That other Oscar's party

While most of Hollywood were celebrating The Slap at the Vanity Fair after party along with an actor who assaulted a comedian in front of a few million TV viewers, Elton John and hubby David Furnish co-hosted their annual AIDs Foundation benefit with the always classy Lady Ga Ga as our exclusive pic shows..Furnish, GaGa and Elton and David's two sons.

WE were there and it's all true

An interesting tale about Molly Meldrum screwing up the atmosphere on a Sydney Harbour cruise for Elton John. We know it's true because Whispers was there. Not only did many people immediately ditch odd little packes of white powder overbiard as a police boat delivering Molly approached (not us- we lead a clean life) what this atory doesn't mention is that Molly slipped as he was trying to board the Elton cruise and plunged into Sydney's deadly harbour. Why didn't a shark take Molly? Good taste I guess. And yes the party that was in full swing become a tad sober after that as the guests were forced to rely on alcohol only. READ IT HERE: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/elton-john-confirms-wild-sydney-party-rumour-with-molly-meldrum/news-story/e9483d7d26ff5228d113c8da3c627fda

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:

Whispers will be jetting into LA for this event

Janie’s Fund Gala and GRAMMY Awards® Viewing Party

When: Sunday, January 28, 2018

Hot Spot: RED Studios Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Deets: Iconic singer, songwriter and humanitarian,Steven Tyler, and Live Nation will present the inaugural Janie’s Fund gala and GRAMMY Awards® viewing party on Sunday, January 28, 2018 at the historic RED Studios Hollywood. The exclusive event will include a star-studded red carpet, live viewing of the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast, live auction, dinner, and a musical performance.

Attendees will be treated to a multi-course dinner menu designed by GRAMMY Award-winning singer, best-selling cookbook author and lifestyle expert Trisha Yearwood. Following the dinner and telecast, Steven Tyler and his Nashville based band, LOVING MARY, will take the stage for a can’t-miss special live performance to close out the night.

Co-chair supporters for the event include Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Andrea Bocelli, Bo Derek, Britney Spears, Sir Elton John, Jim Carrey, Joaquin Phoenix, Joe & Marjorie Walsh, Kate Hudson, Lionel Richie, Sharon Stone, Whoopi Goldberg, and Yoko Ono.

Proceeds from the event will benefit Janie’s Fund, a philanthropic initiative created by Tyler in partnership with the national family services nonprofit Youth Villages to bring hope and healing to girls across America who have suffered the trauma of abuse and neglect. Tyler first gave voice to this cause with his hit “Janie’s Got a Gun,” and his establishment of the fund ensures that these vulnerable girls will have an enduring voice for years to come.

TheTruth about George Michael

On September 11th legendary British music entrepreneur Simon Napier-Bell will appear at Leadbelly in Newtown to give an after dinner talk.
Among Napier-Bell's many music discoveries are Dusty Springfield, The Yardbyrds, Marc Bolan & T-Rex and of course, George Michael and Wham who he turned into world superstars.
Simon remained a close friend of George Michael's and is threatening to tell the real story of Michael's life. Once when visiting Napier-Bell at his Thai villa where he now lives, Whispers found George Michael hiding from the world's media after yet another druggy car accident in the UK.
                                                            

Simon will have plenty to say about the Same Sex marriage issue having recently married his male partner in the UK and having recently directed a fascinating documentary "50 Years Legal" which is currently being screened in UK cinemas. In the film he interviews a host of famous British gays including Elton John, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellan , David Hockney and many more.
He has now written 5 best-selling books about music which have received rave reviews. One "Black Vinyl White Powder" was included in the UK school curriculum. His current book Ta-Ra-Ra-BOOM De-Ay tells the history of commercial music from the 1700s onwards. Napier-Bell's last visit to Sydney was in 2016 when he accompanied Sinead O'Connor who he was then managing.

