Britain” and that now their “ignorance could finally be shattered.”

     

    Concluding on the subject of how she believes young people will forget Europe in favour of their country of birth, Utley patronisingly argued: “Reconnected to their roots at last, they might just begin to feel the first stirrings of patriotism running through their British veins.” We’d suggest otherwise: They’re more likely to just tell this moron to eff off!

     

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    Moron of the Moment – Bigmouthed berk Olivia Utley on Brexit – Rent-a-gob stand-in for Rod Liddle at ‘The Sun’ Olivia Utley shows herself to be nothing but a big-mouthed berk in banging on about Brexit; she should eff off!
    On Thursday, Olivia Utley was given a “guest column” in ‘The Sun’ in place of Rod Liddle. She was delighted to brag about it on Twitter.
    Moron of the Moment – Bigmouthed berk Olivia Utley on Brexit – Rent-a-gob stand-in for Rod Liddle at ‘The Sun’ Olivia Utley shows herself to be nothing but a big-mouthed berk in banging on about Brexit; she should eff off!
    What a hypocrite – In 2019, so-called journalist Olivia Utley bragged about going on holiday to France; in 2020, she mocked others for wanting a holiday abroad. Shame on her.
  • An Agusta Ape

    An Agusta Ape

    1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino in 2001 – to be auctioned

    On 8th January 2001, “shop assistant turned model turned multi-millionairess many times over turned fugitive” (via a stretch in what American’s so pleasantly term ‘pokey’) Countess Francesca Vacca Agusta “disappeared” from the terrace of her Ligurian seaside home. The series of events that preceded and followed could have featured in an Agatha Christie novel or a Sherlock Holmes story.

     

    Situated dominant above the “requisite stop for billionaires” that is Portofino – a colourfully painted former fishing village now peppered with Salvatore Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton stores – Villa Altachiara became the residence of the “embodiment of La Dolce Vita” Francesca Graffagni after she met the “helicopter entrepreneur” Count Corradino Agusta in the 1960s.

     

    Graffagni saw off the business tycoon’s first wife, Pupetta Maresca, after a torrid affair and following their marriage in 1974, amongst other things, became chatelaine of a 40-room property complete with a helipad. It had been built in 1870 by George Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon – whose death was attributed by amongst others Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the “curse of King Tut” – as his holiday home and during the 1970s and 1980s guests to “jet-set parties” given at the house by the socialite Countess were ferried back and forth from their dock in Portofino harbour in a custom built 1978 Piaggio Ape coachbuilt ‘limousine.’ This vehicle, described as a “perfect yacht tender” with its opulently patterned interior and passenger-driver intercom, is now for sale.

     

    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    Countess Francesca Agusta (née Francesca Vacca Graffagni, 29th October 1942 – 8th January 2001). It is most surprising that the late Dominick Dunne did not make a television programme about her life and demise.
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    Villa Altachiara (alternatively known as ‘Villa Alta Chiara’ or ‘Villa Carnarvon’) was one of Countess Agusta’s homes from the 1960s until her death in 2001; it was originally built as a holiday home for Lord Carnarvon (26th June 1866 – 5th April 1923) – the financier of Howard Carter’s explorations of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings that led to the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb. The Carnarvon family hosted many guests during their ownership, amongst them Brooke Astor and Evelyn Waugh.

    Count Agusta died in 1989 without divorcing his second wife in spite of separating from her in 1985. At that time, in addition to Villa Altachiara, he had given her four apartments in Milan, an estate in Cuernavaca, Mexico, family jewellery and an undisclosed cash sum. With his demise, she came into yet further fortune.

     

    This by-then “very wealthy woman” hit the headlines again in 1994 when she and her new lover, a “former Portofino playboy politician [named] Maurizio Raggio,” were discovered to have been part of a corruption scandal involving Bettino Craxi, the Prime Minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987. Before police could apprehend them to charge them with amongst other things money laundering, the pair fled to Mexico and lived on her estate until 1997 as fugitives. During this period, the Countess reportedly attempted suicide at least once.

     

    Upon her return to Italy, the Countess plea-bargained and spent just three months in Milan’s Opera prison for her crimes in spite of receiving a two-year jail sentence. After “some further time under house arrest” in the Villa Altachiara, the “retired” gadabout then took up with a Mexican, Tirso ‘Tito’ Chazaro (also known as ‘Tirso Di Ricardo’ and ‘Rafael Tirso Roncado Gonzales’), and lived in the style of Miss Havisham. She was rarely seen in public and having become dependent on drink and drugs, was known for her erratic behaviour and temper.

