Byron attacks !

The Gold Dinner, allegedly Australia's smartest charity event has been taken over by the Byron Bay set ie: the Hemsorths, as our main pic shows. This year it was held in a marquee at the Overseas Terminal at Sydney Airport. Well why not as nothing else is happening there. But Mascot? In this weather?

Above: Lucciana Barroso, Lauren Phillips, Elsa Pataky, Chris Hemsworth, Gabriella Brooks and Liam Hemsworth There were other celebs there:

Above: Rose Byrne like so many Hollywood names is fleeing LA and looking for a home in..you guessed it: Byron Bay. With Lucciana Barroso (left) wife of actor Matt Damon and Elsa Pataky

As we predicted..

And thus it came to pass ! More on our tale about the rumblings in the northern paradise of Byron Bay, one of Australia's most beautiful, unique areas which has become incredibly popular over the decades.

Chris Hemsworth's Mega Mansion

Byron Bay was a sleepy whaling town in the early part of the 20th century. It's also Australia's most Easterly point. Even today one can see whales heading North (fleeing from Japanese whaling ships?)and groups of gamboling dolphins are regularly spotted from the beach.

But has Byron (as the locals call it) become a victim of it's own success?. Just days ago we reported that many locals are getting fed up with the thousands of tourists who flock into town on weekends and depart, leaving a mess for locals to clear up and pay for.

About a 15 minute drive inland from Byron is the town of Mullumbimby, another quaint village that has also been popular with newcomers. It's where Whispers has stayed with friends over the years. We even meet & BBQed with the Super Star Action Heroes Chris & Liam Hemsowrth when they were mere lads-their parents lived there for a time. Now both Hemsworth brothers have departed Hollywood and Chris Hemsworth has built a ginormous shopping centere style mansion in the area. Other Hollywood stars are flocking there including Zac Efron who with Matt Damon, are looking for suitable houses to buy. As for Mullumbimby, the quiet town now has traffic jams on weekends with nary a parking spot to be found.

Now a local has gone public with an article in the Sydney Morning Herald as they plan to sell up and move back to the city. At the current rate of skyrocketing house prices in Byron, this shouldn't be much of a problem.

Read the article here: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/paradise-lost-why-i-m-leaving-byron-bay-just-when-netflix-is-moving-in-20210411-p57i73.html

Bogan Bay

Some snaps from sunnier days in Byron Bay, the northern town that has become so popular with the ex-Hollywood set like Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky, Matt Damon, Zac Efron and assorted characters. Whispers has been visiting Byron Bay and nearby Mullumbimby for nearly 40 years. Ever since our pal the late British printing press heir Nicholas Shand re-located from Shropshire and puchased a few hundred acres in "Mullum". Shand set up the local newspaper, the Byron Echo which has since become the established newspaper for the area. Shand sadly passed away in a car accident and there is statue of him outside the local council chambers.

But there are rumblings of discontent about the "newcomers" and the glitzy Hemsworth set and assorted hanger-ons who number in the dozens, from the oldtimers who first moved to Byron Bay over the previous decades. And the addition of anti-vaxxer chef Pete Evans has really got blood vessels pumping. We can't name the locals but it seems most cannot abide the new crowd and the attention it has brought to Byron. Among the complaints are the rapidly rising house prices and the flocks of visitors who pour into the town on weekends.

One local described it as similar to the beautiful California enclave Sausalito which in the 60s & 70s was a playground for those wishing to escape the city ratrace but went along similar lines as Byron with property prices outstripping the ability of the sort of "arty" crowd that made it popular in the first place.

Byron Bay locals are now calling it Bogan Bay and say an event a few weeks ago sums up the new mob. A marquee and tables were set up in a park at the beach claiming Covid was a hoax and wearing masks stupid calling them "face nappies" as an insult. It was the sheer numbers who headed for these tables to lend support that upset the locals. Many early Byron locals were "alternatives" in the 60s thru 80s when they moved there but are not like the QAnon nutters who have been boring the world to death lately.

