They doubted us..

Several loyal readers doubted Whisper's tale that they encountered a very young James Murdoch asleep at a party at the home of the late Lady Mary Fairfax, Fairwater in Sydney's Double Bay.
But it's true and we now show a pic we snapped at the event.
From left to right is billionaire James, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Primrose Dunlop and well known News Ltd photographer Frank Viola.

Young James was just 15 a the time and doing "work experience" on his father's newspaper The Sunday Telegraph and accompanied the other two to Lady Mary's. At the time Primrose was writing a social column for the newspaper.
We told how Primrose met the Qantas Trolley Dolly and Egyptian royal Prince Lorenzo Giustinian at the shindig.
Often known as Prince Montesini, Lorenzo says his title is a very old one from the Ottoman Empire.
Sometime later the pair decided to get married and organised their nuptials to be held in Venice as half of Sydney and Melbourne's high society travelled to the canal city for the wedding.
Alas, Prince Lorenzo got cold feet and decamped the night before they were to be married and ran off with his best man Richard Straub while assorted media searched Europe looking for the errant bridegroom.
Meanwhile Primrose, heiress to a considerable stockbroking fortune in Melbourne nabbed a European noble and is now known as Countess Zofia Krasicki v Siecin.

Lady Mary bows out

She is probably the last of an era. Lady Mary Fairfax who died on Monday at age 95 was farewelled today at a service at the church of choice in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, St Marks in Darling Point. Lady Mary was the second wife of Sir Warwick Fairfax, the heir to the Fairfax publishing empire which at it's peak published the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne regarded as two of the great broadsheets of the world.

Whispers attended numerous parties at Mary's Darling Point pile Fairwater. Fairwater has been left in trust to the National Trust with the stipulation her loyal staff live there until they too pass on. Indeed we also spent a week at Lady Mary's New York penthouse on top the Pierre Hotel which was once the most expensive apartment in the world and which had it's own full sized ballroom. Mary wasn't there at the time but she arranged for her loyal chauffeur and his wife to host us.

Lady Mary's charity parties were the stuff of legend with guests like Prince Edward and Albert, Prince of Monaco ( Lady Mary was the Honorary Consul for Monaco) hosted in a giant marquee in her garden that backed on to Sydney Harbour.
With great style, Mary would invite selected media (like Moi) and we would be treated as equal guests, usually joining a line-up with her staff to be introduced to the royal guest of the evening. In a way it summed up not just Lady Mary's exquisite manners but the way she treated all people of varying backgrounds equally. Having risen to such great heights and privilege, Lady Fairfax devoted her life to charitable causes for the disadvantaged.

At one of Mary's parties we attended spoon bender Uri Geller was the star guest, Mary sent her butler to retrieve some of her silver cutlery which Geller proceeded to bend while dozens of guests found keys in their pocket bent out of shape or watches stopped or started. One guest, the representative of a French champagne company spent the night sleeping in his car when he found his car & house keys twisted out of shape.

Party guests: Albert of Monaco* Prince Edward, Uri Geller * James Murdoch

Pals: Ron & Nancy Reagan, Pope John Paul

When Lady Mary arrived at her New York penthouse just as Whispers was departing, she engaged us in a detailed conversation as to whether she should purchase a new Rolls Royce or a simpler Cadillac in which she was to be driven to Los Angeles (inviting us to accompany her but we had to turn her down as we were traveling on to London). Mary eventually purchased a sparkling new Roller and was duly driven to LA and when she asked her chauffeur to arrange for it to be shipped to Sydney he pointed out it was a left-hand drive:" Perhaps Madam should sell it and buy another one in Sydney". Instead she donated it to a local California charity to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
While in the US Mary would always drop by the White House in Washington to dine with her pals Ronald & Nancy Reagan. As a Catholic convert, they say she had The Pope on speed dial.

At another party at Fairwater Whispers photographed a young lad who had lain down on a sofa and promptly fallen asleep. He turned out to be a 14 year old James Murdoch on work experience for his dad Rupert Murdoch's Daily Telegraph. Mary's family purchased a portrait painting of Lady Mary by Whispers and artist Skid Stuart in 1995. We like to think it may still hang in the drawing room along side her  Rodin statue.
Lady Mary Fairfax, born in Poland is survived by her sons Warwick Fairfax , Garth Symonds from an earlier marriage to businessman Cedric Symonds and children Anna Cleary, Charles Fairfax and 12 grandchildren

What is happening with James Murdoch?

