Vale Bob Hawke

When Whispers was traveling back and forth from the UK to Australia and pondering on whether we wanted to finally settle in this wide brown land, one person we met who was very instrumental in making our decision was the late Bob Hawke, then Prime Minister.
There are plenty of obituaries written about him today so we'll just point you in the direction of some of the best.

Bob was simply an extraordinary human being. A sharp intellect and intelligence was masked by Hawke's ability to appear as the average bloke in the pub. At the same time he would met with world leaders: Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and China's Zhao Ziyang and   business leaders who saw a great advantage in dealing with a former powerful Union leader who understood that business could be conducted whilst respecting worker's right.
Hawke once told me he admired how Big Business in Germany co-operated with unions with an attitude of "everyone should win". During his tenure Bob Hawke's inclusive policies, and for long after, worked in Australia.
 Bob Hawke tributes flow as Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison make final federal election pitches
Some of our snaps over the years:

Bob's first wife Hazel succumbed to the terrible scourge of Dementia. She remained devoted to Hawke.

In 2010 Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched the biography penned by his wife Blanche d'Alpuget

 In 2012 in uber-smart Balmain Bob Hawke launched the Worker's Bar for advertising mogul and pub owner John Singleton pictured here with Bob. The pub was the location for a legendary meeting of unionists in 1891 that coincided with the famous Shearer's Strike in Queensland during which the Australian Labor Party was formed.

Cartoonist Bill Leak farewelled

The late News Ltd cartoonist Bill Leak (left) who died suddenly at the age of 61 was farewelled in a memorial service today at Sydney's Town Hall. 

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and wife Lucy were there along with former PM John Howard. Media personalities who attended included broadcasters Richard Fidler and Wendy Harmer, dozens of Leak's former News' colleagues and comedian Barry Humphries who was a long time pal of Leaks.

Humphries drew a round of applause when he claimed the only memorial service he'd like to attend was one for the Human Right's Commission which had been locked in a battle over some of Leak's more controversial cartoons. President of the Commission Gillian Triggs (pictured above) has held her ground while under a sustained attack by the right side of politics.

Whispers found Leak's cartoons a tad on the old fashioned side but we enjoyed his many Archibald portraits which we have included below. Leak never won the main prize but he did win the Packer's Prize once.
All part of life's rich tapestry in Sydney's never dull social life.

arriving at the memorial: Barry Humphries & Lizzie Spender * Malcolm & Lucy Turnbull

Bill Leak Archibald portraits : Sir Les Patterson * Paul LePetit *  Bob Hawke * Graham Richardson * Dame Edna Everage

Bob Sings

For your sheer delight: former PM Bob Hawke sings an operatic version of Waltzing Matilda today at the Woodford Folk Festival in sunny Queensland. Whispers can't work out whether Bob was the inspiration for Sir Les Patterson or visa versa.

Birthday Boy

It's a very Happy Birthday to former Prime Minister Bob Hawke (pictured here in our exclusive snap on Friday with Labor leader Bill Shorten) who turns 87 today (well yesterday actually). The former union leader won the 1983 general election in a landslide and at one stage was the most popular PM in Aussie history. He was eventually rolled by his (former) loyal deputy Paul Keating.
Whispers often runs into the Silver Bodgie as he is affectionately know, at various social functions and we have featured him on these pages over the years. Always popular with the electorate and he always greets you with a cherry smile and more often than not, a risque joke.
Below: Bob with John Singleton at the opening of Singleton's The Worker's Bar in Balmain (reputedly where the Labor Party was created in 1891) and with wife Blanche d'Alpuget at her book launch Hawke, The Prime Minister, the best selling Australian political biography of all time.

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Photo roundup:
Matty Bennett and partner Rupert Noffs are creating a foodie storm in New York with their successful restaurant The Lucky Bee as celebs pour through the doors- below with gorgeous Victoria's Secret model, Megan Williams

 At the AACTA Awards on Wednesday night at Star City: Claudia Karvan * Mel Gibson * Ky Baldwin * George Miller * Paul Hogan * Cate Blanchett * Hugo Weaving

Tidbits

The Hairstyle of The Month award in September goes to New York businessman Richard Feldman who was spotted at the annual Quest 400 party in NYC.