AN EVENING WITH SIMON NAPIER - BELL Monday 11th Sept Leadbelly 6-12pm

Below is the famous song Napier-Bell wrote for Dusty Springfield which was also a mega hit for Elvis Presley

Death of music figure Eric Robinson

Elton John & Patti Mostyn

Eric Robinson (centre) with Michael Chugg & Glen Shorrock

Australia's show business community is in mourning today after the death of music figure Eric Robinson who passed away from cancer on Wednesday.
Beginning as a roadie for local bands, Robinson eventually rose through hard work to become Australia's foremost lighting and sound provider for the biggest entertainment acts. For a time he also excelled in the same business in the UK before returning to Australia. Along the way he married the countries most powerful music publicist Patti Mostyn who achieved fame after becoming the best pal of some of her superstar clients like Elton John. This year Eric received the Sue Nattrass Award at the  Helpmann Awards to honour his long standing commitment to the live performance industry.

Robinson and Patti retired to Port Douglas a few years ago where Eric died at age 67 from complications from cancer.  He leaves behind wife Patti and their daughter Tara and will be farewelled in a private funeral.

Melbourne & Across The Sea

Milliner Phillip Treacy locks lips with singer Grace Jones at the Battersea Power Station

 Perhaps it's the way of future- an extended series of Mother's Day celebrations. Last week we had the launch of the Murdoch Children's Research Foundation garden party in Elizabeth Bay at the Boomerang mansion which will become an annual charity fundraiser and which hopes to inspire numerous similar events around the country,
The following Friday Crown Casino in Melbourne hosted a Mum's Day event with some of the same guests, namely rival media names- the Packers. Attending were Francesca Barham with her grandmother Ros Packer, widow of the late Kerry Packer. Barham is the daughter of James Packer's sister Gretel Packer and British banker Nick Barham (James owns Crown)

At Crown :  Nicole Trunfio         Rebecca Judd              Sherri Biggs             Nadia Bartel       Jesinta Campbel

Meanwhile in London the iconic Battersea Power Station is soon to be turned into apartments- and what a location that will be -they threw their annual party and we have an exclusive video of the night's entertainment- rock royalty Elton John.

Marriage Mystery

While gay and lesbian couples celebrate in Canberra today, mystery surrounds the second marriage of the French charmer Alexandre Despallieres, announced via his Twitter feed as our picture shows.

French police are still investigating circumstances surrounding the death of Despallieres' first husband , the popular Australian music identity Peter Ikin who plunged down a staircase in a French hotel. Despallieres successfully gained probate over Ikin's $20M will and promptly moved into his London house in Chelsea, purchasing 2 Porsche cars for two male friends. Ikin's only relative, a Melbourne based Catholic priest got the will overturned although Despallieres received what is rumoured to be a $200,000 settlement.

Enter rock managers and Ikin pals John Reid, Elton John's former manager and Rod Stewart manager Billy Gaff who pressured French police to investigate the circumstances of Ikin's death. That investigation is ongoing while Despallieres remains on bail in France.
In March this year Despallieres' high profile lawyer Oliver Metzner was found dead from an apparent suicide.
No news yet on who his new husband is but he looks older than the ageless Depallieres, as was Ikin.
 To be continued .... 
left : in happier days : John Reid, Despallieres &Peter Ikin 

In The Dreamtime With Diana & Freddie

The Hollywood actress Shelley Winters was once lunching with an actress pal who wanted to pick her brains- she was penning her autobiography and was worried that she had led a fairly tame love life. "I 've had few affairs with stars" she said.
Winter's responded :"look, if they are gay or dead, just say you screwed them. None will complain"
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The Shuttle's eye was drawn to a tale that swept the world yesterday. No-one yet has clocked it as an April Fool's Joke. Such fine publications as the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph have faithfully repeated the tale verbatim.
Cleo Rocos who worked with the late British DJ Kenny Everett says that one night in 1988, she, Kenny and the late Freddie Mercury dressed Princess Diana in military jacket and sun shades and they all went of to the South London gay pub the Vauxhall Tavern where Diana was able to buy drinks with nary a punter spotting that the Most Famous Woman On The Planet was in their midst :
“When we walked in . . . we felt she was obviously Princess Diana and would be discovered at any minute. But people just seemed to blank her. The venue was packed, but the presence of Mercury, Everett and Rocos helped divert attention and Diana was able to order drinks at the bar before the group left,"
Such a  sweet tale from Cleo's new tome : ' The Power of Positive Drinking".