Whispers asks this question because of a sudden spike in a story we penned in 2010.  It's the tale of how we spotted a 15 year old James Murdoch asleep on a sofa at a party at Lady Mary Fairfax's home Fairwater in Double Bay. At the time Murdoch was accompanying the Sunday Telegraph social writer Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop (pictured right) on 'work experience'. Our spy disguised as a Tiffany's compact in Jerry Hall's handbag and which sends us regular reports on hubby Rupert Murdoch's movements has produced no news about the Murdoch clan that may have inspired over 100,000 readers from the UK to click on the tale in the past few days.

Read the full story here:

A 15 year old Murdoch and the groom who eloped with his best man in Venice

 

 A screenshot of our statistics shows how readers can suddenly flock from a certain country depending on the current post. As an example, when we published the claim that former Sydney and now Los Angeles based private investigator Frank Monte was heading to New York to work on Donald Trump's presidential campaign, readers from the USA flocked to Whispers at the rate of around 40,000 a day. But why an older tale about James Murdoch has suddenly gained new traction is a mystery.

 

Gerry & The Pacemaker Get Hitched !

         READ ALL ABOUT IT

Love Match of The Century

Who doesn't love an engagement? Whispers reckons this is the best comment to date:

Lord McAlpine Hits Back

With the British media in a feeding frenzy over the claims about the late BBC TV personality Jimmy Savile, it was only a matter of time before matters came to the boil and an innocent was hurt.

Lord McAlpine's Cable Beach Resort

The 'jumping the shark' moment came early Thursday morning when a lightweight, snowy haired breakfast TV host attempted to ambush British PM David Cameron by presenting a list of names he had gathered on the Internet- 'within three minutes". Cameron put the host firmly in his place whilst shushing the presenter's blinking eyed co-host as she tried to butt in.

Margaret Thatcher with Lord McAlpine (right)

Within 24 hours Lord Alistair McAlpine , the former Conservative Party treasurer had issued a furious denial and one of his accusers had back-pedalled like Speedy Gonzales in reverse, admitting he had made a terrible mistake. There were red faces all round and McAlpine has said he will sue.

Lord McAlpine is a familiar figure around Sydney and was here earlier this year on his way to visit his beloved  Cable Beach Resort which he established in 1979 in the pearling town of Broome in the Northern Territory.
In the late 1990s McAlpine hosted an unforgettable party at Sydney's Hotel Intercontinental which he owned at the time, to promote Broome.
He arrived amongst the city traffic on a towering camel, no mean feat for the diminutive Baron. Guests were invited to a lavish dinner and left later that evening each bearing a deck chair as a memento.

Pitty Pat's intern James Murdoch

Lorenzo & Pitty Pat

At one stage Lord McAlpine also dated Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop, the Melbourne socialite and heiress who at the time was writing a social column for Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Telegraph and carting a 15 year old intern around with her by the name of James Murdoch. James had a low boredom threshold and would fall asleep at parties
Pitty Pat ended up marrying the Polish Count Krasicki after a disastrous engagement to Qantas flight attendant Prince Lorenzo Monetsini who famously ran off with his bridegroom leaving Pitty Pat at the altar at the glorious Cipriani Hotel in Venice along with 100 socialite guests who had flown in from Melbourne , Sydney London and New York, some still arriving as the groom fled to Harry's Bar, clambering out of water taxis to attend the 'wedding of the year'.  
Lord McAlpine now lives in Italy with his wife and is presumably in contact with the finest British libel lawyers. Such is the rich tapestry of life.
You can listen to an  interview Lord McAlpine gave to ABC  Kimberley in March this year here.



**Earth to News Ltd : Lord McAlpine was not a Member of Parliament  or a politician.

God Abandons Rupert!

It just goes from bad to worse for Rupert Murdoch.
With News having just posted a $1.9 Billion loss today, yesterday the Church Of England (CEO : HM The Queen) announced that it had sold it shares in News Corp for $3 million because of the "bad behaviour" of some of it's newspapers.