The original movie super-star to spot Byron's potential was Paul Hogan who snapped up acres in the hinterland and built a magnificent mansion and redeveloped the pub in the main street. Hoges packed up nearly 20 years ago selling up for $Millions and moved to LA. Now Byron, or Bogon is flooded from the recent torrential rains and the beach was recently washed away in another storm which caused terrible damage. One prominent local likened it to God's wrath.

exclusive: Bette Midler supports the fire relief

So many celebrities and 1000s of ordinary members of the public have contributed huge sums to aid the victims of the terrible fires. One donation however has gone unreported. While entertainers like Pink, Elton John who are regular visitors to Australia and homegrown actors like Nicole Kidman and  Chris Hemsworth have come up with the cash, singer Bette Midler who hasn't visited these shores for over 15 years has just donated $500,000. All Heil Bette !.
And she's had a go at Rupert Murdoch at the same time. The entire Murdoch family, worth mega-billions have remained oddly silent. Rupert however has been sunning himself in the Caribbean with with wife Jerry 'Murdoch' nee Hall.

Whispers first saw Bette Midler in a showcase in downtown New York in 1973. We've loved her every since. Such a voice. Here's an example:

One Man & His Blog

Oh the joys of  blogging, even if the rewards may not seem apparent at first.
Advertising wise thesocialshuttle has picked up a handful of (badly) paid adverts- enough to settle maybe 2 telephone bills.
 Photography wise we have sold hundreds of photographs sourced from the Shuttle since 2010.  Our pics have appeared around the world in major newspapers and on similar websites as the Shuttle.
Surprisingly, few snaps get stolen from the website. Only 2 have in the last 3 years, both by a major Australian publisher.

Whilst websites pay a minimal amount to publish a snap for a month- when it's a particularly popular one like Aussie hunk Chris Hemsworth (right) it can be very rewarding: it has sold over 60 times. For some reason our snap of Rupert Murdoch (left) and the soon to be ex-Wendi Murdoch is extremely popular in China. 4 publications have used it including the Chinese Hello! in the past month and one Taiwanese newspaper.

Even better British newspapers that still pay big bikkies, routinely scour the Shuttle for tales and photographs. The Daily Mail for instance has 3 full time web assistants whose sole job is to search the net for suitable stories.
 Recent publications in the UK the Shuttle has sold material to (sourced from here) include  The Sun, the Sunday Mirror, The Daily Mail and The Independent amongst others. In the USA The Daily News & Vanity Fair have run Shuttle pics recently.
We may not have a billion dollar entity behind us providing unparalleled support. We may just operate from a second floor apartment sitting at a humble desk albeit with a pleasing view over Prince Alfred Park and within a cooee of the nearby mighty News Ltd empire but we reckon it's the way of the future. One day, we will all be bloggers !
Time to report on the latest Social Shuttle viewing figures : since mid 2010 daily readers of the Shuttle have never fallen below 1000. they usual hover between 1400 /1800 and on a peak day have reached 2600.
Google's own stats reveal an interesting picture and they cannot be fiddled with or fudged - they record every visit, the location of the viewer and the system they use-Apple, Ipad , IPhone and so on.
Total Social Shuttle page views this month: 48297
That's similar to a large suburban newspaper. As for readers they can be spread around the world as the last 2 weeks show:
Australia  15164
United States 3514
Germany  1582
Russia 1336
China 1234
United Kingdom 1151
Indonesia 430
Saudi Arabia 225
France 203
Ukraine 73
Not bad for what some critics may call an unknown website.

Zegna Rules

As far as parties go it was a memorable event. Ermenigildo Zegna, the Italian fashion brand flew in 200 international fashion journalists and 40 staff from around Asia to celebrate along with 1000 local guests, 50 years of buying Australia's finest wool for their suits.

You can see the importance Zegna places upon their Aussie contacts : there were 2 entrances for guests. One for the bulk of guests and  a VIP black carpet for local show biz types, Hollywood movies stars like Chris Hemsworth and Asian movie stars Leon Lai and Daniel Henney and the farmers. They tend to be unsophisticated types with ruddy red faces from working the land and calloused hands but they really are the VIPs as far as the Zegna family are concerned. Count Paolo Zegna and his brother Gildo Zegna the CEO of the family company flitted from the VIPs to the farmers paying homage to both.

Only the Roya Hall of Industries in Moore Park could cope with this many guests which it did admirably with first a cocktail party section, an catwalk area and an after party room. Performing were Temper Trap and DJ’s Robyn Lawley and Alex Dimitriades. MC for the night was supermodel Megan Gale (she's a big star in Italy !).
 Amongst the guests : Kerri Anne Kennerley. Benji Marshall, David Campbell, George Negus and Kate Waterhouse.