In 1996 the Shuttle spent a few days with Diana on her last trip to Australia for the Victor Chang Institute, accompanying her to various events to document the visit, commissioned by her Aussie pal Marie Sutton who had talked Diana into her last charity event before retiring from public life.

One night we were smuggled out of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Double Bay, all 3 of us crouched in the back seat of a car, to avoid the press. Diana was visiting the St Vincent's Hospice to meet HIV patients. We were sworn to secrecy. She wanted no publicity. Diana sat and chatted to patients for over 5 hours. We took snaps of each patient with Diana as memento's.

Marie Sutton

Driving back to the Ritz Carlton the driver took us via Oxford Street to show Diana the Golden Mile of gay clubs. Diana commented that she visited gay AIDS patients around the world but had never been to a gay bar. Whilst she was still a Royal she said "my detectives would have never let me enter one without it being searched for days beforehand. In fact going to any bar was out of the question".
Freddie Mercury died in 1991 from AIDS. From about 1987 he had become a recluse and was never seen again in public again . Kenny Everett was a regular at the Vauxhall Tavern but usually went unnoticed mainly as all the patrons more or less looked just like him. It was 'clones' pub.

Diana was finally divorced from Prince Charles in 1996 and lost her Royal title and the privileges that came with it including 2 permanent detectives from the Royal Protection Squad - the ones who "would have never let me enter one (gay bar) ".  In the year leading up to her Australian visit she spoke to Marie Sutton almost daily. She would relate the extraordinary lengths she would go to meet her lovers- the private houses of the Aristocracy where she could arrange a discreet visit for a weekend  in privacy which she knew the Protection Squad would always vet. Perhaps they slipped up in the Vauxhall Tavern incident.
What a shame Diana's great pal Sir Elton John hadn't joined this little pub crawl to confirm the tale.

Life At The Top

Nick & Holly

Former soap star Holly Vallance is to get hitched to her (reputed) billionaire boyfriend property developer Nick Candy this Saturday in Los Angeles at a wedding bash that is said will cost up to $2M. Guests like Sir Elton John  and Simon Cowell are expected to celebrate with the couple.

Erica & James

Meanwhile in Sydney local billionaire James Packer and his beautiful wife former model Erica


have just welcomed the birth of their second baby daughter Emmanuelle yesterday.
 James is selling off the last of the media empire he inherited from father Kerry Packer for around $1B while he expands his gambling and casino empire.

Ain't life grand !.

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And from the Emmys actor Tom Hanks demonstrated a new use for the award : he taped one to the bonnet of his car and drove around LA.

Peter Ikin Case Heats Up

A must see TV show  : Sunday Night on the Seven Network has a feature on the late Australian music identity Peter Ikin who friends like Elton John and Molly Meldrum believed was murdered.

Ikin died in 2008 after a fall down a flight of stairs in Paris and his partner, handsome Frenchman Alexandre Despallières who Ikin had married shortly before his death, had his body cremated and presented a falsified will to a London court. That will was eventually over-turned and Despallières was arrested by French police after rock entrepreneurs John Reid and Billy Gaff hired investigators and a French lawyer to probe the events surrounding Ikin's death.

Despallières is currently on bail and the Shuttle previously posted a link to a fascinating article in Bloomberg Businessweek by journalist Brad Stone who had previous dealings with the Frenchman.
Our Seven insider says to expect to hear some remarkable new revelations on the show about the investigation. You can see a preview here.

Molly, Elton and Robert Hughes

EVERYONE loves Molly Meldrum.

 A year ago the most bumbling but lovable TV interviewer fell from a ladder while trying to hitch some Christmas fairly lights to a tree near the backyard pool in his Melbourne house. Molly banged his head on one of the repro Sphinx heads that adorn his Egyptian themed house and for a few months we all feared we may lose him.
In hospital doctors worried he may have suffered serious brain damage.