Andrew Whittam Smith is the First Church Estate's Commissioner and in charge of their finances. He is also the founder of the Independent Newspaper which along with The Guardian has been on the attack over the great hacking scandal and other matters previously. It was he who made the decision to sell the Church's stake in News.
A former journalist and the son of an Anglican vicar, Whittam Smith is far from being a prude and was once president of the British Film Board Classification and was responsible during the 90s for liberalising what naughty parts Brits could see in videos and films. Until then it had languished about 50 years behind the rest of Europe.
He also thinks Scotland Yard may soon be feeling the collars of both James Murdoch and his father for having breached Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and is quoted as saying:
"“It means that if you have presided over an organisation that has conducted criminal activities, either you have the orders, or you gave permission, or you connived, but if you did none of these things, then you were neglectful. That, I believe, is the trap in which the directors of News International find themselves."

Could this be why Rupert and James are both moving permanently to New York?. Given how the British courts are now closely co-operating with US courts in extradition matters ala Julian Assange, perhaps both could seek sanctuary in Australia House in The Strand and ask for asylum.

Bill's Star Keeps Rising

Next month Bill Granger's new London restaurant opens in trendy Notting Hill Gate to join the 6 other establishments he owns-3 in Sydney and 3 in Japan.

The Brits  have taken Granger to their hearts. His Bill's Food TV cooking show received a healthy audience on the BBC and was shown in 22 countries although he his still finds time to clock on to Richard Glover's ABC 702 afternoon radio show every fortnight.

Now Bill's cookbook Bill's Everyday Asian has been included in The Independent newspaper's Top 50 Cookbooks along with  foodie heavyweights like Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver and Michel Roux and the legendary Elizabeth David and Delia Smith.

The Shuttle has breakfast 2 or 3 times a week at Bills in Surry Hills and this morning we heard an interesting piece of news from a very reliable source.

Both the Independent and the Evening Standard newspapers in  the UK are owned by the Russian 'oligarch' Alexander Lebedev, an entrepreneur who was once pretty high up in the KGB, a spy for the USSR in London and who is financing the political comeback of Michael Gorbochev.

A year ago Lebedev launched the lightweight daily I Newspaper that appeals to commuters and sells for around 22cents. It's a better version of the Murdoch freebie Mx that is handed out at Sydney and Melbourne rail stations.

Alexander Lebedev

Our source says Lebedev has had a small team working the Sydney and Melbourne markets to calculate if they could handle an Oz version of I Newspaper. Which would surely be a welcome addition to either city dominated as they are by Fairfax Newspapers and News Ltd.

There is a story doing the rounds that an angry James Murdoch summonsed Lebedev's son Evgeny who runs the UK newspapers, to the Wapping compound with a demand The Independent lay off reporting on the hacking scandal when it was in it's infancy.

An annoyed Murdoch received no joy from Evengy and a spokesman is reputed to have said later- "Alexander Lebedev faced some formidable opponents in the KGB-the Murdoch's don't frighten him."

Here's a reminder of how Alexander Lebedev deals with those who annoy him :

Come On Down Alex !..Australia needs you.

Tony & Margaret

# Sadly the Australian matriarch of cooking, Margaret Fulton was not included in The Independent's 50 Best Cookbooks but we feel sure it was oversight.

Kate Gibbs with chefs Tetsuya & Lucio

When her Margaret Fulton Cookbook was launched in 1968 it sold an unprecedented one and half million copies and her 12 books since have sold more cookbooks than any other chef on the planet. Not that the diminutive 87 year old Scot is deterred.

Last week she was out on the town launching Tony Bilson's new book and she has a new website that will be up and running shortly and she has an Iphone app. In fact the entire Fulton family are at it with daughter Suzanne Gibbs a respected food writer and Margaret's 2 grand-daughters taking up the mantle.

Lousie Fulton Gibbs has just launched a children's cookbook- My Grandma's Kitchen while Kate Gibbs is a contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Guide.

Did The Terminator Murder Lord Lucan?

JUST when you thought it was safe to venture onto the streets of Britain clutching your mobile phone and listening to your hack-free voicemail messages comes news that the News Of The World has re-surfaced as newsoftheworldonline.eu an Internet newspaper that looks like continuing in the finest tradition of the late great Sunday tabloid put to rest by James Murdoch.

And it has some extraordinary news stories worthy of that great organ that specialised in errant vicars dabbling with choir boys and so on.

For instance the lead story claims the former Governator of California and famous movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger may have been the monster who bashed an innocent nanny to death on the staircase of a Belgravia townhouse, mistaking her for Lady Lucan, and then in order to cover up his crime, murdered the infamous Lord Lucan, gathered up his body and dumped it in the grave he had earlier prepared for the body of the good Lady.

