Everything Old Is New Again

"Everything old is new again" goes the line from the late Peter Allen song. Always has been really. A great example-in the last ten years Playboy Clubs have been closing down across the USA but in London, a new Playboy Club has just opened.

It reminds the Shuttle of the heyday of the Playboy Clubs. We've only been to two.  Arriving at the New York club once with 3 friends for a party thrown by Hugh Hefner we were mistaken for Abba. We also attended a few product launches at the former London Playboy Club in Mayfair run by Victor Lownes and once visited the Playboy Mansion in LA.

Probably the biggest ever Playboy party was the 25th year anniversary party thrown by  Lownes at the Playboy mansion Stocks House in Hertfordshire. It went for 3 days and many guests were ferried in by helicopters. Victor Lownes ran the European Playboy operations for Hefner but had a falling out with him in the '90s and was fired.

He was always good at the required quips. Once asked what a playboy was he said "someone who is probably having more sex than you". It was all a fantasy of course but the whole charade worked during the Playboy hey days from the 60's through to the 80's.

Stocks in Hertfordshire

The LA Playboy Mansion which can now be rented out for corporate parties was even more of a fantasy. Hefner boldly sold a dream built on tack and the idea if you could only crack the inner circle sex was yours for the taking. Once you did get 'in' the Bunnies were very prudish and strict rules prevented them from fraternising with guests on pain of sacking.

The LA mansion was like a Disneyland  ride-looked exciting from the outside but disappointing once you got up close and the cracks were revealed. It was full of dreadful reproduction antique furniture of the worst taste. The rocks in the grotto swimming pool seemed to be fake. The whole place was tired and grubby looking.

At the UK 25th anniversary party every hotel, motel and boarding house in the surrounding area of Stocks was booked out by guests. Not that the rooms were always used. At the party there were a series of marquees- permanent food tents, a champagne bar and a non stop discotheque. They were open for the entire 3 days. Most of it passed in a blur and the Shuttle never made it back to our booked rooms. We collapsed in Stocks living room for a few hours kip at a time.

There was always a two tier guest regime at Stocks. The general party goers had the run of the house and grounds while a handful of honoured guests were entitled to visit the upstairs floor.

A Bunny Re-union

And they weren't always celebrities who made it upstairs to drink with Lownes or Playboy boss Hugh Hefner who only stayed for one day.

Amongst business cronies of Lownes, Tony Curtis and Rod Stewart would be Upstairs while Downstairs were newer stars of the day including Star Wars' actor Mark Hamil. who the Shuttle shared a spa bath with along with half a dozen bunnies !
Not very PC but who cares ?

## "The Boy From Oz " was a huge Broadway hit and made Hugh Jackman into a star. Based on the life of Australian singer Peter Allen it captured the exciting performances of Allen who was always over the top and as camp as a pink Koala Bear. A big favourite with other celebrities his shows were packed out with performers like Elton John, Barry Manilow and even Frank Sinatra who came to paid homage to one of the US top live performers. Here is his big hit 'I Go To Rio"

Music Identity's husband arrested

Ikin & Despallier's civil ceremoney

John Reid

In March we reported that Elton John's former manager John Reid had asked a French lawyer to investigate the mysterious death of the retired head of Warner's Australia Peter  Ikin who died after a fall down some stairs.

Now Ikin's French husband Alexandre Despalliere's has been arrested in France along with 2 friends Vincent Bray and Jeremy Billien.

Olivier Metzner

When Ikin died Despalliere produced a will that purported to leave Ikin's $20Million fortune to him after he and Ikin  had married in a civil ceremony a few months before the  music boss died. The Frenchman was granted probate on the will and immediately purchased 3 Porsche cars-one each for he, Bray and Billien. That will was overturned in a London court and Despalliere reportedly settled for $500,000 and agreed to move out of Ikin's Chelsea townhouse. Ikin's estate went to a charity and his only relative, a Catholic priest in Melbourne

Ikin was a pal of many top music figures including Elton John and Rod Stewart and extremely popular in Australia. Friends had been asking questions since his death and claimed Ikin had been in good health when it was claimed, with Despaliere as the only witness, that he had toppled down some stairs after an apparent heart attack, His body was cremated soon after.

 Under French law a judge must now decide if there is case for charges to be laid against the three in connection with Ikin's death. There is a twist-Despalliers had been living until his arrest with one of France's most high profile criminal defence lawyers Olivier Metzner who has defended clients like the former dictator of Panama Manuel Noriega.

Sir Elton John's manager dons Miss Marple garb over mystery death

Friends and family of the late record company executive Peter Ikin who died in November 2008 aged 62, are still asking questions about the manner of his death. Ikin, a much loved music industry figure who was the boss of Warner's Music Australia passed away after a fall down some stairs in his Paris hotel and after marrying his French lover Alexandre Despallieres in a civil ceremony the previous month at the Chelsea Town Hall in London. Ikin had retired in 2000 after a stint as VP at the London HQ of Warner's Music.

Despallieres produced a new will reputedly signed by Ikin in August of that year and witnessed by Despallieres' assistant Jeremy Billien and another friend Vincent Bray, leaving Ikin's $20million fortune to his new husband. After getting probate granted in England, Despallieres' had Ikin's body cremated and set about spending over $2 million from Ikin's Channel Island's bank account, purchasing 3 Porches-one for himself and one each for  Billien and Bray.

actor Simon Burke, John Reid and Peter Ikin

London's High Court overturned that will after a previous one was produced by Ikin's lawyer, signed in 2002 which left his estate to charities, his godchildren and only living relative, a Catholic priest in Sydney. An out of court settlement was reached in which Despallieres is said to have received a million dollars.  Despallieres also agreed to move out of  Ikin's Chelsea apartment.

It's claimed that Despallieres has said in the past he was suffering from brain cancer and is HIV, hence Ikin's rush to marry him and make a new will.

Ikin was well liked and friendly with many pop stars like Elton John and Rod Stewart. John Mellancamp said of Ikin ; "he was always kind, and jovial and a pleasure to be with. I have thought and spoke of Peter often. He was my introduction to the music business"

Now former rock manager John Reid, a friend of Ikin's and who guided the careers of Elton John, Freddie Mercury and Queen and the dancer Michael Flatley wants some answers. Reid has hired a French lawyer who has petitioned the French coroner for a toxicology report into Ikin's sudden death. French police have opened a file and are investigating after it was found there were deadly levels of paracetamol in Ikin's blood when he died.

Billy Gaff wants fraud charges

And another tough-minded Scot Billy Gaff, the ex-manager of Rod Stewart is pursuing Despallieres for $500,000 he said he lent the Frenchmen whilst he was waiting for probate to be granted on Ikin's will . Gaff said he "came under Despallieres' spell when he said he was a French pop star". Gaff wants fraud charges laid against Despallieres.
He may have to get in the queue. At a recent memorial service for Ikin in Sydney  there was much muttering from Ikin's distraught friends in the music business about issuing  legal claims against Despallieres. It seems Reid has fired the first shot.