At times nurses had to lead Molly back to his bed when he was convinced the hospital hallways were a red carpet premier of a new film or rock event. Once they  nabbed him a nearby coffee shop where he had fled convinced he was being held prisoner and had begged the shop owner to call him a taxi. At times he looked perplexed when handed his trademark cowboy hat.

But Molly is back in form and the man who famously ummed and ahhed  his way through an interview with a bemused Prince Charles in 1979 (see below) has returned with a triumphant interview with his old pal Elton John who has slammed Madonna as as "like a fucking fairground stripper, a nightmare " and that "Her tour's been a disaster. And it couldn't happen to a bigger cunt"
 Several media outlets have proclaimed that Elton's outburst was meant to be off-camera and not part of the interview.
Oh yeah?. Our spy in the Molly camp says Elton said after his Madonna attack "and make sure you print that Molly."
                                                      


                                                    *************************

Hughes with Danton

Art Critic Robert Hughes who passed away today at the age of 74 never fully recovered physically from a 1999 car accident in the Northern Territory


But it was the death of his son Danton Hughes in 2002 that really rocked Robert and and knocked the wind out of his sails.
Hughes confided to friends that he felt a total failure as a father after  Danton, who had been living with designer Jenny Kee, committed suicide in Kee's garage while she was visiting friends in Byron Bay.

 Although Hughes and Kee never spoke to each other while Danton was living with Jenny, they had one meeting after Danton's death and settled their differences.
Hughes would also say that if he had never met and married American artist Doris Downes that he believes he may well have joined Danton in suicide.

"The Talented M. Despallières"

Alexandre Despallières

Bloomberg Businessweek has an update on the man being investigated in the death of the popular Australian music identity, former Sydneysider Peter Ikin.

Frenchman Alexandre Despallières and Ikin wed (left) in a civil wedding in 2008 after re-igniting a love affair from a decade previously. In a month, Ikin was dead after a fall down a flight of stairs in a Paris hotel. His body was quickly cremated and his ashes scattered in a ceremony in a French cemetery in front of Ikin's music industry friends Elton John and John Reid and the actor Simon Burke.

 Rock manager John Reid became suspicious about the circumstances surrounding Ikin's death, especially after Despallières was found guilty of forging Ikin's will leaving all his assets to himself. Despallières was arrested and has just been released from a Paris jail while investigations continue.

Simon Burke,John Reid & Ikin

The journalist Brad Stone at Bloomberg who wrote up the latest news on Despallières had previous dealings with the man and the story is a must read. He has interviewed Alexandre Despallières at length and relates a fascinating tale.....click here.



Here is the latest Youtube video featuring Alexandre Despallières in Los Angeles:

The Pope,His Butler The PI, A Hooker & The MP

Are the wheels about to come rolling of the wagon that besieged MP Craig Thomson has been lashed to by Fairfax Media and the Federal Opposition ?.
As the days go by and the dust settles, it seems Craig Thomson may have been the victim of a massive set-up that involves dirty political deeds to unseat a Federal Member of Parliament, which if successful, could have brought down Julia Gillard's premiership.

The sight of Coalition leader Tony Abbott sprinting to the doors in the Chamber 2 days ago, and hammering to be let out as Craig Thomson crossed the floor to vote with Abbott's party was one of the most extraordinary scenes witnessed in Canberra for some time.

Channel 7

Fairfax senior journalist Kate McClymont has written over a dozen tales about Thomson (without interviewing him ) including about  his alleged visits to bordellos and the money supposedly racked up on his union credit card. Where McClymont obtained the documents published in the original tale is a  mystery. Did they come from Thomson's union enemy Kathy Jackson?.

 Dark clouds are now gathering around Jackson and her partner, a judge with Fair Work Australia who investigated Thomson's spending of large sums of union money including contributions to Thomson's election campaign. Thomson has slammed the Fair Work report and the Electoral Commission has dismissed the claim about his electoral expenses.

It seems odd that a bordello that has changed hands twice in the 7 years since Thomson allegedly visited (long before he became an MP) would keep such pristine records. When it was pointed out to McClymont that the photocopied credit card slip showed the name as ThomPson , not Thomson, her Twitter reply was "ask him, he spent the money". Odd words for an investigative journalist.