 Perhaps he shares a hairdresser with our favorite ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke. The two could be long lost cousins!

Spotted on the Blue Carpet for the premier in London of the new Beatles film Eight Days A Week last Thursday, music personality Simon Napier Bell who these days spends his time touring the world and lecturing on music as seen in our snap taken in India.
Simon wrote a song we all love :"You Don't Have to say You Love Me" made famous by Dusty Springfield and Elvis Presley. Napier-Bell attended the film along with Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Not long ago Simon hosted a BBC series on rock'n'roll managers and he is currently filming a documentary on British gay life (in our snap he is interviewing actor Simon Callow) . OK we are a bit prejudiced here- Simon who is half Australian is also a business partner of Whispers in a film project among other things. But you really should read some of his books including the fascinating "I'm Coming to Take You To Lunch" of how he managed to get the pop duo Wham to be the first pop act to appear in Communist China ( Whispers was there!)


Coming shortly : all the news on the 80th Anniversary of the Black & White Ball at the Sydney Town Hall.

















Here is Dusty singing Simon Napier Bell's You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.

Sin City Sensation

 It's never dull in Sydney which in it's long and varied career has been called Sin City and once had a reputation as the "Chicago of The South Seas" due to it's fierce gang rivalries.

Where else could noted Captains Of Industry be found battling in smart Woolloomooloo restaurants or even a Bondi street when media moguls James Packer and David Gyngel engaged in clumsy fisticuffs (over a woman?) and now the latest bunfight that involved another media name John Singleton (worth a reputed $300M) and hamburger giant Jack Cowan (worth over $900M) who doubles up as a director of the huge Fairfax Media outlets.
There was even a claim the dust-up that had an excited Singleton, who from all accounts attacked Cowan over an alleged sleight to his drinking preference- rose wine instead of a butch beer - that it was the lack of female companions that caused the fisticuffs.
The last time Whispers encountered the amiable Singleton was at the launch of his new Balmain bar (pictured with pal, former PM Bob Hawke) and before that was when he hosted the launch, along with Paris Hilton of his Bondi Blonde Beer at the uber smart Icebergs Restaurant.

above : bringing urban sophistication to Sydney: Karim Gharbi and a bevy of beauties

How timely then that nightclub boss Karim Gharbi should be launching his new VIP venture tonight at an exclusive party at an inner city penthouse (we'll be there). His services surely will be in demand for visiting VIPs and even local ones who wish to avoid the pitfalls that see them on the front pages of the nation's tabloids.

Pictures of the Week

B1 & B2 never disappoint. Former PM Bob Hawke and wife Blanche attended last Sunday's polo at Windsor and are pictured here with TV host Kris Smith. Of course the really smart polo was at Goulbourn on the same day but more of that later.

Meanwhile singing legend Petula Clark popped into Nine's Mornings and is seen here with hosts Sonia Kruger and David Campbell.
Petula is in the middle of an Australian tour and is heading for Perth and Adelaide.

below: her original hit Downtown.

Shuttle history on sale

A photograph taken by a Social Shuttle contributor is for sale on Ebay and currently stands at $660  $810. It's a snap of former Prime Minsters Gough Whitlam, Paul Keating and Bob Hawke with the then Labor Opposition Leader Kim Beazley and it's signed by all four leaders. 25 signed copies were produced and many have re-sold for much higher sums
You can bid here : http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261277166245

Hazel Hawke & Which Bank ?

Hazel Hawke who died last month was a much loved public figure who stood steadfastly by her ex-husband Prime Minster Bob Hawke, demonstrating amazing loyalty, even as Bob was having an affair with his biographer Blanche d'Alpuget who he later married.

