Excusive : John Rendall

Come back soon for our exclusive story on the life of John Rendall..perhaps better known as the Christian The Lion man.

Chelsea pad for sale

News reaches us via our London realtor that star of the Christian The Lion frenzy John Rendall is selling his Chelsea apartment with the amazing view above, down the River Thames.

During the 1960s, Rendall who hails from country Bathurst was a regular on the Sydney social circuit usually on the arm of Penfold wine heiress Rebel Penfold Russell.
He then decamped to London's Kings Road and set up home with Sydney Indigenous art dealer Ace Bourke, a descendant of the legendary NSW Governor Bourke.
When they bought a lion cub at Harrods- you could do that sort of thing then - the pair were often spotted tooling up the Kings Road in a Rolls Royce Corniche convertible with Christian, as the lion was named, hanging out in the back seat.

John was also once married to British publicist Liz Brewer who featured in the TV reality series Ladette to Lady where Liz attempted to refine and introduce Bogan style young lasses to the cream of British society like Lady Georgia Campbell, a few Hooray Henries and the occasional Used Car dealer.

Fast forward to 2008 and someone attached a song to a grainy film of Rendall & Bourke in Africa where they had deposited Christian to live as he had become too big. Christian recognizes the pair and a Group Hug ensues and is seen around the world.

Rendall's apartment is in World's End and a building Whispers knows well. We visited the infamous / famous courtesan Christine Keller twice to research a book. She lives on the lower floors but John's studio penthouse is right at the top and is yours for the measly sum of £675,000 or $A1169021
We've provided some snaps of the apartment and below, that famous film of Christian and that hug.
Rendall currently hosts Safari style tours to Africa while Bourke lives at remote Bundeena in southern Sydney.

Enter Lady Georgia Campbell

What a treat is in store for northern New South Wales as one of England's Grande Dames Lady Georgia Campbell is to grace our shores as a contestant in the British reality program I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
Whispers knows Georgia fairly well and have been to many parties with the aristocrat. Indeed we once shared adjoining seats on a Lear jet owned by Saudi mega billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, on a flight to Monaco to attend a gala party on his sumptuous yacht The Nambila (Whispers was writing a social column at the time for a European magazine owned by Khashoggi.)

Campbell's history has been well covered in the past in articles like this. Born in Jamaica she married Lord Colin Campbell the son of the Duke of Argyle but the marriage only lasted 14 months. Since then she has written hugely successful books about the British Royals. Georgia now lives in a petite townhouse in London's Kennington with the 2 young Russian boys she adopted - Mischa and Dima who were whisked away from Moscow poverty to be brought up amongst minor British aristocracy



More recently Georgia featured on the Aussie TV show Ladette to Lady where her good friend publicist Liz Brewer -left, (Liz was married to Australian John Rendall of Christian the Lion fame) brought in Lady Campbell to introduce the ladettes to the British upper classes that included a successful used car dealer, an aging Count and a handful of golly gosh Hooray Henry's. What fun.
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 And the excitement just keeps coming. Manager of Double Bay's Casablanca nightclub Karim Gharbi, above- a regular fixture on these pages, has been snapped up to write a monthly lifestyle column in Maxim Australia called OZ HOT SPOTS. It pays to have several irons in the fire these days especially as the owners of the building where Casablanca is located have a proposal with Woollahra Council to turn the building into private apartments

Liz Brewer, Ita Buttrose & International Terrorists

Madame Aracti has drawn our attention to a new book published in the UK by one of that countries top public relations experts Liz Brewer.

Liz was once married to Australian John Rendell of Christian The Lion fame and is the mother of chanteuse and songwriter Tallulah Rendell who wowed audiences in Sydney recently. She was also one of the hosts on the reality TV show Aussie Ladette To Lady where she attempted to convert a bunch of rough and tumble young girls into genteel lasses, suitable enough to mingle with the more refined classes .

party planner Liz Brewer (right) and celebs including
Ivana Trump & NCIS actor Michael Weatherly

Ms Brewer has just published a new book Ultimate Guide to Party Planning & Etiquette which is flying off British book shelves in a country where trying to keep up the standards expected is becoming increasingly difficult in the new 'chav' culture sweeping that great isle.

And Liz knows her stuff having organised some of the top bashes in London for celebrities like Shirley Bassey and Ivana Trump. She's been around celebrities and high society for most of her career that began on the Algarve in Portugal when she opened a nightclub and attracted big names like Paul McCartney and Cliff Richard.

But we also have our own tome - the recently published colonial version : A Guide to Australian Etiquette-for all occasions, from weddings to work by publishing icon Ita Buttrose who was featured in the TV drama Paper Giants-The Birth of Cleo that depicted the 1970's when Kerry Packer lost the contract to publish a local version of Cosmopolitan and instead, under the auspices of Buttrose came up with the top selling magazine Cleo that has been going gangbusters ever since.

Ita Buttrose &Betty Churcher
at the B &W lunch

Ita was a special guest at the Black & White Charity lunch last Tuesday which featured Dame Edna Everage who reminded the audience and Ita that it was her on the 1974 cover that rocketed Cleo to a staggering circulation of nearly half a million copies although it was Ita's idea to feature, for the first time, a man in a dress as she reminded the Dame.