Diane Passage

And there the Lord has lain since-not as previous theories have claimed, hiding out in Goa, Bali, South Africa or Zimbabwe. Murdered by the Terminator who it's claimed, worked as a gambling debt collector in London in 1970s.

Publisher of the NOTW online is the colourful  Gionvanni di Steffano (a solicitor for Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi) and the editor is Michael Biggs, son of the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs. 
 In fact the entire editorial staff of notwonline could be called 'colourful' including the food writer Hudi Hoggi, astrologer Mystic Margaret and the dashing young Royal writer Ian Strachan ( so close to the Royal Family that he has just been a guest of Her Majesty for the last few years).

There is a Society column written by Birgit Cunningham who manages a quite dizzying round of cocktail parties and a Security & Diplomatic contributor-our favourite former Monte Carlo spy master Robert Eringer  (see the Shuttle ).

Fred & Zsa Zsa

The USA Entertainment Editor is the very glamorous Diane Passage whose former career was as a stripper at the infamous Scores strip joint in New York.
Regular Shuttle readers may recall Scores is where Labor Foreign Minster spokesman and committed Christian Kevin Rudd MP dallied one night with Col Allan editor of the Murdoch tabloid New York Post, a scandal that surfaced co-incidentally just before his election as Prime Minster in 2007. Some say the publicity is what got him over the line.

But the piéce de résistance must  be the contributing US Show Business Editor, our favorite European noble Prince Frederic von Anhalt who in his spare time doubles as the husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Sadly Prinz Fred has only filed one show-biz report to newsoftheworldonline but his own life is far more exciting. Readers may recall he was found a few years ago naked and handcuffed to the steering wheel of his own Rolls Royce after a dispute with some ladies who stole his wallet. Others may recall that Freddie claimed to be the father of the baby of the late Anna Nicole Smith even though many say the former masseur "bats for the other team"

While poor Zsa Zsa at 94 years old languishes  in hospital minus a leg, the Prince's website brings us the news that David Hasslehoff's ex-wife Pamela Bach has offered her uterus for Freddy and Zsa Zsa's use  in order an heir may be produced.

Ronnie Biggs

There's even a choice quote from Ms Bach's representatives on Prince Freddy : "we refuse to acknowledge the ramblings of this delusional man who has done nothing more than plant a fictional tale in a desperate attempt for attention ". 

There is a nice symmetry to the stories carried by newsoftheworldonline including the claim former British government minister John Stonehouse (who was arrested in Australia after he faked his own death-initially on suspicion of being Lord Lucan) was the mastermind of the Great Train Robbery in which the online newspaper editor's father Ronnie was a participant.
Rebekah Brooks -eat you heart out !

Not All Doom & Gloom For The Murdochs

Sarah Murdoch at the Astras last night

The Murdoch family still face battles with the British parliament and a public still reeling from the great phone hacking scandal but life appears to be far rosier for some members of the extended first family of the media.

While Lachlan Murdoch accompanied his father Rupert Murdoch and brother James to London this week keeping a low profile and returning to New York with them on their private jet, his beautiful wife model and TV presenter Sarah Murdoch was  last night voted Favourite Personality at the Astra Awards for pay TV held at the Sydney Theatre Company.

Anna Torv splash

Sarah is host and executive producer of the series Australia's Next Top Model which co-incidentally is screened on Foxtel , the cable network part owned by her famous father-in-law.

Meanwhile the on-line magazine The Beast has come into bat for the Australian actress Anna Torv and claimed that she is a victim of the The Emmy Awards’ 10 Biggest Snubs.

Kia Torv, William & Anna Mann, Hans Torv

Anna appears in the hugely popular TV series Fringe which has a world wide cult following.

She's the daughter of Gold Coast radio network owner Hans Torv who is the brother of the former Mrs Anna Murdoch and she's the cousin of James, Lachlan, Prudence and Elisabeth Murdoch. Anna is named after her famous aunt.

John Noble

Not that Anna has much contact with her famous media family cousins. She's been estranged from her father Hans since the age of eight when he and her mother parted company but she does maintain contact with the former Mrs Rupert Murdoch and regularly visits her aunt in New York.
Anna Murdoch  married New Yorker financier William Mann and as our exclusive picture shows is extremely close to her brother Hans and his present wife Kia. Anna Mann is also a co-owner of the Queensland radio network run by Hans.
Anna Torv has been signed for another series of Fringe along with the star of the show, Australian actor John Noble who The Beast reckons should also be up for an Emmy.

