A Former Murdoch's Hubby Is Arrested

Dramas in the household of the Earl of Dartmouth according to the the Daily Mail as his lordship is arrested on suspicion of assault following a domestic dispute.

 The Earl is the son of Raine Spencer who was the second wife of Earl Spencer, the father of Diana Princess of Wales.

Fiona  & Matt when she was a Handbury

He was arrested after his wife the Countess of Dartmouth telephoned police after he became 'disoriented' when he woke up with a start. M'lady says that nothing dramatic really happened. The Countess was formerly Fiona Handbury and married to Matt Handbury the son of Rupert Murdoch's late sister Helen Handbury. Matt inherited around $100M along with Murdoch Magazines although he has recently lost a considerable fortune through failed investments.

                                                        

The Handbury's lived in one of Sydney's most magnificent harbour-side mansions, Altona, currently on the market for around $54M. Fiona received Altona as apart of a divorce settlement and sold it for $29M before moving to the UK and joining the British aristocracy. Matt and Fiona hosted sensational parties at Altona where Matt would entertain fronting his own rock'n'roll band.

The Earl is an hereditary peer and a Member of the European Parliament for the UK Independence Party which amongst other polices wants to leave the EU, crack down on crime, defend Britain's borders and a host of other motherhood style things that you can read about here in their manifesto.

Raine                              Barbara                                Mohamed                           Diana                                   Teddy

** The Shuttle was once presented with a delightful Harrods Teddy Bear by Raine Spencer : she was a spruiker for Harrods and it's owner Mohamed Fayed, traveling the world and dispensing cuddly bears to needy journalists. Raine's mother was the charming pink enveloped Romance Novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.

What a complicated world we live in !

A Sydney Pad for Ricky Martin (& kids)

He's due to arrive in late February with the family in tow : Ricky Martin is looking for somewhere to bed down in Sydney and live La Vida Loca with partner Carlos Gonzalez Abella and of course, their twin boy bubs and presumably a coterie of assistants and nannies.

Martin is replacing Keith Urban on The Voice for 2013 and is looking for digs near Fox Studios where the show will be filmed. The Shuttle's hears a Martin rep has been in town for 2 weeks checking out suitable  properties and several have taken his eye with details dispatched back to Martin who has just taken possession of a new New York apartment.

First up is the sensational Altona in Point Piper, once the home of Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury and his wife Fiona. Fiona scored Altona as part of a divorce settlement and sold it for around $29M before fleeing to the UK and joining the aristocracy as the Countess of Dartmouth.

Altona is on the market for around $54M but it can rented for $40,000 a month. It comes with a harbor side swimming pool and a jetty with a boathouse (handy for security guards).

Altona                                                                                  The Astor                                Packer's Bondi beach house

 Another property looked at is the grand 1920's apartment block in Macquarie Street in the city :The Astor. The 2 storey 5 bedroom luxury apartment is being sold by Yellow Brick Road boss Mark Bouris who fronts the TV show The Apprentice as a local Donald Trump but with better hair. The Astor apartment is going for four grand a week and was once owned by Barry Humphries. It has superb harbour views.

And discreet inquiries have been made about James Packer's luxury Bondi pad that was recently put quietly on the market for $20M.
 Ricky can basically pick and choose from any number of Eastern Suburb mansions. Many have lingered on the market for years now while owners ask impossibly high prices.
As for Martin's spiritual health- he is a Buddhist -we also hear his rep made a visit to the Nan Tien Temple (right) in Woolongong.

Les Miserables Murdochs

Wendi & Rupert at last night's premiere

Rupert and Wendi Murdoch graced the red carpet at last night's Sydney State Theatre premiere of Les Miserables joining local actors and the two male stars of the film Hugh Jackman and Russel Crowe.


The Murdochs were in Melbourne last week to attend the memorial service for the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, Rupert's much admired mother who died at the grand age of 103.

The Shuttle attended many parties at the home of Matt Handbury and his then wife Fiona at their harbour side mansion Altona (currently being rented by the Jackman clan). Fiona, who has since divorced Matt often spoke of the animosity between the Handburys and Murdochs. Matt inherited his mother Helen Handbury's  magazine empire which she as Rupert's sister inherited from Sir Keith Murdoch.

Now a Murdoch family insider Rodney E.Lever who assisted Murdoch in the creation of his media empire has penned a series of articles for the political website Independent Australia telling of the strained relationship that now bedevils the Murdochs : Rupert is estranged from his oldest son Lachlan and daughter Elisabeth who is married to Britain's ace PR consultant Mathew Freud.
While Matt Handbury attended Dame Elisabeth's service in Melbourne as did Lachlan and his wife Sarah Murdoch (Fiona has since become the Countess of Dartmouth), the Murdochs all went their separate ways and declined to attend the refreshments afterwards or to mingle with the other 1000 guests.