Cleo-1974

Dame Edna retorted that she had no idea who Ita was at the time and thought her name was a reference to an International Terrorist group.

Both books are required reading if one is  to attempt climbing the social ladder in either capitals and from Liz Brewer's interview on Madame Arcati we learn both cities suffer from similar problems. Like the eternal gatecrasher. Liz gives some handy hints to seeing them off and we feel concurs with our view of the local half dozen who plague events here - if they bring nothing to the event in appearance, manners, humour or intellect, what's the point of them ?.

But back to Ita's guide to surviving the sophistication of Australian culture. There are many crossover areas in both Liz Brewer's book and Ita's but the local version give us some much needed tips with a local flavour :

if suffering from bad breath consult your dentist

are you constantly farting ?..avoid spicy food

do you constantly chew gum, smack you're gums and make popping noises ? Don't !

don't let your dog jump in a pond especially if there is green algae !

don't pig out on bread at the dinner table and leave only crumbs

urinating in public is revolting

spitting in public is uncivilised  ...and so on.

Ita also gives some helpful advice on weddings : what to do when the best man is a woman, how to dress for a Muslim wedding, what to do when you run into your ex ! and a host of veritable survival hints even at the football : no player should ever pretend to be their best mate in an attempt to have sex with another player's wife : if a girl has had too much too drink it's best to call a taxi to take her home and most importantly : you never watch a player's mate and his girlfriend having sex!

How can you live without this book ?

Monday : Tallulah at The Basement

She sang at Dame Shirley Bassey's 70th birthday, the Glastonbury Festival and a Vivienne Westwood fashion show. The British media has described her as 'London's most creative woman'- singer songwriter Tallulah Rendall who will be appearing for one night on Monday evening at the Basement.

This will be Tallulah's second professional appearance in Australia after touring successfully earlier this year but she has been visiting Australia since she was a child.

Her father is the Australian socialite John Rendall of 'Christian the Lion' fame and her mother is one of England's top publicists Liz Brewer who was seen recently as one of the panelists judging young girls in the Ladette to Lady TV series.

Tallulah's first successful CD titled Libellus, inspired by the writings of Iris Murdoch was described by critics as a "slow burner that hooks you in after a few listenings". The Age newspaper said her music is 'alternative, sultry and magical'.

Book early as Tallulah's shows tend to be a sell out bringing crowds of all ages. At the Hermes' beach party last week a team of party-goers said they had booked tickets.

Bookings at The Basement : here
here is Tallulah in an appearance on balconytv.co.uk :

Bono, A Love Match and Son of Christian the Lion

They've been spotted around town arm in arm several times now and it's official- they are an item.

Glen Marie Frost and John Rendall of Christian the Lion fame. Glen-Marie is one of the most powerful PRs in the country and a political fixer.

 Rendall recently found fame when old footage of he and his partner Anthony Ace Bourke being greeted by a lion in Africa received 50M hits on youtube after someone put schmaltzy music to it. Before that he was-as the Londoner's Diary on the UK Evening Standard newspaper called him, "an Australian socialite" living in London.

Both have been married twice before. Glen Marie to 2 high flying businessmen .Rendall was once married to top London PR Liz Brewer. Aussie viewers will have seen her in the local Ladette's To Lady where she introduces the rough and ready local gels to the cream of London society- a retired Major, a used car dealer, some young Hooray Henrys from a minor public school and Lady Colin Campbell, an aristocrat with a startling deep voice.



At Nic Cerrone's- Kerrie Ann Kennerley and John Rendall .



Our new lovers were at the diamonds launch at top jeweller Nic Cerrone's lavish boutique in Martin Place last Thursday. And again today at the Black & White Committee's charity lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel where Rendall treated the guests to a (thankfully) short slide show on Christian.



 Carmela & Nic Cerrone



John has just returned from Kenya where he hosted a safari. He says on the last day he and the group were trekking in the George Adamson Wildlife Reserve when they found an abandoned lion cub on the spot where Christan lived out his last days.
John's having the lion cub DNA tested to see if it is related to Christian!.

                                         

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Singer Bono flicked a switch last night to bathe the Sydney Opera House in red lights for the launch of World AIDs Day. Accompanying him were NSW premier Kristina Keneally and Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Bono quipped that he felt like the "third member of Charlie's Angels".



Julia Gillard, Kristina Keneally, Bono



He leads the charge over the next 2 months that will see an influx Down Under of celebrities . Oprah Winfrey arrives on the 10th of December for at least 2 weeks accompanied by John Travolta. Nicole Kidman and hubby fly in to appear on Oprah's show with Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman.

Golfer Greg Norman is in town to play golf and threw a bash last night at the Astral Bar at Star City while in Melbourne Jay Z & Beyonce went ten-pin bowling.



George Michael arrives soon for summer. Actor John Malkovich arrives at the end of December to appear at the Sydney Festival and expatriate True Blood star Ryan Kwanten flew in yesterday to attend the GQ Man of The Year Awards.