Aussies took Hazel to their hearts and watched sadly as she succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. Hazel openly publicized her plight in the hope it would aid other sufferers. When she died the plaudits came thick and fast and Hazel was given a State Memorial Service at the Sydney Opera House as this page from the current Latte Life newspaper shows.
Alas for the Commonwealth Bank which has just launched a series of 'customer friendly' adverts, the passing of a former First Lady seems to have slipped their attention. This week they sent a missive addressed to Hazel to the old Ritz Carlton building in Double Bay where she lived for a time.
The Shuttle's operative sent the letter back with the following exchange. Perhaps the news hasn't reached Mumbai yet :

@CommBank Hazel Hawke is deceased

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		CommBank
		@CommBank
		@Lattelifesydney Our apologies, was not aware. thanks you for letting us know.

Plenty of Flavour in this Latte

Transvaal Avenue in Double Bay

While daily newspapers are losing readers at the rate of up to 20% every 6 months, former Fairfax editor Andrew Jaspan says it's the local publications that will be the beneficiaries as readers turn to specialised newspapers. Double Bay's Latte Life, now in it's 3rd year seems to be proving Jaspan right as it goes from strength to strength.

The Shuttle recently witnessed a well known newspaper columnist verbally attack an 18 year old intern from Latte Life over an alleged slight at a recent Kings Cross party- they must be something right.
This week's edition has an up and close interview with the paparazzi Jamie Fawcett who has emerged from the manicured bushes of the Bay-one of his haunts-to give his thoughts on local celebrity hunting, and also brings an update on the scandal they broke some months ago the outrageous shop in the Bay that is still selling luxury label rip-offs right under the noses of some of the smartest boutiques in the country.
All this comes courtesy of a new journalist Jonathon Marshal (known in the trade as  Maverick Marshall) who broke the story about stripper parties at the once snooty former Ritz Carlton Hotel in the Bay-one time home of such notables as Bob Hawke, Bill Clinton, Madonna, Princess Diana and George Bush Sn.
Pick up a copy around the cafes of Double Bay or you can read Latte Life online here.

Up The Workers!

Bob Hawke & John Singleton

To harbour side Balmain and the launch of The Workers Bar in Darling Street. The Workers is part owned by media mogul John Singleton who also hosted the launch party and it's part of Unity Hall, the pub Singleton owns and the location for a legendary meeting of unionists in 1891 that coincided with the famous Shearer's Strike in Queensland.

Out of that strike and the Balmain meeting came the formation of the Australian Labor Party, the first 'worker's party' in the world and now the longest surviving political party that is still in government under the  leadership of PM Julia Gillard.

Ned Kelly (?), Benny Elias & Sally Singleto

So who better to invite to launch the Worker's Bar than the great legend himself, former trade union boss and the 23rd prime Minister Bob Hawke.
 Bob is 83 and as sprightly as a 40 year old. He's also a great pal of Singleton's and told a fairly racy joke about his friend which we won't relate here. Suffice to say it's not hard to see that Hawkie is still one of Australia's most beloved political figures who during his tenure at the top received approval ratings of around 80%.

As for Balmain it's hardly a worker's paradise anymore and the fine convict built sandstone houses and terraces are more likely to be inhabited by bankers, stockbrokers and celebrity figures like playwright David Williamson and actors Judy Davis and Colin Freils who have a large waterside mansion. Still there are plenty of young professionals living locally and The Worker's bar is bound to become a favoured watering hole.

Prime Ministers, Book Launches and Slapped Faces

Last Monday Sue Pieters-Hawke launched her book Hazel: My Mother's Story at the SH Erwin Gallery and it was a fairly quiet affair.

Hazel & Bob in happier days

There was none of the fanfare that accompanied the launch of the book her step-mother Blanche d'Alpuget authored -Hawke, The Prime Minister about Sue's dad, former Prime Minster Bob Hawke who is still regarded as the most popular leader Australia has ever had.

The current PM Julia Gillard did the honours for Blanche's tome in front of a number of notable guests like actors Geoffrey Rush and Rhys Muldoon and former Midnight Oil front man Peter Garrett who is now the Minister for Education.

Last June it was alleged that Blanche and Sue had encountered each other in the Qantas's exclusive Chairman's Lounge at Brisbane Airport and each had slapped the other's face before being separated by authorities. Both denied the claim but witnesses say the incident was fairly heated although it's claimed the two have since made up.