However the website Independent Australia has been investigating while others like Fairfax and News Ltd have seemingly sung from the same song sheet.

 It appears all is not what it seems with the claims against Thomson and in particular, the documents from the bordello. IE have uncovered that the credit card slip actually carries a rejection code on it. In other words the card was rejected by Mastercard. The very idea that the bordello would keep a rejected slip for over 7 years seems like a fantasy.

Channel Nine's tabloid show, A Current Affair had been frothing at the mouth about it's interview with a hooker for which she was to be paid a $60,000 fee. She claimed to have slept with Thomson while working at the brothel. Yesterday ACA quietly announced they wouldn't be broadcasting the interview.

 Last Thursday noted private investigator Frank Monte was interviewed on 2UE's Drive Time.
Monte scorned the idea that a prostitute could possibly remember a client from 7 years ago particularly as Thomson was an unknown face.
When Frank Monte became involved with the David Jones $38M  harassment suit, within 4 weeks the matter was quickly settled for a 20th of that sum. The rumour at the time was that Monte had uncovered damaging information.

Frank Monte today refused to either confirm or deny if he was involved with Craig Thomson or investigating on Thomson or Channel 9's behalf. Yet within days of his interview, suddenly the Channel Nine interview, trumpeted by them so vocally in the media, vanished.
                                                                                                         Even more bizarre was the attack piece McClymont wrote 5 weeks ago about Monte, much of which was just a re-hash of a previous piece by a hack. She even dredged up the now tainted  Gianni Versace case in 2000 where Donatella & Santo Versace spent over $4M suing Monte in the Federal Court.

Monte had written a book Spying Game in which he said fashion great Gianni Versace was murdered by the Italian Mafia. Santo and Donatella were 'outraged'. Donatella, surrounded by lawyers and under oath, said via video link-up to the Federal Court that she had 'never ever' used illicit drugs. Two years later she gave a well publicised interview to Vogue saying she had 'been addicted to drugs before and after Gianni's murder" and that friends like Elton John has persuaded her to go to re-hab.
There is word the matter may be returning to the Federal Court. If it's found Donatella lied, she could face serious consequences let alone a gigantic law suit from Monte. At the moment, the ex-News Corp editor Andy Coulson is being interviewed in respect of possible perjury in a court case in Scotland. In the Scottish case, socialist MP Tommy Sheridan was jailed for 3 years (serving one) for perjury. Now Coulson is being questioned about evidence he gave in Sheridan's trial.


In 2010 Italy's most respected investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published a book in which he confirmed what Frank Monte had said 8 years previously-that Gianni Versace was indeed killed in a Mafia hit. Santo Versace vowed to sue anyone who repeated the claims. The Shuttle has received emails from 4 Italian newspapers that did in-depth stories on Nuzzi's Versace claim. Not one has heard a peep out of Santo and they don't expect to. Nuzzi says he is not worried by Santo's threats.

Last week as a result of Nuzzi's investigations of The Vatican in his book Vaticano S.p.A, Pope Benedict's butler was arrested.

And last night the Shuttle attended an Eastern Suburb's function and chatted to a local Liberal Party heavy. He mused that the Coalition's Thomson attack was a shambles and that he expected that, rather than Julia Gillard, it will be Tony Abbott who will be gone within 4 months. You read it here first.

Below is a reminder of Tony Abbott at work:

Falling Stars

Will-I-Am & Ashlee Simpson arrive on Wednesday for the Marquee openiung.

Relaxing in our rural retreat for the weekend, our spy disguised as a B-List sleb ventured into no-man's land, Darling Harbour for the much trumpeted "VIP" celebrity opening of Star Casino's Marquee nightclub.