     

    “Considerably the worse for wear and muttering she would not be coming back” on the night of 8th January 2001, the Countess supposedly told her lover and two others present that she was going for a swim, but either slipped on wet leaves or was pushed off a veranda into the sea. A search followed, but after the only traces found were the Countess’s dressing gown on the seabed close to the Villa Altachiara and her slippers on nearby rocks, press reports suggested she had either committed suicide or, given her past form, staged an “elaborate disappearing act.”

     

    Countess Agusta’s badly decomposed body washed up three weeks later on a beach at Toulon on the French Riviera. Her feet had been gnawed off by fish, her skull was smashed and her face was disfigured. She could only be identified by two rings she was wearing and her exact cause of death could thus not be determined.

     

    As an autopsy found no trace of water in her lungs, she plainly did not die by drowning, but in in 2004 the Countess’s brother, Domenico Vacca Graffagni, was quoted in the Independent as stating: “The [original] inquiry was closed in a hasty fashion because of absence of proof, relying too readily on ‘reasonable doubt’ … It was manslaughter. He [Chazaro] was always beating her. He didn’t mean to kill her. But that evening things didn’t go the way the Carabinieri said, my sister was not drunk and she did not slip on wet leaves on the veranda.”

     

    Adding further to speculation, much earlier, the Countess’s step-son, racing driver and team owner Rocky Agusta (1950 – 2018), told Corriere della Sera in 2001: “Francesca was a beautiful woman, simpatica, very rich… People have written that she inherited 500bn lire, but if it had been only 50 or 25, who commits suicide with 25bn lire set aside? … The people who were around her certainly did not help her…  It’s not up to me to formulate accusations, but Francesca was not alone that night. She was very upset. She should have been put to bed. Instead, they let her go out into a dark, wet, cold night, not even dressed.”

     

    In due course, the last of many wills left by Countess Agusta revealed Tirso Chazaro to be her sole beneficiary, but after this was challenged in court by her former lover, Maurizio Raggio, the pair split the legacy – reported to be worth as much as £165 million ($201 million, €186 million or درهم738 million) according to the Guardian in 2001 – sixty-forty between them.

     

    In 2009, the Villa Altachiara was offered for sale initially for £44 million ($54 million, €50 million or درهم198 million) and then for £30 million ($37 million, €34 million or درهم135 million) in 2014. It supposedly eventually sold for less than half that sum to a Russian billionaire a number of years later in spite of an estate agent remarking: “Some say the spirit of Countess Francesca Vacca Agusta still walks the estate looking for her husband and you can hear her shouting for him on the wind.”

     

    An estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000) for the Countess’s Piaggio Ape. Described as “sweet” and “[anything but] an Italian tuk-tuk” by RideApart, the one-off private taxi will be auctioned as part of the forthcoming RM Sotheby’s ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 online sale. One can only hope it finds a happier home than it encountered at that of its former mistress.

     

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    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    An Agusta Ape – £50k for Piaggio Ape used by Countess Francesca Agusta (1942 – 2001) – 1978 Piaggio Ape ‘limousine’ by Pavesi used by the controversial Countess Agusta – a very wealthy woman who either fell or was pushed to her death from her home above Portofino, Italy in 2001 – to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s as part of their ‘Driving Into Summer’ 21st to 29th May 2020 auction with an estimate of £37,000 to £49,000 ($45,000 to $60,000, €42,000 to €55,000 or درهم165,000 to درهم220,000).
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaGavF50j98
  • Wally of the Week – Nadine Dorries

    Wally of the Week – Nadine Dorries

    Tory twerp and Twitter twaddler ‘Mad Nad’ Nadine Dorries MP deserves to be sacked (if she doesn’t first resign) after disgracefully smearing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer

    It’s an incredibly rare thing when the Trotskyist terror Owen Jones is the one talking complete sense, but in calling for Nadine Dorries – a woman whom once ludicrously remarked: “[I’m] not an MP for any other reason other than because God wants me to be” – to be sacked after defaming Sir Keir Starmer by retweeting far-right smears about him, the author of Chavs is for once bang on the nail.

     

    Quick to demand others correct, their errors – in August 2019, for example, Dorries herself tweeted: “I hope all those who gleefully flew to the keyboard and typed out  #porkies in an attempt to traduce the reputation of our PM @BorisJohnson are as quick to bang out an apology and put the record straight” – Dorries, currently a health minister for patient safety, suicide prevention and mental health, used Twitter to share a doctored far right video. It had been falsely manipulated to make it look like the new Labour leader knew about child abuse and did nothing whilst head of the Crown Prosecution Service and though she’s deleted it, she hasn’t even issued a public apology.