Blanche, Julia & Bob

Despite this neither Bob Hawke nor Blanche attended Sue's book launch which Pieters-Hawke has written in retaliation to d'Alpuget's impliction that Hazel only stayed married to Hawke while he was PM so she could stay in The Lodge at Canberra and enjoy her role as first lady. 

Sue Pieters-Hawke's book covers Hazel's life from a schoolgirl in Perth, her life with Bob -''the love of her life'' - her career in welfare, life at The Lodge and her sad decline into Alzheimer's disease in 2001.
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Meanwhile the man who deposed Bob Hawke in a party room coup, former PM  Paul Keating launched his own book After Words on Sunday.
Keating, who was dubbed The Lizard of Oz by the British media in 1992 who accused him of manhandling HM The Queen has likened Australia to "a child clasping at the Queen's coat-tails, waving an embarrassing little flag' in a Daily Telegraph report.

                                        
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Not to be left out, former PM Kevin Rudd, himself deposed 2 years ago by Julia Gillard has been entertaining a crowd at a function following a meeting of Foreign Ministers at the CHOGM conference in Perth. The audience demanded Rudd break into song but he informed them "I sing like a cow".
(What does a cow sound like when it sings?)

Finally : Why Cranky Frankie Spat The Dummy

Frank & Barbara

It was 1973 and Frank Sinatra had arrived in Australia for a tour. Within a day all hell had broken loose and Frank suddenly found himself holed up in the presidential suite of the Boulevard Hotel in Kings Cross.

Unions around the country had joined forces and refused to service Sinatra's tour which included stage hands and local musicians.  Airline refuelers refused to service Sinatra's jet and traffic controllers said they would walk off if his jet attempted to leave . Taxi drivers. limousine drivers even the hotel staff including room service refused to attend to Sinatra's needs.

Dennis Hopper as Sinatra

Frank Sinatra was stranded in Australia for the foreseeable future. 

The previous night Sinatra had given a concert and began to discuss the Australian media with the audience. He called female reporters "$2 hookers" and that's when the ban began. The incident was made into a film - The Night We Called It a Day produced by Oscar winner Emile Sherman with the late Dennis Hopper playing Sinatra and Joel Edgerton the young show biz promoter who lured him to the Antipodes.

Bob Hawke

Eventually the trade union boss and later prime minister Bob Hawke brokered a deal after a day's drinking with Sinatra and his manager Mickey Rudin (with the Boulevard's room service attendants relenting to deliver liqueur at Hawke's request). Sinatra agreed to give a charity concert and apologise. He gave the concert but not the apology and when his jet taxied down the Mascot runway the following day traffic controllers ordered "abort abort" but Sinatra ordered his pilot to ignore them and the jet departed for San Francisco.

Sinatra's widow Barbara Sinatra ( played by Melanie Griffith in the film) has finally told her version of the story in her book My Life With Frank Sinatra and  revealed new details although they have been hinted at for years but never before written about.. And it appears Frank may have had good reason to insult journalists.

A female writer for a popular magazine  talked hotel staff into letting her into Sinatra's suite claiming she was Barbara Sinatra. She confronted Sinatra in his bedroom while he was resting and fired off numerous questions while trying to take a photo on a small camera. Sinatra went ballistic and yelled at her to get out of the room.

As the journalist later told friends he said "I didn't order a fucking hooker and if I had it wouldn't be a dog like you now get the fuck out of here ". The hackette said "you may as well answer a few questions now I'm here" at which Sinatra yelled "you're nothing but a godadammned cheap hooker" and flung some notes from his pocket at her. The journalist, now realising retreat was the only option grabbed one note as a souvenir-an Australian $2 note-briefly wondered if he would autograph it but thinking better of it, stuffed it in her pocket and fled.

That night she witnessed the storm she created when Frankie went on stage and referred to her (and others) as "$2 hookers!"