Murdoch The Movie-The Empire Strikes Back

Getty/The Beast

In January the Shuttle brought news of a proposed movie based on the life of Rupert Murdoch-the Sun King who has arrived in London to try and stem the fallout from the great hacking scandal.

Getty/The Beast

'Murdoch' the movie was commissioned by the UK's Channel 4 and written by TV script writer Jesse Armstrong but 4 decided against making it. It's now being handled by a top agency Creative Artist's Agency who are looking for a producer and backer.  Presumably Fox Studios won't be bidding for the rights any time soon.

Colin Myler- editor of the late NoTW (Getty/The Beast)

The script blurb reads : "As his family gathers for his birthday party, Rupert Murdoch tries to convince his elder children to alter the family trust so that his two youngest children by his newest wife will have voting rights in the company."  The events of the last week must surely mean that it's just a matter of time before this film is made.

All movie scripts evolve over time and we proposed a number of actors to take leading roles including Barry Humphries (manager of gigastar Dame Edan Everage) as Rupert Murdoch (he's already played him in the Hitler Diaries) and Hayden Christensen as the good looking James Murdoch.

New characters have moved into the frame though, so to speak. In particular Rebekah Brooks the CEO of Murdoch's News Corporation who from all reports, Rupert regards as  one of the family. And Andy Coulson the hapless former adviser to British PM David Cameron.

Fortunately The Daily Beast has come up with an updated cast list which looks spot on and you can see from our pictures some of the proposed new cast for the movie.
                            *************************************************
As the scandal swirled around the News Corp bunker at Wapping in East London and in the offices of the 168 year old tabloid News of The World, journalists were already seething over the flame haired CEO of News Corp and the former editor of the newspaper Rebekah Brooks who most of the hacks had come to the conclusion had led the the tabloid into treacherous waters with her 'take no prisoners' style of editing.

There are reports of writers being berated for up to an hour at the 11am editorial meeting and tales of younger journalists fleeing to the toilets in tears over Ms Brooks threats that they would receive their marching orders unless  they came up with a major celebrity or political based piece of scandal to fill the pages.

In it's final weeks a YouTube video was doing the rounds-unbeknown to Rebekah-that was viewed with glee by the staff. It's a clip from a movie called Vile Pervert produced by pop mogul Jonathan King who spent time as a guest of Her Majesty and has often complained that the tabloid unfairly distorted reporting of his predicament.

Famous Last Words # 1

19th January 2011 James Murdoch Chairman News International speaking about the phone hacking scandal at the News of The World newspaper :

"You talk about a reputation crisis – actually the business is doing really well. It shows what we were able to do is really put this problem in a box."

8th July 2011:

Aussie Victim of Britain's Phone Hacking Scandal

James Murdoch who has just been appointed as third in command of the mighty News Corp's USA operations has said that the phone hacking scandal in Britain has been "put in a box". But that Pandora's Box threatens to burst open in unexpected ways.

Collateral damage may be far and wide and open up even more lawsuits from those not directly hacked but who have also suffered because of the illegal phone taps.

It's already been aknowledged that model Elle McPherson was one celebrity whose mobile phone voice-mail messages were illegally listened to by the tabloid  News of The World employees, but one of her innocent associates ended up being sacked because of it.

 Mary Ellen Field was the Australian brand manager, legal adviser and confidante of Elle who advised and worked on McPherson's hugely successful range of personalised merchandise that has earned the supermodel a reputed $60 million dollar fortune.

When Elle McPherson discovered that messages between her and her adviser Field were mysteriously ending up as gossipy items in the media, she sacked the firm Mary Ellen worked for. As has been since discovered, Field and her employer were innocent of revealing Elle's confidential information.

On Friday the ABC radio broadcaster Mark Colvin spoke to Field's lawyer Mark Lewis who has issued court proceedings in Britain against News Corp on Field's behalf and who described the recent offer from News for compensation as not being quite all that it seems

Lewis responded to Colvin's question on compensation : " It's only partially true. What has been said by the Murdoch companies is that if a claim can be proved, that they will then compensate the people but the criteria that had been set out by Murdoch - I mean, it's very different, I mean we have a position where they're sort of playing Australian Rules Football and the game we're playing is cricket; they're just two different criteria. "

Read the full transcript on ABC News PM here, listen to the broadcast and download podcasts of previous ABC shows.