     

    The woman whom branded David Cameron and George Osborne “two arrogant posh boys who don’t know the price of milk” has now been shown herself to be someone who doesn’t know the truth behind what she tweets. In December 2012, Dorries declared: “My career is not over… It’s only just beginning.” We’d now argue, it’s time for this berk to end it all; it’s time for ‘Mad Nad’ to bog off and write a few more bonkbusters.

     

    #ResignDorries

     

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    Wally of the Week –Tory twerp and Twitter twaddler ‘Mad Nad’ Nadine Dorries MP deserves to be sacked (if she doesn’t first resign) after disgracefully smearing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on social media.
    Shame on ‘Mad Nad’ – Owen Jones called for Nadine Dorries to be sacked on Friday on Twitter (left); the since deleted retweet in which the Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire suggested a “fake news” tweet was “revealing.”
    Wally of the Week –Tory twerp and Twitter twaddler ‘Mad Nad’ Nadine Dorries MP deserves to be sacked (if she doesn’t first resign) after disgracefully smearing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on social media.
    Nadine Dorries where she belongs – The self-publicising MP covered in cockroaches and maggots whilst participating in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in November 2012.
  • A Miniature Kingdom

    A Miniature Kingdom

    Private island just 75 miles from New York for sale for just £650,000; it could make an ideal downsize from Necker for Sir Richard Branson

    Created from pink granite bedrock that once formed hilltops prior to the last ice age, the 365 islands that form The Thimbles in Connecticut are mostly uninhabited rest stops for migrating seals.

     

    With 81 houses across the 23 inhabited islands, 14 of those isles have only a single residence on them and now someone with £652,000 to spare can join past residents who’ve counted President William H. Taft and purchase one named Jepson Island.

    An aerial shot of Jepson Island.

    Only accessible by boat from the nearby village of Stony Creek, Branford the tiny 0.77-acre island is dominated by a 962 square foot “contemporary vacation” bungalow with two bedrooms and a bathroom. It has power from a generator and passive solar power, mains ‘city’ water and is offered for sale fully furnished.

     

    Situated just 75 miles from New York City, Jepson Island is described by agents William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty as “the ultimate easy, nearby escape.”

    The Names & Numbers – Jepson Island, Branford, Connecticut, CT 06405, United States of America

    May 2020 – Jepson Island is offered for sale for £652,000 ($800,000, €737,000 or درهم1.2 million) through William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. Two other islands available include 0.77-acre Wheelers Island at £2.4 million ($3 million, €2.8 million or درهم11 million) and the 1.04-acre Belden Island at £1.2 million ($1.5 million, €1.4 million or درهم5.5 million).

    2016 – Offered for sale as part of an “eight island deal” for £63.5 million ($78 million, €71.9 million or درهم286.5 million) by owners Edmund and Christine Stoecklein.

    Late 1990s to early 2000s – Christine Stoecklein, widow of John Svenningsen (president of the party goods manufacturer Amscan Holdings Inc), bought a number of the Thimble Islands for a total of £24.4 million ($30 million, €27.7 million or درهم110.2 million).

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  • Canary Claims Corbyn Still Hasn’t Croaked

    Canary Claims Corbyn Still Hasn’t Croaked

    That ‘The Canary’ is still lauding Jeremy Corbyn as “the best Prime Minister we never had” about sums up that sorry shower of a rag’s grasp on the current state of British politics

    Whilst The Steeple Times is anything but a fan of Boris Johnson and his government, we most certainly would never have welcomed Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.

     

    On Saturday, however, The Canary – a far-left, arse-licking online rag that claims to have a “wider reach online than The Times” – saluted Diane Abbott’s former “bedfellow” (in all senses of that word) as “someone who stands for the many, not the few” and “the best Prime Minister we never had.” They went further and concluded: “On VE Day… Corbyn reminded us of the kind of leadership we so badly need at this time of crisis.”

     

    Known for having produced many “questionable pieces” in times past, the nauseating bird that should long ago have croaked that is The Canary has hopefully finally now realised that it is now as alive as Jeremy Corbyn’s prospects of entering Downing Street. It ended its so-called “article” with a pathetic begging note that stated:

     

    “We have been fighting against an establishment that is trying to shut us down. And like most independent media, we don’t have the deep pockets of investors to call on to bail us out. Can you help by chipping in a few pounds each month?”

     

    Next!

     

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