The original architects of Star City say they operated under directions from a Feng Shui Master which may explain the millions in profits that have been generated for it's owners over the years but did they sack the Feng Shui consultant for the latest "billion dollar" makeover?. Things are going from bad to worse for the gambling joint despite the millions of dollars they have forked over for celebrities like Leo Di Caprio and the Black Eyed Peas to put in personal appearances.
Elton John stormed out of the casino's new penthouse suite after one day last year and fled to the Sheraton On The Park, vowing never to return and the on-going political dramas over the sacking of the casino boss, Las Vegas import Sid Vaikunta will get much worse.
Last night's appearance by Paris Hilton, surely on the slippery slope to celebrity oblivion was a major mistake and basically set the tone for the glitzy nightclub. Why it thinks it needs a "VIP Entrance" is a mystery. Getting patrons through he main door will be a struggle let alone those who pass as VIPs in this town.
Hilton's appearance at Bondi barely caused a ripple and noticeably absent were the paparazzi. They were largely absent for last night's launch as well. And as late as 6pm the club managers were desperately phoning around agents looking for a magician to entertain the VIPs.

Krug & Sushi at the Park Hyatt

The Park Hyatt Hotel celebrated it's $60M recent makeover with a swish party on Tuesday evening.

Amber Keating in Louis Vuitton

Nestled beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge and directly opposite the Sydney Opera House, the Park Hyatt clearly has the premier location of any Sydney inn and it's the home away from home for most visiting celebrities.
But what was with the report in a Sydney tabloid newspaper today that implied that while the Star casino (possibly Australia's most ghastly looking building) served Krug champagne for it's glitzy launch last year, the Park Hyatt settled for photographs of the French tipple ?. Perhaps the journo was pre-occupied with the dramas about his newspaper's parent company unfolding in the Leveson Inquiry in the UK.

Not only was the Krug flowing freely at the Park Hyatt, it was '98 vintage which doesn't come cheap. There were buckets and buckets of the stuff and the Shuttle knows as we could only look on in sheer envy, reduced as we are to sipping mineral water because of a course of anti-biotics.

If the service at the Park Hyatt's launch party is anything to go by, it's position as the hotel of choice for superstars (and other mortals) will remain un-matched. The hotel had flown in chefs from around the world including two to prepare superb sushi, and with a series of rooms serving up various cuisines, this was one of Sydney's most memorable parties.

Bridget & Louise Abbott

Jo Ferguson & Catriona Rowntree

As for Star, which the Tele helpfully informs us attracted the likes of Leo DiCaprio, Stevie Wonder and others of that ilk to it's launch late last year, they forgot to mention the millions of dollars paid out to the slebs or in DiCaprio's case, the entire floor of it's hotel they laid on gratis for Leo's staff to live in while he filmed The Great Gatsby. Or of the Star's private jet that was laid on for DiCaprio's exclusive use during his stay. Even then he only turned up to the launch party for an hour or so and stood sullenly in a corner scowling at the media.

 Sipping Krug at the Park Hyatt : Hon Bruce Baird, Amber Keating, Kerri Anne Kennerley, gossip writers Jo Cassamento and Ros Reines, Catriona Rowntree, Sandra Sully and two new entrants to the social scene, Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's daughters Bridget and Louise Abbott.

                      the view from the Park Hyatt's bar

Tassie Dishwasher Takes UK Chef’s Crown

For a tiny population Tasmania is punching well above its weight.

With ex-real estate agent Mary Donaldson, now Crown Princess Mary who will one day rule Denmark, Ricky Ponting dominating the cricket, fashion queen Allannah Hill and the never to be forgotten Hollywood star Errol Flynn, comes the  Tasmanian born chef Ash Mair who has picked up the gong in the UK as Britain's Masterchef in the hugely popular TV series.

In  MasterChef: The Professionals Mair whipped up a three-course meal for judges Michel Roux Junior and Gregg Wallace. The menu included a starter of monkfish tail, a main course of lamb and a Spanish bread-and-butter pudding.

Michel Roux called Mair “a supreme talent” while Wallace said he had “given me some of the best food I have ever tasted.”

Ash Mair began his career as a dishwasher at the Cucina Simpatica in Launceston Tasmania and graduated to the 5 star Westbury Hotel in London where he now lives via several eateries in Spain and France.

Currently he caters for events and travels and writes about food. Amongst his private clients -Sir Phillip Green, Sir Elton John and the British Royal Family