 ** The UK's Dail Mail has run a story on Andrew Bolt's continuing court case in which he is being sued by 9 Indigenous folk in a piece headlined : ''They're not really Aborigines': Right-wing columnist sparks race row in Australia".

The case has brought Bolt some unlikely supporters like the Sydney Morning Herald's legal columnist Richard Akland and the top political website crikey.com.au, neither of which could be accused of leaning to the right in the political spectrum with many saying the case amounts to an attack upon free speech.


Bolt : ABC TV



In the past Bolt has questioned the veracity of Climate Change claims and if there really was a Stolen Generation- the practice of white 'protectors' forcibly removing Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children to assimilate them into mainly white religious missions.

Aboriginal activists say the opposite as in this piece "An open letter to Andrew Bolt from a “half-caste”, “yella fella”, “half-breed” Kungarakan-Gurindji woman"
Read the full story at the Mail Online here.

Punishing Prince Andrew

Our tale yesterday on April Ist was slightly misleading. We meant to say HRH Prince Andrew should be appointed as Governor of NSW.

It's the ideal punishment. Four years opening endless garden fetes and charity bazaars, signing local government bills into law and meeting new Cabinet Ministers of the Coalition-with a threat of a further 4 year appointment should he not mend his ways.

Our apologies to the one London tabloid scribe who sent a fierce email castigating the Shuttle for the 3 hours he spent checking on the tale. The other two British newspapers were much more jovial about it.

The crafty Madame Arcati spotted the ruse immediately. One would have to get up early to  pull the wool over her eyes unlike the Times of India which ran the story on page three.

The excellent website Anorak.co.uk was sensibly sceptical.

Anorak also got stuck into our good pal the multi-millionaire adventurer  Dick Smith with his "2 children only" policy and pointed out who would never have been born under such a rule- Don Bradman and Ned Kelly being just two.

Unfortunately they linked to that opinion writer for hire Andrew Bolt, climate denier pal of the dotty Lord Monckton and right wing mouthpiece for the Melbourne Herald Sun. Andrew is also a stolen generation denier who makes Pauline Hanson look like an old lefty.

He once famously challenged left wing Professor Robert Manne of La Trobe University to Be a Manne and name just ten (sic) stolen children whereupon Manne produced 4 pages of names.

Bolt has spent the last few days in the Federal Court where 9 Aboriginals have filed a claim under the Racial Vilification Act over his columns and blog in 2009 when he got stuck into mixed blood indigenous folk who identify as Aboriginal.



Andrew Bolt

 In one piece titled White Is The New Black Bolt suggested “white Aborigines” were illegitimate and therefore not eligible for prizes and benefits"

As one of the claimants pointed out "what prizes and benefits does one get for being black ?"

Yesterday Bolt lost his cool under questioning in the witness box  and slammed the claimants who he said brought the anti-discrimination case brought against him as an “unforgivable travesty” designed to “smear me.”

That brought a swift rebuke from Justice Bromberg and Andrew was forced to apologise. Bolt actually said at one stage "some of my best friends are are gay Aboriginals".

It's not looking too good for Bolt.

Today former Former Federal Court Judge Ron Merkel who is acting for the nine prominent members of the Aboriginal community linked Bolt's writings to the eugenics movement saying :

“Mr Bolt’s assumption is because you’ve got mixed descent or you are white you have a choice to renounce who you are,” “But they never had the choice that Mr Bolt ascribes to them…throughout their whole lives they have identified as Aboriginal persons.”

“That’s the real sting that you’ll see in these articles.”



James Murdoch

 Which brings us back to Anorak.co.uk and their "third child" syndrome.

On Wednesday News Corp announced that James Murdoch is now Deputy COO, Chairman and CEO of News Corp International which makes him 3rd in line and the presumed heir to Rupert Murdoch

James, 38 is the Third Child of Rupert Murdoch and the former Anna Murdoch !

Hopefully in 3D-Murdoch The Movie

A film script on the life of Rupert Murdoch is being hawked around Hollywood.

This news comes courtesy of Franklin Leonard's annual Black List. Leonard is regarded as 'Hollywood's most important soothsayer" according to the LA Times with his list each year of unmade film projects. 

He compiles the list by talking to LA's most influential agents and studio bosses and any script that gets 5 mentions is included  with the added bonus it generates so much industry chat that the inclusion is regarded as a lifeline for ailing screenplays.