Carla Zampatti and Alex Dimitriades

Gildo Zegna Megan Gale and Count Paolo Zegna

    Sandra Sully                         David & Lisa Campbell                                              Leon Lai

bales of that precious wool

Count Paola Zegna Jets into Sydney with 200 Pals

Chris Hemsworth            Daniel Henney                Megan Gale                Leon Lai

Eremenigildo Zegna CEO Count Paola Zegna (below with sheep) CEO of the famous family fashion brand has brought over 40 Zegna staff and a swag of over 200 Italian and international media with him to present a 50th year anniversary parade at the Royal Hall of Industries in Moore Park tomorrow night.

The Zegna family have long courted Australia's ruddy faced wool farmers for their fine products and buy up all the best wool in the country. A host of diplomatic names and politicians will join celebrity, fashion and show business faces tomorrow night amongst a 1000 guests at an unforgettable party and catwalk fashion show that will feature movie star Chris Hemsworth and Chinese actors Leon Lai and Daniel Henney along with Megan Gale and dozens of local and international models. Wow !

Fairfax : Stating the Bleeding Obvious or Taking The Piss

 The Fairfax family were once the proud owners of titles like the Sydney Morning Herald first published in 1831 and the Melbourne Age established in 1854 and once regarded as one of the greatest broadsheets on the planet.
The Fairfax family have long departed (making hundreds of millions of dollars in the process) and the Fairfax empire has been stumbling along badly ever since. The last remaining family member John B.Fairfax sold his shares for $189M in 2011.
 Reputedly the editor who spent time and money trying to convince Fairfax board members to embrace digital was booted only to be snapped up by The Guardian in the UK which now slightly lags behind the Mail Online as the most popular newspaper website in the world.

Tomorrow's Sydney Morning Herald will feature a piece titled Most powerful players in Australian film, basically a list of household names who command power and big money in the Australian film industry. the real heavy hitters with surprising results it trumps !

Well not quite. Sam Worthington, Chris Hemsworth, Geoffrey Rush, Mia Kasalwoska, Rose Byrne, Hugh Jackman, Emile Sherman etc etc are unlikely to surprise anyone. And who is one of their sources ?

Rose Byrne

A photo agency called Jamie Fawcett Photo News run by Jamie Fawcett the photographer bankrupted by Fairfax during a court case in which Nicole Kidman appeared as a witness.
A Shuttle reader sent us an email a week ago with 2 screen shots which we cannot display for legal reasons.
The Sydney Morning Herald had published a story about the arrest of a union official. We had already read the tale the night before on a website called Independent Australia which has been miles ahead of both News Ltd and Fairfax on the same story. In the first screen shot the SMH claimed it had "exposed the embezzlement" of union funds by the official as well as claiming something similar about a Member of Parliament.

By Mid-day the word 'allegedly' had finally been inserted before the damaging claims. Did Fairfax inform their readers of their mistake and apologise as  their code of conduct requires ?. Most certainly not. 

The editor of Independent Australia, David Donavon has ripped into Fairfax over their incorrect claim in their Brisbane Times that a woman had yelled at Prime Minister Julia Gillard during a Queensland community meeting that she was 'white trash', duly reported by the BT and picked up around the country by various news outlets.
What the woman actually said which is clearly audible on BT's own website is that "we are not white trash" referring to herself and her son.

The Sun

And the Brisbane Time's reaction when asked to correct the lie : total denial it had ever happened.

Sydney Morning Herald

Fairfax share price is plunging almost weekly despite it owning a reputed $5B in assets. Staff are being made redundant at a great rate with 29 fired a fortnight ago in Melbourne.
A month ago the Shuttle ran into a former Fairfax editor, now publisher of on-line magazines. Asked to comment on the anouncment that Fairfax will go digital in 9 years he scoffed. "5 at the most and possibly 3" was his reply. 

On Thursday the Shuttle attended the opening of the French brasserie style Aranas Bar in The Rocks owned by the same people as the nearby Lowenbrau beer cellar. We had forgotten it was Oktoberfestt and had to pick our way past a blaring oompah band and some thigh slapping chaps in lederhosen (we are assured they are of German descent). It was a reasonably staid affair with good food and copious amounts of Veuve Clicquot but the Shuttle didn't visit the Gents or we may have witnessed the bizarre urinals that became a feature the following day in the media.