Here is some rare footage of the media chasing Frank :


Here's Old Blue Eyes with The Lady Is A Tramp :

Rats Invade Ritzy Hotel

There is plague of rodents in the uber smart suburb of Double Bay according to 'Mr Double Bay' Graeme Goldberg the owner of the popular restaurant  Dee Bees.



Ritz Carlton Double Bay



Writing in the latest copy of Latte Life where he has a regular column, Goldberg says he and fellow business owners signed a petition asking the Woollahra Council to hire a pest controller. The matter was raised in a council meeting by councillor Andrew Petrie but apparently a Greens councillor nipped it in the bud claiming it was a problem for local business owners.



Diana at The Ritz



Graeme Goldberg



Says Goldberg "Mate you gotta be joking. they're coming out of the drains and last time I checked the Pied Piper of Hamlin didn't own a property in Double Bay. I suggest the council send the experts to the old cinema and the closed down Stanford Hotel"

The Stanford is a sorry sight at present. It closed nearly two years ago and in a previous life it was one of the chicest 5 star hotels in Sydney- The Ritz Carlton.



Bob'n'Blanche Hawke



As the Ritz it enjoyed an illustrious clientele including most visiting celebrities like Tom Jones, Whoopi Goldberg and Bob Dylan. Two US presidents stayed there -George Bush Sr and Bill Clinton and it was a home away from home for the late Princess Diana on her very last visit to Australia. Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke lived there for a year when he left office and was married there to wife Blanche and the late singer Michael Hutchence died in a first floor suite on a Saturday morning in 1997.



As the Standford Hotel the inn gradually declined in favour and a new owner plans to turn the site into luxury apartments but is having problems with local council height restrictions. At present the building remains empty and uninhabited like the suburb's former cinema in New South Head Road.

Goldberg and others want action and believe the problem will escalate fast : "The Bay has always had rats but they wear suits and sip Chardonnay. If there is vermin breeding you don't have to be Einstein to know where to start looking"

The tables turn on the Silver Bodgie

happier days-Hawke, Keating & Gough Whitlam

Days after the launch of the Blanche d'Alpuget book  (see below), Hawke The Prime Minister, his successor Paul Keating has come out sledging Bob and Blanche Hawke with a letter published in the Australian in which Keating reveals for the first time that Hawke was suffering from depression during his tenure as PM.

At the launch on Tuesday night at the Wharf Restaurant Blanche mentioned Hawkie's bout of depression, as did Hawke himself but both said it lasted a few months.

Keating claims it was for 4 years while  he Keating as Deputy Prime Minster , carried  Hawke through the most difficult decisions including his advice to Hawke to immediately approach George Bush Sr before the first Gulf War and establish Australia as the USA's first ally-which he did giving Bush Sr much needed moral support for the pending war and in return obligating this country the need to only provide 2 warships as support.

Keating demanded Hawke's resignation in 1990 after he claimed a previous agreement between the two would see Hawke  handover power and when Bob refused, Keating retreated to the back bench only to usurp him 10 months later in 1991. Keating held power for 5 years until he lost to the man he hated more than any-John Howard in 1995.

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Miranda

In a more disingenuous article, the fragrant Miranda Devine has also gotten stuck into Bob and Blanche in a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Miranda is meddling it again. She claims all of Hawke's children wore black when he and Blanche wed in 1995 . Not true. The Shuttle was there. And all the Hawke children and grandchildren were at the book launch on Monday and happy to support their step-mum Blanche.

Miranda's biggest faux pas though is her attempt to paint former wife Hazel Hawke, who remained loyal beside Bob while he was PM  and while he was conducting a secret affair with Blanche who he would eventually marry, as being 'discarded' when no longer needed. Hazel sadly is in the advanced stages of alzheimers.
She was diagnosed with the disease while Bob was still PM and both she and her husband carefully planned Hazel's gradual withdrawal from the public eye. 

Hazel Hawke

People we trust more than Devine have said Hazel was almost saint  like in her love for Hawke and said that she told most close friends that as she deteriorated mentally, she had no wish to put him through what is acknowledged as being one of the most debilitating  and soul destroying illnesses a couple can face together.