'Murdoch' was commissioned by the UK's Channel 4 and written by respected TV script writer Jesse Armstrong but 4 decided against making it. It's now being handled by a top agency Creative Artist's Agency who are looking for a producer and backer.

The script blurb reads : "As his family gathers for his birthday party, Rupert Murdoch tries to convince his elder children to alter the family trust so that his two youngest children by his newest wife will have voting rights in the company."

Ouch ! A little close to home. 

When Rupert divorced his second wife Anna Murdoch Mann , the mother of children Lachlan, James and Elisabeth, Anna went in tough with heavy New York lawyers and  secured a very profitable trust which she controls that holds huge swathes of News Corp shares in her children's names although  she was forced off the News board in the process. 

And she had rather unkind words to say about Rupert in a 2001 interview where she described him as "hard, ruthless and determined".

No-one quite knows what size of inheritance Wendi Murdoch's 2 daughters Chloe and Grace may be in for. With  News Corp  headquartered in Delaware with it's secretive corporate laws, the outside world doesn't really know quite what the media empire or Murdoch is worth although it will be in the billions of dollars.

 Long before Wendi appeared on the scene Murdoch also made a famous faux pas in 1997 when he referred to "my 3 children " while talking about succession in a press conference that drew the ire of his daughter Prudence Murdoch MacLeod, his first child from marriage to Patricia Booker. Never shy, Prudence got a public apology out of her father.

So it's all there-plenty of meat for Murdoch the film !

Rupert ?

Who would play the roles in this gripping drama where the clan get-together to discuss high finance?.

As the media baron Rupert Murdoch  step forward Barry Humphries who played Rupert in the 1983 film Selling Hitler: The Story of the Hitler Diaries. Humphries has aged nicely with the same crumpled look as Rupert.

Matt Damon is a cinch for the role of the American accented Lachlan Murdoch and surely  Sarah Murdoch with thespian ambitions could play herself. New actor Leighton Meester could do a good Elisabeth Murdoch. Hayden Christensen with specs could play James Murdoch.

That leaves roles for the two who are bound to play  a leading part in the carve-up of Murdoch's billions-Wendi Murdoch and Mathew Freud. Answers on a postcard please.

# you can download Leonard's Black List here and see other scripts 'Murdoch' is competing with. The Shuttle's favourite : Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter. The future president's mother is killed by a vampire and Abe spends the rest of his life hunting down the killers !

Locking up a Murdoch

Catherine Overington of the Media Diary on Rupert Murdoch's personal favourite publication, The Australian newspaper reports on a  happening today at the Surry Hills News Ltd headquarters :

A rather cute thing just happened in the foyer ...

A dapper young man approached the glass security doors. He was already inside; and wanted to get out.

He didn’t have one of those electronic passes you need, to make the doors open.

He motioned to one of News Ltd’s famously happy and extremely strict security guards, saying: ``I’m sorry, I want to get out. I don’t have a pass.’’

To which the security guard said: ``Well, how did you get in?’’

To which the dapper young man replied: ``I came in with my Dad?’’

It was, of course, James Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch is in town and the word from the Surry Hill's bunker is that fear and loathing are spreading as sackings are expected. There is one rumour sweeping the building that the much feared New York Post editor Col Allan is to return and take the helm.

In fact rumours are sweeping ahead of him wherever he goes. He visited both PM Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in Canberra a few days ago over talks about new media laws that are predicted to give free-to-air TV stations much more sport's content. Rupert only owns shares in the cable TV network Foxtel under laws that prevent owners having both newspaper and broadcast coverage in any one city. News Corp publishes the main dailies of every state capital except for the Fairfax's Canberra Times.

One person Murdoch won't be visiting is Bruce Guthrie who has just published his book Man Bites Murdoch about his 40 years in publishing.

Amongst a host of newspapers and magazines Guthrie edited was Murdoch's top Victorian tabloid  the Herald Sun before he had a spectacular fallout with his boss.

2 weeks ago Guthrie was spotted meeting with Julia Gillard in Melbourne. Priming her for her first meeting with Murdoch or a mere co-incidence ?

Also in town and spotted at this week's christening of Sarah & Lachlan Murdoch's baby Aerin Elisabeth Murdoch-Rupert's ex-wife Anna Murdoch Mann and her husband William Mann. Anna attended the christening with her brother Hans Torv, the Gold Coast disc jockey and radio station owner.