Is The Family Turning on Rupert?

With perfect timing a new book has just been published by Murdoch Books- Making News by Melbourne sport's journalist Tony Wilson.

Murdoch Books is owned by Sydneysider Matt Handbury who is the son of the late Helen Handbury, Rupert Murdoch's older sister. When Sir Keith Murdoch died in 1952 he left the Adelaide Advertiser, his only newspaper to son Rupert and a small publishing firm to Helen who subsequently passed that firm on to Matt.

Matt Handbury built the company into highly successful publishers of  magazines and books selling off the magazine section in 2004 for $77M to Perth media mogul Kerry Stokes.

The London Evening Standard says Making News is a  thinly disguised novel which is highly critical of the behaviour of news-hounds in Australia and Britain

Says author Wilson : “The phone hacking scandal is right on topic for my second novel, Making  News. Phone hacking is an important part of the plot, albeit in the sense that the hacked know they’re being hacked, and deliberately spread misinformation to the tabloids in the hope of a defamation success. It’s a satire of British tabloid misbehaviour.
In the first half of the book, a young ‘weekend trainee’ learns the standard hack tricks. In the second, the trainee’s celebrity father is caught up in a sex scandal that sweeps the world, and motivates the trainee to seek revenge against his mentors. The main inspiration for the novel was a memoir by a celebrated tabloid editor.”

Matt Handbury & former wife Fiona

The diarist who penned the Standard piece says: " As a publisher, Handbury has not previously been critical of his uncle. But maybe he feels Murdoch’s days of influence and power are on the wane".

But it's been long rumoured around town that the Murdochs and Handburys aren't the greatest of friends.

Clare & Matt Handbury

The Shuttle recalls attending a party at the magnificent harbour side mansion Altona when the Handbury's owned it and asking Fiona Handbury-then married to Matt , if they would be attending the wedding of Lachlan Murdoch and model Sarah O'Hare.

"Certainly not " replied Fiona, "Matt and I are regularly forgotten when it comes to family invitations. The only one we seem to get is the annual family get-together organised by Dame Elisabeth Murdoch at Cruden Farm"

Matt and Fiona divorced in 2000 and Fiona received Altona as part of a divorce settlement promptly selling it for $29M to publisher Deke Miskin (it's currently on the market for a reported $60M).
Fiona-now the Countess of Dartmouth married William Legge, the 10th Earl of Dartmouth and the grandson of the legendary romance novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.

Matt Handbury married Clare Strang in 2002 and they now live in the beautiful council owned Bronte House overlooking Bronte Beach on a 50 year lease. Once a year they are obliged to open Bronte House's splendid gardens for public viewing.

A Recipe For Wagyu Beef From Ezekiel

That's what award winning chef Peter Gilmore told the guests last night at The Quay restaurant at a dinner to celebrate the San Pellegrino restaurant awards. Apparently the recipe was inspired the Ezekiel passages in the Bible.

Peter Gilmore

He was talking about the main dish of a lavish  banquet at Sydney's top restaurant that sits by the harbour and has spectacular views over the the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and points beyond.



The dinner for about 25 was in the upstairs dining room that was once an outlook station for pilots when The Quay was a part of the Overseas Terminal where ocean liners once berthed on a weekly basis.

Quay has again been named amongst the World's Top 5o Best Restaurants in the San Pellegrino restaurant awards. It clocked in at no 26, up one place from last year at the awards which were announced in April at the Guildhall in London.

If they dined on Wagyu beef in Biblical times like that enjoyed last night, they certainly ate well.

Three other locals came in the top 100-Tetsuyas and Marque in Sydney , and Attica  in Melbourne. The Copenhagen restaurant Norma was voted No One for the second year running (a favourite of Prince Frederick and Princess Mary of Denmark) and a Stockholm establishment- Lilla Nygatan was named as the 'one to watch'.
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Altona

For a lazy $60 million the harbour-side mansion Altona in Point Piper can be yours according to adverts that have appeared in a local Eastern Suburb's newspaper.

Publishers  Deke and Eve Miskin have just put the house on the market. They bought it from Fiona Handbury, the ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury for $28m in 2002.
Fiona, who has re-married to William Legge, the grandson of the romance novelist Barbara Cartland, is now the Countess of Dartmouth and received the mansion in a divorce settlement.

The Miskins are moving to the northern playground of Byron Bay and for the past 3 years have let the house out to celebrities like  Hugh Jackman. One actor who has inspected the property with a view to buy-Russell Crowe .