Gina Rinehart

What we did notice is that the venerable Sydney Morning Herald produced a piece that was almost a carbon copy of Britain's infamous The Sun newspaper which 20 years ago would have been it's ideological opposite, quoting the same sources, feminist Ann Summers and former Parliamentarian Meredith Burgmann.

Will readers sign up to a digital version of Fairfax Newspaper to read this stuff ?. And more importantly, why is the world's richest woman Gina Rinehart snapping up Fairfax shares as they plunge. Is it to put it out of it's misery?.
                                  

Move Over Hugh Jackman-Thor Is In Town

He's could easily take the mantle of Mr Nice Guy of
the movies- Chris Hemsworth who flew into town for the opening night of Snow White & The Huntsman and wowed hundreds of waiting fans at Westfield in Bondi Junction.

Some had camped out for 8 hours to catch a glimpse of the 6' something,blue eyed, blond star and co-star Kristen Stewart and despite a publicist warning fans that Chris wouldn't be signing autographs, he spent 30 minutes doing just that.

Lincoln Younes

Michelle Bridges spots Thor

Veronicas : Jessica & Lisa

leggy Laura Csorton

Celeb Sightings in Sydney

Olivia, hubby John Esterling, Delta Goodren at the Downs Syndrome fundraiser

An unusually busy Sydney wet weekend with a charity ball, the finale of the Sydney Film Festival at the State Theatre and new superstar Chris Hemsworth taking a day off to surf at Maroubra Beach before the launch of his film Snow White and The Huntsman this Tuesday at Westfield in Bondi Junction.

Our favourite Academy Award types were at the State Theatre including Oscar winner Emile Sherman (producer of The King's Speech), nominee Jackie Weaver and Hugo Weaving. 

Emile Sherman

Hugo Weaving

Still celebrating his 25 years on TV, celeb interviewer Richard Wilkins hosted the 25 Year Anniversary Fundraiser for Downs Syndrome at Fox Studios and that brought out Hollywood types like Nicole Kidman and Olivia Newton John plus the judges from The Voice-Seal, Delta Goodren, Keith Urban and Joel Madden (they sang for their supper). 
Meanwhile Lady GaGa jetted in from Melbourne and did a walk about outside the Park Hyatt Hotel greeting a few hundred excited Little Monsters and posed for snaps with them.

major Hollywood eye candy at Maroubra Beach yesterday

And that's just the weekend!

Out & About In London & Paris

Collette Dinnigan has shown her latest Spring/Summer range in Paris where she always draws praise from fashionistas and style writers.

When she returned to the States Nicole Kidman donned a Dinnigan design for that all important airport snap when she departed from Sydney earlier this month while model Jessica Gomez (right) was spotted in Collette Dinnigan tangerine sparkles bustier dress in Las Vegas last month

                                                   

Yasmin Le Bon and Elle McPherson ( above) ham it up at the Women of Beauty and Style Awards in London at Fitzrovia’s Sanderson Hotel . Both models ( who are 47) won Rodial’s Beautiful Awards .


left : Nick Minchin and pals party at the NME ( New Musical Express) Awards after party at the Wyld Bar in Leicester Square.

pictures by Dave Bennett











 # Chris Hemsworth is starring in Ron Howard's new film Rush about champion driver Niki Lauda and the 1976 crash that almost claimed his life.
Hemsworth takes the role of an old Shuttle pal, the racing legend James Hunt who died of a heart attack in 1993. Hunt was a charming and likable cove who was a regular on the social circuit in London and Paris. The Shuttle once caught a lift in the same car as the racing driver to a weekend party at the British Playboy Mansion Stocks in Hertfordshire.

James Hunt

Chris Hemsworth

Our driver was a well know Sydneysider who had a reputation as a speedster and who  had just purchased an enormous four wheel drive, then a rarity. The roads to Stocks were pretty smooth and he put his foot on the accelerator presumably to impress champion Hunt sitting in the back seat.
 Trying to engage Hunt in conversation was impossible. He remained ashen faced the entire journey and gripped the back of the front seat. Later over a drink at Stocks we asked him why he was silent on the trip down : " I simply cannot stand speed unless I'm in the driving seat" was the reply.